What soapy thing have you done today?

[CloudShave1487]

I have a 2lb batch of Lavender/Peppermint soap sitting on the counter wrapped in a towel going through gel phase. I am not fond of the scent, but my daughter requested it. I made both of us some lip balm also. Hers has peppermint EO in it.

I will probably get lots of flack for this, but this is how I clean up my soaping. I make sure my sinks are free of dishes that we eat out of and the dishwasher is also.

I pour about half a sink of really hot water with about a pint of vinegar added to it. I scrape every last gram I can get of soap out of my bowl, and off my SB, and off the spatula. I then wipe everything down with paper towels to remove all possible residue. Then they get rinsed with LOTS of HOT water at full force. Then into the vinegar sink they go. They get swished and washed thoroughly with a plastic scrubbing brush. All of this with gloves still on. Rinsed again, then run through the dishwasher.

I am making liquid soap when my new pH meter comes in, so I am going to do some testing of the vinegar water before and after washing my soaping stuff just to see.

Genius on the vinegar. I will try that next time. Seems like a perfectly fine cleaning procedure. I clean my dishes as I use them during the soap-making process, using just really hot water, then I just clean the dishes with residue soap since its hot processed... maybe I need to update my procedure. Thanks for posting this. Big help!

 

[Servant4Christ]

I just made a micro batch. And I mean MICRO batch. 2 tall and skinny bars of charcoal and pumice foot scrub soap with a known accelerating and discoloring fragrance oil (Nurture's Nightfall). I'm already not impressed with the color but it could just be user error and me not adding enough AC because it looks a bit green? We'll see tomorrow.

 

[Terri E]

I made salt bars and cut them in 1 hour!

 

[Servant4Christ]

Good thing I just looked.... Bright olive green and overheated like nothing I've never seen. The soap is sort of puffy swollen with deep long gaping cracks. Nightfall is one seriously naughty fragrance oil! Glad it was only a little test batch.

 

[Servant4Christ]

Well, my microbatch taught me that nothing is a lost cause. Thanks to me catching it when I did and uncovering it and sort of smooching it back together before it hardened, it actually isn't all that bad. I have 1 full bar and two small travel size bars. What I learned is I really like the base recipe I tried. As for the soap: it's a hideous dark green and smells like Nightfall (lavender, ylang-ylang, and tonka bean). It has a faint green tint to the lather, too, so I've deemed this one Princess Fiona's foot soap.

 

[Vicki C]

I have company from the west coast, my daughter and family, so I have been having great fun with my grandson, who is 7. I had a market yesterday and we spent the day before the market making melt & pour soaps. He said we should call them “colorful soaps” - he made a sign and set up the display, and kept the money from the sales. Needless to say it was a big hit, especially the money. It has been very rainy in the northeast, so we were lucky to have a short window for the late afternoon market when it wasn’t raining. (We actually had to pack up early because of impending rain.)

 

[The_Phoenix]

I have company from the west coast, my daughter and family, so I have been having great fun with my grandson, who is 7. I had a market yesterday and we spent the day before the market making melt & pour soaps. He said we should call them “colorful soaps” - he made a sign and set up the display, and kept the money from the sales. Needless to say it was a big hit, especially the money. It has been very rainy in the northeast, so we were lucky to have a short window for the late afternoon market when it wasn’t raining. (We actually had to pack up early because of impending rain.)

What a delightful story to share! To have your grandson experience a market as a seller and pocket the fruits of his labor. Much-cherished memory to relive with him in the future.

 

[Feelin' Soapy]

I made a batch of soap and then stain sticks yesterday. I've noticed that since I replaced my old SB with a Braun Multiquick my soaps take longer to trace. Weird and unexpected difference, though kinda handy.

(@AliOop BTW, I mixed the stain sticks hotter this time (about 122F) and it did trace faster than before.)

 

[Savage Daughter]

I only have this in single cavity molds, but I think it is beautiful, especially in a single color soap. https://www.amazon.com/Silicone-Cavity-Crescent-Homemade-Polymer/dp/B08LDFJ66J/ref=sr_1_3?crid=GJUG20PIPGLO&keywords=Sun+moon+silicone+mold&qid=1687703990&sprefix=sun+moon+silicone+mold,aps,117&sr=8-3

Thank you so much I love these molds, a lot.

I actually have 8 of these now (buying them in 2 packs) as they went over very well with 2 of my customers, and a 3rd as of today, but the first asked for something different than this as one of the other 2 merchants is not that far from her & selling my soaps as well, which is why she wanted something a little different for her store. The 3rd merchant is a distance from her, so this isn't an issue for her. I have ordered some other silicone cavity molds from an online shop, just waiting on them. I really hope she will be happy with at least some of them as I shelled out a fair amount of money in total for several types. I also have another impression mat on the way & will be using that to my advantage in my slab molds.

I will be making this lady a 'special' soap which is exclusive to her shop, either goats milk or coconut milk - I love that coconut milk soap, so beautiful as a facial soap! I use it every day. Hopefully a pull-through. People have loved the samples I have shown them of these, so doing my best to make them work on a consistent basis.

All 3 (I picked up this new customer today, who has ordered in advance as I suggested) are stocking my current line of bar soaps, along with several other products.

Does anyone have a good source for large impression mats? I have only been able to find 2 large ones via Amazon. All the rest are very small, for things like polymer clays & similar. Really tiny.

After putting the word out with my immediate neighbours, one neighbour offered me their large CLEAN workshop for curing soaps today - such an amazing man, and his wife who I absolutely love - which is made with cinder blocks on the outside, and which keeps it nice & cool in the blazing summers we've been having. Solid roof, no rodents, no dust, and as I said, super CLEAN. The man is fastidious. I am going to test things out & see how well it works for curing test batches of soap. I have the use of it until October or so if I decide to use it, so gotta make every minute count.

Thank you again @dibbles

 

[KiwiMoose]

Last night I did it. I pulled out all my base oils (hard and soft) and wrote down exactly what the labels show for amount and what I paid for each. Then I used Google to figure out how much the fluid oz of each oil weighed in grams and my calculator to figure out my cost per gram of each oil. Thankfully, some of my oils were already packaged and sold by weight so all to had to do was convert oz to grams. I did the same for my lye. Now, any time I calculate a soap recipe, I can simply multiply how many grams of each oil in a given recipe by the cost per gram and then add up the total and divide by how many bars for an actual cost per bar. I'll use this method for FO/EO, too, since those add up. Water, colorants, and other additives will get ballparked based on how much goes into a batch.
Ok, now that THAT'S done, can I just make soap now?

You mean you didn't use excel??

 

[Misschief]

Does anyone have a good source for large impression mats? I have only been able to find 2 large ones via Amazon. All the rest are very small, for things like polymer clays & similar. Really tiny.

Look for fondant mats. They're usually used for cake decorating.

 

[AliOop]

Last night I did it. I pulled out all my base oils (hard and soft) and wrote down exactly what the labels show for amount and what I paid for each. Then I used Google to figure out how much the fluid oz of each oil weighed in grams and my calculator to figure out my cost per gram of each oil. Thankfully, some of my oils were already packaged and sold by weight so all to had to do was convert oz to grams. I did the same for my lye. Now, any time I calculate a soap recipe, I can simply multiply how many grams of each oil in a given recipe by the cost per gram and then add up the total and divide by how many bars for an actual cost per bar. I'll use this method for FO/EO, too, since those add up. Water, colorants, and other additives will get ballparked based on how much goes into a batch.
Ok, now that THAT'S done, can I just make soap now?

Have you looked at an annual membership to SoapmakingFriend? Besides the great calculator, it will track all ingredients and costs for you. I don’t use that feature myself, but it is there.

 

[Servant4Christ]

Have you looked at an annual membership to SoapmakingFriend? Besides the great calculator, it will track all ingredients and costs for you. I don’t use that feature myself, but it is there.

No, I didn't realize that feature was there. Thanks.

 

[The_Phoenix]

Work has been stupid stressful lately. Poured/cut this batch last weekend and every time I walk past it I get a little dopamine bump. NS’s Grapefruit and Bergamot.

And then I walk back into my home office and pull my hair out from frustration.

 

[Savage Daughter]

Yes, I love that one, I have it as well, also single molds.

I have this one as well and love it but I can only find it in single molds
View attachment 73230

Thank you! I have seen these before & then couldn't find them again....and by sharing this, I was then able to find several other options which I now have in my cart. It's a mold shopping frenzy at the moment....again

 

[Jorah]

I had a dream last night where I chopped up all my offcuts and mixed them into M&P oatmeal base, so I got up this morning and did just that. Not at all sure it will work, but it's just for me to use around the house, so no biggie either way. 363 grams of chopped offcuts and leftovers, 588 grams of M&P. The bars look like they're going to be ugly as sin.

 

[Servant4Christ]

I just tested my almost 5month old salt bars. I think I'm going to be making more very soon.

 

[Jorah]

I just tested my almost 5month old salt bars. I think I'm going to be making more very soon.

I don't know why I'm attracted to the idea of salt bars... I've never seen one in person! It just stuck in my head and I know I'll be making some soon. Same with honey; as soon as I heard people use it in soap I knew I needed to try it.

 

[Andy7891]

This was on Wednesday, but today I cleaned the dishes. I had 140g of beer left over. I added 58g of water. Then decided I wanted 500g of soap (a good test batch size, but I think I'll start going smaller for test batches). Also, I think the heat from adding the lye may have burnt the beer? May start MBing my lye water and then finishing out the liquid with whatever goodies I have left over (beer, whey, etc.). However, that would leave very little room for whatever fun leftovers are around that I am trying to turn into soap. I added TD to this batch but it didn't get very white. Then tried to color it orange to match the color of the beverage can, but only had red mica.

 

[Servant4Christ]

I don't know why I'm attracted to the idea of salt bars... I've never seen one in person! It just stuck in my head and I know I'll be making some soon. Same with honey; as soon as I heard people use it in soap I knew I needed to try it.

I only made salt bars because a relative says it's hands down the only thing that has cleared up her seriously bad acne over the years after a lot of money spent on dermatologists and doctors. I figure she's been using salt bars long enough that she'd be an excellent judge of my recipe (ahem, I Dream in Soap's recipe) and it also made for easily knowing what to gift her for holidays.