Entry thread for the November Challenge - Rainbows

[szaza]

This is the entry thread for the November 2021 SMF Challenge - Rainbows.

Please include a photo of at least 2 bars of soap from your batch with minimum 5 colors (black and white are allowed, but don’t count for your 5 colors). You may include multiple bars in your entry photo, but all must be from the same batch. Please post the photo you wish to be used in the voting survey as your FIRST photo. If you would care to share anything about your design, process, colors, fragrance or inspiration, please do.

This entry thread is for entry photos only. Please post any comments on the general challenge thread.

After the closing date on November 27 at 11:59 PM GMT the winning entry will be chosen using Survey Monkey. Voting will be open from November 27-29 and the winner will be announced on November 30.

Good luck and I can't wait to see your rainbows!

 

[Martha]

Hi all,
So excited to enter my first soap challenge! My entry is my 2nd attempt at this technique. I was so concerned about the batter thickening up on my first attempt that I poured it when it was too thin. The 3rd photo is from that batch. The 2nd batch was a little too thick, but I got the result I was after. The technique is based on a soap that Oh Yvonne has on YouTube. She makes it look so easy, while I had batter flying in every direction.

It’s done with dividers, and then pouring the colors down the wall. The warm colors down one end, and the cool colors from the other end. This makes the “loops” going in different directions.

I scented my batch with Black Tie fo from WS, which is supposed to decelerate trace. I'm actually happy with both batches. Thanks for this challenge. It definitely got me to work out of my comfort zone.

 

[Peachy Clean Soap]

WISH UPON A RAINBOW

My soap was a two step process' I first poured my 1st batch, bottom layer then I poured my layers of colors assuring each layer was semi set before pouring next layer. The next Day I carved off all extra soap around rainbow design & saved it for confetti for bottom & top for second pour. I only wanted the Rainbow design.
2nd Day & layers I made my second batch of soap for bottom & top layer's, I added confetti SB real well & add'ed color to each, to give color definition effect for a cloud effect, I poured bottom layer then when it was semi set I placed rainbow design soap at an angle on top of confetti lite blue bottom layer, I then added more color & confetti to top layer SB real well & poured it over both layers tell mold was full. colors used: neon blue' peacock, yellow, green, coral / dark red. It's scented in Hardwood Musk in all layers.
Thank you

 

[violets2217]

So after limiting myself to 3 attempts, I went with my gut and the decision making skills of my friends and family. This is my entry for this month's challenge:

This is a design I found on Instagram. Nest Soapery to be specific. She called it the Nesting Drop Swirl? It was fun and pretty cool. My colors are all from Nurture Soap: Love and Sunshine, Green Vibrance, Klein Blue, Trial by Fire and Purple Vibrance. By the third try I was running out of mica to make a rainbow! The soap is fragranced with Lavender Ginger from Soapalooza. I'm going to be really angry when I run out of the fragrances I got from their close out sale, every one I've used so far has behaved perfectly and smells wonderful! These bars are a little smaller than normal because I decided to go with a 60/40 split with the base/color split and honestly should have went 80/20. and my batter started to thicken up towards the end and didn't get all the colored batter onto the top. But I had left over to make chunky rainbow confetti for another soap some day!

 

[melonpan]

Hi all,
The idea for this soap comes from a brilliant illustration I found while I was brainstorming ideas for the rainbow theme. I immediately thought it made so much sense for November and wanting a break from all the gray weather!

First I did the rainbow layers in diagonal while keeping the mold inclined with a towel. Just to be on the safe side I made a full size soap so I could trim off the excess later. I prepped my oils, divided in 7 parts, and then worked on each layer separately by adding the lye, adding the colourant and EO blend, blending lightly, and pouring on a spatula to break the fall, then starting again with the next colour. I tried to keep the batter for each layer fluid enough so that it would spread evenly but you can see that the blue was a bit too dense and it is not even as the other layers. For some reasons the side layers (which were meant to be white) are quite yellow-y, I think I miscalculated my white colourant.

I had to wait three days for the first part of the soap to be hard enough (the longest wait really ) and then time for the cloud, which was the part I was most excited about. I trimmed off part of the rainbow to make smaller soaps, then nested the remaining rainbow soap back in the mold and prepared the sky blue batter, stick blended to medium trace to pour over & let it set well before using a cardboard cloud scraper.

I would do some things differently next time (like trying to make the sides whiter), but this is definitely my happiest soap so far
Thanks for this challenge, I've really enjoyed it!

 

[CpnDouchette]

I was really pushed for time as I am out of the country at the moment but I couldn't resist a rainbow challenge.

I'd recently tried and failed at a mantra swirl so decided to go big or go home and do a rainbow one. I didn't want solid blocks of colour but wanted a rainbow in each finished bar, however this was trickier to achieve than I anticipated partly because I only have 3 squeeze bottles so had to pour directly from the jug. Nevertheless I am in love with the look of these bars. I was able to slice them but they were still a tad soft so wasn't able to bevel or take decent photos before I left but I am pleased I was able to submit an entry.

Thank you for this challenge, I loved it (the washing up less so )

 

[Vicki C]

Here‘s my entry - it’s a one pot wonder with ELEVEN colors - all plant colorants! I’ll post a list of what I did for each color, but I planned it when I was sick in bed a couple weeks ago. I love how it came out. It is unscented but has a really nice natural fragrance. Definitely exploring this some more. I’m calling it “Straight but not Narrow” in honor of my LGBTQ friends.

Here‘s how I made it. I hope this link works.

https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/eleven-color-opw.86122/

 

[Guspuppy]

I'm almost ashamed to post this entry but I made it so here it is! I'm happy with the swirl (Clyde slide) but so disappointed in the soap itself. So crumbly and yet soft, and full of tiny air bubbles. Horribly ugly to cut as it falls apart and I don't have a planer, which would have made it much nicer in appearance. I used the Great Value shortening in this attempt (my second try with that ingredient) and I will NOT be using it again! I washed the soap with a microfiber cloth to try and polish it up a bit but as you can see, it didn't really help. My colors were all from Nurture, as was the FO (Awaken) which I really like. After a really good long cure I'm hoping this will be useable.

 

[linne1gi]

After much debate I decided to attempt a rainbow tall and skinny shimmy.

 

[glendam]

I had wanted to try a rainbow soap with dividers for a while, and I am glad this gave me the push I needed. I used a divider like the one used for the Taiwan swirl, but with more spacers, so that I could have seven colors. I used neon pigments and I don’t know how I’m going to go back to regular colors now. The pink and yellow were from Makeyourown and the rest from Nurture Soap. Scented with Grapefruit lemongrass energize from Nature's Garden.

 

[dibbles]

I only make rainbow batches once or twice a year, but they are so cheerful I really should do them more often. Always scented with a Honey I Washed the Kids dupe because even though it isn't my favorite, I have a 6 year old friend that told her mom it 'smells like a dream' How can I not keep a few of these around for her? I planned to have more white but...math. The colors used were (all Nurture Soap) My Red Obsession plus a bit of Trial by Fire, Lemondrop, Atomic Orange with a bit of Eye of the Tiger, Green Vibrance, Electric Blue + Blue Vibrance and Purple Vibrance. I wanted to have another try at this, but it's not going to happen. Thank you @szaza for a fun challenge that brought some color into the dreary November days we tend to have here.

 

[Johnez]

For my first challenge, this turned out better than expected. After tons of waffling through a myriad of ambitious ideas I settled on a very elegant and simple *looking*, but sufficiently interesting and involved process-the mini drop swirl inspired by Tree Marie. If anyone has seen my sofa pic (Too Much of a Good Thing!) I shared here you'll recognize my love for anything dripping and oozing. I took all of her tips including attaching pipettes to the bottle tips, and it worked perfectly as the drops show! I started off wanting to do the drops with a muddle of a colored cloud hanger swirled (with home made skewer swirl device) 3/4 of the way up, topped with the solid colors. There was also meant to be more drops. I got to do the hanger swirled clouds (hey my first hanger swirl w00t!) but the multiple drops and top layer weren't meant to be-the batter thickened on me quite rapidly and I underestimated the amount of color batter I needed. I think this is nicer anyway, the solid colors would have been a distraction now that I think of it. For the actual soap recipe I used Lovely Greens Eco Friendly white soap recipe (Eco-Friendly Cold Process Soap Recipe + Instructions) for quite a few reasons-didn't require palm oil, titanium dioxide, or any ingredients I didn't have. Also, it turns out very white. After following advice and refrigerating for a bit to prevent gelling, I cut the soap exactly 12 hours after I made it as I was afraid it'd be too hard to cut if I waited any longer, thankfully it wasn't a disastrous decision! Thanks goes to @TheGecko for recommending the cheese cutter.

ETA- almost forgot, scented with NG "Stormy Nights." Fitting name I thought with as hectic as making it was the nigh before and the surprising successful result the day after.

ETA2- Micas were Orchid, Blue, Aqua Marine, Kermit Green, and Yellow from Brambleberry.

Link to Tree Marie's mini drop swirl soap:

 

[TheGecko]

Sorry to say that I didn't get around to remaking the soap again, but here is my entry:

 

[Drchurchillsoaps]

Here is my not so great entry. But I have yet to participate so my wife insisted we attempt to embarrass me!

 

[szaza]

The challenge thread is now closed. The survey link will be sent out soon.

 

[Ford]

Wow!! These are just awesome!! All of them!

 

[szaza]

Drumroll please...

The winners of the Rainbow Challenge are...

1. @dibbles
2. @melonpan
3. @CpnDouchette and @Vicki C (it was a tie)

Congratulations to the winners and well done everyone. Those were some awesome soaps you shared

 

[Johnez]

Drumroll please...

The winners of the Rainbow Challenge are...

1. @dibbles
2. @melonpan
3. @CpnDouchette and @Vicki C (it was a tie)

Congratulations to the winners and well done everyone. Those were some awesome soaps you shared

Congrats dibbles, melonpan, CpnDouchette, and VickiC-amazing soaps!

 

[Catscankim]

Congrats all!!

 

[Peachy Clean Soap]

Congrats Everyone' Beautiful Soap's