Happy New Year! For January 2025 we will be making confetti soaps. Have some soap shavings, trimmings, or soap that didn’t quite meet your standards? This is a good way to use them.
Confetti soap is made by mixing shreds or chunks of cured soap into soap batter and pouring the mixture into a mold. You can also mix the confetti with oils and add your lye to the confetti/oil mixture.
Here’s a confetti soap I made as an example for this challenge. For this soap I used about 30% of the total soap weight in shreds. The shreds were shades of purple, but they didn’t really come across that way.
Here is another confetti soap I made out of a soap with a floral fragranced soap that seized. I cut cubes from the seized soap.
Here is a confetti soap I made in a cavity mold. (Allowed for this challenge)
Here is a video from Teri at Tree Marie Soapworks providing guidance on how she makes it.
Teri provides a detailed explanation on how to calculate how much batter & confetti to use. I tend to use a scientific method called “winging it.” But, for those who are unsure how much batter and confetti to use, I made a simple calculator – you will need to copy and paste it into google sheets, excel, or another spreadsheet.
EDITED to say I am not sure why this link isn't working - I am taking this off to limit confusion - see @bookworm42 's helpful guidance below on calculating how much batter to make.
Here is a beautiful terrazzo soap made by Tellervo
SMF Challenge General Rules
* The entry thread will close on January 28 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 January 30 at 11:59 PM GMT, or until all registrants have voted, whichever is sooner.
* The winner will be announced by January 31 by 11:59 PM GMT.
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Specific Rules for this Challenge:
You may use confetti of whatever size you choose, but the confetti must be visible (i.e. don’t blend the confetti to a slurry as in ciaglia soap).
You may not create embeds (i.e. long pieces that run the length of your soap).
If you don’t have soap scraps on hand, it’s fine to make soap to chop or shred for your confetti.
You may pour your soap in a loaf mold, cylinder mold, or in single cavity molds. If you choose single cavity molds, they should be all from the same pour.
You may combine techniques, such as making a portion of your soap swirled or plain. At least half of your soap should have confetti.
You may make layers of different colors of base soap / confetti.
Tips and tricks:
*If you choose to use the calculator I have provided I recommend not going above 30% for the weight of the confetti compared to the total loaf – but feel free to experiment, and report back!
*You may choose to use a light touch with your confetti, and that’s fine, as long as it is visible.
*Contrasting colors work well.
*If your confetti is fragranced, use a complementary fragrance in your soap batter (if you choose to fragrance your soap.) The confetti fragrance doesn’t tend to dominate, in my experience.
*You may choose to make your shreds uniformly small by shredding them with a food processor or salad shooter, but it’s not required.
The July 2021 SMF Un-challenge has more links and examples (thank you @dibbles) you can see them here https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/july-2021-smf-soap-un-challenge-confetti-cubes.84480/
Confetti soap is made by mixing shreds or chunks of cured soap into soap batter and pouring the mixture into a mold. You can also mix the confetti with oils and add your lye to the confetti/oil mixture.
Here’s a confetti soap I made as an example for this challenge. For this soap I used about 30% of the total soap weight in shreds. The shreds were shades of purple, but they didn’t really come across that way.
Here is another confetti soap I made out of a soap with a floral fragranced soap that seized. I cut cubes from the seized soap.
Here is a confetti soap I made in a cavity mold. (Allowed for this challenge)
Here is a video from Teri at Tree Marie Soapworks providing guidance on how she makes it.
Teri provides a detailed explanation on how to calculate how much batter & confetti to use. I tend to use a scientific method called “winging it.” But, for those who are unsure how much batter and confetti to use, I made a simple calculator – you will need to copy and paste it into google sheets, excel, or another spreadsheet.
EDITED to say I am not sure why this link isn't working - I am taking this off to limit confusion - see @bookworm42 's helpful guidance below on calculating how much batter to make.
Here is a beautiful terrazzo soap made by Tellervo
SMF Challenge General Rules
- To enter, you must have been an active SMF member for at least one month and have a minimum of 50 posts at the time the Challenge is posted. 'Fluff' posts written with the sole intention of boosting post numbers do not apply. Sorry, there are no exceptions to this rule, except that the time and post requirements are removed for (do not apply to) Supporting Members. All eligible members may sign up and submit an entry at any time before the entry thread closes.
- Your soap must be made after the monthly challenge has been announced. Your entry must consist of bars made from a single batch of soap poured into one mold. In other words, your entry cannot include bars from different batches.
- The sign-up list will be posted in this thread. Please add your name to the sign-up list if you’d like to participate. You don’t have to enter a soap at the end if you don’t feel happy with what you have made. Still, we hope you will post about your experiences here in the main Challenge thread, along with non-entry photos (be prepared to be encouraged to keep trying).
- In the spirit of advancing our soap making skills, all members who sign-up for the SMF Challenge do so with the expectation that they will make every attempt to submit an entry. We do understand that life happens, and that you may end up without an entry. However, signing up with no intent to participate and only to vote goes against the spirit of the challenge and is not allowed.
- Throughout the month, we encourage you to use this general Challenge thread (not the Entry thread) to ask for advice, discuss techniques with other members, upload pictures of your non-entry challenge attempts, and provide helpful hints you learned along the way. Constructive criticism is welcomed, but please keep your comments polite.
- A separate Entry thread will be created towards the end of the month. Please do not post photos of your entry until the Entry thread is opened. Breaking this rule will disqualify that soap from this Challenge. The Entry thread is for challenge entries only; please don't post any comments there.
- Your entry photo must include at least three bars of soap from your entry batch. We encourage (but do not require) you to include in your entry post a description and additional photos demonstrating how you made your soap: the process, the technique, the fragrance, any special meaning behind your selected colors or design, etc. This gives voters a better understanding of, and appreciation for, what went into creating your soap.
- Entries must be posted to the Entry thread (not to this general Challenge thread) before the closing time on the closing date. Late entries will not be accepted. If you miss the Challenge deadline, please upload pictures of your soap to the general Challenge thread instead. While it won’t be part of the voting, we always love to see anything you have created!
- There is no prize attached to this Challenge. However, this is still a competition. If your entry is deemed non-compliant, you will be given the opportunity to amend your entry if there is time to do so before the Entry thread closes. Otherwise, your entry will be excluded from voting. The challenge mods have the final say as to whether any given soap, photo, or registrant is eligible for entry and voting.
- All eligible registrants who have signed up before the Entry thread closes will be eligible to vote, even if they do not submit an entry. A password-protected voting link and password will be sent to eligible registrants only, by private message via SMF conversations. Please check your SMF messages/conversations when the voting begins.
- Note: all times listed below are Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). It is your responsibility to convert times to your own time zone. You can use World Time Buddy or
* The entry thread will close on January 28 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 January 30 at 11:59 PM GMT, or until all registrants have voted, whichever is sooner.
* The winner will be announced by January 31 by 11:59 PM GMT.
*****************************************************
Specific Rules for this Challenge:
You may use confetti of whatever size you choose, but the confetti must be visible (i.e. don’t blend the confetti to a slurry as in ciaglia soap).
You may not create embeds (i.e. long pieces that run the length of your soap).
If you don’t have soap scraps on hand, it’s fine to make soap to chop or shred for your confetti.
You may pour your soap in a loaf mold, cylinder mold, or in single cavity molds. If you choose single cavity molds, they should be all from the same pour.
You may combine techniques, such as making a portion of your soap swirled or plain. At least half of your soap should have confetti.
You may make layers of different colors of base soap / confetti.
Tips and tricks:
*If you choose to use the calculator I have provided I recommend not going above 30% for the weight of the confetti compared to the total loaf – but feel free to experiment, and report back!
*You may choose to use a light touch with your confetti, and that’s fine, as long as it is visible.
*Contrasting colors work well.
*If your confetti is fragranced, use a complementary fragrance in your soap batter (if you choose to fragrance your soap.) The confetti fragrance doesn’t tend to dominate, in my experience.
*You may choose to make your shreds uniformly small by shredding them with a food processor or salad shooter, but it’s not required.
The July 2021 SMF Un-challenge has more links and examples (thank you @dibbles) you can see them here https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/july-2021-smf-soap-un-challenge-confetti-cubes.84480/
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The ciaglia challenge they had a while back had a video that showed to do the math like this.
