SMF April 2020 Challenge - Strainer Pour/Pull Through Technique

[Mobjack Bay]

@Adobehead I love plant colorants (and your soaps), especially for the soaps I make for myself and my friends. Because the colors and behavior of those colorants are so much less predictable compared with micas, I often end up defaulting to micas for challenge soaps. It's one less set of variables to contend with when trying to learn a new technique. The soaps don't go to waste because many of my family members like the mica colors better.

 

[RainbowVapor]

Beautiful work

 

[szaza]

Congratulations @Belindasuds @Mobjack Bay and @Sonya-m your soaps were amazing!
Thank you @dibbles for organizing yet another fun and inspiring challenge

 

[Hinata]

So now I have uploaded my entry, here are the other soaps I ended up with through this process. My entry was attempt #1 funnily enough, done with a mini colander and a faux funnel pour.

Attempt #2 was done with a full size veggie strainer and scented in BB Applejack peel. Also done with a faux funnel pour

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Attempt #3 was also using a full size kitchen colander but with round holes instead of verticle slits, I wondered if that would make a difference. Im still not sure to be honest as I did an ITPS for this one which looked amazing but then when poured through the colander it all blended together. scented in BB coastal rain

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Attempt #4. Poured through a plastic vegetable slicer, by this time I'm thinking verticle slits work better than holes. I like the pattern better but I I did an ITPS again and again I wasn't happy with the results as they muddled going through the pour through tools. Scented with BB Energy

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Attempt # ... ? 5 I think? Was individual round moulds with a variety of sink strainers as pull through tools. Mostly a failure but this one was the best of a bad bunch. Scented in Eroma's Alpine Oak and Vetiver - absolutely devine but discolours. I put the fragrance only in the black and dark blue portions but as you can see some has bled across

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Attempt #6 was using an actual silicon sink strainer! Purchased on eBay - in Australia for our Aussie members. I really do think that this one gives the best results and I am going to try it out again later today. For this one I did a faux funnel pour again, having decided by this stage that an ITPS doesn't work as well. Scented with Lavender and patchouli essential oils, and a different recipe to my usual one - this is goat milk soap with goat tallow and jojoba. I like the patterns but not the intensity of the colours. This was my first time experimenting with natural plant colourants so this has indigo, madder root and allanet root infused in olive oil. Quite happy with it as a first play with these colours as I had no idea what to expect

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To summarise since I know this is a very long post - my take home lessons were:

- faux funnel pour works better than an ITPS
- the correct tool definitely yields better results

The other things I learned:

- I had to plane A LOT of soap away in order to find a nice pattern, which is probably the main reason I probably won't use this technique regularly. I don't often make confetti soap etc and now I have an absolute mountain of soap scraps.
- I found that at the start of the pour the pattern was beautiful, however as I continued to pour, when my slab mould filled up and the soap started to hit the edges and accumulate, it started to mess with the lovely intricate pattern I previously had
- for that reason, I can see myself using this technique as a very thin layer to decorate the top of a loaf of soap (which I might try a knit later today) rather than using it in a slab mould as the actual bar of soap. I think pouring it as a thin layer would work to the patterns advantage without having to plane away a heap of soap

Thanks again for the challenge and we'll done to everyone who participated!

Thank you for sharing all the beautiful pics. However this concept is very new to me. Did you let the soap pass through the strainer as you poured it into the molds or did you let the strainer sit on the bottom of the mold so it passed it and then as you remove the strainer the soap passed through a second time? I know you may have already stated but the terminology is all new to me and need it spelled out. Thanks!

 

[Hinata]

where the pics posted here for on another link? sorry i'm a bit out the loop!

 

[Primrose]

Thank you for sharing all the beautiful pics. However this concept is very new to me. Did you let the soap pass through the strainer as you poured it into the molds or did you let the strainer sit on the bottom of the mold so it passed it and then as you remove the strainer the soap passed through a second time? I know you may have already stated but the terminology is all new to me and need it spelled out. Thanks!

My attempts were with the device placed into the mould and the soap poured through it - a pour through technique (although you do have to lift it out at the very end)

Some of the other contestants used a flat object at the bottom of the mould, poured all their soap on top, and then pulled the object up and out of the soap - pull through technique

The way I think of the difference is which part does the majority of the movement to create the pattern. If it's the soap batter moving through the object like with mine, it's a pour through. If it's the object moving through the batter that creates most of the pattern it's a pull through. Does that help?

 

[Hinata]

so the the faux funnel refers to which technique or thats another animal?

 

[Jersey Girl]

so the the faux funnel refers to which technique or thats another animal?

A faux funnel poor is where you just pour alternating colors on top of each other like in a column mold just skip using the funnel. The funnel helps things end up in the more accurate spot as you’re pouring but if you have a steady hand you can do a pretty good job without it. People use this technique when they’re using a pull through tool at the bottom of the column mold.

 

[Jersey Girl]

where the pics posted here for on another link? sorry i'm a bit out the loop!

Pics are in the entry thread.
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/thr...d-strainer-pour-pull-through-technique.78972/

 

[Hinata]

That makes sense. Thank you for explaing to me. Between the pull vs pour through technique, generally which will produce more intricate defined colors?

 

[earlene]

Great work everyone!

Congratulations to the winners. They are all spectacular soaps.

I do remember how much fun and what a challenge it was to to both the pour-through and the pull-through and even still look at more things with an eye to 'I wonder how this would work out' if I use it for a pull-through or pour-through tool. The collection has continued to build, yet I haven't tried any again since last May!