What soapy thing have you done today?

[Mobjack Bay]

Awesome embeds, no dos, new cutters, perfect colors of the rainbow, da bomb makers, and soap, soap, soap. What a great way to start the new year! Happy New Year everyone!

Aside from continuing to ponder the major question of our times - “what’s up with my soap?”, I made three 450 g batches to compare my cocoa butter-rich recipe straight (2% SF with aloe for split water) with 1) 2% jojoba (added over and above the lye calculation), 2) oatmilk as a split water replacement and 3) a new FO.

 

[LynetteO]

Made my 1st ever lard bar @ start of the new year. Of course didn’t go as planned but I’ve learned not to panic. Was 35% Manteca & prior to adding FO I could smell a little . With lard & other hard oils & a FO that I suspected was an accelerator, the batch left me no “play time” what so ever & went to THICK trace in a flash with about 5 SB pulses. I think I should’ve soaped hotter!

 

[Zing]

Soapy thing? got myself frustrated, is what! A few days ago, I made my first batch of soap in a year and a half: beer soap (water replaced 100% with some leftover IPA) scented with Hefewizen fragrance. Uncoloured, in bar molds. They seem to be progressing nicely and the basement smelled like beer for a few days
So today was supposed to be a White Peppermint loaf based on Humblebee's recipe. I made this one 2 years ago (with the smaller amount of cocoa butter) and just loved it. Nice hard soap with a delicate swirl and fresh peppermint feel. Because I have lots of cocoa butter sitting around (I may have not MADE soap for a year and a half but somehow I kept buying supplies) I decided to go whole hog and splurge with 20% cocoa butter. I probably have 6 different peppermint essential oils and have soaped with at least half of them, but this time I grabbed the NDA Peppermint Fragrance Oil I bought on a whim. Well, I should've stopped as soon as I opened the bottle and it smelled like.....nothing. But I measured it out, put it in the batter and just smelled...raw batter. My usual experience soaping with peppermint EO is that my eyes tingle and the whole house smells great. This was not happening.
So, my loaf is resting comfortably but it sure doesn't smell like peppermint :-( I intentionally used peppermint to go with the slight chocolate cocoa scent and I'm worried I'm going to get nothing. The kicker is that the Peppermint FO is hardly even cheaper than the Peppermint EO, so what benefit am I even getting? Not the biggest problem in the world, but a definite disappointment to start off the new year :-( :-(

***Lest you think that I maybe have the Yankee Candle Covid Syndrome, I immediately came upstairs and stuck my nose in a jar of peanut butter. It smelled so good that I then stuck a spoon in the jar of peanut butter. (For more information on why peanut butter is the go-to sniff test for covid-related anosmia, see: Heroes of the pandemic: Canadian professor has a peanut butter sniff test to combat COVID-19)

Good to see you again!

 

[KiwiMoose]

I cut my Victorian Rose soap. Very happy with the result (was worried I might have a contender for the meat soap thread).
*awaits dig from @ResolvableOwl about glycerin rivers*

 

[ResolvableOwl]

I've got a new batch of TD, this time from a cosmetic/soap supplier. Maybe it works this time.

 

[gww]

My daughter gave me a cheese cutter. She got it at good will for 5 bucks. It was missing one of the pegs that held the wire which a panel nail fit just fine and I had to bend the arm to get the wire to hit the slot in the cutting board part. I used it today to trim up my ugly bars I had made and it worked better then it was in my mind that it would work. It is great to have though every thing I add also adds to my clutter.
Cheers
gww

 

[KiwiMoose]

awww @ResolvableOwl don't be angry - I was only teasing

 

[Basil]

Ok, please forgive my naivete, and I'm not trying to be rude, I swear, but wouldn't cannabis itself provide the desired "scent" *cough*cough*stink*cough* without a scented oil? I'm cool with weed and all - I'm Canadian - but you WANTED the smell?

after I made it, I thought the same thing! LOL I think it's the same as NON alcohol

 

[ResolvableOwl]

@KiwiMoose
I'm not angry on you, a bit envious at most. I am angry on my TD (and/or some other factors in my process, that deny me these picturesque craquelé patterns).

@Basil
Avatar CUTENESS ALARM!!!

 

[jentlesoaps]

I watched your black soap YT video yesterday - thanks for sharing that process. I'm not sure I want to stand and stir for all that time, but it's on the "maybe I'll try this someday" list.

Yes, the smoke is an even bigger issue so if you do decide to tackle it as a project let me know and I can give some pointers for making it a pleasant soaping experience. I use my sun room and open up all the windows and the sliding glass (it rains a lot here) so I have access to electricity with my hot plate. Happy 2022!

 

[gww]

I know this shows what kind of slob I am right now but I was playing with soap bevel shavings and a microwave and small chocolate molds my brother gave me. wasn't doing anything else.

The colored one is with a tiny bit of crayon the color that is laying on the mold and the size of the color being the amount I used. The grandkids will never miss it. I did find that while most melted pretty good, I still had chunks that would not melt. Since I am just playing and learning a little of how things act, I am not that worried about if it is good or bad soap on this though even if bad, I will probably use it some way unless it stinks.
Cheers
gww

 

[ResolvableOwl]

The colored one is with a tiny bit of crayon

https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/crayons-for-color-experiment-results.82495/#post-869543https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/crayolas-to-color-cp-hp-soap.74017/

small chocolate molds my brother gave me

Any chance that they state which type of plastic they're made of? Many types of chocolate moulds are made out of PET (recycling code 1), that is formally not lye-safe – but acrylic (PMMA) isn't either, yet some soapmakers successfully (re)use acrylic moulds.

Low concerns anyway when you're “only” rebatching, i. e. the lye has already reacted.

You must show us how they look once unmoulded! (If they're stubborn to come off, put them in the freezer for an hour or so)

 

[LynetteO]

Made my 1st ever lard bar @ start of the new year. … I think I should’ve soaped hotter!

I’m thrilled with the lack of air pockets. The blue was SO THICK I just kept using swirl tool to attempt to “mix it” into the uncolored batter. I didn’t want a “chunky” look. Really excited to try a lard bar. Was my 1st time making & will also be 1st time using lard bar, to my knowledge at least.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

I just took the last batch of this little test series out of the mold. A new to me FO (pink bar) accelerated and discolored on the top of the loaf. The texture of the soap is not nearly as smooth as the two other batches. I’m not wild about the scent, so that’s it for that one. The teal bar has 2% jojoba added over the calculated recipe and is the softest of the three batches. The blue bar, which was made with oat milk, already feels almost as hard as the batch that accelerated 24 hours earlier.

 

[linne1gi]

Made my 1st ever lard bar @ start of the new year. Of course didn’t go as planned but I’ve learned not to panic. Was 35% Manteca & prior to adding FO I could smell a little . With lard & other hard oils & a FO that I suspected was an accelerator, the batch left me no “play time” what so ever & went to THICK trace in a flash with about 5 SB pulses. I think I should’ve soaped hotter!

Soaping hotter tends to accelerate the batter even more. 3 things accelerate soap batter: heat, over stick blending and fragrance.

 

[linne1gi]

I know this shows what kind of slob I am right now but I was playing with soap bevel shavings and a microwave and small chocolate molds my brother gave me. wasn't doing anything else.
View attachment 63529

The colored one is with a tiny bit of crayon the color that is laying on the mold and the size of the color being the amount I used. The grandkids will never miss it. I did find that while most melted pretty good, I still had chunks that would not melt. Since I am just playing and learning a little of how things act, I am not that worried about if it is good or bad soap on this though even if bad, I will probably use it some way unless it stinks.
Cheers
gww

Did you use the crayon to color the soap? If so, I don’t think that would be skin safe at all.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

I don’t think that would be skin safe at all.

https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/crayons-for-color-experiment-results.82495/#post-869543

 

[Ugeauxgirl]

I’m thrilled with the lack of air pockets. The blue was SO THICK I just kept using swirl tool to attempt to “mix it” into the uncolored batter. I didn’t want a “chunky” look. Really excited to try a lard bar. Was my 1st time making & will also be 1st time using lard bar, to my knowledge at least.
View attachment 63535

I made a batch with oat milk and it got much harder than I would have expected, given the recipe.

 

[Basil]

I just took the last batch of this little test series out of the mold. A new to me FO (pink bar) accelerated and discolored on the top of the loaf. The texture of the soap is not nearly as smooth as the two other batches. I’m not wild about the scent, so that’s it for that one. The teal bar has 2% jojoba added over the calculated recipe and is the softest of the three batches. The blue bar, which was made with oat milk, already feels almost as hard as the batch that accelerated 24 hours earlier.


View attachment 63536

Your soaps always look soothing to me

 

[Mobjack Bay]

I’m thrilled with the lack of air pockets. The blue was SO THICK I just kept using swirl tool to attempt to “mix it” into the uncolored batter. I didn’t want a “chunky” look. Really excited to try a lard bar. Was my 1st time making & will also be 1st time using lard bar, to my knowledge at least.
View attachment 63535

Pretty soap! I like the diffuse “foggy“ look and have tried to achieve something like your result, but can’t quite get there . Was the batter warm when you were swirling?