SMF October 2021 challenge - butterfly hanger swirl

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@The_Emerald_Chicken Beautiful soap! Do you like Bali Breeze? I’ve considered purchasing it a few times.
Thank you! As far as the FO, I think I like it. I purchased it after I had covid and lost my taste/smell, which are still somewhat distorted. I can smell it, but I'm not sure if what I smell is accurate...so I don't feel like a good judge.

My sister didn't love it OOB, but she thought it was nice after it was in the soap.

It behaved well, so that's a plus!
 
I thought about antennae too. But mine weren't quite as sophisticated as yours! Still they are elusive body parts and very difficult to find the right balance between fluidity and hanger motions. @melonpan's antennae would actually have been the best ones, had only there been a bit more “flesh” for the hanger to stay within batter.
I feel you, the idea and the blob of colour was there on my soap, but it's a tricky one to achieve with the delicate balance between swirl motion and the batter you can't really see below the surface. On another cut the antennae were showing more, but the butterfly shape not so much! My hanger was also on the thinner side so I agree with you that a thicker hanger might do the trick.

ETA: I remembered I have another pic where the top show more and it helps to see the antennae just a tad more, but this is only happening on two bars out of eight IMG_20211012_121816695.jpg
 
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SO MANY LOVELY ENTRIES!

I will probably post my entry tomorrow. I have not unpacked my camera yet from my suitcase, and am just plain tuckered out. But the soaps are cleaned up and ready for the photo shoot, in spite of dropping the selected entry soaps on the floor & denting a couple of them. Luckily the dents were fairly easy to plane/bevel off and they still look fine. I was a real butter fingers today, dropping frozen quiche TWICE. Probably just as well I have not yet unpacked my camera! I don't particularly like dropping my expensive camera equipment, so when that sort of thing starts happening, I take the day off from activities that require fine motor skills.

ETA: And again this morning, I dropped the cut soap from batches #1 & #2 when I took them to another room to prepare to clean them up for better photos. My my my, I hope this is not going to be another butter-fingers day for me. I'll try again after my second cup of tea. At least I have not dropped a tea cup in several days. I broke my very favorite traveling thick glass tea mug a few days ago when I was unpacking my car for my last hotel stay (had to go to Goodwill to replace it with an inferior ceramic mug.)
 
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Now that I have entered my photo, I'll show the progression of my attempts. The first 3 were the same color palette, but batch #1 (made on 10/10/2021 while in Branson, MO) did not turn out as vibrant in color as I had hoped; I did not used enough colorant.

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Batch #2 turned out better in terms of color and swirl, but not to my satisfaction. Still I am not totally displeased with the resulting soap.

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Batch #3 was my entry, still seeking the majesty of the Monarch Butterfly because it has been prolific in my butterfly experience throughout my life:

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Then for Batch #4, I moved away from the Monarch and although my original plan was to emulate the Luna Moth, or a Blue Morpho, I ended up using both blue and green and it represented no particular butterfly or moth. I also had a lot of bubbles in this batch, so it's not as smooth on the surface as the others. But I did use Zany's No-Slime Castile recipe with Faux Seawater and am very impressed with how fast this recipe can be unmolded and how hard it gets so very very fast.

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Got my "attempt" poured today but I'm very very skeptical of it right now.
To start with I've been having a weird thing going on with my sugar syrup turning the lye solution red... I made a new syrup in case that was the problem but it still went a vivid orange colour. Not like caramelised sugar but like a neon orange...
Then I had trouble with the FO. My mango turned up (exactly where it was supposed to be and where I had checked at least 3 times) and I mixed it with Jasmine - the smell was exactly what I was going for, but sadly the combination turned out to accelerate madly.
I got it poured in ok, but I could barely move the hanger through the batter, it was so solid...
Tomorrow will tell if it's even slightly submittable.
 
weird thing going on with my sugar syrup turning the lye solution red... I made a new syrup in case that was the problem but it still went a vivid orange colour. Not like caramelised sugar but like a neon orange...
Citrus juice (lemon, lime, orange) is a thing that does turn bright orange-red (and hot) when dissolving lye in it. But nothing of this colour remains after the alkali has been eaten up by the oils. Let's hope your sugar knows this and behaves accordingly. Theoretically, sugar (fully refined and fresh beet/cane sugar at least) should be unimpressed by lye, and turn slightly yellowish at most. But who knows?
Haven't had unpleasant surprises ever since I've been using sorbitol. Now the ROE is the only thing that turns red when lye is added.

turned out to accelerate madly.
I got it poured in ok, but I could barely move the hanger through the batter, it was so solid...
Tomorrow will tell if it's even slightly submittable.
At least you're out of danger to have swirled at too thin trace 🙄

But I can see me becoming obsessed with this design. The fun is really having very little expectation of what the cut will look like.
I fear (at least for the sanity of the curing racks) that there will be quite some latecomer/debriefing butterflies fluttering throughout our soap kitchens soon.
 
Got my "attempt" poured today but I'm very very skeptical of it right now.
To start with I've been having a weird thing going on with my sugar syrup turning the lye solution red... I made a new syrup in case that was the problem but it still went a vivid orange colour. Not like caramelised sugar but like a neon orange...
Then I had trouble with the FO. My mango turned up (exactly where it was supposed to be and where I had checked at least 3 times) and I mixed it with Jasmine - the smell was exactly what I was going for, but sadly the combination turned out to accelerate madly.
I got it poured in ok, but I could barely move the hanger through the batter, it was so solid...
Tomorrow will tell if it's even slightly submittable.
Anytime I've added sugar or coconut milk or agave to my lye solution it has always turned a shade of pinkish orange. Its never really affected my soap. I just thought it got too hot. I don't add sugars too often though because of that. It scares me!
 
Now that I have entered my photo, I'll show the progression of my attempts. The first 3 were the same color palette, but batch #1 (made on 10/10/2021 while in Branson, MO) did not turn out as vibrant in color as I had hoped; I did not used enough colorant.

full


Batch #2 turned out better in terms of color and swirl, but not to my satisfaction. Still I am not totally displeased with the resulting soap.

full


Batch #3 was my entry, still seeking the majesty of the Monarch Butterfly because it has been prolific in my butterfly experience throughout my life:

full


Then for Batch #4, I moved away from the Monarch and although my original plan was to emulate the Luna Moth, or a Blue Morpho, I ended up using both blue and green and it represented no particular butterfly or moth. I also had a lot of bubbles in this batch, so it's not as smooth on the surface as the others. But I did use Zany's No-Slime Castile recipe with Faux Seawater and am very impressed with how fast this recipe can be unmolded and how hard it gets so very very fast.

full
I love your entry and I am a huge monarch fan! I thought of entering this month and was going to go with monarch colors. I plant my gardens to attract pollinators. For many, many years I would count 1 monarch per summer. This summer I saw several per week and it makes my heart sing. I hope these little ones can survive extinction!
Plant milkweed, people -- it's the only plant monarchs lay their eggs on!!! I'll get off my soapbox now (see what I did there to stay on topic?)
 
Now that I have entered my photo, I'll show the progression of my attempts. The first 3 were the same color palette, but batch #1 (made on 10/10/2021 while in Branson, MO) did not turn out as vibrant in color as I had hoped; I did not used enough colorant.

full


Batch #2 turned out better in terms of color and swirl, but not to my satisfaction. Still I am not totally displeased with the resulting soap.

full


Batch #3 was my entry, still seeking the majesty of the Monarch Butterfly because it has been prolific in my butterfly experience throughout my life:

full


Then for Batch #4, I moved away from the Monarch and although my original plan was to emulate the Luna Moth, or a Blue Morpho, I ended up using both blue and green and it represented no particular butterfly or moth. I also had a lot of bubbles in this batch, so it's not as smooth on the surface as the others. But I did use Zany's No-Slime Castile recipe with Faux Seawater and am very impressed with how fast this recipe can be unmolded and how hard it gets so very very fast.

full
When I look at soap #2 and imagine matching the base of the bars together so the they are standing vertically, I see a spectacular butterfly! 💕❤️💕
 
... Plant milkweed, people -- it's the only plant monarchs lay their eggs on!!! ...
In Europe Asclepias syriaca, the milkweed, is included in the list of Invasive Alien Species of Union concern (the Union list) of Regulation (EU) 1143/2014. The species included on the Union list are subject to restrictions and measures. I know it has been grown in gardens for its interesting seedpods. On the other hand, monarch butterfly is extremely rare in Europe.
So I am not going to plant milkweed while I love other insect attracting/feeding plants ;)
 
In Europe Asclepias syriaca, the milkweed, is included in the list of Invasive Alien Species of Union concern (the Union list) of Regulation (EU) 1143/2014. The species included on the Union list are subject to restrictions and measures. I know it has been grown in gardens for its interesting seedpods. On the other hand, monarch butterfly is extremely rare in Europe.
So I am not going to plant milkweed while I love other insect attracting/feeding plants ;)
Sorry, I was being Americancentric. To be more precise,
North Americans! Plant milkweed -- it's the only plant monarchs lay their eggs on!!!
 
Though this challenge issn't over' I'm excited to see what our November challenge will be, 🧼✨🤩.

Sorry, I was being Americancentric. To be more precise,
North Americans! Plant milkweed -- it's the only plant monarchs lay their eggs on!!!
I'm gonna look into planting milkweed. I saw only one Monarch Butterfly this past spring / summer. Agree they are so beautiful.
 
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