What soapy thing have you done today?

[Nonnie]

Repainted a dresser to use as a display in a Shop for soapsand such. My current display has worn out it's welcome

Repainted a dresser to use as a display in a Shop for soapsand such. My current display has worn out it's welcome lol

It turned out nice

 

[ewhitake]

I love the marbling! Beautiful soaps

Thank you!! I didn’t see it could look like marbeling. I was copying a turntable technique from I Dream in Soap

 

[Nonnie]

I made a pair of tester shampoo bars. I scented them with Moroccan oil from Little Bee and wow that smells good!

General.cleanup and put away dishes, molds, etc. All the things no one likes to do. Stared at all my FO again wondering when I'm going to make storage space to fit them all. Dreamingof the day i actually finish my craft building.

 

[Firefly24]

I made another box.

And talked myself out of buying 4 more silicone molds because, when am I ever gonna need to make 416 soaps in 1 day (even though I have space to cure ~700 at a time)

View attachment 79431

Very nice! I could use one of those!

 

[justsomeguy]

Very nice! I could use one of those!

Details are here. I can post box dimensions (not to scale) if you want...

 

[MomInWA]

I made two batches for Christmas gifts! First is BB “balsam cedar”. Absolutely spot-on fragrance. Second is combined BB “warm vanilla sugar” and Formulators Sample “tonka bean”. I used a color stabilizer because of all the vanilla, which made my blue turn green and my white went yellow. However! Overnight it is self-correcting to a lovely blue and white as desired! This was my first time using separators. I haven’t trimmed or cleaned up the bars yet.

 

[Relle]

Made soap yesterday, a long time coming to get it done. It's a seaside soap with 5 different greens, blues, turquoise and a little white,.ocean breeze scent that I can't get anymore . I might have to contact them and see if they can remake it. Will cut in a few days.

 

[ackosel]

I mostly make 1# (450 gram) batches, as I am still pretty new to soapmaking and don't have time to make soap as regularly as I would like. Today I took a huge step and made a 5# (2,300 gram) loaf of wood grain soap. I was thrilled with how long my batter stayed fluid, but still had 4 cavity mold bars of leftover batter that got too thick to pour. The cavity bars are ugly, but they smell as amazing as the loaf. It should be ready to cut tomorrow evening. That's always a fun family event.

Made soap yesterday, a long time coming to get it done. It's a seaside soap with 5 different greens, blues, turquoise and a little white,.ocean breeze scent that I can't get anymore . I might have to contact them and see if they can remake it. Will cut in a few days.

I hope we get to see your soap. It sounds amazing!

 

[MomInWA]

I mostly make 1# (450 gram) batches, as I am still pretty new to soapmaking and don't have time to make soap as regularly as I would like. Today I took a huge step and made a 5# (2,300 gram) loaf of wood grain soap. I was thrilled with how long my batter stayed fluid, but still had 4 cavity mold bars of leftover batter that got too thick to pour. The cavity bars are ugly, but they smell as amazing as the loaf. It should be ready to cut tomorrow evening. That's always a fun family event.



I hope we get to see your soap. It sounds amazing!

Oooooo you took on wood grain soap as a newbie? Nice!!! Share when you cut please!

 

[MomInWA]

So I finally steamed some soap! Why on earth did it take me so long to try this? It’s amazing! I made a couple ugly bars look pretty good! I’m tickled!

 

[ackosel]

Oooooo you took on wood grain soap as a newbie? Nice!!! Share when you cut please!

I'm not super new, but new enough that I'm still surprised when a soap turns out like it's supposed to. I've made wood grain before, but only in small batches. It takes a lot longer to pour 80 oz than 30 oz!

I was pretty excited that I didn't overblend the batter and was able to separate for colors at emulsion. That gave me a good amount of time to pour. My daughter helped hold the mold at an angle for me. She'll be a soapmaker when she's big enough.

 

[MomInWA]

I'm not super new, but new enough that I'm still surprised when a soap turns out like it's supposed to. I've made wood grain before, but only in small batches. It takes a lot longer to pour 80 oz than 30 oz!

I was pretty excited that I didn't overblend the batter and was able to separate for colors at emulsion. That gave me a good amount of time to pour. My daughter helped hold the mold at am angle for me. She'll be a soapmaker when she's big enough.

Right?! Same! I get that! Love when daughters help too.

 

[Nonnie]

I gave dish soap a whirl today. I want to see how the zero waste concept appeals to people here. I had a little leftoverthat I'll use myself to try out.

 

[ewhitake]

Made an Aleppo style soap today. Anyone ever make this? How long did you wait to test? (I know this has to cure for a year )

 

[Elise]

Made an Aleppo style soap today. Anyone ever make this? How long did you wait to test? (I know this has to cure for a year )

Are your oils only olive and laurel berry?
IMO it depends oh much laurel berry oil you used. Only 10% and your soap will act just like 100% olive oil. But I made a batch with 30% and it was good enough forme after 4 months (which is still a lot of course, but way less than a 100% olive oil soap).
I've also done a batch with 20% laurel berry oil and started using it after 6 months. I like it better after 7/8 though.

 

[Shelley D]

I didn’t do anything but my husband did! He finished my drying rack.
I ask for something simple and get a piece of furniture

Totally jelly! That's a beautiful piece of furniture! Awesome husband

 

[Shelley D]

Made an Aleppo style soap today. Anyone ever make this? How long did you wait to test? (I know this has to cure for a year )

I agree with @Elise it does depend on your ratios (most people go with a ratio of 80% olive:20% laurel berry, but some do 70:30 or even 90:10). But with all high percentage olive oil recipes, longer cure times make for a better soap for sure! I have used some of mine at the 3-4 month mark, but they were still soft. The ones that cured longer were much more firm and had a richer lather. Maybe set one bar aside and cut test slivers off the end at different monthly intervals and keep notes? Or cut a bar into quarters and test one quarter at 3 months, 6 months, 9 & 12 months (taking notes on how the bar felt, how it lathered, how long it lasted, etc). Have fun! I do love an Aleppo type recipe ~ I like the laurel berry oil scent

 

[Shelley D]

I use grams instead of oz. Doing some back of the envelope math, I figured my oil probably has 2.5 times the concentration but using a fifth resulted in a softer pink than you got.
I’m going to see what happens when I use at full strength

I like it ~ it has a very natural earthy tone to it

 

[Shelley D]

I scored some palm kernel oil!!! Some oils and butters are a little hard to come by here, so I am really happy! I'm not sure what sort of soap to make yet, but I am excited!

Just curious ~ can the oils and butters not normally available be sent to you by someone else? Or is that a no-no? I'm not very familiar with foreign shipping rules or laws

 

[ackosel]

Oooooo you took on wood grain soap as a newbie? Nice!!! Share when you cut please!

This newbie gets to eat crow! The top looked so promising... The soda ash will steam off, but the inside looks like mud, steaming or not. A couple bars look like a sunset if I use my imagination.

Because the wood grain didn't turn out, I cut half of the loaf vertically and like the design that shows up that way better than mud. But hey, it's all functional soap that will still be amazing. It's a good thing we have a huge extended family who don't mind using up dud design soap!