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Thanks. I have set it aside, with a note re the 14g of liquid removed, and started a fresh batch with castor oil from a different bottle. I vaguely remember there being simple chemistry tests for water contamination in oils/fuels, and will look those up tonight and maybe give that a try.

When I decanted some castor oil just now, the final parts of the pour included a thicker pearly opalescent liquid. It formed cute worms and blobs as I poured it. "No problems", I assumed it was just solid-liquid phase change ... not really thinking back to the fact that castor oil is liquid at...

A couple of hours before my sisters depart. Not much time for artwork - between long-walks, breakfasts, and afternoon shows - but I decided to drop the seashore theme and go with something a little more punchy. I proudly present the SOAP OF DOOM: "Not for faces precious... even orcs's faces".

Sisters!? Sheesh. It started out as a simple walk down our rugged south coast. It's evolved into a batch of volcanic black-sand hard-work soap now curing on the rack. No shortage of volcanic products here so the soap is grey-black, with black sand and ground pumice for scrubbing purposes. Maybe...

Cinnamon Leaf EO is quite a bit less expensive than cinnamon bark. Cassia EO is cheaper again, but I have not tried it (on order atm).

My batter traces pretty quickly, but that's not a problem as even if it's quite gloopy it pours into the vertical tube moulds fairly nicely. Mine is quite strongly cinnamon scented but I like that. Take care with your shape choices on that one though. Irreverent son titled my first, more preform...

I am trying that 'silver lining' thing. Apostrophe sounds much better than catastrophe, which is how it looked strewn over the floor the morning after the storm. That photo was intended to have my apostrophes bracketing three Dorothy Soaps - Dot, Dot, and Dot, the ellipsisters. Boom, boom! You...

Hmphhh! Soap is not inanimate, it's sentient. Not only that but it's malign sentient … existing entirely to trouble me. I am now, for something completely different, trying this IrishLass recipe. No problems with steps A through to E. I used the pharmacists' method, because it looked...

I do have a heap of cardboard boxes in the corner, from soap-making ingredient deliveries. They came in very handy for gift wrapping over the last few days and, yes, I could divert some of them for longer duration soap aging purposes. Thanks.

Nope. My soap-making efforts share a large shed-bench with electronics, woodwork, and bicycle repairs. The soap has managed to stake and defend a claim to the southern half of that bench and I've assembled a tall open wooden shelf at the end of the bench. So far I have left in moulds on bench...

A year ... and 20+ batches of soap … later. Reporting in. My soapmaking has remained utilitarian, not pretty, for personal / family use. There's an element of self-justification in that statement, because my efforts at pretty have ended up ... well ... utilitarian :-) Highlights: - Watching...

You were absolutely spot-on. My almost-year-old olive oil soap is now a lovely hard white (larger block in image). One batch, my first-ever soap making effort, has also introduced me to what I take to be my first DOS (smaller block).

Not how to shut-up ... clearly :-) They are oils. Steam distillation is just the method used, and it's pretty good for purifying stuff that is not dissolvable in water ... such as oils. If you do a little google searching, and head towards journal publications, and you will find heaps. Even...

Excellent point. Anything you can smell is getting into your nasal passages and your lungs, and those moist membranous surfaces are far more absorptive than your skin. I’m not sure that the skin was ‘designed’ for that purpose, although I agree that one function of our skin is to protect...

Yes, I found that one and linked another. Do'oh!

Hmmm, Google must hate me then :-( Even knowing the main author's name I was unable to find anything. I'll search here for those other postings. Hopefully they will lead me to the publication. Thanks very much. I found the other thread in these forums -...

Many of you are probably aware of the issue of environmental and pollutant chemicals (e.g. phthalates and bisphenols) having oestrogenic effects and, thereby, anti-androgen effects. There's squillions of articles and research publications 'out there', for example water pollution contributing to...

I am gonna have to find a song with 'amorphous scented blob' in the lyrics before I consider playing this un-challenge.

Ha! Old? Wash your mouth out with ... Oh wait :) The first page you posted, the font, screamed 70s at me but the rest said 80s-90s. Sorry Happy2018 but I am just plain not gonna accept that as old. I now see you've had folk following up in that direction already, and 1989 it is. Happy...