SMF August Challenge -Rock and Gem Soap

[NsMar42111]

I actually started making "rock" looking soaps (marbled ones). I'm not going to have enough time for this one though...looking forward to seeing everyone's results!

 

[SunRiseArts]

Thank you Galaxy for hosting, and also last month! This is perfect for busy August! Because one can pick to make 1 soap MP

 

[Kittish]

Challenge soap attempt number one- Blue Lace Agate is in the mold. I think I got the wiggledy bits, thanks to BrewerGeorge's idea for piping lines into the mold. If I can get the soap to look right, I'll call the EO blend I'm scenting it with Blue Lace and build my first soap/lotion/perfume set around it.

 

[galaxyMLP]

Yay! Glad to see an attempt!

For anyone hesitant, don't be shy, go ahead and sign up! You don't have to use MP soap if that's what's stopping you!

 

[earlene]

Galaxy, I won't be doing M&P. CP is my plan.

 

[galaxyMLP]

Glad to hear it! Any soap works.

 

[Kittish]

Yay! Glad to see an attempt!

For anyone hesitant, don't be shy, go ahead and sign up! You don't have to use MP soap if that's what's stopping you!

Yep, my first attempt is CP. Took forever to come to trace, which came as a surprise. I was kind of counting on my fragrance being mostly ylang to accelerate the soap. Got my batter all mixed, split and colored before I added my EOs... then had to wait over an hour for it to reach medium trace.

Stick blending would probably have sped that up, but I don't like to pull out the stick blender for a small batch, especially for a result that nothing more than a bit of patience will bring about just as well.

 

[artemis]

I am right on the verge of entering this month. I soaped today, and as I looked at the batch of bars, I was reminded of some jaspers I've seen while shopping for beads. Googling led me to a stone that sort of matches my soap. Now, all I can think about is carving up a bar or two. I guess that would be a sort of backwards design process...

 

[SunRiseArts]

Oh Gosh, I made mine last night that I could not sleep. I wish I could post the photos already! My family loves them!

 

[Kittish]

grumble mutter grumble So I'm wondering what the heck is up with my soap?? It's been over 24 hours, and the last time I made this particular recipe the soap was almost too hard to cut that long after pouring!

The loaf, still mostly in the liner, is nice and hard on top, but the bottom is still pretty squishy, especially along the long edges. I also saw a couple of drops of clear liquid that had seeped out from where the liner overlaps. Didn't test it to see if it was oil or lye, figure whichever it is any that's left on the actual soap will reabsorb. I'll zap test when I actually cut it.

I've got both ends of the loaf uncovered, and I can't see any apparent separation or spots that look yellowish or crumbly or other issues. I'm pretty much certain that I did not have false trace, since it was over an hour from the time I mixed my oils and lye to the time I got the batter in the mold and during that time it maintained a temp of about 100 F and kept a homogeneous appearance. I've also double checked my measurements and made sure I didn't leave anything out or put too much of anything in.

For now, I'll let it sit with as much of the liner removed as I could get off without damaging the loaf. Hopefully it will finish hardening up in another day or two. If not, I'll stick it in the fridge or freezer for a bit just so I can at least get the liner off it.

Edit:

I think I've managed to answer most of my own questions here. I made a small change to the proportions in the recipe between the two batches- first had 40% OO and 15% RBO; second had 30% OO and 25% RBO, and increased the water content- 40% lye concentration in the first batch, 33% for the second. I also mixed at a higher temperature for the first batch than I did for this one. I think those three things pretty well account for this soap taking longer to harden up. The seepage, I don't know, but it seems to have all reabsorbed and/or evaporated at this point so unless my soap never finishes setting up or is zappy once it does I won't worry about it.

I made the changes to the lye concentration and temperature mostly with the expectation of my EO blend (half ylang) causing the soap to accelerate. That acceleration never happened.

 

[Kittish]

Looks nice, kind of puts me in mind of the cloud patterns on a gas giant planet.
I didn't use enough pigment in what was supposed to be a lighter blue, so it looks just like the uncolored part.

I like how the pigmented oil swirl on top looks, and the bits inside worked out all right, too. Going to see if I can find a spray bottle to use, for a solid line of color across the bars.

The covered parts of the loaf wanted to stay soft, right up until I got them exposed to air, then they hardened up pretty quick. Time to try again!

 

[SunRiseArts]

Not sure what happened there with your batter Kittish, wish I could help :-?

But it looks so pretty! How were you going to make your rocks?

 

[Kittish]

Not sure what happened there with your batter Kittish, wish I could help :-?

But it looks so pretty! How were you going to make your rocks?

Not going to use this batch for the challenge. I will leave the bars as is, though. They're pretty, just not the look I wanted.

Think if I make the next batch warmer, it'll go a bit quicker for me.

If you look at the bracelet in the top pic, that's kind of my reference stone. Was going to leave some bars as 'slabs' and carve a bar or two into chunks for 'tumbled' stones. The swirly on top was just for fun, to see how it came out.

Next batch I'll use a bit more pigment in my lighter blue, try to get it clearly differentiated from the white. Might also add just a touch of TD to the white.

The darkest blue streaks are where I dripped a line of pigmented oil down the length of my mold. I'm going to try to work out some way of getting a super thin layer across the entire surface, so I have edge to edge lines.

 

[Soapprentice]

I had to take an unexpected trip... I will not be able to make soap this time... I wanted to do one so bad!!! I will look forward to see everyone creations.

 

[artemis]

1. toxikon - I literally just bought a gem-shaped silicone mold.. must be fate!
2. Soapprentice - This is going to be my 1st MP soap and I'm excited!!!
3. Kittish - too bad my jade soap was a failure and has already been disposed of, it would have been great for this. Time to look over my rock collection for inspiration...
4. earlene - Lots of gem stones to look through once again, & thousands of photographs for inspiration.
5. jewels621 - hmmmm.......I like this idea.
6. dibbles - rocks and gems...a lot of choices
7. Mx6inpenn - lots of ideas...can I make the vision though?
8. SunRise Arts : well.... MP is my thing!
9. BattleGnome - my parents are visiting next week, maybe my mom will help with some m&p
10. PenelopeJane - I've always wanted to try this!
11. Artemis - I have a plan!

 

[galaxyMLP]

I had to take an unexpected trip... I will not be able to make soap this time... I wanted to do one so bad!!! I will look forward to see everyone creations.

Sorry to hear that! Hopefully you can try to make one at a later date.

Artemis, glad to see you're joining!

Kittish, beautiful soap even if it's not what you intended.

 

[MySoapyHeart]

1. toxikon - I literally just bought a gem-shaped silicone mold.. must be fate!
2. Soapprentice - This is going to be my 1st MP soap and I'm excited!!!
3. Kittish - too bad my jade soap was a failure and has already been disposed of, it would have been great for this. Time to look over my rock collection for inspiration...
4. earlene - Lots of gem stones to look through once again, & thousands of photographs for inspiration.
5. jewels621 - hmmmm.......I like this idea.
6. dibbles - rocks and gems...a lot of choices
7. Mx6inpenn - lots of ideas...can I make the vision though?
8. SunRise Arts : well.... MP is my thing!
9. BattleGnome - my parents are visiting next week, maybe my mom will help with some m&p
10. PenelopeJane - I've always wanted to try this!
11. Artemis - I have a plan!
12. MySoapyHeart - 'I have never tried that before, so I think I should definitely be able to do that.' (Pippi Longstocking)

 

[Kittish]

Blue lace agate attempt number two is in the mold now. Came at it a little differently this time. Started making my layers at very thin trace. Put my colors into disposable piping bags, and cut off just enough of the point to let a very thin stream of soap drizzle out. And started building layers as thin as I could get them. Lots of layers.

Emerald attempt is in a double boiler on the stove, waiting to see how much longer it's going to take for the last bits to dissolve. I'm going to try to put some veils in with activated charcoal when I pour it into the mold.

I've still got chunked up raw meat rebatch and orange peel soap, waiting for me to decide what I want to do with it. I'm leaning toward seeing just how finely I can process each of them with my food processor. Start with the fine shred blade, then pulse with the chopper, see how close to powder I can get them. Then mix in a little alcohol or water and shape rocks by hand.

Edit: The emerald is out of the mold, and looks promising. Already the look and feel of the soap is far superior to the first batch of glycerin soap I tried. Really glad I used a two pound mold, wound up being the perfect size. The blue lace is still in its mold, probably going to let it sit for another day or so after how long it took the last batch of that soap to harden up.

Further edit: The blue lace agate is out of the mold and out of the liner. It hardened up a lot faster than the last batch did. It. Looks. Awesome. I'm going to let it sit for another day or two and start carving. I should be able to get lots of gorgeous stones from it.

 

[Kittish]

So I have rocks carved. I just spent almost four hours carving rocks and didn't even realize how long I'd been at it until I tried to move. Did three each from the emerald and blue lace agate blocks, and still have chunks left from each to make more rocks with.

I did two faceted gems from the emerald. Damn it's hard getting even facets. I did the third one as a carved emerald, tried to replicate one I found on line. Got reasonably close, too. I used clay sculpting tools to carve it.

The blue lace agate is being cut into tumbled stones of assorted sizes. I'm really pleased with the way this soap came out, I nailed it with this one.

So now I have to decide which soap I'm going to use for the challenge. I'm really leaning toward the agate, it's just mesmerizing.

 

[Kittish]

So here's the soap I decided NOT to use for this month's challenge. Along with a teaser scrap of the one I am using. I had to prop the carved one up somehow. :twisted:

It's an attempt to replicate this: http://moonstargems.com/product/39-94-carat-pear-shaped-dark-green-emerald-with-fancy-carving/