~Dragonfly~
Well-Known Member
I'm new here and to soapmaking. I made my first batch of soap on July 6th. I just couldn't bring myself to do a plain bar with no colors so I stuck a cucumber in the blender and then froze it into cubes, and replaced my water with those. For the other color, I used coffee that I made from my husband's leftover pour over coffee grounds. The plan was to make one bar from the cucumber, one from the coffee, and the others would be swirled or have some sort of design. These were made in a silicone 6 cavity soap mold I found at goodwill. I learned a couple of lessons. One was to not blend too much on the first one to go in the mold. By the time I got my coffee one blended, the cucumber was already setting up. Instead of swirls, I got a two layered soap that was green and brown 
Despite that, I feel like it went really well and the soap I made is usable, and I love using it. I was determined to get some swirls in the second batch but was too impatient to wait for ordering colors, so I used bright eye shadows as colorant. That batch went much better, as I didn't blend too much and got different colors. This batch was made in a homemade soap loaf mold, made from corrugated plastic I got at Michaels. I've made a 3rd batch and got in a hurry and made a couple of mistakes, but I'm okay with that. It's part of the learning process.
My goal now is to find a way to add color without using micas. I tried adding turmeric, annatto seeds, and paprika to olive oil this morning, and didn't pay close enough attention to my water that the jars were in, and it came to a slow boil. I don't know if that means I can't use the oil now, so I'll have to do some googling, and maybe start over. Anyway, that's me. I'm looking forward to looking through more of the posts and gaining more knowledge.
Despite that, I feel like it went really well and the soap I made is usable, and I love using it. I was determined to get some swirls in the second batch but was too impatient to wait for ordering colors, so I used bright eye shadows as colorant. That batch went much better, as I didn't blend too much and got different colors. This batch was made in a homemade soap loaf mold, made from corrugated plastic I got at Michaels. I've made a 3rd batch and got in a hurry and made a couple of mistakes, but I'm okay with that. It's part of the learning process.My goal now is to find a way to add color without using micas. I tried adding turmeric, annatto seeds, and paprika to olive oil this morning, and didn't pay close enough attention to my water that the jars were in, and it came to a slow boil. I don't know if that means I can't use the oil now, so I'll have to do some googling, and maybe start over. Anyway, that's me. I'm looking forward to looking through more of the posts and gaining more knowledge.
