What soapy thing have you done today?

[2lilboots]

I measure and tape it in a cylinder shape and slide it into the tube. I even tape a circular base so the soap batter doesn't come out of the bottom making it difficult to pull off the cap

 

[AliOop]

My bottom leak prevention measure is a layer of plastic wrap around the bottom of the mold, before I add the cap. So far, so good.

 

[Zing]

Today's soapy thing was making a 2000g batch soap for DH, using his favorite recipe: high lard + neem + PKO, scented with Dragon's Blood.

DH had just replaced my two PVC/ABS cylinder molds that had been lost in a past move. The last time he bought a 24" length of 3" ABS pipe, it was about $3.50. That was maybe 4 years ago? This time, it was almost $18!! He also bought two flat caps for the bottom of each mold, so they stand upright on their own, bringing the total cost to about $25 for two 12"cylinder molds.

The one drawback to ABS molds is that they are super insulators. The soap tops already have small cracks, so I'm keeping a close eye on them.

 

[Zing]

And again with the neem oil?! Neem oil is for pests in the garden outside, with lotsa ventilation, because it's outside JK. To each their own, if it works, God bless ya.

 

[AliensrReal]

I think I may go on a soap making break for a few weeks. I have about 100 soaps curing right now. My friend in NY absolutely loves the 25% shea butter soaps I made. I plan to ship these soaps out to my friends in March. And in February I’ll start back up making soap again. In reality, my break probably won’t last that long though. I got new kaleidoscope stencils coming in next week.

 

[Tammyfarms]

And again with the neem oil?! Neem oil is for pests in the garden outside, with lotsa ventilation, because it's outside JK. To each their own, if it works, God bless ya.

@Zing you REALLY wouldn’t like my deodorant recipe. The magic ingredient is neem oil.

 

[Vicki C]

I made a huge batch of use-up soap with some infused oils that needed to be used, some lard and tallow, and some soy wax. I thought about adding some castor oil and or coconut but I just wanted to be stuff that I needed to use and wouldn’t have used otherwise. It MIGHT be my January challenge soap…
I also did some fragrance testing recently and here are the results - if you zoom in you can see what they are.

 

[Misschief]

@Misschief your Lily of the Valley FO sounds lovely!

I've mentioned before that my DH has both psoriasis and eczema. His skin does best with a lard-neem soap over all the others that I've made and he's tried. Sometimes I use only lard as the main base. Other times I'm using saved and cleaned cooking fats that are roughly a 50-50 mix of lard and tallow. I've tried adding some GMP in the past, but that doesn't seem to make as much difference for him like it does for me. Usually I add colloidal oats, but I forgot that last night. Here is the recipe I used last night:

35% lard
35% tallow
15% PKO
15% neem

2% SF and 40% lye concentration using MB lye solution with tussah silk, sodium citrate, and sorbitol. The loaves were quite firm this morning and ready to cut at just 12 hours after pouring.

I go back and forth between lining and not lining the molds. For liners, I've used parchment paper, freezer paper, dehydrator sheets, oven liner, and dollar-store cutting mats that were trimmed to size. My issue with lining is that I always end up with a seam, and some areas where the loaves are not perfectly round. I finally figured out that the inside of these pipes are not perfectly symmetrical, because that doesn't really matter for plumbing, I guess. But it messes with how well the liner works, if that makes sense. Last night, I used oven liner sheets, and you can see the seam mark on most of the bars (and some soap crumbs - these aren't cleaned up yet). But other than that, they turned out great - very smooth to the touch and very even in color,

Not lining the molds has the advantage of no seams, but it does make it trickier to remove. Recipes high in stearic-palmitic were much easier to remove than recipes with more OO or other soft oils. No matter what, if there is no liner, the only way to remove the loaves is to put them in the freezer for at least an hour, then let them sit on the counter for about 10 minutes. Then I either bang them on a hard surface to knock them out, or I push the tube down on a soup can to push it out the top. My main concern about that is eventually ruining the molds due to all the temperature changes and the physical knocking about.

View attachment 75937

Made this last night... it's a heater!! It started cracking within minutes so I put it outside (hovering just below freezing). A few minutes later, it looked like it was going to volcano so I left it outside until bedtime. I cut it this morning and I got partial gel; right now, the smell is not pretty but I expect it to tone down somewhat as it cures. Thank you for your recipe and input, @AliOop. I look forward to trying this soap.

 

[katili]

I also did some fragrance testing recently and here are the results - if you zoom in you can see what they are.

What a great idea! I’m guessing you 3D printed stamps for the fragrance names?

 

[KiwiMoose]

Black Cardamom and Cream soap cut this morning. A little disappointed that it’s very ‘bakery’ smelling, rather than the rich cardamom used in Indian cooking. But still very nice. The orange shade will eventually discolour to the chocolate brown you can see on the top. Or at least I hope it will!

 

[not_ally]

So pretty! Great job working discoloration into your design, would you post after-discoloration shots if you remember?

 

[KiwiMoose]

So pretty! Great job working discoloration into your design, would you post after-discoloration shots if you remember?

The memory is not too good these days - but I'll try!

 

[Misschief]

Black Cardamom and Cream soap cut this morning. A little disappointed that it’s very ‘bakery’ smelling, rather than the rich cardamom used in Indian cooking. But still very nice. The orange shade will eventually discolour to the chocolate brown you can see on the top. Or at least I hope it will!
View attachment 75944View attachment 75945

Beautiful! What's the vanilla content of that FO, @KiwiMoose?

 

[KiwiMoose]

Beautiful! What's the vanilla content of that FO, @KiwiMoose?

It just says more than 5%. On the IFRA doc it says between 1-10%.

 

[Tammyfarms]

I have been watching soapy videos today as I tweaked my ankle this morning and am staying off it. Really enjoying @glendam’s videos. Now I want more stuff (an extruder and disks), have a new technique I want to try (lollipop swirl) and I want to learn how to work with soap dough.
Before the ankle fiasco I unmolded yesterdays soap for this months challenge. It’s not ready to cut but I like the colors so far.

 

[katili]

Black Cardamom and Cream soap cut this morning.

Is that the one from CandleScience? I use it in wax melts and am obsessed with it! It definitely is on the sweeter side though.

 

[KiwiMoose]

Is that the one from CandleScience? I use it in wax melts and am obsessed with it! It definitely is on the sweeter side though.

Yes it is!
I'm not a vanilla fan, nor a sweet fan - but I am a cardamom fan. So i tolerate it for that reason only. Otherwise I probably would be obsessed with it as you are

 

[VikingChick]

Today I cut the second of the two batches I made this weekend for the January challenge. I’m not really happy with either. I took a couple months off from soapmaking and I feel like my skills have taken a couple steps backward.

 

[Vicki C]

What a great idea! I’m guessing you 3D printed stamps for the fragrance names?

Oh no I just bought some letter stamps from Etsy, like these https://www.etsy.com/listing/202401...allery-1-9&pro=1&sts=1&organic_search_click=1

 

[katili]

Oh no I just bought some letter stamps from Etsy, like these Alphabet Soap Mold Soap Package Soap Stamp, 5mm English Alphabet Initial Letter Cookie Soap Stamp Soap Mold Letter Set A-Z Number Set 0-9 - Etsy

Oh those are clever! Thanks for the link.