What soapy thing have you done today?

[earlene]

Dahlia, those are beautiful!

Today I tidied up my soaping colorants & labeled the plastic bins I keep them in (less like bins and more like covered plastic boxes with clip-on lids). I chose the colorants for the soap I was going to make today, but will make tomorrow instead. I wanted to do the same with my fragrances, but it's going to be a longer project and I didn't get to it yet. Maybe I'll do that tomorrow after I make the soap. It really needs doing.

 

[Debs]

Today I have shaken my nettle oil infusions and alkanet root oil infusion and can't wait for the 6 weeks to be up so I can use it!! Having a quick scout on the site for orange water ideas now - wondering if I can use it instead of some water in my lye solution. Gave my latest batch of soaps a good sniff earlier on...(husband wondered what I was doing!)....still at the experimenting stage of my soaping hobby and making weekly notes on what each soap smells like as the last lot seemed to disappear after 6 weeks :-( - Eager to get a lasting combination!!

 

[chela1261]

Made this tiger swirl soap

 

[cherrycoke216]

Made this tiger swirl soap

sold 24 soaps and made

Wow! I love the color scheme of dahila's soap!
And the thin fine line of the chela1261's tiger swirl!
Bravo!

I have cut my mini cake soap. And in awe of those YouTuber that just bring out some knife and just eyeballing to cut soap cakes. I suck at cutting cakes. That is some talent, the random eyeballing cutting and came out perfect thing!

 

[Gerry]

I just cut these 5 minutes ago from yesterday's little project. They're a bit busy, think I'll actually choose a base color next time. But ... I can say no two are remotely alike. Haha!

 

[toxikon]

Gorgeous, I happen to love the "busyness". It looks like an abstract painting.

 

[earlene]

My soap from yesterday didn't set up completely. It was at 90F when I last checked it, but this morning when I removed it from the overnight oven it was still very tacky on the top. So I am re-heating it. I certainly don't think I made an error with my lye weights as it was at medium trace when I started and no way a Castile soap could mimic false trace, right? It's the same 50:50 pomace OO:regular OO I made 3 times already in the past week. I just don't understand, but will attempt to re-introduce gel and see what happens. I guess I didn't heat it enough last night and then did not insulate it enough. It's warmer now, but it sure seems to be losing heat faster than any of the others this past week. So I have turned the oven back on again. I know the oven's working fine, I keep taking it's temperature, too. I sound like the mother of a sick baby.

 

[CTAnton]

I'm remelting some valentine's soaps from last year(mp) and remolding them...I'm amazed with good packing and a ton of luck how well they've passed the year...the scents are holding very well...Nature's Garden red currant is a favorite...

 

[Dahila]

I made shower steamers for juniors and got ready for my two logs of soap,

 

[Gerry]

I certainly don't think I made an error with my lye weights as it was at medium trace when I started and no way a Castile soap could mimic false trace, right?

Yeah you can false trace pure olive oil if you're soaping at around 21 °F. :mrgreen:

Just by coincidence I made another batch of 100% olive Castile today. But I don't gel because I'm using silicone molds that make 30 individual soaps, so they don't warm up. I could CPOP but I'm scared of silicone heat-rash, even with the 40% lye to water. I pour at bare trace mainly because I'm lazy. I never get any sort of separation as long as it's well emulsified.

It's weird the way olive oil sets up without gel. In 24 hours, it will barely be thicker than it is now. 48 hours a little bit thicker - like thick trace. Then suddenly they harden within a few hours more. After 55 to 60 hours when I unmold them they are so rock hard that the surface of soap with the mold details is shiny like plastic.

 

[Gerry]

Just cut my "confetti" soap I made yesterday as part of my ongoing recycling project. This was 800 grams of shavings and thin loaf end pieces I put through the KitchenAid shredding attachment. It made very fine bits and shavings. Mixed it with 1000 grams of soap batter at thin trace. It mixed so easily without a single air bubble that I think I can try a 1:1 ratio next time. I CPOP'd it just to make sure it all came together. In real life it really looks a lot like red granite with the bit of red oxide I threw into the batter. I'll call it granite soap. Haha!

 

[Gerry]

I just made another 2 kg of soap shavings. I'm going to try something new. I always liked the veins in some granite and I'd love to get that kind of effect. I'll use 1:1 ratio of shavings to soap batter. But I'll use full water and color the batter white with titanium dioxide. Then I'll CPOP the @#!@ out of it. Now watch me not get glycerin rivers because I'm trying to get them. Haha!

 

[kchaystack]

I just made another 2 kg of soap shavings. I'm going to try something new. I always liked the veins in some granite and I'd love to get that kind of effect. I'll use 1:1 ratio of shavings to soap batter. But I'll use full water and color the batter white with titanium dioxide. Then I'll CPOP the @#!@ out of it. Now watch me not get glycerin rivers because I'm trying to get them. Haha!

do not use full water. that is a sure way to get crackle.

 

[mx5inpenn]

Just masterbatched 2# of lye. My new t&s mold arrived. My challenge soap is on the agenda for tonight. I am about to go clean some shea and cocoa butters for lotion bars as well.

 

[Gerry]

do not use full water. that is a sure way to get crackle.

That's what I'm hoping for!

 

[earlene]

Gerry, your red granite soaps are stunning. I can't wait to see your veined marble or veined granite soap. I do hope it's a success. If so, please share your recipe. I have yet to get noticeable glycerine rivers, but I have wanted to do a little experimenting to see what kinds of effects I could get with doing them on purpose. So many experiments I keep thinking of and so little time!

My Castile gelled with the second CPOP. That was just weird. It apparently needed more assistance than previous batches. This morning I unmolded it and will cut it tonight.

 

[Gerry]

Gerry, your red granite soaps are stunning. I can't wait to see your veined marble or veined granite soap. I do hope it's a success. If so, please share your recipe. I have yet to get noticeable glycerine rivers, but I have wanted to do a little experimenting to see what kinds of effects I could get with doing them on purpose. So many experiments I keep thinking of and so little time!

My Castile gelled with the second CPOP. That was just weird. It apparently needed more assistance than previous batches. This morning I unmolded it and will cut it tonight.

I did it. Had the loaf at 170 degrees for about 20 minutes before the oven was commandeered for a meatloaf. So I wrapped it all up to keep it warm and it will go back in the oven once the meatloaf is done its thing. The surface temperature at the top was 157 degrees when I took it out.

At a 1:1 ratio of old soap shavings to batter doesn't make me think it can generate enough heat to gel properly without help. It's also pushing it to the limit... hope I don't have a lot of big air pockets or anything. We'll see tomorrow when I unmold and cut. I liberally scented it with NDA's Sensual Amber FO. I used that months ago the last time and had glycerin rivers even with a water discount. Maybe it helps?

I just checked my castile soap. It's not liquid, more a thick trace now. If I turned a mold over for sure the thick batter would plop out. It's also very zappy still! So that's going exactly the way I expected. Haha

Show us your castile tomorrow, and I'll show you mine :mrgreen:

 

[Dahila]

This Rose kaolin Activated charcoal, buttermilk, scented with Black rasberry vanilla

 

[Gerry]

I just cut the "experiment". Looks like I didn't get the glycerin rivers I was hoping for, or perhaps they're so small I can't see them? I think it's because the old soap might have absorbed a lot of the water during the gel/saponification, or perhaps the tiny soap bits interfered with the formation of the rivers somehow. But I did learn that 1 kg of old soap can indeed be recycled with only 1 kg of new soap batter. No air pockets or bubbles to speak of!

The second photo is a macro closeup of the surface - covering a little more than an inch across a bar.

Edit: I just checked on my castile and it finally and suddenly firmed up. It's got a very thin film of soda ash on the surface (which will be the bottom of the soap that I plane anyway). Ashy surface doesn't zap, tastes like baking soda. I'll leave them in the mold another 6 hours or so just to ensure complete saponification because I don't want to risk ash forming on the business side!

 

[Dahila]

I just cut my Karma to be different name