SMF June 2024 Un-Challenge – A Favorite Song

[Mobjack Bay]

Welcome to the SMF June 2024 Un-Challenge. For this Un-Challenge, you will create soap that is inspired by a favorite song or music. You may translate the inspiration into soap through design, color, scent, size, shape, soap method/medium (CP, HP, M&P, soap dough), embeds, mica lines, stamps, etc.

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1. Any SMF member may participate in this Un-Challenge, regardless of length of membership or number of posts.
2.The soap must be made after the Un-Challenge announcement is posted (so do not post pictures of soaps that were made before June 2, 2024).
3. Make and post pictures of as many soaps as you would like. There will not be a separate entry thread and there will not be a vote. You may post pictures of your creations in this thread at any time. Photos of failures are just as welcome as photos of successes.
4. If your design is inspired by another maker, please give them credit.
5. A sign up list will be posted, however, if you make a soap and want to share it but haven't officially signed up, please feel welcome to post a picture! Un-Challenges are meant to be relaxed and fun!
6. Experiments are always interesting. If you learned something, please share. Likewise, if you would share anything about your process we’d all be interested in learning more.
7. As always, please keep comments kind and have fun!

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A few inspiration photos to help get your creative juices flowing:

@dianne70 was inspired by Van Morrison's song Moondance (original post).

@earlene and her granddaughter made this Beatles Yellow Submarine inspired soap back in March 2018 for the first song-inspired un-challenge (original post)

@TashaBird Purple Reign soap was inspired by Prince's song Purple Rain (original post)

 

[Mobjack Bay]

Sign up list:
(Please copy & paste the list into a new post, then add your name along with the next appropriate number.)

1.

 

[basti]

Sign up list:
(Please copy & paste the list into a new post, then add your name along with the next appropriate number.)

1. basti - so many options
2.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

Gotta keep this one from falling off the charts

 

[Firefly24]

I must report that while sitting in the Dr's office, ya know the waiting is the most fun........and my mind is hearing all these cool songs...and my brain is going? How in the he** would you put that into a soap design. Meanwhile I am wondering if the other lovely, waiting patients are wondering what in the heck is going on in that crazy head of mine.

 

[Barefoot Farm Girl]

Sign up list:
(Please copy & paste the list into a new post, then add your name along with the next appropriate number.)

1. basti - so many options
2. Barefoot Farm Girl

 

[hanesha]

Sign up list:
(Please copy & paste the list into a new post, then add your name along with the next appropriate number.)

1. basti - so many options
2. Barefoot Farm Girl
3. hanesha

 

[Mobjack Bay]

Only 20 days left to participate in this un-challenge! Some song titles to get your creative juices flowing:

Top Song Inspiration
Bob Dylan - Blowin' in the Wind
Whitney Houston - I Will Always Love You
Louis Armstrong - What a Wonderful World
Johnny Cash - I Walk the Line
Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water
Led Zeppelin - Stairway to Heaven
John Denver - Rock Mountain High
Arlen & Harburg, sung by Judy Garland or Iz - Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Color Inspiration
Tom Jones - Green, Green Grass of Home
Donovan - Mellow Yellow
Bobby Vinton - Blue Velvet
Procol Harem - A Whiter Shade of Pale (lol no micas needed)
Beatles - Blackbird
Joni Mitchell - Big Yellow Taxi
Jimi Hendrix - Purple Haze (one of my early soaps)
Gene Autry - Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer (, yes, you can be well-prepared for the holiday season)
Elvis Presley - Blue Suede Shoes
Johnny Cash - Orange Blossom Special
Taylor Swift - Red (with bonus colors!)

Scent, Food or Additive Inspiration
Strawberry Alarm Clock - Incense and Peppermint
Blue Sugar - Sugar, Sugar
Mac Davis - Stop and Smell the Roses
The Cranberries - Wake Up and Smell the Coffee
Loudon Wainwright III - Dead Skunk (just kidding )
17th Century England - Lavender's Blue - Dilly Dilly (two for one - color and scent)
James Taylor - Sweet Potato Pie
Beatles - Honey Pie
Brad Paisley - Limes (two for one - color and scent)
Unknown - 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall
Rodgers & Hammerstein - The Lonely Goatherd (Sound of Music)
Joan Jett Parody - I Love Milking Goats
and much to my surprise, there are plenty of songs about oat milk, such as this one: Chelsea Peretti - Oatmilk (ft. Reggie Watts)

 

[basti]

Had to get some other things finished first but I'm gonna get started on my challenge soap(s...?) tonight

 

[Barefoot Farm Girl]

I made my soap yesterday, now on pins and needles until I can cut it

 

[Mobjack Bay]

@basti and @Barefoot Farm Girl - anxiously waiting to see your soaps

 

[basti]

@basti and Barefoot Farm Girl - anxiously waiting to see your soaps

My first soap is cut and ready to go Just need the sun to come back out to chase away the dreary lighting in my house

My other two I hope to make tomorrow after I pick up some distilled water~

 

[hanesha]

I am a bit of a procrastinator when it comes to due dates (like I have to give a lecture next Monday and instead of preparing my slides i am soaping ).
The good news is: One soap batch is done and I can cut it tomorrow. And a cousin of mine wanted me to show her how to make soap, so perhaps I am able to do two more soap ideas I have in mind.

I am very excited about all the other soaps @basti @Barefoot Farm Girl

 

[basti]

I come bearing soap

Because I have all of my screws securely tightened, I decided to make three soaps.

I was inspired by my favorite musician, Hozier! I saw him in concert this year, so I've been listening to his music a lot lately.

FOs (All Nurture Soap) - Butterfly Garden, Avalon, 8th & Ocean

Left - Wildflower & Barley
Like grief and sweet memory, wildflower and barley.
Despite how calming the song is, this soap gave me a headache. My original plan for this soap was to pipe flowers. I sat down for a soaping session to make the rightmost soap, the flowers, and some soap dough for the middle soap. I blended up the flower batter first, then made the rightmost soap, and yet the flower batter was still too fluid. And too fluid. And too fluid. Then, 2 AM rolled around. I was tired, cranky, and my batter was still not thick enough to pipe. I gave up. Dumped the batter in a mold. Went to bed. The next day I made soap dough (more on that in a second) and made a bunch of soap dough flowers using a mold. For the inside of the soap, I decided to try a drop swirl, since I haven't really done one before. The fragrance was good for about two passes and then I had to quickly thwap the third pass in with my spatula.

Middle - I, Carrion (Icarian)
If I should fall on that day, I only pray, don't fall away from me
This song and therefore also the soap design is inspired by the myth of Icarus, the boy who flew too close to the sun and fell into the ocean. I decided to do gold/yellow for the sun, white for the wax wings, and blue for the sky and sea. I tilted the mold and poured each of the 5 colors then flipped the mold, tilted it, and poured again a total of three times. Imagine my joy when I discovered that the pour I did on a whim looked like falling feathers.
Now, onto the embeds (I will figure out centering... later). These are made from soap dough using a feather fondant mold. The soap dough I made for these feathers and the flowers has a super special secret: It is Ciaglia! For each color, I made 2 oz of oil and added 0.6 oz of scraps. My discovery: you can barely tell. Kneading the dough mashed up the scraps even further, so at most there's some flecks here and there that survive. The orange and green dough on the flower soap was made using blue/yellow/pink dough and some added colorant, so the Ciaglia dough is blendable too.

Right - Wasteland, Baby!
When the stench of the sea and the absence of green, are the death of all things that are seen and unseen

This was my original idea and despite how dramatic the other two are, this one is still my favorite. The colors and design are inspired by the cover of the album (which is a painting done by the singer's mother). It uses a grand total of seven colors, which I used in a pseudo gradient (C1, C1 mixed with C2, C2, C2 mixed with C3, and so on) in a OPW pour. I originally considered trying to do a watercolor soap but decided against it. Maybe in the future with a fragrance that gives more working time than 8th & Ocean does.
I went with 8th & Ocean because of the 'stench of the sea' lyric, though, 8th & Ocean can't exactly be called a 'stench' It's too nice for that.

Thank you for the fun unchallenge! I've always gotten a lot of inspiration from music for my non-soapy art, so it was fun to turn that part of my brain on here, too. Can't wait to see what the others share~

To quote the final lyric of Wasteland, Baby!:

That's it.

 

[AliOop]

@basti lovely, lovely soaps - you never disappoint!

 

[Mobjack Bay]

@basti - Great music, great soap! Your soap always makes me feel happy.

 

[Barefoot Farm Girl]

I come bearing soap

Because I have all of my screws securely tightened, I decided to make three soaps.

I was inspired by my favorite musician, Hozier! I saw him in concert this year, so I've been listening to his music a lot lately.

View attachment 77913
FOs (All Nurture Soap) - Butterfly Garden, Avalon, 8th & Ocean

Left - Wildflower & Barley
Like grief and sweet memory, wildflower and barley.
Despite how calming the song is, this soap gave me a headache. My original plan for this soap was to pipe flowers. I sat down for a soaping session to make the rightmost soap, the flowers, and some soap dough for the middle soap. I blended up the flower batter first, then made the rightmost soap, and yet the flower batter was still too fluid. And too fluid. And too fluid. Then, 2 AM rolled around. I was tired, cranky, and my batter was still not thick enough to pipe. I gave up. Dumped the batter in a mold. Went to bed. The next day I made soap dough (more on that in a second) and made a bunch of soap dough flowers using a mold. For the inside of the soap, I decided to try a drop swirl, since I haven't really done one before. The fragrance was good for about two passes and then I had to quickly thwap the third pass in with my spatula.

Middle - I, Carrion (Icarian)
If I should fall on that day, I only pray, don't fall away from me
This song and therefore also the soap design is inspired by the myth of Icarus, the boy who flew too close to the sun and fell into the ocean. I decided to do gold/yellow for the sun, white for the wax wings, and blue for the sky and sea. I tilted the mold and poured each of the 5 colors then flipped the mold, tilted it, and poured again a total of three times. Imagine my joy when I discovered that the pour I did on a whim looked like falling feathers.
Now, onto the embeds (I will figure out centering... later). These are made from soap dough using a feather fondant mold. The soap dough I made for these feathers and the flowers has a super special secret: It is Ciaglia! For each color, I made 2 oz of oil and added 0.6 oz of scraps. My discovery: you can barely tell. Kneading the dough mashed up the scraps even further, so at most there's some flecks here and there that survive. The orange and green dough on the flower soap was made using blue/yellow/pink dough and some added colorant, so the Ciaglia dough is blendable too.

Right - Wasteland, Baby!
When the stench of the sea and the absence of green, are the death of all things that are seen and unseen

This was my original idea and despite how dramatic the other two are, this one is still my favorite. The colors and design are inspired by the cover of the album (which is a painting done by the singer's mother). It uses a grand total of seven colors, which I used in a pseudo gradient (C1, C1 mixed with C2, C2, C2 mixed with C3, and so on) in a OPW pour. I originally considered trying to do a watercolor soap but decided against it. Maybe in the future with a fragrance that gives more working time than 8th & Ocean does.
I went with 8th & Ocean because of the 'stench of the sea' lyric, though, 8th & Ocean can't exactly be called a 'stench' It's too nice for that.

Thank you for the fun unchallenge! I've always gotten a lot of inspiration from music for my non-soapy art, so it was fun to turn that part of my brain on here, too. Can't wait to see what the others share~

To quote the final lyric of Wasteland, Baby!:

That's it.

@basti WOW those are stunning!!!!! I’m totally outclassed here lol. Someday I hope mine look that beautiful!!!!! I think you need to do a soap design class for us newbies!

 

[dibbles]

All 3 are so beautiful @basti.

 

[CLMP]

@basti those are nice love them. Sorry everyone I can't participate this month I had to pack away all my soap making supplies cause I'm moving it.

 

[akseattle]

@basti really great soaps! I love your flowers topping your left soap! very 60's, 70's - they also look like alot of work (well , it all looked like an enormous amount of work... )
Thanks for including your Hozier song, I've added it to two of my Spotify playlists!
Did you know Hozier's Mom painted his album cover?
this is a link to a utube video about how they came up with the whole underwater concept etc. What a cool mother/ son project. Makes the song even better, if that is possible.
anyway, great soaps!