May Challenge (Mica Outline Swirl)

[amd]

Thinking.... I wonder if making a "levee" of batter around the edges would help? My first two tries at this might have had some help from the soap gods. I'm also wondering if batter consistency is key too - my first two were more of a medium to heavy trace, and the one in the video was light trace and I had problems with it floating along the sides. I'll play with these two ideas this weekend (if I find time to soap, I just remembered my to do list is whacked) and report back.

 

[cerelife]

1. KristaY-Fun with mica! I'm excited to see what kind of mess I can make
2. Lenarenee - Haven't done this in a long time! ( I used to do this back in my newbie days, just not as well as hers!) Dark/bright mica on white base works best. Reduces lather unless you use oils from your recipe. (one caveat is that I'm on call for jury duty and I'm nursing a knee with tendonitis - that's actually 2 caveats isn't it?)
3. BattleGnome - hopefully I have time, vacation in two weeks
4. scard- I'm in!
5. dibbles - shimmery swirls - ooh la la!
6. Artemis - will I have time? Will I have supplies? Stay tuned!
7.Serene - Will ship supplies to Artemis. Let me know what you need!
8. Mx6inpenn - I'm in! I've been wanting to try this ever since Steph posted it.
9. Cellador- First challenge! I promised myself I would branch out this year and try a couple new techniques.
10. earlene - I plan to start on this one today!
11. Mommycarlson - I'll give it a swirl!
12. Cerelife - Count me in!

 

[MKLonestar]

I know I don't qualify, but I am all for giving this a tey

 

[amd]

To enter you must have a minimum of 50 posts and been a member for a month (sorry but no exceptions on this)

· Please add your name to the sign up list if you wish to participate (however, you don’t have to enter a soap at the end if you don’t feel happy with what you have produced)

It looks like you will need more posts on the forum before you can enter. You are more than welcome to enter once you have reached 50. You add your name to the list by copying and pasting from the last signup post and adding your name to the end.

Good luck

 

[DeeAnna]

"...When I place the oil, I can still see my batter through the mica oil...."

This sounds a little like my thinking when I do a pencil line by dusting with dry cocoa -- use only enough to get light coverage but no more. 'M I thinking about this right?

 

[amd]

"...When I place the oil, I can still see my batter through the mica oil...."

This sounds a little like my thinking when I do a pencil line by dusting with dry cocoa -- use only enough to get light coverage but no more. 'M I thinking about this right?

Yes! That's exactly it, in better words

 

[cgpeanut]

Those are really nice @mommycarlson ! A few tips I forgot to mention:

When I place the oil, I can still see my batter through the mica oil. Kind of like when your batter tips up against your bowl and recedes, you can see your bowl through the batter. I think this will help with the air pockets from oil being absorbed (so to speak) in the soap. I've done this technique three times now and haven't gotten those pockets. The one I did in the video had no oozing when I cut it, although the first two that I did had slight traces, but no pockets on the cut surface.

The other tip is to not spread your oil all the way to the edges. I did in the video because I was nervous (my first soap making video ever!) and not really thinking about what I was doing [truthfully, I was focusing on not shaking and watching my "ums"] but the other two I didn't and had very little oil sploosh up through the batter on the sides.

I really wish I had remembered to take the picture of the oil in the mold while I was doing the video, I think that would have helped make it clear. I'm going to be doing the technique again this weekend and will try to remember to get some pictures. I "might" be addicted to the look of the mica outline, and it's a good chance for me to get a good hanger swirling technique.

In Stephanie's video, she mentions when you pour your base on the first layer that you tilt your mold so that you deposit some of the batter on all four sides of the mold. That technique keeps the mica oil away from the sides.

 

[mommycarlson]

In Stephanie's video, she mentions when you pour your base on the first layer that you tilt your mold so that you deposit some of the batter on all four sides of the mold. That technique keeps the mica oil away from the sides.

I did that, the problem was when I layered my soap batter on top of the oil it pushed it to the edges.

 

[scard]

I gave it a shot and the oil was pushed up the sides a bit too. I realized that I made the same amount of oil/mica mix mentioned in the video but I had a smaller mold. For some reason I felt I had to use it all, sometimes less is better. I agree with light coverage idea, off to try it again.

 

[redhead1226]

1. KristaY-Fun with mica! I'm excited to see what kind of mess I can make
2. Lenarenee - Haven't done this in a long time! ( I used to do this back in my newbie days, just not as well as hers!) Dark/bright mica on white base works best. Reduces lather unless you use oils from your recipe. (one caveat is that I'm on call for jury duty and I'm nursing a knee with tendonitis - that's actually 2 caveats isn't it?)
3. BattleGnome - hopefully I have time, vacation in two weeks
4. scard- I'm in!
5. dibbles - shimmery swirls - ooh la la!
6. Artemis - will I have time? Will I have supplies? Stay tuned!
7.Serene - Will ship supplies to Artemis. Let me know what you need!
8. Mx6inpenn - I'm in! I've been wanting to try this ever since Steph posted it.
9. Cellador- First challenge! I promised myself I would branch out this year and try a couple new techniques.
10. earlene - I plan to start on this one today!
11. Mommycarlson - I'll give it a swirl!
12. Cerelife - Count me in!
13. Redhead1226 - Let's see if I can submit an entry this time! lol

 

[Kari]

you must have a minimum of 50 posts

quick question, is this the number next to "messages"?

 

[BattleGnome]

quick question, is this the number next to "messages"?

Yes. The word changed with the forum change

 

[mommycarlson]

I gave it a shot and the oil was pushed up the sides a bit too. I realized that I made the same amount of oil/mica mix mentioned in the video but I had a smaller mold. For some reason I felt I had to use it all, sometimes less is better. I agree with light coverage idea, off to try it again.

I did the same thing, and I'm not really sure if amd's mold is the same size as mine or not, but if I do try this again I am going to use less oil and mica

 

[Misschief]

1. KristaY-Fun with mica! I'm excited to see what kind of mess I can make
2. Lenarenee - Haven't done this in a long time! ( I used to do this back in my newbie days, just not as well as hers!) Dark/bright mica on white base works best. Reduces lather unless you use oils from your recipe. (one caveat is that I'm on call for jury duty and I'm nursing a knee with tendonitis - that's actually 2 caveats isn't it?)
3. BattleGnome - hopefully I have time, vacation in two weeks
4. scard- I'm in!
5. dibbles - shimmery swirls - ooh la la!
6. Artemis - will I have time? Will I have supplies? Stay tuned!
7.Serene - Will ship supplies to Artemis. Let me know what you need!
8. Mx6inpenn - I'm in! I've been wanting to try this ever since Steph posted it.
9. Cellador- First challenge! I promised myself I would branch out this year and try a couple new techniques.
10. earlene - I plan to start on this one today!
11. Mommycarlson - I'll give it a swirl!
12. Cerelife - Count me in!
13. Redhead1226 - Let's see if I can submit an entry this time! lol
14. Misschief - wasn't going to but I think I'll make time to try this.

 

[amd]

Here's a quick attempt for the weekend. I intentionally pushed the oil to the edge of the mold to see if batter thickness matters. I used a light-med trace on this batch and had no oil float up on the sides while pouring. I also used approx 1 tsp of oil for this 6"x3.5" mold. It seems part of the challenge may also be to get a good trace to keep the oil from floating up.

 

[SunRiseArts]

1. KristaY-Fun with mica! I'm excited to see what kind of mess I can make
2. Lenarenee - Haven't done this in a long time! ( I used to do this back in my newbie days, just not as well as hers!) Dark/bright mica on white base works best. Reduces lather unless you use oils from your recipe. (one caveat is that I'm on call for jury duty and I'm nursing a knee with tendonitis - that's actually 2 caveats isn't it?)
3. BattleGnome - hopefully I have time, vacation in two weeks
4. scard- I'm in!
5. dibbles - shimmery swirls - ooh la la!
6. Artemis - will I have time? Will I have supplies? Stay tuned!
7.Serene - Will ship supplies to Artemis. Let me know what you need!
8. Mx6inpenn - I'm in! I've been wanting to try this ever since Steph posted it.
9. Cellador- First challenge! I promised myself I would branch out this year and try a couple new techniques.
10. earlene - I plan to start on this one today!
11. Mommycarlson - I'll give it a swirl!
12. Cerelife - Count me in!
13. Redhead1226 - Let's see if I can submit an entry this time! lol
14. Misschief - wasn't going to but I think I'll make time to try this.

15. SunRiseArts - me just want to vote.

 

[Primrose]

16. Primrose - YES!! I've been wanting to try this for ages

 

[amd]

Updated list to add SunRiseArts and Primrose

1. KristaY-Fun with mica! I'm excited to see what kind of mess I can make
2. Lenarenee - Haven't done this in a long time! ( I used to do this back in my newbie days, just not as well as hers!) Dark/bright mica on white base works best. Reduces lather unless you use oils from your recipe. (one caveat is that I'm on call for jury duty and I'm nursing a knee with tendonitis - that's actually 2 caveats isn't it?)
3. BattleGnome - hopefully I have time, vacation in two weeks
4. scard- I'm in!
5. dibbles - shimmery swirls - ooh la la!
6. Artemis - will I have time? Will I have supplies? Stay tuned!
7.Serene - Will ship supplies to Artemis. Let me know what you need!
8. Mx6inpenn - I'm in! I've been wanting to try this ever since Steph posted it.
9. Cellador- First challenge! I promised myself I would branch out this year and try a couple new techniques.
10. earlene - I plan to start on this one today!
11. Mommycarlson - I'll give it a swirl!
12. Cerelife - Count me in!
13. Redhead1226 - Let's see if I can submit an entry this time! lol
14. Misschief - wasn't going to but I think I'll make time to try this.
15. SunRiseArts - me just want to vote.
16. Primrose - YES!! I've been wanting to try this for ages

 

[Cellador]

I attempted this soap last night. Just a word of warning for anyone who hasn't tried it yet: the mica oil really does migrate and get everywhere (a lot of my oil floated to the top when I banged my bubbles out). If I try it again, I will use a lot less of the mica oil and try layering at a thicker trace.

 

[amd]

Ooops! I was just plugging dates into my calendar so I remember when to do the entry thread, voting, etc. I have a few wonky dates.

To clarify: Entry thread will be May 20-26.
Voting will be May 27-31.
Winners announced June 1 or 2.

I apologize for any confusion. I'm off to take remedial maths and calendar reading at the local Kindergarten for the afternoon