SMF February 2020 challenge - Ione swirl

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These are my three attempts. I really need to work on my photography skills!


The first was Raspberry Dreams. I used a bit of TD in the cream section and Bubblegum, Elegance and Graphite mica from Bath Bomb World in the other three. There is some Snowball mica on top. The fragrance was Raspberry Dream from Eroma. It smells gorgeous, behaved well, but did discolour a bit. I used a supposedly slow to trace recipe with Olive Oil, Tallow, Coconut Oil and Rice Bran Oil.
I wouldn't say that it was that slow to trace, but I think it was fairly easy to work with and turned out well.


My second attempt was By the Fire. I used activated charcoal and Graphite mica in the black section and Sahara, Banana Split and Smoke mica from Bath Bomb World in the other three. The fragrance was By the Fire from Eroma. It is lovely and accelerated a tiny bit but behaved quite well. I used a 1:1:1 Olive Oil, Coconut Oil and Tallow recipe for this one. It was great and the hanger swirl is quite defined.


My final attempt was Jasmine and Wild Peony. I used loads of TD in the white section, TD with Soda Pop Mica for the pink and Elegance and Kiwi micas from Bath Bomb world for the others. There is some holo glitter on top. The fragrance was Jasmine and Wild Peony from Eroma. It slowed trace in the colours, whereas the TD really thickened up the white, so that was tricky. I used the same 1:1:1 recipe as for the By the Fire soap. I really didn't think this one was going to work because of the different levels of trace in the colours, but it actually turned out well.

These are all beautiful!
 
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Oh - I thought this said LONE swirl - and now i've read it I see you mean Ione Swirl. I was wondering what a LONE swirl was, lol.
I don't think I'll have time to join the challenge this month, so won't put my name down. I've done a couple of "Eve's Garden Swirls" (as I call them) recently and they turned out very nicely. It really is a pretty swirl.
Good luck everyone!
 
Work has been crazy so I've had no time to soap. I'll have one shot at this swirl tomorrow (well, later today since it is almost 1am now). The soap station is all set up: oils mixed/melted, lye liquid prepped, color cups prepped, and EO mix and TD sitting in the mold so I don't forget them, haha! Extra molds are out since my batch will be too big for my only loaf mold, which is quite small. My homemade swirl tool is made of three skewers taped together. We used to have hundreds of wire hangers when I took work suits to the dry cleaners. Working at home in my t-shirts and leggings is so much nicer but alas, no wire hangers anywhere now. I've never tried this swirl before; here's to good times and trying new things!
open

 
My... uh... potatoes.... are in the oven to CPOP. This is the quickest idgaf batch I’ve ever made but mentally I needed to get this done more than I needed to make an attempt.

Positives: my colors are 99% of what I had in my head. I used most of a scent I want to get rid of. My mom and sister will each get 2#s of soap at some point.

Negatives: this is definitely a preventable gripe thread batch but we won’t talk about that.
 
I am seriously impressed by all the attempts and entries so far! :D there is roughly 12 hours left before the entry thread closes

@KiwiMoose I'd love to see some of your soaps if you'd like to post them on this thread?
Oh no, I thought it closed on the 29th, not the 28th! I probably won't be able to enter then because I don't think my soap will be firm enough to unmold and cut. :(

ETA: In an all-out effort to compensate for my bad calendaring skills, soap is now CPOPing in the oven - another first for me, along with first time using this recipe, first time using a hanger tool, first time doing any swirl other than ITP, first time using this EO scent blend...this soap is either going to be a complete flop or totally fantastic. :nodding:
 
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I don't think I'll have time to join the challenge this month, so won't put my name down. I've done a couple of "Eve's Garden Swirls" (as I call them) recently and they turned out very nicely. It really is a pretty swirl.
Good luck everyone!
WHEW! Now maybe some of us can stand a chance! :) Just kidding! Where are your pics of your Eve swirls?
 
Oh no, I thought it closed on the 29th, not the 28th! I probably won't be able to enter then because I don't think my soap will be firm enough to unmold and cut. :(

ETA: In an all-out effort to compensate for my bad calendaring skills, soap is now CPOPing in the oven - another first for me, along with first time using this recipe, first time using a hanger tool, first time doing any swirl other than ITP, first time using this EO scent blend...this soap is either going to be a complete flop or totally fantastic. :nodding:


Competition entries must be uploaded to the separate entry thread before the closing date. The Entry thread will open on February 22, 2020 at 12:01 am GMT (Please follow the challenge specific rules as to what you need to enter)

· After the closing date February 27 at 11:59 pm GMT the winning entry will be chosen using survey monkey (Voting will be open from February 28 to February 29) and the winner announced on March 1, 2020. There is no prize attached to this challenge.

Hope the last minute soap works! I've been there done that in previous challenges!
 
I don’t know if I’ll have soap to enter. One loaf looks like I got the swirl down but it didn’t gel and I can’t tell if my third color is in the swirl. I told my husband that there was soap in the oven so he opened the door and went “hmm, yes, that is soap” (exact words). I also opened the oven at one point just to see if it was solidifying (plus I’m not sure the oven got hot enough in the first place). I’m doing an after the fact CPOP to try and get my colors to show but we’ve got guests coming over soon, don’t know if I’ll get pics to the entry thread.

edit: grammar
 
I didn’t make it to the challenge thread but I got my soap out of the oven. It’s still mid gel phase, which is really cool but makes it hard to handle the bars - thankfully they were precut. I’m very tempted to take a bar and see how long I can squish it for but definitely don’t want to clean up the mess.

Here’s my double batch of 100% sunflower, scented with Irish spring type from sweet cakes. It’s all a mess but better than I was expecting it to be.

38A18237-0242-4965-A1D7-32C0C0F99B76.jpeg
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0C65B4E9-86BE-4238-8AAD-C5402154201F.jpeg
D5C833CD-C7AE-429A-98BB-A501CF6ED761.jpeg
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Rats, missed the deadline for entry. But I'm happy with my soap, even though it looks more like a butterfly swirl than an Ione swirl. The batter went from 0 to medium-thick trace in about 30 seconds, so I didn't get much penetration when pouring in my colors, even from on high. Then I overcompensated with some extra vigorous swirling, CPOP'd for two hours and then into the freezer for 3 hours to get it firm enough to cut.... and voila! Pics are below. It's still pretty sticky but smells nice.

Lard 26.8 %
Coconut Oil 14.6 %
Castor Oil 9.8 %
Apricot Kernel Oil 9.8 %
Avocado Oil 19.5 %
Palm Oil 19.5 %
SL 3%
Vinegar for liquid
1 Tbsp ppo powdered goat milk
1 Tbsp ppo sugar

Colors were:
1. a bit of TD in the main batter
2.TD+ a little carob + AC for the light brown
3. TD + a lot of carob powder + AC for the dark brown
4. AC for the grey, blue and black.
IMG_0782.JPG
IMG_0781.JPG
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IMG_0779.JPG
IMG_0778.JPG
IMG_0777.JPG
 
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Hope the last minute soap works! I've been there done that in previous challenges!
@Primrose I didn't catch that it closed at 11:59 GMT, which was probably 6 or 7pm my time. Doh! So although I actually cut my soap at 6pm my time, I had to leave the house for a meeting and didn't get back to post the pics till 8:30 my time, thinking that I had a good 3 hours to go. Lesson learned; I will read more carefully next time! Still, it was lots of fun and got me to try something other than my typical single color soaps or ITP swirls. And your instructions for the swirl were great, too - thanks so much!
 
Although I was not able to participate because I’m a newbie and didn’t meet the criteria (not to mention the lack of confidence from only having made a dozen batches). But...I decided I’d attempt the lone swirl just for fun. I tried this a couple weeks ago but I think my batter was too thin as it wasn’t well defined. This time I think the batter was just right. I made this yesterday and couldn’t wait to cut it this morning. It was like a kid on Christmas morning. Lol. I’m really happy with it. Today marks one month of soaping. I scented this with BRV from Nurture Soap and used Flirt mica and Green Oxide from MM and a little TD for the white.
 

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