Today (and possibly tomorrow) I'm going to make a first attempt at the technique from this month's challenge.
I poured the slab a couple of days back, it gave me a couple of issues. The batter thickened too fast so I had to spread it in the mould rather than pouring, so the top was rather uneven. Also I seem to have stored it badly so it wasn't entirely flat, and it was bowing a bit. So first step was to plane and trim it to get it into better shape:
Next was prepping the space. I'm definitely not doing this in the kitchen, which is where I normally soap, and it's too chilly outside. I got special dispensation from my husband to work in the office/craft room which is still currently undergoing transition from its original function as a cow shed
This was under the strict understanding that I set up a kill-room style space to minimise the chance of getting soap everywhere. I'll also be using my air compressor for the blowing action, so a certain amount of splash seems likely, and I'll be wearing plenty of PPE.
I currently have the oils melting, and it will shortly be getting a bit hectic around here. I'm hopefully going to set up the tripod and record some of the action; will update once the deed is done.
The plan is to make quite a bit more soap batter than I think I'll need for the technique, and whatever's left over will be poured for a new slab for the next attempt.
Well, that was an exciting first attempt!
Here's me all suited up and ready to go
What I hadn't accounted for was how much cooler that room is compared to our kitchen (which is not exactly warm) and how much heat would be lost on the trip from the microwave to the kill room...
Unfortunately I forgot to set up the camera in the excitement, but basically as soon as I split the batter to add colours, it started hardening up. I had brought out an old pancake maker to warm things up on, but when I turned it on it didn't smell great so I panicked and just started pouring!
The batter was totally lumpy by the time I got it onto the slab, but then I remembered I had brought my hairdryer as a backup blowing device. Set to full heat, and with the assistance of the gas heater, I was able to melt enough of the top layers at least to get them pushed around a bit.
It's not exactly what I was aiming for, but I think it's quite pretty all the same! Have poured the next slab and hopefully tomorrow can be attempt #2
I poured the slab a couple of days back, it gave me a couple of issues. The batter thickened too fast so I had to spread it in the mould rather than pouring, so the top was rather uneven. Also I seem to have stored it badly so it wasn't entirely flat, and it was bowing a bit. So first step was to plane and trim it to get it into better shape:
Next was prepping the space. I'm definitely not doing this in the kitchen, which is where I normally soap, and it's too chilly outside. I got special dispensation from my husband to work in the office/craft room which is still currently undergoing transition from its original function as a cow shed
This was under the strict understanding that I set up a kill-room style space to minimise the chance of getting soap everywhere. I'll also be using my air compressor for the blowing action, so a certain amount of splash seems likely, and I'll be wearing plenty of PPE.
I currently have the oils melting, and it will shortly be getting a bit hectic around here. I'm hopefully going to set up the tripod and record some of the action; will update once the deed is done.
The plan is to make quite a bit more soap batter than I think I'll need for the technique, and whatever's left over will be poured for a new slab for the next attempt.
Well, that was an exciting first attempt!
Here's me all suited up and ready to go
What I hadn't accounted for was how much cooler that room is compared to our kitchen (which is not exactly warm) and how much heat would be lost on the trip from the microwave to the kill room...
Unfortunately I forgot to set up the camera in the excitement, but basically as soon as I split the batter to add colours, it started hardening up. I had brought out an old pancake maker to warm things up on, but when I turned it on it didn't smell great so I panicked and just started pouring!
The batter was totally lumpy by the time I got it onto the slab, but then I remembered I had brought my hairdryer as a backup blowing device. Set to full heat, and with the assistance of the gas heater, I was able to melt enough of the top layers at least to get them pushed around a bit.
It's not exactly what I was aiming for, but I think it's quite pretty all the same! Have poured the next slab and hopefully tomorrow can be attempt #2
