Great Cakes Soap Works Soap Challenge Club Mantra Marbles Challenge

Mantra Marbles - Citrus Wasabi, AKA "Murphy's Law". Why? Oh, let me tell you why. You know the saying, "Everything that can go wrong, will"? Oh, it will. It will, indeed. So the plan was - the plan was, I was going to make a practice batch. This was it. Then, I was going to make a few more batches. And then I was going to pick the very best one - (and you. are. it.) Well, of course, that's not what happened, is it? No, it isn't. First, I had no colorants. I ordered some from a vendor I had never used on Etsy. Who then happened to be on vacation. But that's okay, they shipped as soon as they could, and the tracking information said it would be here soon, and I followed it online and it looked great, and then... whaaa?? It kept going in some weird loop in Fort Worth?! Even USPS didn't know what was going on?! Finally someone kicked the package in the fanny and sent it on it's way and it arrived WAY after it should have (like weeks after) and I jumped for joy and I immediately started making soap! But wait! Are these oxides oil or water dispersable?! I sent the vendor a message.. he.. he doesn't know?! Oh, okay.. he says that night that they're oil dispersable. So on with the soaping! Wait.. my soap is getting these oily rivers of color and it looks awful!! Okay. Okay. Just go with it. Maybe it looks good on the inside, right? Right. So a few days later, I go to cut it and - OH NO! My cutter breaks.. in the middle of the cut! So I have to finish it with a kitchen knife.. a serrated one, at that! Oh, man.. grooves all in my soap.. And my cuts are of course not *quite* straight, because I have neuropathy in my hands, so they're numb and shaky. And what is this? Bits of titanium dioxide in it? Boy, oh boy. The good news is, the colors INSIDE were good, and once I cut all the outside layers off, it was ok as far as oiliness went.. (future tries went fine when dispersing with water, just for the record) Alright, well.. that's what practice batches are for, right? Yes, they are. But wait. There's more. We suddenly get the call from our landlord that our downstairs neighbor - in the big, double-the-square-footage, much nicer apartment, is moving out and if we want it we can start moving in tomorrow. WHAT?! So yes. I start moving. And what happens when a 4'10" woman moves a 5 person home herself in 3 days? She injures a back muscle.. then injures a rotator cuff while putting up curtains in the new apartment. (insert pained, annoyed, knew-this-would-happen emoticon face here) So. Here I am. Deadline day. And all I have is this one, gosh darned batch of soap. I was going to call it Citrus Wasabi - because golly gee, it IS in fact scented with a lovely blend of lime EO, sweet orange EO, and Wasabi FO from Brambleberry. (and colored with (grrrr) TD, black oxide, and yellow oxide). But instead, I am naming it Murphy's Law. Because, well, apropos. I made it by doing half yellow oxide, the other half was white, black, and yellow and I did a version of the striped swirl. However, instead of just layering the vertical stripes on top of each other, I let them roll down the side of the divider into the outside compartment so that they stacked up on top of each other (black white yellow black white yellow etc), then I swirled them with a big, thick, milkshake straw. :)

(And by the way, I chose these colors because we only recently moved to a new town, right before Christmas. This was a huge deal, as we moved from our hometown, mine of half my life and my husband of his entire 33 years. Our new town's local colors are black/yellow/white and we are very happy and proud to be a part of this community, so they were the first colors that came to mind! Yay! )