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Q: should my citrate look tan, or did I scorch it? I cooked about 1.75 kg Trisodium Citrate; since I used 1200g water, it took 3 or 4 hours to boil off. I cooked it on a medium heat, no double boiler.

He's determined to do everything I do, so I have to kitty proof EVERYTHING and think several steps ahead of him. 🤣😱😻 (No "helpers" harmed here; sewing stops if he gets close)

I'm so curious-did you faux marble your surfaces? I've been thinking about doing that, but haven't tried it!

Understandable concern! I wouldn't have put the soap anywhere he could have reached it if it weren't already solid, covered with plexiglass sheets, sealed inside a front tuck tab lock corrugated box that can't come open without thumbs, and then thoroughly wrapped and folded up inside a giant...

I usually cover and CPOP soap, but this 100% coconut oil cavity mold pour was already hard when I put it in a closed cardboard box, wrapped it in towels, and placed it on the only clear surface available (the couch). I caught my sweet boy inventing a new technique to help the soap go through gel...

Just blended black rice into rice milk; I'm curious to see how the color changes in soap! I'll have to look for @Dawni 's triple rice recipe (took this photo before straining). It's burgundy like my cabinets. 😂

Can't wait to see the results! Thanks for your fabulously in- depth documentation with photos!

I thought it would be fun to start a thread for the way trace affects swirls. These two infinity swirl batches are exactly the same (recipe, colorants, FO/EOs, swirl motion, same tool--an angled plastic knife), except: Right: I blended the first batch to a medium trace before dividing/pouring...

That volume explains the dreamy mica collection in the background when she films. It's just beautiful 😍

@DeeAnna OH my goodness--so glad you read that article, too. I HATE wasting stuff, and grew up in a Costco family... and people give me their old oils, so I loved the idea of being able to make something useful with this otherwise wasted oil. My 5th-8th batches as a noob were HP rancid oil soaps...

@DeeAnna I didn't get that idea by reading your article--your article helped me start questioning my wrong ideas and find some copper-rich ingredients to avoid, actually! After looking up the USDA info, dandelion greens are even more copper-rich than spirulina, so they could go on the list. I've...

I picked up a steamer to help with soda ash, and that's been my plan: steam the HP top before piping on top of it. I guess that's a good point about embeds and flowers; I guess with an uneven enough surface, the CP soap has an easier time grabbing onto a dry piece of soap. That's interesting...

Thank you all so much... Really grateful for your help. @earlene I appreciate your cautions; I probably won't bother with washing rancid oils, just to be safe! The last two months have knocked the wind out of me a little as a soaper... I was just beginning to masterbatch, made my first 4-lb...

I am an *****--I was sitting on the couch with the periodic table on the wall behind me when I typed that nonsense. Thanks for the helpful info on which are oxidizers... Ochem is next semester, so I haven't gotten there yet! Understanding the why makes such a big difference. I've never really...

Thank you! Welp... I need to go back and reformulate my HP recipes with lower linoleic/linolenic acid %, then! Here's the weird thing: I decided to learn HP after reading this article and the Q/A thread that follows. Sounds like there's an old depression era tradition of making 0% SF soap with...

Can you post a picture link?😍

I guess it IS about time to break out the autumn scents, isn't it?

🤦‍♀Realized that I used iodized salt to render all of my lard and tallow. Which means all my lard and tallow has iodine in it. Which is a metal that can cause DOS...? Welp... Maybe I'd better make a lot of pie crusts? And I love tamales... But maybe I can re-render this and make it soap safe.

Chemistry experts, please forgive any wrong wording. 😅 After 2 batches that shouldn't develop DOS did in my humid apartment, I've fixed the humidity, but I'm also second-guessing my understanding of DOS, HP, and rancidity in soap. Can soap salts go rancid? Is it only the superfat that...

Oof--I'm so sorry! if you find a good solution to this, lmk. I'm violently allergic to cedar and most other trees, so I don't use them... But maybe if I convince a friend to let me cure the soaps at his apartment? Then he'd get a nice-smelling apartment and I could breathe!