Not what I hoped

but then again isn't that often the case? But for having to take a fast plan B that had not been thought through, it's not too bad. The scent is heavenly, a mix of Plumeria and hardwood musk that was shared with me, which accelerates dreadfully (except when you want it to.) The person will never believe me.

Getting close, I think, to its ultimate color:

I used CS's Fruit Slices and BB's Champagne in a thickening batter last night and worked quickly because I thought I'd get shorted on time. It does not behoove one to assume a thick batter will continue on its trajectory. I stirred up 5 colors and poured and swirled- I really liked it. When I checked on it later, I became suspicious of its glossy glass-like surface and yes, oil on top. Not total separation but enough to completely annoy me when I realized that the FO's had reversed trace to the point of a bit of separation and I didn't pay attention because my mind was racing the clock. That batter was bordering on heavy trace when I added the scent and it never occurred to me that it would reverse trace that far. Now I'll probably end up with that funky texture of soap from pouring too thin. Damn you, soap, for giving me the ultimate working time and not smacking me upside the head to let me know!!!

I have an idea for a soap today and I will capitalize on my mistake from yesterday. Fingers crossed.

24 hours

At least I lasted a little longer than that. Kitchen is in detonation mode and my soap is not going as I expected so I am in the middle of a detour. How is it that an accelerating FO will not accelerate when you want it to? Do I have mystic powers over Plumeria that allow my sweetly scented batter to flow for minutes and minutes and finally defeat me, when I want it to set ASAP? It won't happen next time when I have something elaborate planned, I can guarantee it. Devilish little floral.

Over the last 24 hours, my Spinal Swirl has gained a healthy tan, or perhaps really a melanoma-inducing dark deep enough to engender crippling envy in hard core sun buffs. Even though the house has been aired of bleach fumes, I still like it. Ha! Of course, I amused myself as a child with found medical texts, staring at chancres and tumors, so my tastes run to the eclectic.

My house is clean, so now I am obligated to sit in it for a day or two without touching anything so it lasts a little bit. I can destroy a kitchen with lightning speed, faster if I'm soaping, so I've had to comfort myself with inspecting my avoidance batches from yesterday. One is not even worth taking pictures of; it's a swirl which is attractive enough but has little to distinguish it from the crowd, like a frat boy in khakis and a blue blazer crowding a street corner with 20 other khaki-clad blue blazered boys, just in slightly varying sizes. Meh.

My Spinal Swirl and I have advanced in our relationship. I wasn't entirely able to see past its oddity yesterday but after unmolding it and taking a look at the back, I am taking a rather ridiculous amount of delight in it. I'm not even certain why I am, if I'm truthful, which I'm not always but am now. It feels a bit like a sin to enjoy one's own soap in such a way, like I'm prideful but that is not the feeling in it, and seriously, getting a kick out of a soap can't possibly qualify as a Seven Deadly, can it? I can't explain why it has caught my eye or what I see in it. It will continue to morph, or at least it had better, to a nice medium brown because the brownish yellow of jaundiced pee it has right now cannot continue. It is true love, you see, when I can enjoy it despite its sickly parchment tone next to the delicate pink of healthy child cheeks. Tomorrow this may all pass, as the fumes of cleaning solutions clear.

I just realized that I made three soaps yesterday. It took me a moment to mentally locate #3, which is on top of the fridge, keeping a low profile and trying hard to not look cluttery. It wasn't a terribly exciting soap either but hopefully the colors will start to pop and it will be able to hold its own. They can't help it if they are wallflowers. I made them so.

A bit of a boring soap week

Nothing much stellar came out of the soap pot this week, I must say. Trying too hard, or perhaps not trying nearly hard enough but it's difficult to say. I did manage to make myself laugh with this soap, which I call the Spinal Swirl, because it looks like a spinal column to me. I tell you, the potential seemed there and for Halloween, this could be cool using black and one of those glow in the dark pigments but on its own, I'm uncertain. It will discolor except for the pink. I used Mad Oils Vanilla Milk, which I like quite a lot. If you turned this upside down, it could look like a chorus line of people with their one leg out and their arm raised. Maybe. If you're on shrooms.

In preparation for an upcoming challenge, I was messing around with Chocolate and Coffee FO's and poured myself a Mocha Mountain. The bottom should get darker but never as dark as the top. I'm thoroughly enjoying watching this one morph.

This looks boring but I do love end pieces because the patterns get a little funky and interesting. The colors haven't come out completely yet but I really like this, although I can see where others would find this bland. Maybe I just like rooting for the underdog.

I'm supposed to be cleaning my house. Can you tell?

Queen of Hearts

After a number of tries, I found a pattern that I really like and will be using again for certain. After playing a lot of poker with my son and his friends recently, the name Queen of Hearts just attached itself to this design. Next time I make it in my 9 bar mold, I will scale it so that one of the heart shapes is squarely in the middle of each bar. It looks good with contrasting colors, but I will have to try a few other color schemes for variation.

This is my entry for our forum's Challenge, which by my own rules requires revealing the pattern steps, so I will do so here as well.

I used white, black, green and a strong pink and poured in stripes.

Next, using a straw, I zigzagged across the mold.

I then added three rows of a series of round loops.

I did another series of smaller loops that went inside each of the larger loops. Don't ask me why this picture is turned 90 degrees. My phone has a mind of its own.

The last part is to pull a line down through the center of each set of loops. Gives a heart effect without being exact, which I prefer.

Close ups of each row. I love it!

Is the Time just Ripe?

Throughout the history of the inventiveness of man, there are numerous examples of new creations coming out simultaneously from people widely separated by place, culture, age. It makes a person wonder if there is some sort of collective intelligence or readiness, similar to the developmental milestones of children.

Now, soap will not advance us in the same way that 3D printing may but nonetheless, looking for novel techniques and more information to be put to use to create something a little different is sought after. Although it creates plenty of uglies, I love to experiment to see if a new pattern or technique is lurking in my kitchen, waiting for me to uncover it it a blitzkrieg of soaping.

Currently I am looking for some interesting patterns for slab soaps. In working on various combinations, I have come to realize that some patterns look better on the entire slab than in bar form and others seem to lack something on the slab but are good show-offs on a bar.

I made this soap today, feeling convinced it would be a great pattern. It's not bad and may be better with a different lay-out and choice of colors, but I think it will great as single bars.

A closer pic:

This is an example of a soap that looks good as a whole but looses a little when cut into bars:

I made this soap in April and posted it on a soap forum. Click here. The technique of circling the mold works well with this type of mold and gave interesting effects when I cut through the middle. I'm wondering it I can find an adaptation to use it with a larger slab without muddying things too much.

As I look for patterns, I hope to find some worthy of posting. Until next time, adieu.