Sunday 22 September 2013

Diamond in the rough


It's a good thing I have people who follow my blog. It pushes me to try something different each week and allows me to say I accomplished something rather than just sitting around watching tv all weekend.

Two weeks ago, I made some gemstone soaps, and in the comments, Anne-Marie said " I could see you doing so much with the gemstone soaps" which got me thinking. I remembered seeing a post on Otion's blog about making geodes and I wondered how I could use their idea and make it my own.



Good thing I started this experiment early in the week because it was not working the way I wanted. After some thought, and re-reading the post again, I decided on a variation of how they did their geodes. Also I wasn't wanting a geode per se, but rather to look like a gem was being mined. 

I melted clear soap and mixed in some black lustre mica (oooh shiny!) and dipped the gem soap into it. I thought it'd be like working with chocolate, where you have to get a thin layer on and keep building it up slowly. Eventually I worked it out that if I set the gem into the black soap, and let it partially set, it would come out in bigger chunks. In the second gem, I added some activated charcoal to give the "rock"more blackness.
Dipping the gemstone into liquid soap. Hard to have something to hang onto!
I have a friend who works in the Earth Science department, I think she might get a kick out of these. What fun things did you get up to this last week?

Finished "sapphire"-ish gemstone

My diamond in the rough




17 comments:

  1. Rock-on with those just-mined gems! How cool is that!

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  2. Love this! Very creative the way you've dipped the soap to achieve the different layers.

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    1. Thanks Carrie! It's amazing how laziness can also be the mother of invention.

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  3. Dude! Well played! You are much more adventurous than I am - I usually just stick to the loaf mold.

    Have you ever made loofah soaps? Where the loofah is in the soap? I saw those once and have always wanted to try that - even though I don't really do melt and pour. But I wanna try growing the loofahs first in my garden...

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    1. Lindsey, I'd do more soaps in a loaf mold if I had one. I'm still waiting to remember to buy one so I can other cool soaps. THis is my "make what I can with what I have" invention.

      I haven't tried making a loofah soap yet, but one came with the kit I had, so I'm going to try it out. You're hilarious BTW. :) Can you make loofah soaps with CP soaps? If you grow loofahs, I'd love to see the pictures.

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  4. I think the sapphire one looks awesome! If the diamond were clearer soap base, it'd be great too!

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    1. Thanks Teresa! I think the sapphire should be a lot darker, and you're right, both soaps would benefit from a clearer base. Oh my list for my next trek down to Bellingham.

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  5. Oh dear, they look so real! Now, you really could fool your f&f, giving them a piece of luxury! Greatly done, Monica!

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    1. You're so sweet Maja, thank you. Now who's the one with all the nice things to say? I could tell people this is a poor man's gem. :D

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  6. Those are soooo cool Monica! I love the way you made them so that they are peeking out of the rocks. Very clever and so beautiful!

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    1. Thanks Cee! I had thought of encasing the entire thing in black, but people might think they're buying lumps of coal and that would defeat the purpose of having the gems.

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  7. What a cool idea, Monica! I love how the gemstones are emerging from the rocks. Great job!

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    1. Thank you Jenny! It was fun to try and think of something a little different.

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  8. They look so real, Monica!
    Really creative, congratulations!

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    1. Thanks Natalia! I hope I can fool some people at least. ;)

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