What soapy thing have you done today?

[TeresaT]

I just made a 5 gallon pail full of master batched oils. It weighs about 30 lbs. It has a heating blanket around it now to melt the lard and coconut oil completely down. The lard was mushy-soft while the coconut was slushy. I'll probably do another 5 gallon pail of oils tomorrow. I bought regular lids for the pails, but I think I'm going to return the three I haven't used yet and get gamma lids. I have just realized that the standard lids are one time only use. I guess that's why they're only $1.50. I don't want to discover a dog has drank the melted oils and tossed her guts up. Been there, done that; was NOT a fun thing to clean up. (It was just lard that time. But regurgitated lard is beyond disgusting.)

 

[earlene]

WTG on the masterbatched oils, Teresa.

Today I finished registration for the Soap Scent Review Board and browsed some reports on some of my FOs. Could not find one of them on either here nor there, but I did find some reviews on the vendors site. I'll have to submit a review about it here and there, as I have used it twice and it accelerated both times. But the vendor information says it does not accelerate. Only one reviewer said that it did, so people may not realize when they purchase.

Anyway, I had decided it's time to do some research on the EOs and FOs I have and take some notes so I can plan which ones to use in what types of recipes. It was a start, but I only looked up two FOs, then used them. So at this rate, it will take a while. :-?

I made two small test batches of soap, using the same slow tracing recipe. I am looking for a good swirling recipe, as well as one I can use to determine if an additive changes how the soap progresses. They are in the oven now, so I'll take a look at them in the morning.

 

[TeresaT]

Thanks, Earlene. I didn't make another bucket of master batch today, but I did make a batch of soap using the master batched oils. Oh my gosh! What a breeze it was. I also used dixie cups and plastic straws for measuring things and mixing colorants and the colored batter. That made clean up a lot faster. I usually use small dishes to weigh everything. Since every additive needs a new dish, cleaning up after soaping was a bigger chore than soaping was. Now, everything is disposable and much easier. I had to make a choice between using a lot of water or creating a lot of waste. I opted for the "lot of waste." I won't be using as many paper towels, now, because there are less containers and pitchers to wipe out. I think it balances out.

I made a grapefruit and rosemary EO blend for a friend. 1 oz rosemary and 2 oz grapefruit. I'll have enough of the blend to make two more batches of soap for her. (That was the fragrance I used for today's batch.)

I tried doing the September challenge on my batch today and have come to the conclusion I am just not a "ribbon pour" kind of gal. The batter was too fluid once again when I poured it. But I didn't want to wait much longer because I was afraid I'd forget about it and end up with pudding in a pitcher. So this soap is going to be interesting. It's a drop swirl with a ribbon drop swirl on top of it. I'm thinking it's going to look like camouflage or vomit. It's four colors: plain batter, TD, spirulina and nettle leaf.

Oh well, it's soap. It'll get her clean.

I also gave my next door neighbor 4 pounds of lard from my 50 cube and about a quart of coconut oil. I was going to pour the coconut oil into a container for her, when I realized I don't need the container it was in. So she got to have it. This is the neighbor who's fiancee does my yard work for me. I've got to bring over a bunch of soaps tomorrow for them.

Tomorrow I plan on making a test batch using a bunch of firsts: Cherry kernel oil, Dragon's Blood FO, the Nurture new Really Red mica sample I got with the blend swap and a black mica I got from one of my pre-buy groups. Oh, and I'm going to put glow in the dark powder in there, too. I almost forgot about that!! I haven't used any of those additives before, this should be a fun soap. :mrgreen:

 

[TBandCW]

Sold soap today!

 

[Arimara]

I lost my LS castile "virtue" and I am SOO glad I didn't do this when I first learned how to make LS in general. I would have freaked out and wasted the batch. I do hate slow dilutions though. I'm so impatient.

 

[earlene]

I lost my LS castile "virtue" and I am SOO glad I didn't do this when I first learned how to make LS in general. I would have freaked out and wasted the batch. I do hate slow dilutions though. I'm so impatient.

I don't know what that means, Arimara.

Today I made another ribbon pour soap using a high oleic mixture of oils, dual lye and a bit of buttermilk. I mixed two FOs, one of which reportedly discolor, but I didn't read anything about accelerating trace. BUT I decided to hand mix to emulsion rather than use the SB and am glad I did since it didn't take very long. I only did 2 short bursts with the SB when mixing the colors and got it all poured at just the right trace (for once!) I was very happy with how the process went today. And it looked so good as it went into the molds. I think it might be the mone.

While I was making my soap my Amazon delivery came and I now have what I need to make the tooth soap but not today, I am tired and my back hurts from being on my feet for so long. I did use my new planer/beveler and oh, my gosh, I really like this thing! I planed & beveled 6 bars of previous ribbon pour soaps and they look so much better than before! I also planed the bottoms of a few individual mold soaps. Hence the back pain. Next time I need to do this while seated.

 

[amd]

Been busy restocking the curing shelves. I attempted to shrink wrap some cupcakes but was not happy with the look. Ordered bakery boxes and stickers to label. It will drive the price up a but, but I think my market will hold it. My mom gave me a huge compliment on my soap cupcakes! (Which if you know my mom... Compliments are hard to come by.) She popped in and was looking at my cure racks. She says "why are your cupcakes with your soap?" (Back story: I make real cupcakes for special events and they get a little "fancy".) So I told her that they were soap and she says "noooo" then picks one up and says "I want to eat this. These are so cute!" Yep, my labels will gave DO NOT EAT on them....

Also tried to make an almond milk, honey, oatmeal soap. It turned out nice for the first time using a significant amount of honey. (It heated up crazy so into the freezer it went!) Was really happy with how easy bubble wrap was to use to give it the honey comb look.

 

[penelopejane]

. My mom gave me a huge compliment on my soap cupcakes! (Which if you know my mom... Compliments are hard to come by.) She popped in and was looking at my cure racks. She says "why are your cupcakes with your soap?" (Back story: I make real cupcakes for special events and they get a little "fancy".) So I told her that they were soap and she says "noooo" then picks one up and says "I want to eat this. These are so cute!" .

Your mother sounds a bit like mine. You never get over the thrill of getting a lovely complement from a tough task master mother! So nice.

Glad your skills transferred from cakes to soap well. :mrgreen:

 

[penelopejane]

I am going to make soap today. I have had a lovely visitor staying for a week and am sending her home with so much soap that I am running low. So excited I can't settle on a colour combo yet but I am going to try a thin trace plain base and pour coloured batter on top a la Teresa's September challenge entry. :mrgreen:

 

[earlene]

Did I mention I gave away 6 bars of soap at my doctor's office the other day? They were so thrilled.

Last night I made Tooth Soap and filled a large plastic Spice Container with as much AC as would fit into it. It is SO messy to work with, I believe this will really cut down on the mess of using the stand-up pouch it came in, although I wasn't able to empty that pouch completely.

This morning I took lots more photos of soap, because I re-beveled and planed more of them. I am still trying to decide which soap to enter into the Ribbon Pour Challenge. So far I have only eliminated one. :-?

 

[dibbles]

I made some soap, just because :mrgreen:

 

[Arimara]

Still diluting this castile but I'm about to pour it into a bottle and test it with an EO blend.

 

[biarine]

My liquid lemongrass dish soap.

 

[earlene]

I chose some soaps to 'salt out' and started that today. Two months ago I made pointillism soap using glycerine to mix my colorants, but way too much glycerin. So that soap remains rubbery and I concluded it's never going to dry. So the whole batch - into to pot. Also I didn't much like the pokeman challenge soaps that I made while traveling. So into the pot they went. I was tempted to just keep them for Hubby as they are lardy soaps and bubble up quite nicely, and hard as a rock. But I have plenty of soaps I like better and see no reason to give him what feels to me like inferior soap. So I decided it all would go into the pot. And the spinach soap I made that faded so much, into the pot.

The weird thing about the spinach soap, which I made with home-dried spinach. You know how when you steam or boil spinach it gets much brighter and darker? Well, the spinach soap that had totally faded away over the past few months, suddenly started getting green again when I boiled it! Remarkable.

It was sort of fun to do this thing. I started out with some pretty dark and brightly colored soap (the pointillism soap was based on a very bright sunset painting) and after the first salting out came to the color of oatmeal mixed with maple syrup. After the second boiling out, it is the lighter color of cooked oatmeal. But as it is drying it is becoming quite light in color, almost white. I am amazed by that.

Tomorrow I plan to prepare it for placing in a mold and see how it turns out as bar soap after this salting out process. I will add some EDTA as none of these soaps had any. I wonder if I should add ROE, too? I think it might be a good idea as I'm pretty sure only half the soaps were made with oils to which I had added ROE.

 

[penelopejane]

I am happy to report that I made the second successful lot of a soap my son really likes. Exactly as I wanted it to be. I am really happy because (other than Castile) I've achieved consistency.

I have had a failed batch of this recipe in between these. It failed because I didn't remember the FO (which was new) accelerated and the lye mixture was too hot to soap (impatience) and it's a complicated recipe with quite a few steps so both of those mattered a lot.

 

[TeresaT]

I am going to make soap today. I have had a lovely visitor staying for a week and am sending her home with so much soap that I am running low. So excited I can't settle on a colour combo yet but I am going to try a thin trace plain base and pour coloured batter on top a la Teresa's September challenge entry. :mrgreen:

It's a fun way of doing soap. You should try this one, too. All you need is one divider. I forget whose video I got this idea from, but it was basically a drop swirl on one side of the bar with a similar design poured on the top. It's one of my favorite designs so far because it is so simple to do and can be quite elegant. The possibilities for the combinations are virtually endless. I want to try to do a black soap with red edges for Dragon's Blood. That would be very sexy soap I think. I could even put a hidden feather in the solid part quite easily. So maybe black center with a red hidden feather in it and red edge and top for the DB.

Anyway, post whatever you come up with. I'm looking forward to seeing your creations!!

 

[Rusti]

Made one of two planned Christmas batches for giving away.

Scented with WSP's frankincense. The reviews say it discolors and accelerates. Definitely discolors almost immediately, the oil is so dark. I expect the soap to just get darker. I colored a portion of it with some gold mica and left the rest uncolored to see what it does. As far as accelerating, I suppose it does a bit. I had enough time for a decent drop swirl, but I expect that if I had tried to do something fancy I might have found myself in a tight spot. I put it all in the mold, walked away to turn on the heating pad and came back to a batter thick enough to hold a little swirling with a spoon handle like you see. So there's enough time, as long as you don't piddle around.

 

[TeresaT]

My soapy wonderfulness today was making a 500 gram test batch of Dragon's Blood. I decided not to put any colors in it. I want to see how badly it discolors. This is the DB from Pure Fragrance Oil. I bought it because Carolyn Z said it was the closest to her DB and I thought I'd check it out before I invested in a large buy.

The second thing was to test the Witches Brew that I complained about in an earlier thread. I made 5 dixie cups of tests, although one of them is a bust. I tried weighing one gram on my scale and it wouldn't weigh one gram. When I got to 2 grams, I filled up the dropper and emptied out half of it. Not exactly scientific, but the best I could do under the circumstances. I really need to get a micro scale. So, I've got and estimated 1 gram, 2 grams, you get the picture. Each cup has a different color in it and the number written on it. I've got to put that info into my SoapMaker3 so I don't forget.

The third thing was probably a soapy mistake. I weighed out the remaining NaOH that I had (1009 grams) and decided to make a 50/50 solution since I was nearly out (32 grams left). I made it in my stainless steel soap pot. While it was cooling, I fell asleep. I got up, weighed the pot and added the 19 grams lost to evaporation. When I poured the solution into my jug, I noticed it is has a slight grayish tint to it. So, I'm going to assume that some of the "stainless steel" etched off of the pot and into my lye solution. I have no idea why I used the pot and not a pitcher. I guess I thought there was going to be a lot more solution than there actually was. It probably would have been fine if I hadn't fallen asleep for three hours. The solution was 219 degrees when I went to lie down for a "few minutes" and 110 when I got up and poured it out of the pot. This really REALLY makes me mad. Now, I have to order NaOH and wait until I can pick it up next week. I also have 2018 grams of drain cleaner that I need to find another jug to put it into. I was going to finally test FOs because I've got a crap-ton of oils mixed and would have had a crap-ton of solution. I bought a bunch of dixie cups for that reason and now can't do any of it. So very annoyed with myself.

 

[penelopejane]

It's a fun way of doing soap. You should try this one, too. All you need is one divider. I forget whose video I got this idea from, but it was basically a drop swirl on one side of the bar with a similar design poured on the top. It's one of my favorite designs so far because it is so simple to do and can be quite elegant. The possibilities for the combinations are virtually endless. I want to try to do a black soap with red edges for Dragon's Blood. That would be very sexy soap I think. I could even put a hidden feather in the solid part quite easily. So maybe black center with a red hidden feather in it and red edge and top for the DB.

Anyway, post whatever you come up with. I'm looking forward to seeing your creations!!

That looks great. I am just doing confetti soaps atm to try and get rid of a few failed batches. So nothing beautiful or different. Although I might be able to do a drop swirl with a confetti mix in on top of a plain base... Colours do scare me and looking at all these colours... I just have to bite the bullet.

 

[earlene]

Teresa, if you normally use the stainless steel pot for making soap I don't think it's steel that etched off into your lye solution. Of course I could be wrong. Is it possible there was a bit of 'invisible' soap residue in the pot before you did your lye solution in it? Anyway, I'd probably just use the lye solution in a small test batch and see how it works.

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ETA: My soapy stuff today:

Of the salted out soap I started yesterday, one part of that was almost white. I turned it into 'new' soap by melting & added ROE, EDTA, SL, yogurt and NG Lily of the Valley FO. There was enough for 2 1-lb molds and 3 small individual bars. It will be interesting to see how they turn out and how long they will take to stop losing water weight.

I did a third salting out of the darker soap and it got just a little bit lighter in color, but not as light as the first. I am not quite sure how that happened. Originally I started out with all of it together yesterday. But I had to separate it because it was too much for the size of pot I was using. So maybe some of the darker soaps just happened to sink further down in the pot before I did the separation. Anyway they are cooling & draining overnight. I scooped some off and put it into a towel-lined strainer inside a bowl. It seems to drain and dry faster than way than when just left on top of the brine. I haven't decided what I will do with this soap yet. I kind of like the oatmeal color, but I may want to do something more interesting. I'll have to give that some thought.