First Great Cakes Soapworks Soap Challenge-What Happens Under the Field

Hello!  This is my first blog and my first soap challenge.  I found this challenge through the interview that Soap Queen did of Amy Warden and Great Cake Soap Works here.  I was inspired by the interview and I immediately wanted to try many new techniques.  I found the membership here and I signed up for a 3 month membership.  I have been making soap for about 9 months now and I have been mixing like crazy.  I am in love with this art!

This is my entry- What Happens Under the Field.  I got my inspiration from the well known Packers and Bears rivalry.

What Happens Under the Field

I just happen to be from Wisconsin and we happen to take our football pretty seriously.  The Bears are a well known rival of the Packers and I thought that I would style my soap after them.  I wanted to show that not all of the action happens above the field.  As you can see, the left side of the soap is green and gold-Packers colors.  The right side is blue and orange-Bears colors.  I fragranced my soap with two different fragrances.  I used Champagne Kisses for the Packers side because, of course, we are winners and we are celebrating with some champagne.  The Bears side is fragranced with Monkey Farts because they, well, stink-- to put it mildly.  If you look closely, the football was strategically placed on the Packers side because, of course, we have possession of the ball.  Also, there is a little discoloring on the Bears side of the grass because they just happen to be making the grass rot from their presence.   Finally, I would like you to take note of the pattern in the below picture.  On the Packers side there is a smiley face and on the Bears side there is a frown.  I can only assume that this happened because the Packers are winning and the Bears are losing.  Ha!  Perfect!

Packers=Happy  Bears=Angry

My fancy homemade divider

The theme of the challenge this month was opposites.  The requirements were that I use a log mold and a divider with cold process soap only.  This was my first time using a divider and I always wanted to try this technique. I did not have a divider at home, so, I made one myself.  All I did was wrap some shipping tape (Scotch butterfly pattern is what I had on hand) around a piece of cardboard that I had cut to size.

Here is my beautiful divider placed snugly into my mold.  I made sure to make the divider slightly larger then the mold opening so I could wedge it in and not have to hold it.  Awesome.  The ends did bow out ever so slightly, but, I did not notice that this was a problem.

10" Silicone mold with my fancy divider

The very first thing that I did was make the soap for my embeds.  I have never hand formed cold process soap embeds before so this was a learning experience.  I used the same soap formula for the embeds that I used for the loaf of soap.  I poured brown for the footballs and yellow for the goal posts.  I also made the laces and the yard lines by piping them onto butcher paper.

Brown soap for footballs

Yellow soap for the goal posts

I waited 24 hours for the brown squares of soap to set up and then I quartered them and rolled them into a football shape.  The soap was kind of sticky because it did not gel but it was workable.  After I formed the footballs I placed the laces on the soap while it was still tacky so it would stick.  For the goal posts I waited 48 hours for them to set up more and then I carved them into shape. 

Football embeds with piped laces

Goal post embeds

Laces: colored with titanium dioxide from Brambleberry

Footballs: colored with brown oxide from Brambleberry

Goal posts: colored with Bright Yellow Raincoat Mica and Goldfinger Mica from Madoils

After the embeds were made I got ready to make my main soap log.  I soaped at room temperature and I had a lot of time to work with my mixing.  For the Packers side I used The Manical Pea, Enchanted Forrest and Bright Yellow Raincoat Micas.  For the Bears side I used Twilight and Orange Crush Mica.  These micas were from Mad Oils.  I also set aside a portion of my batter for the "dirt" layer (Hot Man on a Tin Roof Mica) and the "grass" layer (The Manical Pea and Enchanted Forrest). 

My colors for the main soap log!

After the colors were all mixed I added the fragrances: Champagne Kisses for the Packers side (because we're the winners and, of course, we are celebrating) and Monkey Farts for the Bears (because, well, they stink).  I got Champagne Kisses Fragrance Oil from Wholesale Supplies Plus and I got Monkey Farts Fragrance Oil from Nature's Garden.  They both seemed to mix in well and stayed fluid.  After all of that excitement, I got to soaping!  I just alternated colors on both sides and tried to keep them even as I poured.  I made a little of a mess in the process . . .

This is my soapy mess . . .

After I poured the two sides I carefully removed the divider and did a little swirling on the top . . . just 'cause I like the swirls. I then poured a thin layer on top to represent the dirt under the field. 

Here are my swirls!

Goal posts placed

"Dirt" layer freshly poured

I let the soap set up a little before I placed the goal posts, but, they were still a little heavy and sank in a little so I propped them up with some tongue depressors.  Good thing that I have tons of those things sitting around.  They come in super handy for tons of things.  Then I got to the piping.  YAY!  I used a triple star tip for most of the grass and then I switched to a single star tip to fill in the open spots.  When I finished with the lush, green grass I switched to a piping bag with Hot Man on a Tin Roof (mixed with oil) brushed on the inside of the bag and piped some "dying" grass on the Bears side of the field.  When I finished with the grass I placed the football embeds and then I put a white strip on the grass to represent the yard lines on the field. 

Top of the soap with embeds

I waited 3 days to unmold this soap because I was out of town.  I could not wait to get back to pop this sucker out and slice the log into bars.  

Unmolded soap

 Here are the pictures of the finished soap!  This turned out pretty awesome!

What Happens Under the Field

Packers have possession of the ball!

Happy and Sad

Football!  Football!  Football!!