SMF June Challenge Peacock Swirls

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Saponista

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Location
Plymouth, Devon, UK
Welcome to July’s SMF Soap Challenge!

PLEASE BE SURE TO READ THIS FIRST (and ALL Rules)-

General Rules:
1.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.

2. This months voting will be password locked. Passwords will be PM'ed to registered participants ONLY. So please check your PM's when the voting begins.

3. No posting your entry photos until the entry thread is made. Non entry photos are very welcome!

4. You are allowed to change your entry photo up until the entry thread closes. So if you decide after you post your entry you want another try, and you like the second better, you can change it up until the deadline.

NOW
This month’s challenge is all about perfecting your peacock swirls

https://youtu.be/mbYBwuavJQo

SMF Challenge Specific Rules
· You must create a peacock swirl in the top of your soap bars

· Your swirl must contain at least three colours, this can include uncoloured soap batter and black and white
· You must create your design in a slab mould
· For your entry, you must show a picture of your slab of soap before cutting and some cut pictures of your soap

Challenge Entry Thread Opens June 18th 2017 .
Challenge Entry Thread Closes June 25th 2017.
Survey for choosing the winning choices opens the 26th and closes 30th
Winners Announced June 31, 2017.

SMF Challenge General Rules
· To enter you must have a minimum of 50 posts and been a member for a month (sorry but no exceptions on this)
· Please add your name to the sign up list if you wish to participate (however, you don’t have to enter a soap at the end if you don’t feel happy with what you have produced)
· The challenge thread should be used to upload pictures of any of your challenge attempts where you can ask for advice and discuss the technique with other members.
· Constructive criticism is welcomed, but please try to keep your comments polite.
· Competition entries must be uploaded to the separate entry thread before the closing date.

· After the closing date the winning entry will be chosen using survey monkey and the winner announced. There is no prize attached to this challenge.
· If you fail to make the challenge deadline, you are still welcome to upload your soap onto the thread, but your entry will not be eligible for voting. We still love to see anything you have produced.
· Even though there is no prize, this is still a competition. If your entry is deemed not to fulfil 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 then your entry will not be included in the voting.
· Newbie, Saponista, Lionproncess00 and GalaxyMLP reserve the right to have the final say on whether a soap is eligible for voting.
 
1. toxikon - Oo oo so pretty!
2. Omneya- have always wanted to try this :)
 
1. toxikon - Oo oo so pretty!
2. Omneya- have always wanted to try this
icon_smile.gif

3. earlene - this looks like fun
4. SunRiseArts - Never made peacock swirl, but I want to learn! :p
 
1. toxikon - Oo oo so pretty!
2. Omneya- have always wanted to try this
3. earlene - this looks like fun
4. SunRiseArts - Never made peacock swirl, but I want to learn!
5. KCHaystack - You played with me, so I feel I need to return the favor.
 
saponista, a question if I may? Since I am new at this one ...

Why did you mix you gold mica with oil, and not with soap batter? Any specific reason? Or can we do the three colors with soap batter?

Thanks.
 
1. toxikon - Oo oo so pretty!
2. Omneya- have always wanted to try this
3. earlene - this looks like fun
4. SunRiseArts - Never made peacock swirl, but I want to learn!
5. KCHaystack - You played with me, so I feel I need to return the favor.
6. jewels621 - I'm a peacock swirl/soap challenge virgin, but I'm in!
 
saponista, a question if I may? Since I am new at this one ...

Why did you mix you gold mica with oil, and not with soap batter? Any specific reason? Or can we do the three colors with soap batter?

Thanks.


You are welcome to mix your colours into the soap batter. I wanted the gold mica to remain shiny which is why I only mixed it with oil as the oil absorbs and leaves the mica on the surface. If you mix it into the batter then it just goes a mustard brown colour.
 
1. toxikon - Oo oo so pretty!
2. Omneya- have always wanted to try this
3. earlene - this looks like fun
4. SunRiseArts - Never made peacock swirl, but I want to learn!
5. KCHaystack - You played with me, so I feel I need to return the favor.
6. jewels621 - I'm a peacock swirl/soap challenge virgin, but I'm in!
7. dibbles - you guys will get me through my To Try list yet
 
1. toxikon - Oo oo so pretty!
2. Omneya- have always wanted to try this
3. earlene - this looks like fun
4. SunRiseArts - Never made peacock swirl, but I want to learn!
5. KCHaystack - You played with me, so I feel I need to return the favor.
6. jewels621 - I'm a peacock swirl/soap challenge virgin, but I'm in!
7. dibbles - you guys will get me through my To Try list yet
8. Dahila - hopefully my hubby will finish my slab mould
 
1. toxikon - Oo oo so pretty!
2. Omneya- have always wanted to try this
3. earlene - this looks like fun
4. SunRiseArts - Never made peacock swirl, but I want to learn!
5. KCHaystack - You played with me, so I feel I need to return the favor.
6. jewels621 - I'm a peacock swirl/soap challenge virgin, but I'm in!
7. dibbles - you guys will get me through my To Try list yet
8. Dahila - hopefully my hubby will finish my slab mould
9. BattleGnome - if I'm lucky I'll be able to find something for a slab mold soon
 
BattleGnome, I use a cardboard/paperboard Boot Box as a slab mold. It's a bit too big really, but a smaller shoe box will do as well, I think. I keep looking at slab molds, but haven't purchased one yet.

I've looked for a wooden drawer that would work, but have not found one in any thrift store yet.
 
I've used shoe boxes and the like before, I've just never gotten a satisfactory bar of soap. My calculations are either off just enough that I over/under pour and end up with wonky shapes or I line it weird and have all sorts of impressions from the folds.

Also, my birthday is next week. I think my husband still doesn't know what to get me. ;)
 
1. toxikon - Oo oo so pretty!
2. Omneya- have always wanted to try this
3. earlene - this looks like fun
4. SunRiseArts - Never made peacock swirl, but I want to learn!
5. KCHaystack - You played with me, so I feel I need to return the favor.
6. jewels621 - I'm a peacock swirl/soap challenge virgin, but I'm in!
7. dibbles - you guys will get me through my To Try list yet
8. Dahila - hopefully my hubby will finish my slab mould
9. BattleGnome - if I'm lucky I'll be able to find something for a slab mold soon
10. Soapprentice- time to take out the box my iPad came in again.
 
I've used shoe boxes and the like before, I've just never gotten a satisfactory bar of soap. My calculations are either off just enough that I over/under pour and end up with wonky shapes or I line it weird and have all sorts of impressions from the folds.

Also, my birthday is next week. I think my husband still doesn't know what to get me. ;)


Me, too!!! I'm lining mold disabled...and math challenged,also. :p

BattleGnome, I use a cardboard/paperboard Boot Box as a slab mold. It's a bit too big really, but a smaller shoe box will do as well, I think. I keep looking at slab molds, but haven't purchased one yet.

I've looked for a wooden drawer that would work, but have not found one in any thrift store yet.


Earlene, I have seen someone here discuss using an old wine wooden crate as mold! And it comes with a lid,too. I think it was an eBay bid or thrift store score. ;)

1. toxikon - Oo oo so pretty!

2. Omneya- have always wanted to try this

3. earlene - this looks like fun

4. SunRiseArts - Never made peacock swirl, but I want to learn!

5. KCHaystack - You played with me, so I feel I need to return the favor.

6. jewels621 - I'm a peacock swirl/soap challenge virgin, but I'm in!

7. dibbles - you guys will get me through my To Try list yet

8. Dahila - hopefully my hubby will finish my slab mould

9. BattleGnome - if I'm lucky I'll be able to find something for a slab mold soon

10. Soapprentice- time to take out the box my iPad came in again.

11. Cherrycoke216 - After a long stormy pouring rain market day, ( they didn't cancel it despite weather warnings ) , people just passing by to get inside the building,and I'm kinda soaking wet in spite of the tent,coming home with no soaps sold, and the old gal next to me sell a few of bracelets she told me it's from TaoBao (China) and she just cut it longer or shorter to "CUSTOMIZE",and claims it's imported from South America, and her profit margins sounds like multiple times,and she kinda mocks my work, ask about my marriage status, dating status, work,etc., and order me the new kids in town to buy her hot coffee, all I can do is nod and smile and being polite, I feel exhausted and crappy. And now I'm signing up a whole new world I have never traveled...
 
BattleGnome, I use a cardboard/paperboard Boot Box as a slab mold. It's a bit too big really, but a smaller shoe box will do as well, I think. I keep looking at slab molds, but haven't purchased one yet.

I've looked for a wooden drawer that would work, but have not found one in any thrift store yet.

I have a slab mold I got at BB for 12 bucks. I love it because is silicone, so easy release, but it only holds 2 to 3 pounds at most.

You are welcome to mix your colours into the soap batter. I wanted the gold mica to remain shiny which is why I only mixed it with oil as the oil absorbs and leaves the mica on the surface. If you mix it into the batter then it just goes a mustard brown colour.

Thank you! Any particular oil you recommend to mix the gold mica? I have 24k gold mica, and diamond dust, and I love them.
 
I made a practice soap today, used a homemade toothpicks-in-cardboard tool. I should have done an overhand to prevent putting it too far down into the soap. Got half the top messed up because I went too deep with the tool. When I realized, I lifted it and the other half looks decent. Now I know. I wanted to test the recipe with this technique because I haven't made it in almost two years and wasn't doing intricate swirls back then, so needed to evaluate it for this. I'm glad I did, because I learned I need more practice pouring even semi-straight lines. And I learned not to put the tool too far down into the batter. And I forgot to squirt the gold mica in oil on the top for that extra oomph. I can use it for the next one in the slab.

Maybe I'll go buy some skewers instead to make a tool that won't be too short. I thought I had some somewhere, but apparently I didn't so I settled for toothpicks. It seemed to work except for being so short and I wanted to go the depth of the soap for a through-and-through peacock swirl.
 
I made a practice one too. It was a one bar ( I know), but it was a total failure. I think 2 ways. I used a plastic comb, and the spaces were probably too small?

And also, someone please help me. I do not know when stop beating the batter. I have almost 2 years experience, but always made HP, nit CP, so I am at odds as to when can I stop so I can play with swirls and all.:headbanging:
 
I made a practice one too. It was a one bar ( I know), but it was a total failure. I think 2 ways. I used a plastic comb, and the spaces were probably too small?

And also, someone please help me. I do not know when stop beating the batter. I have almost 2 years experience, but always made HP, nit CP, so I am at odds as to when can I stop so I can play with swirls and all.:headbanging:

Have you seen this video that newbie made? It should help.

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=60618&highlight=emulsion
 
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