Dandy dandelion soap and more…

[Mobjack Bay]

There’s something very satisfying about having soaps neatly and harmoniously lined up on a rack. From left to right: benzoin test with 1.5% benzoin resinoid (50/50 resin to carrier, like this but I bought it through Amazon), soap also has 1% orange 10x and ground calendula petals (1/8th tsp. ppo); dandelion with litsea and a little rosemary eo, with the color coming from the dandelion infusion; orange 10x, benzoin (0.7%) and a little honey and oatmeal powders with no other colorants added; cucumber mint made with cucumber purée for the color, a tiny bit of ground peppermint tea leaves for speckles and eo blend of lavender, patchouli, peppermint and a tiny bit of spearmint; white, some very lightly scented with an eo blend of litsea, lavender, vetiver (grassy) and clary sage (a little like lavender with a grassy hay twist to my nose) and some unscented.

edited to clarify/correct additives for the two soaps with benzoin

 

[ResolvableOwl]

There’s something very satisfying about having soaps neatly and harmoniously lined up on a rack.

I don't dare imagine how this smells right now! Olfactory noise pollution . But each batch on its own, I imagine it's heavenly. Love the idea to cut open a peppermint tea bag to add some specks to the green soap, let's hope they don't get too scratchy.

Are those smooth cuboid bars cut from a column mould, or individual (silicone) moulds?

 

[Cat&Oak]

I'm with Owl I LOVE the cuboid soaps but they are all lovely!

 

[Mobjack Bay]

After considerable late night detective work, I found the 4 oz cavity molds on Amazon. They have some heft to them, which I like, and have held up fine over 2+ years. Link

The scents are light in these batches, 3% or less, and in combination they’re like a symphony of the great outdoors to my nose. I made the cucumber mint soap on request for a friend’s elderly mother. I don’t find it scratchy and it’s a favorite of hers. YMMV.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

Re: benzoin test - I assume you added just Styrax Benzoin EO to the batch. If you don't mind my asking, how much did you add to achieve that lovely shade of brown? Also, do you feel any irritation when you lather up?

Re: dandelion with litsea and a little rosemary eo, with the color coming from the dandelion infusion
My personal favorite. Lovely shade of yellow! I assume you infused just the heads. Dried or fresh? How many heads will I need when I go harvesting next Spring? In how much oil?

TIA (Thanks in Advance)

 

[Mobjack Bay]

@Zany_in_CO I edited above to add the benzoin (styrax) resinoid info and to add that the first soap is the one with calendula powder added (1/4 tsp in 450 g of oils). 2% is the recommended max I’ve seen for benzoin usage, but the available products seem to vary in strength, i.e. some are 50/50 with carrier and some have 2/3 carrier. I used 1.5% of a 50/50 product I bought on Amazon (a bit expensive, but I was in a rush). I’m not recommending what I bought until I try the soap, which hasn’t happened yet. For the second soap I used 0.7% of the product I have, so possibly < 0.5% benzoin resin? I’m not 100% on the terminology for the various benzoin related products.

The dandelion soap is a ZNSB, with 85% OO. I used 500 g of an OO infusion that had been sitting around since April 2021. The batch called for 1275 g of OO total. Normally I would have strained the flowers out of the oil after a few months, but work was very busy this summer and fall and I never got around to it. On the upside, the color is very strong. The oil did not smell off and the batter behaved well/as expected.

To make the dandelion infusion, I filled a 1 quart mason jar 2/3 full with well-dried flowers (dried using a dehydrator) and then added the OO. I can’t recall exactly how many fresh flowers I started with, but probably it was at least a gallon. I don’t bother to remove any green from the flower tops and sometimes I don’t even remove stems, as in the jar below. The infusion yielded 500 g of oil. To get as much oil out as possible, I leave the flowers sitting in a sieve over a bowl for 24 hrs. As a sidebar, I also make dandelion infusions in RBO to use for making balms.

This jar is filled more than usual because I was running out of jars.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

 

[Basil]

There’s something very satisfying about having soaps neatly and harmoniously lined up on a rack. From left to right: benzoin test with 1.5% benzoin resinoid (50/50 resin to carrier, like this but I bought it through Amazon), soap also has 1% orange 10x and ground calendula petals (1/8th tsp. ppo); dandelion with litsea and a little rosemary eo, with the color coming from the dandelion infusion; orange 10x, benzoin (0.7%) and a little honey and oatmeal powders with no other colorants added; cucumber mint made with cucumber purée for the color, a tiny bit of ground peppermint tea leaves for speckles and eo blend of lavender, patchouli, peppermint and a tiny bit of spearmint; white, some very lightly scented with an eo blend of litsea, lavender, vetiver (grassy) and clary sage (a little like lavender with a grassy hay twist to my nose) and some unscented.

edited to clarify/correct additives for the two soaps with benzoin

View attachment 62685

I love your soaps Mobjack !

 

[Peachy Clean Soap]

@Mobjack Bay
OMG Perfect Beautiful Soap! & Perfect Bevelled Edges' can I ask which beveler do you use?

 

[Mobjack Bay]

Thanks you two
@peachy, the beveled squarish soaps were made in cavity molds that take all the work out of getting the job done! The link is in post #4.

 

[kirsten.]

So pretty!!! I love the natural colours and very tidy shapes.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

@Zany_in_CO I put a bar of the bezoin resinoid soap into rotation a few days ago. So far, so good. No strange skin reactions. It smells lovely!

 

[Ridingthesoapbubbles]

There’s something very satisfying about having soaps neatly and harmoniously lined up on a rack. From left to right: benzoin test with 1.5% benzoin resinoid (50/50 resin to carrier, like this but I bought it through Amazon), soap also has 1% orange 10x and ground calendula petals (1/8th tsp. ppo); dandelion with litsea and a little rosemary eo, with the color coming from the dandelion infusion; orange 10x, benzoin (0.7%) and a little honey and oatmeal powders with no other colorants added; cucumber mint made with cucumber purée for the color, a tiny bit of ground peppermint tea leaves for speckles and eo blend of lavender, patchouli, peppermint and a tiny bit of spearmint; white, some very lightly scented with an eo blend of litsea, lavender, vetiver (grassy) and clary sage (a little like lavender with a grassy hay twist to my nose) and some unscented.

edited to clarify/correct additives for the two soaps with benzoin

View attachment 62685

Indeed, very satisfying! They look wonderful. And I love the swirl soap. Is fhat an easy to find mold?

 

[Mobjack Bay]

Indeed, very satisfying! They look wonderful. And I love the swirl soap. Is fhat an easy to find mold?

Thank you. It’s a Silikomart mold. You can try Amazon or a restaurant supplier.

 

[Ugeauxgirl]

Gorgeous soap and I love those molds! I'm not allowed to buy any new ones unless I get rid of some..... Hmmm ..

 

[janesathome]

@Zany_in_CO I edited above to add the benzoin (styrax) resinoid info and to add that the first soap is the one with calendula powder added (1/4 tsp in 450 g of oils). 2% is the recommended max I’ve seen for benzoin usage, but the available products seem to vary in strength, i.e. some are 50/50 with carrier and some have 2/3 carrier. I used 1.5% of a 50/50 product I bought on Amazon (a bit expensive, but I was in a rush). I’m not recommending what I bought until I try the soap, which hasn’t happened yet. For the second soap I used 0.7% of the product I have, so possibly < 0.5% benzoin resin? I’m not 100% on the terminology for the various benzoin related products.

The dandelion soap is a ZNSB, with 85% OO. I used 500 g of an OO infusion that had been sitting around since April 2021. The batch called for 1275 g of OO total. Normally I would have strained the flowers out of the oil after a few months, but work was very busy this summer and fall and I never got around to it. On the upside, the color is very strong. The oil did not smell off and the batter behaved well/as expected.

To make the dandelion infusion, I filled a 1 quart mason jar 2/3 full with well-dried flowers (dried using a dehydrator) and then added the OO. I can’t recall exactly how many fresh flowers I started with, but probably it was at least a gallon. I don’t bother to remove any green from the flower tops and sometimes I don’t even remove stems, as in the jar below. The infusion yielded 500 g of oil. To get as much oil out as possible, I leave the flowers sitting in a sieve over a bowl for 24 hrs. As a sidebar, I also make dandelion infusions in RBO to use for making balms.

This jar is filled more than usual because I was running out of jars.

View attachment 62712

I give up? What the heck is ZNSB? TIA!

 

[Relle]

I give up? What the heck is ZNSB? TIA!

Zany's no slime bastille.

 

[dibbles]

How did I miss these the first time around? They are

 

[janesathome]

Zany's no slime bastille.

Aah! Another important soaping acronym to add to my list. Thank you!