SMF January Challenge Black and White

[dibbles]

Beautiful soaps Newbie. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Steve85569]

Well now. After seeing the "failures" I'm positive I won't come up with anything worth entering.
But I AM learning more about non colours than I ever wanted to.
I had a real busy swirl too but I was holding out on it thinking it might be as close as I got. After seeing Newbie's post I may as well rebatch it.

Not a real problem. Maybe I'll do a salt brine batch and enter that.:think:

 

[Misschief]

Ok, I'm going back to the drawing board.

 

[newbie]

I took my pics down. I don't want anyone saying they should rebatch their soaps or that they have to restart! Part of what we wanted for these challenges is for people of all experience levels to participate and not worry about their soaps not being "good enough" or anything like that. I still hope we can share near the end so we can see all the designs people thought of.

 

[penelopejane]

I finally got around to snapping a picture of my failed attempt. My AC wasn't ground fine enough, and the lemongrass EO evidently made my soap a bit yellow. My design? It was a "oh crap, drop, plop, and swear". I'm going to say I was going for a "crack in the universe" design though, because it sounds better.

I can see what you mean about the black spots but I like the effect of the black stripe. Nice and simple, not too structured. Good balance. Love your method (the plop and swear)!

 

[JuneP]

Thanks Saponista, I'm doing OK, sad at times and feeling lonely which is to be expected. I've been super busy with all the paper work and other things to deal with after Jim died, and I'm not done.

Yesterday I finally managed to take my written drivers test and fortunately passed on the first try; but then I had to drive 3 towns away and back today to bring my birth certificate to the DMV. They now require a current passport or birth certificate, even though you have valid ID. It's harder to get a drivers license than an automatic weapon these days. :-(

I should have taken this written test 3 years ago, but taking care of Jim the past several years, a couple of major surgeries of my own and then moving twice, put a huge pull on my available time and energy to do a lot of other necessary things. Heck, I'm still unpacking from my move last June! But since Jim died, I've got the kitchen remodeling completed other than one more little jobs left for the painters, and I've unpacked a lot more, and gotten the kitchen cabinets all organized and am ready to make soap in there.

I'm hoping to make my entry tomorrow afternoon or maybe Sunday at the latest. Tomorrow morning there's a rat and mice invasion in my barn/garage I have to deal with. Yuk problem. And I have important pension forms and other IRS info and paperwork I must deal with after breakfast. I know what I want to make, but of course we all know, our soap making ideas and intent some times don't quite follow what we thought. I'm just hoping I can get the colors right and make something decent looking and smelling.

I love these challenges and am so enjoying seeing everyone's efforts. What amazes me is how many great looking soaps people say are failures! The creativity of our members is really awesome!

June

No you are welcome to sign up jade, just add yourself to the list. Welcome to the challenge and to you JuneP, glad to see you with us this month. Hope you are doing ok xxx

Sonya, that soap is lovely!!! If you hadn't said then no one would have known it wasn't what you wanted!

 

[penelopejane]

I took my pics down. I don't want anyone saying they should rebatch their soaps or that they have to restart! Part of what we wanted for these challenges is for people of all experience levels to participate and not worry about their soaps not being "good enough" or anything like that. I still hope we can share near the end so we can see all the designs people thought of.

I was only joking Newbie. If I manage to get to the shops again before the end of the month and have my memory banks turned on at the same time, I intend to buy some AC and have a go. I think they all look interesting.

 

[Misschief]

I took my pics down. I don't want anyone saying they should rebatch their soaps or that they have to restart! Part of what we wanted for these challenges is for people of all experience levels to participate and not worry about their soaps not being "good enough" or anything like that. I still hope we can share near the end so we can see all the designs people thought of.

No, no... that wasn't my intention at all!! I LOVE seeing everyone's soaps. And I will participate with the soap I already have. I'm happy with it and that's what counts. I do feel a teensy bit intimidated, though. .... just a teensy bit.

 

[Saponista]

https://www.facebook.com/sweetly.chou/videos/1734669033419847/

I found a video of the droplet technique. Deanna was right about the wall pour. I think I will try this out.

You sound like you have so much to do June, I hope you manage to get it all sorted, it sounds like a bit of a nightmare at the moment. I hope it gets a bit easier for you soon and I hope you manage to find time to make a soap!

I'm sad I missed your soaps newbie!

 

[MySoapyHeart]

Thanks Saponista, I'm doing OK, sad at times and feeling lonely which is to be expected. I've been super busy with all the paper work and other things to deal with after Jim died, and I'm not done.

June

So sorry for your loss, June!:cry:
Hugs

 

[Steve85569]

I took my pics down. I don't want anyone saying they should rebatch their soaps or that they have to restart! Part of what we wanted for these challenges is for people of all experience levels to participate and not worry about their soaps not being "good enough" or anything like that. I still hope we can share near the end so we can see all the designs people thought of.

I am going to echo the others.
1.) I can get gray soaps be accident so I don't need to rebatch any of the black and white trials I have made.

2.) I am involved in the challenge to LEARN how to soap better and add to my limited abilities. That goal is being achieved and thank you all for tolerating me.

3.) I have no delusions that I am even close to having the skills that many ( most ) of the other members do so don't worry about hurting my soap making feelings.:???:

4.) Your soaps are awesome. If you are going to leave them down here please put them back up on another thread so I can scheme on how you did what to get them.

I think we need some kind of " I'm not serious" or sarcasm ( or both) emoticon so newbie doesn't take down her pictures in the future.

I am NOT obsessed with soap making. I can quit any time I want to.:mrgreen:

 

[CaraBou]

There is a fine line between inspiration and intimidation, that's for sure. I struggle with it too, and the motivation to enter (or even show) something that doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell to survive. That just goes along with being competitive. But then I remind myself this is a challenge, not a competition, so I try to internalize it rather than externalize. After all, it is just soap, and the whole point is to encourage learning and trying new things. So while I feel a sense of defeat when I look at beautiful soaps like newbie posted, I also form a vision of elements I like in design. Seeing them also helps me realize that nearly any design can be made with soap, if you are willing to think through your vision. And last thing I'll say, I sure am glad newbie's name is newbie; it's a great reminder of where every good soapmaker starts.

 

[amd]

Agree with all points above. Also I don't mind posting my less than stellar attempts - maybe someone has some pointers for me to make the technique better. Seeing other people's soaps gives me new ideas to try. I love successes and "failures".

 

[newbie]

I'll post them again but later. I get the intimidation thing, for sure, because I feel it too and know how it goes, and while I try to use that to push me to try something again or to do something different, it can still feel like an obstacle. I'll show mine nearer to the end so no one inadvertently gets "obstacled." I get intimidated by some of the soap I put up in the browsing thread, as one example, and some of the soaps that came up in the GCS challenges, as another, so no matter how long you've been doing this, it can still happen.

It is worth remembering though that we have people making their 20th batch of soap, or their 150th, or more. I don't count but I make many many small batches of soap and I think I am likely nearing the 1000 mark. If I can't put out some good batches of soap after all that, I'm toast. But I still feel very challenged by the challenges and I like that we have a huge range of levels playing. I never fail to improve from a challenge, which is why soaping is enduring.

You know, Steve, I have been joking with someone for a long time about coming up with a sarcasm font, which I would love to make. I'm not that detail oriented though but I really should score some adderall and do it. It would be helpful, actually.

June, I wish you were not having such a hard time and I hope you have some good people around you to give you times of laughter and a little lift out of your sadness. And I hope soaping gives you some relief as well as the pleasure it almost always gives.

 

[Saponista]

When I do the great cakes challenges I can't bring myself to look at the other entries before I submit mine as I know most of the time if I looked first I would never submit anything!

 

[newbie]

Yep, sometimes it kills me to see the other entries and I feel doomed.

Saponista, you have to report on how the droplet soap came out. I tried last night and am waiting to unmold but I used my one pound mold, for which I have no divider set. I used DeeAnna's method and poured a drop right down the middle after putting in maybe about 1/4 of the base, then wall poured the rest. Won't look like the droplet one because the sides won't be straight, but I'm eager to see what I got.

I looked at that soap, finished, and I must respectfully disagree about the B&W soap being all hand-poured as in the video (the link you posted). Her finished soap had a teardrop shape and not the Hershey's kiss shape of the one you found. I still think the Hershey's kiss one was done with dividers at first, then wall-poured, as free-handing it sees to give a soft and gentle rounded shape to the middle part.

Heavens only knows what I will get. She was so gentle and slow in her pours. I poured mine so it dropped (she placed her on top in layers) and then quickly poured the walls where she was extremely deliberate in her wall pour. Should be interesting to see the difference.

ETA: cut mine and I got the same teardrop shape even with a more "aggressive" pouring style.

 

[DeeAnna]

"...I found a video of the droplet technique. Deanna was right about the wall pour. I think I will try this out..."

Hey, that's nice to know. I tried it with less than stellar results. I need to watch the video you mention to have any chance of making it look right. It's one thing to figure out someone's technique and quite another to do it myself!

 

[Saponista]

I agree with you looking at the black and white droplet soap again, it has straight lined sides which I guess must come from a divider.....

 

[BlackDog]

Attempt #4 in progress. Please Lord let this not be a disaster.

 

[CaraBou]

Hershey's kiss and tear drop demystified! Good job everyone. Great execution, newbie. Looking forward to seeing yours DeeAnna. See, it is all doable. Maybe not be me any time soon, but eventually, if I try and try again, and if I want it bad enough.