What soapy thing have you done today?

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@SPowers omg, I had never made soap balls, until this week. I got those silicone ball things for ice (saw them at my local Charlie Cheap shop) and have been filling them with leftovers when child#3 has been soaping (well technically she did this not me, but it was my idea) and they look so very cool (haven't taken a photo yet).

@KimW is there a reason why you haven't soaped with Sweet Almond before? Sorry, if this is a strange question. I know for me, it's cheaper than some other oils and I also know where my oil comes from. Same as macadamia oil (it's not overly expensive) so it's one I use regularly. I know almond oil is one of the oils that doesn't have a long shelf life, so I was thinking maybe that's why?

@MrsZ absolutely love that colour, it's so beautiful and bold.

Since I took melt and pour out, child#3 has been making lots.
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6 loaves she's made up. well 5 on her own and one on Monday with a group of kids in the street which is the green one - lots of mini arguments - so cute. But democracy won! hahaha. But Miss10 has been very busy.

How many people bevel soap? I suck at it, but feel like I should be bevelling especially when we have issues like in green soap where it bulged in the silicone liner and wooden holder thing.
 
Nice @Juggsy ! My favourite is the green one.
I've never used sweet almond. I figure OO is enough oleic for me. I've moved to RBO at 20%, it's cheap and performs well. I also use 5% avocado oil. I tried it once and I thought it made a difference.

I think she did so well. I like her Violet one, except she was heavy handed with mica and got into trouble 🤣😂

But the one the kids did together wish I took more photos. It was adorable watching each of them pour and spray. They all had their own jugs and in a line would pour and spray IA, then move to back of line. There's actually three colours but I was surprised that they didn't completely mesh together as kids are impatient beings and waiting is not fun. 🤣😂


I love avo oil too. And can get unrefined avo oil fairly cheaply. Friends up coast have farm they are completely organic but not certified (certification is so expensive in Australia). So I get a good price.
It's beautiful.

I've only used rice bran a few times - I've had trouble sourcing, where to get some that I know the supply chain.

I pay a little more for sweet almond but it is less than 100kms away. At 242 for 20kg it's not too expensive.
My rice bran that's not organic is 198 for 20 litres.
Only information I was given after asking from one of our main suppliers here was about it's origin was "our supplier is in China", no answers to my other questions - the lack of information has made me stop using them.

I do hate trying to buy ethically at times but keep telling myself it is worth it.

I know that I make my soaping more difficult by trying to be more sustainable.

It's not easy being green, as Kermit would say.

Cut last nights beach soap made with Abalone and Sea, and pumice in the “sand”
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Don't know if I love that counter top or the soap more. Beautiful.
 
Yeah, RBO is a weird ingredient. I have a bit of a bad conscience using it (for soaping, cooking, whatever). It would be better if it didn't exist/be so easily available. People should eat more brown rice rather than polishing it – but by buying RBO I'm somehow encouraging manufacturers to throw away the bran. Mankind is heading towards a collective chronic dietary fibre deprivation, and I contradict myself by milling my own grains, but at the same time justify/reward rice polishers' work to some degree.

In fact it's pretty similar to the eternal lard/tallow debate. And yes yes, there is the same old story of “Hey, this grease/tallow/bran piles up anyway, and it's better I use it for refined products, before it is burnt or ends up as landfill”. But just as there, things are more complicated. Heck, even animal farming and rice growing are major sources of avoidable greenhouse gas emissions. But also integral parts of rural culture and diet in large parts of the world.

It would be so much easier if we had a back-up planet to start over, once we realised that we're messed up this one. But we don't.
 
The soap dough canes I made in California arrived safely back in Virginia yesterday. I’m anxious to make soap using them as embeds, but struggling to find the time to soap after spending two leisurely weeks on a mindless and totally relaxing vacation. My son and DIL pulled out their stash of my soaps while I was visiting. They had them all sealed up in a plastic container and some are almost 2 years old. One had a little spot of DOS, but otherwise they have held up well Including scent-wise.
 
Cutting shrink wrap to size & then shrink wrapping soap is hard on a swollen hand, so I may not get much of that done today, but I decided that I may as well take some act on the motivation I am feeling. So far, only 10 soaps done, but even slow progress is still progress. I am hoping to complete perhaps 2 dozen bars today, just as a minimum goal so as not to overdue it; plus I do have other work on the agenda that requires my attention and hand dexterity.

Now to ice the hand for a bit; I'll soak it in epsom salts at some point again today as well.

ETA: I overshot my goal of 2 dozen. I actually shrink-wrapped 3 dozen + 1 bars of soap. I also found a few bars of soap that I had tossed into a bucket whole with other scraps for confetti soap and the frangrance of these bars is so heavenly, I decided to clean them up and use them regardless of why I tossed them in there in the first place. I think they were a bit crumbly around the edges and I thought they wouldn't hold together in use. But I washed them all in a hot water bath to clean them up from the confetti that was already in the bucket and they are holding up just fine. So they sat under a fan overnight to dry up and I am thrilled that I was able to salvage these fabulous smelling soaps for my personal collection.

I'll give them another few days to dry out more and shrink wrap them as well.
 
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@Catscankim those ocean bars are AH-MAY-ZING!! I can almost smell them through the screen.

@Juggsy I don't use sweet almond much for soap, only lotions or salves, because it is relatively expensive where I live. But it does make nice soap when I occasionally splurge. :)
 
I attempted an ombre gradient pour last night colored with turmeric. Will keep you posted! I ended up with more of the colored batter than the uncolored batter that I was gradually adding the colored batter to, so we'll see how that all works out. It was still warm this morning, so I'm hopeful that I got a full gel. I used orange, ginger and cedarwood essential oils. It smells divine!
 
@Catscankim those ocean bars are AH-MAY-ZING!! I can almost smell them through the screen.

Thanks! I stress when choosing colors, so I am pretty impressed with myself on my color choice lol. But it was over all an easy soap. King tut gold and pumice in the bottom, and a easy peasy itp swirl for the top
 
Thanks! I stress when choosing colors, so I am pretty impressed with myself on my color choice lol. But it was over all an easy soap. King tut gold and pumice in the bottom, and a easy peasy itp swirl for the top
I agree - the swirls in the 'water' are spectacular. Is it a three colour ITP swirl? White, green and blue?
 
I’d never smelled it before. What do you use to make it? Are dupes not allowed to be sold there?

Also tested Honey Patchouli from EBB and cannot wait to soap with it.
We can get some dupes - but just none of that particular scent. I use 6 different Eos ( mostly patchouli of course) and have recently started adding some orange blossom FO to get it a bit sweeter.. It's not perfect, but it's not bad and it beats paying $17 for ONE bar of soap from lush.
 
Excited AND a new recipe/craft with add AND dyslexia, there’s bound to be fails. I don’t think I’ll have to trash them. But it was 30grams of poly80 NOT 80 grams! 🤦🏻‍♀️ Oye! Hopefully it all clicks into place in my brain soon.
Anyway, the axolotl bath bomb is pretty cute.
 

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Oh my. Used Karma from Flaming Candle, special request from a friend. Totally get why she asked for this FO (which is a Lush dupe). Lovely patchouli scent. May need to make a body butter out of it because it’s that good. View attachment 59219View attachment 59220
Gore-juss! Excellent job. Interesting color combo that I would not have thought of-- but it is perfect! I want deets. How did you do the turquoise/black layer?!
 
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