Soap Challenge : Column Pour

Hi there!  Well it's the silly season, and I wasn't sure I would have time to do this month's challenge from Great Cakes Soapworks, but I made time!!  I had tried the column pour on one occasion before this challenge, and it was a total disaster!  So I was pretty excited to see this as the challenge soap for this month.  I will admit, my first attempt was not so great, mixture got really thick by the end, and it got really bad glycerin rivers......I had to try again.

This is where I tell you that I totally forgot to take during photos of the process!  I chose an Essential Oil blend of Lavender, Lime and Lemon.  With this blend I was able to choose the colors of purple, yellow and green.  I chose a recipe with Coconut, Palm, Olive and Sunflower Oils, and it stayed a nice fluid consistency the whole pour!  For my colors I used micas, Cosmo Martini, Lemon and Shamrock Green.  Covered one of the kid's blocks in plastic and placed it it the mold.  Here it is after the skewer pull through....

I was pretty pleased with how it looked at this stage, crossed my fingers, and put it to bed for a few days while we went away for the weekend!  Then came the unmolding and the cutting, and I was pleasantly surprised!  The bars look really quite good, all different, and the colors look good together!  Here are a few photos of the cut bars.....

I had so much fun doing this technique, and I think I would do it again, now I have a proper slab mold.  Thanks Amy for putting on the challenge.....had a ball!  Can't wait to see everyone else's creations, and have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS everybody!  Catch you all in 2014.
Bye for now
Dianne  :)

Dandelion Zebra Swirl Soap Challenge

Hi there......another soap challenge is over and done with!  This month for the Greatcakes Soapworks Challenge, we had to create a soap with what is called the dandelion zebra swirl, which is named after the very talented soaper Vinvela Ebony and explained on her blog Dandelion SeiFee.

I used a slow moving recipe, but an unknown fragrance (silly, I know!), a fragrance called Kismet.  The colours I chose were a pale yellow for the base colour, with black (activated charcoal), white (titanium dioxide), purple (cosmo martini mica) and orange (orange heaven mica).

With the colours all mixed, and the flexible cutting mat in the mold it was going pretty well, but I did notice that my soap batter did get quite thick by the end.  But I kept going, and the end result is not too bad.  Did a pretty swirl on top, and put it to bed.

So the end result of the dandelion zebra swirl......quite enjoyed doing it, and quite like the effect.  

I did do another one....this time with Black Raspberry Vanilla Fragrance, and all micas as the colours, so I didn't have to stick blend any of the colours in.  this time it was almost too fluid!  But the end result was quite nice as well...I just like the colours of my first one better!

So....that is it for another challenge.  Thanks once again to Amy Warden for organizing these challenges, and for everyone who participates....I just love seeing the amazing talent of all of you.

Until next time
Bye
Dianne  :)

Soap Challenge #4 : Multi-coloured Gradient Soap

Hi everyone.  It's that time of the month again, where we get to show everyone how we have done in the soap challenge from Greatcakes Soapworks and Amy Warden.

This month the challenge was to create a Multi-coloured gradient soap. The easiest way to describe this technique, is taking three colours and creating seven layers of soap, mixing them in between, so that the colours blend into each other. Now this might seem easier then it is!  I can't tell you how many times I watched the video, and read and re-read the notes, trying to get my head around the quantities for each colour!  In the end I winged it!  And I had also decided, that no matter what this soap turned out like, that I was not going to attempt another one!  This was it!!

The first step of this challenge was to pick three colours that are next to each other on the colour wheel....or you could choose the primary colours of yellow, red and blue.

After much deliberation....and trying to decide what colours would go with the fragrances I had in the cupboard, I decided to go with the primary colours.  I also chose a fragrance oil from Bramble Berry called Coconut Citrus Sorbet.  I have previously used this FO to make a soap called "Island Sunset" .  This soap is a white base with blue, yellow and pink swirls in it.  But I thought I could create a "sunset" look with the gradient, soap.....so for a limited number of soaps, "Island Sunset" now has a new look!!

So I got all my equipment together and mixed my soap batter, and divided it into the required quantities needed for the different colours.

Here are my colours....blue, yellow and red.

Then came the confusing layering bit.  Needless to say there are no photos of this stage of the process, as i needed to concentrate too much on what I was doing.  At the end, I thought the top looked a little plain, so I decided to do a gold mica swirl on top!

And after about 24 hours I was able to cut my soap.  I was pleasantly surprised!  It looked OK, a little wonky in places, and the layers are uneven and curved, but all in all I am quite pleased with how it turned out.  So here it is ......"Island Sunset".....the water, the sand and the sunset sky  :)

Until next time......
Bye
Dianne

Soap Crafting - My prize

Hi there.  I am a bit excited!  I received my prize for winning the Greatcakes Soapworks Soap Challenge last month.  I would like to thank Amy Warden for putting these challenges on for all of us Soap makers.  For me it is about trying new techniques, and pushing myself out of my comfort zone.  I would also like to thank Anne - Marie Faiola from Bramble Berry for providing the prize.

There are quite a few techniques in the book that I can't wait to try.....and to help me do this I have finally bought myself a slab mold, with dividers!  Can't wait for it to turn up!
Until next time
Bye Bye
Dianne  :)

Soap Challenge #3.......The "HollySwirl"

Well, it's that time of the month again!  Soap Challenge time courtesy of Amy Warden and Greatcakes Soapworks.

This month the challenge was to recreate the "Holly Swirl", so named after a swirl that Holly from Missouri River Soaps did in one of her You-tube videos.

I will admit I tried this 3 times!  The first one was not too bad, but suffered badly from glycerin rivers.  the second one was not too bad either, it's just that the colours did not pop enough to see the inner swirl.

My last try, I used Black Raspberry Vanilla Fragrance from Bramble berry.  I decided to use a red base colour and black and white for the inner swirl.  I chose a new recipe that I have been working on, that is slow to trace, and it worked a treat!  I used Ruby Red Mica  for the red colour and Activated Charcoal for the black and Titanium Dioxide for the White.  I poured the white and the black soap mix into another jug and did a bit of a swirl.  then I poured the red base mix into the mould.  From a height I poured the black/white soap into the mould, and then changed heights until all of it was in the mould. I forgot to take photos of this process!!  Ooooops!  I then did a bit of a swirl on top, sprayed with alcohol, and put it to bed.

Next day I cut it and got the best surprise!  It looked good!! So here is the final photos of my "Holly Swirl", scented with BRV (love that smell!).

Thanks for looking!  Until next time....
Bye Bye
Dianne  :)

Josh's Rainbow.......Dexter's Rainbow.....the story behind my latest soap...

Hi there!  Been a while between posts!  I would just like to tell you all about a little project I have begun working on.
 In my extended family we have 2 children who have Autism.  I have watched these two families cope with this for a number of years, and often wondered how I would have coped had it of been me.  About a month ago I got to thinking....what if I make a soap specifically to try and raise a bit of money for Autism Awareness.   I had decided while I was lying in bed thinking about it that it had to be a Rainbow Soap.  My next step was to contact both families and find out if  they thought it was a good idea, and also if I could use their sons' names in the name of the soap.  Luckily enough for me they both thought it was a fantastic idea!
My next step was to try and formulate a recipe that would be slow moving enough for me to work with the 6 colours for the rainbow.  As my normal soap recipe can sometimes move a bit quickly on me, I had to think of something else!  I devised a good one that is working so far for me!  I also had to find fragrances that would not discolour or accelerate trace on me.....Energy and Kumquat from Brambleberry were perfect...and can I just say they smell divine!
My plan is to sell the soap and donate $1 from every bar sold to an Autism Charity.....so far the response has been awesome, and I had to make another bigger batch today!  Hopefully I can make a reasonable amount of money for Autism Awareness.....I guess it comes down to how much rainbow soap I can make!!
So here is the first batch of Josh's Rainbow  and Dexter's Rainbow (I will alternate the names, if you know what I mean)!

The top of the first batch, scented with Kumquat Fragrance Oil.

This is how it turned out....used micas for all of the colours.

And the top of the second batch I just made.....this one is scented with Energy Fragrance Oil.

So that's it for now.....hopefully I will be able to donate heaps of money to this worthy cause.

See you all later  :)

The Mantra Swirl - Soap Making Challenge Club

Well it's that time of the month again....time for another of Amy Warden's Soap Making Challenge Club challenges!  This month we had to try the Mantra Swirl.  We could choose to do either the Original Mantra, or the Modified Mantra.  I chose the Modified Mantra, so I wouldn't have to try and cut my soap differently!!  Yes, that is pretty much the only reason!

I chose Lavender and Spearmint Essential Oils to scent my soap.  I have wanted to do this combination for a while, and this seemed the perfect time to try it out, as I thought the colour combination of Purple, White and Green would look nice in the Mantra Swirl.

So on the day, I made some dividers for my mould, and some nifty divider holders, as I would not have any help with the pouring of the soap. I also taped a chopstick to my hanger to make it a bit "wider".  It all went pretty smoothly, I got to the emulsion stage and divided out my colours, then started to pour them into the mould.......this part was quite tricky, even with the nifty divider holders!!

See my divider holders!  I kept them in place with rubber bands....worked fairly well.

This was after the pour....it is quite messy, I had soap everywhere, as well as in the mould!  Luckily enough, most of it ended up where it was meant to be!

This is how it looked after I did the internal Hanger Swirl, and the the Mantra Swirl with the chopstick on the surface.  At this stage I was extremely pleased with my effort!  Then I put it to bed and left it for the night.  During that time I think it may have overheated a bit, because when I cut the bars the next day, inside looked a bit weird!, but it still looks fairly cool and I am still pleased with my effort!

So that is my Lavender Mint Mantra Swirl.  This was another awesome experience.  I would like to thank Amy for doing these challenges.  They have made me try new techniques, that I would probably not have tried, as I would have put them in the "too hard basket".  So THANK YOU Amy, and I hope you like it!!  Hopefully I can participate in the next one!

Have a nice day...
Dianne   :)