Browsing soap pics

[newbie]

Tops for today.

 

[newbie]

I need a bit of cheer today!

 

[newbie]

More yellow, my favorite.

 

[newbie]

My two favorite entries from this last month's GCSC.

Penny used high and low water, which of course endears me to her soap right away! I'm a big fan of that technique. She also used salt to get the snowflake effect. Auntie Clara is a very influential soaper.

https://www.pinterest.com/chickenp/soap-challenge-club-february-2016/

Claudia had some precision work going on. I think she poured then used the cardboard cutouts she made to shape the layers, although how she got such good trees pulling a form through batter- astonishing. I would love to know what the trace was when she did that. THe only other way I see that working so well is to pull the soap out of the mold and then use a single thin wire on a cutter and running that along the outline of the form, placed on both ends of the soap, as a cutting guide. What do you think?

http://omnomsoap.blogspot.com/2016/02/winter-wonderland.html

 

[Saponista]

I'm also stunned by Claudio's precision work. It's amazing. I feel the need to have a go at a design theme soap as I haven't made anything like that for a long time. I did toy with entering that challenge for that very reason, but winter wonderland didn't really inspire me.

 

[newbie]

Claudia said she did take her cardboard forms and ran them over the poured batter once the trace was right. It left the shape behind and then she did each layer. I have done shaping before the next pour with indents but I wouldn't have guessed that the tree shape would come through. Her use of engineering with soaping is fun to watch, much like people who do the "architectural" type soaps, as I call them.

For today:

 

[Sonya-m]

Those winter wonderland soaps were amazing!!

Just spotted this one in a fb group



I think I like the top section on its own more than the bottom layers

 

[penelopejane]

Amazing swirls and colours from "Handmade in Florida":

 

[penelopejane]

Oh Nooooo!

I've been slogging away at making a night sky with a bit of land at the bottom and a moon and stars. Two attempts so far and some practice ones. And then you show me that perfect soap from Claudia!

Boy, oh boy, do I have a long way to go. :cry::cry:

Newby,
Regarding the snowy winter's night one. I think Claudia put the tree on later with charcoal.
Reading the description she says: "I ended up adding a charcoal tree, the cedar wood EO just called for it to be woodsy".

What do you think?

 

[CaraBou]

Those are two stunning soaps deserving of wins. Claudia's trace must have been quite thick. Could she also have cleaned up the tree edges after they hardened (i.e. after pulling the forms horizontally through the stiff batter)? The trees are so uniform and crisp, it's hard to imagine how to get that, especially in multiple bars.

ETA: Penelope, that was Penny that stamped in her charcoal tree. Claudia's is the other.

 

[penelopejane]

Those are two stunning soaps deserving of wins. Claudia's trace must have been quite thick. Could she also have cleaned up the tree edges after they hardened (i.e. after pulling the forms horizontally through the stiff batter)? The trees are so uniform and crisp, it's hard to imagine how to get that, especially in multiple bars.

ETA: Penelope, that was Penny that stamped in her charcoal tree. Claudia's is the other.

Hi Carabou,
Thank you for explaining.

Oh my goodness! Claudia's soap! I clicked on the link to Claudia's soap and understand now. Wow, wow, wow.

I see why mine aren't quite as good.
:mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen:

 

[newbie]

I don't know how she could have cleaned up too much. It would be difficult to get in that tight space and then not gouge something or knock a tree off. I was wondering about the trace she did that at as well; I can see how she got the hills and everything else, but getting those trees done so well is pretty amazing. Trace must be pretty thick but how thick? That's what I want to know! I was also wondering how she managed all the excess soap that would come up as she pulled the forms through. DId she stop and spoon it off? Did she pull to the end? Pulling all the way through would result in an awful lot of scraped off soap- seems like it would be pretty messy.

Yep, the tree is a stamp. She shows her pre-stamped soap in other pictures.

Interested use of texture!

 

[penelopejane]

Newby
She must make a lot of confetti soap. I guess a few of the cakes might not show perfect trees!
It would have to be a very thick trace to hold those trees up. You would need maybe a thick acetate card that wouldn't bend. But those trees are black and you would have to be so careful not to leave black on the sides of the mold. Although maybe she just cuts the edges off all round you could do this in a big mold and cut off a fair bit to clean it up. More confetti!!

Do you think she waits for the other layers to set hard before pouring to nest.

 

[newbie]

She shows her mold and it's not much bigger, if at all, than her bars. The shapers may do a good job of scraping the sides of the mold clean as well. I would throw out the scraped out soap, to be honest.

I agree trace would have to be thick but how thick exactly? At a certain point, it might be too thick to successfully get the shaper through. She had to make a fair few of these because she's sending them in for the swap and my guess is that she wouldn't send in crappy tree soaps for that. I bet they all look pretty good. Don't know for sure though. I don't think the prior layer would have to set up hard before the next went it. The batter must already be thick to shape it and that is probably enough to hold the next layer, gently poured without changing the shape of the prior layer. I wonder if she does it in one batch or if she splits it. With her recipe, she may just go to emulsion and split off each layer, SB to thicker trace, pour, shape, then pour off her next amount for the next layer. I know exactly how my luck would run for that!

I saw these some time ago and I love the humor that goes into them.

 

[penelopejane]

I do know how my soap would go because I've tried to make a soap like this (I thought I was being original!!!) and my layers are pathetic and it's a juggling act to get one layer pourable but set enough to pour the next. If her pale purple layer was too thick she'd get air bubbles or knock the trees over. She is a very skilled and careful soaper. Kudos to her. I love it.

The carrots are so cute. I went to a restaurant in England and the dessert was exactly like that, but edible, of course. Lovely memories. I just showed DH and he's worried I'll try and recreated restaurant meals we've had in soap! He knows the trauma of landscape soaps, poor thing.

 

[newbie]

The person considered this a botch- going for swirls- but the top looks positively edible.

 

[newbie]

Sunday. Goodbye weekend.

 

[newbie]

I love the art deco feeling of this soap.

 

[newbie]

Says it's a salt bar. That is the most unique salt bar I've ever seen!

 

[newbie]

This looks so luscious to me. I love that mango/yellow color.