March 2025 Specific Challenge Rules
You may use any design technique(s), any loaf or slab mold and any variation of CP or HP to create your soap. You
may not use cavity molds for this challenge.
Your soap may contain embeds, confetti or other soap scraps/trimmings made before this thread opened.
Melt & pour soap may be used to make embeds.
Fruits that we typically think of as vegetables are allowed. If it has seeds, it's probably a fruit, but please check a reputable source in advance. Cucumbers, tomatoes, avocados and pumpkins are fruits, but lettuce, carrots and potatoes are not fruits.
At a minimum, your soap must be 1) a recognizable representation of one or more fruits, or 2) be scented to smell like fruit, or 3) be made with fruit. Any combination of 1-3 is allowed (and encouraged). If your soap is scented to smell like fruit or made with fruit, you should provide details that allow us to more fully experience the fruitiness of the soap. At a minimum, include a description of the scent, and/or a photo of the fruit you included in the soap and a brief description of your making process/how you used the fruit.
When you upload the photos for your entry, don't forget to put the entry photo for judging first. Also, please remember that some of us will view the thread on a tablet or iPad. Photos that fill the screen on a desktop computer may occupy several screens on a tablet. If you need help with resizing, let me know.
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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 as a single batch of soap poured into one mold or in cavity molds if the challenge allows. In other words, your entry cannot include soap made from different batches, unless the specific challenge rules allow for use of previously-made embeds, confetti, or ciaglia shreds.
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, in which case you will not be eligible to vote.
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 and posted their entry in the Entry Thread, before the thread closes, will be eligible to vote. A password-protected voting link and password will be sent to eligible registrants only, by private message via SMF conversations soon after the Entry Thread closes. Please check your SMF messages/conversations when the voting period begins.
The entry thread will open on March 19th by 11:59 PM GMT.
The entry thread will close on March 26th at 11:59 PM GMT.
The voting survey will remain open until March 29th at 11:59 PM GMT, or until all registrants have voted, whichever is sooner.
The winner will be announced by March 31st at 11:59 PM GMT.
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Note: all times listed above are Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). It is your responsibility to convert times to your own time zone. You can use World Time Buddy or a similar converter to assist you with that.
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