September Challenge- Ribbon Pour

[Guspuppy]

Rusti your purple is so vibrant! I'm jealous!

 

[earlene]

TeriDK, Rusti & Guspuppy, your soaps are so very pretty.

I made another attempt today and I think it might end up being my entry if it turns out as well as it looked when I poured it. I have 3 others that are still awaiting a decision, though, so still not posting any pictures.

My new belever/planer just came today and what a nice finish it gives to my soaps. I am liking this thing! The attempt I made a 3 days ago and was disappointed in after cut, now looks gorgeous after planing & beveling.

 

[Rusti]

Rusti your purple is so vibrant! I'm jealous!

Thanks! I ordered some Nurture micas during their sale and they came just in time for this attempt. It's grape flavored (smells an awful lot like grape gum or soda), so I'd say 'look achieved!"

Your pour has an interesting optical illusion of some sort going when it's in the mold. It's still there in the bars, but not so strongly. it's cool!

 

[Guspuppy]

Thanks! I ordered some Nurture micas during their sale and they came just in time for this attempt. It's grape flavored (smells an awful lot like grape gum or soda), so I'd say 'look achieved!"

Your pour has an interesting optical illusion of some sort going when it's in the mold. It's still there in the bars, but not so strongly. it's cool!

Thanks, I don't see the illusion! Unless you mean the humped-up look? If so, that's because it IS humped up, it got a bit thick during pouring! lol

My purple is from Nurture too, but I guess I didn't use enough to get it as dark! I'm pretty sure it's their vibrance purple or from their vibrance set, or whatever it's called.

 

[Rusti]

Thanks, I don't see the illusion! Unless you mean the humped-up look? If so, that's because it IS humped up, it got a bit thick during pouring! lol

My purple is from Nurture too, but I guess I didn't use enough to get it as dark! I'm pretty sure it's their vibrance purple or from their vibrance set, or whatever it's called.

It's the light blue bumped up against the purple, I think. It reminds me of those old Paint With Water books from the 80s where the color was already on the page and you spread it out with a wet brush.

 

[earlene]

Dibbles, very nice.

Teresa, I love the look of grey and white.

SunWolf, marvelous spout!

 

[shunt2011]

Wow, great job all of you!! They all look awesome!

 

[Guspuppy]

Theresa I love your finished soap!

Sunwolf you are a genius!! I would never have thought of that to make a spout.

 

[Misschief]

Well, this month got away from me.... again. There's no way I'll have the time or energy to attempt this month's challenge. I thought life would slow down a bit in September; I was wrong. I'm loving all the attempts, though. There's some gorgeous soap in the entry thread.

 

[amd]

This month also slipped away from me. I'm going to take my one and only try tonight. I have an odd amount of masterbatch left that should be just right to make in my short loaf mold. I've never poured only 1-1/2" before so this maybe good entertainment. I'm gonna enter it even if it's ugly and I will not look at the entry thread before then lest I lose my courage to try.

 

[penelopejane]

Teresa, I love the way your colour fell through the white base. It is perfect!

I do hope your spirulina lasts longer than mine - it faded to fawn quick smart for me and made me itchy all over. :cry:
But I only infused the OO and strained out the spirulina. I didn't put a spoonful in the batter, which might stick better.

 

[newbie]

Wow, nice entries, guys!

 

[earlene]

Okay, I want to post a few pics of my rejects, but I am still compiling the photos. Plus with my new planer/beveler I might actually like some of them better with a bit more clean up. But for now here's a list of my attempts this month:

Sept 7 One batch using Dual Lye [40% lye] (might still choose this one for entry)
Sept 8 One batch using NaOH only [33% lye] (might still choose this one for entry)
Sept 10 Almost soap-on-a-stick [40% lye] FO acceleration; ribbon pour not possible, but some of these soaps look pretty. My Montana Sky soap came from this batch, as did my 'Alaska Glacier' guest soaps.
Sept 16 Two batches Dual Lye [40% lye] I discovered Wilton's Icing Colorant 'Red Red' accelerates trace, so that went into individual molds alone. I did not use enough Red Brick Oxide (I wanted a lighter shade than I got in the past, but was too stingy with the oxide); same is true for the black oxide, not enough. The ribbon pour soap is the worst of these so far and is a definite reject, so a picture is below.
Sept 17 Two batches trying out a new-to-me 'swirling recipe' First batch accelerated with an FO (I knew better, but did it anyway :??? Second batch looks beautiful and I still may enter it.
Sept 19 One batch using High Oleic oils Dual Lye [40% Lye] Love how these came out.

So I have at least 4 different soaps to choose from for my entry. SO difficult!

Here is the reject from Sept 16. The ribbon pour is passable, but the colors are so light and it's just not what I wanted. Maybe it's really ash that makes it look so dull, but the others are much better. The bottom right photo is of the Wilton Icing Color 'Red Red' that I was testing and held out from the ribbon pour because it accelerated the batter. Besides accelerating, it also caused speckles in the soap.

ETA:
Here is the one I made on Sept. 7th, which I choose not to submit. I do really like it, but the TD spots are numerous.
Other than the TD spots, I almost submitted this one as my entry.

This next one was a Bastille recipe that I made on Sept 17th. I also really like this one and came close to choosing it as my entry. When I made the first batch that day, I used an accelerating FO, and didn't end up with much of a ribbon pour. That's what became the base for the bigger soaps. You can see the base in the bottom forefront larger bar. I poured the second fragrant-free batch on the surface of the accelerated base, and also in a smaller mold to get the bars atop the others.

So that leaves two more to choose from.

 

[earlene]

And finally, I rejected this one I made on Sept 8th as well. The TD accelerated, but it doesn't looks so bad really, just thicker than planned. The green also accelerated and thas TD specs showing in the green. I have to say I actually liked the pre-planed bumpy surface better than the smooth planed surface that shows how the green plopped out of the pouring container as it thickened up so much faster than the rest. You can see the difference of the surfaces in the pictures in the center and on the left. I made this with 70% lard and no fragrance.

So that is all of my rejects. I'll go post my entry now.

 

[TeresaT]

Ha! Earlene, your rejects are way better than my entry. ETA: Earlene, I want that little car!!

Penelope Jane. I love your entry. That turned out well. I'm going to have to try this again using my individual molds. It didn't occur to me to try that until I saw yours. I was definitely having a difficult time pouring into the log mold even though I've got a long spout on my pitcher. I think the individual molds may be the way to go for me. I'll have to try that.

 

[penelopejane]

Ha! Earlene, your rejects are way better than my entry. ETA: Earlene, I want that little car!!

Penelope Jane. I love your entry. That turned out well. I'm going to have to try this again using my individual molds. It didn't occur to me to try that until I saw yours. I was definitely having a difficult time pouring into the log mold even though I've got a long spout on my pitcher. I think the individual molds may be the way to go for me. I'll have to try that.

Your first one is a winner! Honestly, I love it.
I am going to try it today. But, can't decide on a colour since I have so many to choose from!
Micas drive me crazy. Look at the colours in the pot and then the finished soap! How could you tweek anything before cure?

The small tray was the only way I could think of to get the tiny spout on my jug close to the soap. I don't have a slab mold. I'm ordering some long spouted jugs today - found them on eBay.

Made a 50% salt batch yesterday. Babysat it while it hardened and cut it at the perfect time - no crumbling!

 

[earlene]

Ha! Earlene, your rejects are way better than my entry. ETA: Earlene, I want that little car!!

Penelope Jane. I love your entry. That turned out well. I'm going to have to try this again using my individual molds. It didn't occur to me to try that until I saw yours. I was definitely having a difficult time pouring into the log mold even though I've got a long spout on my pitcher. I think the individual molds may be the way to go for me. I'll have to try that.

Thank you. You are very kind.

I got the little car mold on Amazon. Finding manly or even boyish individual molds is a challenge. I am convinced that my grandson will be a full-grown man before I find one that seems fitting for a teen-aged boy.

But it's fun looking.

ETA: I forgot to say, I love your entry soap. It is beautiful!

 

[earlene]

I still want to get that wood grain effect like you got in this one, newbie. So I decided to take closer look at it before I try again. I am posting it below so it is easier for me to describe what I am aiming for and how I think you achieved it. I hope you don't mind.

So what I am seeing is straight-ish fast pouring of the batter, rather than the slow pour that gets the folded ribbony effect. Somehow I missed that before. Also very thin layers when loading the pouring container. So now I think I know how to proceed to get this effect. I love the 'knots' as one sees in wood. The whole effect is just gorgeous and I want to emulate this.

I am hoping to try this again, maybe in the next few days. Not in order to replace my entry, but simply because I want to be able to create soap that looks like this!

 

[newbie]

You are pretty much dead on. THat pour was very fast and straight, back and forth going the long length of the mold, and the bars were cut so they were on that line. I don't recall that I had numerous fine lines in the container though, and that could be a detriment, actually. The speed of the pour stretches the lines out and if you had many thin lines, the colors could be completely indistinct from each other. The "knots" were accidents and were from small pauses in the pour. I imagine you will get them without trying and a purposeful pause might be too long and cause a major blob. Also, I tried to be a bit organized in this pour and start at one side and pour as straight at possible until I reached the other side. If you zig zag or pour more randomly back and forth, you'll get less of a grain look, I think. Do you know what I mean? It's hard to describe without drawing out or showing it.

I used the long spouted container for this. It helps get the stream of batter thinner.

I hope you'll post what you get, even if it's well after this challenge!

 

[Sonya-m]

I'm going to post my entry when I get home from work tonight - just wanted to make sure I'm not too late. Will be posting in about 7 hours by the time I get in and photograph it