Column pour

[Vicki C]

I entered Amy Warden’s soap challenge for the first time this month - it was a column pour, which was new to me. I made a slab mold using a tutorial I found on YouTube out of corrugated plastic. I decided to make columns out of mini pull through cylinders which I made out of some plastic things I found in the plumbing department of a hardware store. That way the columns were integral to the design, rather than having to be removed. I created a flower around each column - I‘m pleased with the results, but have some tweaks I would make for the next round, which seems to be my constant refrain for every batch of soap I make!

 

[Tara_H]

Holy crap those are gorgeous! I saw one or two videos of people doing the challenge and I noted it as a curiosity, but I love how you've made the columns from something that forms part of the end soap! Mind blown here

 

[Vicki C]

Thank you! There are some technical flaws, for one the center seems to be separating from the flower petals, but I really like the way the petals look. I’m thinking it would be fun to make a more contrasting center - poppies are good inspirations. What if I made a lighter center?

or a dark center and lighter petals?

Endless possibilities!

 

[Zing]

A. Ma. Zing! In your first post, I immediately thought of poppies! Flowers make me happy. Soap makes me happy. This is overload!

 

[dibbles]

Beautiful! Congrats on your entry!

I've tried to make poppies using a column pour in my never ending quest to create an O'Keeffe-esque poppy image. I'd love to see how yours turns out if you try it.

 

[earlene]

View attachment 57893View attachment 57894

Gorgeous! If you want to save them as intended, I suggest you try the soap welding technique to rescue them. Add moisture to the area with the separation, dry the larger flat (face) surface with a cloth. Then tightly wrap in plastic food wrap (very tightly), and place on a lined baking sheet & heat in a 200° oven for 10 minutes (with oven on), then remove to allow to cool, remaining tightly wrapped for at least a day. (also don't poke & prod)

For that last photo you linked, it looks like ash maybe part of the problem (actually it may be for all of them) & it looks like you might be able to just pop the circle right out because of shrinkage. This would be a good one to test the soap welding technique with.

I would wash the soda ash (if that's what it is) off of the circular center after popping it out, by dipping it in extremely hot water, dry it gently with a towel. Then score the outer edges of the circle with a sharp knife, just to give it a bit of a rough edge. Do the same with the inner circular edges on the main bar. Then get those wet. And with a soap paste (you can make yourself) spread out on all the surfaces that will touch, put the circle back in the hold. Gently wipe away any excess & tightly wrap in plastic wrap. The plastic wrap serves the purpose of clamps, holding the pieces tight while the heat 'activates' the 'paste' and creates the 'weld'.

Making soap paste or soap glue for this purpose is easy. Just get soap wet and create a thick lather on the surface of the soap, scrape some surface gumminess off the bar with a fingernail or other implement & work it into the scored surfaces and/or into any crevices you want to fill and 'glue' the pieces together using the tight plastic wrap around the entire bar of soap. Then proceed as instructed for soap welding (heat + time, etc.)

PS, when I did my soap welding experiment in 2019, which I pictured in the Welded Soap challenge thread, it was soap that was a about a year old, but had been wrapped in plastic wrap the entire time, so although saponified, it had not lost all water making it fairly easy to weld. If I remember correctly, I believe I heated my soap longer than 10 minutes; it may have been 20 minutes. But the bar of soap did not melt and did maintain its shape. I let the soap remain in the plastic wrap for probably about a day, not toughing it while it cooled. I highly recommend this process it really works.

See these links for more detail on the technique:

https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/smf-july-2020-challenge-welded-soap.79925/http://www.fromgracetoyou.com/creatingsoapart/chapter10.pdf
Of course the poppies would be lovely, too, and I'd love to see what you do next.

 

[Vicki C]

Gorgeous! If you want to save them as intended, I suggest you try the soap welding technique to rescue them. Add moisture to the area with the separation, dry the larger flat (face) surface with a cloth. Then tightly wrap in plastic food wrap (very tightly), and place on a lined baking sheet & heat in a 200° oven for 10 minutes (with oven on), then remove to allow to cool, remaining tightly wrapped for at least a day. (also don't poke & prod)

For that last photo you linked, it looks like ash maybe part of the problem (actually it may be for all of them) & it looks like you might be able to just pop the circle right out because of shrinkage. This would be a good one to test the soap welding technique with.

I would wash the soda ash (if that's what it is) off of the circular center after popping it out, by dipping it in extremely hot water, dry it gently with a towel. Then score the outer edges of the circle with a sharp knife, just to give it a bit of a rough edge. Do the same with the inner circular edges on the main bar. Then get those wet. And with a soap paste (you can make yourself) spread out on all the surfaces that will touch, put the circle back in the hold. Gently wipe away any excess & tightly wrap in plastic wrap. The plastic wrap serves the purpose of clamps, holding the pieces tight while the heat 'activates' the 'paste' and creates the 'weld'.

Making soap paste or soap glue for this purpose is easy. Just get soap wet and create a thick lather on the surface of the soap, scrape some surface gumminess off the bar with a fingernail or other implement & work it into the scored surfaces and/or into any crevices you want to fill and 'glue' the pieces together using the tight plastic wrap around the entire bar of soap. Then proceed as instructed for soap welding (heat + time, etc.)

PS, when I did my soap welding experiment in 2019, which I pictured in the Welded Soap challenge thread, it was soap that was a about a year old, but had been wrapped in plastic wrap the entire time, so although saponified, it had not lost all water making it fairly easy to weld. If I remember correctly, I believe I heated my soap longer than 10 minutes; it may have been 20 minutes. But the bar of soap did not melt and did maintain its shape. I let the soap remain in the plastic wrap for probably about a day, not toughing it while it cooled. I highly recommend this process it really works.

See these links for more detail on the technique:

https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/smf-july-2020-challenge-welded-soap.79925/http://www.fromgracetoyou.com/creatingsoapart/chapter10.pdf
Of course the poppies would be lovely, too, and I'd love to see what you do next.

Thank you! What great advice. Really appreciate it. I wish I had done all that before I entered it, but I was running out of time (of course). And struggling with my OPW entry for SMF. But I’ll try out your suggestions and post an update, in a bit.

Beautiful! Congrats on your entry!

I've tried to make poppies using a column pour in my never ending quest to create an O'Keeffe-esque poppy image. I'd love to see how yours turns out if you try it.

Thanks so much! I’ll send an update if I make another attempt.

 

[amd]

This is gorgeous! I've never done a column pour. It's been one on my list for trying and possibly as an SMF Challenge.

 

[Vicki C]

This is gorgeous! I've never done a column pour. It's been one on my list for trying and possibly as an SMF Challenge.

Thank you! And yes SMF challenge! (Thinks to self, “then I will have a reason to keep fooling around with column pour ideas...” )

 

[AliOop]

These are amazing! You are so creative,Vicki

 

[SPowers]

Mind blown... just gorgeous!

 

[dcornett]

Wow!! I think they turned out fantastic!!

 

[SPowers]

"For that last photo you linked, it looks like ash maybe part of the problem (actually it may be for all of them) & it looks like you might be able to just pop the circle right out because of shrinkage. This would be a good one to test the soap welding technique with. "

I wonder if you could do a 'reverse' pour?? Put empty columns in the mold and fill the mold but not the columns and once set fil the centre?? Sounds feasible but not within my expertise.

 

[dibbles]

I wonder if you could do a 'reverse' pour?? Put empty columns in the mold and fill the mold but not the columns and once set fil the centre??

Yes you can - it's one way to do a negative space technique

http://teachsoap.com/2015/03/04/over-the-rainbow-cold-process/

 

[SPowers]

Oooo, I've never seen this before! Thanks... love the idea!

 

[Cat&Oak]

Wow! That is stunning!

 

[user 29214]

Very impressive!!

 

[Peachy Clean Soap]

WOW' Your Column Pour Is BREATHTAKING .

 

[RoseéMatinale]

WOW, absolutely amazing!

 

[ResolvableOwl]

Yes you can - it's one way to do a negative space technique

http://teachsoap.com/2015/03/04/over-the-rainbow-cold-process/

Hrm, intermediate amazement. It's just a plain ol' Lollipop swirl, just that the mould is made of soap too.