SMF August Challenge -Rock and Gem Soap

[BattleGnome]

Beautiful carving

 

[MySoapyHeart]

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/

Very nice, Millie, well done!

 

[earlene]

My first attempt is for rhodochrosite, of which I have a couple in jewelry. It's one of my favorite gemstones, but I don't normally order much in the way of pink colorants. So with the only 2 reds I have and some TD, I mixed colors and hoped for the best. Then I experienced soap on a stick and thought for sure this batch was lost to my plan. As it turns out, upon cutting I am far more pleased with the results than I could ever hope for given the problems I had yesterday with the batch. So no pictures at this time.

 

[jewels621]

So rarely does a soap ever turn out the way I planned it in my head. This challenge is a "one and done" for me. My cheeks hurt from smiling while I was finishing up this challenge. I think this will be a style that is in my soap repertoire forever. I can't wait to see what everyone else came up with!

 

[Kittish]

Very nice, Millie, well done!

Millie? Weird autocorrect?

So rarely does a soap ever turn out the way I planned it in my head. This challenge is a "one and done" for me. My cheeks hurt from smiling while I was finishing up this challenge. I think this will be a style that is in my soap repertoire forever. I can't wait to see what everyone else came up with!

Mine wasn't quite one and done, but I hear you on being happy with the result. Blue lace agate is going to be one of my regular soaps I think.

 

[MySoapyHeart]

Millie? Weird autocorrect?

Ooops ◉_◉

It wen`t a bit willy-nilly when it ended up being Millie!
That made me a bit skittish,
I am very sorry, Kittish!

(ᵔᴥᵔ)

 

[SunRiseArts]

I also did only one! And done.

But I am super busy and been in the road on and off. Also school starting my last one will be a senior! yay!!!

 

[Kittish]

Ooops ◉_◉

It wen`t a bit willy-nilly when it ended up being Millie!
That made me a bit skittish,
I am very sorry, Kittish!

(ᵔᴥᵔ)

That made me chuckle.

I can't wait for the photo thread to open so I can see what everyone has made. It sounds like lots of people have had fun with this challenge.

 

[toxikon]

Well my attempt is in the mold! My lovely turquoise colour made with "CP-safe" micas turned a murky swamp green as soon as the lye hit, go figure. Still looking forward to cutting it up!

 

[Kittish]

Well my attempt is in the mold! My lovely turquoise colour made with "CP-safe" micas turned a murky swamp green as soon as the lye hit, go figure. Still looking forward to cutting it up!

It might yet settle down into the color it's supposed to be. Hope it turns out for you!

 

[dibbles]

Well my attempt is in the mold! My lovely turquoise colour made with "CP-safe" micas turned a murky swamp green as soon as the lye hit, go figure. Still looking forward to cutting it up!

Green turquoise is a thing, so if it stays green, you are still good to go.

 

[earlene]

I made more soap last night but forgot the fragrance! Still rhodochrosite, and I used [33% Lye Concentration] this time so did not end up with soap-on-a-stick, thankfully. I decided not to carve into the first attempt because I love the bars once cut so much that I decided to keep them as they are instead of carving them up for the challenge. My original goal was to do a ribbon pour and I achieved that this time and used some individual molds so I'll be starting out with a shape closer to my goal and wasting less soap. At least I hope that is the case. I'll see in a day or so. If they harden up enough for carving by then. If not, they'll have to wait until we get back from Carbondale, where we are going to spend a few days for the eclipse. There will still be time to finish before the entry thread closing date.

 

[Kittish]

I've got one piece of my blue lace left to finish carving. Have to give it a day or two to harden up a bit more on what's now the surface. Wound up with six pretty good sized rocks and three small chips (though I can possibly manage two or three more chips from my scraps) from my 500g batch. Almost every time I pass where they are, I find myself stopping to just stare at them for a bit, with a side of 'wow, I made those'. Even my SO, who is markedly unimpressed by and uninterested in pretty much anything to do with soap, has said they look really good.

My jade attempt is melting down, going to recast it into individual bars and add scent. It turns out that I don't care much for how high cocoa butter amounts smell in soap. I did keep out the one piece that I carved so intricately.

My chunked up raw meat and orange peel soaps are mocking me a bit I think. Sitting there waiting for me to drag out the food processor... I figure I'll wind up just smooshing part of the milled soap into more rocks. Might be able to manage a sandstone look from them, which would be a far better look than raw meat.

 

[SunRiseArts]

So we all know diamonds come from carbon. So I had this in my mind

All made with soap. I should have just put glitter for the diamond instead of adding mica. It would have been clearer.

The ring is made of MP, the rock of CP

 

[Kittish]

The lump of coal looks awesome! The diamond does put me more in mind of opal with the mica. If you make it just a touch less clear and could maybe manage streaks of red and blue mica colors it would make an awesome opal I think.

 

[cherrycoke216]

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)

13. Cherrycoke216 - I'm in!!! I hope I can squeeze out some time...

 

[penelopejane]

So we all know diamonds come from carbon. So I had this in my mind

All made with soap. I should have just put glitter for the diamond instead of adding mica. It would have been clearer.

The ring is made of MP, the rock of CP

Save this for the entry thread!

 

[artemis]

Oh, no! I just thought of another idea! How many stones can we enter?

 

[Kittish]

Oh, no! I just thought of another idea! How many stones can we enter?

Pretty sure it's just one per person. I'll admit I was tempted to try to get around it by making several kinds of stones and having them all in one pic, but decided that would violate the spirit of the challenge. And so my raw meat rebatch continues to mock me... Do you know, it's hard to type with a cat in the way?

 

[artemis]

Pretty sure it's just one per person. I'll admit I was tempted to try to get around it by making several kinds of stones and having them all in one pic, but decided that would violate the spirit of the challenge. And so my raw meat rebatch continues to mock me... Do you know, it's hard to type with a cat in the way?

I know it is one per person... [emoji17] [emoji53] I'm going to tuck the idea away for a while and maybe revisit it. Actually, I may try it with polymer clay, instead. [emoji189]

I was thinking of sharing my group pic (I've started to think of them as a set) but also the close up of the one that's really up for consideration.