What soapy thing have you done today?

[rparrny]

Wow. Very nice. and I ENVY that mold!

Thank you! Got the mold off of Ebay. I wanted a mold that would be close to the size of my loaf and this was a 2 pound slab. Collapsible too!

 

[kumudini]

Virgin voyage for my new slab mold!
Holiday soap eucalyptus/spearmint:

Beautiful colors and scent. Really pretty swirls too, great job.

 

[kumudini]

I master batched some oils, good for 8 of 25oz batches, the size of my CC silicone mold. I also made a beeswax soap today which qualifies for an epic failure because I can't seem to choose wisely when it comes to work with colors. Now I will have a tri color soap with poorly mixed colors glopped on top of each other. It does smell nice, scented with AHRE Badedas. I shall post my pics in the ugly soap pics thread tomorrow. Now, moving on to body butter, to be scented with Rose absolute and mint EO. This should go glitch free.

 

[Consuela]

Virgin voyage for my new slab mold!
Holiday soap eucalyptus/spearmint:

Gorgeously awesome swirl-action you got going on there!

 

[rparrny]

Gorgeously awesome swirl-action you got going on there!

Thank you! I really enjoy the freedom for swirling that the slab mold gives me. I had so much fun doing it.

 

[amd]

Made second batch of coffee bars (first batch was spoken for before they were done curing) which included another attempt at a mica pencil line. Made a second attempt at an apple cider bar - this time as an HP... And threw in a pencil line cuz practice and stuff

 

[JuneP]

Ready, set, no go

Well, at least I got all my oils, FO, water, etc. weighed, TiO2 and color mixed, etc. and then headed to the garage to find my tripod, unpacked my new digital camera and got the instruction book out to see if I could figure how to get started for it's maiden shoot.

All went well for a minute or two until I got the message that the battery needed re-charging. It took hours and hours! By that time, dinner was over, dishes done, and I was too pooped to start on the soap.

While the camera was re-charging I did get to move a lot of things around, put away the oils, water, etc and clear a small section of my kitchen counter top and get some freezer paper laid down to create a small soaping area, got all my little cups of kaolin, oats, FO, color, tools, etc. laid out and covered, waiting to do this tomorrow after breakfast when this 75 year old body will hopefully be re-charged after this busy day of husband and furry kids care, cooking and soaping prep and other chores.

I was disappointed that I couldn't get this one color soap done today but on the other hand, the kitchen lighting near my kitchen counter top is really bad, and our natural light is great during the day, so if I can make the video camera work I'll at least get a better looking video in daylight.

 

[annalee2003]

Does lurking around here count as something soapy? That's about it, really.
Again, no supplies or ingredients to start any adventures with yet, but in the meantime I can at least browse all the awesome threads on here (I think the photo section is my favorite so far, haha)

 

[spenny92]

I encountered my first rebatch experience. I made an oats and honey soap yesterday - it's one I've made several times and have never had a hiccup - and in a tired state, I stupidly forgot to add the honey, only remembering once the soap was already at pudding consistency. I quickly chucked a chunk of honey into the pot, stirred it as much as I could, and hoped for the best. Well, I cut it today and there were huge, gooey brown chunks throughout the soap and it was very wet and slimy inside. I really didn't think it would do much good to cure it out, as I was able to actually squeeze honey out of the soap by pressing lightly on it - whoops. Last time I had an issue with honey (I added too much), it never did harden up. So I decided to attempt my first rebatch. I grated the soap (difficult, as it was already super soft!) and zapped in the microwave. Didn't take long for it to get to mashed potato consistency. It looks horrible in the mould (probably because I'm used to smooth looking CP soaps) but it looks like a normal rebatch - this is one loaf that I am not excited to cut at all. But, at least it's not wasted.

ETA: I don't normally go around throwing chunks of honey into my soap pot... I normally mix the honey with a titch of water, zap it in the microwave for a sec, add at emulsion/super light trace and ensure it's thoroughly incorporated before pouring.

 

[JuneP]

Hollywood will definitely not be calling!

It took a while to get the camera set up for my first, pathetic soap making video session. After getting the camera on the tripod, I realized I couldn't get it in the right position since there was no tilt option on the tripod. So off I went searching in the garage where I knew there was another one or two tripods and that went fairly quickly. Only problem was the head was missing from my best tripod. So a half an hour later I finally found it in the closet in the den and got the video set up and got my hard oils melted and the lye batch made.

I soaped in the 80'sF and started the video, only to realize when I got to adding the color that I hadn't started the video. Seems that opening the shutter and view screen does not start the video.Duh! OK, so a slow start! My intent was to start the video after I had mixed the oils, kaolin and colloidal oats, then start it before adding the cream, lye and colorant.

I was using my new recipe - 48 hard oils like the last one, but with sodium lactate this time as well as the other additions. I forgot to strain the lye even though I had two strainers sitting right there on my work space, so there may be some un-melted tussah silk in there. Good thing I made these for the family! Videoing made me nervous and got me off my pattern. At least I'm grateful I didn't omit anything!
This was a small batch of soap to fill my wave mold. One soap out of the six was to be without scent, a test bar for my sister-in-law who is allergic to scents. So it was tricky with that sodium lactate in there to pour hers at light trace which turned out to be more than light, then add the scent which I hand mixed in. Even though I hand mixed it, it was thicker that I like for pouring into a mold with a textured bottom. Next time I'll make her soap separately.

So now I'm recharging the battery again (last time it took four or five hours to recharge); and when that's done I'll have to read the manual to find out how to upload it to my computer and do some editing and then get in on to You Tube.

 

[CTAnton]

Made my first melt and pour soaps yesterday.Pumpkin mold pumpkin mica and a scent.I bought the molds to do CP soap in and my window of opportunity came and went....life happens. They smell great, its nice not to have the lye monster eat my FO's.....people think they're cute as the dickens...used SFIC honey base ...what can I say? It's attracting moisture like it's a dehumidifier....I love CP soap...that's all there is to it...
Soap on!

 

[Consuela]

Does lurking around here count as something soapy?

YES. Anything, Everything, and All-things related to soaping: researching, ordering, dishes, cleaning......

That's what I consider soapy-things.

Hell.... I even consider thinking about soaping as a soapy thing.

 

[rparrny]

Had an unusual early day today when the last few patients cancelled...normally I would have been making soap but alas, I am out of lye and waiting for an order...so I have been staring at the new coffee bean molds that came this week from Korea, pining over my last two batches still in the mold and trying to decide if I will unmold them now or wait until closer to the day of delivery next week of my new adjustable slicer/planer...I know myself...if I unmold now I'm gonna wanna cut em to see what they look like inside...and then thanks to a thread recently started I started looking at all the soap stable colorants at Nurture and all the sample packs they offer...torture...sheer torture...

 

[Dahila]

Made a fresh batch of Sodium Citrate, this time almost all the moisture gone)

 

[nsmar4211]

Made four smal batches......... one of a scrub soap I'm testing, one of Fragrance Buddy's Black coconut, one Asian Sandalwood (fragrance buddy), and one pine tar.

Yeaaaa the Black Coconut (which does NOT smell like coconut to me) decided it wouldn't cooperate. I had added it to 2/3 the batter and left the 1/3 unscented to swirl (it discolors). Twenty minutes later there is 1/4 " of fragrance oil on top and the scented portions are gelled and attempting to volcano. So, I also got to do a microwave HP soap and plopped it back into the mold. It seems happier but no swirling for me.

Now my laundry room smells like asian sandalwood crossed with black coconut, my garage smells like pine tar (meh), and my fridge smells like coffee.

 

[CTAnton]

Batch 2 of melt and pour..my learning curve has been steep...tried melting 3 pounds in the microwave and I think I whistled Dixie enough to be a true man of the South...had no problem doing a double boiler the other day...just thought I'd give this a try after watching a certain someone on her video(think West coast, slightly built,blondish hair...I'm thinking 5'6 or so...)...no doubt the microwave is fine for small batches but for a 3 pound batch I'd suggest the double boiler...
My melt and pour pumpkin from the other day sits on the kitchen windowsill sweating away while the bar I used in the shower the other day doesn't have nearly as much, if any moisture on it...is it just sitting on the open windowsill that's promoting all this sweating? To say nothing of the idea of painting on some black mica alcohol paste to highlight the mouth and eyes of the pumpkin mold...didn't that look pretty on my wash cloth/ Also on the video of a certain someone...
I'm a beekeeper as well with a meeting this coming Saturday that I'm supposed to talk briefly about making soap...I'm going to bring some Honey MP soaps made in a milky way mold that came out really nice...scented with Wild Mountain Honey FO....I guess I'll be learning the trials and tribulations of glad wrap and how a hair dryer can screw that process up! It's all fun and I'm learning as I go...thanks to all of you(enablers under my breath!)
Soap on!

 

[umeali]

I made milk honey oat soap and result is perfect ,I am happy .:clap:

 

[umeali]

I am going to make a baby soap and my recipe is 78% olive oil and 22% coconut oil ,before starting I want experienced soap makers to give their valuable and precious opinion about my recipe .Will it be a good recipe for baby soap ?:yawn::yawn:

 

[not_ally]

I have been packing to move and have been frenzied about making sure the soaping boxes are labeled properly. To the extent that I have different codes and colored dots on each of them ("Go-to cp/mp", different colored dots for in-house boxes, under house/basement storage/long-term-off site storage facility.) Does that count? Also, my back is killing me.

Umeali, I think many people will tell you on here that for babies, no soap is necessary, once you get the stinky stuff off them they are so clean and sweet smelling that they do not need it . Plus their skin is so delicate, you want to avoid coconut. If I was going to make it I would omit the CO. That much OO will take the bar a long time to cure/get hard, though, I might try to figure out a different formula if you are going to proceed (um, lots of lard

I've never made a soap for babies, though, I know there are people on here who actually have them and have done so, hopefully they will chip in. You might want to start a separate thread, but be prepared for the "no soap for babies!" response.

 

[Mighty Mama]

What a busy day I've had!!! Made 3 batches of soap this morning...one a brandnew one for a client with added coffee grounds - looks all speckled and interesting!

Around lunch time I lugged my slow-cooker from my forest workshop to my kitchen with the plan to make my third batch of liquid soap. Going for a 100% coconut oil soap this time. While that was cooking, I prepped for my market tomorrow, packing and cleaning and sorting.

Finished off testing the liquid soap - came out great by the way!! - and had to still go make some powder detergents for the market tomorrow. WHEW...LOTS of up and down to my workshop but feeling accomplished and very excited that the LS went so smoothly. Now to dilute....