May 2017 Challenge Entry Thread

It's time!

Please post at least one picture of one bar of your entry. Any info you wish to share regarding method, colorants, FO/EO is always appreciated.

No comments please, just entries. If you wish to comment, please use the other thread.

I did not the greatest effect with just the tipping of the mold so I improvised making the background more interesting. I tried to make my cells look like storm clouds breaking up. I poured natural, white, and Diamond Zirconia batter into a dixie cup, did one bare sweep around and poured it by drips onto my freezer paper. I had to do a few layers to get them thick enough to use.

I used black, Storm, Polished Silver, a Polished Silver mix and just a hair of white batter for the base. I rolled the mold back flat and then back and forth a touch. In the end, I had to manipulate it more to get it looking stormy and not just lined. The cells were larger than I had anticipated but it looked okay.

Cells were unfragranced. I used Fifty Shades mixed with Lychee Red Tea for the base.

In direct sunlight, the natural batter in the clouds looked yellowed and kind of dirty, so I took pictures in indirect light, which always looks a bit bluer. This is without any photoshopping though.

The second to last picture is the base with one cell laid on it and the last picture is wet in the mold after the cells were laid out.

100% lard scented with "blooms and berries." I didn't scent the embeds and the colors came out extremely light (then became translucent after CPOP). I only used a 1# mold, which made swirling very interesting.

Here's my entry. I don't have a theme or name for it -- I'm just glad I got it done!

Recipe:
Coconut Oil ... 15.0%
Sunflower high oleic ... 25.0%
Lard ... 60.0%
33% lye concentration
dual lye -- 95% NaOH and 5% KOH
batter temps ranged from 95 deg F to 115 F
CPOP: preheat oven to 145 F, put soap in, and turn oven off
scent: Bottom layer is NG Honeysuckle at 5% (modest acceleration). No scent in the top layer and cells.
colorants: Nothing in the bottom layer. Top layer and cells: ultramarine blue, chromium oxide green, black iron oxide, red iron oxide, ultramarine violet, titanium dioxide, annatto seed extract (yellow)

I used an absolute minimum amount of stick blending to get the soap barely emulsified. That was both bad and good.

The bad: I had the devil of a time making the cells -- the batter was just mixing into a muddy mess. In desperation, I tried doing a mini version of an in-the-pot swirl by using a soup spoon as my "pot" and putting small dribs and drabs of soap batter into the spoon, then pouring the batter from the spoon onto a cookie sheet covered in plastic food wrap. That worked better.

The good: My slab mold could have been bigger for better swirling of the top layer, but it worked okay because the batter was so runny. It's absolutely crucial to use batter that is very thin and flowable to make this technique work. I got at least 20 minutes of working time -- plenty of time to get the cells made and plenty of time to get the layer swirled and the cells embedded.

I set the cells into the batter so the edges were slightly submerged. That hid the less-than-perfect edges on many of my cells -- they were difficult to remove from the food wrap, so many ended up chipped. I also hoped this would make the cells look a little like rocks breaking through the water of a running stream. (How's that for making lemonade out of lemons? )

Photo 1: slab before it is cut
Photo 2: closeup of the texture from the embedded cells
Photo 3: group photo of cut bars
Photo 4: single cut bar

My colors did not turn out like they were supposed to. I was supposed to have orange and white cells but they turned pink! My background is brown, black and yellow, I was going for the colors of fire and planned to use my Dragons Blood, but in the spirit of keeping things fluid I used Spanish Fly from MO instead, it is a real slow mover and I knew I would need that. I used the recipe Kchaystack posted.

I did this in 3 batches, the first layer I did a red and yellow swirl, laid some cells on it, came back later with a white layer and more cells on top of that, then I did the last layer and saved my best cells for the top I was able to pour just like on the video and then for a bit more swirling effect I put a turntable under the mold and slowly spun it a couple times. Of course I had to do glitter because....well, because I love glitter....don't judge me! And I may have gone a little over the top on the cells. I ended up with so many and I still have a bunch left!

So, I wasn't going to do this challenge, as the technique never really interested me much. After watching the demo, and seeing the end result looking so much like planets in some far off galaxy, I saw this as more of an art technique. I saw in my head Tattoine, with it's twin suns, and the domed buildings of the water farm. So, rather than going for the free-form, organic swirls, I mapped out my plan and used the technique for my own purposes. I focused my Tattoine on the "top" row. The batter was fluid enough for what I was doing, but probably should have been looser, if I were going to do anything more dramatic.

Once I had suns in the sky and domes half buried in the sand, I laid out the remaining cells any old way. I only included the Tattoine bars below. Should I add a picture of the remaining bars? I like them, too, but not as much as these.

The blue is Caribbean Blue from BB, white is Kaolin clay, and the sand is turmeric and cocoa powder. The suns are very faint, I know, but have a similar pattern to the domed buildings. The colored batter for those was Mango Tango. The domes are colored with AC. I used lemongrass this time.

I don't know that it really fits the spirit of the challenge, but I am very happy with the result. I will probably try the fluid technique again, but without cells. I like the way those waves and whorls look without the cells placed on top

My idea was to use the cells as agates. Not so much the result, but still stones. The colors I used were NS Bronze Brown, Satin Gold, and Winter White, MM Satin Penny and Magic Beans, and activated charcoal for the black. The yellow in the base color is a result of using unrefined avocado oil. The first picture is of three bars, the second is of the whole batch, the third is of one bar (I wasn't sure if a picture of just one bar was required so I put it in). The last two pictures are of the base after pouring and tilting the mold and shows the alcohol drops on the top, and of the soap with the cells in place before cutting.

Alright, I manage to make a batch this weekend, although is a small one.

I used OO, Castor, coconut, and Valencia oranges EO.

I am going to call my entry neonsplosion LOL! I thought it was only fitting to use the mad oils neon micas for my entry as KC was the one who kindly organised getting them to the UK for me as you can't buy them over here. I scented the soap with a sour apple fragrance which accellerates a bit as the colours remind me of brightly coloured sour bubblegum. I wish I had had poured the cells smaller as I think it would have looked better and I ended up with a few that were too big to use. I really enjoyed this technique though and will definitely try it again.I also struggled to pour my base layer in stripes and get it to blend as the fragrance accelerates so quickly so I ended up swirling it around to make it look more interesting!

My Faux Fluid Acrylic Soap entry is a Dual Lye Castile with 50% pomace and 50% regular OO. I added White Tea & Ginger FO to the oil prior to mixing in the lye solution. Also added: EDTA. The colorants used: TD and micas from Steph's Micas & More: Bodacious Blue Neon; Cosmic Purple; Silver Graphite; Light Blue; Sunflower Yellow; Apple Green; Hunter Green; Orange Coral; Peak Green.

It is a triple layer soap, with the first layer flipped over so the top when poured became the bottom of the finished soap. The collage below shows the different layers as well as the wafer/cells I made the same day I made the first layer. The second layer has the wafers/cells with orange, whereas the third top layer has the wafers/cells with the blues, purple & white. The top layer is in shades of green and yellow and a bit of orange.

http://cdn.soapmakingforum.com/images/2/0/8/4/9/faux-fluid-acrylic-collage---2017may26-1639.jpg
This is my entry bar:

http://cdn.soapmakingforum.com/imag...ylic-pour---square-bar-a---2017may26-1640.jpg

Thank you for this challenge, KC. It was fun and educational.

Before we start, may I suggest some background music?

Background music:
1. Space oddity by Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, film recorded on board International Space Station
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaOC9danxNo[/ame]

2. Space oddity by David Bowie
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYMCLz5PQVw[/ame]

3. Life on Mars? by David Bowie
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v--IqqusnNQ[/ame]

4. Starman by David Bowie
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sI66hcu9fIs[/ame]

5. Ziggy stardust by David Bowie
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8sdsW93ThQ[/ame]

6. Loving the alien by David Bowie
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOaqDEjxQAU[/ame]

7. Man on the moon by R.E.M.
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgR7mQlus4k[/ame]

Uh, ok, I'll stop here. It's a shame that Bowie is gone and R.E.M. disbanded. Wish I was born earlier so I can enjoy their music more.


My inspiration is an educational photo of solar system. Please notice the planet are not that true to scale. And you might have to squint a little, or take off your glasses or contact lenses. Then squint a little more.
"This is Major Tom to Ground Control
I'm stepping through the door
And I'm floating in a most peculiar way
And the stars look very different today
For here
Am I sitting in a tin can
Far above the world
Planet Earth is blue
And there's nothing I can do "
Then you can see Mercury, Venus, Earth,Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune in the soap mold.
Scented with tomato leaf FO.
The cells are 8 planets of solar system. The fluid acrylic pour is the outer space. I kind of use a blow dryer to manipulate the top swirl a bit. Saw it on acrylic art video. Not quite sure what it's called. And I put some mica and use a gadget which blows camera lens to create some blast. This is 4 batches of soap in total.


Fun fact:
1.
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rp1Mgbu4H3o[/ame]

@02:38~3:05

According to Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield says "space smells a little bit like being on the shooting range,sort of lingering gun powder cordite smell. Maybe a little bit like rimstone, that's what space smells like. "Show host: " remnants of the Big Bang, I guess. " But it's a shame I don't live in USA in order to get gunpowder FO shipped in time. Hahaha!!!


[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBIT5ST68co[/ame]

Some describe it smells like burned steak or gun powder. But in space you got nasal congestion.

2. "Ever since the discovery of Pluto in 1930, kids grew up learning about the nine planets of our solar system. That all changed starting in the late 1990s, when astronomers began to argue about whether Pluto was a planet. In a highly controversial decision, the International Astronomical Union ultimately decided in 2006 to call Pluto a "dwarf planet," reducing the list of "real planets" in our solar system to eight.
However, astronomers are now hunting for another planet in our solar system, a true ninth planet, after evidence of its existence was unveiled on Jan. 20, 2016. The so-called "Planet Nine," as scientists are calling it, is about 10 times the mass of Earth and 5,000 times the mass of Pluto. [The Evidence for 'Planet Nine' in Our Solar System (Gallery) "

Quoted from

www.space.com/16080-solar-system-planets.html

When I was a kid, the textbook said there are 9 planets in solar system. When I was not in school anymore, the news said that Pluto is not a planet, it's a Dwarf Planet.

By the time I wrap it up then I found the space.com. And I double check NASA and it says it's hypothetical "Planet X" ( planet nine from above site. Uh. Very cool. Learned a new thing today. Let's pretend Planet X is outside of my soap box. ( until it got a name, maybe? )

https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/



This is way, way beyond my skill level. But I have fun playing! Thanks KC & usual host members!

OK sorry to be late - I fell asleep list night pretty early. Entries are closed. I will set up voting and people who entered will get the password for the survey soon.

We got one more vote - but I do not want to hold up Saponista. So with 10 out of 11 responces:

We have a 3 way tie!!! The winners on the no-prize this month are:

DeeAnna
artemis
dibbles


Second place is earlene

Third place is cherrycoke216


Congrats to everyone!

Congrats you guys! Seem I am always last ....

I hope one day I can rise to the level of you all. !

SunRiseArts said:

Congrats you guys! Seem I am always last ....

I hope one day I can rise to the level of you all. !

Click to expand...

No, you ROCK! You owls are so COOL and it takes another higher skill set! I could never come up with fascinating feather color like that, smooth M&P pour like that ( mines are full of bubbles and forms a "skin" like hot milk ) I want to grow up and be like you!

earlene said:

My Faux Fluid Acrylic Soap entry is a Dual Lye Castile with 50% pomace and 50% regular OO. I added White Tea & Ginger FO to the oil prior to mixing in the lye solution. Also added: EDTA. The colorants used: TD and micas from Steph's Micas & More: Bodacious Blue Neon; Cosmic Purple; Silver Graphite; Light Blue; Sunflower Yellow; Apple Green; Hunter Green; Orange Coral; Peak Green.

It is a triple layer soap, with the first layer flipped over so the top when poured became the bottom of the finished soap.

Click to expand...

I am adding these photos for the record since the photo links no longer work from the old website host:

First photo collage

The collage below shows the different layers as well as the wafer/cells I made the same day I made the first layer. The second layer has the wafers/cells with orange, whereas the third top layer has the wafers/cells with the blues, purple & white. The top layer is in shades of green and yellow and a bit of orange.

http://cdn.soapmakingforum.com/images/2/0/8/4/9/faux-fluid-acrylic-collage---2017may26-1639.jpg

Click to expand...

Below was my entry bar of soap:

This is my entry bar:

http://cdn.soapmakingforum.com/imag...ylic-pour---square-bar-a---2017may26-1640.jpg

Thank you for this challenge, KC. It was fun and educational.

Click to expand...