What soapy thing have you done today?

[cmzaha]

I actually made something today. A former customer called last week informing me she is out of Deodorant sticks, so I had to make up a batch of my deo base. Of course, I could not get to all my packed boxes in which I had my deo supplies packed so I had to order some of the ingredients. Wow, what sticker shock when I saw the prices for some of my main ingredients which I know are neatly packed. She buys multiples and keeps them refrigerated so I stupidly thought she would have enough stockpiled until my move. I made enough base for 21 tubes.

 

[RødgrødMedFløde]

Made a small shaving soap batch. Trying to put together my dream soap. Because it's very much a "croap" it takes more time then I want to wait to firm up enough to see if I need to adjust my KOH/NaOH ratio, so I can't just pump some out every day and readjust... Being patient is lame...

 

[Servant4Christ]

I now have 5lbs of rebatched soap setting in my mold until after the holiday weekend. It is an ugly but somewhat uniform shade of olive green and the scent is much more mellow and pleasant now that it is thoroughly incorporated into the full batch instead of just half the batch.

 

[Ford]

Just back from post office. Order from Mad Micas. Couple of glitters, reorder big jar of a favorite. And some brighter yellows and pinks. And a free sample. Just replacing newbie purchases. As they run out. Being able to make better choices these days. Thanks gang!

 

[Soap Kat]

y'all been busy!

I'm waiting for my fail soap bars to harden (over blended and it seized) but figure at least I'll have about 10 "rustic" bars of soap that smell awesome (patchouli, ylang ylang, cinnamon)

 

[AliOop]

y'all been busy!

I'm waiting for my fail soap bars to harden (over blended and it seized) but figure at least I'll have about 10 "rustic" bars of soap that smell awesome (patchouli, ylang ylang, cinnamon)

Did you use EOs or FOs? Either Ylang EO or cinnamon EO will definitely accelerate your batter. Combining them into one batch, especially if you are soaping warmer, is guaranteed excitement.

 

[Soap Kat]

Did you use EOs or FOs? Either Ylang EO or cinnamon EO will definitely accelerate your batter. Combining them into one batch, especially if you are soaping warmer, is guaranteed excitement.

EOs. I did not realize they would accelerate - usually I read up on them first but today was a last minute "hey let me make a batch of soap" kinda day. I did soap a bit warm too cuz impatience. Thanks for the info!!

 

[dmcgee5034]

Did you use EOs or FOs? Either Ylang EO or cinnamon EO will definitely accelerate your batter. Combining them into one batch, especially if you are soaping warmer, is guaranteed excitement.

“Excitement”…. LOL, is that what we call it, @AliOop? That sounds so much better than what I call it… a freak out

 

[dmcgee5034]

I have another small turtle stamp from MKM pottery that works fine even when the soap is firmer. Using a piece of plastic wrap between the stamp and the soap makes it easy to keep the stamp clean and doesn’t affect the impression.

I received my cute little soap stamps (thanks for the link and tips, @Mobjack Bay ) and they worked pretty good for a first try.

 

[JuLeeRenee]

I combined 2 of my favorite hobbies to make a mold. I 3d printed an elephant to make the mold. Now I just need to find time to make soap and try it out.

 

[dmcgee5034]

Today I made a fresh MB of fats, but I’m trying something different for me. I’m leaving the palm oil out of the MB, and I’m going to do the palm as a % of my MB on demand so I can melt it to 150 degrees without melting all my fats to that temperature. I like to soap near room temp, and I don’t want to heat it all to 150 and then play the waiting game for all of it to come back down to room temp.
I feel like my last batch had steric spots - maybe I didn’t get it quite hot enough - then I got impatient and started with it warmer than typical for me and it sped up more than I wanted. So it’s time to try a new way and see how it goes.
Anyone have any thoughts on this, or do something similar?

 

[Chaiat5]

We made soap out of used cooking oil (sunflower, cleaned!). It is our second attempt... in our first attempt, we used blue mica and the soap bars came out swirly. We used only a little of the blue this time and our soaps turned out a pretty light sage colour. We've only used the soaps for washing up our rags and general cleaning, not bathing.

 

[Shelley D]

Well, my goal is to use this 3 day weekend to make 2 batches of soap, an oat milk soap and a brine soap. To prep my oat milk, I soaked oats in some of my almond coconut milk for a few days and it got super thick and creamy
I followed instructions and made my lye solution with half the liquid, and added the other half as oat milk to the melted oils and OMG the resulting batter is super smooth and creamy! I could feel it warming up as I poured it into the cavity molds so I put it in the fridge for now. The wait is going to drive me crazy!
My next one will be the brine soap, but I had to rest my back, it's not what it used to be
*Update: I just unmolded these and I realized I really need to work on my patience I used a cavity mold set that has a pretty swirl design and it's a heavy/firm silicone so trying to get that luscious soft soap out was a mess. Should have left it in a few more days as the bottoms (where the swirls are) weren't quite firm enough so the edges and corners have been reshaped by me smooshing the scapings back onto the bars
On the plus side, the oat milk might be my miracle ingredient! As I washed the residue off my fingers it felt slimy at first, but then rinsed quickly and I didn't feel sticky! I can't wait until these cure so I can put it to the shower test!

 

[Blue1969]

Wow, what a week! Finished preparing for a huge show coming up in our area. Feels like I made hundreds of soaps. (Probably have - will count tomorrow) Finished up every bit of tallow that has been irritating everybody using the fridge and tried a lot of new techniques, additives, etc. It was really exciting to try a lot of different things.

 

[Georgeandstella]

Wow, what a week! Finished preparing for a huge show coming up in our area. Feels like I made hundreds of soaps. (Probably have - will count tomorrow) Finished up every bit of tallow that has been irritating everybody using the fridge and tried a lot of new techniques, additives, etc. It was really exciting to try a lot of different things.

Please share your set up for the big show and let us know how it went!

 

[dmcgee5034]

I made a batch of soap today, doing my best to make one of the soaps in the Making Soap magazine Design Mania tutorials. I’ll post pics after I cut it tomorrow.

 

[Shelley D]

Aaaaand I finally got the brine soap made ~ it's chillin' in the fridge I should have enough soap to last a lifetime trying different recipes to figure out what is best for my skin. I guess my family will be getting some variety gift boxes
*Update: I used a loaf mold for this batch and it popped right out ~ a good sign I think. As I cut it into bars, the inside was firm but kind of moist/sticky, but it does have a creamy smoothness to it so I can't wait to try it also! This was also the first recipe that I made adding superfat (shea butter) at trace, and using salt water/brine to make the lye solution ~ so an interesting first for me all the way around! Now I wait . . . ️️️️️️

 

[BWt]

y'all been busy!

I'm waiting for my fail soap bars to harden (over blended and it seized) but figure at least I'll have about 10 "rustic" bars of soap that smell awesome (patchouli, ylang ylang, cinnamon)

Ooohhh patchouli ylang ylang cinnamon. What a gorgeous combination.

 

[sweethavenarts]

I finally sprung for a multi bar cutter and I'm so happy. Cut one loaf of soap. The other one was still to soft to cut. Man, soap takes way longer to cure in the mid west than it did in the desert! (Last time I soaped I was in a different climate.)

 

[Servant4Christ]

I just opened a package of FOs from nurture! I love love love these smells and cannot wait to try them!