September Challenge- Ribbon Pour

[newbie]

GENERAL RULES- Please read


SMF Challenge General Rules
· 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)
· The challenge thread should be used to upload pictures of any of your challenge attempts where you can ask for advice and discuss the technique with other members.
· Constructive criticism is welcomed, but please try to keep your comments polite.
· Competition entries must be uploaded to the separate entry thread before the closing date. The entry thread will open on September 19, 2016 and close on September 26, 2016 (Please follow the challenge specific rules as to what you need to enter)
· Voting will open on September 27, 2016. The winning entry will be chosen using survey monkey and the winner announced on September 30, 2016. There is no prize attached to this challenge.
· If you fail to make the challenge deadline, you are still welcome to upload your soap onto the thread, but your entry will not be eligible for voting. We still love to see anything you have produced.
· 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 then your entry will not be included in the voting.
· Newbie, Saponista, Lionproncess00, Sonya-m and GalaxyMLP reserve the right to have the final say on whether a soap is eligible for for voting.

ALSO

1.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.

2. This month’s voting will be password locked. Passwords will be PM'ed to registered participants ONLY. So please check your PM's when the voting begins.

3. No posting your entry photos until the entry thread is made. Non entry photos are very welcome!

4. You are allowed to change your entry photo up until the entry thread closes. So if you decide after you post your entry you want another try, and you like the second better, you can change it up until the deadline.

 

[newbie]

Welcome to the September Challenge- Ribbon Pour.

This is a technique challenge with loads of room for creativity. This will not be about replicating a look because the looks you can get with this pour are all over the map. The challenge is to get the pour down but what you do with the pour? Well, the sky's the limit.

I separated the videos into topics so you can go more easily to the one you want to review. I had made a number of videos in anticipation of this challenge so I used the parts I thought were clearest and best demonstrated the technique. You will notice that parts are from different batches so sorry about the inconsistency that brings. The first video is a lot of talking (yawn) about the principle, pouring containers, molds. The action videos don't have as much talking and two have only text and no talking.

The basis of this pour is to use a pouring container with a spout. You pour your colors into the container from the side/sides so that the colors line up fairly well in parallel/in line with the spout. When you gently pour the soap out, it will come out in stripes and you can get a very ribbony effect with it.

You can pour into any mold you like or can make but you have to pour it as a slab for presentation. You can use loaf molds but you would be pouring into them with the idea of then cutting horizontally to get the face-up presentation of the bar. Individual molds are fine, slab molds are obvious. If you are pouring into a deeper mold, like a loaf or T&S, the drop of the batter will be from higher and you might get a different effect, which is fine. Because of soap falling through batter when dropped from a distance, to get the most ribbony effect in this scenario, it would pay to split the batch in to smaller amounts and pour each only after the underlying layer had set up some. Then cut horizontally. You can make a single layer slab bar in a loaf or T&S mold using around a recipe calculated to make a 1-1.5 inch bar.
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RULES FOR THIS CHALLENGE::

1. You must use a minimum of two colors and uncolored batter counts as a color.
2. Your soap must be presented as a slab bar.
3. Entries will consist of a picture of your soap in the pouring vessel before the pour with a clear shot of how you loaded/the striping, and a picture of at least one bar with a clear shot of the surface.
4. Choose your colors carefully. There will be some mixing of them so make sure your colors can mix together slightly and make another acceptable color. I have not found a pink and green that can mix together and NOT form a dreadful hue. Be warned. And high contrast shows the patterns off more.


Entry thread will open on Sept 19 and close on September 26th. Voting will open on September 27th ad close on the 30th.
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SUGGESTIONS:

1. You can use as many colors as you want, but I think the sweet spot for number of colors is 2-4.
2. Always start with small batches.
3. If you are uncertain about this and don't want to commit to a full batch, next time you are making soap, increase your batch size by 4-5 ounces. Use those few extra ounces to make an individual soap, using a Dixie cup as your pouring container and any type of individual mold. It takes only one bar to enter!
4. If you have only a huge slab mold (thinking of you, Carolyn), you can either break down your batter into 4-5 smaller batches and pour each layer individually. That gives you 4-5 cracks at the technique, makes the bar vary throughout its use which people notice and appreciate, but is time and labor intensive. Another idea would be to pour 2/3-3/4 of your batter in a style you normally would for that mold but the use the remaining batter for the ribbon pour that you would use as the top layer. That would qualify; we just want to see the ribbon technique used and tried.
5. If you are a seller, you can make a smaller batch for this and sell it as a limited edition soap, so you aren't wasting anything. I think customers like buying something specially made like that.
6. If you make only loaf soaps, make your soap using 2/3-3/4 of the total and then use the balance to do a ribbon pour on the top. You can take a picture of the top as your presentation as that is in slab form/face up, and then cut later. The patterns from a ribbon can be interesting from the sides as well.
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Here are some pictures of soaps using a ribbon pour, so you can get a feel for the variety you can get from it.

 

[newbie]

INTRO:
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51lkwJnPSc8[/ame]

Emulsion:
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39pLHKMtN6o[/ame]

Hitting Trace:
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PyOPEpwpLU[/ame]

Loading the container:
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dc-4TnFO2S8[/ame]

The Pour:
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QCl7yOyPYw[/ame]

 

[newbie]

Sign up:

1.

 

[amd]

Sign up:

1. AMD - I miss doing challenges

 

[penelopejane]

Sign up:

1. AMD - I miss doing challenges
2. penelopejane - I'll give it a whirl.

 

[newbie]

Thanks for joining! Sorry about the blitzkrieg of info. It's simpler than it may appear but gives some cool results.

 

[penelopejane]

Thanks for joining! Sorry about the blitzkrieg of info. It's simpler than it may appear but gives some cool results.

Newbie,
The last orange soap looks like it was cut like a normal cake from a log. Why do you need us to cut it horizontally?

PS there can never be too much info for me on technical challenges.

 

[Rusti]

Sign up:

1. AMD - I miss doing challenges
2. penelopejane - I'll give it a whirl.
3. Rusti - I should have time this month

 

[dibbles]

Sign up:

1. AMD - I miss doing challenges
2. penelopejane - I'll give it a whirl.
3. Rusti - I should have time this month
4. dibbles - I've been wanting to try this

 

[TeresaT]

Sign up:

1. AMD - I miss doing challenges
2. penelopejane - I'll give it a whirl.
3. Rusti - I should have time this month
4. dibbles - I've been wanting to try this
5. TeresaT - I'll make time for it this month (if it's not hot & humid again :think.

 

[mx5inpenn]

I would love to try this one but have a question regarding molds. You said using an individual mold is fine. Mine are ovals. Is that still okay?

 

[newbie]

PJ, the soap you mean (I think) is the bottom of a bar from a slab mold and from the layer in the picture; I used a tight S shape for pouring. Everything I posted is a horizontal cut or the very top of a slab bar. The patterns are significantly different from the side and from that perspective, you can't see the striping or tell much about how the person poured. It shows itself best as a slab/horizontal cut.

You can get some very interesting patterns cutting on the vertical, but the focus for this month is on the top.

Mx6, yes, you can certainly use an oval individual mold. Any shape will do- circular, oval, rectangular, square, or other.

 

[IrishLass]

1. AMD - I miss doing challenges
2. penelopejane - I'll give it a whirl.
3. Rusti - I should have time this month
4. dibbles - I've been wanting to try this
5. TeresaT - I'll make time for it this month (if it's not hot & humid again :think.
6. IrishLass - I'll give it a swirl.

 

[Guspuppy]

1. AMD - I miss doing challenges
2. penelopejane - I'll give it a whirl.
3. Rusti - I should have time this month
4. dibbles - I've been wanting to try this
5. TeresaT - I'll make time for it this month (if it's not hot & humid again

).
6. IrishLass - I'll give it a swirl.
7. Guspuppy - School is in, vacations are over, work is slow. Time to soap!

 

[BattleGnome]

1. AMD - I miss doing challenges
2. penelopejane - I'll give it a whirl.
3. Rusti - I should have time this month
4. dibbles - I've been wanting to try this
5. TeresaT - I'll make time for it this month (if it's not hot & humid again ).
6. IrishLass - I'll give it a swirl.
7. BattleGnome - many ideas, so little time

 

[carlyjones]

AMD - I miss doing challenges
2. penelopejane - I'll give it a whirl.
3. Rusti - I should have time this month
4. dibbles - I've been wanting to try this
5. TeresaT - I'll make time for it this month (if it's not hot & humid again ).
6. IrishLass - I'll give it a swirl.
7. BattleGnome - many ideas, so little time
8. carlyjones - see if I can't make some time for this one!! IrisLass you beat me to that one...

 

[mx5inpenn]

1. AMD - I miss doing challenges
2. penelopejane - I'll give it a whirl.
3. Rusti - I should have time this month
4. dibbles - I've been wanting to try this
5. TeresaT - I'll make time for it this month (if it's not hot & humid again ).
6. IrishLass - I'll give it a swirl.
7. BattleGnome - many ideas, so little time
8. Mx6inpenn - yay! I finally can do a challenge!

 

[Misschief]

1. AMD - I miss doing challenges
2. penelopejane - I'll give it a whirl.
3. Rusti - I should have time this month
4. dibbles - I've been wanting to try this
1. AMD - I miss doing challenges
2. penelopejane - I'll give it a whirl.
3. Rusti - I should have time this month
4. dibbles - I've been wanting to try this
5. TeresaT - I'll make time for it this month (if it's not hot & humid again ).
6. IrishLass - I'll give it a swirl.
7. BattleGnome - many ideas, so little time
8. Mx6inpenn - yay! I finally can do a challenge!
9. Misschief - let's try this again

 

[Arimara]

I wish. I spent my money on birthday gifts and a day painting a mug and a card holder with my daughter. No supplies this month.