The Sqwiggle Pour is a new technique developed by our guest teacher Lisa Cunningham of I Dream in Soap.  Sqwiggle is a play on the words “squeeze” + “wiggle” as you must add the soap to squeeze bottles and wiggle them back and forth to create the design!  This challenge was a different type of trace control, as the soap really needed to be quite thick and stay that way through the entire pour.  The goal is to get variegated lines of color that don’t get too muddied.  Members could choose to leave the texture on the soaps of their soaps or plane them smooth, and both options created beautiful effects!

Our sponsor this month is one of Lisa’s favorite suppliers as they are located in the UK as she is.  Huge thanks to Micamoma for providing gift certificate prizes to both the beginner and experienced categories, plus an additional Sponsor’s Choice prize in the bonus category!  If you aren’t familiar with the company, you should check them out!  They are suppliers of premium mica powder soap colours, neon colourants, cosmetic pigments and nail polish making supplies.

As this was a rather difficult challenge, the number of entries was fewer than usual, but you’ll see they are no less fantastic than previous months!  For the experienced category, members had to do a Sqwiggle Pour all the way through the entire soap.  Our grand prize winner is Linda Irawan in Indonesia!  Linda created an intricate woven pattern for her sqwiggle design, with incredible colors and such consistent results.  This was her fourth attempt:

Interweave by Linda Irawan

As you can see from the sides of the soap, the same design goes all the way through the bars.  Congratulations to Linda for winning a $50 gift certificate from Micamoma!  The photo is linked to her Instagram post where you can read more about how she made her soap and see more photos.

Second place goes to Silke Johns of Soakind in the UK for her beautiful Mermaid’s Treasure soap, her second attempt at the technique.  Silke got some excellent texture in her soap, and the colors are fantastic!

Silke wins a $35 gift certificate from Micamoma – incredible!  Check out her Instagram post with more photos of her soap and process linked to the photo above.

In third place we have Amy Bautista of Elysian Acres Soap in Colorado who has created a Starry Night inspired soap gorgeous colors and texture!  You can see the movement of the swirls takes on a bit of a twist, and the presentation of the soap is just stunning:

Starry Night Sqwiggle by Elysian Acres

Amy’s prize is a $25 gift certificate from Micamoma – excellent!  This photo is also linked to her Instagram post that includes an additional video of the top of the soap slab.

For the Sponsor’s Choice award in the experienced category, Fiona of Micamoma has chosen Yumi Mori in Japan for her lovely Grasshopper Cake soap.  Fiona says, “Very good colour combination as the colour choices complement one another very well. The technique has been executed well and with control.”

Grasshopper Cake by Yumi Mori

Yumi took her time working through multiple batches of Sqwiggle Pours, which you will find documented on her blog post linked to the photo above.  She wins a $20 gift certificate from Micamoma – so awesome! 

Next up are the Recognition Awards for the experienced category.  Best Technique goes to Susan Marchant in New Zealand for her Sunny Flower soap!  The goal of the technique was to create the variegated lines in the swirls, and Susan did this wonderfully!  You can see some minor mixing of the colors, which just creates a bit of an ombre effect, while maintaining excellent contrast throughout.  It’s very impressive!

Sunny Flower by Susan Marchant

Excellent work, Susan!  The photo is linked to her Instagram post with more information about how she made it and an extra photo of the entire soap slab before cutting.

The Best Use of Color Award goes to Astrid Kahnt in Germany for her colorful Romance soap!  The palette she chose isn’t typical, but more of a boho style enhanced by threads of gold with the dark blue.  I love the excellent contrast and that she took a risk with a total of six colors:

Romance by Astrid Kahnt

Be sure to click on the photo for process photos and information about how she made her soap on her Instagram post!

The Best Presentation Award is for an entry with awesome photography and beautifully displayed soaps.  I have chosen Gwynne Olsen in Florida to receive this award for her stunning photo of her Totally Nautical soaps!  Gwynne did an excellent job placing the soaps in an interesting display that shows off multiple sides of the bars, while keeping them centered in the photo.  The background is super clean, the soaps have straight edges, and the photo is focused and well-lit:

Totally Nautical by Gwynne Olsen

Gwynne wrote about how she struggled with the technique on her blog (linked to photo), but kudos to her for still entering her soap!  It’s very beautiful and totally nautical!

Let’s take a look at the winners from the beginner category next!  (For this category, beginners had the option to pour a solid base layer of soap and just do the Sqwiggle Pour on top if they wished.) Congratulations goes to Janina Piva of Maraida Soaps in Canada for her grand prize winning Hallowtide soap!  She did an incredible job with all aspects of this challenge: excellent trace control, choosing SIX colors, and beautiful texture and swirls.

Hallowtide by Maraida Soaps

Janina wins a $50 gift certificate from Micamoma – so awesome! Click on the photo to see more information about her soap on Instagram.

Second place in the beginner category goes to Robin Grieco in Arizona for her lovely Lilac Sqwiggle soap!  Robin’s sqwiggles are super tight and precise, and she did a great job using contrasting colors and keeping the batter at the correct consistency: 

Lilac Sqwiggle by Robin Grieco

Robin’s prize is a $35 gift certificate from Micamoma!  She has more information about her soap on her Instagram post linked to this photo.  Check it out!

In third place we have Michelle Torres in North Carolina who created these gorgeous Smoke and Water soaps for her entry.  She was able to create a template for her wavy line pattern and kept her batter workable all the way through the soap.  The gray and white variegated lines make nice smoky areas, while the icy blue palette represents the water:

Smoke and Water by Michelle Torres

Michelle’s prize is a $25 gift certificate from Micamoma – hooray! Be sure to click on the photo to see her Instagram post with more information and photos of her process.

The Sponsor’s Choice award in the beginner category goes to Eriko Jikuya in Japan for her Happy with Cocoa soap.  Fiona says, “The diagonal application of the technique is imaginative. The over all pattern has a feather like appearance which is very attractive.”

Happy with Cocoa by Eriko Jikuya

Eriko wins a $20 gift certificate from Micamoma – excellent job! Click on the photo if you’d like to check out her Instagram post with more information about her soap, and see all the different attempts she made for the challenge.

Now we get to do Recognition Awards for the beginner category!  For the Best Technique in this category I was drawn to Monster Mash by Amanda Johnson in Massachusetts.  It checked all the boxes, including beautiful variegated lines, lovely contrasting colors, and a slightly different swirl pattern to set it apart from the rest:

Monster Mash by Amanda Johnson

This is going to make a wonderful Halloween soap with the classic Halloween colors!  (Photo not linked)

Next is the Best Use of Color Award, and it was easy to choose Trail Blazing by Lauren Conn in Florida for this award.  The bright orange and yellow tones really shine against the black and white counterparts of the soap!  There is just enough mixing of the colors to create a mid-tone in each set of colors, while maintaining the original pops of color:

Trail Blazing by Lauren Conn

Great job, Lauren!!  (Photo not linked)

For the Best Presentation award, I’ve chosen Sparkly Vampires Blood by Margie Ewing in Washington State.  I really enjoy seeing the way she stacked the soaps, and how beautifully beveled they are!  Everything is in focus, and the lighting is just right for reflecting the Sparkle Plenty glitter she used:

Sparkly Vampires Blood by Margie Ewing

Margie has more information about her soap with photos of her process on her Instagram post which is linked to this photo.

Finally, we have the Sponsor’s Choice award for the non-competitive bonus category!  Fiona has chosen Rachel Brinkerhoff of The Raven and the Pear Soapary in California to receive this award for her Yellow Brick Road soap.  She says, “This soaper must have spent a lot of time planning and executing this design. It was an ambitious undertaking and has paid off.”

Follow the Yellow Brick Road by The Raven and the Pear Soapary

This design is truly amazing!! Rachel wins a $20 gift certificate from Micamoma – love it!  (Photo not linked)

The rest of the entries for the Experienced, Beginner, and Bonus categories are at the bottom of this post!

Registration opens up for the final four challenges of the year this Monday (August 30)!!  For the September challenge, we will be making transparent soaps from scratch with guest teacher Aruna Padmanabhan of Suffuse Soaps in India.  Here is the soap she made for the tutorial.  Check out the amazing clarity!  She will be sharing her recipe and all her fantastic tips and tricks with us…

Transparent soap by Aruna Padmanabhan

Making Soap Magazine is our sponsor for September.  Filled with formulating, small scale production, product packaging, herb knowledge, techniques, ingredients, interviews and reviews, Making Soap is a bi-monthly magazine that celebrates the ever increasing interest of making handmade soap, cosmetics and candles. They will be providing digital subscription prizes for our winners!

You’ll have the option to sign up for September only for just $12.95, or all four months for $44.  Check out the Upcoming Challenges page to see what we will be doing for the rest of the year and to sign up for notifications!

The rest of the Bonus category submissions can be found HERE.  Check out the Experienced and Beginner submissions in the order they were voted below:

Experienced Category

Beginner Category