Soap Challenge: The Drop Swirl

Hi there....it's is time again for a new Soap Challenge from Amy warden at Greatcakes Soapworks.  This month, the technique is the Drop Swirl.  I had done a few drop swirls before the challenge, but it was good to see a new video, and take on how to do it.  This challenge has renewed my love of the Drop swirl....you get so many cool designs from it.  I did quite a few drop swirls in the lead up to reveal day, and here are  the two that I had the most trouble choosing between!  Will let you know at the end of the post which one I have chosen to enter!

First one I did was with the fragrance Sweet Orange and Chili Pepper.  Oh how I love this fragrance, and it plays quite nicely too.  I chose Red, Orange, Yellow and White as my colours.  I used micas to achieve the colours.  Here it is.  I got a lot of comments about this soap on my facebook page...people saw something in the soap...can you see it?  :)

Next I decided to do a rainbow drop swirl.  I regularly make a Rainbow Soap using the tiger stripe method, which I sell as  fundraiser soap for Autism awareness.  So I decided to change the design for a one off time, and do it Drop Swirl style.  I am pretty stoked with how it turned out, and I think it will be a bit of a winner with my regular customers.

Even writing this post I was still undecided as to which one to enter!  Wish I could do both!!  Anyway, I flipped a coin and the rainbow soap won, so I guess that one is my entry!  Hope you all like it!  Can't wait to see what everyone else has come up with.  I love these Challenges, and can't wait for the next one  :)
Bye everyone
Dianne  :)

Soap Challenge : Embeds

Hello everyone!  Time again for another soap challenge from Greatcakes Soapworks.  I always have so much fun doing these challenges, and this month's challenge of "Embeds" was no different.  I have done embed soaps before, but decided to give this challenge a go anyway.

I made 2 soaps in the end.  One with balls, and one with a long embed.

For the ball embed soap. I made several different colored soaps, and made some balls of singular colors, and some balls that were several different colors.  I then rolled some in gold mica, and some in black mica.  The fragrance I chose for this was "Glitter" from NG.  Supposedly it was meant to rice, but I added my fragrance to the oils before the lye mix, and it behaved perfectly!  Anyway it smells absolutely gorgeous!  Here is the finished soap.

I have called this one Glitter Balls!

My next soap I made was with a fragrance called Stormy Nights.  I had an image in my head of what I wanted this soap to look like.  I have a star embed tube mold, so I filled this with white soap and waited for a few days before I could unmold it.  Then I mad some more soap, split it into 3 parts, and colored one part with Activated Charcoal, one part with Blue Ultra Marine, and one part with Titanium dioxide.  I then mixed several different colors together using these colors, to hopefully represent a stormy night sky, and layered them into the mold.  Here is what I did with the top.  At Christmas time I made a soap that I put mica dots down one side and turned them into stars using a skewer.  This time I covered the whole top in gold mica dots  :)

And then began the anxious wait to unmold.  I had used a silicone mold, so I knew it would be a few days before I could get it out!  Finally I was able to push it out, and here is Stormy Nights....pretty pleased with how it turned out.

Well that's it for another Challenge.  I decided to enter Stormy Nights this month.  Thanks Amy for yet another challenge and good luck everyone.....this was fun.

See you next time

Dianne  :)

Soap Challenge: Taiwan Swirl

Well, it is Soap Challenge time again!  I can honestly say, this is the first one that almost had me beat!  I made two attempts, and I can say, that if the second attempt had not been acceptable I don't think I would have tried it again!

My first attempt was a bit of a disaster.  My batter thickened up way too much, and I didn't think that any sort of pattern would show up at all.  It did, but only just!  This one was scented with a mixture of strawberry and Raspberry, and the brown is Chocolate Fragrance....smells a bit yummy!

So then on to my second attempt!  Changed my recipe, and chose to use an Essential Oil blend this time of Lime, sweet Orange, Litsea Cubea, Tea Tree, and a smidge of Lemon Eucalyptus.....wow...smells good!  Chose my colours, orange and green and used micas, so I wouldn't have to blend them too much to get them to mix in.

Next I added the whitish base to the mold, and then poured in the two colours on either side, trying to get them to go to the bottom.  I used a slightly thicker skewer this time, and did my s curves across, and then down the mould.

Time for the anxious nail-biting two days before I could un-mould and cut it!  And I was pleasantly surprised!  Not great, but not too bad!  So here is "Invigorating" in all its glory!

Thanks for reading! Thanks Amy for yet another Challenge that has made me step out of my comfort zone, and good luck everyone  :)
Bye
Dianne   :)

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  :)