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Yes. I like the color. No idea what type of acid dye? was used.

I just tried pieces of a black 100% silk shirt in a test batch. I first dissolved a piece of silk in lye water. There seem to be stages as the lye breaks down the silk threads into thread segments and proteins. The soap feels dreamy after only 5 days.

I'm trying to think thru the process of how to clean dirty webs. With the last batch, I manually removed large debris with tweezers, put the web material in the lye solution. I strained the solution which still contained some webbing and smaller debris. My latest collection is much bigger, and...

My sister is also freaked by spiders. I used to be like her, but I've been working very hard to suppress my inner screams. But as soon as I tried the soap with those proteins in it, I was running all around my sister's house collecting old webs. She thought I'd gone off the deep end, but she was...

Spiders seem pretty easy going about rebuilding their work. :)

Thanks for the tip. It makes perfect sense to scale back on the blending tool.

For those who were curious about the outcome, I just tested a small piece of the soap even though its only a week old. I have to say I'm in love with this soap. It was bubbly almost instantly, turned into a creamy silky feel that is truly seductive. Gonna go smoke a cigarette now. ;) Biggest...

Yes, there was milk in the spider silk batch. Are you saying the combination of the milk and spider web proteins denature (like cooked egg whites)?

Oooh! You are implying the size of the batch can impact the time to trace? The second batch was extremely small (total weight approximately 140 gms. I've never made one that small before. I hadn't considered the batter amount in time to trace. Thanks!

I realize the OP is old, but I have the same question about the addition of silk accelerating the trace. In my first silk batch, I added spider silk and milk to the lye water and the combo thicken to a paste. In the second batch I added some silk fabric to the lye water. Within a minute of...

I'm definitely not crazy about most spiders. I do like daddy-long-legs. But I surprised myself once I considered spider silk, in quality, is better than the mulberry silk. My curiosity went into overdrive. After I collect the spider webs, I tease out as much debris as possible. Right now, there...

I hadn't thought of that. It would be! LOL 🕸️ 🕷️

My favorite part about soapmaking is the chemistry. From what I've read, spider silk is much stronger than worm silk or Tussah silk. I haven't found any info that claims a stronger spider silk results in a silkier soap, though. On the plus side, I live in an area where I can easily collect lots...

I've made 7-8 batches of soaps to date, all with sheep's milk and haven't had a problem. I keep the milk frozen, set it in an ice bath, add the lye and keep stirring while monitoring the temp and the color. I refrigerate the soap batter after trace, so there won't be a chance for the lye to...

Thanks for letting me know you've tried it in salves and soaps. I'm encouraged. I'm in central VT. Yes, I noticed the drought curtailed a lot of the wild plants I was looking forward to seeing this year. But I have the perfect little backyard for jewelweed. I live near a creek and have lots of...

Quite a bit more rubbing alcohol mixed into the reheated 'buttercream'. Had the transfer it into a larger pot; added dissolved borax and extra water. Finally, I recaptured that liquid soap from the 'buttercream'. Now, I won't be tempted to eat it.

During my second batch of liquid soap a thick layer of foam developed. No matter how long I heated the batch, gently folded, added more water, KOH or oil, the layer persisted. I turned off the crock pot and let the batter sit overnight. Next day, the layer was still there, so I scooped it off...

Here, in central VT, jewelweed is prolific and happy... such beautiful flowers. I also produced a tincture from the plant. I may try a bit of the tincture in a future test soap batch.

I caught that video a few days ago and went crazy ordering all the ingredients I didn't have. I so want to make it. :) Just waiting for the annatto seeds.

Could jewelweed sap or tincture be used as an additive in a CP soap batch to improve any soap property like lather or conditioning?