October 2020 Challenge - Tall and Skinny Shimmy

[Catscankim]

Sooooo lol.

this will be my last attempt. Im pretty sure its not gonna be a shimmy. I am terrible at figuring out sizing mold i guess. My first appempt was not enough batter, this time i had too much.

After i got all my oils and lye into my not-big-enough bowl, errggg i got air bubbles. Nothing i hate more than bubbles. So i just stirred and stirred till they were gone.

Anyway messy situation here lol. Batter overflowing everywhere. I split into smaller containers and added colors. Decided to use fragrance. But forgot until 1/3 of the way into the pour. Added fragrance hearing @Jersey Girl yelling at me to not do it. But i did it anyway.

I have WAAAAY more batter than i need. Quick wash out my other mold and did an ITP swirl and poured. The overflow batch is probably gonna be nicer lol.

i think its all muddy looking. We will see. I have never used so many gloves or paper towels.

waiting for them to set up a bit to do something with the top

 

[KimW]

Can't wait to see how it worked out @tommysgirl !

Love the result of that last try @KimW !
I think it looks like a psychedelic ghost swirl as for the technique, how wide is your mold? It looks a bit wide for a ts mold, but maybe the batter just didn't come all the way to the top. It's easier to get a good shimmy with a very skinny mold.

Thanks for the tip @sunnysuds ! That's a great idea!

hahaha - thanks, @szaza I have been liking all my "fails". Thank you for the tip - I shall make a skinnier mold for the next attempt!

 

[tommysgirl]

Still no shimmy. But that's ok. I got some pretty colors

 

[szaza]

@Catscankim I'm so sorry about the mess your soap created. I've had the same problem before as well (bigger batch size, not thought through and overflowing batter). I poured all my batter into a cleaned out bucket - most are pp, so lye save. Maybe that could help you out next time.
I hope your shimmy will be better than you expect!

@earlene I admire your dedication!

@tommysgirl I think that would've been a shimmy if you'd have poured the blue on the opposite side still a very pretty soap!

 

[AliOop]

Poured my first try at the TS Shimmy and put it in the insulated bag around 11:30pm. Finished cleaning up and writing the notes on my recipe sheet. I should go to sleep but probably am going to read and unwind. Planning the pour and mixing the colors kinda gets my adrenaline going.

 

[Catscankim]

I know its too early to unmold, But i just got home from work and pulled it out of the oven to gawk at it. Its been in there with the light on, about 15 hours now. Its still super soft. Is that normal with a taller mold? I have unmolded my other mold at 12 hours in the past. It was still on the softer side, but not like this. Just too soft to cut. The ts one is nearly fluid. I probably could have stuck my finger in it.

My recipe is the same. I only resized it for the mold....ran it through soap calc. Hope i didnt mismeasure something.

 

[dibbles]

I know its too early to unmold, But i just got home from work and pulled it out of the oven to gawk at it. Its been in there with the light on, about 15 hours now. Its still super soft. Is that normal with a taller mold? I have unmolded my other mold at 12 hours in the past. It was still on the softer side, but not like this. Just too soft to cut. The ts one is nearly fluid. I probably could have stuck my finger in it.

My recipe is the same. I only resized it for the mold....ran it through soap calc. Hope i didnt mismeasure something.

I haven’t found my T&S to take longer to unmold. Are you sure it actually went through gel phase?

 

[Jersey Girl]

Soooo....I think I’m gonna try one more time. This is my second try. The first one I had a mold fail. I used the tall skinny wood mold from NS. I thought I had bought the silicon liner with it but I hadn’t so it’s 2.5 inches wide which I think makes a difference in the amount of shimmy. Then, as to not waste materials I had the brilliant idea to make the mold shorter so I made a cardboard divider and inserted it to make it 7 inches long. Well, all went well until the very last pour when the divider gave way and everything gushed underneath it. Second attempt, pictured here I shored up the divider with some clamps. This time it held, but quite a bit of batter Still leaked underneath. Ugh! So I’m gonna try one more time and maybe do as @sunnysuds did with some cardboard along the sides of the mold to make it skinnier. This is a difficult technique. A lot to take into consideration and prep but I love the challenge so maybe third time will be the charm!

I know its too early to unmold, But i just got home from work and pulled it out of the oven to gawk at it. Its been in there with the light on, about 15 hours now. Its still super soft. Is that normal with a taller mold? I have unmolded my other mold at 12 hours in the past. It was still on the softer side, but not like this. Just too soft to cut. The ts one is nearly fluid. I probably could have stuck my finger in it.

My recipe is the same. I only resized it for the mold....ran it through soap calc. Hope i didnt mismeasure something.

Mine was softer than normal too but I used more soft oils and more water in order to have a more fluid batter and I’m not sure it completely gelled.

 

[Catscankim]

I haven’t found my T&S to take longer to unmold. Are you sure it actually went through gel phase?

I feel like its still in gel phase lol. The outside of the mold is still super warm. I took it out of all its insulation and placed it on the counter

Soooo....I think I’m gonna try one more time. This is my second try. The first one I had a mold fail. I used the tall skinny wood mold from NS. I thought I had bought the silicon liner with it but I hadn’t so it’s 2.5 inches wide which I think makes a difference in the amount of shimmy. Then, as to not waste materials I had the brilliant idea to make the mold shorter so I made a cardboard divider and inserted it to make it 7 inches long. Well, all went well until the very last pour when the divider gave way and everything gushed underneath it. Second attempt, pictured here I shored up the divider with some clamps. This time it held, but quite a bit of batter Still leaked underneath. Ugh! So I’m gonna try one more time and maybe do as @sunnysuds did with some cardboard along the sides of the mold to make it skinnier. This is a difficult technique. A lot to take into consideration and prep but I love the challenge so maybe third time will be the charm!

I think that one is really pretty!!! You should have submitted it

 

[Jersey Girl]

I think that one is really pretty!!! You should have submitted it

Thank you! It could end up being my entry if I don’t get a better result with my next attempt! Also thinking about colors...that’s always where I struggle.

 

[Catscankim]

Thank you! It could end up being my entry if I don’t get a better result with my next attempt! Also thinking about colors...that’s always where I struggle.

I struggle with color selection too.

Off topic, my friend (who i literally just saw at the gas station 5 min ago) has JERSEY GIRL on the back window of her truck lol. Im originally from Philly. I met her here about 13 years ago and shes always had that logo. Different truck of course, same logo

 

[AliOop]

I think that one is really pretty!!! You should have submitted it

Totally agreed! I would be thrilled if mine looked that good.

 

[tommysgirl]

@tommysgirl I think that would've been a shimmy if you'd have poured the blue on the opposite side still a very pretty soap!

I "thought" I turned the mold with each pour (was supposed to be a color with a thin stripe of natural), but I completely lost my train of thought somewhere and messed up the sequence. Clearly it was worse than I thought because I obviously didn't turn the mold like I thought I did either Idk what in the world was on my mind, lol!

 

[Catscankim]

Ok. Not a good shimmy, but definitely not a soapy fail. It looks way better in person lol. It hardened up a bit after it cooled down lol. I still couldnt wait to see it, so i cut a few bars.its clean up-able lol.

its a keeper, just not for the challenge

 

[Jersey Girl]

Ok. Not a good shimmy, but definitely not a soapy fail. It looks way better in person lol. It hardened up a bit after it cooled down lol. I still couldnt wait to see it, so i cut a few bars.its clean up-able lol.

its a keeper, just not for the challenge

Wow! Beautiful! I like that design! We shall call it “The Tall Skinny Kimmy”

 

[Catscankim]

Glad i used the fo lol

 

[linne1gi]

Uggghhh. I need more containers. Im still waing for my lye to cool, so its not yet an emergency. Im not used to making a batch bigger than my other molds.

I melted my hard fats. Added my soft oils....too much for my regular soaping bowl. So i switched to my big glass pampered chef mixing bowl. I know about the glass, its just gonna be this once. Its still too much. I havent added the lye solution yet, but i presume its gonna fill to the tippy top.

I foresee a big huge mess lol

Why such a large batch for a challenge? I use a one pound tall and skinny mold for things like this. That way I can try more than once if I wish, without having a bunch of soap around that I don't like.

 

[Louise Taylor]

@Louise Taylor as promised:

Thank you

 

[Jersey Girl]

Glad i used the fo lol

Good call!

 

[Catscankim]

Why such a large batch for a challenge? I use a one pound tall and skinny mold for things like this. That way I can try more than once if I wish, without having a bunch of soap around that I don't like.

I dont have a 1lb mold lol