What soapy thing have you done today?

[violets2217]

Fabulous! Did you make it from scratch? A kit? Written plans you bought somewhere? Copied from a picture you saw? I've seen pictures, but have not see plans or kits for sale, so am really curious. Oh, and if you built it from scratch, how costly were the materials?

I built it from scratch, I had inspiration from a photo on Pinterest. I was looking at my wish list on Home Depot & everything I used came to around $100. But I did over buy and have some wood left over… also had to substitute for some 2x4 with 2x3’s because all the cheap 2x4’s were wet and moldy and warped. I was kinda disappointed. It’s was a fun build. But I just realized this morning when I was admiring my handy work… my third try with the side drawer supports… they are crooked and not level as you get to the top… so now I’m trying to decide if I wanna take it apart and fix it one more time?!?!

 

[earlene]

Yesterday I shrink wrapped only one bar of soap. The rest of the day was taken up with other stuff and I am again wearing a restrictive brace on my wrist & hand that is splinting my 4th&5th fingers together in a partially bent position.

This morning I shrink wrapped 7 bars of soap before going over to help with dog training. I may do more today; not sure.

ETA: The total for Friday was 15 bars shrink wrapped.

 

[AliOop]

I’m on a road trip for two weeks with a single goal of hugging some of the dear ones I missed during pandemic isolation. I prepared for the trip by ordering a new customcrafttools acrylic slab (5”x7”x3”) soap mold with a clear liner. Why has it taken soooo long for someone to make a little slab mold that makes 2.5” x 3.5” bars!?!?

Great travel prep idea!

Yes it is! and now we all want one of those mini slab molds, don't we?

 

[dibbles]

Yes it is! and now we all want one of those mini slab molds, don't we?

Yes. Yes we do!

 

[Mobjack Bay]

Great travel prep idea!

Yes it is! and now we all want one of those mini slab molds, don't we?

Yes. Yes we do!

When obsessing for over a year about which slab mold to buy turns out to be the best strategy

 

[Rattanjeet]

After seeing all of your post, I feel so happy for you all that all of you are doing so much. Apart from your daily routine, you all are taking the time to invest in carrying out your hobby. Making such beautiful and lovely soaps and posting it here. At the same time I feel sad for myself, beacuse in the last almost a month or may be more than that, I havent made even a single thing, I dont know either I get so tired after looking after my kids that I am hardly left with any energy to do or may be the spark is off the track now a days.
I wish and hope that my energy levels are back and I could also share something with you all.

 

[KiwiMoose]

After seeing all of your post, I feel so happy for you all that all of you are doing so much. Apart from your daily routine, you all are taking the time to invest in carrying out your hobby. Making such beautiful and lovely soaps and posting it here. At the same time I feel sad for myself, beacuse in the last almost a month or may be more than that, I havent made even a single thing, I dont know either I get so tired after looking after my kids that I am hardly left with any energy to do or may be the spark is off the track now a days.
I wish and hope that my energy levels are back and I could also share something with you all.

Looking after children is VERY tiring. Don't be too hard on yourself.

 

[lesavonvert]

Finally finished putting this thing together! After a couple tries I got the drawers moving smoothly. Now just need to maybe add cloth to extent to keep dust and stuff out. I’m pretty happy with it. I’m going to make a couple more shelves too I think. I really like the T&S soap bars and they fit well in the drying racks as do my 3” rounds. So I think 2 more racks will be plenty.
I can now reclaim my desk, table and linen closet…
View attachment 59358

 

[lesavonvert]

WoW you can ne proud of yourself this is a verry nice rack

 

[AliOop]

After seeing all of your post, I feel so happy for you all that all of you are doing so much. Apart from your daily routine, you all are taking the time to invest in carrying out your hobby. Making such beautiful and lovely soaps and posting it here. At the same time I feel sad for myself, beacuse in the last almost a month or may be more than that, I havent made even a single thing, I dont know either I get so tired after looking after my kids that I am hardly left with any energy to do or may be the spark is off the track now a days.
I wish and hope that my energy levels are back and I could also share something with you all.

I agree with @KiwiMoose - don't be too hard on yourself. Creativity can include enjoying what others create, and storing ideas for another time.

If you find yourself without enough time/energy to do the whole process, you can also split it into several tasks that you can do here and there, including:

1. Make the lye solution ahead of time and store it in a tightly-closed and clearly-marked container, out of reach of the children. I make a big batch and keep it in a repurposed laundry soap container that has a big warning sticker taped to it.

2. Measure out all the oils together into one container that you can cover and store. Then all you have to do is warm it up in the microwave or on the stove when you are ready to make soap.

3. Measure out all the dry additives that you would dissolve into the water (sugar, salt, citric acid or citrate) and store them in a zip-top bag or small container.

You can do one, two, or all three of these tasks the night before, or the week before - whenever you have energy. Then you can approach the soap making prepared and less stressed or pressed for time.

I pray that you will have some rest and be able to do whatever it is - soaping, or something else - that restores your energy and joy.

 

[TashaBird]

Got my first bath bombs packaged for tomorrow farmers market. Making labels and packaging soaps today. I have several batches of soap ingredients prepped that are yelling at me from the shelf. But instead I made embeds for bath bombs. Wrecked my first batch, second batch turned out pretty good.

 

[violets2217]

Got my first bath bombs packaged for tomorrow farmers market. Making labels and packaging soaps today. I have several batches of soap ingredients prepped that are yelling at me from the shelf. But instead I made embeds for bath bombs. Wrecked my first batch, second batch turned out pretty good.

I’m kinda excited seeing this! I just ordered 4 more 3-d printed shampoo bar/bath bomb presses and one of them was the cloud press! I so wanna try this! I also ordered this as my “Birthday present to me” splurge! Hope it works like it says it should.

Now I just need an embed mold…

 

[TashaBird]

I’m kinda excited seeing this! I just ordered 4 more 3-d printed shampoo bar/bath bomb presses and one of them was the cloud press! I so wanna try this! I also ordered this as my “Birthday present to me” splurge! Hope it works like it says it should.
View attachment 59401
Now I just need an embed mold…

I hope yours works better than mine. I wish I’d waited until I could get the Electra press. But I just couldn’t have known. I like the look of that hand crank!
Yay for creative splurges for bearthday presents!!

Thought I’d try my lotion bar molds for some bath bombs. I’m seeing if I can get green water from blue bombs w yellow embeds. I like the performance part of bbs. And hoping to have some fun gift sets for the holidaze.
Packaging my soaps while listening to Waited Wait Don’t Tell Me is my favorite! Please don’t judge the smears on my iPad. SO many oils!!

 

[AliOop]

Finally put on my big girl panties today and masterbatched 36lbs of oil. One pound of this mix was my 20x ROE-over-treated home-rendered lard, resulting in a total ROE batch concentration of .027 (got the decimal in the right place this time). Only about 8 more master batches to go before I use up all the over-treated lard.

On a happy note, last March, the seller of our house offered to leave behind her parents' wax-melter (for hand/foot wax baths). When I enthusiastically accepted, of course I was thinking "oil melter" and not "mani-pedi."

Sure enough, this thing was perfect for melting the PKO for the master batch. After I got that PKO melting first (see pic #1), then I measured and microwaved all the other hard oils in 4lb increments. I'd have done more at a time, but my scale only goes up to 5 pounds, and I didn't want to risk getting the overage error.

Anyway, by the time I was done with all the other oils, the PKO was almost melted. Everything went into a 20q Cambro container from the food service store (pic #2). Time to get out the paint-stirring drill attachment from my husband's workbench. Edited: I actually ended up using my regular stickblender with a long stirring stick to get everything up from the bottom and whirred together. Worked just fine. I'll probably wrap the container with heating pads and a few bungee cords to gently reheat the mix if needed, and will use the paint-stirring attachment if needed at that time. Time to make some soap!!!



Edited: I broke down and bought the local lard, even though it was more expensive than waiting for my daughter to bring a cube from Reno. I was worried that my over-treated lard would start going rancid if I didn't get it diluted into some other oils pretty quickly. Plus, I had the time today, and it was good to get at least the first batch done and off my mind. Now if I can only find time to clean the greasy floors in my soap room!

 

[earlene]

Saturday (yesterday), I shrink wrapped 25 soaps, no more than 5 or 6 at any given session. I wait until I can take off my brace/splint because it's far too difficult to even try while wearing it. And even then too many in a row and my hand starts to hurt. But dang, it feels good to remove it (for washing up as needed) and let my skin cool down and breath a little. Plus I have to give the brace some breathing room, too, so it will dry out from me sweating inside it.

The weather here is turning cold overnight. (Well, by the standards of 'July is Hot'. ) It's really only low 60's (Fahrenheit) overnight, but that felt so cold to Kitty Baby a couple of mornings ago, she changed her mind about going outside (until about a half hour later, when she must have decided that her fur coat was enough to keep her warm enough.)

But in spite of the overnight lows, it's still hot and humid during the day and some of my soaps are sweating after I bring them downstairs to shrink wrap. I am so looking forward to a lower humidity in a couple of months time.

At least I am down to my last soaps to shrink wrap, but I am having to wipe some to get the humid-sweat to be absorbed before I can wrap them. It's odd that the main floor (where I am doing the shrink wrapping) is more humid than the floor where they cure (upstairs). Soaps that don't sweat upstairs are now sweating downstairs. I don't think I ever noticed this happening before. I asked Hubby to check the filters to the AC unit, but he hasn't yet. I may have to remind him again, or re-institute that Honey-Do List I had going a few years back.



I should do a count today to see how many I have left to shrink wrap. I really think I should be done any day now.

Then starts the labeling. I want to give a bunch to Hubby to take to work, as he will be retiring soon and I won't have this opportunity to give away as much soap as this affords me in one fell swoop. Well, maybe a bunch this month and then again toward the end of the year. I think his last day will be sometime in January.

 

[Zing]

I made soap today! It's a special order for a friend. Pretty involved with four colors (gray, black, white, pink) and four essential oils (anise, cedarwood, orange, lavender). I'm trying to replicate my, ahem, third-place winning Ione Swirl challenge.

 

[AliOop]

Made a fresh master batch of lye solution with silk in it, and then used my master-batched oils to make the first 24 of 100 bars due for a late September ladies' retreat. The cavity molds are on the heating pad now - hopefully will have pics tomorrow.

I have to say, having all my supplies and work table in the same room, with the oils and lye masterbatched, made soaping a lot more fun and relaxed. Plus, my laundry room is the next room over, and it has a nice deep sink, with counter for soap dishes. I mean, I guess the counter could be used for anything, but in my house, it's for soap dishes.

 

[Paulie]

Made this today, first in a long time.

 

[KiwiMoose]

Made this today, first in a long time.

They look pretty - keep them off that wire rack though!

 

[Vicki C]

Made a fresh master batch of lye solution with silk in it, and then used my master-batched oils to make the first 24 of 100 bars due for a late September ladies' retreat. The cavity molds are on the heating pad now - hopefully will have pics tomorrow.

I have to say, having all my supplies and work table in the same room, with the oils and lye masterbatched, made soaping a lot more fun and relaxed. Plus, my laundry room is the next room over, and it has a nice deep sink, with counter for soap dishes. I mean, I guess the counter could be used for anything, but in my house, it's for soap dishes.

Oh that sounds like fun… I love seeing people’s work spaces, like @TashaBird ’s great setup - inspired me to set up shelving for all my various EOs, FOs, colorants, etc. Maybe I’ll start a thread with photos of my area to try to entice others to share! Good day for it, it has been raining forever where I live.

Finally finished putting this thing together! After a couple tries I got the drawers moving smoothly. Now just need to maybe add cloth to extent to keep dust and stuff out. I’m pretty happy with it. I’m going to make a couple more shelves too I think. I really like the T&S soap bars and they fit well in the drying racks as do my 3” rounds. So I think 2 more racks will be plenty.
I can now reclaim my desk, table and linen closet…
View attachment 59358

I LOVE this! So impressed. Maybe I could do this, I do have a chop saw.