Welcome to the June 2021 SMF Soap Challenge! This month’s challenge is to make soaps inspired by a garden.
You can be inspired by your own garden or someone else’s, a garden you read about or dreamed about. It can be inspired by flowers, trees, bugs, dirt, animals… Please read the general rules (there have been some changes lately, so really, PLEASE READ THEM) and the challenge specific rules below and let’s have some soapy fun!
SMF Challenge General Rules
1. To enter you must have been a SMF member for at least one month and have a minimum of 50 posts at the time the Challenge is posted (sorry but no exceptions on this). Supporting Members can enter immediately, the time and post requirements are removed.
2. The only members eligible to vote are those with their names on the sign-up list - regardless of whether or not you have submitted an entry. The sign-up list will be posted in this thread.
3. This month’s voting will be password locked. Passwords will be sent by private message (via SMF conversations) to registered participants ONLY, so please check your messages when the voting begins.
4. A separate entry thread will be created and this is where you will post photos of your entry soap. Please do not post photos of your entry until the entry thread is opened. Post pictures of your entry soap only in the challenge entry thread.
Non-entry photos are always welcome and may be posted in the general challenge thread. The challenge thread should be used to upload pictures of any of your challenge attempts (other than your entry) where you can ask for advice and discuss the technique with other members, and provide helpful hints you learned along the way.
5. Your soap must be made after the monthly challenge has been announced.
6. In the spirit of advancing our soap making skills, all members who sign-up for a SMF Challenge do so with the expectation that they will make every attempt to make a soap for the challenge. Writing about your experience in the challenge is encouraged. By doing so, each participant has a better knowledge of your process when voting. We do understand that sometimes things come up in our lives and throw our plans out of whack, however signing up with no intent to participate and only to vote is not in the spirit of the challenges and is not allowed.
7. Please add your name to the sign-up list if you wish to participate (you don’t have to enter a soap at the end if you don’t feel happy with what you have made), but please do post your experiences in the main Challenge thread and be prepared to be encouraged to continue trying.
8. Constructive criticism is welcomed, but please keep your comments polite.
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Specific Rules for this Challenge:
1. Your design has to reflect your garden inspiration. This can be anything from florals to bugs to dirt to whatever you think of that reflects gardens for you. (I'm sure I'm very biased by the climate I live in and gardens can look very different around the world)
2. Additionally, you’ll have to incorporate at least 1 ingredient in your soap that was inspired by the theme ‘gardens’ and tell us about it in your entry post. Your choice of fragrance doesn’t count as a garden inspired ingredient.
3. You’re free to choose any design or any technique and any amount of colors you feel fits your design (CP/HP, MP, soap dough, liquid soap, soap jellies,….). The criteria for this challenge are very loose because I want you to be creative. Therefore, single cavity molds can not be your main design component.
Here’s some inspiration for the design:
First some florals:
Piped soap and soap dough:
A brush embroidery like technique (I think):
A column pour:
Soap Stencils:
A stunning MP example:
You can be inspired by your own garden or someone else’s, a garden you read about or dreamed about. It can be inspired by flowers, trees, bugs, dirt, animals… Please read the general rules (there have been some changes lately, so really, PLEASE READ THEM) and the challenge specific rules below and let’s have some soapy fun!
SMF Challenge General Rules
1. To enter you must have been a SMF member for at least one month and have a minimum of 50 posts at the time the Challenge is posted (sorry but no exceptions on this). Supporting Members can enter immediately, the time and post requirements are removed.
2. The only members eligible to vote are those with their names on the sign-up list - regardless of whether or not you have submitted an entry. The sign-up list will be posted in this thread.
3. This month’s voting will be password locked. Passwords will be sent by private message (via SMF conversations) to registered participants ONLY, so please check your messages when the voting begins.
4. A separate entry thread will be created and this is where you will post photos of your entry soap. Please do not post photos of your entry until the entry thread is opened. Post pictures of your entry soap only in the challenge entry thread.
Non-entry photos are always welcome and may be posted in the general challenge thread. The challenge thread should be used to upload pictures of any of your challenge attempts (other than your entry) where you can ask for advice and discuss the technique with other members, and provide helpful hints you learned along the way.
5. Your soap must be made after the monthly challenge has been announced.
6. In the spirit of advancing our soap making skills, all members who sign-up for a SMF Challenge do so with the expectation that they will make every attempt to make a soap for the challenge. Writing about your experience in the challenge is encouraged. By doing so, each participant has a better knowledge of your process when voting. We do understand that sometimes things come up in our lives and throw our plans out of whack, however signing up with no intent to participate and only to vote is not in the spirit of the challenges and is not allowed.
7. Please add your name to the sign-up list if you wish to participate (you don’t have to enter a soap at the end if you don’t feel happy with what you have made), but please do post your experiences in the main Challenge thread and be prepared to be encouraged to continue trying.
8. Constructive criticism is welcomed, but please keep your comments polite.
* * * *
- Competition entries must be uploaded to the separate entry thread before the closing date.
- The entry thread will open on June 19 at 11:59pm GMT (Please follow the challenge specific rules as to what you need to enter).
- After the closing date on June 26 at 11:59pm GMT the winning entry will be chosen using Survey Monkey. Voting will be open from June 27-29 and the winner will be announced on June 30. There is no prize attached to this challenge.
- If you fail to make the challenge deadline, you are still welcome to upload pictures of your soap onto the thread, but your entry will not be eligible for voting. We always love to see anything you have created.
- Even though there is no prize, this is still a competition. If your entry is deemed not to fulfill the general rules or the rules specific to the challenge in any way, then you will be given the opportunity to amend your entry. If this is not possible, your entry will not be included in the voting.
- All the challenge mods reserve the right to have the final say on whether a soap is eligible for voting.
* * * *
Specific Rules for this Challenge:
1. Your design has to reflect your garden inspiration. This can be anything from florals to bugs to dirt to whatever you think of that reflects gardens for you. (I'm sure I'm very biased by the climate I live in and gardens can look very different around the world)
2. Additionally, you’ll have to incorporate at least 1 ingredient in your soap that was inspired by the theme ‘gardens’ and tell us about it in your entry post. Your choice of fragrance doesn’t count as a garden inspired ingredient.
3. You’re free to choose any design or any technique and any amount of colors you feel fits your design (CP/HP, MP, soap dough, liquid soap, soap jellies,….). The criteria for this challenge are very loose because I want you to be creative. Therefore, single cavity molds can not be your main design component.
Here’s some inspiration for the design:
First some florals:
Piped soap and soap dough:
A brush embroidery like technique (I think):
A column pour:
Soap Stencils:
A stunning MP example:
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soaping in the garden 
