2022 (too soon?) Soap Making Goals.

[gww]

A little early but don't know if that really counts as I have not used it yet. My version of a home made multi cutter that I mentioned earlier on this thread as a goal.

As a side note, I actually cut this wood several years ago with a home made saw mill.
Cheers
gww

 

[SideDoorSoaps]

Great thread and ideas, everyone!

1 - Get a multi-bar cutter. I’ve snapped my single bar cutter several times this year. My husband made it for me when we started soaping so it’s sentimental but I need to cut

2 - Get a slab mold. I’m thinking 20 lbs sounds good.

3 - Find a couple more places to sell out of. I like working from home when I want to work and don’t want the overhead of having a storefront.

4 - Plan my email marketing better. I have a list that I use minimally.

5 - Join HGSC finally.

 

[gww]

Ok, first use of my home made cutter. 30 ounce batch home made mold gives me 7 bars.

As you can see, it did not cut with out wave but I did let the soap go catty corner while trying to cut. I do not know if it would fix it keeping it strait but my ideal is to put a grove in the bottom plate so can stick a ruler in it for the soap to go against while cutting. A 1 foot ruler should just fit between the wires. The soap should all be close to the same now anyway. So it is still a goal and not quite done yet. This is lard, deer tallow, coconut. castor oil and crisco in a small amount just to slowly use it up.
Cheers
gww

 

[gww]

I do realize that I am running this into the ground and I am about to leave you all alone on it. I just thought incase somebody decides to make their own, I might throw out my ideal to stabilize the soap that may be an easy way if it ends up working of course. I am hoping the stop stabilizes the soap well enough so that the wires don't push it on its side due to hitting the soap in the corner at the beginning. Time will tell.

Cheers
gww

 

[Zing]

I do realize that I am running this into the ground and I am about to leave you all alone on it. I just thought incase somebody decides to make their own, I might throw out my ideal to stabilize the soap that may be an easy way if it ends up working of course. I am hoping the stop stabilizes the soap well enough so that the wires don't push it on its side due to hitting the soap in the corner at the beginning. Time will tell.
View attachment 63141
Cheers
gww

You can keep going as far as I'm concerned! I'm always in awe when someone has carpentry skills. I got a "D" (my only) in wood shop in high school. And, WTH, you made a saw mill? What's next, making your own lye?!

 

[dibbles]

@gww, is there room to just lay your loaf on it's side to cut?

 

[Ugeauxgirl]

I just asked my husband to make me a wire soap cutter I saw on TikTok. Can I set a goal for my husband to make me that?

https://vm.tiktok.com/TTPdjfkrS3/

 

[ResolvableOwl]

@gww
Great work! Functional, almost offensively simple.
I just wonder if it might be good to have two of these retainers to keep the loaf from sliding?

 

[gww]

Zing

What's next, making your own lye?!

I actually did look this up to see if there was a sensible way to do this cheaper with stuff I could find easy.

Dibbles
There is just barely room to lay the soap on the side, I might try that.

Ugeau....
That might work better them my way. I also thought of just a box with a knife guide as the knife I used worked good, all but control of the straightness that is. I saw the single cutters also and was thinking does a multi cutter for just 7 bars really save anything. It was interesting to do though. I like what you posted though I think I might cut my soap a little softer and so stickier. Good luck with your request.

Resolvabeowl
You may be correct, I will know more later. It was easy to do and so would be easy to add to. Believe me, I am offensively simple.

Back to zing
I am not a wood worker. I do most of my cutting on things I build with a chain saw. I cannot do stuff that takes more then two days from start to finish and if it needs sanding, I am out. I envy people with legitimate patients and skills. I do not understand making stuff square and am a slob. Where I do excel is making small junk that is sorta functional using stuff laying around and not having to go to the store and buy it. Most times (knock on wood) I get lucky. I made the sawmill out of a garden tiller and one of those station weight sets. I knew it was the only exercise I would ever get from myself out of a weight set. Just like soaping, I had to join a forum to work the bugs out of it but did build some things with it. I also got really bad grades in shop but leveled it out with bad grades every where else also.
Cheers
gww

 

[gww]

Did one more batch today. I did put the soap sideways as suggested. The one stop was good enough though it just barely fit where it is with the soap sideway, but it did fit.

The soap was a little harder then I normally cut. There does not seem to be any wave in it now and the bars are good.

I still am thinking the single wire link that was posted by member Ugeau.... above might be just as easy to use and where I might be headed for just seven bars of soap per batch.

Still I am happy and if I made a bigger mold I could do ten bar batches. But then I would have to stop making sooner due to keeping up with the resources needed to make soap. Still the single cut seems so simple and useful and adjustable.
It was and is fun at any rate and was a good excuse to make more soap then I can use in any normal sense of the word use.

 

[Ugeauxgirl]

I have to talk myself out of buying big molds. If I make bigger batches, I won't get to make soap as often unless I start selling it. And that sounds like a lot of trouble....

Those slab molds look like fun though...

 

[gww]

I am not a salesman. It is one of the reasons that I don't work my bees harder. I want just enough. I had one job for thirty years and when I retired, I promised myself that I did not want to do anything that ended up being another job unless it was what it took to survive. I am a low achiever. I really do love to piddle and learn things (to a point) that I didn't know I could do.
Soaping is fun if I can just keep it small enough not to corner myself into the bad parts.
Cheers
gww

 

[TheGecko]

5) Deal with soap fails that are piling up and depressing me.
6) Stop creating soap fails.

No such thing as “fail/failure” ONLY opportunities to learn more.

I donate my “opportunities”. Half of them I cut in half and donate to the local homeless shelter. I provide my contact information and ingredients list. The other half gets wrapped with an ingredients label and donated to a local food pantry and DV shelter.

 

[TheGecko]

A little early but don't know if that really counts as I have not used it yet. My version of a home made multi cutter that I mentioned earlier on this thread as a goal.

As a side note, I actually cut this wood several years ago with a home made saw mill.
Cheers
gww

You need to cut grooves in the bottom so the wires go through your Soap completely.

 

[gww]

TheGecko

You need to cut grooves in the bottom so the wires go through your Soap completely.

That would be better and I knew it when I made it but in the end, it is working pretty good with out the extra work involved in doing that. I rock the soap a small bit for the last little bit and they are coming out good with just a small amount of potato peeler work to bevel the sharp edges.
I am still thinking of just making a single wire to compare the fiddle factor with.
Cheers
gww

 

[TheGecko]

TheGecko

That would be better and I knew it when I made it but in the end, it is working pretty good with out the extra work involved in doing that. I rock the soap a small bit for the last little bit and they are coming out good with just a small amount of potato peeler work to bevel the sharp edges.
I am still thinking of just making a single wire to compare the fiddle factor with.
Cheers
gww

Cheese slicers on Amazon are cheap; its what I used to cut my soap. I did modify it just a tad because the soap liked to slide. I got a dowel, sanded it down a bit. Sanded off some of the finish on the slicer, glued the dowel down along the edge. I got lucky in getting first dibs on an original Bud’s Single Bar Cutter, but I still use the cheese slicer for test batches.

 

[DMack]

Practice and hopefully perfect a swirl
But a square mould and a lazy Susan - I like the idea of spinning my soap
Buy micas to go with my fragrances
Make a fragrance for my OH to compliment his aftershave

I’ve got my recipe and fragrances which I’m really happy with. Now I need colour in my soaping world!

 

[Vicki C]

No such thing as “fail/failure” ONLY opportunities to learn more.

I donate my “opportunities”. Half of them I cut in half and donate to the local homeless shelter. I provide my contact information and ingredients list. The other half gets wrapped with an ingredients label and donated to a local food pantry and DV shelter.

That’s a great idea. Some of mine could be donated, others not - I made a loaf of vanilla blackberry that came out with lye pockets. So weird, I have never had this happen before. So it needs to be rebatched or salted out or otherwise made safe.

 

[ResolvableOwl]

Plans for the near future?

I feel a bit obliged to do something about researching dual-lye hardness and bubbliness (to make up for my absent-minded nosiness towards @dibbles, @Ladka and @Mobjack Bay ). Amongst about a dozen of other projects… my curing rack wasn't amused to see me restock NaOH .

It's probably also due time for a coming-out to a few people who probably would eagerly help me use up my soapy escapades, but who have not the slightest idea about them yet.

And then, there are some first-life changes imminent. I expect that they will heavily restrict my time budget for some superfluous luxuries that I currently believe I can still afford. Let's see how all this pans out.

 

[TheGecko]

That’s a great idea. Some of mine could be donated, others not - I made a loaf of vanilla blackberry that came out with lye pockets. So weird, I have never had this happen before. So it needs to be rebatched or salted out or otherwise made safe.

I’ve had four soaps that I have tossed. The soap that shattered, the soap that turned into concrete, the soap where I had the wrong lye solution to and I thought was going to catch on fire and the Marijuana FO soap (it was bad).

For the homeless shelter, I buy cheaper washcloths and zip lock bags. All the bars are cut in half and half go in the bags with a washcloth and the other half in a ‘refill’ box. Soap for the food bank goes into unbranded boxes with ingredients label and name of the soap. For the DV shelter, I go with wrapping paper, just to make it a little more special. Again…unbranded with just labels for ingredients and name of soap.