What soapy thing have you done today?

[earlene]

Grated more soap last night. I absolutely hate the scent. I have to look back at my notes to see what it is, but boy is it cloying.

The color is a golden orange, so I thought I'd make a golden orange on golden orange confetti soap. I just wonder how much of the scent I can mask with this method. I've not really noticed old scent coming through all that much when making confetti soap, but if it ever does, this would be the time (when I don't like a scent.)

 

[jewels621]

So, I get the hype now over the salt bar.

I finally decided to try my hand at making one and while it is not pretty, and I have some timing kinks to work out......it feels soooo good!!!

It is so funny that you posted this today! Yesterday I spent all day finishing up and wrapping fully cured soaps. Several months ago I was inspired by the fine people of SMF to make a salt bar. I had never even heard of it until I joined this forum. It was a mess!! I had the same experience you had, only add to that my use of pink vibrance mica to match my lovely Australian Peony scent. It immediately turned the ugliest baby poop yellow/brown! I Slammed it into the mold and pouted for a good long time because it felt like such a failure. I was sure the soap gremlins were giggling in every corner. So yesterday I came across these horrible bars that I had been ignoring the existence of, and really thought I'd be pitching them in the garbage. I took one to the bathtub last night just to prove to myself that I was right to get rid of these ugly beasts. Holy Luxuriousness, Batsoapers! When they hit the water, I was so intrigued....it turned right into this beautiful piece of art right before my eyes, and now I want to make more ugly salt bars right now!!!! Hang in there with your bars.....I think you'll be pleasantly surprised by how beautiful they become!

 

[Escott752]

Lots and lots of planning to get ready for a soap making weekend!

 

[earlene]

I made a test soap for the challenge, mermaid tail scales on top of my orange on orange confetti soap. It went very well until I forgot to turn off the oven and the texture of the scales flattened out.

Also used the leftover soap to play around with peacock swirl just for fun. Of course it's just flat on a flat surface with nothing underneath, so it'll end up being more confetti bits, I guess. I probably should have put it all into a little individual mold and done a little swirl instead.

 

[Kittish]

Planning a proof of concept trial, and frustrated that I can't do it NAOW! Got too much else going on today, though. Tomorrow...now that's a different story.

 

[penelopejane]

Was going to make soap in my new molds but had to rework my recipe to fit the mold first.
Maths is such a joy!

 

[GlobalSoap]

Tallow Soap

Today I taught two people how to make soap. They were good students and did all the work! We made a batch of 100% tallow soap with lemon grass essential oil. We had rendered the tallow ourselves earlier in the week. I love passing on knowledge to people and it is wonderful to see their passion for soap making grow as they understand the process. Also, it reminds me of when I first made soap and brings back the wonderful mystery of it all.

 

[Spiceandsoap]

Planning a proof of concept trial, and frustrated that I can't do it NAOW! Got too much else going on today, though. Tomorrow...now that's a different story.

Hahah, yeah, I feel you there. Most of my week was waiting and anticipating making soap on Saturday.
Yesterday I made a mint soap using mint tea! Its not as dark as I would have hoped, but it smells amazing

 

[penelopejane]

Hahah, yeah, I feel you there. Most of my week was waiting and anticipating making soap on Saturday.
Yesterday I made a mint soap using mint tea! Its not as dark as I would have hoped, but it smells amazing

It should darken as it cures but I don't think the scent will stick. Would really like to hear your results.

 

[Kittish]

Well... Got started with trying out the idea I have. Mixed up my lye water, then when I went to check it 15 minutes later it had gone all weird. Had some sort of whitish layer on top, that apparently broke into chunks when I swirled the water. Um. Urg. I actually did sing this next bit to myself as I was doing it:

Dilute, dilute, dilute the lye
Pour it down the drain
Rinse the pot, rinse the pot
and rinse the pot again

I use distilled water to mix my lye, though it's possible maybe that there could have been some mineral deposits inside the pitcher from the last time I washed it after use.

Lye solution, take two, go!

Take two went properly. I think there may have been some sort of residue from using coffee in my lye a few days ago. Soap is at emulsion, I think. The way I test that is to walk away for 5 minutes. Not going to use any color or fragrance in this, just a bit of cocoa powder to (I hope) highlight the pattern.

ETA: What's inside?

 

[jewels621]

I just ordered a tall skinny mold, a 2.5lb silicone lined wood mold with acrylic slide-on top, some glitter, and some Fire Tree fragrance (thanks to BrewerGeorge for feeding my foho-ness......again!), all from Nurture. I didn't need one thing, but I just.cant.stop. :headbanging:

 

[Cindy2428]

jewels - I went through some of my old receipts... Nurture has gotten a lot of $$ from me. $750.00 got me most of his (hubby) molds that they were making 2 years ago. Money very well spent. You will have that mold for a lifetime. I made some sample guest soaps in my tall & skinny; I cut the loaf slices and then cut then in half. Made a perfect guest bar for me.

Secret - I'm begging them for a loaf cutter and an MP cutter like the one Bud Hafner used to make. They like the idea so I'm wearing them down .

 

[earlene]

Watched several soapmaking videos on youtube.

Tested my dual lye vinegar Castile since penelopejane asked me about it a couple of days ago. It's 6 months old and I am impressed!

No slime, great bubbles for a 6 month Castile. I'm pretty sure I added sugar to that batch, but I have to check my notes. It was one of the gradient color soaps I made for the challenge. I really like how hard, bubbly and creamy feeling this Castile is. I did not expect it to be so wonderful at 6 months. I used it 3 times and each time was amazed at how much better the dual lye with vinegar is than without.

ETA: No, NO sugar added. I just checked my notes. The only addition was besides the vinegar was EDTA in the usual .05% amount.

I calculated the vinegar amount to produce a 1.8% sodium acetate amount as per the calculations listed here. I based my calculations on Topofthemurrayhill's instructions on how to use vinegar to harden soap here.

 

[jewels621]

jewels - I went through some of my old receipts... Nurture has gotten a lot of $$ from me. $750.00 got me most of his (hubby) molds that they were making 2 years ago. Money very well spent. You will have that mold for a lifetime. I made some sample guest soaps in my tall & skinny; I cut the loaf slices and then cut then in half. Made a perfect guest bar for me.

Secret - I'm begging them for a loaf cutter and an MP cutter like the one Bud Hafner used to make. They like the idea so I'm wearing them down .

So good to hear! I've still been lining my go-to wooden molds with freezer paper, which I really don't mind, but this will kind of be a treat to myself.

I have the long loaf cutter from Essential Depot and a Bud's single wire cutter that I use mostly for horizontal cuts. Love them both and wouldn't be without out either. Good luck wearing them down.....that, too, will be money well spent!

 

[penelopejane]

Well... Got started with trying out the idea I have. Mixed up my lye water, then when I went to check it 15 minutes later it had gone all weird. Had some sort of whitish layer on top, that apparently broke into chunks when I swirled the water.

I use distilled water to mix my lye, though it's possible maybe that there could have been some mineral deposits inside the pitcher from the last time I washed it after use.

Take two went properly. I think there may have been some sort of residue from using coffee in my lye a few days ago. Soap is at emulsion, I think. The way I test that is to walk away for 5 minutes.

Sounds to me like you didn't mix the lye and water for long enough. You don't have to mix continually but you do have to mix it every few mins until it all dissolves otherwise it leaves the residue you mentioned.
It sometimes forms a hard as a rock plate at the bottom of the lye and water mix which is also from not stirring until it's all dissolved.

 

[Kittish]

Sounds to me like you didn't mix the lye and water for long enough. You don't have to mix continually but you do have to mix it every few mins until it all dissolves otherwise it leaves the residue you mentioned.
It sometimes forms a hard as a rock plate at the bottom of the lye and water mix which is also from not stirring until it's all dissolved.

That first batch I mixed til it cleared, there were no visible particles until I came back to it a few minutes later, when it had the weird almost scum layer on top that broke up into chunks. More stirring only made more bits evident, didn't get rid of any.

The second batch I mixed til it cleared, and left it to sit and cool just like I did with the first one. Still nice and clear when I came back to it.

 

[artemis]

That first batch I mixed til it cleared, there were no visible particles until I came back to it a few minutes later, when it had the weird almost scum layer on top that broke up into chunks. More stirring only made more bits evident, didn't get rid of any.

The second batch I mixed til it cleared, and left it to sit and cool just like I did with the first one. Still nice and clear when I came back to it.

Did you use the container for oils or anything like that before? Maybe there was an oily residue that reacted with the lye?

 

[Kittish]

Did you use the container for oils or anything like that before? Maybe there was an oily residue that reacted with the lye?

Not directly, but I had last had coffee in that was mixed with lye from trying to make coffee soap, and it was washed at the same time the rest of my equipment was which totally could have resulted in some oily residue in it.

 

[lenarenee]

spiceandsoap - First of all, I love your picture; it makes me want to jump in the shower right now.
2nd - I would trim as soon as you can handle your soap.
3rd - I wear gloves when I handle my soap; I don't have problems with finger impressions

I'm not good at trimming my soap - possibly because I'm too picky. I despise having an uneven edge from trimming and that often comes from waiting too long to trim.

Unfortunately you'll have to learn what works best for your soap by trial and error. I can wait a week for best results; but I have high lard, ungelled recipe. It's firm enough to handle without denting, but easy to get a nice trim.

Sorry, I quoted Cindy instead of the OP! But I totally agree with the pic of soap - looks luscious!

 

[lenarenee]

I did my first farmers market in our local town, and I was surprisingly happy with the outcome as my sales were very good for just a small market and I plan on doing this every Saturday through September.

I love your display! I know displays are expensive, but I just hate shopping from a flat tabletop.