I use 20% neem, but if you despise the smell, maybe start with 10%. Mint in the mask sounds like a great idea!
What soapy thing have you done today?
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Thanks a million, I will finally be able to soap again in about a week, thank heavens! I have to thin out my Irises, dead head the roses and cut some of the humongous lower leaves on the cauliflower and broccoli...they are as long as my arm!! And replant some herb seeds, I have no idea what happened to the Dill and Cilantro but it looks sicker than if a rabbit had chewed on them...I have found out that if I feed the wild rabbits steel-cut oats (cheaper than rabbit food) at an Aldi store here..German-based, and leave water out for them they leave my veggies and Irises alone, not so much one of my Gypsophlia tho... I didn't have time to stake the last one and they ate it almost to the ground and left the staked ones alone..lesson learned LOL! I am excited to try making the soap and I know my son and Jana will enjoy them!
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Please don't feed the wild rabbits oats, yes, they will eat them, but not ideal. I suppose you don't want to kill them as you would have bought the rabbit food. You are only encouraging them by leaving oats out., they eat oaten hay. If you want to deter them from the plants sprinkle cayenne pepper around the plants and on them, they don't like the smell.
Yesterday I started assembling twelve buckets of master batch - phew what a job. It’s going to be in the 90s next week so I’m using that heat to get things melted. Today’s task is to chop up a 50 lb block of cocoa butter. I’ll have 330 pounds of masterbatched oils when I’m done.
Enough to last a month or so. Kidding.
Enough to last a month or so. Kidding. 
Am new here, still have to introduce myself, but saw your post and wanted to let you know that I believe that Jan Berry, at her website — The Nerdy Farm Wife—is cheaply selling a recipe for soap for eczema. Her son had issues with it it when he was quite little. Just fyi. Her articles there are good too! Best wishes with this!
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Made an anti-acne soap today, for my daughter. HP. Had Neem Leaf powder in it. layered with one layer of Clay, one layer of Turmeric, and the last layer was the Neem Leaf Powder. It's still hardening up. I'll cut it tomorrow. I like putting herb or flower petals on the very top. This time: I put Marigold petals on the top. They are very wispy: almost like little piece of hay. (not< but that's the closest I can get to describing it for now.)
Found an excuse, I mean a reason to make soap! I needed to try lemongrass essential oil at 1.5% to see what the fragrance does. Also wanted to see what ZNSB would be like using almond oil in place of olive. So I did 5% castor, 10% PKO, 85% sweet almond. In the poy swirl attempt. Two 500ml molds. One Alkanet root infused castor, the other Himalayan rhubarb infused castor. Once again I was too mesmerized by the Alkanet one so it came to a thick trace
and I forgot to spray them with alcohol after pouring . But, look!
and I forgot to spray them with alcohol after pouring . But, look!
Found an excuse, I mean a reason to make soap! I needed to try lemongrass essential oil at 1.5% to see what the fragrance does. Also wanted to see what ZNSB would be like using almond oil in place of olive. So I did 5% castor, 10% PKO, 85% sweet almond. In the poy swirl attempt. Two 500ml molds. One Alkanet root infused castor, the other Himalayan rhubarb infused castor. Once again I was too mesmerized by the Alkanet one so it came to a thick trace
View attachment 77891View attachment 77892
oooweee! They sure are purty!
I did two things yesterday. One soapy and one not. Posted is a picture of the soapy thing. Rocks inspired by Holly of Hollys Soap Making. The batter is a tallow and lard recipe inspired by someone in this group. Sorry for not remembering who. The colors are from clays.The batter took a long time to trace. I forgot to add a fragrance, which was probably a good thing, because I probably would over stick blended trying to get to trace. The resulting batter gave me time to work but by the time I’d gotten to the last cavity things had moved on quite a bit.
I should have put the mold on a tray for ease of handling but will next time. The rocks have a lot of air bubbles on the surface. Don’t know if that’s from me getting bubbles into the batter or not enough shaking to settle the batter or the batter being to thick or all three
But in the end, I really like the look! And not all rocks are smooth
I washed with a tiny sliver and really, really liked it!!!For the in non-soap thing, I made beard serum inspired by a commercial brand and requested by my son. It had some surprising ingredients and I had to reformulate three times but I think
got it and it’s off to son and hubby to test!!
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Very pretty rock soaps, @ewhitake! I don't think those are air bubbles; they look more like silicone rash. The other possibility is that there was some residue of something on the molds, which caused the soap not to adhere in those places. Still very pretty!
EDIT: Looking more closely, I don't think it was a residue, because it looks like the black portions are almost completely free of the rash, regardless of where they were in the mold. That's very interesting!
EDIT: Looking more closely, I don't think it was a residue, because it looks like the black portions are almost completely free of the rash, regardless of where they were in the mold. That's very interesting!
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Thank you!! I do think they came out rather well if I do say so myself!
Silicon rash? Is this something that is permanent to this mold? Or would a good wash solve it?
Depends on the mold, and sometimes, what happened to it.
Did you put these in the oven by any chance, or directly on a heating pad? That's often the cause, and sometimes that is a permanent result. If it's just residue from something, a good power wash followed by an alcohol wipe-down might solve it. Nothing to do but make another batch and see, eh?
Yeah- I put them in the oven just like Holly did. I’ll run them through the dishwasher and rub down with alcohol. Hopefully this will help.Depends on the mold, and sometimes, what happened to it.
Did you put these in the oven by any chance, or directly on a heating pad? That's often the cause, and sometimes that is a permanent result. If it's just residue from something, a good power wash followed by an alcohol wipe-down might solve it. Nothing to do but make another batch and see, eh?
Thanks!!!
Rats, sorry to hear that. I ruined one set of molds when I forgot about them and left them on the heating pad, which was turned on high, for many hours. Those molds made rashy soap forever after that. Other cavity molds have rashed occasionally, but it wasn't permanent.
I no longer put anything silicone directly on the heating pad. If it isn't in a wood mold, I put a layer of something - usually cardboard - between the heating pad and the silicone.
ETA: I'd also avoid the high heat from the dishwasher, and wash by hand instead.
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I had the same experience when I put a silicone mold directly on a heating mat thankfully the mold wasn’t damaged. You may be ok.
Hope so!! I wonder how Holly oven processed hers? Wonder if the manufacturer is the culpritI had the same experience when I put a silicone mold directly on a heating mat thankfully the mold wasn’t damaged. You may be ok.
Met a soaper at the local Farmers Market today. She has a really pretty dipped soap and lots of other nice soaps. She had one scented with a FO that she said was from WSP but the name was too inappropriate to call her soap. I had a cart ready to check out there anyway, so I hope it’s the Sex on the Beach FO I added to my order - even tho I do not need another FO. I am now on self imposed FO time out until 2025. 
I'm making some soaps for gifting in September. Trying out the secret feather swirl. 2 weeks ago did a test, turned out not bad. Decided to do 1 batch every week until I get enough soaps. Last week's feather swirl didn't get swirled! I was texturing the top then realised I hadn't swirled it. Nevermind, try again this week. Placed my hanger right next to me and still forgot! I was putting my soap onto the heating pad then it struck me. It's ok, both turned out good. Recipients won't know the backstory. The stress of layering just got to me I guess.
I just finished a run of seven farmers markets in ten days. It was a lot - mostly because of all the stuff I’m not doing when I’m off at a market. This is my third summer doing markets and it has been really heartwarming to have returning customers who are excited to see me and want to stock up. Now I have to do some outdoor chores before we get hit with the heat wave coming our way. (Then I’ll hide inside and make soap… 
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I needed more foaming LS at a few sinks, so I pulled out some LS paste from the fridge, weighed it into a bowl, and microwaved it for a few minutes with some distilled water. Normally I preheat the water in my electric kettle, but my soap things are all packed away as we remodel over the next couple of months. Anyway, after a few minutes of alternating between stirring and sitting, the paste was completely diluted. A 4:1 water-to-paste ratio is perfect for the foamer bottles that I have. It's a little thin while the mixture is still warm, but I can't resist washing with warm foamy soap, lol. When the diluted LS cools off, it comes out of the foamer like a very light shaving soap. 
BTW, I make this using the same masterbatched oils that I use to make bar soap - just with KOH instead of NaOH. Even with 0% SF, it's not completely clear, because the FAs in this recipe will not produce a clear LS - and I absolutely, 100% don't care. It's non-drying on the skin and foams like a dream.
BTW, I make this using the same masterbatched oils that I use to make bar soap - just with KOH instead of NaOH. Even with 0% SF, it's not completely clear, because the FAs in this recipe will not produce a clear LS - and I absolutely, 100% don't care. It's non-drying on the skin and foams like a dream.
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