Welcome to the February 2022 SMF Soap Challenge. This month’s challenge is to make an Ocean-Inspired soap. The goal is to use a technique or combination of techniques of your choosing to create a sense of movement in the ocean portion the soap. The ocean design element must be at least 60% of the soap.
PLEASE READ ALL RULES for the Challenge, including the general and specific rules below. Some rules have been changed and updated in recent months.
SMF Challenge General Rules
1. To enter you must have been a SMF member for at least one month and have a minimum of 50 posts at the time the Challenge is posted (sorry but no exceptions on this). Supporting Members can enter immediately, the time and post requirements are removed.
2. The only members eligible to vote are those with their names on the sign-up list - regardless of whether or not you have submitted an entry. The sign-up list will be posted in this thread.
3. This month’s voting will be password locked. Passwords will be sent by private message (via SMF conversations) to registered participants ONLY, so please check your messages when the voting begins.
4. A separate entry thread will be created and this is where you will post photos of your entry soap. Please do not post photos of your entry until the entry thread is opened. Post pictures of your entry soap only in the challenge entry thread.
Non-entry photos are always welcome and may be posted in the general challenge thread. The challenge thread should be used to upload pictures of any of your challenge attempts (other than your entry) where you can ask for advice and discuss the technique with other members, and provide helpful hints you learned along the way.
5. Your soap must be made after the monthly challenge has been announced.
6. In the spirit of advancing our soap making skills, all members who sign-up for a SMF Challenge do so with the expectation that they will make every attempt to make a soap for the challenge. Writing about your experience in the challenge is encouraged. By doing so, each participant has a better knowledge of your process when voting. We do understand that sometimes things come up in our lives and throw our plans out of whack, however signing up with no intent to participate and only to vote is not in the spirit of the challenges and is not allowed.
7. Please add your name to the sign-up list if you wish to participate (you don’t have to enter a soap at the end if you don’t feel happy with what you have made), but please do post your experiences in the main Challenge thread and be prepared to be encouraged to continue trying.
8. Constructive criticism is welcomed, but please keep your comments polite.
* * * *
Specific Rules for this Challenge:
1. This month’s challenge is to make an Ocean-Inspired soap. If you choose to participate, you will create a lye-based soap using a technique or combination of techniques to create a sense of movement (examples are waves, currents, eddies, turbulence, maelstroms, or any interpretation of ocean movement you choose) in the ocean portion of the soap.
2. The ocean design element must be at least 60% of the soap.
3. You may use any shape, colors, additives, embeds or design technique(s), but not M+P, to create the soap.
4. An “ocean-scape” that includes ocean bottom and/or land and/or sky, and/or the inclusion of flora or fauna will be acceptable as long as at least 60% of the design represents ocean water.
5. The criteria give you latitude in your interpretation of the ocean in motion.
6. A photo of one (1) bar of soap from your batch is required to enter. Please position the entry photo at the top of your entry post.
7. If you would like to add additional photos of the entry soap, a photo or other image of your source(s) of inspiration, a description of the techniques you used make the soap, or any other details about your inspiration or process, please do! As noted in #6, please add the details below the entry photo, which should be the first photo in your entry post.
* * * *
I’ve made more than a few batches while exploring different ways to evoke a sense of movement in the ocean. Here are three examples:
This soap was inspired by memories of being out on the ocean during a major storm. It was made in a slab mold using the technique shown in a YT video by Yvonne:
While Moby **** probably didn't spend much time near either pole, a rare sperm whale sighting in the Arctic reminds me that the ranges of many species are changing as the global ocean moves to a warmer state. The mold-length whale embed was carved from a batch of uncolored soap. I added the details to the whale using soap trimmings after the bars were cut. Those are chunks of sea ice bobbing around in the upper layers of the soap.
This soap was inspired by a stunning NASA/USGS Landsat 8 image of freshwater from Canada's MacKenzie River flowing into the coastal Arctic Ocean. After pouring layered batter into a slab mold from a pitcher using a drop swirl technique, I manipulated the fluid batter on the top of the soap by blowing it around using a pipette. This is the Air Blow aka Dutch Pour technique that was featured in the SMF March 2021 Challenge hosted by @earlene.
My next post will include inspiration soaps made by others and a few design ideas that I think would be fun to reproduce in soap.
I hope you have fun with this challenge!
PLEASE READ ALL RULES for the Challenge, including the general and specific rules below. Some rules have been changed and updated in recent months.
SMF Challenge General Rules
1. To enter you must have been a SMF member for at least one month and have a minimum of 50 posts at the time the Challenge is posted (sorry but no exceptions on this). Supporting Members can enter immediately, the time and post requirements are removed.
2. The only members eligible to vote are those with their names on the sign-up list - regardless of whether or not you have submitted an entry. The sign-up list will be posted in this thread.
3. This month’s voting will be password locked. Passwords will be sent by private message (via SMF conversations) to registered participants ONLY, so please check your messages when the voting begins.
4. A separate entry thread will be created and this is where you will post photos of your entry soap. Please do not post photos of your entry until the entry thread is opened. Post pictures of your entry soap only in the challenge entry thread.
Non-entry photos are always welcome and may be posted in the general challenge thread. The challenge thread should be used to upload pictures of any of your challenge attempts (other than your entry) where you can ask for advice and discuss the technique with other members, and provide helpful hints you learned along the way.
5. Your soap must be made after the monthly challenge has been announced.
6. In the spirit of advancing our soap making skills, all members who sign-up for a SMF Challenge do so with the expectation that they will make every attempt to make a soap for the challenge. Writing about your experience in the challenge is encouraged. By doing so, each participant has a better knowledge of your process when voting. We do understand that sometimes things come up in our lives and throw our plans out of whack, however signing up with no intent to participate and only to vote is not in the spirit of the challenges and is not allowed.
7. Please add your name to the sign-up list if you wish to participate (you don’t have to enter a soap at the end if you don’t feel happy with what you have made), but please do post your experiences in the main Challenge thread and be prepared to be encouraged to continue trying.
8. Constructive criticism is welcomed, but please keep your comments polite.
* * * *
- Competition entries must be uploaded to the separate entry thread before the closing date.
- The entry thread will open on February 17, 2022 at 11:59 GMT (Please follow the challenge specific rules as to what you need to enter).
- After the closing date on February 24, 2022 at 11:59 GMT the winning entry will be chosen using Survey Monkey. Voting will be open from February 25 through February 26, 2022 at 11:59 GMT and the winner will be announced on February 27, 2022. There is no prize attached to this challenge.
- If you fail to make the challenge deadline, you are still welcome to upload pictures of your soap onto the thread, but your entry will not be eligible for voting. We always love to see anything you have created.
- Even though there is no prize, this is still a competition. If your entry is deemed not to fulfill the general rules or the rules specific to the challenge in any way, then you will be given the opportunity to amend your entry. If this is not possible, your entry will not be included in the voting.
- All the challenge mods reserve the right to have the final say on whether a soap is eligible for voting.
Specific Rules for this Challenge:
1. This month’s challenge is to make an Ocean-Inspired soap. If you choose to participate, you will create a lye-based soap using a technique or combination of techniques to create a sense of movement (examples are waves, currents, eddies, turbulence, maelstroms, or any interpretation of ocean movement you choose) in the ocean portion of the soap.
2. The ocean design element must be at least 60% of the soap.
3. You may use any shape, colors, additives, embeds or design technique(s), but not M+P, to create the soap.
4. An “ocean-scape” that includes ocean bottom and/or land and/or sky, and/or the inclusion of flora or fauna will be acceptable as long as at least 60% of the design represents ocean water.
5. The criteria give you latitude in your interpretation of the ocean in motion.
6. A photo of one (1) bar of soap from your batch is required to enter. Please position the entry photo at the top of your entry post.
7. If you would like to add additional photos of the entry soap, a photo or other image of your source(s) of inspiration, a description of the techniques you used make the soap, or any other details about your inspiration or process, please do! As noted in #6, please add the details below the entry photo, which should be the first photo in your entry post.
* * * *
I’ve made more than a few batches while exploring different ways to evoke a sense of movement in the ocean. Here are three examples:
This soap was inspired by memories of being out on the ocean during a major storm. It was made in a slab mold using the technique shown in a YT video by Yvonne:
While Moby **** probably didn't spend much time near either pole, a rare sperm whale sighting in the Arctic reminds me that the ranges of many species are changing as the global ocean moves to a warmer state. The mold-length whale embed was carved from a batch of uncolored soap. I added the details to the whale using soap trimmings after the bars were cut. Those are chunks of sea ice bobbing around in the upper layers of the soap.
This soap was inspired by a stunning NASA/USGS Landsat 8 image of freshwater from Canada's MacKenzie River flowing into the coastal Arctic Ocean. After pouring layered batter into a slab mold from a pitcher using a drop swirl technique, I manipulated the fluid batter on the top of the soap by blowing it around using a pipette. This is the Air Blow aka Dutch Pour technique that was featured in the SMF March 2021 Challenge hosted by @earlene.
My next post will include inspiration soaps made by others and a few design ideas that I think would be fun to reproduce in soap.
I hope you have fun with this challenge!
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I have been toying with an idea
