# Official entry thread: SMF Soap Making Challenge: September Discoloring FO



## galaxyMLP (Sep 18, 2015)

Challenge date has been extended until the 27th at 11:59 pm Eastern time zone!

Sorry its 8 hours late!

Please post your SMF september challenge entry in this thread. No commenting please. Please go to the original thread if you would like to comment. 

Rules for submission:

What do I need to see when you submit an entry?
1. A picture of your soap when first cut

2. A picture of the soap after discoloration (minimum 48 hours)

3. If you used color in your DFO section for mixing purposes, I need to see the uncolored soap after a minimum of 48 hours so we can tell whether or not it's lighter/darker than the FO color. It would probably be good if both the soap with color and the uncolored soap were in the same picture. Remember, this only applies if you have no other section of your soap with your DFO added and no color added.

4. What FO did you use? What amounts? Did you gel your soap?


Edits/clarifications as we go:
You CAN use sports team colors for your "brand" color
You CAN use a discoloring EO as your discoloring FO (I mean, EOs are fragrances after all.)
You CAN use multiple discoloring FO's in one batch. 
You CAN use brown as your label color (still not exactly happy with it but ok)


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## TheDragonGirl (Sep 18, 2015)

I did Brambleberry's Turkish Mocha, Joy Of Cooking white on contrast, I did CPoP the batch.

Not the fanciest one I've seen in the challenge but I'm really happy with how it came out

eta: did the fragrance at 7%


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## not_ally (Sep 18, 2015)

I totally flubbed it, I took a pic. of the loaf before CPOPing but forgot to take a picture of the cut bars after I did the cut.  I will still post pics of both soaps I did to show differences in discoloration w/different CPOP times using the same FO's because I think it is interesting and will make me feel Ok about having a vote, though!


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## galaxyMLP (Sep 18, 2015)

not_ally said:


> I totally flubbed it, I took a pic. of the loaf before CPOPing but forgot to take a picture of the cut bars after I did the cut.  I will still post pics of both soaps I did to show differences in discoloration w/different CPOP times using the same FO's because I think it is interesting and will make me feel Ok about having a vote, though!



Please post comments in the challenge thread and not the official entry thread. (Sorry)


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## not_ally (Sep 18, 2015)

Sorry, Galaxy, I spaced and thought this was the general challenge thread.  Would def. not post on the challenge thread since I am not, um, challenging


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## MrsSpaceship (Sep 18, 2015)

I was going for a Brambleberry/Soap Making Forum brown, sage green and cream. 
I used 9gr BB Vanilla Select & 4gr BB Turkish Mocha in half my batter and divided the remaining half in two parts for the other two colors.  However it appears that very little of the other two colors appeared (is it possible for FO to bleed into your non-fragranced portion?), although I think I'll get over it, because it smells heavenly.  I did not gel. 

The bottom left is right out of the mold, bottom right is freshly cut, and top is with a couple of days curing.


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## osso (Sep 18, 2015)

My challenge entry is Dragon's Blood in Dr. Pepper burgundy. FO blend is Elements Dragon's Blood (63%), Elements Sweet Patchouli (22%) and NG Teakwood and Cardamom (15%) - total fragrance was at 5% of the batch. The discoloration is primarily due to the dragon's blood. The only portion without FO is the TD white. The rest is scented and colored with Nurture Vibrance Red, Mad Oils Black Oyster, and the brown is uncolored. I did gel this batch. The first picture is just cut, the second after 48 hours, and the third after one week. I'm happy with the swirl and I think I nailed the brand color.


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## skayc1 (Sep 19, 2015)

I used Aztec's Eggnog FO, that has 10% vanillin. I used 32 ounces of oils & used 1 oz dfo. at 5% I used Fanta Soda color & TD in both the scented & unscented batter, & I also left some of the unscented uncolored, & some of scented batter uncolored.

in the mold-





first cut-





after 24 hours-





after 48 hours-


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## TVivian (Sep 20, 2015)

Here is my entry: 

Right after cutting: 



After curing 72 hours: 



The scent breakdown: 

Batch weight 103oz

16oz Dark rich chocolate BB @6%

16oz Espresso [email protected]%

10oz unscented colored with matte woodland green WSP

61oz peppermint [email protected]% 

My brand color:


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## dillsandwitch (Sep 22, 2015)

Heres my atempt. Didn't go nearly as dark as I wanted it too. My colour theme is QR


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## dibbles (Sep 22, 2015)

This is my entry. I used Mad Oils Vanilla Milk at 6% PPO. There was no FO in the blue (Nurture's Vibrance blue and MO Snow White) or white (TD) portions. First picture is just after cutting, the second is after curing for 2 weeks, the third is the brand.


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## lionprincess00 (Sep 22, 2015)

I used in the very dark brown as my discoloring fo Vanilla Milk from MO. The lighter brown is NOT my entry discoloring fo, and it contains Chipotle Caramel from BB with copper and mocha micas.
My brand is Hello Kitty Pink.
Vanilla milk by mo .5 oz in dark black brown only*
Chipotle Caramel by bb .35 oz in tan and a little in the pink only.

Picture 1 my separated cups so you can see the full cup in the left which received only my dfo, vanilla milk, and no colorants were added.*

(Remaining cups had TD, a pink mix with caramel chipotle, and the gold brown mix with caramel chipotle.)

Pic 2 in mold.

Pic 3 after cpop, beginning of discoloration.

Pic 4 fresh cut.

Pic 5 a days discoloration.

Pic 6-9 completed discoloration, final soap.

Pic 10 brand.


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## commoncenz (Sep 22, 2015)

Here's my entry. 
I used Mike's Fragrances 'N More's "Honey"(.6 Oz ppo). The black is a mixture of activated charcoal and Nurture's Pearl Black Mica. The Yellow is Nurture's Sunshine Yellow Mica. My inspiration logo was the Steelers black and yellow/Gold. 

The first two pictures are right after cutting. The second two are at about 52 hours after cutting.


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## soapswirl (Sep 22, 2015)

Here is my entry!

The fragrance oil is brambleberry's black amber and lavender (which i got from 'you wish zeep' in europe). 

The brand i chose was Cadburys, i created the purple using micas: grape nehi and harold's purple crayon.

I attempted a circling taiwan swirl for the design which i quite like, am annoyed by the pesky little air bubbles though as they show up so much on a dark soap!

Pic 1: just poured
Pic 2: just cut
Pic 3: after discolouration


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## traderbren (Sep 22, 2015)

Here's my official entry. I'm having issues getting the orange to photograph properly- it's more orangey in real life.

FO was Autumn Magic from NG. Part is uncolored with FO only, part is dye only with no FO, and part is FO and dye.

Brand was supposed to be the Baltimore Orioles.
1. Freshly poured
2. Freshly cut
3. Cured for 3 weeks


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## Saponista (Sep 22, 2015)

Here is my entry, the brand colours I chose to use were purple white and green for Wimbledon.




Here is the colour after the cut






And here is my entry after it has had chance to discolour. 





Sorry I forgot to add that I used gracefruit's porridge oats fragrance at 3% in the uncoloured batter.


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## SunWolf (Sep 22, 2015)

Well, this one didn't work out nearly like I wanted...poured with my batter too thin and it just got all muddied up.  And my purple lost a lot of it's color as well.  :sad:    Oh well, I had fun anyway!!  

So, I used BB's Black Amber & Lavender.  I poured off three 10-ounce sections of batter and added my DFO to the main section left over.  I then added purple mica to one section, yellow mica to another section, and left one section plain.  I attempted a simple drop swirl, but as I said, my batter was too thin and it all blended together into a yucky mess.

Just poured:



Just cut:






After a week:






My Logo colors:


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## newbie (Sep 22, 2015)

Made my soap using BB's Pumpkin Lager (a dc'ed scent). Bottom is uncolored but scented soap, then a layer of M&P with gold, then an ITP pour with uncolored unscented soap, black scented, and deep orange/red unscented, with gold mica in oil incorporated. It mostly gelled, as you can see. Used 0.6 ounces of FO in 16 ounces of oils but one color got no scent. 

Made with Ferrari Black


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## Saponista (Sep 23, 2015)

I'm interested in how you got your melt and pour and cp layers to stick together newbie. Your soap is stunning, really classy.

Oops wrong thread. So sorry, would delete and move if I knew how!


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## CaraBou (Sep 23, 2015)

Hey -- why did the close date change??  Maybe I should wait for more discolor, or take another stab.  Well, just to be safe, here we go...

Light soaps are before discolor, darks are after, and the dolphin is the obligatory corporate color. 

DFO (brown) was BB Oatmeal Stout (75%) and BB Select Vanilla (25%); no colorants. The rest was unscented and colored with BB blue pearl mica, and blue pearl mica + chromium oxide + TD.


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## gigisiguenza (Sep 23, 2015)

Ok here's my entry (the best of four attempts LOL)

3lb Batch done in a tall skinny loaf mold 
DFO is Just Scent Becky's Ultimate Vanilla - used .5 oz in 1/3 of soap batter
Other two portions were scented with Bitter Creeks Lime Basil
Colorants used were 1/3 of batter - DFO, 1/3 of batter - indigo in lye water, and 1/3 uncolored.
CP, fridge for 30 mins to slow gelling, then wrapped loosely so if it was going to gel, it would do it slowly and gently.

Picture 1 - in the mold freshly poured
Picture 2 - at cut 24 hours later
Picture 3 - at 48 hours
Picture 4 - brand logo Tiffany& Co  (I'm hoping that the DFO darkens even more over time)


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## TwystedPryncess (Sep 24, 2015)

My official entry:

I used .5 Oz. Turkish Mocha as my discoloring FO in the bottom portion of the soap. The FO is doing it's thing to color the bottom of the soap.  It is separated by a thin gold mica line (hard to see, sorry) and the top is scented with .3 oz. of Peppermint Essential oil, 1st Distilled, from BB. It is colored with Cellini Red mica from BB. The top is colored with Titanium Dioxide from Brambleberry. The white portion is not scented at all. It is topped off with a light gold mica sprinkle, brown melt and pour soap curls, and melt and pour peppermints that I made using empty toilet paper rolls as molds.

Since I CPOP'd the bottom/discoloring layer and the red layer, but had MP decorations on top, I CPOP'D the bottom two layers, then added the piping and decorations after. 

My logo was Pizza Hut red, since 1 )I like red, 2) I work there, 3) Turkish Mocha was an FO and if you research anything Turkish, your first research returns get lots of red things. Flags, etc.

Picture 1: The soap intended to be colored red. Shows no discoloration. It has Peppermint EO scent in the soap.
Picture 2: The soap with the Turkish Mocha FO added. It is already starting to discolor in the soap bowl! (I was happy)
Picture 3: Soap in the mold, getting ready to go to bedbed.
Picture 4: The soap pulled from the mold slight less than 24 hours- more like 20 hours. I pulled it from the mold late that next night, but did not cut till the next morning.
Picture 5: The soap cut the next morning, after 24 hours but before 48 hours
Picture 6: The soap as it was today, 9/24/15, several days after being made (well after 48 hours, more like a week or so)
Picture 7: My awesome Pizza Hut Logo 

Thanks for looking!


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## vmakkers (Sep 26, 2015)

I used floating island from fragrance buddy with 2.19ozs in 35 ozs of oil. I split the batter in half and divided that again. I added about 2/3 of the oil into the darker color and 1/3 in the lighter color with TD. The blue and white is unscented. I was going for Tiffany blue with gold mica lines and a beachy theme.  I used 6 different blues and greens from various suppliers. I didn't gel. It was put into the freezer overnight.


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## jules92207 (Sep 26, 2015)

Used Deluxe Vanilla from WSP for the discoloring, the blue I was going for was Dell blue but I think I ended up with more of an AT&T blue. My fo bled into my unscented colors in both of my batches which wasn't planned but this second one felt a little more wispy so I don't mind it as much.

First is just poured, second is just cut, last is after a couple weeks.


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## doriettefarm (Sep 26, 2015)

I ended up going with the pumpkin puke batch for my challenge entry.  Wanted to make a 2nd attempt but it was a 'crap happens' kinda week.  I used Fragrance Buddy's Cinnamon Pumpkin Souffle FO at the max 4%.  FO was added to all portions of the batter except the white.  Black portion was activated charcoal and orange portion was Nurture's Desert Sunset with a smidge of BB Copper Sparkle.  Soap most definitely gelled . . . this FO seemed to be a heater.

First pic is immediately after cutting and 2nd pic was taken 4 days later.  I wasn't seeing much discoloration at the 48hr mark but after day 3 it started to kick in.  I was really hoping my Omar stamps would arrive in time to embellish some of the bars but no such luck.  My brand colors are Harley Davidson orange & black.


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## Sonya-m (Sep 27, 2015)

Well here it is, not as dark as I would have liked it to go. 

My FO is coconut chocolate from Sensory Perfection, the vanillin content is 2.3%. My brand is Barbie

I used the CPOP method as I wanted it to gel. 

I used pink neon (thanks Snappy!), TD and a little yellow (in the batter with the FO) 

It wasn't changing colour so I've had bars in various places in the house: near a radiator, in the loft and on a windowsill. The one that has discoloured best is the one in the window - is that because of the sun, the warmth through the glass or both?



In the mould after pouring



Straight after cutting



After 12 days



Next to a bar that was curing next to the radiator 

My brand logo


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## mintle (Sep 27, 2015)

I have made a batch inspired by Lentilky, sweets from the Czech Republic, which are known by the generation born in 80's in Poland. They  are visually quite similar to M&Ms or Smarties (however with a bit different colours and taste) but they were invented much earlier than these two - in 1907. 

For the discoloured part I have used Vanille FO from behawe.com, at 3,6%. The other parts were scented with lavender and lavandin EO. 

Unfortunately it seems I should have put some TD into the coloured part because despite gelling the colours have lost their definition and sharpness. I also had to steam them twice to get rid of soda ash. Please excuse the spontaneous "right after cut" pictures - before beveling they look quite awful.  

But they smell heavenly! And I am on a diet so it's always good to have some sweets around at least in the form of soap... .


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## galaxyMLP (Sep 27, 2015)

I made a spooky batch. I used the DFO in 3 sections (bottom section is 1/5th of the batter and has no extra color). My oil is Toasted Marshmallow from RE. My brand color is Jacksonville Jaguars teal.

Bottom layer: 1.5 oz DFO
Layer 2: 0.15 oz DFO, + teal (jungle green and saphire blue mica)
Layer 3: 0.05 oz DFO and teal

The top layers were supposed to come out smooth but did not. They swirled into each other. 

I called this soap "The Watery Grave"

Pic 1: soap after discolor (4 days)
Pic 2: soap top
Pic 3: Soap when cut
Pic 4: Logo


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## galaxyMLP (Oct 1, 2015)

Alright everyone sorry for delaying the results! Had to get a second opinion on how to announce them.
The results are in, and we have 3 people tied for first place! 

Tied for First Place we have:

Tvivian, with a Starbucks inspired soap
Lionprincess00, with a Hello Kitty inspired soap
newbie, with a Ferrari inspired soap

In Second Place:

dibbles, with a Martha Stewart inspired soap

In Third Place:

mintle, with a Lentilky inspired soap

Thank you so much to those that participated and thank you for dealing with my crazy rules! 
Congratulations to all of the winners!


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## mintle (Oct 1, 2015)

hahahaha! so happy to catch on the podium! congratulations to everyone and thank you for organizing this challenge!


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## Sonya-m (Oct 1, 2015)

Well done to the winners!!!

I will be posting the Oct challenge later today


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## Saponista (Oct 1, 2015)

Well done to all the winners. Fantastic entries from everyone! Can't wait for sonyas 's challenge now. I'm really excited as I've not tried the technique before.


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## gigisiguenza (Oct 1, 2015)

Congrats to the winners!


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## TheDragonGirl (Oct 1, 2015)

congratulations everyone!


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## commoncenz (Oct 1, 2015)

Very challenging challenge. Everyone did spectacularly! Congratulations to the well deserving winners!


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## snappyllama (Oct 1, 2015)

Congratulations everyone! Those were lovely soaps and seeing what yall came up with gives me great ideas for how to embrace the brown.


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## TwystedPryncess (Oct 1, 2015)

Congratulations everyone! We had gorgeous soaps out there!


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## dibbles (Oct 1, 2015)

I am floored and humbled to have gotten even one vote. There were so many lovely entries, and I thank you. Great job everyone, and this was a very fun challenge - big thank you to Galaxy.

If you will indulge me a little, I have a back story about this design. I lost my mom about a year and a half ago after a short illness. I love the combination of brown and blue (my challenge colors). My mom had an extreme love of dark chocolate (never milk chocolate) and beautiful blue eyes. She was also a talented knitter of Norwegian sweaters, and one of my favorites that she made was a brown/white/blue cardigan. So when I ordered my FO (before the challenge was even posted) I had something like this in mind, a soap of memories of her. So in my mind this soap is named Barbara Blue Eyes.


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## osso (Oct 1, 2015)

That's a wonderful tribute, dibbles. Your soap was beautiful and one of my favorites.


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## doriettefarm (Oct 1, 2015)

Really enjoyed reading about the inspiration for your soap dibbles.  My dad is a serious dark-chocoholic and I inherited that gene from him . . . my mom is a huge Martha Stewart fan so your entry got a vote from me!  Actually I was wishing everyone got 5 votes instead of 3 because it was a really tough choice this month!


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## newbie (Oct 1, 2015)

Dibbles, your soap is perfect and a perfect tribute to your mom. 

Wow, so many winners this month and a three way tie! It's very exciting and wonderful to be on this forum and in these challenge. Thanks and a huge congrats to everyone. This really is a great group of people.


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## TVivian (Oct 1, 2015)

Yay! I love ties! I love when everyone wins!! Thanks all


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## Dana89 (Oct 2, 2015)

Everyone did great! Congrats to the winners.:clap:


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## jules92207 (Oct 2, 2015)

Yea! So many winners! I love it! What a fun challenge, great job to everyone.


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## lionprincess00 (Oct 2, 2015)

The tribute was so lovely dibbles. Everyone's was wonderfu! Congratulations to all who participated and help make these challenges fun.


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## KristaY (Oct 2, 2015)

Thank you for sharing your story, dibbles. Such a lovely inspiration and tribute to your mom.

Congratulations to all the winners!!!! I didn't see a soap that wasn't fantastic so I'm thankful I didn't have to vote. It would have been tough! Great job everyone!


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## MrsSpaceship (Oct 2, 2015)

A big congratulations to the winners! 
So many beautiful soaps!


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## traderbren (Oct 2, 2015)

dibbles, that is a heart-warming story. Thank you so much for making me a bit teary-eyed this morning.

ETA: congratulations to all the winners!


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## annalee2003 (Oct 2, 2015)

Congratulations to all the winners (and those that participated as well!). 
Such beautiful soaps! You all have true talent.


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## CaraBou (Oct 4, 2015)

Congrats you guys, such beautiful soaps!  And nice story dibbles.


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