June 2021 SMF Soap Challenge - Garden Inspired

[ResolvableOwl]

I'm out for this month. I'll be a curious onlooker over the fence, for sure. But yet another challenge will do no good in fighting that weed that is taking posession/overgrowing my curing stash (as well as general priority thingies going on). Best luck everyone!

And no, this is totally not some overreacting revenge to the sore muscles in my arms, from actual gardening work. Don't tempt me to rethink this decision!

 

[glendam]

I'm out for this month. I'll be a curious onlooker over the fence, for sure. But yet another challenge will do no good in fighting that weed that is taking posession/overgrowing my curing stash (as well as general priority thingies going on). Best luck everyone!

And no, this is totally not some overreacting revenge to the sore muscles in my arms, from actual gardening work. Don't tempt me to rethink this decision!

You will be missed!

 

[szaza]

Thank you for hosting and organizing such a cool challenge!
Question...sorry...
When you say "Therefore, single cavity molds can not be your main design component. ", does this mean our entry soap can't be done in a cavity mold, as one might do with MP base?

I don't really want to exclude the use of single cavity molds, but I don't want them to be the main attraction (so no soaps with a single mp strawberry on top for example). However, if you do something super awesome in a single cavity mold and that super awesome thing is your design idea and it just happens to be in a cavity mold, that's completely fine.. Do you get what I'm saying? I guess I mainly want the 'garden' element to come from something other than a mold

Eta: just saw this after answering and this is exactly what I wanted to say

I'm reading that as - you can't just put it in a flower-shaped mould and call it garden inspired because of that. Like, there needs to be some specific design input from the person making the soap, not depending on something they bought. Hopefully that's the intention!

 

[Mobjack Bay]

Dang. I’m heading to California on the 20th and have a long list of must-dos before I go. After briefly trying to imagine a way that I could pull off a soap for this challenge while at my son’s house, I abandoned the idea. Instead, I will force myself to be content with reading the discussion and ogling the entries while he cooks me dinner and I sit on the couch drinking wine.

 

[Tara_H]

a way that I could pull off a soap for this challenge while at my son’s house

Bring a selection of soap dough in various colours with you? That could totally be done while hanging out and drinking wine...

 

[Peachy Clean Soap]

Dang. I’m heading to California on the 20th and have a long list of must-dos before I go. After briefly trying to imagine a way that I could pull off a soap for this challenge while at my son’s house, I abandoned the idea. Instead, I will force myself to be content with reading the discussion and ogling the entries while he cooks me dinner and I sit on the couch drinking wine.

Enjoy your stay in California. .

 

[Mobjack Bay]

Bring a selection of soap dough in various colours with you? That could totally be done while hanging out and drinking wine...

I have never made soap dough! I didn’t even know what an extruder was until about 2 months ago. Can I make it from salted out soap?

 

[The_Phoenix]

Hmmm...

 

[KimW]

Hmmm...

Are you a bit stuck like me?

 

[The_Phoenix]

Are you a bit stuck like me?

I'm on the fence in my garden feeling indecisive about taking on this challenge. You, too?

 

[Tara_H]

I have never made soap dough! I didn’t even know what an extruder was until about 2 months ago. Can I make it from salted out soap?

Lol, that I have no idea! But it's super easy to make, and very easy to transport... Although if you're going to be flying to California I don't know what TSA would make of it

 

[Tara_H]

I'm hoping to start the first part of my challenge soap today! This is the outline of my plan (feels like calling a pocket when playing pool )

Ever since I 'un-vented' my tree design, I've been itching to try it with more branches, and some kind of canopy. The part that gives me pause is I don't want to lose the minimalist style, which I love.

But I also love cherry blossom, and Japanese painting, so I put together this inspiration board:


What I hope will work is pouring the bottom black layer, then the white, and then for about the top third doing a kind of AWP with light pink soap shavings in white, but instead of mica lines, using darker pink shavings to separate the sections (for the shadows in the blossom). Then finally, pulling up the ties to create branches through the canopy of blossom.

The different shades of pink will (haha, loving my optimism here ) be created by making small batches of soap with varying concentrations of dock root which has been dug up from our garden. Husband has learned to identify it and is very usefully digging them up and gifting me bundles of roots.

I infused a couple of batches of oil yesterday so once I'm properly awake I'll see about making some pink soap!

 

[szaza]

I have never made soap dough! I didn’t even know what an extruder was until about 2 months ago. Can I make it from salted out soap?

I think salted out soap will be difficult to make soap dough from.. It's generally made by curing soap without exposure to air to keep the moisture trapped in the soap, which keeps it moldable (it's a good use for leftover soap batter).
Side note: You can make soap dough from any type of batter, but it's difficult to work with soap dough that is colored with clay, because the clay makes it behave differently. It's possible, just a tad more difficult to work with.

 

[szaza]

I'm hoping to start the first part of my challenge soap today! This is the outline of my plan (feels like calling a pocket when playing pool )

Ever since I 'un-vented' my tree design, I've been itching to try it with more branches, and some kind of canopy. The part that gives me pause is I don't want to lose the minimalist style, which I love.

But I also love cherry blossom, and Japanese painting, so I put together this inspiration board:
View attachment 58157

What I hope will work is pouring the bottom black layer, then the white, and then for about the top third doing a kind of AWP with light pink soap shavings in white, but instead of mica lines, using darker pink shavings to separate the sections (for the shadows in the blossom). Then finally, pulling up the ties to create branches through the canopy of blossom.

The different shades of pink will (haha, loving my optimism here ) be created by making small batches of soap with varying concentrations of dock root which has been dug up from our garden. Husband has learned to identify it and is very usefully digging them up and gifting me bundles of roots.

I infused a couple of batches of oil yesterday so once I'm properly awake I'll see about making some pink soap!

That sounds awesome and I can't wait to see the result!

 

[Tara_H]

That sounds awesome and I can't wait to see the result!

Thanks! Ooh and I just had another idea - I've been really wanting to make an updated version of my Gardener's Soap since I've learned a lot since then, but I didn't really have a good excuse since there's still plenty left. But since I'll need to mix the oils from scratch for the challenge rather than using masterbatch (since I'll be using infused oils), it's the perfect opportunity to try it!

I also have some dried hibiscus flowers that I've been looking for an excuse to use; I wonder is there any way I could use those as the exfoliating element (incorporated amongst the blossoms) instead of the coffee grounds I used previously...? I guess they'll tend to go brown pretty fast in the batter

 

[ResolvableOwl]

I have never made soap dough! I didn’t even know what an extruder was until about 2 months ago. Can I make it from salted out soap?

Not so sure about salted-out soap. IME it's too soft in the beginning to keep any shape by its own, and after a few days of (more or less uneven, distorting) drying, it becomes greasy and/or crumbly.
But my recent pastime with not salted-out, but just soaked soap shreds is promising enough to be a lo-fi soap dough replacement. And should be easy enough to try out by anyone with a surplus bar of soap and a cheese grater.

 

[earlene]

@szaza, I just want to clarify one of the rules which states that the soap has to be made after the challenge thread is posted. Is it okay to incorporate a portion of older soap, say embeds or shreds from previously made soap. You did mention soap dough, which I assume can have come from our soap dough stash (previously made), but I just want to be sure these possible sources of ingredients are acceptable.

 

[szaza]

@szaza, I just want to clarify one of the rules which states that the soap has to be made after the challenge thread is posted. Is it okay to incorporate a portion of older soap, say embeds or shreds from previously made soap. You did mention soap dough, which I assume can have come from our soap dough stash (previously made), but I just want to be sure these possible sources of ingredients are acceptable.

That's an excellent point! The way I interpret that rule is that only the final soap should be made after the challenge thread is posted, I think the ingredients (soap dough/shreds) can be made before.
I think the main goal of that rule is to prevent someone from entering an old soap that fits the criteria, so as long as the creative process was done especially for this challenge it should be ok (but I could be wrong)

@Tara_H as you expected, hibiscus turns brown in soap (unfortunately)..

 

[earlene]

That's an excellent point! The way I interpret that rule is that only the final soap should be made after the challenge thread is posted, I think the ingredients (soap dough/shreds) can be made before.
I think the main goal of that rule is to prevent someone from entering an old soap that fits the criteria, so as long as the creative process was done especially for this challenge it should be ok (but I could be wrong)

Well, you are the hostess in charge of this month's challenge, so I think we should go with your ruling on the matter!

 

[The_Phoenix]

Thanks! Ooh and I just had another idea - I've been really wanting to make an updated version of my Gardener's Soap since I've learned a lot since then, but I didn't really have a good excuse since there's still plenty left. But since I'll need to mix the oils from scratch for the challenge rather than using masterbatch (since I'll be using infused oils), it's the perfect opportunity to try it!

I also have some dried hibiscus flowers that I've been looking for an excuse to use; I wonder is there any way I could use those as the exfoliating element (incorporated amongst the blossoms) instead of the coffee grounds I used previously...? I guess they'll tend to go brown pretty fast in the batter

Dried hibiscus petals do turn poop brown in soap. And hibiscus tea also turns brown but the resulting soap is not brown. But both would certainly fulfill the “from the garden” requirement of the challenge.

I already had two garden related soap designs in the works so I think I’ll do this challenge. But not going to commit just yet.