SMF February 2020 challenge - Ione swirl

[Zing]

Ask and ye shall receive:
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Okay, so now I'm totally relieved you didn't enter your 'Lone Swirl'! (Said with great affection). Love that purple. Pur-tee!

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. .

Okay, your soap should be a total confidence booster! That is AMAZING! It's like you inserted rosebuds!

@Mobjack Bay I couldn't believe your entry and I swear I did not copy you!! I've been wanting to do a black soap for some time (even tho' dear wifey doesn't think soap should be black!) and use colors to match our new bath. For reals! Your entry is stunning.

I will continue to do this Ione swirl. My ratio of base to accents was 70/30. In the future, I want to increase the amount of accent colors and use less base. I'd also pour the accents from up higher so that they drop down into the base deeper. I took a lot of notes.

 

[Jersey Girl]

Okay, your soap should be a total confidence booster! That is AMAZING! It's like you inserted rosebuds!

Thank you so much for your kind words. I was so excited to cut this to see what I got. I guess the planets just aligned! It’s anybody’s guess if I’ll ever be able to repeat it!

 

[AliOop]

Thanks, @MarnieSoapien! Did you spot the pair with the ovaries and fallopian tubes?

@Jersey Girl, yours look great, too - esp for a newbie.

 

[Amy78130]

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.
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These are crazy beautiful!!!

 

[AliOop]

These are crazy beautiful!!!

Awwww thank you! It was such a fun surprise to cut them - I can see why people get addicted to swirling

 

[mommycarlson]

Well, I made two Ione swirls and then fudged the date! I thought I had one more day. Darn leap year! I've tried this swirl several times. I watch Ione do it, she's so elegant with her swirls. I get to the point of swirling and my hands go all stupid! I even air practice lol and I still get all befuddled once I get my hanger in the soap. Here are my two attempts. I was going to enter the pink and purple one.

 

[Jersey Girl]

Well, I made two Ione swirls and then fudged the date! I thought I had one more day. Darn leap year! I've tried this swirl several times. I watch Ione do it, she's so elegant with her swirls. I get to the point of swirling and my hands go all stupid! I even air practice lol and I still get all befuddled once I get my hanger in the soap. Here are my two attempts. I was going to enter the pink and purple one.
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These are beautiful. “Air practice”...me too! Lol

 

[bookreader451]

Lovely, and add me to the air practice crew.

 

[dibbles]

@mommycarlson It's too bad you missed the deadline - those are both such beautiful soaps!

 

[Mobjack Bay]

There are so many beautiful soaps here and in the entry thread. We got this team SMF!

I ended up making four other soaps on the way to my entry and thought I would share them for comparison, along with the lessons learned. Until the last soap, I was blending micas with the hopes of getting a good fuschia. It was enough to make me order fuschia and purpley pink toned micas, which is what I used for the soap in the challenge thread. I tried to keep my swirl patterns pretty tight, aiming for 1/2 to 3/4” apart for each pass.

#1, on the left: The batter for the first soap was 50% pale pink base and 50% accent colors. In the end, I had a lot of the dark accent leftover because I was worried about it getting muddy during the swirl. The yellow doesn’t work at all, but it was supposed to be a rich gold color, which I think would have worked okay.

#2, second from left: I went down to 25% of the batter for accent, split evenly for two colors. This is the one where it is really noticeable that I was doing the spiral swirl incorrectly. I swirled from the top down in ever larger circles, rather than from the middle out. As a result, the upper part of the soap is over-swirled.

#3, second from right: two accents colors were split from 25% of the batter and I went heavy on the micas. This is the batch where the soap top was done before I realized I hadn’t done the swirling. I had also used a mildly accelerating fragrance. Happily, I was able to complete all of the interior swirls after the fact, and without disrupting the surface. Interestingly, this is a very “crisp” looking soap. I’m sure the color intensity plays a role, but perhaps the swirling after the fact/set up of the batter also made a difference?

#4, on the right: this is my “minimalist” swirl, made with only 20% of the total batter for the accent colors. The FO accelerated more than expected and the top layer of white was quite set up before I started swirling. I think a minimalist swirl could be nice with a more fluid batter.

I also realized that I have a large black scarf that works for my photos, yay!

 

[Mobjack Bay]

@Zing Thank you. I love your soap, too.

@AliOop I love what you achieved with natural colorants. They can be sooooo finicky.

As always, I am super inspired by the brilliant color schemes in the soaps. Whether muted, earthy, or bright, they are always so creative. Every one of the soaps makes me want to make more soap!

 

[Jersey Girl]

There are so many beautiful soaps here and in the entry thread. We got this team SMF!

I ended up making four other soaps on the way to my entry and thought I would share them for comparison, along with the lessons learned. Until the last soap, I was blending micas with the hopes of getting a good fuschia. It was enough to make me order fuschia and purpley pink toned micas, which is what I used for the soap in the challenge thread. I tried to keep my swirl patterns pretty tight, aiming for 1/2 to 3/4” apart for each pass.

#1, on the left: The batter for the first soap was 50% pale pink base and 50% accent colors. In the end, I had a lot of the dark accent leftover because I was worried about it getting muddy during the swirl. The yellow doesn’t work at all, but it was supposed to be a rich gold color, which I think would have worked okay.

#2, second from left: I went down to 25% of the batter for accent, split evenly for two colors. This is the one where it is really noticeable that I was doing the spiral swirl incorrectly. I swirled from the top down in ever larger circles, rather than from the middle out. As a result, the upper part of the soap is over-swirled.

#3, second from right: two accents colors were split from 25% of the batter and I went heavy on the micas. This is the batch where the soap top was done before I realized I hadn’t done the swirling. I had also used a mildly accelerating fragrance. Happily, I was able to complete all of the interior swirls after the fact, and without disrupting the surface. Interestingly, this is a very “crisp” looking soap. I’m sure the color intensity plays a role, but perhaps the swirling after the fact/set up of the batter also made a difference?

#4, on the right: this is my “minimalist” swirl, made with only 20% of the total batter for the accent colors. The FO accelerated more than expected and the top layer of white was quite set up before I started swirling. I think a minimalist swirl could be nice with a more fluid batter.

I also realized that I have a large black scarf that works for my photos, yay!

View attachment 44235

They are all lovely but I especially like the first one!

 

[szaza]

I love this swirl (I'm a big fan of hanger swirls anyway, but this one seems special). And all of the entries and non-entries are so gorgeous!! Well done everyone

 

[Mobjack Bay]

They are all lovely but I especially like the first one!

Thank you. I really like the pale pink base, but was too lazy to mix it up for soaps 2-4 . You did a great job on your soap. I really like the contrast of the white against the shade you achieved for the base.

 

[Jersey Girl]

Thank you. I really like the pale pink base, but was too lazy to mix it up for soaps 2-4 . You did a great job on your soap. I really like the contrast of the white against the shade you achieved for the base.

Thank you so much. I have to say I was shocked ( in the best way possible) when I cut this. This is a tough swirl. So much has to be just right to achieve a good result. I made another batch today with the very same recipe...although a different FO and it got thicker than I liked by the end so not expecting a similar result. The cut is the best part though...like opening up a present.

 

[bookreader451]

Voting was tough there were a lot of beautiful entries.

I limit myself to 2 tries for each contest and I enter the lesser of the two evils.

The failed entry becomes homeless soap because my friends and family refuse to take any more.

 

[KiwiMoose]

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.

OMG - beautiful!!

 

[Jersey Girl]

Voting was tough there were a lot of beautiful entries.

I limit myself to 2 tries for each contest and I enter the lesser of the two evils.

The failed entry becomes homeless soap because my friends and family refuse to take any more.

Oh no...homeless soap...sounds so sad!

 

[Jersey Girl]

OMG - beautiful!!

Thank you so much.

 

[AliOop]

@Mobjack Bay thank you for the kind words! The AC morphed into such a pretty blue-gray, which was totally a happy accident, given that black was the original plan. I will probably never be able to recreate that color, but I do like it in these bars for sure.

And I'm totally a pink fanatic, so all four of yours look great to me. Your #3 looks like it could have come from Ione's website - very well done!!