What soapy thing have you done today?

[topofmurrayhill]

I've been neglecting my soaping lately for snow removal and wood bringing in-ing, and a bit of knitting. Today I'm printing out my wine soap recipe, making up a new lotion, and making more leave in conditioner (I use it as a detangler on the kids). I'm playing around with fractionated coconut oil for the first time. I finally got my hands on some really cheap. I found a local lady that hosts coop buys online, so I got in on one and saved on shipping by just picking it up. I'm so excited she's also doing a tallow buy so I should finally have some of that to play with!

FCO is good as a carrier oil and for other purposes but never use it as a soaping oil.

 

[traderbren]

FCO is good as a carrier oil and for other purposes but never use it as a soaping oil.

Oh no, I wouldn't waste it on soaping. I made a lotion, I'm looking at a spray, and I found a, ahem, "personal use product" using it. I'm loving the lotion so far.

 

[dibbles]

In a quest for finding a floral that I like, yesterday I made a batch of WSP's A Mother's Love and today a batch of WSP's Wild Honeysuckle (my first confetti soap). Neither floral is 'it' for me, but both behaved reasonably well. Then I made a small-ish batch of rosemary mint salt bars with french green clay because I'm running low and need to have some that will have a good cure by mid summer. Next I have to clean up my soaping area. Like vacuum and scrub and organize. Ugh - the not fun part.

 

[skayc1]

So Just before new years My Mom & Dad were in a car accident, Mom was ok, Daddy had a c6 fracture, has to wear a brace, so I've been staying at moms to help out, today I stopped by my house to pick up a mold I had left behind. Other than that I've been naughty & no new soap making till next week...on another front I'm having fun with my colored pencils..

Okay, most of this I finished awhile back except the fish.

and worked on this today after finishing the fish.

 

[topofmurrayhill]

Oh no, I wouldn't waste it on soaping. I made a lotion, I'm looking at a spray, and I found a, ahem, "personal use product" using it. I'm loving the lotion so far.

Cool beans. I'm always open to new and improved personal use products. Let me know if you are selling any.

Actually FCO makes horrid soap.

 

[susiefreckleface]

Autonomy during Coronageddon

Such a lovely day. I paced myself s l o w l y
Not too bad, but woke up to the noise of a news helicopter over the 91 fwy for coverage of the full fwy closure so that Cal-trans can demolish the Maple St. bridge (a mile away). Breakfast and coffee... I pulled a shot and frothed up some milk - nice to use one of the mini-frothers for other than soap. Ahhhh, sweet quiet bliss while my DH is out of town for a couple days... except for the helicopter and the usual neighborhood noises on a Saturday morning. But really - not so bad.

Onto my adventures in soaping...
I started by 8am and warm infused Calendula into Ricebran Oil; made very strong Calendula hips tea for the lye water. And while those were steeping I peeked out the front window and watched the little birdies come and eat the wild seed mix I put out. Two little birdies even enjoyed the shade of my tomato plant. I am not sure if they have found the little ceramic bird bath next to the potted plum tree. But they sure found the bird seed on my gardening cart for them. So now armed with happy thoughts, cutness, and all that, I began formulating my recipe, gathering ingredients and creating a lovely log of Calendula soap. I used the 2.5 lb mold from Michael's crafts and I expect to get 8 nice bars and two 1.2 oz slivers to check on 6 months from now. I plan on using a crinkle cutter. I did not top with any Calendula flowers. I know it's a very pretty look, but just for me and a couple gifts - not needed.

Odd, when I added my lye water to the melted blended oils it seemed to want to hit trace in 2 seconds. I kicked my act into high gear - blended, stirred, added the shea butter and rosehip oil after all other oils were combined. It loosened up a little. I separated out a portion and blended in TD (ok not loosened up any longer with the TD).

Quickly then... 3 layers in the mold - plain, white, and plain again. Stirred it up with skewer like you would with a spoon - can't wait to see if I get subtle swirls inside (I hope so - but I still want to bend up a wire coat hanger to make better swirls next time). I did some lovely swirls on the top for texture, spritzed and cling wrapped it, and placed in the refrigerator. This is the first time I've put soap into the fridge. I filled little silicone hearts with some of the plain batter to have some embeds stashed.

So far the soap smells pretty good and is a beautiful pale yellow.

Interesting... two times that I've used dried flowers in teas for the lye water, trace seemed to be accelerated. Today my lye and oils were 14 degrees apart. Last time (with Hibiscus) they were 7 degrees apart. I don't see any notations when I did mint water, so that may not have been an issue. but it also wasn't strongly steeped mint tea either.

I'm going to go lurking, and tubing to see if others have experienced trace issues with botanicals in the lye water.

Such a lovely day.

Suz

 

[JuneP]

Made 12 bars of Nag Champa FO in my wave molds today. Also partly un-molded yesterday soap. It's still in the dividers because I didn't leave enough of the divider at the top, so I couldn't pull them out with pliers, so I'm letting the soap sit overnight to harden more so I can push them out tomorrow.

The disaster I reported yesterday (soap accelerated and couldn't pour to do a proper spin swirl), actually isn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Of course, once i get the bars free and do the horizontal cuts, I may have to eat my words again! LOL

 

[CTAnton]

11 blown out eggs + slow moving recipe + neon micas + 1 questionable f.o. + 4 syringes= an hour plus lesson in patience.
I've read so many times about questionably smelling f.o's OOB becoming something fabulous after cure....I'm having me doubts on this one....

 

[kittensmom]

Just finish a batch of Naked Soap

 

[LisaAnne]

Got up early and messed around cutting on soap. Really happy that I organized my soap area. Finished putting together a soap cart I pieced together from odds and ends I got at the thrift store. Silly looking but it works.

 

[Marshall]

First ever salt bars are in the mold and curing. Been in the mold for 3 hours, still soft and measuring about 98 degrees.

 

[JuneP]

Cut my February spin challenge soap, took pictures and got it up on the entry thread. I need a day or more to trim them.

Now I have to see if I can find a video editing software that will work with Windows 10, because the old Windows Movie Maker is not working with this. Windows warned of it not working, but I thought it worth a try; and of course the haven't created a new version for Windows 10. Hopefully someone on the forum can point me in the right direction.

 

[amd]

Made my first soap in over two weeks (thankyouverymuchheadlicesaidnooneever). I separated the batch in half and colored it purple and scented with True Lilac (WSP) and poured it quickly. The remainder I fraganced with My Main Squeeze (WSP) and split into 3 to color and pour into an S pattern. The colors look like pink and orange but eventually will morph into orange, yellow, and pink. I used a silicone impression mat to line the mold but I still couldn't resist swirling the top. I really like the smell of these two fo's together!

 

[penelopejane]

Made my first soap in ages. Castile (pure OO). So easy, no fragrance, no colour, no hassle. I did add a little manuka honey and 2 tsp of salt. So relaxing. It is in the oven resting.

 

[elmtree1748]

loving this one.

 

[dibbles]

Soaping area all cleaned up and organized - yay Well, except for the dirty dishes. Downton first, then we'll see if I feel like tackling that - I'm already thinking no.

 

[Misschief]

I finally input all my soap making supply invoices into Soap Maker 3. It took me a couple of hours in total. No soap has been made this weekend but I did do a small rebatch that I'm really happy with and made some foot cream for my husband and some nail and cuticle balm for myself.

 

[Wildcraft_Garden]

I'm a bit behind, here are a few things from the last week or two.

My forest inspired soap.
Brown is dirt FO, green and blue is Frasier fir, light green is Indonesian teakwood all from Crafter's Choice. I'm pretty happy with it! My only complaint is that the light green looks quite pale and there isn't as much contrast as I wanted.

Second is a springy lilac soap. The first try with this FO seized on me badly and I had soap on a stick.I rebatched it and I like it now. I had a plan and came at it differently for this batch and] won this time. I love it!

 

[kittensmom]

I'm doing some deep thinking on what my fall line of soap will be. Color, scent , quantity... I want to start soon so it has plenty of time to cure beside it's just fun!!!!

 

[likeablelady]

Took one soap out of the mold and cut it. Was happy with the results as I am quite new to this. Also made another two pound batch. Tried the 6 color swirl. All but one color turned out well, not sure why the purple one morphed into brown, but waste not want not, so I added it in anyhow. All you can see right now is the top. Was getting low on oils, so tried making my own recipe and hoping it turns out well.