SMF May 2020 Challenge Entry Thread - Diagonal Slice Stripe with Swirl

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amd

This is the Entry Thread for the May 2020 challenge: Diagonal Slice Stripe with Swirl. This thread is limited to challenge entries only. Post all comments in the original challenge thread here: SMF May 2020 Challenge Signup – Diagonal Slice Stripe with Swirl

Please post your entry soap photos here. You may post as many photos of your entry as you like. If you post more than one photo, please put the one you would like to be used for the voting survey first. You are welcome and encouraged to include any details you would like to share regarding the creation of your entry, such as technique, design inspiration, fragrance, recipe notes, etc.

The entry thread and challenge sign up will remain open until May 28 at 11:59 pm GMT. A link and the password for voting at Survey Monkey will then be sent to all members who signed up for the challenge. Voting will be open from May 29 to May 31 and the winner will be announced on June 1, 2020 unless all votes are received before then. There is no prize attached to this challenge.

Good luck everyone!
 
My design combines the striped layers with a small secret feather swirl. The striped portion is colored with Celestial Silver from Nurture and the FO I used is Jack Frost from WSP, which accelerates slightly. Even though the colors ended up being more similar than I anticipated, the feather swirl portion is colored with a mix of Midnight Blue and Dark Navy from Nurture, and I used spearmint EO for this part of the soap. I don't know why that diagonal line appeared where the two sections meet, but I like the effect. I made three attempts at this and the line appeared in all of them, so I suspect it may have something to do with a temperature difference. Another soapie mystery! This is one of the few times that the vision in my head is pretty close to what came out of the mold, and I am so happy with how they turned out.
ETA: Thank you @amd for choosing this as a challenge. It has been on my bucket list since I first saw it, but it felt so intimidating. This forced me to face my fears and give it a try!

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Glad some one broke the ice. Thanks Dibbles.
I enjoyed this challenge. I did mix and pour each layer separately and my swirl is a cylindrical swirl from Clyde at Vibrant Soap.
I used the picture below as my inspiration and the scent is blood orange goji berry from WSP. I used both halves of the striped loaf and when I poured the first swirled side I had to stop mid pour and the top was beautiful without doing anything to it.
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This was a fun challenge and it gave me the nudge I needed to try out layers. I used TD, Green Apple and Jade micas for my layers and Caipirinha FO. For the swirl layer I used TD, Terra Cotta and a little of the Green Apple micas. My FO was Aloe and it was rather naughty. It riced and my swirls didn't come out as defined as I had hoped for. The FO combo smells divine and I'm tempted to keep them all for myself!
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Thanks for this challenge!
 
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My entry is scented with Persephone’s Kiss. I made the layers by measuring out 4 small batches and making them one after the other waiting about 10 min in between for the layer before to harden enough not to break through. The swirled part is a hanger swirl.
Thank you @amd for organizing this challenge!
PS. I moved the pics of the non entries to the sign up thread to avoid confusion.
 
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Here’s my entry for this month’s challenge. The colorants are white kaolin clay for the white, gold Brazilian clay and gold oxide for the yellow and rose clay and red oxide for the dark pinkish red. It’s scented with Ambrosia Blossom (BB). Using an accelerating FO made layering easier, but swirling a little trickier!

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ETA: And here’s a close up of one of the soaps. The natural light changes a bit from day to day, but I think the soap looks about the same. This is an end cut and doesn’t have a mate.
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Here is my entry for this month's challenge, and I will put my non-entries up on the other thread.

This is a tallow/lard goat milk soap, coloured with activated charcoal, titanium dioxide and micas. Scented with BB Fresh Snow.

I found choosing an FO to be a conundrum for this design. I would usually do layers by utilising an accelerating FO and adding it to each layer and pouring one at a time. But I figured the second half would be hard to get a swirl with an accelerating FO. BB Fresh Snow is my go-to FO when I need good behaviour for layers. Unfortunately it behaves so well it takes ages to set up. So I ended up doing five separate batches for each of the five layers in my striped portion.

The swirl for my second part was a very simple hidden feather swirl.

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I'm not super happy with my entry, but it is what it is..
I blended some super accelerating EO's (mainly spices and florals, with some wood to balance everything out). The blend was only safe at 2%, but I used it at 4% in the striped part and left the swirly part unscented. It still didn't accelerate enough, so I put my mold in the oven, which helped and my layers turned out quite ok.
For the colors I used ammonia extractions at 5% of oil weight. Colors used were: (layered part bottom to top) alkanet, indigo, spirulina, moringa, annatto and cochineal. Colors in the drop swirl are: ammonia extractions of spirulina, annatto and paprika, white is uncolored batter.
The soaps gelled in the oven.
Since I'd never done a drop swirl before, I thought this was a good opportunity to try it. Looking back I'm not sure that was the best swirling option and I'm also doubting my choice to use a tall and skinny mold.
Anyway, here's my entry. I think I'll call it ammoniamania😉
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Finally I am done people...thank you so much for the support.
Orange layer is annatto infused in oil...the green layer in the middle is chrolerra infused in oil while the last ash or purple layer is allante root powder infused in oil ....All infusion are over 6 months old.....for the swirl on top I removed the allante out.
First time trying this technique and I am willing to try more to learn better.For oil I used beef tallow I rendered at home myself,castor oil,coconut oil and some olive pomade. I also used some fragrance and sodium lactate.
I still need to figure out how to get smoother bars from beef tallow 🤔🤔.....

Glad I could participate

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Finally I am done people...thank you so much for the support.
Orange layer is annatto infused in oil...the green layer in the middle is chrolerra infused in oil while the last ash or purple layer is allante root powder infused in oil ....All infusion are over 6 months old.....for the swirl on top I removed the allante out.
First time trying this technique and I am willing to try more to learn better.For oil I used beef tallow I rendered at home myself,castor oil,coconut oil and some olive pomade. I also used some fragrance and sodium lactate.
I still need to figure out how to get smoother bars from beef tallow 🤔🤔.....

Glad I could participate

Attachments
Spelling error...alkanet infused in oil
 
This was a fun challenge and it gave me the nudge I needed to try out layers. I used TD, Green Apple and Jade micas for my layers and Caipirinha FO. For the swirl layer I used TD, Terra Cotta and a little of the Green Apple micas. My FO was Aloe and it was rather naughty. It riced and my swirls didn't come out as defined as I had hoped for. The FO combo smells divine and I'm tempted to keep them all for myself! View attachment 46307View attachment 46308
Thanks for this challenge!
I love that the lines are not all dead straight. It's whimsical and delicate. It looks like a spring breeze.
 
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