What soapy thing have you done today?

[ewhitake]

Here’s the recipe by Becky Zepeda from the magazine:

Coconut oil 765 gr
Almond oil 72 gr
Cocoa butter 63 gr
Distilled Water 153 gr
Lye 127 gr
4 gr kaolin clay
40 gr EO
16 gr blue Cambrian clay (I used French green clay)
400 gr fine sea salt
~ 30 gr coarse pink Himalayan sea salt

I added 2 tsp sodium lactate to the lye water; probably didn’t need it with all the other salt, but it was force of habit)

Becky used 21 g eucalyptus EO, 12 gr lavender EO, and 11 gr lemongrass EO
I used a combination of ylang ylang, lime, and lemon zest EOs to make 40 gr total (didn’t measure each oil, just used what was left in the tiny bottles )

Thanks for this. I was trying to add all these ingredients into a lye calculator. Couldn’t make the lye and Water ratios the same as the given recipe. I thought I had missed something.

 

[Servant4Christ]

I made my first pine tar soap late last night and cut it a little after lunch today. Will someone please tell me what all the spots are throughout the soap? More importantly, is it safe? I don't think my soap looks bad but I was aiming for the look of Elly's Everyday Soapmaking and I definitely missed the mark!

 

[ewhitake]

I cut my first nautilus swirl. Live the top but it didn’t spiral all the way through. Probably didn’t take my stick all the way through the batter. And the colors look better on top then inside
Also, lots of spots. Probably the sugar I added into my liquid didn’t dissolve. But when you master batch your lie, and the additional liquid that you use is not a lot, do you dissolve your sugar in the life solution, or the water and my solution, or just keep putting it in the water and during and stirring and stirring, and until it dissolves?

 

[justsomeguy]

Also, lots of spots. Probably the sugar I added into my liquid didn’t dissolve. But when you master batch your lie, and the additional liquid that you use is not a lot, do you dissolve your sugar in the life solution, or the water and my solution, or just keep putting it in the water and during and stirring and stirring, and until it dissolves?

What I did was boil a little bit of water, melt the sorbitol in that, then stick blend it into the oil.

View attachment 78209View attachment 78210

Beautiful soaps!

 

[ewhitake]

What I did was boil a little bit of water, melt the sorbitol in that, then stick blend it into the oil.

Beautiful soaps!

Good idea and thanks!!!

 

[AliOop]

Also, lots of spots. Probably the sugar I added into my liquid didn’t dissolve. But when you master batch your lie, and the additional liquid that you use is not a lot, do you dissolve your sugar in the life solution, or the water and my solution, or just keep putting it in the water and during and stirring and stirring, and until it dissolves?

The soaps are so pretty!

Don't try to dissolve your sugar in lye solution, and especially not in master-batched lye solution. Remember that in a 50% lye solution, every gram of water is necessary for dissolving every gram of lye. That means there is no water left for dissolving anything else.

Even lye solutions weaker than 50% will not allow things to dissolve easily; that is the nature of lye solution. So, always dissolve your sugar, sorbitol, sodium citrate, borax, etc., in the additional liquid before you add that to the MB lye solution (or to the oils, your preference).

Slightly heating your additional liquid does help everything dissolve, but isn't technically necessary for most additives, as long as the water isn't too cold. Borax is one exception; it requires boiling water to dissolve.

 

[2lilboots]

I make a sugar syrup solution of distilled water and sugar that I have boiled on the stove. I keep it in the fridge and use it when I make my soap. I let it come to room temp and add it to my oils before adding my lye solution. It has worked great for me so far.

 

[ewhitake]

I make a sugar syrup solution of distilled water and sugar that I have boiled on the stove. I keep it in the fridge and use it when I make my soap. I let it come to room temp and add it to my oils before adding my lye solution. It has worked great for me so far.

That sounds like a really good idea. What's your sugar to water ratio?

 

[2lilboots]

@ewhitake 1:1 ratio. So if I need 1 tbsp of sugar for my recipe, I use 2 tbsp of syrup. And my lye concentration is such that that amount of liquid doesn't affect my recipe.

 

[2lilboots]

I was going to make soap today, but my kitchen scale died. I changed the batteries and it just keeps flashing random numbers. So, I got out my other 3 kitchen scales and low and behold, none of them are working as well. So now I have two scales that flash random numbers. One scale giving incorrect weights (tested with my little scale weights). And one scale that won't even turn on. Grrrrrr!

 

[Tammyfarms]

I'm not experienced with sugar scrubs or working with stearic acid but when I experimented with whipped body creams I noticed there is a sweet spot when timing your mixture in the fridge ~ it only needs to partially firm up, not fully. I had a couple bowls get too firm and had to let them sit out to come back to room temperature before I could whip it, whip it good But I have no idea if that's the same scenario as what you were dealing with

And now that song is stuck in my head.. crack that whip

 

[2lilboots]

Bought a new kitchen scale last night. Simmered blackberry wine for two hours. Going to make soap with it today.

 

[ewhitake]

@ewhitake 1:1 ratio. So if I need 1 tbsp of sugar for my recipe, I use 2 tbsp of syrup. And my lye concentration is such that that amount of liquid doesn't affect my recipe.

Thanks!!

 

[ewhitake]

Second attempt at a nautilus swirl. not sure I like the colors and I think the swirling tool I used was too thin for the effect that I wanted. But not too unhappy. This recipe has cream and lard in the batter. Can’t wait to test it out in six weeks!

 

[Servant4Christ]

Today, I pulled my aloe gel out of the freezer, thawed it all, gave it a hearty whiz with the sb and strained it.... lots of pulp. I guess I forgot that part of my normal procedure when I made this particular batch of aloe gel. Oops. At least now I know where I went wrong with my recent first batch of pine tar!

 

[Elise]

I made a small test batch coloring with Manjistha (also called madder root I believe) + senting with Patchouli EO. While pouring I felt like the batter was ricing a little bit. I wonder what caused it and hope it won't affect the soap.

I also spent a bit of time peeling, blending and freezing in icecube trays an aloe vera plant that my boyfriend grew as an indoor plant. Or at least part of it, I'll have to continue an other day. It was quite big and he liked it a lot, but it got accidentally crushed while moving furnitures. It wasn't that good looking after that. So I get free aloe juice for soap making !

 

[AliOop]

Thx for the reply. Was still stonehard at room temperature, so remelted it and added more glycerin and water. Whipped up lovely. Will try tonight and see how it feels.

What's the final verdict on this?

 

[Blue1969]

What's the final verdict on this?

Not bad at all. My wife loves it. With the struggling I forgot the fragrance. Will definately try again with fragrance or essential oil.

 

[Blue1969]

Made a small batch of toothpaste to try. Taste not bad, but definately too gritty for my taste and I miss the foam and bubbles.

 

[AliOop]

Not bad at all. My wife loves it. With the struggling I forgot the fragrance. Will definately try again with fragrance or essential oil.

You could probably whip some FO into it now.