We have a WINNER!!!!

[CaraBou]

Coffeetime is right, Sonya, the gallery will open to non-registrants when the winner is announced. There is some incentive to register next time!

Lionprincess, LOVE your entry! It's fabulous! I bet you are kissing your daughter now, since it probably wouldn't have turned out like that if she hadn't pulled you away during the middle of things.

I haven't linked up yet. Silly me, still toying with the idea of making one last batch. Seeing some of the competition lit a little fire, lol. It's a good thing this swirl technique works great with a water discount; otherwise, I'd be out of time! Gotta get going soon though to cut in time tomorrow.

ETA: Well, the soap gods have spoken. My scale flashed "Lo" and then turned off just as I was about to add some of my pre-mixed lye solution to the oils. The scale takes a 9 volt battery, which I apparently don't have anywhere in the house except possibly the smoke detectors, which I don't want to mess with. So I'll work on the writeup and better pics for the aurora-inspired soap that I made awhile back and get it linked up by tomorrow morning. Finally an end to this madness!

 

[DWinMadison]

Newbie, LOVE your soap. It's so my aesthetic. Jules, which one is yours?

 

[newbie]

Thank you Daryl. There is stiff competition, that is for certain.

 

[DWinMadison]

It's official. I'd now like to take my entry back.

 

[lpstephy85]

Up! And I echo DWin, I want to take mine back. Holy cow there are some great designs! I'm like, huh? How? No way?!

 

[lionprincess00]

Thx carabou
Yeah, she's a handfull...insisting on her presence in every...EV ER Y aspect of my life.
I have, like a million kids, so ones bound to wind up this way, right?!?!

I appreciate the comment, and am just grateful I'm DONE.

Those million kids make it hard to accomplish personal goals, you know?!?!
:wtf:

 

[CaraBou]

It's official. I'd now like to take my entry back.

And I echo DWin, I want to take mine back. Holy cow there are some great designs! I'm like, huh? How? No way?!

I know it! I should have listened to my instincts instead of letting you guys talk me in to this (yeah, you newbie). It felt silly posting among that lineup. I hope I can crawl out of bed tomorrow. Actually, I look forward to seeing what else shows up, and to vote. There's still almost 9 hours left to go!

 

[lionprincess00]

If it makes anyone feel any better, I left my soaps on black construction paper over night. Yep, purple spots all on the bottom. Of course being a perfectionist I cut the bottom off. I have a purple tinted soap ball now, and short little bars that will shrink to mini soaps in 8 weeks. I couldn't help it, it looked like they had chicken pox or something. At least it happened after I submitted lol (edit, they don't look different, just a tad shorter now. So mad!) Note to self, never leave soaps on things with dyes in it!

 

[lionprincess00]

Hold up! You can vote for yourself....DOES everyone vote for themselves?!

 

[newbie]

What? It says you can't so I never even tried. I would think it would block you from doing it. Too bad. I already voted and not for myself. Well, I hardly expect to win anyhow.

I'm surprised it isn't set up for that, but she must be going on the honor system. Lots of people have missed making it into the top three by one vote. Looks like they could have kicked themselves into a top slot. Damn.

 

[lionprincess00]

Ok, well maybe you can't. I didn't, I wouldn't, but I saw a heart in the corner and assumed you could. if it doesn't let you, that's comforting! Wouldn't be fair if you could. I told my oldest and she said it would be like pirates of the Caribbean, when every pirate votes for themself and no one is the leader with majority.

I must be wrong. I mistook seeing a heart for meaning we were allowed to.

 

[JustBeachy]

As long as the judging code isn't like the pirate code, "They're more like guidlines"

 

[newbie]

I don't know if the IT she uses is set up to know if you are voting for yourself. Once you click on the heart, it's set, so I didn't try clicking on my own. I have no idea if people do or don't vote for themselves. At any rate, it's one vote because you can't vote for the same soap twice so even if people do, it doesn't really stack their deck that much. Probably most people follow the "guidelines" because it is fun to vote for other people. I just want this contest to be over. This month was stressful!!! Mainly because I'm not that interested in spoon swirls, although I did learn some things, but still.... Last month was more enjoyable.

 

[CaraBou]

I was hoping you could click a second time on a heart to unselect it so you could change your mind and test the no-voting-for-yourself theory. But it is not an option.

Well anyway, I'm glad that's all done! Probably a little more stressful than I want soaping to be. That's why I don't sell, too. It was nice to have a purpose, but honestly, it felt at times like I was wasting oils, fragrances, and colorants. That's partly because of the "fails" and partly because I tended to use more colorants than I usually do, which I don't really care for in real life cleansing.

Now you just wait and see... I'm probably hooked on competing now and this will be my new driver. It does kick things up a notch!

I will say that after a few fails, I decided to use 100% olive to reduce the fuss and expense, to get a nice white base w/o TD, and because I knew it would harden quickly with a 2:1 water discount. But of course castile isn't usable for a really long time so it has drawbacks too. I hate to say it but some may end up in the trash. You can yell at me if you want, maybe it will make a difference.

 

[newbie]

I can't yell at you at all. You have no idea how much of my stuff has ended up in the trash as well. The waste issue is why I started using 1 pound batches for the contest. It pisses me off no end when I open a soap and find it's junk because I'm trying to make a contest soap and then what do you do with it? I have been slicing thin as well to look for the different patterns, which is good for learning, but I now have a bunch of skinny bars.

I donate my soap to my high school for their auction but I didn't send any this year because I was so late. Well, they listed 18 bars anyhow and found out after the fact that I hadn't sent any in. I had panic trying to cover it, wondering if I could find 18 auction-worthy bars of soap because I've been doing nothing but experimenting lately but it was worthless panic because of course I have zillions of dumb bars of soap in my basement, although most of the decent stuff is gone. I really made a lot of crap, I realized, looking through the shelves, but I don't know how to get around it if you're trying new stuff. Oh well.

 

[jules92207]

Geez I feel like a huge weight has been lifted. And yes, I know mine is super lame in that line up but whatever! I did it!

Mine is the pink champagne and pears. Lame, I know. I don't color or swirl very often.

 

[newbie]

At least yours looks like a spoon swirl! Mine looks stupid sitting there- it doesn't look anything like a spoon swirl and looks totally out of place. Yikes.

 

[jules92207]

Nobody's soap looks stupid but they all look very different, but that is awesome! I didn't expect so much variance. Its really cool how different techniques yield such vastly different results. I am taking that as my lesson from this, for sure!

And your soaps are always awesome newbie!

 

[DWinMadison]

At least yours looks like a spoon swirl! Mine looks stupid sitting there- it doesn't look anything like a spoon swirl and looks totally out of place. Yikes.

Oh, just stop it. I love it. One of the things I like best is that it doesn't look like a traditional spoon swirl. It reminds me of a Celtic knot.

 

[jules92207]

Oh, just stop it. I love it. One of the thinks I like best is that it doesn't look like a traditional spoon swirl. It reminds me of a Celtic knot.

Yes! It does! Its a beautiful soap.

And D, yours does almost look like your avatar! Very cool