Entry Thread for July 2020 SMF Challenge: Welded Soap

[earlene]

This is the Entry Thread for the July 2020 SMF Challenge: Welded Soap. This thread is limited to challenge entries only. Post all comments in the original challenge thread here: SMF July 2020 Challenge - Welded Soap.

Please post your entry soap photos here. You may post as many photos of your entry as you like. If you post more than one photo, please put the one you would like to be used for the voting survey first. You are welcome and encouraged to include any details you would like to share regarding the creation of your entry, such as technique, design inspiration, fragrance, recipe notes, etc.

The entry thread and challenge sign up will remain open until July 29, 2020 at 5:59 am GMT (which is . A link and the password for voting at Survey Monkey will then be sent to all members who signed up for the challenge. Voting will be open from July 29 to Aug 1, 2020 - voting will end at 3 am GMT on Aug 1 (which is 9 pm July 31st CT) and the winner will be announced on soon thereafter. There is no prize attached to this challenge.


Good luck everyone!

 

[bookreader451]

I will break the ice and for better or worse I am submitting my entry. I kept it fairly simple and poured three colors for an hombre purple. I wanted to use a lilac FO I knew accelerated so I figured this would be a good opportunity. I cut each color into three bars. For the first set of three I used puzzle pieces and the other two attempts were angled cut. The checker board is the extra pieces left after cutting the bars. I managed to get six bars to stick and I was delighted I managed one! I really like the effect of the soap but, it is definitely a technique that requires patience and time. I will used the 40# of soap curls I generated
for something lol.

 

[MarnieSoapien]

I gave a lot of thought to this challenge and came up with the idea of using a cookie cutter to make my pieces as close to each other as possible. This snail cookie cutter worked nicely. My plan was to use individual molds to help keep the sizes consistent. My batter thickened up on me and the pink soaps I had poured broke when I tried to get them out of the mold. So, I ended up with purple and white (blackberry mica and TD) scented with Rose and Lavender FO. Because what snail doesn't love roses and lavender?

 

[glendam]

I decided to try making a chess board with this technique, since it had been in my soap idea list for a while. Originally, it was for a soap inspired in the story of "Through the Looking Glass". I think my recipe and colorants hindered the results though, so only a handful of bars actually stayed glued together. It was an interesting concept though, and I might try it again in the future.
I managed to finish editing the video, here is the link:

 

[szaza]

I'm really glad I gave this challenge a try, the soaps came out better than I expected.
I poured 3 different colors in my loaf mold, divided by a piece of cardboard to create 3 +-equal sized bars. I then cut the 3 bars up and put them back together, squeezing them really tightly back into the mold, again separated by cardboard.
My pieces weren't very equal and I was afraid they wouldn't stick, so I set the oven to 200C and waited until all the soap was clearly gelling. I let everything cool down and cleaned up the next day. There are still some holes in the back of the soaps, but by far not as many as I expected.

The colorants are frozen spinach, tomato puree and onion skin tea (that somehow turned light pink). The scent is an EO blend called 'fallen' from eocalc, a floral blend that contains petitgrain, ylang ylang, lavander and bergamot.

 

[artemis]

I wasn't going to enter because the challenge didn't match up with my soaping plans. Then, as I cut my bars, one broke and I had an idea-- can you use this method to "weld" broken soap back together? And THEN I thought of the Japanese art, kintsugi, in which broken pottery is put back together, highlighting the breaks with gold.

I deliberately broke a couple of the bars. I mixed mica into water and painted the broken edges. Then, followed the instructions in one of the videos. I'm glad I didn't try wrapping in saran, though, because I fell asleep and didn't hear the timer go off.

I was concerned that the addition of mica at the seam might make it weak there, but so far it seems to be holding (maybe due to cooking longer?). I haven't tried using one yet.

Anyway, here they are. I am out of gold mica, so I used purple and green. I also planed the faces with a kitchen knife to clean them up a little. I only did 2 bars-- the pictures show fronts and backs.

 

[earlene]

The entry window is now closed. The link to the voting at Survey Monkey and the password will be sent out to those who signed up within the next few minutes. Voting is open for the next 3 days and the winner will be announced at closing or when all have voted, if that occurs prior to Aug 1, 2020 at 3 am GMT (which is 10 pm CT on July 31st - sorry if I got that wrong previously - I hope I have it right now.)



Good luck to all who entered. Lovely entries, everyone!


OOOPS! My mistake! I got the times mixed up! The entry window is NOT yet closed. PLEASE DISREGARD that link. I have disabled it!

Entries can still be submitted until approximately 1 am CT July 29th or 6 am GMT July 29th.
I am terrible with this time zone stuff! I am sorry for jumping the gun! I thought I was late, and here I am early. So sorry.

Please submit more entries, folks!

 

[goat soap rulz!]

Wow! You guys these are beautiful! Really nice job!

 

[Anstarx]

I think I bit off more than I can chew with this one but anyway here's my attempt at a tangram soap.
I made 7 square molds out of legos, lined them with plastic bags. Divided my batch into 7 colors and poured. I definitely underestimated how hard it was to cut a straight line let alone geometric shapes. Out of the 600g oil batch only this one survived and look decent.
This is actually my first time getting glycerin river as well since I soap with lower temp. It looked kinda neat, like actual glue lol.

 

[earlene]

Now the entry window is closed.

The link for voting and password will go out to all participants within a few minutes.

Voting is open until Aug 1, 2020 at 3 am GMT (which is 10 pm CT on July 31st). The winners will be announced immediately thereafter unless all votes are in beforehand, in which case the winners may be announced sooner.

Thank you to all who participated and good luck to all who entered.

 

[earlene]

And the winners are:

1st place: Szaza
2nd place: MarnieSopien
and tied for 3rd place:
bookreader451
and
Anstarx

Congratulations and thank you for participating!