What soapy thing have you done today?

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Hanger swirl on the left — pointy layers (I hope) on the right. It got a little hot, had some alien skin on the left one, but I can plane that off. I haven’t been successful in getting good pointy layers yet! Any advice?
 
I got some column molds in the mail yesterday too! I'm excited to get moving on some new soaps that will incorporate them. The cactus mold looks super cute!
I only needed the round one...but yes the cactus caught my eye and I fell in love! No idea what I'm going to it for though! Then I figured I couldn't have a sun without a moon!
I'm just worried about unmolding them now. Especially the cactus. I never have the best luck with silicone molds. 24hrs and some freezer time before unmolding?
 
Then I figured I couldn't have a sun without a moon!
Ah! Is that the moon? I couldn't tell from the picture angle if it was a moon or a half circle. I got that one too (actually two just to make my life a bit easier for big batches).

24hrs and some freezer time before unmolding?
Depends on your recipe. My recipe in a loaf mold gets cut at around 18 hours, but when I make the same recipe in the silicone column molds, I don't unmold until 36+ hours. They seem to stay softer in the silicone. I've never used the freezer trick for the silicone column molds, only when using pvc. Also, if you're not going to use the embeds right away in another soap, wrap them tightly in a couple layers of saran wrap until you need them (like you would with soap dough). This helps keep them soft enough to cut with the rest of the loaf. One time I didn't, and I broke all 9 strings on my cutter trying to cut through the embed!
 
They seem to stay softer in the silicone
That’s the problem I have with silicone molds, it seems no matter how long I wait the always stick to the mold. I put extra leftover batter in individual silicone molds and end up putting them in the freezer while I unmold and cut my original soap. And they pop right out, but then they sweet and ash horribly. But they’re my extras and I don’t usually worry about them. And I don’t want these to ash… will see! Thanks for the tips!
 
My first attempt at this month's challenge is all wrapped up and (hopefully) gelling away! My batter thickened up more than I would have liked toward the end, but we will see how it turns out!
 
I used another 1/2&1/2 container for a mini batch. Just hated that fake cherry scent so tried a slight variation of the recipe with a drop swirl & different FO. We shall see. 🧼 Oh & added more sparkles cuz ya know, sparkles! ✨ 💖2CE998A8-E654-40E5-8DB4-72B032A65D7C.jpeg
Kinda wanting to 😢 a bit. Again FO deceiving. Good in bottle. Meh 😕 in CP soap.
 
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I used another 1/2&1/2 container for a mini batch. Just hated that fake cherry scent so tried a slight variation of the recipe with a drop swirl & different FO. We shall see. 🧼 Oh & added more sparkles cuz ya know, sparkles! ✨ 💖
I've never seen soap glitter or sparkles in person, and I've always wondered, what happens to it in the water? When you use the soap, does it dissolve? Or just rinse off? It looks so pretty in the pictures I've seen and I've been curious for a while. :)
 
I've never seen soap glitter or sparkles in person, and I've always wondered, what happens to it in the water? When you use the soap, does it dissolve? Or just rinse off? It looks so pretty in the pictures I've seen and I've been curious for a while. :)

Depends on which kind of glitter you use. It seems most use the plant based glitters, so they dissolve.
 
Last night I made my first 3d printed soap mould 😁 I wanted to make sure there were no cracks or rough edges so I used a filament which can be smoothed with acetone for a glossy finish, then I'll make a silicone liner for it. It's very tiny, tall and skinny shaped but only big enough to make 4 bars! Hopefully that will help with testing out ideas without adding too much to my soap mountain...
 
@Tara_H Don't make my self-imposed 3D printer abstinence even worse than it already is. I'm trying hard to avoid learning about advanced techniques, like all these fancy filament types beyond good ol' PLA – and your enthusiasm & ingenuity makes everything worse. I don't want to imagine what happens once I've fallen into this rabbit hole…
 
I've never seen soap glitter or sparkles in person, and I've always wondered, what happens to it in the water? When you use the soap, does it dissolve? Or just rinse off? It looks so pretty in the pictures I've seen and I've been curious for a while. :)
Haven’t used the soap YET. 😜 However, when washing glitter remnants off stainless teaspoon in the sink the sparkles immediately floated to the top of the water. They are NOT “heavy”. I have a terrible time not touching my soap & usually try the soap end sliver @ 14 days. Will try to remember to post an update, but so far I am in love with ✨!
 
I made soap for the August challenge today. After dreaming up all kinds of complicated designs, I decided I should master the ombre technique first. It’s so hard to control the impulse to be a soap architect.

I’m also doing a series of experiments this month. I made five soaps that have the same “recipe properties”, with each batch based on a different hard fat or hard fat combo. The fatty acid profiles across the batches are as close as I can get them after considerable iteration. Palmitic + stearic is controlled across the series, but there is a bit of variation in p:s. None of the soaps are stearic dominant. I used NS 8th & Ocean because I want the tests to reflect how I make soap, i.e. usually with an FO or EO added. It behaved well enough in every batch and does not discolor. There’s no colorant added to the main batter. The next experiment depends on how I like the early testing of this first round. Here‘s a visual of the first set.

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I forced myself to make soap today (waiting for the frosting to get thick) Had my first migraine in 9 months last night and it was a doozy. Im exhausted today and my words are still slurry but I have halloween soaps to get done.
Did you have to make soap today? In any case I hope you get to rest now.
 
Did you have to make soap today? In any case I hope you get to rest now.
Sort of. I have a series of soaps that will release before Halloween. I really only have the weekends lately to make soap so That doesn't leave a whole lot of weekends to get it done and still give it enough time to cure.

Luckily I already had the embeds done and the main body of the soap is only 1 color. I'm planning on resting most of the day on Sunday
 
Hallo all! The only thing soap related that I did today was take pics of my almost done soap studio/lab/dungeon/sanctum/room (yes, I want and need a name for it lol.. Any ideas?)

Here's one
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Still lots more work to do. The metal bracket things are for the fake walls of the "curing room" and my shelves will all be adjustable

Hope everyone had/is having a great weekend!
 
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