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Thursday, June 15, 2017

Great Cakes Soap Challenge ~ June 2017 ~ Ombre Technique

Great Cakes Soapworks Challenge
June 2017
Ombre' Color technique
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My Entry Photo
I realized after making these pics that my flowers on top may not be in withing the guidelines? We are allowed small seeds, but we'll see. If I have to cut the top off of one, I will add it later.


  I have been wanting to make a soap with some Lovespell fragrance I have. This is a good opportunity to try it! The plan is to use Pink as my color. I saw a recent post on the 'Lovinsoap Blog" of a 'floating tigerstrip'. She poured a base layer of white, then tilted the mold and side poured the sequence of colors. This is my plan, only creating the differing layers with the fading shaped of pink. 
  The recipe was my basic recipe including: Olive, Coconut, & Casor oil. I normally reduce my liquid by 15-20%. THIS time i chose to use the full water amount to help with fluidity. I also combined oils /lye at an average of 110. 
 Colors: Crafters choice 1/4 tsp Neon Pretty in pink powder & 3/4 tsp Pink Sparkle Mica. 
The plan, to add some emulified batter to the powders, start first layer rather dark, then keep adding a little of the plain base to the color pot. This should create an increasingly lighter shade. I ended up pouring around 8-10 layers ( I lost count) T
 The batter was so very fluid, that some layers just sank and blended. 
  I had dried flowers from our Redbud trees last spring, and had been waiting to use them on the soaps I made with this fragrance! They dried really well, and have kept their color. I anm curious to see if they morph on the soap.


The fresh poured Soap with Red Bud Flowers.


After 24 hours, the soap was waaaayy to too soft to unmold! I am not used to this. I don't know if I added too much water, or just forgot what full water is like as I always water discount anymore. I had to wait another 24 hours, and went ahead an unmolded anyway. After setting to dry more for another day, I used a wire slicer, to cut. It was still so soft, my fingers left imprints. I will have to clean up more later, but just need to get this done & get back to other real life things.
 Here are some final cut pics. 



I have enjoyed this Challenge as always. Thank you Amy for pushing me to try another fantastic method of Soapy art! 
 Have a wonderful day Y'all ~ Eva


10 comments:

  1. These are beautiful, Eva! You've accomplished the gradual color change very well. I had seen the floating tiger stripe also - what a great idea to apply it for the challenge! The botanicals are fine - in fact, even better that they came from your tree and you dried them yourself!

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    1. Thank you Amy! I am relieved the flowers are ok, the bars would look unbalanced I think w/o something on top. I look forward to trying this Ombre' look with other soaps. I love the inspiration I get fro the challenges and what I learn from everyone else. :))

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  2. I saw your soap on Instagram prior to visiting your blog and could appreciate the gradual and fluid color change you were aiming for. Such a pretty color choice to go with the fragrance and your dried flowers. As for the waiting to un-mold a soap, I go crazy there. Doesn't always work, but I generally place the soap in the oven and set it at 145 degrees (my lowest setting for warming) for 20 minutes, turn off and leave for the day or overnight...just so I can un-mold sooner.

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    1. Argelia, thank you for your terrific tip! The warming it up may have helped dry it sooner. I was surprised how soft it was =(. I was so happy to try Ombre tho, I really like the technique. I will try next time with a small water reduction i think. Thanks for your kind words!

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  3. I will have to look for that technique! Your color change was really lovely and so soft, good job!

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    1. Robyn, thank you for your kindness! Yes, the floating tiger was on Amanda Gails blog. I plan on trying it again too with a little thicker batter. ;)

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  4. You have to "get this done and get back to other real life things" That's priceless! I feel like that every day with my soaps- lol! Your soap is beautiful, and the layers blended perfectly with the thin trace, great job!

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    1. Thank you Sara! You are sweet. :) I'm glad it didn't come across negative, I LOVE making soap, and hate it if I feel like I have to rush it!

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  5. I likw your approach with the challenge of just one color and many gradations. Well Done!

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    1. Thank you Pam! I just wanted to keep my 1st Ombre' attempt simple. I really enjoyed this and look forward to doing more. :)

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