What soapy thing have you done today?

[earlene]

I am finally back home again and read the 3 pages of posts on this thread to get caught up. Love your colorful hanger swirl soap, toxikon! And the colors on your goldfish soap are super. Chela161, very nice gradient soap; love the shades of turquoise blue.

Tonight I finally ordered some cannibis scented FO. I am really hoping it arrives in time for me to take it on my next roadtrip because I want to make the soap for my brother. I post-poned ordering it for the past 2 or 3 roadtrips, but I'm going to the West Coast and want to make it when I get there. It may be the first time I ever give really young soap away, but I trust my brother to follow directions about letting it cure. Or maybe I'll only make it, but keep it to cure first then deliver it to him in November for his birthday when I go back out again after Thanksgiving. I'll think on that.

Anyhow, after taking the Coloring class from Carrie at SoapCon, I am stoked to create my own marijuana bud mica blend especially for his soap. I need to go evaluate the hemp oil soap I made last month now that it's a bit older, but that can wait until morning. And work on the recipe I want to use for his soap. After using my 'Dad's Flagstone Patio' soap for the past few weeks, I am leaning toward using the same formula with only a slight variation - subbing some Hemp Oil for one of the others. I'll have to run the numbers and see how it looks in the lye calculator. I really like how it feels in use and he seemed to like it as well.

The cool thing about the Color workshop was that it became obvious that even by traveling with only a few colorants, I'll be able to actually make a nice variety of colors when I want. So I need to do a bit of re-vamping of my Soaping Travel bag to accommodate this new plan. Plus make sure I have the necessary oils/butters for the road (at least the ones I can't buy along the way.)

 

[Kittish]

I made another batch of soap with my pink lotus EO blend and with firefly mica as the primary color (sea green mica, wild strawberry mineral glitter and wild violet mineral glitter as the other colors). Used brand new, flat bottomed bowls that I got to replace my original set (narrow bottoms, wide and shallow- terrific for salad and popcorn, not great for making soap). Soaped really warm, 145*F and used my stick blender for about the third time ever. Worked really well in the new bowl, and the batter came to trace in under 5 minutes. Switched to a spatula and added my EO blend... hey! There's the acceleration I expected out of this mix! Luckily, I wasn't planning on doing anything complicated. Also using one of my brand new silicone loaf molds. 750g batch, left about half an inch of space at the top of the mold. House smells just wonderful right now.

Loving the silicone baking mat (not pictured- those are gaming mats showing) as my counter protector. Wipes clean super easy, and I don't have to worry about soaking through or anything being ruined if I need to set something drippy directly on it.

Mixed the scent for the orange peel wax soap I'm going to try out. Orange 10x, Ginger CO2, and just a touch of Liquidambar. Smells pretty yummy. Liquidambar has the warning that it can cause skin irritation, but there aren't any restrictions on using it. It's a fixative in perfumery, and I'm hoping it'll do the same thing in soap (and I'm using it at about the same percentage). I'll include suitable warnings on the label if the soap turns out decently and actually gets shared with anyone.

 

[dillsandwitch]

Going to be making my first batch of soap for almost a year tonight. Have finaly run out of all the soaps I had on my shelf. Lets hope I haven't forgotten how to do it

 

[divinegoddessoaps17]

Cranberry & Fig soap

This is what I made yesterday. Scented from WSP. Red, white with white piping and a cherry on top!

 

[toxikon]

Oh my gosh DG! Those are stunning! Perfect for Valentine's Day.

 

[earlene]

Kittish & divinegoddess, what lovely soaps!

Well, I am catching up on housework because I was gone from home so long and am going away again. But I am also working on a plan to catch up on soapy stuff as well. I haven't labeled or wrapped soap in awhile, so I need to do that so I can bring some along to give away on this next trip out West. Once on a trip I brought some of my labeling supplies, and I may do that again. Not the impulse sealer, though, too bulky. So I'll do some shrink wrapping today and choose which soaps to bring along to label at night when I stay in my various hotel rooms along my route.

I have discovered I am not particularly fond of the fragrance, 'Snow Witch' (Mad Oils). It's not totally offensive to me, like some, but I just don't favor it. I used it in my Irma soap (named after the Hurricane) and the curing bars are overpowering the room. Perhaps others in the family will like it. I will have to wait and see how they respond after giving them this soap when it's ready for distribution.

 

[divinegoddessoaps17]

Oh my gosh DG! Those are stunning! Perfect for Valentine's Day.

I made these for the christmas holiday festivals. But they would be good for Valentine's Day too! Thank you.

 

[earlene]

Still been shrink wrapping bars of soap (for about 3 or 4 days in a row now). I need to box up enough to bring along on my roadtrip to work on labeling at nights in hotels. I'll be gone for 3 weeks. I re-thought making my brother's cannabis soap while on the road. I'm going to leave the hemp oil at home as I don't think it would travel well in the heat of the car. I'll just bring along some stuff for a couple of challenge soaps and let it go at that. I leave in the morning and except for the soap labeling stuff, packing is pretty much done.

My travels on this trip will bring me full circle about 6,000 miles of driving. Northern California, Central Oregon, Eastern Texas and back home again in a round-about sort of route. AND I want to be able to put the top down, so not overloading the car is a fun packing adventure. Another reason to leave the 7 pound bottle of hemp oil at home. As it is, my husband insists I need to bring a brand new gallon of anti-freeze with me on this trip!

 

[annalee2003]

Still been shrink wrapping bars of soap (for about 3 or 4 days in a row now). I need to box up enough to bring along on my roadtrip to work on labeling at nights in hotels. I'll be gone for 3 weeks. I re-thought making my brother's cannabis soap while on the road. I'm going to leave the hemp oil at home as I don't think it would travel well in the heat of the car. I'll just bring along some stuff for a couple of challenge soaps and let it go at that. I leave in the morning and except for the soap labeling stuff, packing is pretty much done.

My travels on this trip will bring me full circle about 6,000 miles of driving. Northern California, Central Oregon, Eastern Texas and back home again in a round-about sort of route. AND I want to be able to put the top down, so not overloading the car is a fun packing adventure. Another reason to leave the 7 pound bottle of hemp oil at home. As it is, my husband insists I need to bring a brand new gallon of anti-freeze with me on this trip!

Ohhh, sounds like an awesome trip! I haven't gone on a big road trip since my husband was medically discharged from the army about five years ago and we drove 2,000 miles back home to CA from TN. It was long, but so much fun! So many things to see!
Also, I'll be sure to wave hi at ya when you drive through Northern CA! [emoji12]

In other news, I made an Orange Spice Soap today. Used orange, cinnamon and clove infused water for my lye mixture. Scented with cinnamon and orange eo's. Excited to cut it tomorrow!

 

[CTAnton]

Im another one in the throes of labeling and wrapping. My friend the label maker has kindly started making me labels again. And I've started USING some of the soaps I made, coming to realize I LOVE avocado oil in my soaps. I just started using my laurel berry/olive oil soap( Can't call it Aleppo soap, I'm in Connecticut). At first try I'll give it an OK,based more on its historical perspective than anything else. All the inherent scent is gone 9 months later , which I loved, I only wish I had gone the combination lye treatment when I made it. I'll wash with it a few more times before I pass judgment, but things aren't looking exemplary out of the gate...

 

[Soapstars]

I've been doing my first craft fairs with not too much success so far. Here's a pic of the loafs I made yesterday, rosemary & lavender, peppermint and honey & beeswax. Not cutting today as they are a bit soft yet. The little hearts on the top I am making one by one with a little batter from each batch ready for Valentines Day or maybe before! I think my soap is simple but hopefully good quality. I have a lot of good feedback from folks who have used it anyway. I love it!

The peppermint one was nice and smooth until the last bit of pouring when it suddenly separated and went grainy.

 

[Kittish]

Tonight, I made soap on a stick for the very first time. Not sure if it was my EO blend (suspect it was) or the orange peel wax. I think I'm going to wind up with a lovely halloween soap. Zombie flesh green with light bits all through it. :headbanging: Two to four weeks too late for Halloween.

 

[toxikon]

Two florals in the molds - lavender and calendula.

I am really excited to cut them up!! The lavender is a purple ombre with soap clay flowers on top. And the calendula has a yellow petal stripe and some petals on top.

 

[SunRiseArts]

I have actually been making a lot of soapy things. Simple loafs for my Christmas bazaar (I am so exited), and a couple for my eBay store, and one specially so I could take a picture and make it my avatar!

I decided not to make too complicated ones for the bazaar, because in my experience people look for a regular bar of soap. My eucalyptus lavender is not as pretty as I hoped for, but smells really good. I still need to take a picture of a couple more.

I also did a mini for fun. I call it koi pond. I had made the embeds before toxicon posted, so is a coincidence.

 

[Kittish]

Beautiful soaps, SRA!

 

[toxikon]

Very pretty! I like your koi, hehe!

 

[annalee2003]

I cut my chocolate mint soap. Smells so good I could eat it! [emoji16]

 

[penelopejane]

I cut my chocolate mint soap. Smells so good I could eat it! [emoji16]

Beautiful! I have been trying to get a dark brown like that! Do you mind saying how did you do it?

 

[CTAnton]

I'm plowing through all the soaps I made earlier in the year. Case in point, a dual lye castile which I made during that whole New Years Day soap "frenzy" , being 100% olive oil, those soaps NEED a good amount of time. I used some shavings at the sink;no snottiness whatsoever! Love that dual lye approach to high oleic soaps.
So I'm in a labeling frenzy and basically promised myself no soap making before everything already made is all set up with a label. Ok, there was that multiple batch of indigo infused olive oil soap with a calendula infusion. Those batches are still tad soft to plane but I'll post some pictures of the different concentrations next week.

 

[annalee2003]

Beautiful! I have been trying to get a dark brown like that! Do you mind saying how did you do it?

Cocoa powder! Two teaspoons to be exact. Honestly I kinda think it could have been darker, but it works.