A Soapy Challenge

I'd noted some time ago that there seem to be a lot of similarities between quilters and soapers.  One of their commonalities is a liking for challenges.  They seem to be a means to learn and stretch creative muscles in both camps.  I finally decided to take the plunge and join Amy Warden's challenge this month.  (A note to my fiber art friends- if soap making bores you silly, better skip this one!)

The technique for this challenge is a spoon swirl, which is fairly simple and lends itself to thicker batter, which I've had no problems achieving.  I'd just gotten a sample pack of micas, and was itching to use them.  I knew I wanted to do something cold and wintry- after all, it is December!

I had my recipe, then got all my ingredients ready to go.  My oils and lye solution. . . 

 

My two micas, dispersed in a little oil.  I also used titanium dioxide in the main batter.

My fragrance and additive- I really wanted white soap, so I used some kaolin clay.

I blended my batter- so far, so good.  It really stayed fluid- in fact, too fluid for a spoon swirl.  But I pressed on- when has a batter not thickened for me?  The micas mixed beautifully, and I love the metallic sheen they lend.

I poured my main batter into the mold.

Then I added the colors.  First the blue. . . 

then the teal.   Mmmm, that batter is still really fluid, not thickening quickly at all.  Where was this batter when I needed it for my Christmas tree swirl?
 

I did the spoon swirling- hoping that it would look good even though it seemed too fluid.

I had more white and colored batter left than I'd anticipated, so I did another layer on top and spoon swirled that.  Then I plopped the little bits of leftover batter onto the top.

I couldn't leave it like that, so I swirled the top with a chopstick.

Isn't it gorgeous!  The colors were just what I wanted!  It sat overnight, and then all day Saturday while we did some holiday activities.  I came home late Saturday afternoon, grabbed the knife I use to cut, and headed to the studio.  It looked great, no glycerine rivers, awesome colors and swirls- but it crumbled!  Almost every slice had crumbling.  I googled to try to find out what the issue could be, and then it hit me- I'd left out the shea butter.  A quick check with pH strips confirmed that my gorgeous soap was lye heavy.  Arrrrgh!!

However, I knew exactly what I had done wrong, so I decided to rebatch that night.  Marly was kind enough to grate all the soap, then we threw in the shea butter I'd omitted with a little water.  I turned the crock pot on to high, and we started stirring and watching.  It took a couple of hours, but it melted down so I could get it in the mold.  It wasn't the gorgeous soap I'd planned, but for a rebatch, it wasn't bad at all.  I unmolded it late this morning, and checked it again with the pH strips.  Success!!  It registered right where it needed to.  It cut beautifully, still smells great, and has pretty color.  It kind of reminds me of the formica countertops in homes in the 1960's.

  

I also made a four bar batch Saturday night, determined to have a soap worthy of entering the challenge.  The swirls may look good, but I managed to forget the fragrance oil in that one.  Good grief!!  I'm waiting til tomorrow to cut that one, it is still on the soft side.

So this morning I made my third batch of soap, hoping to finally get it right.  But that will be another post. . .

Winter's Here



so we put up the Christmas tree last night. This year, it's more out of the way of traffic next to the fireplace. Here's Bentlee and Jaden striking a holiday pose for Santa! (Yes, one of these years I will get the red drapes for the door done--)



I also got some work done on a challenge piece for one of the online groups I recently joined- the 12 by 12 Project. Can't show you the whole thing, since the reveal is later this month- but here's a teaser.



I'm pretty happy with how it is turning out. Just a little more embellishment, face it, and we're good.

I'm also looking around at my studio and trying to figure ways to make it more functional and inspirational. I feel the stirrings of a definite clean, de-clutter and reorganize coming on! (Couldn't have anything to do with the new issue of Studios, could it?)

Hope your weekend has been inspirational and restful!

Waiting. . . .

It is mid-morning on Friday. The vacuuming is done, the laundry started. No grocery shopping til this afternoon- I've delegated planning dinner to Shannon. And right now, she has Shiloh off to the vet for some shots.

I am waiting for the phone call and picture from my son Sean that all has gone well, Marly is fine, and baby Michelle is safely delivered and healthy. They are at the hospital for the scheduled delivery- big baby + small mom= C section, something with which I have no personal experience. They figure she'll be born about 1 pm Florida time, if the hospital and doctor are on schedule.

I would have loved to be there for this, but when I bought my (nonrefundable, nonchangeable) plane tickets, the baby wasn't supposed to be here for another couple of weeks. All that changed in the last month- so I leave for Tampa on Oct. 7, and will be there the rest of the month.

In the meantime, I am working on the 6 X 9 piece, which is all by hand. It has gone really quickly, getting it done this weekend won't be a problem. Here's what I started out with--



Just a little bit of seed stitching, however, made me realize that the hand stitching would just get lost on this fabric. So I found a piece of black sateen that I'd discharged, and used that. Here it is with the first layer of stitching. yes, I added some colors- I decided I needed a zinger, and since all the colors were warm, went with a cool but intense turquoise pearl cotton I'd dyed for 'Out of the Blue.'



Here's the link to the inspiration image. It's a microscopic image of some Australian ginger beer- sounds yummy to me!

So, I stitch and wait. This will probably be a multi-post day!

Back to Square One

After a couple of sleepless nights, a WAQ meeting (where I think nobody knew just what to say!), and an hour or so trying to figure out quilting designs- I have decided that this



just will not work. The negative space doesn't work, and I think I am trying way to hard to make my fabric be the idea. So I'm scrapping it.

Since I have four pieces I printed, I thought I would see what would happen if I cut it in strips and rearranged.



Nope. Maybe for a border, but it doesn't work on its own. So I'll toss these in my drawers where I keep bits of fabric for smaller pieces, and start over. (I will, however, keep this fabric in mind if I ever decide to do a Rohrshak quilt!)

How I am interpreting 'Passages' hasn't changed- stages of life, life passages we all go through, from birth to death. And, I want it to be abstract, not pictorial. So I came up with a shape, drew it in several sizes and iterations, and started playing.



I did a couple of designs with these shapes, then added circles in different sizes. Here's the two designs I came up with.



The bottom one just has way to much going on for me- it feels busy, no place to rest. I may try a couple of others, but reverse my process- figure out the circles first, and then add the second shape, which I want to predominate. And, I remembered why I wanted some vacant negative space- I may decide to add some text.

I want to get back to where I was when I made 'Out of the Blue'- it all just seemed to flow, nothing felt forced. And that one definitely started with fabric, but it was lots of fabric that shared some design elements. So how to find that flow again? I'm toying with doing some disciplined design exercises out of a couple of books I own. I'm also trying to figure out a more disciplined process with the photography- finding the shots that are under my nose that I'm not seeing now. When I figure it out, you'll know.

And, for something totally different- yesterday Shannon and I went to the Provo farmer's market again, and had lunch at a couple of vendors. We found Thai food that was good, and topped it all off with Hungarian crepes- filled with Nutella, topped with whipped cream and strawberries. Yum!



i will be getting my lists and supplies ready for my trip to Grand Junction on Thursday- I don't want to forget anything. My handout is ready, just need to photocopy it, grab a couple of dye colors from my stash, and get it boxed. I am so looking forward to getting away for a couple of days to spend it with folks who like fabric, quilting, and art as much as I do.