Let's go on an adventure! I've got some ups and downs and weird ingredients to explore today.
Batch #34 - Umeboshi Tea & Umeboshi Puree
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FO - Apricot by NG
Up first we have weird ingredients! This soap was made using umeboshi, a
pickled Japanese plum. I added powdered umeboshi as a minor exfoliant, added pureed umeboshi, and used umeboshi tea as my lye solution water. I also added in some Gold and Pink Brazilian clay. The middle is a MP embed which... I didn't care for as it made cutting these bars so difficult. I'll experiment with CP embeds in the future : )
I don't expect the umeboshi to do anything special beyond acting as a sugar, but it was fun to try it out for the novelty.
Batch #39 - Green Tea
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FO - Green Tea by NG
A remake of a soap I've made before
Made using green tea as the lye solution water plus green tea and nori as exfoliants, and sea clay. I tried to do more of a drop swirl this time, since I've never actually done a drop swirl before! : D
Batch #40 - Moringa & Hibiscus Tea
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FO - Loving Spell by NG
IT'S HERE IN ALL ITS MEATY GLORY! MY MEAT SOAP!
I added in some Red and Pink Brazilian Clay, but otherwise had no other additives.
So, my secret is I did, in fact, want this to look like meat. *dodges the
thrown at me* And when it went on a trip to Wagyu City, population 8 bars, I was horrified because that was the WRONG KIND OF MEAT. I did buy a steamer for these and this is the post steaming picture. As you can see, the ash went DEEP so it didn't all come off (I tested the steamer on some other random soaps and the ash on those came off completely, had to check) but it's a lot better than was did pre-steam.
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Batch #41 - Triple Rice (Rice Puree, Fermented Rice Water, Sweet Rice Flour + RBO)
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FO - Golden Sunshine by NG
I know most people don't wait until their erm... 41st batch of soap to make an uncolored soap but look... I like color. :'D
I decided to give triple rice a try! I've used rice flour and fermented rice water before, but the rice puree is new. I just saved a little rice from dinner one night.
Batches #42, 43, 44
I don't have any pictures, so maybe I'll talk about these another day. These went poorly due to a mistake on my part. Luckily, they're still functioning batches of soap. I'm glad my first major "failure" wasn't a lye thing but just an additive issue lol.
Batch #45 - 80% CO/20% OO/20% SF/35% Salt
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FO - Avalon by NS
I decided to make these for two reasons: 1. I needed a win after batches #42-44 and 2. I really wanted to try a salt bar as my skin is not having a great time this summer. I know salt bars need a nice long cure, but I'll probably snag one of these to use in the shower as soon as my current bar runs out. I will let the others sit, luckily I haven't noticed any sweating issues despite the weather.
I am glad I was able to make these in a loaf mold instead of a cavity mold. Even though the swirl gets blocked by the salty cracky texture, I find these super fun : D I am clearly on some kind of blue/pink/purple kick. These were cut at approximately 1:45 hours after pouring.
My one major thing I learned from these was to use more oil and salt than I think I do! I undershot my mold by a lot
I need to make a soap for the challenge (still...) but maybe after that I'll make some more salt bars. And maybe find something special to make for my 50th batch.