SMF August 2020 Challenge - Zig Zag Cosmic Wave Technique

[tommysgirl]

I'm not eligible to enter, nor do I have enough soaping experience yet, but I decided to give this technique a try anyway and see what I learn. Boy, that little wiggle while pouring is harder than it looks! I saw somewhere that someone suggested practicing that before trying it with batter and that is certainly a good idea. My loaf is definitely messy! I used three colors - a sea-green, sunflower orange and dark gray/black. I didn't have my batter divided evenly so the green overtook the other colors as there was way too much of it. I can 'almost' see the S down the middle but can't really see the fanning out of the colors. I'm not sure if my batter was a little too thick or if it is partly because the pitchers i currently have, have a shorter rounded pour spout and really hard to keep in the corner of the mold. I may post pics when it is ready to cut, even though it is essentially a failed attempt. It was fun to try though!

 

[SPowers]

I may reconsider I try a second time... I'm away at my daughter's next week so I will need a soap fix as soon as I return!

 

[dibbles]

I tried two. One in smaller cavity molds an one loaf mold. They both goth muddy looking

Do you have a planer. Removing the top layer can sometimes reveal wonders hiding below.

 

[dibbles]

I'm not eligible to enter, nor do I have enough soaping experience yet, but I decided to give this technique a try anyway and see what I learn. Boy, that little wiggle while pouring is harder than it looks! I saw somewhere that someone suggested practicing that before trying it with batter and that is certainly a good idea. My loaf is definitely messy! I used three colors - a sea-green, sunflower orange and dark gray/black. I didn't have my batter divided evenly so the green overtook the other colors as there was way too much of it. I can 'almost' see the S down the middle but can't really see the fanning out of the colors. I'm not sure if my batter was a little too thick or if it is partly because the pitchers i currently have, have a shorter rounded pour spout and really hard to keep in the corner of the mold. I may post pics when it is ready to cut, even though it is essentially a failed attempt. It was fun to try though!

I can’t use the funnel pitchers to save my life, so mine also have short spouts. You can pour right next to the corner and get the same result, rather than across the right angle of the corner, if that makes sense.

 

[tommysgirl]

I can’t use the funnel pitchers to save my life, so mine also have short spouts. You can pour right next to the corner and get the same result, rather than across the right angle of the corner, if that makes sense.

It does make sense. Thanks for the tip! I'll give it a try when I get another chance at this technique.

 

[AliOop]

Just gave it a try tonight, using orange, green, and yellow. I like the colors, but the pattern looks more like a clamshell, with not much of an S-curve. Part of the problem is that my only loaf mold right now is a tall and skinny, which, IMO, doesn't have enough width for the layers to move enough. Bad timing on my part in that I'd just passed along my more traditional loaf mold to a new soaper last week, since I prefer the shape of the bars with the TS mold.

I might look around the house to see if I can find something to make a wider mold that would work better for this technique. I can also see that I need to do a better job of pouring the alternate colors into the pitcher more evenly, because there were big sections with only two of the three colors showing.

All in all, it was fun to plan and try, and the soap doesn't look bad, even though it didn't turn out as planned. It is scented with a sample bottle of Nurture's Seventh Heaven. It is such a light fragrance that I can hardly smell it, but it is quite nice.

 

[SudsyJurn]

I'm frustrated to say the very least. I made 3 batches to try this with and let's just say maybe I have one muddled mess of a soap that I might be able to convince myself to enter.
I tried a new recipe and it ended horribly, I tried a new FO and it accelerated so fast I just had to dump the colors into the mold, and the last one that I tried the FO didn't incorporate and left yellow spots all over the freaking thing!
So here's to a whole bunch of rebatching and confetti soap making.
I might try this one more time with no FOs and my usual recipe just to see if I can even do it. Lol! I'm such a glutton for punishment.

 

[bookreader451]

I really wanted to get another go in but, it is food preservation season and I have salsa to can and sauce to freeze and eggplant to bread! Water is boiling to peel tomatoes as I type this. Way too much on a school night!! Anyone want zucchini? Okay stop the groaning, I know everyone is sick of it now.

edited to add: hubby expects dinner sometime soon too.

 

[DKing]

I really wanted to get another go in but, it is food preservation season and I have salsa to can and sauce to freeze and eggplant to bread! Water is boiling to peel tomatoes as I type this. Way too much on a school night!! Anyone want zucchini? Okay stop the groaning, I know everyone is sick of it now.

edited to add: hubby expects dinner sometime soon too.

I wish I had an over abundance of zucchini. I was replacing some beds this year and unfortunately didn't get most of them replaced and so the zucchini and cucumbers got stuck in the shadiest part of the garden where the soil hasn't been as improved. Both are slow going and I am fighting powdery mildew daily. Next year they will get more love! The ones I have been able to harvest have been so good though! Soaping will wait, but when you gotta can, you gotta can!!

 

[tommysgirl]

I'm not eligible to enter, nor do I have enough soaping experience yet, but I decided to give this technique a try anyway and see what I learn. Boy, that little wiggle while pouring is harder than it looks! I saw somewhere that someone suggested practicing that before trying it with batter and that is certainly a good idea. My loaf is definitely messy! I used three colors - a sea-green, sunflower orange and dark gray/black. I didn't have my batter divided evenly so the green overtook the other colors as there was way too much of it. I can 'almost' see the S down the middle but can't really see the fanning out of the colors. I'm not sure if my batter was a little too thick or if it is partly because the pitchers i currently have, have a shorter rounded pour spout and really hard to keep in the corner of the mold. I may post pics when it is ready to cut, even though it is essentially a failed attempt. It was fun to try though!

So I cut my bars this morning. I was actually a bit surprised at what I got. Sorry about the coloring in the pics, I'm not a great photographer. Also, I'm not sure about the little whitish spots so I am going to do some research on that. First pic is wet soap, other two are after un-molding and cutting.

 

[Elizevt]

Thats not bad at all, You got the s-pattern in the middle and the zig-zags, I think maybe the soap batter was a bit thick.
Seriously, you did WAY better than me so far. My first 2 attempts the soaps got too thick and I had to do a drop swirl.
I started a zug zag and it was so thick and ploppy, I just ended up dumping it in the mould.
This technique is really tricky.
I'll maybe try a 3rd attempt tonight.

 

[dibbles]

@tommysgirl they look great! Thank you for sharing.

 

[AliOop]

@tommysgirl I love your color palette on that loaf - unique and so pretty!

 

[gardengeek]

I'm going to try a 4th (and last) time today or tomorrow. For some reason, the first part of my pour has a nice zig zag, but the time I get to the end my colors get too mixed up so I lose the definition of the design. My 2nd & 3rd tries I ended up with one good bar and one bad bar. This time, I'm going to try to do not so many layers in my pouring pitcher because I think all the layers in the pitcher are mixing by the time I get to the bottom.

Also, are the back of the bars supposed to also have a good zig zag too? Mine are looking more like wood grain. Maybe I should be cutting more off the back?

 

[tommysgirl]

Thats not bad at all, You got the s-pattern in the middle and the zig-zags, I think maybe the soap batter was a bit thick.
Seriously, you did WAY better than me so far. My first 2 attempts the soaps got too thick and I had to do a drop swirl.
I started a zug zag and it was so thick and ploppy, I just ended up dumping it in the mould.
This technique is really tricky.
I'll maybe try a 3rd attempt tonight.

Thanks Elizevt! I was really surprised that I got any design at all inside. I struggled with my pitcher and my batter was thicker than I thought it should be. When I cut the top off the first one it didn't look like much but I really saw the curve in the second one and was shocked, lol! I know your soap didn't turn out as planned, but it looks really nice as it is! I love black and white soaps

@dibbles and @AliOop Thank you so much ☺

I want to try one more time with a wider mold and see if I can use a little more restraint with the stick blender and catch my batter before it gets too thick.

 

[Elizevt]

I want to try one more time with a wider mold and see if I can use a little more restraint with the stick blender and catch my batter before it gets too thick.

Yes, The stick blender was the death of my batter, I think its also because 45% of my recipe is tallow, maybe that is why it whips up thick so fast.

With my second one, I nearly got the consistency right, I just needed more patience too, I needed to stay with the hand whisk. Just mix by hand, and leave the blender alone. *Put down the blender and walk away*

I love challenges like this, you learn so much even if you make a flop, I used to be a member of a local fly fishing forum, and we used to do fly swaps. We would choose a fly theme and then everyone makes their version of that fly lets say there are 20 members joining the fly swap, you need to make 20 of the same fly. Then we would mail it to a central moderator, and he would photograph and repack them so that all the members get one of each participants' flies that were made. Then we received a parcel with 20 different flies made by each of the participants. Then they would vote on the forum for the best fly. It was awesome. and I learnt the most from those challenges.

My oils have been weighed out and my activated charcoal and zinc oxide are mixed in tiny cups in a bit of oil this evening already. But I think I'll make it tomorrow morning when there is more light.
Holding thumbs it works

I'm not sure if I will have a really great soap, But I'm super excited to see photos from all the other member's soaps.
I can't wait!!

 

[tommysgirl]

My oils have been weighed out and my activated charcoal and zinc oxide are mixed in tiny cups in a bit of oil this evening already. But I think I'll make it tomorrow morning when there is more light.
Holding thumbs it works

I'm hoping it works for you too! Can't wait to hear about your results.

 

[dibbles]

I'm going to try a 4th (and last) time today or tomorrow. For some reason, the first part of my pour has a nice zig zag, but the time I get to the end my colors get too mixed up so I lose the definition of the design. My 2nd & 3rd tries I ended up with one good bar and one bad bar. This time, I'm going to try to do not so many layers in my pouring pitcher because I think all the layers in the pitcher are mixing by the time I get to the bottom.

Also, are the back of the bars supposed to also have a good zig zag too? Mine are looking more like wood grain. Maybe I should be cutting more off the back?

I only layer about half of my colors into the pouring pitcher, scrape it out and refill with the other half. This helps especially if you manage to keep your batter very fluid through the entire pour. The backs of the soap do not have to have any particular look to them. Mine don't look anything like the top. I'm impressed with your dedication!

 

[bookreader451]

Yes, The stick blender was the death of my batter, I think its also because 45% of my recipe is tallow, maybe that is why it whips up thick so fast.

With my second one, I nearly got the consistency right, I just needed more patience too, I needed to stay with the hand whisk. Just mix by hand, and leave the blender alone. *Put down the blender and walk away

You can also try using a higher water content. I used a 30% lye solution instead of 33.33%; not much more water but it does make a difference.

 

[Jackie Tobey]

You can also try using a higher water content. I used a 30% lye solution instead of 33.33%; not much more water but it does make a difference.

Thanks for the suggestion. I’ll be trying this for the second time tomorrow. The first time my white batter got thick too fast the the other two colors were too thin. I realized by watching one of the videos that using a small milk frothier in the smaller batches is genuous. Also next time no TD.