Hello everyone!
We're done with Amy's challenges for this year!
I enjoyed these challenges for so many reasons, but the most valuable is that I had a chance to discover some soap artists I hadn't known before. So, thanks Amy for organizing this year's fun for all of us. I believe you enjoyed, too, but yet, you were the one who had to prepare a new video every week, new instructions and afterwards to visit everyone's blog or page and encourage everyone of us.
Let me say first I feel I didn't give my best (though, it's not that I was not trying), but every new batter brings me another risk, I almost never work without surprises, lol.
This week's challenge was something I had tried before (you can see my first 'Leo' soap here), but I can say this one gave me the headache the most. Ok, let's start!
The First batch: "Hey yellow, where are you???"
Ok, this is a nice soap loaded with shea butter and avocado oil! Liquid used- Whey! I think this will be great nourishing bar. But, for this challenge- it's just not what it was supposed to be!
The Second batch: I'm not giving up and rolling my sleeves up again! Now I opted for green, as basic colour and kiwi fragrance. I was considering adding poppy seeds into the base to give it more kiwi look, but gave it up in the last second, thinking it would be maybe too much. Now, I think I should have gone with poppy seeds, it would have been pop. This time I left my piping bags behind and tried pouring with spoons. One teaspoon, the other one was smaller. Let's see what I ended up with
WHAT??? Now, I'm furious! What the heck has happend here?
I think I know. My 'spots' portion were unfragranced and stayed so perfectly smooth and middle-traced all way long. On the other hand, my base portion, was fragranced and was slowly setting up. I think that this thicker, basic portion pressed the thiner leyers underneath and made them spread. By the way, this soap has a lots of ash! But, the ingredients are fab, so much cocoa and shea butter! Whey again for whole liquid amount!
And the Final one: New ride, guys! New colours, new method, sweet almond oil in place of butters and goats milk for liquid . Oooh dear, it soaped fantastically! This time I took two piping bags (ziploc bags,actually) and cut their corners as little, as I could.! Unmoulded, not cut:
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| Don't ask me how I ended up with NO ash on top!!? I have no idea,but I'm glad I did! |
And what I have found inside:
Not bad this time! I still can complain about this one (my spots should have been placed differently), but boy, I must say I am so tired of this leopard design, I'm not going to repeat it soon again! I really need some rest ! I love these colours and no ash on tops. Do you think ash is related to butters amount in the batter? This one is without any, unlikely the previous ones, which contained both cocoa and shea butters and have had so much of ash!
I'm going to take more pics of this one and will update this post later, so if you wanna check it out, you're welcome. Or, have you had enough of my 'leopard spots' for this year?
Thank you for visiting my blog and please leave a comment! Don't be shy to express your thoughts on my first attempts! ...And hope to see you all sooner than next year's challenges!
Take care!
Updated: As I promised earlier, I took some more pictures (I adore soap porn), so here they are:
Состав ('Manmma Leo') / Ingredients: Сапонифицирани масла/ Saponified oils - Маслиново (Sodium olivate), Кокосово (Sodium Cocoate), Палмино (Sodium palmate), Рицинусово (Sodium Castorate), Авокадово (Sodium avocadate), Ши путер (Sodium Shea Butterate), Сурутка (Whey), пигменти (pigments), мирис (fragrance).
Состав ('Papa Leo') / Ingredients: Сапонифицирани масла/ Saponified oils - Маслиново (Sodium olivate), Кокосово (Sodium Cocoate), Палмино (Sodium palmate), Рицинусово (Sodium Castorate), Масло од маслодајна репка (Sodium Canolate), Ши путер (Sodium Shea Butterate), Какао путер (Sodium Cocoa Butterate), Сурутка (Whey), Активен јаглен (activated charcoal),пигменти (pigments), мирис (fragrance).
Состав ('Baby Leo') / Ingredients: Сапонифицирани масла/ Saponified oils - Маслиново (Sodium olivate), Кокосово (Sodium Cocoate), Палмино (Sodium palmate), Рицинусово (Sodium Castorate), Ладно цедено сончогледово (Sodium Sunflowerate), Бадемово (Sodium almondate), Козјо млеко (Goat milk), пигменти (pigments), мирис (fragrance).
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Lol, Maja,it was fun reading your post, but I recognized myself : this challenge was the most difficult for me too! I made 3 batches and stil not really content about the results!
ReplyDeleteBut I find your soaps really good, Maja( maybe we are too demanding, isn't it?): the 1st one is very pretty and even if the 3rd color is not so evident, the spots are very well done!Love the fact that you tried with different colors everytime( insead of me who didn't give up on trying the same colors).
So, congratulations, Maja, I find all your trials very good, really!
Thanks dear Nat,I just saw yours,it's lovely! Itwasfun to read,but the first two batches were driving me crazy, not while I was making them, but when I cut them!
Delete:D This challenge was ok for me and one soap was enough. But I did not try the piping... Elemental Swirls was the one that was too much for me.
ReplyDeleteSoap number 1 and 3 are pretty and it doesn´t matter that the spots are not yellow. The second soap looks like a beautiful landscape.
And the ash... So many soapers have been complaining about it this week. Is spring causing it? ;) I have got only once very nasty ash on one soap that did not contain any butters. It has so much ash that I had to peel several layers of until I could see the original color. Ugly, sure. But it is otherwise my favorite soap bar :)
Omg, if it's spring,what will I do when summer comes? Suppose,I will need to rely on my A/C and keep the soaps right under!Thanks Marika!
DeleteI missed this challenge and am thinking maybe that's okay !! Sounds like everyone had some frustrations. Your attempts may not be exactly what you were looking for, but I think they're beautiful and your ingredients sound amazing. My soaps are always hit or miss - my favorites have been mostly by mistake!! Thanks for sharing ~Suzy
ReplyDeleteYou still have enough time to catch up, Suzy! Why to miss this feeling of being pissed,lol! Just kidding, I hope you will try it and nail it with the very first batch. Just to remind you, some of us, who had already done this techinque before, had a good beginner's luck! So,.... go ahead! And thanks for your nice words!
DeleteI think they all look Lovely!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much,I really appreciate your words!
DeleteAfter doing this challenge and knowing how hard it is (I haven't cut mine yet, but I had an interesting time, for sure!) I think all three soaps are lovely! I do like the pink/black/white the best. I also chose that color combo, just a little different. Nice job!
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to seeing yours,Carol! Thanks for your comment!
DeleteI think they all came out great! I didn't go random enough on mine. I could probably try again, but don't see my using this method too much. I like all the other challenges better. Great blog! Soap is always a surprise until you cut it.
ReplyDeleteThanks Lisa for liking my blog and soaps. I'm glad to hear the first two batches were not a complete failure!
DeleteThey all look great, Maja! In fact, the first one I thought you did on purpose by having the same color inside the spot and out~ and I think it turned out lovely :) I too had the "squashed" spot look on mine, but I really didn't want to do it again haha!
ReplyDeleteThanks Liz, but the yellow in the first soap should have been egg yolk yellow, not creamy yellow. Funny, it was and was so distinctive of the base colour, but somehow, it turned to the same yellow as the base. Other than that, it's a fine looking soap!
DeleteHahaha you are just telling my story with this soap. I made this morning my third try I do hope it will be correct. My second attempt was also with a spoon, but I like your first one!
ReplyDeleteHi,hi, how many of us did this technique more than twice? It's all about getting the batter into the right phase! Looking foerward to seeing yours! I added you on mu blog list,Rama (and everyone else I already hadn't)!
DeleteAll three soaps are lovely and especially the 3rd! Third times the charm as they say. Very pretty pink and black combo! As far as the ash is concerned I do believe heavy on butters and also certain fragrance have something to do with ash along with temperatures. Love your blog!
ReplyDeleteI'd been wanting to make pink soap for a while back, just don't know why did not earlier. I love to see this colour combo in everyone's soap! Thanks,Pam for your lovely words regarding my blog!
DeleteAll three soaps look great, but I so love the pink with black and white. I found this a difficult challenge as well, but you did great!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Eileen so much!
DeleteMy very favorite is your green one. So stunningly beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThanks Robert, it's surprisingly for me to hear that you like that one the best, but I'm glad that someone does!
DeleteWow, Maja...those soap are gorgeous, I especially like the pink and black spotted soap! Regarding the ash, I think it is sometimes related to certain fragrances too.
ReplyDeleteThanks dear, I just sneaked at yours (and be back later to comment on it)! You're probably right and there are so much factors having an impact on the final look of a soap!
DeleteI love how all three came out, even if they weren't as you pictured them! Soda ash is such a tricky beast, temperature, fragrance, colorants, and base oils can all affect it. :) For example, lavender essential oil is prone to soda ash. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Kenna for your words and welcome to my little blog! I just wrote that there were so many factors causing ash, when your comment appeared! Though, I didn't know the lavender e.o. is among them!
DeleteWow, what a great post! You are so determined and look at your final result! Absolutley gorgeous! You should be very proud of yourself. We soapers are a very determined group of people. Perfectionists too! Very interesting to hear your techniques. I have one failed batch and I really need to try this again and I think reading about your experience has helped me. Anyway, love them all!
ReplyDeleteThanks Mills,I'm so glad you have found this post helpfull! The more soaps i'm seeing around,the more I want mine to be perfect. I suppose we all think that way.
DeletePretty :D I like the color combos you used.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jennifer for stopping by and commenting!
DeleteI actually like how the green soap turned out! The pink is really nice and all your tops are wonderful.
ReplyDeleteThanks Cris! Yes,the green is nice looking soap,but it's just not leopard style. I made tops with colours left,not that I had planned them adead.
DeleteIt seems that you had big fun making all those spots:) All three variants are perfect to me! Congratulations on persistency and very great job you did!
ReplyDeleteMastering 'leo' spots,hi,hi! Oh,dear Goca, it was not such a fun while I was cutting first two batches. They were supposed to be different in my mind.
DeleteI love all your leopard spot soaps. You really did take it to the nth degree, but glad you had fun doing it. It's a great technique :)
ReplyDeleteOh,thank you so much for your words. Yes, it's a beautiful technique,you just need to nail it! If not first time,then...well, keep trying will help,lol!
DeleteLove love love the topping on the last one!! xo Jen
ReplyDeleteThanks Jan and welcome to my blog!
DeleteAll three batches are beautiful, Maja, but I especially like the pink and black soap! Great job!
ReplyDeleteThanks Jenny,I also like that one the most. I don't know why I didn't start with those colours,had been wanting pinky soap for a long time
DeleteAwesome soaps!! So glad you persevered with this one! :) Thanks for sharing your story!
ReplyDeleteWell,you challenged me,I had to do my best,lol! Looking forward to the next ones! Thanks!
DeleteBeautiful leopard spots with #1 and #3. Even though the spots are less defined, I really love the green tones of #2 - it's quite a lovely bar of soap!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much,Ann!
DeleteThe tops are GORGEOUS on these soaps - the spots on #3 are just as wonderful and even if they aren't what you wanted you have to admit the colors on #2 are really pretty! I would say this was a win all around for you!
ReplyDeleteThanks,NadaLottaRanch! My story is far less intersting than yours,hi,hi! With the first batch I lost the yellow,but got fine spots, with the second one, the colours were fine,but I disliked the spots. Well, finally the third one turned out like it was meant to be!
DeleteBoy oh boy, I just love all of them Maja! I really love purple and yellow, the colours just go so well togehter. I think the poppy seeds in your 2nd batch would have looked fantastic with the kiwi fragrance and the green colours are perfect for it. The pink and the black together look stunning and your spots are great,I really love the way you've done the top. I'm a bit like you, I don't think I'll be doing these spots again any time soon lol.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jan for your comment! I thought it might be too much to add poppy seeds along with leopard spotted look. But,if I had known it wouldn't look leopardy,I would have gone with poppy,lol!
DeleteAnyway, this pink seems to be so eye-catching,so I might make new soap with the same colour pattern and different design!