What soapy thing have you done today?

[Megan]

Prepped for the first batch of soap I've made in a month! Just a restock of a favorite (Tonka and Vetiver). I'll have time to actually make it today or tomorrow...depending or not on whether the baby lets me get anything done tonight (She's one and having trouble falling asleep at her normal 8/9 pm...hope it's just a phase. Lately she's been up until 11/12 and then I have to go to bed so I can wake up for work at 6 in the morning).
I also ordered 24 lbs of melt and pour so I'm planning on adding that to my repertoire. I figure, right now while the baby is needing more attention, melt and pour will give me the chance to be creative at a quicker pace than my normal prep for CP. Plus, I can do MP on my kitchen counter while the young ones play in the other room and I can keep an eye on them easier. With CP I'm not willing to do this because the risk of injury is too high in case they decide they want to play with mommy while she's in the middle of something.
I have a couple of design ideas already planned out for when it gets here! Some of the designs I think my 5 year olds can even help with!

 

[Basil]

Well, water-based masterbatch lasts until it's used up. It is quite usual to make it for months in advance.

Goat milk is mostly water (fine), but also sugars (slowly caramelising in the alkaline), fats (will be fully saponified after some time) and protein (cleaved into an amino acid cocktail that is loosely like soy sauce, and liberates ammonia). I have no idea how long these reactions take, and if the final broth is anywhere similar to fresh goat milk lye.

I think I’ll make a small batch today and watch what happens. I just had surgery and can’t do too much right now.. so that’ll be interesting to watch . Never made a master batch so have nothing to compare to. I’ll watch it for three days and take pictures of it.

 

[winusuren]

Unmolded and cut my soap! I used red palm oil at 5% and think that is strong enough. My mold is stained yellow and I'm hoping it's temporary. The patchouli/lemon/lemongrass smells awesome.

Must. Not. Use. for 6 weeks.... View attachment 43294 View attachment 43295

Wonderful. Could you please share the eo blend ratio??

 

[KiwiMoose]

The lather is definitely grey. I love layers, but don't love doing them. They are too fussy for me--I'm more of a freeform kinda gal.

I hear ya girlfriend!

 

[Zing]

Prepped for the first batch of soap I've made in a month! Just a restock of a favorite (Tonka and Vetiver). I'll have time to actually make it today or tomorrow...depending or not on whether the baby lets me get anything done tonight (She's one and having trouble falling asleep at her normal 8/9 pm...hope it's just a phase. Lately she's been up until 11/12 and then I have to go to bed so I can wake up for work at 6 in the morning).
I also ordered 24 lbs of melt and pour so I'm planning on adding that to my repertoire. I figure, right now while the baby is needing more attention, melt and pour will give me the chance to be creative at a quicker pace than my normal prep for CP. Plus, I can do MP on my kitchen counter while the young ones play in the other room and I can keep an eye on them easier. With CP I'm not willing to do this because the risk of injury is too high in case they decide they want to play with mommy while she's in the middle of something.
I have a couple of design ideas already planned out for when it gets here! Some of the designs I think my 5 year olds can even help with!

I started doing melt & pour when my boys were babies. I never did anything super fancy but it was still creative and quick. I ventured into cold process when they were in late teens. I thought it would be safe. Our youngest has the grace of a bull in a china shop going 100 mph. I was like, Dude! Do ya see the skull and crossbones on this pitcher of lye?! Do you think it's just a decoration?! Ah, memories.....

Good luck with the sleep stuff! I was stunned to realize that Mrs. Zing did not sleep through the night from 1996 to 2001. Every time I remember that, I could just cry for her. Can I help it that I'm a sound sleeper?!

Wonderful. Could you please share the eo blend ratio??

Wow, you just took me back to January 2020, the dawn of a new year, when we were carefree and hugging and shaking hands and touching our faces and bare-faced and going to restaurants, concerts and museums.

It was also the time before I regularly consulted Find Free Essential Oil Blends - Essential Oil Calculator for ideas and usage rates. I would rather you consult that site instead because I undoubtedly made some eo mistakes. If you haven't visited that site, you can select whatever eo's you want and get blend ideas and usage rates. Good luck!

Also as a P.S. to my previous post, the red palm oil stains my mold after unmolding and doesn't wash away completely. However, the stain disappears after my next batch -- and doesn't affect the color of the next batch.

 

[maryloucb]

Ok, this is much more my style. Wild Rose, colored with rose clay and activated charcoal. It’s got wild rose hip infused olive oil and rosewood, geranium, cedarwood, orange and litsea essential oils. It really smells like a bouquet of roses I did a hanger swirl. It definitely accelerated—I’m thinking it was the geranium.

 

[TashaBird]

Tweaked her shower bomb recipe I bought. This is my second try. Hoping they’re less crumbly. The seaweed powder made such a lovely fizzy foamy gel on the last batch! And love this new Nordic wares cakelette pan! Not sure how I’ll wrap them. Hopefully can shrink wrap…
And there just has to be a better name than “shower bomb”!!! Maybe shower truffle?

 

[KiwiMoose]

Ok, this is much more my style. Wild Rose, colored with rose clay and activated charcoal. It’s got wild rose hip infused olive oil and rosewood, geranium, cedarwood, orange and litsea essential oils. It really smells like a bouquet of roses I did a hanger swirl. It definitely accelerated—I’m thinking it was the geranium.

I use a 'cosmetic grade' rose geranium essential oil (i.e.it's like an essential oil but without the essential/aromatherapy properties) and I swear it decelerates trace.

 

[Vicki C]

@TashaBird I’m using 1/2 aloe and 1/2 goat milk now, so I think I could masterbatch the aloe? Adding the goat milk later.. and it’s always frozen as I don’t milk in the winter. But doable, right?

That’s what @KiwiMoose does I think

 

[melinda48]

I am fine, no worries . By hearsay, however, a “good friend of mine” indeed had less-than-ideal experiences with the NaOH micro-pearls. As you know, they love to cuddle with everything plastic in reach, including the thread of the bottle in which the NaOH came. It is a (not entirely implausible) rumor that the lid not even opens any longer without applying unpleasant amounts of force.
What I'm having a hard time to believe, however, is that said person, otherwise not so much known for careless and clumsy handling of dangerous chemicals, managed to spill a heaped teaspoon worth of NaOH pearls all over the working space. If this were a real story, the cleaning up afterwards would have been a real pain!

Why are people so stupid? Why isn't everyone just using masterbatched NaOH solution like I do?
[/QUOT
Guess we are all just not quite as smart as you. Wow.

 

[ResolvableOwl]

Guess we are all just not quite as smart as you. Wow.

I'll give you another clue: When I say that I use masterbatch rather than solid NaOH, it is the same level of self-irony like saying “What's with all these power plants? Why don't you just use electricity from the wall plug?”

Spilling NaOH is NOT smart.

 

[Misschief]

Tweaked her shower bomb recipe I bought. This is my second try. Hoping they’re less crumbly. The seaweed powder made such a lovely fizzy foamy gel on the last batch! And love this new Nordic wares cakelette pan! Not sure how I’ll wrap them. Hopefully can shrink wrap…
And there just has to be a better name than “shower bomb”!!! Maybe shower truffle?

How do you like those, Tasha? I've been looking at the recipe, debating whether or not it's worth it to me to spring for it.

 

[Vicki C]

Tweaked her shower bomb recipe I bought. This is my second try. Hoping they’re less crumbly. The seaweed powder made such a lovely fizzy foamy gel on the last batch! And love this new Nordic wares cakelette pan! Not sure how I’ll wrap them. Hopefully can shrink wrap…
And there just has to be a better name than “shower bomb”!!! Maybe shower truffle?

So lovely as always… I have been thinking the same thing, I have never made bath bombs, I recently bought the ingredients, and I want to call them something different - bath fizzlies?

 

[Whillow]

I made some skull soaps last night with Trial By Fire since I have had several people wanting red skull soaps.. I will be testing them before I send them out to make sure they don't make red bubbles; however, I was pleased with the strength of the colour.

 

[maryloucb]

I use a 'cosmetic grade' rose geranium essential oil (i.e.it's like an essential oil but without the essential/aromatherapy properties) and I swear it decelerates trace.

Hmmm, I didn't know there was such a thing!

 

[ResolvableOwl]

Recently I've been playing around with EO blends again. May I have found my first “accord”? Peru balsam EO really baffles me. A mere 5% can entirely transform a medicinal, camphorous and coniferous blend. 30% eucalyptus, you say? – disappeared into a indescribable cloud of luxurious fragrance.

I just showered, and used the opportunity to test the blend in vivo. That made me so self-confident that, after a minor tweak, I have submitted that blend to EOcalc.com. Let's see if it appears in the next revision of the EOcalc database.

 

[KiwiMoose]

That’s what @KiwiMoose does I think

Nooo - I don't master batch. I make my aloe up as 'double strength' concentrate and freeze it in 160g baggies. My full water amount is 320g, so I am then free to add the other 160g as plain water, rice water, milk or whatever I like : )

ETA: @ResolvableOwl - don't hold your breath. I submitted a blend a year ago and it's still not showing on there.

 

[AliOop]

So lovely as always… I have been thinking the same thing, I have never made bath bombs, I recently bought the ingredients, and I want to call them something different - bath fizzlies?

I've always called them (and seen others call them) shower steamers. But shower fizzies, shower scents, and shower scenters are all good names, too.

 

[Andy7891]

Ordered some "Lots of Lather" base from Brambleberry. I originally thought this was for beginner/first time soapers who wanted things as simple as possible, but I want things as simple as possible too, so I have one less excuse to not soap! And I'm not exactly super experienced either. I have a bit of buyers remorse, seemed like an impulse buy, but I keep having liquids pop up, like whey from making yogurt, or old beet juice, that I want to experiment with in soap, but don't want to go buy a single oil that I need, measure out 3+ oils, etc.

Well, water-based masterbatch lasts until it's used up. It is quite usual to make it for months in advance.

This is good to know. I read once that masterbatched lye-water should be used within a week of making- glad to know it can last more or less indefinitely.

 

[bookworm]

Ok, this is much more my style. Wild Rose, colored with rose clay and activated charcoal. It’s got wild rose hip infused olive oil and rosewood, geranium, cedarwood, orange and litsea essential oils. It really smells like a bouquet of roses I did a hanger swirl. It definitely accelerated—I’m thinking it was the geranium.

A beautiful soap. Would you be so kind as to share your ratios of the EO used? Thank you so much.

I bought a carton of what I thought was palm oil, it's actually vegetable shortening. The boxes were similar.
Unfortunately in haste melted and decanted into tubs before realising my error. Actually whilst pouring. it was in a semi solid state & I though that it's not the texture of PO & realised my stupid error.

What can I do with it? The ingredient list is so vague. It only says " Vegetable Oils & Fats; Antioxidant (307)"
I've read a few threads here, but still don't feel confident using it.
What is it's purpose in CP soap?
Do I input "crisco" in SoapCalc?
What percentage would be good to use?
Your invaluable advice is as always so much appreciated. (sometimes I think I use all of you as a crutch and would feel so lost otherwise)

Thank you so much.