SMF October 2019 Challenge - Mini Drops Swirl

[Kiti Williams]

I am just pouring my soap! It will come out of the mold tomorrow at around 3pm, plenty of time for the entry. I just hope it comes out nice!

 

[Michele50]

I am just pouring my soap! It will come out of the mold tomorrow at around 3pm, plenty of time for the entry. I just hope it comes out nice!

Good luck. I cut my 3rd try this morning but the loaf was pretty malleable so I've got to wait to be able to handle the individual bars for pictures. I made 3 pretty much back-to-back in hopes one would be decent enough to enter.

 

[Kiti Williams]

After 9 hours of set time, my soap was firm and set. I cut the loaf and it is a frailer in my books. I don't know what I am doing wrong, but I am consistent with dud bars. Photos in the AM.

 

[Michele50]

After 9 hours of set time, my soap was firm and set. I cut the loaf and it is a frailer in my books. I don't know what I am doing wrong, but I am consistent with dud bars. Photos in the AM.

So sorry to hear that, it is very frustrating. I smushed a bunch of my droplets because I 'thought' I could carefully drizzle soap batter over a spatula onto the area where my individual droplets were laying below it. I did it slowly and none went through the surface; however, they did flatten the droplets. Sadly, the colors were the best and boldest of the three I did. My hubby likes it best out of the 3 attempts but I don't like the fact that many are flattened or pushed over on their sides. The best droplets, like raindrops which is what I was shooting for, are all light in color. I should have listened to my gut and mixed more color. It would have been better that I had 'too much' than not enough. Once I mixed the colors into the batter I realized right away that all would be too light, more like pastel than bright and vivid. I couldn't stop to mix more because then my batter would have set up too much to make the droplets.

 

[artemis]

"The Entry thread will close on October 25, 2019 at 11:59 pm CST"

Wait. Is that today? And if it's 11:59 CST, then that's 10:59 in New Jersey. Hmmm... I might just make it.

My second batch is napping in the cozy oven. Even if it doesn't come out of the mold on time, I still have my first attempt ready to go.

 

[Dawni]

"The Entry thread will close on October 25, 2019 at 11:59 pm CST"

Wait. Is that today? And if it's 11:59 CST, then that's 10:59 in New Jersey. Hmmm... I might just make it.

My second batch is napping in the cozy oven. Even if it doesn't come out of the mold on time, I still have my first attempt ready to go.

It's my tomorrow lol.. Or shall I say later, in less than 12hrs

Unfortunately, my first attempt was awful, and my second attempt isn't a big improvement. I'll have to rush n cut it in the morning because I have to leave in about 5hrs.

If one or two bars get some drops I'll be happy lol evenif it won't qualify.

 

[dibbles]

Not that this helps much, but we are still in daylight savings time here - not central standard time, and I forgot about that. So add an hour to the available time before the entry thread closes.

 

[Michele50]

This was my 2nd attempt but I should have used a different technique to layer my drops because I squished 3 layers of them. My oils: Lard, Palm oil (responsibly sourced), CO, EVOO, and Castor oil. My colors: Cobalt Blue, Magic Purple, Magic Yellow, Saffron, and Silver Shimmer Black. I used a little of the Magic Yellow and Saffron for my base.

What I like: the drops were spot on with the depth of color and I was able to get 2-3 colors in several drops. Because of the colors and # of colors in the droplets, my DH and I liked this one best.

What I don’t like: I should have used extensions on my squeeze bottles and cannot figure out why I didn’t think of it at the time. I poured most of my batter and did some drops, then I slowly and carefully poured more batter over a spatula so there’d be space above the 1st drops. I repeated this process a few times which smooshed my droplets and turned some on their side.

My 3rd attempt and the colors were, AGAIN, too light--note to self: "go with your gut and mix colors deeper when you feel they might be too pale." I chose 6 different colors—Sky Blue, Flash Red Wine, King’s Gold, Magic Purple, Saffron, and Ocean Blue. I tried adding more of the Magic Purple to my squeeze bottle but couldn’t get it blended with just shaking. I didn’t try to deepen the other colors; I do kinda like the ‘speckled’ look to the purple though. My 6 colors actually look as though I used only orange, purple and 2 blues.

What I liked: I got my drops as I wanted, dispersed throughout the base and not crowded. They look like raindrops and I liked that.

What I don’t like: With the colors being so faint there wasn’t any use in trying to get multiple colors inside the droplets, any seen are purely accidental.

This technique was fun to try even though I was disappointed in both of these, especially since they could have been quite successful had I listened to my inner self.

 

[Dawni]

My attempt and failure. The other one is just too bad to post. Funny this, it's a recipe I've used before for fluid HP batter, and I managed two previous challenge entries with it.

I have no idea what happened this time, why the cocoa powder (I've used this before) thickened up one part, and the titanium dioxide (I've also used this before) made stringy soap akin to mozzarella. I keep looking back at my notes to see if I missed anything or didaanything differently but I have everything checked.

Pretty disappointed, but I will try this again in the near future. I am convinced it's doable in HP. Here's a shot of the weird top I ended up with. Looks like food haha.

And when I cleaned some of them up, coz I wanted to see what it looked like underneath.

And finally, the non-drop swirls lol

 

[Michele50]

My attempt and failure. The other one is just too bad to post. Funny this, it's a recipe I've used before for fluid HP batter, and I managed two previous challenge entries with it.

I have no idea what happened this time, why the cocoa powder (I've used this before) thickened up one part, and the titanium dioxide (I've also used this before) made stringy soap akin to mozzarella. I keep looking back at my notes to see if I missed anything or didaanything differently but I have everything checked........."

Anyone who tries to do these challenges by way of HP is BRAVER than me. While I've made HP, I prefer CP. You did better than what I would have done, at least you got 2 colors within your white and managed a scalloped edge of orange going on atop your bars. I would have made a mess of things I fear.

 

[artemis]

Here is the first attempt. The batter didn't want to thicken up. Or, maybe I was too impatient. Anyway, I ended up doing this one like a traditional drop swirl, only using the squeezey bottles instead of pouring from a pitcher. I also (in my opinion) had too much colored batter and not enough white space. So, cute, but not a lot like "mini drop swirl," as I think of it.

 

[Michele50]

Here is the first attempt. The batter didn't want to thicken up. Or, maybe I was too impatient. Anyway, I ended up doing this one like a traditional drop swirl, only using the squeezey bottles instead of pouring from a pitcher. I also (in my opinion) had too much colored batter and not enough white space. So, cute, but not a lot like "mini drop swirl," as I think of it.
View attachment 42228

Still yet, lovely bars. I like the pastels, they make me think of spring--Easter to be exact.

That makes me wonder why I don't like it when I end up with pastels in my soap (?? lol). I guess it's because I had planned on my October Challenge soap to be bright and bold colors.

 

[dibbles]

The entry thread is now closed and PMs have been sent with the survey link and password. Good luck voting - you guys rocked this one! If you signed up for the challenge and didn't receive a PM for the survey, let me know.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

Thanks for running this month’s challenge Dibbles!

All of the soaps are creative and inspiring. It’s always interesting to see how the challenge techniques gets applied to produce designs that range from delicate to bold. I look forward to trying the technique again and with a new few twists.

 

[Karmic]

Anyone who tries to do these challenges by way of HP is BRAVER than me. While I've made HP, I prefer CP. You did better than what I would have done, at least you got 2 colors within your white and managed a scalloped edge of orange going on atop your bars. I would have made a mess of things I fear.

I have to agree with this. I haven't tried HP yet, I'm still not sure how I feel about it. Some people make absolutely amazing stuff with it, other things I've seen on the web put me off because I don't like the look. But HP and this technique is definitely impressive in my books.

@Dawni those kind of remind me of jelly nougat candies I used to get as a kid

 

[Amy78130]

Everyone's soap looked amazing!! I didn't have time to enter mine.. I tried 3 different attempts, but have been slammed at work!! The pink one is pink evergreen and mint, the 2nd is citrus and sage. I used neon mica as a colorant, the pink one, I used funnel pitchers and the orange ziploc bags. Both are CPOP.

 

[Arimara]

Well, I'm officially disappointed in myself. It its not one thing it's another.

 

[linne1gi]

This was my 2nd attempt but I should have used a different technique to layer my drops because I squished 3 layers of them. My oils: Lard, Palm oil (responsibly sourced), CO, EVOO, and Castor oil. My colors: Cobalt Blue, Magic Purple, Magic Yellow, Saffron, and Silver Shimmer Black. I used a little of the Magic Yellow and Saffron for my base.

What I like: the drops were spot on with the depth of color and I was able to get 2-3 colors in several drops. Because of the colors and # of colors in the droplets, my DH and I liked this one best.

What I don’t like: I should have used extensions on my squeeze bottles and cannot figure out why I didn’t think of it at the time. I poured most of my batter and did some drops, then I slowly and carefully poured more batter over a spatula so there’d be space above the 1st drops. I repeated this process a few times which smooshed my droplets and turned some on their side.
View attachment 42211
My 3rd attempt and the colors were, AGAIN, too light--note to self: "go with your gut and mix colors deeper when you feel they might be too pale." I chose 6 different colors—Sky Blue, Flash Red Wine, King’s Gold, Magic Purple, Saffron, and Ocean Blue. I tried adding more of the Magic Purple to my squeeze bottle but couldn’t get it blended with just shaking. I didn’t try to deepen the other colors; I do kinda like the ‘speckled’ look to the purple though. My 6 colors actually look as though I used only orange, purple and 2 blues.

What I liked: I got my drops as I wanted, dispersed throughout the base and not crowded. They look like raindrops and I liked that.

What I don’t like: With the colors being so faint there wasn’t any use in trying to get multiple colors inside the droplets, any seen are purely accidental.
View attachment 42210
This technique was fun to try even though I was disappointed in both of these, especially since they could have been quite successful had I listened to my inner self.

Michele, You're too hard on yourself. I think they look awesome. Wonderful job!

 

[Kiti Williams]

Everyone's soaps are so pretty, even those that are considered fails. I hope to hone my skills for the next challenge.

 

[Michele50]

Michele, You're too hard on yourself. I think they look awesome. Wonderful job!

Thanks @linne1gi . These challenges are fun even if my attempts don't always turn out as expected; it's good practice. Practice does make purfect.....or at least I get a little better with practice.