SMF October 2016 Soap Challenge- Spoon Swirl

[newbie]

It's a one pound mold so it's very difficult to tell where the spoon hit and where not. All bars have to be swirled so there must have been overlap. The end got just the tip of spoon through it and none of the bowl of the spoon which really pulls soap with it. The other end is only decent. Even places that I know the spoon just went through the once are overswirled. Batter too thin or a bad pattern to use for this type of swirl.

 

[Misschief]

I was going to make mine today but I made a gluten free lemon meringue pie instead. It's Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada so I have a 3 day weekend. There are two days left.

 

[penelopejane]

I made an attempt today. Won't know until I cut it tomorrow if it was a success. :mrgreen:

 

[dibbles]

First try-not so hot. Second try: lye and oils almost cooled, FO blend and colors ready, Tom Petty on the iPod. I'm going in!

 

[newbie]

Good luck in your endeavors! May they be more successful than mine.

 

[doriettefarm]

Made attempt #1 today . . . going to call it Witches' Brew. As I tend to stupidly do for these challenges, I used a new untested FO that was pretty dark colored when I measured it out. Really hoping it doesn't discolor and turn the majority of my design brown. I didn't add FO to the white & gold portions but did in the wine & brown which is the bulk of the batter. Also used a lardy recipe and it took forever to trace . . . would have been perfect for the ribbon pour challenge last month!

 

[artemis]

First attempt: I used the opportunity to experiment with borax and coffee. I like my swirls, but they don't look like the spoon swirl pictures I have seen elsewhere. So, the Christmas soap I had planned will become my second attempt at a spoon swirl!

 

[lionprincess00]

I love hearing your attempts! Today is my birthday, so forgive if I am a tad absent; it doesn't mean I am not checking in...show what you aren't submitting...can't wait to see what you've all made!

 

[dibbles]

Good luck in your endeavors! May they be more successful than mine.

Probably not so much. At least I won't be so excited about cutting it tomorrow that I won't be able to sleep tonight. FO accelerated after pretending to be well behaved for awhile. Wait and see, I guess. It might have actually helped since I tend to swirl too early - if I don't have air pockets.

Starting to think about batch #3.

 

[dibbles]

Happy birthday lionprincess!! I hope you are eating cake and having all kinds of fun

 

[crispysoap]

Happy birthday!!! I hope you have a wonderful day with lots of love and laughter!

 

[penelopejane]

I love hearing your attempts! Today is my birthday, so forgive if I am a tad absent; it doesn't mean I am not checking in...show what you aren't submitting...can't wait to see what you've all made!

Happy Birthday! Hope you have a great day!

 

[penelopejane]

Probably not so much. At least I won't be so excited about cutting it tomorrow that I won't be able to sleep tonight. FO accelerated after pretending to be well behaved for awhile. Wait and see, I guess. It might have actually helped since I tend to swirl too early - if I don't have air pockets.

Starting to think about batch #3.

Mine was such a slow trace that I had to wait for hours before I could swirl with the spoon!
At least I now have an excellent slow trace recipe!:mrgreen:

I cut it today and...I have an entry. Not exactly as I thought it would be but it is ok I think.

 

[dibbles]

Hmmm...the swirls ended up being quite wispy despite how thick the batter was. I guess that was because of the pour/plop. I like it, but I'm thinking I'll do one more try. I need to make soap for my sister who suffers terribly with eczema, and can't use dyes or fragrance. I experimented with French green clay to add a little interest in the last batch I did for her and that seemed to be okay for her skin. So this time I'll maybe add a little Brazilian purple clay and see how that goes for her. So my Spoon Swirl quest continues.

 

[penelopejane]

I need to make soap for my sister who suffers terribly with eczema, and can't use dyes or fragrance. I experimented with French green clay to add a little interest in the last batch I did for her and that seemed to be okay for her skin.

When my DHs eczema is really bad he can only used Castile with OO. Can't handle the clay unless his skin is pretty good at the time.
Not sure if your sister will be the same, as every eczema is different.

 

[dibbles]

I should have said 'suffered', as it has been pretty well under control for a year. She has some high olive oil soap that I have made for her, and another that has some shea butter (which is the one I added the green clay to), and both seem to be working well for her. So, since purple is her favorite color, she wants to give the purple clay a try. I'm just going to do a small batch so she can see if it agrees with her, and I want to do it before her other soaps are gone. I don't think we'll ever go into fragrance territory. She only ever wanted lemon verbena anyway.

 

[lionprincess00]

Since I received a pm and saw another contestant mention doing it on a different thread, I want to say using a discoloring fo as a color with plain batter/or a non discoloring fo does count as 2 colors. Someone asked me, and another I believe has also done it, so I wanted to clarify for all this is perfectly acceptable.

 

[newbie]

Ahhhh! I have to get going! Soap will be made tomorrow.

 

[lionprincess00]

Never said THANK YOU for the well wishes. I really (REALLY) need them this year. Thank you to all that gave a tad bit of hope to me for the new year.

 

[earlene]

My first two attempts were unsatisfactory as entries, so here are pictures.

Besides not making a big enough batch for the first one, it was too thin, so I heated the bottom color layer while in the mold to thicken it a bit. That worked. Then I poured the other colors as done in the video. I like the color combo with the FO a lot. In fact as a soap, I am happy with it. However I had to do a slab cut because I didn't make enough batter for the desired design. The FO is Lime Margarita by Sweet Cakes.

For attempt #2 I figured I'd make extra batter (using the leftover for a confetti soap), speed up trace a bit with FO'S and even used a discoloring FO because I didn't need white. However, it accelerated more than I wanted and by the time I began the swirling it was quite thick. A completely different color scheme here. I expect the plain batter to discolor a bit more to create a more pronounced camo look. Anyway, the swirl doesn't look like much to me, but I think it will be something my brothers and sons will like, although there are only 5 bars.

Below the spoon is the confetti soap. Strangely the discoloring FO seems to have done as expected much faster here. I have no idea why not in the other soap.