Update!
Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for your support and votes!
Welcome!
This month’s challenge for Amy Warden’s Soap Challenge Club was a theme challenge. The theme? Location, location, location! We were challenged to design a soap based on where we live – either now or where we have lived in the past. I was born in Colorado, raised in Colorado, and have never lived outside of Colorado (pretty adventurous, huh?), so my soap will be based on…drum roll…COLORADO! Amy asked us to create a soap reflecting who we are and to show attributes that are unique to our location. We were encouraged to use locally obtained ingredients too, if at all possible.
For me, Colorado is a fabulous place to live. I have always loved nature and Colorado is most certainly the perfect place to nurture that passion. We have a ton of geographical diversity – snow-covered mountains, desert lands and vast plains, sand dunes, river canyons, and gorgeous forests full of evergreens and aspens. We also have quite the diversity in elevation too; the lowest point in Colorado is the Arkansas River at 3,315 feet above sea level and the highest point in Colorado is Mt. Elbert at 14,440 feet. One of my favorite pastimes is hiking and Colorado seems to have an infinite variety of trails to explore. I also love to camp and go boating or fishing on our beautiful lakes. Honestly, there are so many opportunities to enjoy the natural beauty of Colorado, I’m not sure anyone could ever get bored.
Some of Colorado’s glory:
I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to do for my soap but I turned to friends, family, and even a few strangers, and asked them what came to mind when they thought of Colorado. The top answers were (in no particular order):
- Mountains
- Snow/Skiing
- Cowboys/Wild West
- Beer
- Legalized Marijuana
- Denver Broncos
These answers came as no surprise. I decided to try to incorporate a little of each of these things in my soap. Here is what I came up with:
- Mountains: For the design, I chose to do a sunset over mountains. I’ve seen sunsets in many other places, but Colorado seems to have some of the most spectacular ones I have ever seen.
- Snow/Skiing: I was fortunate to have a few large snowstorms during this competition (although many Coloradans would disagree with that perception). I gathered several pitchers of the abundant white piles and used it for some of the water in my soap.
- Cowboys/Wild West: Disclaimer: No cowboys were harmed in the making of this soap, but some cows were. I have been collecting discarded scraps from a local butcher and rendering my own tallow so this was a perfect addition.
- Beer: Colorado has 115 breweries and produces more beer per capita than any other state. My city, Fort Collins, is the largest beer producer in Colorado. I chose to use a seasonal beer from Odell’s Brewery, here in Fort Collins, called Runoff Red IPA in part of the soap.
- Legalized Marijuana: Disclaimer: No mind-altering drugs were used in the making of this soap – neither in the ingredients nor while actually making it. I used hemp seed oil – close enough!
- Denver Broncos: Disclaimer: No Denver Broncos were harmed in the making of this soap. Okay, so this is one thing I didn’t actually include. I was going to go with an orange and blue sky but forgot about the blue. No big deal – I’m a New England Patriots fan anyway.😁
Ingredients Used:
Mountains and hills in the foreground:
- Hemp Oil
- Cocoa Butter
- Coconut Oil
- Olive Oil
- Tallow
- Shea butter
- Odell’s Brewery Beer – Seasonal Runoff Red IPA
- Tussah Silk
- Sodium Lactate
Sky and lake:
- Almond Oil
- Cocoa Butter
- Coconut Oil
- Olive Oil
- Tallow
- Shea Butter
- Freshly gathered Colorado Snow
- Tussah Silk
- Sodium Lactate
All parts were scented with Majestic Mountain Sage’s new fragrance Alpine Frost. According to their description, it is “A twist of frost-bitten berries, a high mountain meadow, a snip of spice and a lingering Evergreen, all wrapped up into one”. I received it as a sample and it couldn’t have been more perfect for a Colorado scent.
The first thing I realized when making this soap was that I probably should have waited for the Soap Challenge in June to learn more before I tackled this technique. Claudia Carpenter, who is an absolute master at this technique (and soap making in general), will be teaching us about soap sculpting. Her attempts at sculpting landscapes have been nothing short of brilliant perfection. I tried to implement some of the techniques she shared with us for her winning entry in the Winter Wonderland Challenge in February. I knew it would be difficult but I didn’t anticipate how much planning went into this sort of thing. To help me envision the final design, I sectioned my design into individual layers and created notes and instructions for each one.
Since the design was best suited for a tall and skinny mold I used my home-made adjustable one. On one end, I taped a copy of the design image to provide guidance for me to see which layer was which. One of the tips I used from Claudia was to cut “layer scrapers” using an electric die-cutting machine. I convinced my family I needed an early Mother’s Day gift and found a used one online just in time. To each scraper, I added Popsicle sticks for added support.
I poured the layers allowing each one to firm up enough to scrape with the specified layer scraper before moving on. For the hills and mountains, I used a recipe that moved quicker and thickened up more rapidly. For the lake and sky, I used a slower recipe. I did a modified In The Pot Swirl to help blend the colors together in an attempt to recreate the blend of colors in the sky at sunset.
The next challenge came with adding the tree and geese. Originally, I thought I could find stamps and stamp each image on the soap. Unfortunately, I could not find any stamps that were the correct dimensions or what I wanted in appearance. I decided to try carving my own on a rubber block with a linoleum carving tool. That proved next to impossible. It was very difficult to carve and I knew I was not going to get the level of detail I wanted. My next thought was to try water transfer paper. That might have worked but my new printer won’t print anything heavier than copy paper. The water transfer paper was thicker than card stock and my printer wanted nothing to do with it.
My final brainstorm worked. I have been admiring decoupaged soaps and have been wanting to try my hand at it. I knew finding a napkin or tissue with the right tree and geese would be impossible. I decided to print my own tissue. Since tissue paper would not go through a printer by itself, I used a glue stick along the outside rim of regular copy paper and stuck the tissue paper to it. I only put glue on the rim so the images in the middle wouldn’t be stuck to the paper. After they were printed, I cut out each of the shapes, as close to the black ink as possible.
I used *Mod Podge Outdoor to make the images adhere. I still had some areas where the white tissue was showing because they were too difficult to get to with the scissors. They just faded into the background when I applied water and Mod Podge.
This is what the soaps looked like before the trees and geese were added.
And the final result…
Overall, I am very happy with the result! I think it does a pretty good job of portraying the feel and look of a Colorado sunset. If you’ve never seen an authentic Colorado sunset, I highly suggest you add it to your bucket list. I promise you won’t be disappointed! Thanks for taking the time to read about my project! Please leave your comments – I’d love to hear from you! PS: This is officially my very first blog post so please feel free to offer any suggestions you might have in the comments!
Thanks for stopping by!
Until next time…
*Since I have made this soap, I have learned that Mod Podge, or any other product, is not needed to adhere to the tissue paper images. I have found that if I slightly wet the surface of the soap, the tissue paper adheres just fine. If some of the edges of the tissue are still visible, I just take a paintbrush, wet from water, and “paint” over the edges. They disappear into the soap very well.
Read More
🙂
“heart”
Parabéns. Você é uma artista. Maravilhosa!
Obrigado pelas suas palavras gentis!
My only criticism is not telling everyone you’re a Patriots fan. Honestly Debi you never cease to amaze me, you’re talented and smart! And I’m not saying that because you’re my favorite cousin! Congratulations on your win, you truly deserved it!
Aww, shucks! Thank you so much cuz! I’ll try my hardest to be pro Broncos at all our family gatherings – but now that Manning is gone….well, we’ll see! <3 <3 <3
This is one of the most gorgeous soaps I’ve ever seen! Thank you explaining how you did it. I had no clue that you could use Mod Podge on soap. WOW!! and I’ve also taken your suggestion and added to my bucket list to see a Colorado sunset in person . Congratulations!
Thank you for such kind comments, Lisa! And I promise you won’t be disappointed with our sunsets if you ever get a chance to see one!
What an amazing soap! Great job and congratulations on your win!! You’re absolutely right on those Colorado sunsets…they are breath-taking! Had the pleasure of going there the end of last year! Everything is so beautiful there. Keep up the great soaping and thanks for sharing!
Thank you for such kind comments, Wanda – about my soap and our beautiful Colorado! I’m glad you got to witness the sunsets in person. Well worth the trip (IMHO)!
Debi if your looking for nature stamps look at http://www.stampscapes.com I also do stamping besides soaping and you won’t believe your eyes when you see the stamps there. Good luck and best wishes your soaps are amazing!!!!
Wow, Mary Ann- those are absolutely INCREDIBLE!!! Thank you so much for sharing that with me! And thank you so much for your compliment on my soap, too!
Hi debi. First of all, congrats on having a heart as soft as ur soaps! I say this cos u have taken the time out to answer every1! Please please dont leave me out! This was first search on pinerest that lead me to u and i m so so so glad! How i wish ur soaps never melt and fade…. Please cud u answer a few of my questions which may sound stupid cos like i told u this is my first time. Wudnt ur trees and geese b the first to melt away cos they r not “built… Read more »
Hi Faiza! Thank you so much for your wonderful and very kind comments! I am glad you found my site. I am in the process of transferring some of my Pinterest soap entries into blog posts since I can go into more detail on how they were made. I’m glad you found your way here! As for the geese and trees fading away with washing, unfortunately with this technique there isn’t really any way to prevent that. This particular soap was created more for the artistic qualities rather than for its usability, although it is still very much usable as… Read more »
Thanx a ton for ur prompt reply.
Debi: WOW!!!! Your soap is SO awesome! What a wonderful piece of art! I LOVE your blog and am so glad you have started it. It was so frustrating trying to comment on your Pinterest page (as well as other peoples) – I’m too long winded and I there’s not enough info from you the soaper. Thank you for your great step by step description of the process. I love how you put the geese & trees on to solve that problem. I don’t think I want to invest in a die cutting machine, so will just have to see… Read more »
Awww, thank you so much for your kind words, Sly! This was a crazy month trying to get my soap entry done and getting my blog up and running. I knew it had to be done though, especially for this challenge. I had so many wonderful things I wanted to say about our glorious Colorado and Pinterest just wasn’t going to cut it. I can definitely relate to being long winded. This finally gave me the room and platform I needed to babble on! Maybe long-windedness is a trait us Coloradans have developed from learning to survive with the thinner… Read more »
Debi:
Great idea – I will start blaming my babbling & forgetfulness on the thin air, rather than CRS or old age!!
I hope you are doing the May challenge (I will give it a try) and I look forward to your blog on it.
Best,
Sly
LOL!!!! My mom always says she has Halfs-heimer’s because she isn’t ALL the way there yet. I used to say I had Quarter-heimer’s but I like to blame the thin air – especially since I’m getting closer to Halfs-heimer’s every day!
Yes, I am doing the May challenge, or at least trying. It is a technique I have had on my To-Do list for some time! Can’t wait to see yours!
Gorgeous soap and very clever idea!
Wow, Kevin! That means so much coming from you – thank you! I fell in love with your Dandelion Zebra soap and it was the very first design I tried after getting some of the basics down. You are truly amazing and have been such a HUGE inspiration to me!
Please pardon the babbling – I’m actually feeling very starstruck right now !
Wow, what a beautiful soap, Debi. You have done a really, really great job, again! No limits of what’s possible. Congrats taking 1. price – well deserved
Thank you so much, Yvonne! I’m sorry that we didn’t get a chance to see your beautiful soap this time. Rama’s soap with the pink lake reminded me of your pink snow!
Gorgeous. Absolutely Gorgeous. Thank you for sharing the technique…you are so creative!!!
Thank you so much, Michele – I’m glad you liked it!
Well deserved win!!! Love this soap and really appreciate your explanations on how you made it. It’s really helpful for us beginners 🙂
Thank you so much, Kellie, that really warms my heart! I have learned so much from Amy’s challenges myself!
Congratulations Debi! Your soap is definitely the best!
Awww, thank you, Lisa – and congrats to you as well! There were some pretty spectacular entries so I’m not sure I agree with mine being the best, but thank you! Yours for example was stunning! I am still in awe over the beauty!
Congratulations on winning Debi! Your soap was fantastic and guess who is gonna win June challenge lol. Well done lovely
Thank you so much Carolyn! And no pressure there 😉 …lol!
Wow, you did an amazing job. It is absolutely beautiful, be very proud.
Thank you very much, Veronica!
Debi, Congratulations!!!! Your soap is just stunning! Absolutely a work of art. 🙂 I loved reading about how you made it, too.
Thank you so much, Holly!
Debi, so beautiful!!! Nothing like the Colorado sky, huh!!! Congrats on your well deserved win!!
Thank you so much, Sara! And thank you for your comment last month suggesting I start a blog. It was the exact push I needed to get back to work and finally get it going! Thank you!
Congrats on your win – Beautiful soap! 🙂
Thank you so much, Lisa!
Great job Debi! This soap looks amazing! I can’t wait to try out this technique! Way too cool!
Thank you Brittany, and congrats to you too! Your cow was absolutely adorable!
Beautiful!! Thanks for all the detail and the ‘story behind it all’.
Thank you Kathy – I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Super! Wow! Fantastic! Your soap IS AWESOME! I am excited to learn this technique.
Awww, thank you Lisa! Your compliment means so much to me, especially after seeing the unbelievably, PHENOMENAL work of art you created! THANK YOU!
This is a peace of art Debi. Amazing soap. Good luck to you!
Thank you so much, Diana!
This is so beautiful, you definitely captures a “bronco’s sunset”! The use of hemp oil, very clever. Congratulations on such a fine soap! Colorado is well represented.
Thank you so much for your compliment, Jordi! Our sunsets are most definitely fabulous – and hemp seemed to be the only safe, PG-rated option!
Oh my – I am at a loss for words. Your soap is jaw dropping awesome. Just beautiful.
My goodness, Bonnie! Thank you for such a wonderful compliment!
Debi – fantastic layering and very creative solution to the pine tree/geese conundrum. Just curious – what happens to the decoupage layer when you use the soap? does this just wash off (kind of like an embossed stamp would)? I wonder if the tissue design could be “decoupaged” with a glycerin soap…?
Geez – now you have my mind going…
Thank you, Lisa! Yeah, figuring out the tree and geese was proving to be frustrating. As for the decoupage I’ve never done it but according to all the tutorials I read, it’s supposed to wash off eventually. Since I used the outdoor Mod Podge variety that is supposed to withstand rain and other elements it may never wear off!! The next time I do this I think I’ll get a printer that will handle thicker paper and use printable temporary tattoo paper. I researched the safety of Mod Podge before I did this and everything I read said it was… Read more »
Wow! Your soap is just gorgeous!
Aww, thank you for such kind words, Chichi!
Beautiful work Debi! Loved the detail and how the colors flowed ib ykhr layers. You’re a true master of managing colors in your soap. The tissue paper technique is really nice. Can’t wait to see more from you 🙂
Thank you so much for the kind words, Preciosa!
Debi absolutely beautiful! Bouvet inspired me to get my body, doing lol I to have been procrastinating. Love your work
Lol don’t know why that comment came out like that. You have inspired me to start my blog.
Lol, Jessaca! Thanks for the translation – it makes sense now!
Thanks for the compliment! I hope you do get a blog going. I’d love to see more of your gorgeous soaps!
WoW Debi that is Gorgeous!!!!!
Thank you so much, Omneya!
Congrats Debi for your new blog 🙂 The soap is so gorgeous !! I love the sunset & the tissue paper tree idea. It’s really stunning & reminds me of Claudia’s soap 🙂 you have already mastered the technique.
Awww, thank you Pooja, that compliment really means a lot to me! Claudia is in a league of her own, that’s for sure. I have definitely not mastered the technique yet but I will happily keep trying. I can’t wait for her guest tutorial in June to learn more!
Debi, Awesome soapy picture of Colorado! I am so glad you shared the decoupage technique – I hadn’t seen that before. How cool! I understand about starting a blog. My blog was ‘born’ from Amys challenge too. The ground work is laid for you now, onward & upward 😉
Thank you so much, Eva! My blog would have been done a lot sooner if it hadn’t been for Amy and her addicting challenges, lol! This challenge definitely convinced me I needed to finally get it up, though. Hopefully it will be in full bloom soon!
WOW, blown away…this is beyond great I love colors. I have used decoupage in other mediums and would have never thought to use it with soap quite brilliant!
Thank you Shana! Decoupage has been one of my favorite crafts over the years and when I came across decoupaged soaps I was amazed. The possibilities are endless!
Firstly, No Carolyns were harmed in commenting on this blog lol
Debi!!! This is fantastic! I love the whole soap and your sunset is beautiful. The idea of adding the trees after on tissue paper is genius! I enjoyed your blog too and think it is just great for a first time. You are now officially a blogger 🙂
Well done , my friend. Absolutely fab x
Lol, Carolyn! I’m so glad you weren’t harmed! Thank you for the kind words on my soap entry and attempt at a blog. My blog has a lot of work to do still but at least it is up. I almost wish Amy would offer a boring or lame challenge sometimes. I might actually be able to get something else in my life accomplished!
So, I thought maybe I was looking at Claudia’s entry when I first saw your soap! I couldn’t imagine how you created the detail of the geese and pine tree though – that was pure genius! You are farther along than the rest of us with the Sculpted Layers technique. Can’t wait to try it myself…but in the mean time, I think I’ll just stare at your soap a bit more! (Love your blog too!! Glad the challenges have pushed you to do it!)
Wow Amy! Thank you for such an incredible compliment – I hope Claudia approves, lol! The sculpting technique is definitely a challenge and I can’t wait to learn more from the Queen of Sculpted Layers herself in June. It is most definitely not as easy as she makes it look! Thanks for the compliment on the blog, too. It is far from ready but at least it works!
Aymayzing! Beautiful soap! I too love Colorado. I kind of don’t get what you did with the tissue paper…but then again I’m way rusty on my art techniques…
Thank you, Andrea! I’m sorry for the vague instruction. I just used the images that I printed on the tissue paper as media for decoupage. Since tissue is so thin, the white part of the tissue disappeared into the background when I used the water and Mod Podge, leaving the black images visible. I just updated the post with that information. Hopefully it will be more clear now!
Actually, I think I might do something right now to improve my Rocket Soap. It sure would be nice to see some seagulls or something in it…..
Thanks again for the tips.
I loved your rocket soap, BTW! The swirls and colors are fabulous!
I adore this! And I think your blog post is great. Thanks for giving such a good explanation of your techniques. I appreciate it and it will help me when I try to imitate your trees and geese in one of my soaps. (Great tips.) Also, proud of your for your blog post. It’s something I intended to do and have not yet done! Been trying to get a blog going for several months and had wanted to use these challenges to “kick me in the butt” to do so. Going to try to make myself do it for next… Read more »
Thank you so much, Marcie! I’m glad you found the information helpful. This challenge is actually the biggest reason I frantically tried to get my blog up and running. I didn’t feel my usual Pinterest board entry would be able to give proper justice to the procedures I used and my feelings about Colorado. I’ve actually been working on my blog for a long time but Amy’s Challenges have a way of forcing me to think about soap and NOTHING else!
I have no words for this, Debi, wondeful))))) My voice is yours, as well as first palce I believe)))
Thank you for such kind words, Anastasia – I’m so glad you like it!
P.S. – Yours and Sara’s comments on my entry last month were one of the biggest reasons I hurriedly got my blog up and running! Thank you (and Sara, too) for the suggestion!
Finally I had some time to read the post slowly)) All the ideas are so wonderful. You are very talanted.
You are welcom and thank you for sharing)) I don’t like blogs with pictures only, it is nice but costs little…Good luck with blogging and this month challenge
Thank you, Anastasia! Pinterest IS a nice option but very limiting on expression. I love to read all the details of how the soap was made!
Congratulations!!!!!!! I told U!!!!!!!Hurrrraaaaa
Thank you soooooo much, Anastasia!