ENTRY THREAD for July 2024 SMF Challenge - Woodgrain Designs

[dibbles]

The Entry thread for the July 2024 SMF Soap Challenge is now open!

As a reminder, this entry thread is for challenge entries only. All comments or non-entry photos should to the general challenge thread, here.

The first photo in your entry thread post will be used as the entry photo for voting, and must show the cut face of least two bars from the same loaf or slab. Your entry post may also include additional photos and information about your design, process, fragrance or inspiration. Please refer to the competition rules in the general challenge thread if you have any questions about the challenge requirements. All entries are subject to these deadlines:

* The entry thread will close on July 27 at 11:59 PM GMT.
* The voting survey link and password will be emailed to all registered participants shortly thereafter.
* The voting survey will remain open until July 30 at 11:59 PM GMT, or until all registrants have voted, whichever is sooner.
* The winner will be announced by July 31 by 11:59 PM GMT.

Good luck everyone!

 

[Tammyfarms]

I used a technique similar to the I Dream In Soap tutorial. Some of my batter traced a bit quicker than I would have liked so the layers aren’t as consistent as they could be. For colors, I used natural, chocolate brown mica, cocoa powder (because I ran out of chocolate brown mica) and red oxide mica. The soap is scented with Flow blend from EOCalc at 4% with Cedarwood added at 5%. The result is mostly lemon, I really can’t pick up on the lavender or cedar. It’s actually really nice and I’m hoping it sticks. It’s always fun to cut these designs as the bars are all unique.

 

[SideDoorSoaps]

I had the craziest result when I cut my bars! It’s like I had the top not gel and the bottom gelled because the top was more of a reddish color and the bottom was dark brown. The

colorant I used was walnut hull powder in two different ratios and a blend of eucalyptus and cedarwood for my Mt. Fresh Soap. I really liked the side edges because it makes me think of 2x4s and seeing the wood grain there. And the top when I poured/before I cut it made me think of burls texture. This pour was probably my best wood grain pour ever. The batter was pretty fluid and as some points I thought the layers would blend together and blur. I wasn’t sure about my knots but they came out! I’m pleased with this batch for sure. I think next time I may add some activated charcoal to one of the ratios to get a little deeper color. Some bars are completely different coloring on the back and fronts.

 

[Ford]

Hi, here is my entry. Way better than my first time. Lol.

Used mad micas, king tut gold, poppy cock brown, oyster black. Gilded amber from rustic essentials. For fragrance. Bought a tub of walmart tallow shortening. To test out. Worked well. But was fast to trace.

Not sure where the white spots came from. But thats conversation for another time. Thanks for looking.

 

[justsomeguy]

My attempt at wood grain. Made with tumeric infused HO sunflower oil and a uncolored HO sunflower oil batch. Soap made up of 70% tumeric infused batter and 30% plain. Did an I'm the pot swirl kinda thing this time. Both scented with oatmeal milk and honey by rustic essentials (no vanillin content).

This is what the top looked like:

Pardon my soda ash. When I do this again it'll be a 60/40 split on the batter.

 

[ackosel]

My husband makes chainsaw carvings, and I wanted to replicate the blueing in some of the logs he uses. For the colorants I used cocoa powder, turmeric powder and activated charcoal. I left some of the batter plain for a 4th color. It is scented with fir needle, lemongrass, rosemary and peppermint essential oils. The soap went through gel phase.

Last picture shows some blueing in the stump of a chainsaw carving.

Edited for accidentally posting the same picture twice, and again to resize the pictures because I am technologically illiterate.

 

[Vicki C]

Here’s my entry for the July challenge - wood grain soap! I use a watering can to make my wood grain soap, there’s a photo somewhere in this forum. This soap is scented with balsam cedar from WSP and Terra from Scent Memory. I love Balsam Cedar, but it does accelerate a bit. I’m not sure about Terra, it has kind of a camphor smell to it. I used just two colors, brown iron oxide and uncolored. I think those are stearic spots, but some of them look like bubbles. Anywho, I specialize in imperfections.
Great challenge @dibbles ! I love wood grain soap and needed to make more.

 

[dibbles]

As a reminder, this thread is for entry pictures only. Please keep all comments in the general challenge thread until after the winners are announced.

 

[Zuleika]

Submitting my dismal entry of some rotting old looking wood.

Brown base with orange, yellow and u colored accents. No FOs.

 

[VikingChick]

Here we go - this was attempt #1 of three. I do like the colors! I used a mixture of FOs - approximately one part Hemp from CS to four parts OMH from BB. Since the OMH discolors to brown, I left 1/3 of my batter without any extra coloring. To 1/3 I added a little titanium dioxide, and to 1/3 I added a little more titanium dioxide. I wanted to add a green accent with mica in oil (MM Andy the Money), but I ended up with more than I should’ve used. All in all, though, it turned out….ok.

 

[DeeBeeSNJ]

Entry for wood soaps-
I used the one pot method and brought my soap to a very light trace. I poured side to side pretty fast, the loaf was on an angle.
My colors are earth tones. Brown, terracotta, drizzles of gold and a touch of green. I left the remainder of soap batter natural and allowed the orange clove fragrance by NG to discolor to a cream. My soap began to thicken up at the very end of the pour.
I cut them random according to pattern in the loaf. To create different size blocks of wood. I loved doing these bars and am excited to experiment more!

 

[Dee Jones]

Here we go - this was attempt #1 of three. I do like the colors! I used a mixture of FOs - approximately one part Hemp from CS to four parts OMH from BB. Since the OMH discolors to brown, I left 1/3 of my batter without any extra coloring. To 1/3 I added a little titanium dioxide, and to 1/3 I added a little more titanium dioxide. I wanted to add a green accent with mica in oil (MM Andy the Money), but I ended up with more than I should’ve used. All in all, though, it turned out….ok.
View attachment 78353

 

[ScentimentallyYours]

Red Sandalwood and Cedar woodgrain soap. Created with my vegan Shea/sunflower/soy wax recipe in the SMF soap calculator. Scented with Mysore Sandalwood FO from Oregon Trails and Atlas Cedarwood EO from Camden-Grey. Colored with micas from NS (now Nurture Handmade), dark to light: Mocha, Magic Mushroom, Fire Cider, and Copper Penny.

Soap with red sandalwood powder in the foreground. I am hoping that for the next challenge, I don’t wait until 6 o’clock the night before the deadline to make the soap. There was no chance for a do over!

Thank you @dibbles for choosing the wood grain method for this challenge. I will have to practice because I would like to use the woodgrain technique to sculpt Autoharp soap for the music festival next year. You helped me get a head start on the process.

 

[dibbles]

The Entry Thread is now closed. It has turned into a busier weekend than I thought it would be, but I should be able to get the voting survey ready in the morning. But really, everyone is a winner. Great job everyone!

 

[dibbles]

Voting is now closed, and congratulations to

tied for first place ackosel and DeeBeeSNJ
second place VikingChick
third place Ford

The votes were very close - you all did an amazing job!

 

[VikingChick]

Oh my gosh - thank you guys! Congratulations to all the winners!

 

[ackosel]

Wowie, thank you! All the soaps looked amazing. It was fun to be a part of a challenge with all of you. I just can't say enough about how kind and supportive everyone here is. You are a great group to "be around".

 

[DeeBeeSNJ]

Voting is now closed, and congratulations to

tied for first place ackosel and DeeBeeSNJ
second place VikingChick
third place Ford

The votes were very close - you all did an amazing job!

Thank you so much everyone! It means a lot to me. Congratulations to all who entered, learned a new technique and the winners of the challenge!

 

[Ford]

Hi, always fun, always learning. Everyones design are awesome! Thanks again.

 

[Tammyfarms]

Congratulations to the winners! A new technique for me and one I will likely use again. Thank you @dibbles for a fun challenge!