SMF October 2016 Challenge Entry Thread

[lionprincess00]

Entries can now be submitted! Please post ONLY your entries on this thread. Any other comments/compliments or discussion should be left on the original challenge thread.

Please post a picture of all your soaps from the batch along side the spoon you used and a pic of at least one bar of soap which I will upload to the survey.

Multiple pictures are always welcome. Any information you wish to give on your colors or fragrances is also welcomed. I encourage you to briefly describe the method in which you used your spoon, though this is not a requirement.

This thread will close on October 24, 2016.

 

[newbie]

I re-did a batch with the same colors but with a different recipe, hoping for more contrast in opacities. Not sure I got it but I like the batch and I had to retake pics anyhow to include my spoon. Thanks for the challenge, LP!

 

[dibbles]

I don't know how the swirls ended up this wispy, but I like it. The fragrance is a blend of Green Tea and Lavender. I rotated the spoon two times from bottom to top, and along each side of the mold.

 

[doriettefarm]

Don't think I'm going to have time for another attempt and I'm pretty happy with how these turned out. I used a new to me FO (Nag Champa from Nurture) that was really dark but so far doesn't seem to be discoloring. Micas are all from Nurture Soap as well (red wine, mocha brown & maya gold).

I used a tall/skinny mold so needed a spoon with more 'reach' to get all the way to the bottom. This iced tea spoon actually belonged to my gramma. My initial pour was the red base followed by gold/brown/uncolored batter drop poured from a decent height then repeated twice more. After filling the mold, I used the long spoon at a 45 degree angle to swirl down the length of the mold.

 

[artemis]

I made two attempts with two different color palettes and could not decide which should be submitted, so the family chose. OO, CO, Avocado oil, pine and lavender EOs. I used coffee in place of water and added Borax for the first time ever. The specks are coffee grounds for a little scrubbiness. They are too scrubby! I am not a coffee drinker, so I borrowed a K Cup from Mother, expecting the grounds would be super-fine. Anyway, the colors are what the coffee naturally did to the base, AC and coco powder made the charcoal gray swirl.

 

[Misschief]

Here's my soap. The recipe is a Dove copy, one of my personal faves. It's scented with sweet orange and lemon e.o. The yellow is coloured with FSC colorant and includes poppy seeds.

I used a plastic spoon and kept my swirling simple, one scoop down, through, and to the left and then the same but to the right.

 

[penelopejane]

Cinnamon Swirl
Divided batter into three. Plain with TD, plain and part with discolouring FO (Natural Candle Supply Aust Cinnamon Sugar). Poured plain/discolouring FO/plain down side of mold until discolouring FO gone. Then poured remaining plain batter over unevenly. Then plain with TD over the top. Stir with long stemmed, small head parfait spoon from one end where first pour started clockwise to the end & into left of mold then right of mold. Spoon swirl top.

Each and every bar was different.

 

[Judiraz]

I thought I'd have more tries, but with a hurricane and evacuating, this is it!
I did a pour with dividers, then removed and swirled. What I thought was interesting was how different the two sides of the same bars were. My entry choice kind of looks like a parrot's eye and maybe beak??

 

[JuneP]

Here's my entry. Thanks for the challenge. I really enjoyed it and will do more of these spoon swirls.

 

[Steve85569]

Here goes...
I used a slow to trace recipe and split for high and low water which explains the colors and halo effect. I know I need a better camera too.
A touch of lemon eucalyptus and some Lilac in Bloom to speed things up when I was tired of waiting. Poured down alternating sides and then swirled down the center and back through the sides.
I included the end cuts both down and up so you can see that they do in fact have some swirls. It was hard to choose just two bars for this challenge.
Thanks for doing this one, as usual it helps keep me interested and expanding my abilities.

 

[crispysoap]

Here is my entry made with peppermint FO. Two swirls with the spoon in each bar. Not sure if the single photos captures the swirl the best but it's my favorite.

 

[BlackDog]

I would've uploaded a couple days ago but forgot to put my spoon in the first pic! Just a regular lowly teaspoon. Scented with BB Pomegranate & Black Currant.

 

[mx5inpenn]

This is scented with a blend of NS Satsuma Orange and Cinders.. The colors are 2 NS orange micas and the plain soap batter. The copper mica swirl on top is to represent the cinnamon in Cinders. i did 3 layers of soap, alternating colors between them. 1st layer was white, orange 1, white. 2nd was orange 2, white, orange 2. 3rd was white, orange 1, white. I used the spoon in a clockwise motion down each side of the mold from bottom to top. I put a small layer of plain on top of that, then scraped the rest of the orange down the middle with the mica swirl. Cinders does accelerate some, so the orange portions (it also discolors so I only used it in the orange portions) were a little thicker than the white. I'm thinking that may be why I don't have as defined swirls as I had planned.

 

[lenarenee]

Sorry...forgot this was entry only thread!

 

[TeresaT]

I decided to go with a Black Orchid FO that I just got in. It smells amazing! Since I've never seen a black orchid in my life, I had to find one via google. The FO behaved beautifully; however, I made the mistake of premixing my colorants with glycerin. You've really got to SB that stuff into your batter. The black was pudding by the time I was finished mixing the other colors. Then, I discovered that glycerin makes for a soft soap. The corners were left in the mold. Since I didn't have time to do another, this is it. Live and learn... BTW: I can't guarantee that is THE spoon. But it is one of the spoons I have in my drawer and I did use one of them. There's a one in eight chance I picked the correct spoon.

 

[BattleGnome]

Not quite what I was going for but I have not idea what I really wanted. I walked into this with no plans for anything other than a 1# batch. I ended up using the last of a BB mix that I had left over from a kit, Vermont maple fragrance, and half a thought to an ombre. The bottom layer was supposed to be discolored fo, middle layer with a hint of pink, and the pink top layer. My spoon was a 1/4 tsp because I couldnt find a plastic spoon. My swirl attempted to mimic a hanger swirl with 5 "loops" per bar. I also used CPOP for the first time and I'm not sure if I'm sold on it, much sooner unmolding (I usually have to wait a few days) but a very sticky bar (had I not wanted to make sure I'd have time to load a pic I would have waited a few days to cut).

 

[earlene]

I am submitting one of my feminine Cammo soaps. It was one of two spoon swirls I did on Oct.12th while in Las Vegas, using 1-pound boxes lined with freezer paper. Granddaughter helped pick the best of the two, which were quite similar as I used the same colors. Only the spoon Swirl was slightly different.

I used lard, OO, Sunflower oil & CO with a mix of two apple FOs. For colorants, I used Nurture Soap's Red Vibrance (morphed to brown), Steph'sMicas & More Radical Red Neon (bright pink) and natural soap batter as the 3rd color.

The spoon is a fairly sturdy one with a longer-than-usual handle from one of the Fast Food restaurants (I don't remember which one.)

 

[lenarenee]

Sorry for the wonky perspective - I had to upload from my phone because 9 year old doing homework on my computer.

Here is Nurture Soaps B scent, sea green mica and dragonfly from mad oils. It was a great fo to work with. I made four spoon swirls that day so I'm not sure I remember how I did this one except because of the colors I chose I know I didn't want wispy delicate swirls. I believe this started as a chunky itp swirl, then I turned the spoon sideways to cut through the center, then when I thought I was 2/3 way down I turned the spoon normal and gently swooped the shape of a smile. All I wanted to do was separate any blobs of color and spread them out to make them evenly distributed as possible (I'm terrible at itp swirls!)

See how curved the edges of the soap are? That's from dragging the spoon up the side of the silicone mold - I was determined to not over swirl like I did with last week's soap.

And like Terera, the plastic spoon in the pic is not the actual one used....but it is a factory duplicate and I have about 50 more of them!

And a big thank you for the challenge lionprincess! I'm so excited to be able to participate finally!

I'll try to remember to upload an example of how NOT to do a spoon swirl...2.5 lbs of triple lavender soap with waaayyy too much twirling of the spoon!

 

[lionprincess00]

The challenge thread is officially closed. If you signed up, you can vote. Password for the survey was sent via pm. Check your inboxes for the password. Thank you all for your participation this month!

Survey link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/WNPK7Y5

 

[TeresaT]

Voted! I find it interesting that I never vote for myself. I always check mine, but since we're only allowed three votes, I always end up unchecking it. I have never once actually cast a vote for my own soap. Thank goodness I'm not running for office!