Its been awhile....

[Scentapy]

I took MONTHS off from soaping to enjoy the summer and plan a wedding. Anyway... I jumped back into it last week. In the past I have generally done HP soaps and love them but wanted to try the CP method so I could get smoother, creamier looking soaps, try out textured tops, swirls, etc. Its been a fustrating week! :wink:

Orange, Tangerine, & Grapefruit w/ Earl Grey Bergamot Tea. My towel was touching the soap during insulation and ruined the tops

By kimfa1 at 2011-09-20T
Tried out textured tops. NOT sure what is happening in my soap? Looks like crackle :cry:

By kimfa1 at 2011-09-20

My attempt at a swirl! CANNOT wait to cut tomorrow! The anticipation is killing me!

By kimfa1 at 2011-09-20

 

[Pretty n Plain]

Oh my goodness, I bet that first soap smells gorgous, did you do the swirl all the way through on the 3rd soap?, looking forward to seeing it all sliced up. i'm in swirl faze atm, can't get enough of them lol

 

[Scentapy]

It DOES smell fabulous! It has the perfect balance of fruit & spice to transition from summer to fall.

I did do the swirl all the way through. I started w/ the spoon method but my white was at a thicker trace than my gray so I couldn't spoonl the white as easily. I love, love all the things you can do with CP so I decided to give it a whirl and see how I do. I like HP very much (instant gratification & holds scent better) and I wll continue to do HP as well.....BUT I feel CP allows much more creativity w/ textured tops, swirling, layering, etc. I have layered with HP but its much harder to work with as you are limited due to the gloppiness at pour and I have done ITP swirls but they don't look the same. LOL.. my goal this weekend is to keep doing CP and trying out the different techniques that I see and read about.

 

[AmyW]

They are ALL gorgeous!!! The 2nd is probably from heat or TD if used, a few of us have gotten that. I cannot wait to see the 3rd cut, that is amazing!

 

[Relle]

Love the top one and the swirl looks great, did you line the mould for your swirl ?

 

[Scentapy]

They are ALL gorgeous!!! The 2nd is probably from heat or TD if used, a few of us have gotten that. I cannot wait to see the 3rd cut, that is amazing!

Thanks!
I did use TD so maybe thats it?!

 

[Scentapy]

Love the top one and the swirl looks great, did you line the mould for your swirl ?

I did't line my mold....I haven't figured out how to do seamlessly yet. I will unscrew the mold to get the soap out. Its a pain!

 

[Dragonkaz]

Your CPs look fantastic!

Like the others, I can't wait to see the cut bars of your swirled soaps!

 

[AmyW]

Love the top one and the swirl looks great, did you line the mould for your swirl ?

I did't line my mold....I haven't figured out how to do seamlessly yet. I will unscrew the mold to get the soap out. Its a pain!

Be careful! The lye will eat through the wood and ruin the mold. I use freezer paper, the method similarly to this http://www.soap-making-resource.com/lin ... molds.html

 

[Scentapy]

Oh my...I never thought about that...thanks AmyW! Thanks for the link..i will force myself to learn how to line it!!

 

[dOttY]

Your first soap, really catches my eye. But they all look great.

I too got crackle. I put it down to the Titanium Dioxide overheating during gel. I have used TD before, and not gelled, and not had a drama with it. So now if I'm using TD, I don't gel.

In regards to lining your moulds, I learnt from this YouTube:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jbm6tXKuZsI"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jbm6tXKuZsI[/ame]

It's really easy! I promise, LoL.

 

[aroma]

Your soaps are very pretty

 

[Scentapy]

Your first soap, really catches my eye. But they all look great.

I too got crackle. I put it down to the Titanium Dioxide overheating during gel. I have used TD before, and not gelled, and not had a drama with it. So now if I'm using TD, I don't gel.

In regards to lining your moulds, I learnt from this YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jbm6tXKuZsI

She rambles on a bit, and it's offputting, but her method works a treat and is really easy! I promise, LoL.

Thank you for the info, I will check out the video! I definetly need to line the mold...i ruined the sides of the swirl trying to get it out of the mold :cry:
After 24 hours the soap was still soft & cream like on the sides. It was a weird consistency...not hard & smooth-like but more like dry & "furry" (maybe not the best word to describe it but I can't think of the right way to explain it).

 

[Bubbles Galore]

They look good. First two look like they gelled and the second one may have overheated a bit. :wink:

 

[Scentapy]

So.... by going through the forum I found out that my swirl soap (which has a chalky *not furry-like* consistency is due to too much TD. Is it ruined?

 

[Scentapy]

In regards to lining your moulds, I learnt from this YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jbm6tXKuZsI

Watched this video last night and lined my mold with great success!!!!!! Happy Dance!! The soap I made last night came out so fabulously smooth!

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!