SMF October 2021 challenge - butterfly hanger swirl

[Peachy Clean Soap]

Sad you had to throw that much soap. Back in the day, 5-6 years ago, I had a big problem with DOS. I added citric acid & EDTA to my soaps, use only distilled water and that has done the trick. Just about killed me throwing away all that soap. I usually buy my Lard from Walmart (6 pounds, I think).

I bought Farmer John's Lard 4lbs @ staters bros. i'll check out walmart on next purchase . I'm gonna toss the 4th batch too. I know the Lard is Rancid & the soap is too, also the scent is off' no DOS is showing but Its coming. I'll toss out the 4th batch too the reason I haven't, I piped roses few months back & put them on the top & its pretty I hate to toss it' lol. I'm hoping the batch that is curing #5th one I can see a butterfly design in it.

 

[linne1gi]

I bought Farmer John's Lard 4lbs @ staters bros. i'll check out walmart on next purchase . I'm gonna toss the 4th batch too. I know the Lard is Rancid & the soap is too, also the scent is off' no DOS is showing but Its coming. I'll toss out the 4th batch too the reason I haven't, I piped roses few months back & put them on the top & its pretty I hate to toss it' lol. I'm hoping the batch that is curing #5th one I can see a butterfly design in it.

I hope so too.

 

[earlene]

My second attempt is apparently only half of the butterly; the bottom part or the top part, depending on if I turn it up or down. But it is progress. I'll have to look back at my notes and see what my plan was and see if I can figure out where I went wrong. But also, I think I cut it wrong. With the first one, I gave some consideration to which way it needed to be cut, and this time, although I also gave that consideration, I think I may have cut from the wrong side of the practically square loaf. Although the Crafter's Choice 1504 mold is not a perfect square, it's darn close.

That seems to be a drawback to using a CC-1504 mold - figuring out which way to cut a particular swirl can be tricky.

I'll probably post images later, but they are on my phone & transferring images to my laptop is more cumbersome from my phone, than from my DSL camera.

 

[Peachy Clean Soap]

Day before yesterday attempt #6th final try I could see a Butterfly Swirl Yay & Im using it for the challenge.
Truth be told I don't want to attempt another Butterfly Swirl Design For A Good Long Time.... .
Today i'll shoot the soap and have pictures ready to post.

I did talk about my Rancid Lard & the havoc it caused in my post regarding "not using chelators" if anyone is interested. Also a few of our "Smartest Soapers Chimed In" Giving Their Exceptional Knowledge On The Subject Of Chelators.

 

[dibbles]

I cut my second try and - I see

 

[Catscankim]

I have made three butterfly soaps so far. I already posted the one, so I can't use it. But that's ok!

My second one is pretty. The one I cut today was an original disappointment. I used too many colors and made it too complicated. It is meh...until I flipped it upside-down! It's a pretty butterfly!

Probably give it another shot and then choose from three..or have friends choose for me LOL

Totally planned on making soap today, but I got home a little late and did nothing but sit on the computer since 5. My feet hurt. Plus I left last nights soapy dishes to clean up today. Now I don't feel like cleaning, just to make a mess again.

 

[ResolvableOwl]

Wish me luck. My curing rack space has given this BS swirl thingie one single chance. I found it surprisingly difficult to keep the hanger parallel to the mould, but that's probably due to the hanger that I had to bend asymmetrically to hold a pencil match the length of the mould.

I've put some effort into imagination of what the swirl would/could look in the end, quite some scribbles of drop swirl sequences, hanger wire paths, colour combos. Now I'm super curious how it turns out, once the loaf will have hardened up enough to be cut*. You as well will see it in any case: if it looks anywhere near an insect, I'll sign in; otherwise I'll “upload pictures of any of [my] challenge attempts (other than [my] entry)” here – just like everyone else did, “[i]n the spirit of advancing our soap making skills”.


*ZNSC made from 75% mustard oil (love that smell!) + a fair share of hard oils to make up for its exceptionally low saturated FA content. Since a turbulent challenge submission is without doubt the BEST OPPORTUNITY to experiment with an entirely new recipe, with 3/4 of an oil that I've never used for soapmaking before . It was a jump-start when it reached stable emulsion from just a quick stir with the spatula – but luckily, it went on quite well-behaved from there. Now to one or two days of patience before unmoulding…

 

[Peachy Clean Soap]

Wish me luck. My curing rack space has given this BS swirl thingie one single chance. I found it surprisingly difficult to keep the hanger parallel to the mould, but that's probably due to the hanger that I had to bend asymmetrically to hold a pencil match the length of the mould.

I've put some effort into imagination of what the swirl would/could look in the end, quite some scribbles of drop swirl sequences, hanger wire paths, colour combos. Now I'm super curious how it turns out, once the loaf will have hardened up enough to be cut*. You as well will see it in any case: if it looks anywhere near an insect, I'll sign in; otherwise I'll “upload pictures of any of [my] challenge attempts (other than [my] entry)” here – just like everyone else did, “[i]n the spirit of advancing our soap making skills”.


*ZNSC made from 75% mustard oil (love that smell!) + a fair share of hard oils to make up for its exceptionally low saturated FA content. Since a turbulent challenge submission is without doubt the BEST OPPORTUNITY to experiment with an entirely new recipe, with 3/4 of an oil that I've never used for soapmaking before . It was a jump-start when it reached stable emulsion from just a quick stir with the spatula – but luckily, it went on quite well-behaved from there. Now to one or two days of patience before unmoulding…

Yay glad your joined the fun.... Best of luck

Wish me luck. My curing rack space has given this BS swirl thingie one single chance. I found it surprisingly difficult to keep the hanger parallel to the mould, but that's probably due to the hanger that I had to bend asymmetrically to hold a pencil match the length of the mould.

I've put some effort into imagination of what the swirl would/could look in the end, quite some scribbles of drop swirl sequences, hanger wire paths, colour combos. Now I'm super curious how it turns out, once the loaf will have hardened up enough to be cut*. You as well will see it in any case: if it looks anywhere near an insect, I'll sign in; otherwise I'll “upload pictures of any of [my] challenge attempts (other than [my] entry)” here – just like everyone else did, “[i]n the spirit of advancing our soap making skills”.


*ZNSC made from 75% mustard oil (love that smell!) + a fair share of hard oils to make up for its exceptionally low saturated FA content. Since a turbulent challenge submission is without doubt the BEST OPPORTUNITY to experiment with an entirely new recipe, with 3/4 of an oil that I've never used for soapmaking before . It was a jump-start when it reached stable emulsion from just a quick stir with the spatula – but luckily, it went on quite well-behaved from there. Now to one or two days of patience before unmoulding…

Mustard Oil' looking forward to viewing the color & design.

 

[ResolvableOwl]

Mustard Oil' looking forward to viewing the color & design.

Me as well

Seriously, the oil itself has a yellowish-olive colour, just like in the photo. I wanted to play safe and added a few % of red palm oil to get a bright yellow. Just to tint it with white into something that REALLY looked like mustard And I have to admit I'm not a great mustard fan. The mustard oil, however, has a sweeter, less pungent smell, that I like a lot – just hope it doesn't sting in the “private areas”.

Another issue is that I'm uncertain about its SAP. The “edible” mustard breeds have reduced erucic acid, hence higher SAP; my only clue was that I chose the “for exterior use only” oil in the Asian store, and just hoped that it is, per soap calculator, closer to abyssinia or heirloom rapeseed, than it is to modern canola. If it isn't, I'll have some 8% unplanned superfat (which isn't that bad, though).


Anyhow, back to colours. I've put the residual batters into small silicone moulds (and gave them a simple spoon swirl). The “white” looks like the perfect vanilla pudding colour – I couldn't be happier with it, just as with the other colours! (The brown looks just like chocolate pudding – mmmh, vla ).

 

[Peachy Clean Soap]

Me as well

Seriously, the oil itself has a yellowish-olive colour, just like in the photo. I wanted to play safe and added a few % of red palm oil to get a bright yellow. Just to tint it with white into something that REALLY looked like mustard And I have to admit I'm not a great mustard fan. The mustard oil, however, has a sweeter, less pungent smell, that I like a lot – just hope it doesn't sting in the “private areas”.

Another issue is that I'm uncertain about its SAP. The “edible” mustard breeds have reduced erucic acid, hence higher SAP; my only clue was that I chose the “for exterior use only” oil in the Asian store, and just hoped that it is, per soap calculator, closer to abyssinia or heirloom rapeseed, than it is to modern canola. If it isn't, I'll have some 8% unplanned superfat (which isn't that bad, though).

View attachment 61908
Anyhow, back to colours. I've put the residual batters into small silicone moulds (and gave them a simple spoon swirl). The “white” looks like the perfect vanilla pudding colour – I couldn't be happier with it, just as with the other colours! (The brown looks just like chocolate pudding – mmmh, vla ).

I do like the fluid & various dimensions in color that micas don't have. Pretty

 

[Catscankim]

Ok I am set on my entry LOL. My sister picked it. The one I made last night does not even resemble a butterfly so I didn't even show it to her.

My other two were split between a really pretty swirl that doesn't even resemble a butterfly (according to her)...when I can get a nice picture then I will post it.

The other one I wasn't sure about, but it definitely looks like a butterfly. So counting down the days to submit my entry LOL.

 

[melonpan]

I've put some effort into imagination of what the swirl would/could look in the end, quite some scribbles of drop swirl sequences, hanger wire paths, colour combos. Now I'm super curious how it turns out, once the loaf will have hardened up enough to be cut*.

I have to admit that for me this remains the most mysterious and fun part. The way that my swirl pattern translated into the soap was, somehow, different to my swirl motion, and still resembling my original idea!
I'm so curious to see what everyone's swirl patterns and the results.

The only thing that bothers me about my entry is that the colours came out different than planned (or should I say, hoped for ). if I was at home I'd give it another try, but in the spirit of soapmaking I decided I will submit it anyway lol.

 

[Tara_H]

I'm about 90% sure I'll be able to join the challenge, but I'll wait to sign up until I'm totally sure!
I decided at the last minute to take a week off work since I had 4 days not spoken for, and a bank holiday this coming Monday
By rights I should do it today since it's my soap-iversary, but since it's also my actual birthday husband has booked me in for a day spa, and I do very much like being massaged
I've been enjoying reading about everyone's attempts so far; hopefully tomorrow I'll get one of my own done!

 

[ResolvableOwl]

The soaps are still WAY too soft to even think of trying to unmold the test bars from the leftover batter. Meanwhile I have plenty of time to collect the wisdom of SMF and the WWW about mustard soap:

• Mustard oil soap | @Nanditasr mentions 10-20% in Indian recipes, no updates from @Adi5 and @LiLiSoapz
• mustard seed oil | Consensus was more or less that the chances of mustard oil to be too irritant aren't worth the risk for soap (though, there seems to be some confusion between the fatty and the essential oil of mustard). @Fragola wasn't quite as skeptical – no updates though.
• mustard oil? | Optimistic feedback from @Sauboon at 25% and @minaldoshi at 30%: yet nothing for the impatient! No follow-up from OP @soapsydaisy.
• Mustard or Mustard Oil? | Mustard Oil & Sesame Oil | Can I swap for Camelina? | Dutch style Beldi | Some, not unnecessarily specific, hints. Mentions of beldi soap, which makes some sense when you consider mustard as a type of/close botanical relative to “coleseed”.
• What did YOU do today? | @earlene did NOT buy a bottle of mustard oil “for external use only”.
• Soapee Next | Soapee database entry (with a seemingly worrying FA total of 45%) | SAPONIFICATION CALCULATOR - HANDCRAFTED SOAP MAKING calls it “INCI: brassica nigra seed oil”, mentions a very similar K-SAP of 0.175, as well as a erucic acid content of 42.30% | PlantFAdb: Brassica nigra - Black Mustard largely agrees (also for brassica juncea/alba species). I myself do have a bit of experience with high-erucic oils (via abyssinia oil bar soap, as well as LS that I haven't added to LS dilution test series yet), so I'm optimistic that it'll move somewhere … just a matter of patience.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

I'm about 90% sure I'll be able to join the challenge, but I'll wait to sign up until I'm totally sure!
I decided at the last minute to take a week off work since I had 4 days not spoken for, and a bank holiday this coming Monday
By rights I should do it today since it's my soap-iversary, but since it's also my actual birthday husband has booked me in for a day spa, and I do very much like being massaged
I've been enjoying reading about everyone's attempts so far; hopefully tomorrow I'll get one of my own done!

Happy Birthday Tara! What a nice husband you have. Enjoy your day at the spa.

 

[The_Emerald_Chicken]

Photographed my entry options (all from the same batch) this morning. Now to decide which butterfly to choose out of the....the....

....does anyone know what a group of butterflies is called? I had to google it

 

[Catscankim]

Photographed my entry options (all from the same batch) this morning. Now to decide which butterfly to choose out of the....the....

....does anyone know what a group of butterflies is called? I had to google it

I was gonna say flock. But thats not the answer. I had to also google it. I wont ruin it LOL

 

[Peachy Clean Soap]

I'm about 90% sure I'll be able to join the challenge, but I'll wait to sign up until I'm totally sure!
I decided at the last minute to take a week off work since I had 4 days not spoken for, and a bank holiday this coming Monday
By rights I should do it today since it's my soap-iversary, but since it's also my actual birthday husband has booked me in for a day spa, and I do very much like being massaged
I've been enjoying reading about everyone's attempts so far; hopefully tomorrow I'll get one of my own done!

Happy Birthday & Happy Soap Anniversary
...
Cheers .

I was gonna say flock. But thats not the answer. I had to also google it. I wont ruin it LOL

Now I must google it...

 

[earlene]

What did YOU do today? | @earlene did NOT buy a bottle of mustard oil “for external use only”.

Wow, RO, I had forgotten that find. I never did go back and buy it, but perhaps now I will (once I return home, still on the road.)

Today was a soapmaking day. I planned & made 2 batches in the 2 CC-1504 molds I brought with me. I considered a 3rd batch in a cardboard box lined with freezer paper, but decided I need to rest and eat & plan my itinerary for tomorrow instead. And of course, clean-up. When soapmaking while traveling, immediate clean-up is imperative, particularly with Kitty Baby along. Actually clean-up is already done, & the soaps are wrapped up nice & cozy in a dresser drawer where they can heat up undisturbed overnight.

The second batch was my very first ZNSC because I had some OO to use up and figured I'd give this a try, especially after reading Zany's notes about how it can be ready to unmold and cut so early. I probably won't cut until Monday night when I am at home, though. I am undecided just yet, but my free-hand cuts are not very uniform and that's all I have available to me while traveling.

My second soap (made on 10/14 I think) produced a decent butterfly swirl, but I am hoping these two today may be more satisfying. I changed to swirl pattern & even managed to follow my plan per the drawing I made, so I hope it turns out the way I envisioned.

 

[ResolvableOwl]

especially after reading Zany's notes about how it can be ready to unmold and cut so early.

This is ALL FAKE NEWS!!!! I have only replaced mere 96% of the oils in the recipe, yet my soap is already 24 hours overdue right now – still far enough away from decent hardness that unmoulding is still way out of question. I've hidden my actual batch so that I don't constantly touch and squeeze it to test if it's hardened up yet.


@Tara_H Congrats to another sun circumnavigation! ☀