February Soap Challenge Club!

This month we were tasked to use either CP or HP as embeds in CP soap.  I had so very many ideas for this challenge!  Some that I will eventually make, but would take literally 6-7 days in the workshop to pull off, time I just didn't have right now.  My design this month was fairly simple, yet bold.  I think you folks will all agree!  I call this little masterpiece "Life".  You have your black and white cookie cutter, everyday life, then you have the funky fun party parts.  And if you look closely the "party balls" each have a golden ring to signify those special events in our lives... for me the rings are for: birthday, family, graduation from University, wedding/engagement, and a special birthstone ring that belonged to my Nanny.  The soap turned out exactly how I had planned, and I absolutely love it.

Equilibrium in "Life" and soap!

Picture of the final bars (also at the end of the video):

Next up: the valentine's day and BB soap swap videos!  They are both up on the YouTube channel ("Valentine's Flowers", and "Pineapple Salsa") but I will have accompanying posts.  One here, and one on the Facebook page!

Cut Soaps!

The soaps are finally cut and cleaned up! 3 of the batches turned out perfectly, the fourth not so much :(  Without further ado, the pictures!

First up we have 'Sweet Dusk':

Turned out super nice, apart from some drag lines caused by the cranberry seeds.  Love how it turned out!

Next up is 'Pineapple Salsa':

LOVE how this turned out!  And it smells a-maz-ing!  Turns out I'd missed my placing with the soap balls by around 3mm!  So I had to cut them individually.  There will be a making video for this once it finishes uploading. [valentines soap video uploading too!]

Next up, 'Hyper' remake:

Probably one of my favorite soaps to make, so bright and colourful!  Absolutely in love with how this one turned out!  Hooray!

Finally we have 'Highland Rainstorm', which did NOT work well:

Smells awesome, colours turned out just right... but what the heck are all of those flecks?!  Its not lye, or stearic acid, or oil pockets.  I've no idea what caused them :(  Hubby will give them a try once they're cured and see how they are.  If they're good then they will be given away.

In other news:  hoping to procure some insurance soon, so I can sell soap to more folks!  This means building up a larger stock of soap!  So I'll be accepting requests/suggestions for future batches!  Leave me a comment with what you'd like me to make!  <3

In the workshop with a guest!

Today I showed my new friend Luanne how to make CP soap!  In just a few hours we blasted out SEVEN batches!  Luanne did a great job, and learned super quickly *cheers*, her soaps showed her: gel phase, discolouration, and acceleration.  What a great start, right?  Wish I'd had someone with me when I first encountered those three!  Looking forward to the next time we get together for some soapy (or maybe candle, or scrapbooking) adventures!  Thanks for the great day Luanne!

I will post pictures of Luanne's soaps after I ok it with her first!

As for my four batches... I have pictures of three of them.  The fourth is in a vertical mold and I can't really snap a picture of it!

The first batch I did today was to try out Brambleberry's "Moonlight Pomegranate" fragrance which I got as a free sample at some point.  It is very sweet and fruity with some earthy undertones (I definitely smell musk and sandalwood in there).  In this one I used pink kaolin clay, and goats milk powder.  I did a spoon swirl with dark purple and black.  The base is a dusty rose shade with cranberry seeds.  Hoping this one turns out nicely, it is surely an accelerator!  I call it "Sweet Dusk":

[I wish I knew why blogger changes the orientation of my pictures!  GRRR!]

The second soap I made today is one for the Brambleberry soap swap.  I used pineapple cilantro fragrance oil, and named it "Pineapple Salsa".  This batch has yellow soap on top and on the bottom, with an in the pot swirl of green and white in the middle.  The balls on top are LCP MP scented with ginger ale and coloured with 24k gold mica.  LOVE this one!  Smells amazing and came out just right!  Can't wait to cut it and see how the inside looks!

The third soap I made today is in the vertical mold and I can't get a good picture from it (the top is messy, but the inside should be nice!).  This one is two shades of grey based blue-green, and is scented with BB's kentish rain.  I call it "Highland Rainstorm".  Can't wait to unmold it and see if it is full of air bubbles, this fragrance REALLY moved for me.

The last batch I made today is a remake of my "Kaleidosoap" or "Hyper", its my version of a rainbow soap.  Scented with BB's energy and coloured with 6 bright pigments/micas.  This time I did it as an ITP swirl pouring pink, purple, orange, blue and green into a yellow base.  I think it looks pretty darned nice!  I topped it with a few rainbow jojoba beads also from BB.

There will be a video posted probably next week of my valentines soap, and also one of the making and cutting of Pineapple Salsa!

Thanks folks! <3