16. prosince 2015

Soap Challenge Club (December 2015 entry)



Hello friends,

This is my first time at Soap Challenge Club and (I counted) my first time:
As for month technique:
As for soap making in common:
  • using  frangipani and litsea cubeba essential oils in CP soap
  • using layers soap technique (I absolutely didn’t know how to do it and has no time to read and watch… BIG mistake)))))
  • using slab mold and cutting slabmolded soap
  • doing the soap with the smallest amount of oils (100 g)
  • doing one soap for two days
  • experimenting with discount water technique trying to avoid soda ash
Well, kind of a soap virgin)))))))))


Inspiration

I was inspired by my own bath Moroccan tiles and when I first read Mrs. Clara Lindberg’s post at her blog I was thinking about my tiles which I adore.. as many Moroccan things.. it was in November and I thought that may be.... someday... I would do it. Then I found out about Soap Challenge Club and as a beginner I decided to take part in next one whatever it would be and have kind of a soap school. The task was… Impression Mats, so I smiled and just take it and started to think how to do it.

My Moroccan tiles:



I’ve done 4 slab molded CP soaps, unfortunately none of them looked like I’ve planned. My goal was to try both mat techniques and having 2 color layers with mica between them.

I have very few pictures of how I made soaps themselves, but have a lot of final product) Enjoy watching!

The first one soap and my entry at December Soap Challenge Club.

 


I’ve called it Sultan’s night and I was thinking about my ‘almost husband’ while creating it. He likes black soap, unusual look and a lot of coconut oil in it.

 


 I wanted to try dry mica technique first.



I used coconut, olive, palm and castor oils and babassu butter. Fragrance: Myrrh, lavender and juniperus essential oils. Discount water 1.7:1.
Mistakes: pouring at very thick trace, so no even layers.



 


Second soap was created for me)) I’ve called it Scheherazade.

I used coconut, olive, rice bran, castor, avocado oils and cocoa butter. Also some 2% of jojoba wax to dissolve plumeria alba essential oil. Fragrance: plumeria alba (absolute), lavender and sweet orange essential oil. 1% of liquid silk. Water 2:1.



Nice layers, but separated batter. I thought that that soap is lost and took the mat away too early, the soap was warm and mica partially left on the mat… Finally soap is ok, almost no sign of separation.. that’s a pity I took the mat off and cut it so early..

 

Lessons learned from this soap:
  • be patient!
  • if you don’t have dividers don’t make salt or hard oils soap that you have to cut warm, there is a big chance mica would not stay on soap
  • dissolve absolutes really good
  • be patient!
  • Really Be Patient!


The third soap. 100% coconut oil with 20% superfat. 0.5% of liquid silk. Water 1.5:1. I don’t even want to name it)))))))))) “A total disaster” would be a good one))))))).


Lessons learned:
  • no blend mixing of all the batter…. Very very thick trace of 2 part while the first one was liquid… ehhhh, even don’t want to remember it)))))))
  • color mica is not the right choice for the mat technique??? I want to think that somebody managed to make really nice color mica soap


The last one soap.. I’ve called it Moroccan dream and it was the SOAP I wanted to do when I first heard of Lace technique.



It did not turned out how I wanted it to be… But I’m on my way to do it. It was just the first step.
I used: olive, coconut and palm oils. Some kaolin. Fragrance: litsea cubeba, lavender and tea tree essential oils. Water 1.5:1.


I have to do another one silicon mat for this soap (with those color stars). I made soap for mat at one day (one hour of jewelry work) and the soap itself next day.



I worked with knife to make the mat clean for pouring the soap (another one hour and a half of jewelry work)))).


Unfortunately soap gelled partially and it doesn’t have the color I wanted it to have.. I had to use full water recipe. Also I had a problem with mica… As I’ve poured the first layer and put mica on it and than waited for the layer to be stable, some oil appeared on the surface and I god kind of gold rivers on it… So when I poured the white layer mica with oil were mixing with it… Does anybody have an idea what I did wrong? Please leave a comment.




I decided to enter with Sultan's night although my heart is with Moroccan dream)))



I’m very excited about the results others are having because something tells me that this challenge will bring us a lot of new information. So very much want to see other works and attempts. Very good luck and fun to everybody 197 of us from all over the world.

And Marry Christmas to you all)))




P.S.

Working with pourable silicon.
I liked working with silicon and read a lot of interesting information. I’ve made 4 mats, and always next one was worse than the previous one)))) So I lost my experience))))
I used OOMOO 3D (1 to 1 by volume).
Lessons learned:
Not all silicon molds are the same. I tried testing if I could take the mat off the silicon soap mold. And had no problem with oval molds…





But slab mold ended like this:


I used tape to prevent the damage next time… it worked not very well, finally I used Vaseline. And was really good.



Remember Scheherazade? There was mica on the silicon mat left… I tried to wash it away and used kitchen sponge … REALLY big mistake, the surface is damaged completely. Don’t do it.
It is important to pour silicon at one place or to pour it on the silicon that had been already poured to prevent air bubbles.

18 komentářů:

  1. This is such good information, and your soaps all look amazing to me! So many firsts for you, and you handled it like a champ!! Thank you for sharing your soaps and all the things that worked and those that didn't. The Sultan's Night soap is so beautiful, and your idea for the Moroccan Dream is also amazing!!

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    1. Amy, it's nice to see you here)) Thank you very much for your reaction and those good words. I tried to write as much as could in my pour English)) because sometimes I search for informaion long long time and foun very little. I wanted it to be informative and may be somebody wouldn't do same mistakes as I did. I also planned to write about how I did 3D model, but have so little time, I hope I will do it in a week or so)))

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  2. Nejen, What beautiful soaps! I can see why The Moroccan Dream was your favorite, but what a lovely imagination for color and design you have. Great Job!

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    1. Eva, thank you very much for your comment. I hope someday I will do that soap I always wanted to do))

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  3. Your first entry in the Soap Challenge Club was a complete success! Congratulations, it turned out fabulous! Thank you for sharing all your experiences. I also used the Oomoo 30 and really liked it but wasted a lot of it before I got it right! Great job!

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    1. Hi, Debi, thank you very much for your comment. I hope I really did my best to create my Morrocan Dream))) I want to try other types of silikon next time, I didn't like, that it dmages so easily, but Is uppose that all that pourable things would be the same. I did 4 mats and had almost all silicon gone, but wasn't ok with them unfortunately

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  4. I love your Moroccan Dream, and your shahrzad reference, it is one of my favorite musical compositions. I listened to it this morning while I was looking at these breathtaking soaps!

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    1. Hi, Sara, thank you very much for those words. A friend of mine thinks that Dream must be in Challenge)

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  5. They all looked great. And you obviously put in so much effort looking for The One. My heart was also with another I had made but thought the one I entered was more of what was expected.
    Great Job. Beautiful soaps <3

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  6. Thank you, unknown, I didn't even want to cut them and my almost husband wanted to wash with the whole batch)))

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  7. You've been a busy bee for this challenge ;-) All your soaps are lovely. Great choice for the entry, although I've biased in favour of the Moroccan Dream. It reminds me of the tiles so commonly used in the southern region (Andalucia) of my country of birth: Spain, where the Moors had such a great influence a few hundred years ago and left a legacy that is still felt today.

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    1. Hi, Anna, thank you for your comment and being here)) Yes, I was quite busy))) Thanks to my daugther who was sleeping at night (I work nights maily because of her) and my almost husband who helped me a lot not only by listening all those things about soap)))) I love Spain and mainly its architecture and I was thinking of making my bath Spanish style as well))) I hope to make next batch of Morrocan Dream perfect)

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  8. Very nice soap. Love your inspiration, that's what I like about the soap challenge, love to see the creativity from each one. Your soap looks great!

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    1. Hello, Como Antanio. Thank you for your comment and good words. I like that spirit too and I was even more excited about results of other soapmakers then I was at the very begining about the challenge itself.

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  9. All of your soaps turned out beautiful! I love that your inspiration was your tiles, and the Moroccan dream soap certainly followed through with that theme! I also really liked the way the layers in the Sultan's dream turned out. Even though you were going for straight layers, I think the way they came out compliments perfectly the masculine feel of that soap!

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    1. Thank you very much Penny. I was thinking for a few days how to make my mat and model as my tiles are so completely even)))so I could not use them as a model.
      As for the layers, I like them too, I tried to make something nice instead of straight layers)) but I did not like the color the same bronze mica I used for the top and bottom gave me for the second part of the soap.

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  10. I think all your soaps are absolutely gorgeous. They are so stylish! Moroccan dream is incredibly beautiful. Congratulations!

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    1. Madame Propre, thank you very much for visitin and your positive reaction. Yes Moroccan dream is a dream soap))) thank you.

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