Wood You Be Mine?
Welcome!
I’m back again, just in time for Amy Warden’s October Soap Challenge Club. The objective of this month’s challenge was to create a soap that looks like wood, specifically focusing on the grain of the wood itself. This month, we again had two categories in which to enter – Natural or Synthetic, and while the end result of the design was clearly defined, how we achieved the result had very few restrictions. As long as the focus was on the grain of the wood itself, we were free soap with abandon! Sometimes these open-ended challenges really get my creative juices flowing, especially after taking a month off. Boy, my juices were in overdrive this month!
The Plan
I decided to enter the Natural category because I really want to continue to build up my knowledge of natural colorants. I also had a few techniques I have been mulling over the past few months and thought this challenge might provide the perfect opportunity to break them out!
I wanted something that looked like authentic wood, both the outside and inside grain. I decided to create round soaps with the bark outside forming a rimmed soap of sorts. I also wanted the rings of the tree to look as authentic as possible. In the end, I used several different techniques to create my idea.
Carve My Heart
I have long admired the beauty and creativity of stamped soaps and I have been trying to conceptualize ideas and ways to create personalized stamps. I learned from previous attempts that carving rubber was not exactly my forté. On a recent trip to my library, I discovered they now had a 3-D printer. After staring at some of the miraculous creations the printer had made, it hit me – design a stamp and print it in 3-D! Not only could I make a stamp that I could use to give the appearance of the rings inside of a tree, but I could also create a stamp to add some additional flair. I was also excited for the fact that I could add a little more flair by making a heart carving and initials. I chose to separate the heart from the initials leaving me the option of using the stamp again by itself or getting other people’s initials printed for a customized soap!
The library’s website had tons of resources showing me how it all works. I have never worked with 3-D software so it took a bit of learning to get it all right. The process was truly amazing. I went from these…
to these!
Thankfully, I remembered at the last-minute to mirror the heart and initial stamps so that they would be faced correctly when I used them.
I am extremely lucky to have a 3-D printing resource at my local library. Not only were they able to print these in under a week, but the cost was a fraction of what it would have cost to either have a custom stamp designed or even what it would have cost at local 3-D printing companies. I paid $6 total for all three stamps. The two local companies quoted me $64 and $84 for the exact same project! This has now opened up a world of opportunities! Anything I can design, I can print. You wouldn’t believe how many ideas for future projects are spinning in my head right now!
Bark, bark!
I love the wood grain soaps that I have seen, especially Amy’s example:
Lately though, I’ve been tinkering with ideas of soap designs that have a bark texture on them and this challenge seemed like the perfect opportunity to try some of them out. After an unsuccessful search for inexpensive bark texture mats, I decided to make my own with real bark. I tapped into my experience of making silicone texture mats (Texture Mat Challenge – December 2015) and created a mat using some of the bark stripped from fallen tree limbs in my yard.
I began by gluing pieces of bark onto a sheet of acrylic, and created a frame to hold the silicone.
Using my favorite silicone rubber, OOMOO-30, I mixed the two parts and poured it into my mold.
The mat turned out pretty well, but even though the makers of OOMOO-30 say a release agent is not usually necessary, I wish I coated the bark with something to help the mat release better. Some of the bark ended up sticking.
I knew I wanted round soaps with the bark outside forming a rimmed soap of sorts. I didn’t feel comfortable using this mat in a tube so I opted to cut the mat into strips and use individual round molds. I ended up using 3″ PVC drain caps for the molds.
Down to the Nitty Gritty
Initially, I had thought it would look more authentic if the outermost part of the bark was a lighter color with a darker background behind it and in the crevices. I made a very small batch of lighter colored soap, colored it with a little black walnut hull, and then used a paintbrush to paint the outer bark layer. I wanted to ensure it remained as thin as possible and also to get into the crevices.
With my original plan, I was thinking I could pour a layer of the darker wood color over the painted strips and place them in each individual mold once it all had hardened up a little bit. I laid all the strips in a box and poured the darker layer over the top.
That was a disaster! Separating them and trying to fit them into each mold pretty much destroyed them! Back to the drawing board.
I liked the idea of painting a lighter color on the outside of the bark but tried to figure out a way to fill the inside with the darker color. Placing the painted strips in the molds then pouring the darker color in the center would definitely give me the darker inner bark I was going for. That wouldn’t work for the tops and bottoms, however. since the entire center would be filled with darker brown, how could I create the inner part of the tree, the part that had the rings? Another idea struck!
Lately, I have been playing around with a new soapy discovery – soap dough! I have been having an absolute ball creating some really fun designs and I thought I could use soap dough to solve my inner tree dilemma.
In case you have missed it, the incredibly talented Bee Iyata of Sorcery Soap has recently been storming the soaping world with some of the amazing designs she has created using her soap dough.
Soap dough is basically cold process soap that is put into an airtight container after it is made. After it has fully saponified, about 24-48 hours later, it is then safe to be taken out and molded into anything your mind can think of! Soap dough can be kept in the sealed container for quite a while and still remain pliable. Bee has a posted a basic soap dough recipe on her site and has also just released a wonderful e-book giving a more in-depth look at the technique.
Having recently used up all the soap dough I had on hand, I now had a perfect excuse to make some more! My thinking was to carve out a shallow indent into the tops and bottoms of each piece of soap. I would then roll out some soap dough into the thickness of the indentations and cut it into circles, filling in each one.
Again, I painted each strip with a light coating of soap. Once they had hardened, I placed each strip into the mold. I also dribbled a thin coating of melted cocoa butter on the bottom of each mold to keep the strips in place and to prevent any of the darker brown from seeping under each strip.
Once the cocoa butter had hardened, I poured in the dark batter. This part was colored with cocoa powder.
After the set up, I carved out a shallow indentation into both sides of the soaps (sorry, no photo). I then rolled out the soap dough, which had been colored with black walnut hull and a little cocoa powder.
I then used a cookie cutter to cut circles for each indentation. I also stamped each piece with the tree ring stamp before placing them.
After each piece was in place, I began paining each side to give them a little definition. I used cocoa powder, French pink clay, yellow kaolin clay, and black walnut hull powder for my paints. After each was painted, I used my heart and initial stamps for the final touch. It kind of made my heart flutter seeing my dear hubby’s and my initials carved in the tree!
Final Results
The lighter bark did not want to stick to the darker bark and came off in pieces. I ended up scraping some of it off for the final shots, which unfortunately took away a lot of the bark detail I was going for in the first place! This is what they looked like before I scraped it off:
I really liked this one because it looked so authentic, but we were trying for the grain effect not just trying to make it look like wood!
My Entry!
Although the end result was not exactly what I was going for, I am still pretty happy with the results. I really love the look that the heart and initials gave to the final soap. I can’t wait to see what creative doors will be opened with this new technique!
Soap Specs:
Lately, I have been making tons of home-made Greek yogurt. I use two gallons of milk for each batch and we like our yogurt pretty thick so I have to drain off a lot of whey to get it to the right consistency. I usually end up with about a gallon of whey and I hate to throw out such a perfect source of protein and other beneficial nutrients. I have been getting very creative finding ways to use it! One of my ideas was to use it in soap.
A while back, I found an awesome recipe on Modern Soap Making that had yogurt and cucumber in it. I had planned on making it over the summer but never got around to it. I decided to put it to use in this recipe as well as subbing whey for the water.
Main Soap Ingredients:
41.18 % olive oil
19.61% rice bran oil
19.61% coconut oil
14.85% sunflower oil
4.76 % castor oil
I also added yogurt, cucumber puree and tussah silk
Bark Ingredients:
25 % palm oil
20% canola oil
15% palm kernel oil flakes
15% coconut oil
15% avocado oil
15% castor oil
Colorants:
Cocoa powder, French pink clay, walnut hull powder, and yellow kaolin clay
Essential Oils: A blend of cedarwood, lavender, rosemary, tea tree oil, and lime
Thanks for stopping by!
Until next time…
Great tutorial! 3D printing–what a great idea!! I love the bark mat. I took this month off from the challenge, but I really love your entry! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much, Cheryl! This challenge was a lot of fun and a great chance to try some of the thing on my list! A bit of a warning for you – all the crazy ideas for this soap came after I took a month off! 😉
These look awesome Debi! And what a wonderful blog post too – thanks for sharing your ideas!
Thank you so much, Natalie! I am so glad you enjoyed it!
I need to take a trip to my library,!
I would definitely recommend it but must forewarn you, it can unleash unrelenting brainstorming ideas!
Wow, you go girl! Outstanding
Lol! Thank you so much Sharon!
These are awesome Debi! Love them. Wow what a log of work..so creative to use the 3 D printer! Great job!
Thank you so much, Ceil! I am so excited for the possibilities this opens up!
Debi! Wow!!! You are so talented and creative! This is just amazing. The detail and work you put into every aspect is incredible. I just love seeing what you come up with for these soap challenges. 🙂
Aww, thank you for your kindness, Holly! I have to admit, I am a little relieved I didn’t have to compete against you this time – but I do hope to see you again soon in an upcoming challenge. You are such an inspiration!
Wow Debi, to say that I am blown completely away by the creativity and tenacity of your entry would be a terrible understatement. It’s so wonderful. I am very envious of your access to a 3D printer, what an absolute ball you will have working with that in future projects. Bravo!!!!!
My goodness, Lisa! Thank you for such amazing compliments! I am so fortunate to have discovered this treasure, and you are absolutely correct, I will most definitely be having a ball coming up with different uses for it!
Everyone has already said it before 🙂 but I just want to add you are so creative!! Using 3D printer was such a cool idea ❤️ Just brilliant.
You are so sweet, Pooja! Thank you for your kind words! 🙂
Debi, my friend!!!! You are terribly creative)))) At the moment I hate you))))))))))))))))) because I am tired to death by my baby girl, it is 1 a.m and I just want to read your post till the end))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))) because it is so very interesting! Thank you for your creation and studing things about soap and sharing them with others!!! You wood is very wood! Congratulations and have a good luck this month!
Oh Nasta, I am so sorry you hate me, lol! I am also truly sorry for your little baby. Sometimes being a mommy that cares so much is so very difficult! It will all be worth it though…at least until she becomes a teenager! Then you will long for the days when tooth problems and no sleep were the worst of what you had to deal with! 😀
I am just blown away by the amount of work you put into this – talk about creative! You used so many different techniques and tools, and you came up with a beautiful unique batch of soap. Seriously impressed. 🙂
Thank you so much, Michelle! I can get a little obsessive and seem to often turn what should be a simple project into something that takes 200 times longer than it should! I’m glad you liked it, though!
Very Cool – I love how you made your own stamps & how you used all natural clays and colorants to make it look like wood 🙂
Thank you so much, Nicole! It was a lot of fun!
Holy crap Debi! Wow, I love your soaps. You are so creative, making your impression mat with real bark and those soap stamps too. You are truly an amazing and talented individual. Way to really put your whole self into your passion. Excellent!
Your comments truly mean the world to me, Lisa! Thank you so much!
Debi,
This is by far the most interesting blog I’ve read in a long time. Your creativity and resourcefulness just shine through. It has inspired me. You gave me so many ideas, I had to get out my notebook and start writing. When I looked at your soap again, even more ideas came through. Your soap is absolutely beautiful, but your ideas and creative process, along with your persistence have me itching to stop doing the same things and try some new things. Great job
Wow, Lisa! I am at a total loss for words after your amazing compliments! I am also thrilled that you found inspiration from my creation. Your words are just the encouragement I need to nurture my hairbrained ideas! Thank you!
Debi, these are amazing. Again you show so much patience and commitment to the art! These would make beautiful wedding favors! Love.
Thank you for your kind words, Leilani! I kind of had the wedding favor idea in my head as an end project. At least that’s what I implied to my hubby so I could justify spending so much time on another challenge!
Of course!! Why didn’t I think of that? 3-D printer! Such an involved process, but really spectacular results! Very cute soaps! I hope your hubby thinks so too! 🙂
I know! I see soap in practically everything I do so when this idea struck I couldn’t believe I never though of it before! Thank you so much for your comments, and yes, my hubby was pretty amazed with the outcome!
Debi, I’ve read some of your earlier soap challenge blog posts too and have enjoyed reading them as much as I enjoyed this one..love how you like to do everything from scratch..I’m a little like that too..but wow, you are truly really industrious and resourceful! Your soap is so cute! Good luck!
Thanks for sharing your detailed tutorial…loved reading every word!
Thank you for your kind words, Ammu! I’m really glad you have enjoyed my ramblings.
I very much enjoyed reading about your creative process! I learnt so much! Now I have to add «making stamps» to my list 🙂 Wonderful job creating this unique soap.. and the initials in the wood are such a personal and sweet touch! Congratulations!!
Thank you for your wonderful compliments, Helene! The whole 3-D concept has truly opened a floodgate of opportunities. I can’t wait to see what you come up with!
Debi! This truly fantastic! I’m so impressed. You have created an amazing design. And thank you SO MUCH for the mention. I think this is so outstanding I posted a link of this post on my page and told everyone I could. I’m just so amazed. It’s obvious you answered the call of your Muse. Best of luck with the challenge. 🙂 – Bee
Thank you, Bee! It is truly an honor to hear your praise and I can’t even tell you how much your comments mean to me. The immense knowledge and wisdom you so generously share is priceless. Thank you so much for all you do!
Debi, such a fun soap! I had thought of making a bark mold but just didn’t have time. I’m am inspired to try it (someday! ) I enjoy your wit & whimsy of your posts too! excellent wood pieces : )
Thank you so much, Eva – I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Congratulations and good luck for the challenge. I love the name of your soap and the heart !
Thank you so much, Marie! I really appreciate your kind words!
These are so lovely, Debi! Really well done. Congrats on a great submission and thank you for sharing your process. All the best!
Thank you so much, Belinda! I am really glad your like them!
Debi, you go above and beyond for your challenges. So much detail in your soap and blog post. I loved reading about your technique. Your soap is fab and so cute! My stamp would have to say C + B which is me and Brad Pitt but don’t think my hubby would approve lol. A great job, well done on blog and soap. Love them both x
Lol, Carolyn! I should have learned by now that I shouldn’t take a drink of anything before I read something you have written!! At least I should be placing a cloth by my monitor to wipe off all the liquid I spray when I read your words!
Thank you so much for your wonderful compliments. Now that Mr. Pitt is single, your hubby better be on his best behavior! 😉
You never cease to amaze me, Debi!!! This soap is priceless, not just because of the amount of work you put into it but the realistic look as well. I’m in awe of your work ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Aww, Carmen! Thank you and most definitely, back at ya’! I have so many of your soap videos and pictures saved to my inspirations folder it should be called ‘Carmen’s Inspirations (+ Some Others)’!
Debi:
I’ve been waiting and waiting for your post – and now it’s finally here! Yay!!
I love your detailed explanation of your process and all that you did. (I stop by my Library once a week, so I’m excited to check out the 3D stuff too!)
Your soaps turned out fabulous!
I don’t know where you get the time and patience to do so much with one batch of soap! You are so artistic and gifted…what a visionary! I’m blown away.
Wow, Sly! Thanks you for such kind and complimentary words! I think I am blushing, lol! I think my family wishes I had a little less patience when I get these crazy, intense soaping ideas. The house would be much cleaner and they might actually get something other than cereal for dinner!
Wow, Debi, you are amazing! I cannot believe that you laser printed soap stamps and made a bark impression mat from scratch.
You really do like to do everything yourself! 😀
What do the yogurt and the cucumber puree do?
Thank you so much, Claudia! When a person is so picky that nothing easy works, she has to figure out something! Supposedly, yogurt and cucumber make a luxurious and bubbly and creamy lather. They’re supposed to offer gentle skin conditioning properties to the soap. We’ll see how it turns out!
Oh I love the rustic look of these! And your process of making them was just amazing, wow all those different parts coming together! Having a 3d printer at your library is a great resource! And soap dough.. never heard of that, will have to try that some time! Thanks for sharing your process, it was very interesting! And the soaps turned out awesome!
Thank you so much for your kind comments, Linda! I am really glad you found the post helpful, too. I am continuously amazed at the different techniques people try and always learn so much!
Amazing how technology marries so well with the “ancient art of soap making”! What a great way to use a 3-D printer. The soaps are adorable too! SO nicely put together!!!
So true, Sara! This has opened up a gigantic world to me now! Thanks for your wonderful comments!
Oh my gosh, this is sooo cute! Thanks for the great tutorial, we’ll done!!!
Thank you for such kind words, Sarah!
You are very talented and creative , they look so real !
Thank you so much, Rhonda! Talented and creative are not the exact words I think of…more like crazed and obsessive!