What soapy thing have you done today?

[amd]

Today's soapy adventures included unmolding and cutting my attempt at the heart swirl. It is a beautiful failure. I scored some silicone baking trays from my future mother in law - pumpkin and rose designs. Thinking these would be great for some salt bars.

 

[Cindy2428]

Happy Anniversary BlackDog! Earlene, I was tired just reading your post - you go girl I can only claim more FO shopping - I already had all of Nurture's FO's and now she comes up with 60 more...

 

[Arimara]

Took a shower with a tester. That should count :mrgreen:

 

[apples]

Been browsing internet and soap pictures the whole day on google, Pinterest and smf, calculating cost, planning new soaps, eyes getting tired and hubby complaining as usual whenever I do that. He just can't bear me in front of the computer totally absorbed and ignoring his presence but hey, there's work to be done. Guess that's it for today then, do it again tomorrow when he's off to work

 

[artemis]

You know you've been making too much soap when you have weird dreams about your (deceased) grandmother visiting, but someone put all the over-sized bars of soap in the shower and you know they are going to be way to big for her hands. But the thing that sticks with you afterward is what the soap looked like...

 

[niclycha]

I signed up for Great cakes soap challenge. I have been wanting to do this one ever since I found Soapish's video on YouTube. Can't wait to start this one.

 

[earlene]

Sounds like fun, niclycha! I just realized today that I probably won't be able to participate in another challenge here at SMF for at least 2 months. Not unless I can do whatever July offers early in the month.

My husband & I are taking granddaughter to New York then end of July, but I'll be spending some time in San Antonio beforehand as well as afterward. Then from Texas I'll be driving to Seattle to meet Hubby, then we will be flying to Alaska. After Alaska we will be visiting family in Washington, then driving along the northern states on our way home, so I won't have much opportunity to do any soaping for some time.

So I have to get as much in as possible in the next week or so!

I love my new Dual Lye Castile made with half Pomace OO & half regular OO (95%NaOH & 5%KOH). I made it yesterday, and within 12 hours it was unmolded, cut & rock hard. Amazing!

My ribbon pour attempts still are not producing the results I am aiming for, even though what I have cut still looks nice. I have one more to cut, so it will be better I am sure. I went through the same thing learning the Ghost Swirl technique (high & low water), so I expect it is just the learning curve. But I want to perfect it before I run off the Texas.

 

[earlene]

Cut 18 bars of these soaps today/last night

 

[mzimm]

Well, this'll never happen again, so I had to document the evidence.
Normally I'm as precise as I can be, and would have weighed batter and container and all that up front to figure mold size etc etc. Today I rebatched a bunch of old soaps and had the shreds going in the crockpot before I even thought about what mold to use. Let alone weigh anything.
So the plan all came together without a plan, lol! As I said, that'll never happen again because in future I'll measure everything and still come up short ... or over...

 

[penelopejane]

Today I rebatched a bunch of old soaps and had the shreds

Have you tried grating your left overs and making confetti soap get? With that blue it would have made a nice confetti soap I think.

 

[mzimm]

Have you tried grating your left overs and making confetti soap get? With that blue it would have made a nice confetti soap I think.

Yes penelopejane, that was an option. Some of my prettiest soaps have been confetti's from ugly originals, lol! This one was mostly blue and teal soap, and I threw in some of the leftover tiles from my mosaic soap at the end of the rebatch, so they'd only melt a little bit. I like the result, but I have to say that the overall effect is a lot like the industrial floor tiles that also look like ... rebatched soap.:?

 

[Arimara]

Yes penelopejane, that was an option. Some of my prettiest soaps have been confetti's from ugly originals, lol! This one was mostly blue and teal soap, and I threw in some of the leftover tiles from my mosaic soap at the end of the rebatch, so they'd only melt a little bit. I like the result, but I have to say that the overall effect is a lot like the industrial floor tiles that also look like ... rebatched soap.:?

View attachment 21667

I rather like it, though I understand lighting and everything doesn't equate to actual appearance sometimes. Still, I like it.

 

[earlene]

I like the result, but I have to say that the overall effect is a lot like the industrial floor tiles that also look like ... rebatched soap.:?

View attachment 21667

They do look like the surface of some of those old linoleum floors, but I kind of like how they used to look. I had a friend that I worked with who would shine her linoleum to a mirror-like sheen that was absolutely amazing for something that normally looks dull and lack-luster.

~ ~ ~ ~

My soapy stuff:

Today I made some tomato & buttermilk soap. Almost had soap on a stick, but managed to get the molds filled in time. I do hope I don't end up with too many air bubbles. I've never made tomato soap before, but since I had to open a large can of tomato sauce (in preparation for soup, yes Soup, not soap), I thought I'd give it a try.

Weighed & documented water loss of curing soaps.

Trimmed the edges of some soaps.

I still want to make confetti soap, so today I thought up a design I want to use. Hoping to work on that one tomorrow after Hubby leaves for work.

Tonight we're going out to dinner because it's Hubby's birthday tomorrow, so I better go get ready.

 

[dibbles]

Making a beer soap has been on the list for a looooong time, and I did it this morning. I used BB Spiced Amber Ale, which isn't supposed to be an accelerator, and added 2 oz of reduced beer at very light trace. The batter got to plop stage so quickly - due to the FO or the beer, I don't know. I'm expecting air pockets and who knows what else when I cut it. Oh well, another item checked off of the soap bucket list.

 

[earlene]

I only have one more week to make soap before leaving home for a couple of months, so I am working on a recipe for soap to make today.

 

[amd]

As I am officially on a staycation vacation from now until July 21st... I updated my inventory lists and packed the items to go to the farmer's market tomorrow. On Tuesday everything that is left goes to the boutique for a month to see how we do there. I have compiled a list of soaps to restock, and soaps I want to make for fun.

I have to add a confetti soap to my fun list. My tub of shavings from beveling is almost 4lbs! I'm kind of debating if I want to try this as a loaf or as confetti cupcakes... oh, heck, I have enough to do both! And yes... I am still mustering up my courage to tackle soap cupcakes. Still have to do the salt bars for the boys too. And adding 100% coconut soap for laundry to the list too.

I tested out the Walmart soap I made as a demo for both of my soap classes. (GV shortening, coconut oil, olive oil, and castor oil) I have to say that I had forgotten how hard and nice this soap is for a starting soap (I made it once when I first started soaping, probably my fourth or fifth soap batch, used it and never made it again).

Other than soap, my vacation has lots of fun things - playing in my garden, building the cucumber and bean trellis, making 10 1lb soap molds for the next soap class, planning said class, taking my daughter to camp, cooking dinner for VBS for a week, a few days of one on one time with the teenager (he's been a bit neglected lately), a weekend getaway with le fiancée, and just enjoying not being at work

 

[Sagebrush]

Yesterday, I made my first three-color swirl soap. I've made plenty of two-color batches, but a regular customer suggested a mash-up of two of my bars. And I did ALL the soap dishes when I was finished! Also, I wasn't planning on unmolding yet, but this morning they came out of the molds like a dream.

 

[Arimara]

Making a beer soap has been on the list for a looooong time, and I did it this morning. I used BB Spiced Amber Ale, which isn't supposed to be an accelerator, and added 2 oz of reduced beer at very light trace. The batter got to plop stage so quickly - due to the FO or the beer, I don't know. I'm expecting air pockets and who knows what else when I cut it. Oh well, another item checked off of the soap bucket list.

I'd blame the beer. My first beer soap was unscented with a high amount of olive oil. That batch traced fast like a minute or under and it was medium trace.

 

[niclycha]

Lol mzimm , I was trying to figure out what it looked like and that's it. The floor tiles. Love the blues and teals

 

[niclycha]

Made me a oil masterbatching pot, with the kettle valve, from Soaping 101 video