Friday, November 15, 2013

Soap Challenge Club - Squeeze Bottle Designs

Hi Dynamos!  I enrolled in the Soap Challenge Club this month over at Great Cakes Soapworks.  Amy was teaching how to do squeeze bottle designs in your soap this month and I was desperate to know how to do it, since my previous attempt to figure it out on my own had proven disastrous.  Okay, perhaps disastrous is a little dramatic, but it sure was ugly as all get out.

Anyway, as part of the "class" you have to post pictures of your finished soap and write a little about your experience.  So, crochet goddesses, if this doesn't interest you, I'll not be offended if you just skip to the next blog in your feed.  But for those of you who want to know a little more about the weirdness I've been up to, please join us and follow along!

My entry to the Great Cakes Soapworks Soap Club Challenge!  I am calling this Fresh Snowflakes.
This was my first attempt, post video lesson, with the squeeze bottle technique.  I had picked a scent I'd never used before, Fresh Snow from Bramble Berry, and I found it very easy to work with.  The scent is supposed to evoke the calm and peace that follows a snowfall, and I wanted to use a snowflake to really drive that feeling home.


Of course, being me, one soap was not enough.  I drew some skull and crossbones and made a pirate soap.  I used Bay Rum from Bramble Berry to scent it, and as I poured the FO (fragrance oil) into the raw soap batter it turned the batter yellow!  I almost had a heart attack (since, much like the Fresh Snow, I had never used this FO before.  Why do I torture myself this way?! LOL!)  I added a big spoonful of Titanium Dioxide (TD) to the batter, which didn't quite mix in and left it a little spotty.  I think that I got lucky, since the TD spots look really cool with the skulls.  And I am very gratified to see that the FO didn't cause my soap to turn brown, or even stay yellow.  It's a bony cream color, perfect for scrubbing pirate booties.


My MIL is a huge fan of Marimekko, and this technique lent itself beautifully to creating designs inspired by that label.  I would really like to give this one another try, I would love for the orange centers of the flowers to pop a little more, and it would have been cool if I could have kept the pink and red from bleeding into each other.  But, I'm pretty pleased overall with how it turned out, since working with a ketchup-bottle full of lye soap isn't the easiest way to paint.  LOL!!!

I very much appreciate how supportive all of you have been with my new endeavors.  Does anyone want some soap?  I can vouch for it, it's awesome!  I'll mail out soap packages to 3 lucky Dynamos.  Leave a comment with your email address, and I'll do a random drawing on Monday, November 18th to decide the winners!

xoxo

19 comments:

  1. I would love to try your soaps! They look simple amazing, my fav is the snowflake one! Good Job!! Be proud of yourself and stand tall :) That´s amazing!
    drewke.erika@gmail.com
    /Erika

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  2. I would love to try them, I've been thinking of making them myself just haven't built up the courage yet.
    apriljacobson 2000@yahoo.com

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  3. We love your snowflake design! Nice crisp lines! We'd love to try your soap but if we win we'll swap a couple of our bars with you!
    jessica {at} rusticrelevance {dot} com

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  4. I've loved seeing your endeavors! I've always wanted to learn to how to make soap, & I'm living vicariously through you. :-)
    My email address is: toya_ellis2004@yahoo.com
    Thanks for doing this giveaway!!! :-D

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  5. Me too, me too! My email address is pbilenski4786@comcast.net and I would love to try one of your soaps.

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  6. I would LOVE to win some of your soap!!!!!

    susan.coletta@hotmail.com

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  7. Me too! Love the pirate and snowflakes the best. My grandkids would love to find those in theit stockings.

    dalbax2@aol.com

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  8. How appropriate the snowflake soap is since it snowed here a couple of days ago! I would love to try one of them. Thanks for the chance.

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  9. I'd love a free soap :) And even though I don't make soap myself, I enjoy reading about your soap-creating adventures. Thanks for sharing :)

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  10. I'm not a soap maker, but I love to look at it...and use it! I love the flower soap you did!! 10nicenails@gmail.com

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  11. Great job on all 3! All so unique and different! I think you're on a roll!

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  12. I would love some of your soap! But you're probably not planning on mailing to the Netherlands, right? Nevertheless, awesome job!
    (susiewan5@gmail.com Just in case...)

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  13. Love the snowflakes! Stacey
    savadas@juno.com

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  14. Oh, Jaime! I received my soaps in the mail and they are WONDERFUL!!!!!!! Thank you so much. I dint know which one to try first. ;)

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