Citrus Soap Challenge

[2lilboots]

That is why I like her videos she explains a lot of things that sometime may not even seem important at the time.

 

[lizflowers42]

Curious...I used citric acid in my shampoo bars (3 more weeks to cure) as this was mentioned to help lower the ph of the bar. That in mind, I would be curious what the ph level of these experiments brings...if anyone is testing that

 

[Lindy]

To test pH in soap you need to grate off a bit of soap and add it to a little hot water and mix until the soap is dissolved. You don't want to use too much water as it will skew your results so use only enough to dissolve the soap, you can always add more if needed. This will let you use the paper testers to see what your pH is. This is not terribly accurate, the better way is to use the pH meters which can be applied directly to wet soap.

 

[Lindy]

So my back was finally good enough today to let me get some soap made and I made my citrus soap.

I decided to go with mandarin so I pureed 3 mandarins and then separated the juice out by forcing it through cheese cloth. So I had to add a couple of ounces of water to get enough liquid for the lye. Mixed it and it mixed beautifully including melting my silk. I dropped my SF to 2%. I decided that I would use Red & White Kaolin Clays plus Coconut Milk powder & Pineapple extract powder. I did an essential oil blend of Juniper Berry, 5x Orange, Sweet Orange, Grapefruit & Bergamot. This came to trace nicely and smells amazing!!! I put mustard & poppy seeds on top as decoration....

This will be cut on Friday so I'll post cut pictures then.

Has anyone else tried this yet?

 

[melstan775]

That looks amazing lindy! Can't wait to see the cuts. And glad your back is better!

 

[Badger]

Wow, Lindy, that looks incredible! I haven't tried the citrus challenge yet, but I am thinking about it now I have been loving lemon scents lately, will have to see if I can figure something out!

 

[AngelMomma]

Lindy, that looks fantastic!!

 

[Lindy]

Thank you ladies - I am so impatient - I want to see it cut too....

 

[Mommysoaper]

Looks beautiful! Haven't thought about trying any citrus in my soaps. May need to give it a try!

 

[green soap]

The EO blend sounds awesome. Such nice warm color. Is it from the mandarine? did you blend the skin in too?

 

[Lindy]

Thank you both!

Green Soap I did add the peel in too. Here is the cut picture. The colour comes from using Red Kaolin as well as white to create the colour. The smell is so amazing!

 

[Badger]

Lindy, beautiful soap and beautiful pictures Looks so yummy!

 

[Lindy]

Thank you Badger

 

[hlee]

ooooh. looks great!

 

[melstan775]

That is beautiful Lindy!

 

[cerelife]

lindy, I was just thinking about making a lemon soap today!! I have a bag of meyer lemons on the counter and they smell soo good, so I was like "Hmm...wonder if I could make soap with those?"
Well, I guess I'll find out Sign me up for Meyer Lemon Soap!
I need to order some lemon EO, so I most likely won't get to soap this until next week. At least that will give me some time to figure out how to do it!!

 

[Lindy]

Yay!!!! Just remember to reduce your superfat to allow for the acid.... I want to do one with lemon & lime juice.... love those scents....

So when are you going to do it? This weekend?????

Thank you all for your kind words....

 

[cerelife]

lindy, I ordered Lemon EO and Litsea Cubeba EO from WSP and some yellow and black oxide from Peak (along with the FO sample pack that was on sale which I soooo didn't need) on my phone at work Friday night! Which made me think of Lemon Pepper soap...arghhh!
Anyway, once I get this stuff, I'm gonna recreate soap101's recipe with the frozen lemon puree/pulp/juice as half my water amount in my lye mixture and attempt to retard gel.
I think I might try a second recipe with 1/4 fresh lemon juice and 3/4 distilled water in my lye mixture and add the lemon pulp (no pureed rinds) and zest to my warm oils and gel as usual.
I'll keep my superfat to 3% for both and add kaolin as usual. I can't wait to see what happens, LOL!

 

[Lindy]

Oh I am so excited to see what you come up with. Soaping 101 may not be scientific but she is such an inspiration!

 

[2lilboots]

I don't really think my soap fits the challenge, but I will post it anyway. I made this on 3/07/13. I put the lime in the coconut and stirred it all up....lol! Actually I only used the juice and pulp of one lime(for a 5 lb batch). Which gave me 1.1 ozs of liquid....lol! So I didn't lower my superfat. I put coconut milk in it. I used tussah silk, hydrated chromium green oxide, ground grapefruit peel for the top, and citrus mist FO from ED. The scent seems a little masculine to me. The little sample piece I used lathered nicely.