What soapy thing have you done today?

[Misschief]

I made this today. I call it Salt & Pepper soap. There are two colours of batter. One side is dark grey with rock salt crystals and the other side is white with poppy seeds. It's scented with sweet amber FO and peppermint EO.

Salt And Pepper Soap

• Misschief
• Feb 10, 2018

 

[Saffron]

Yesterday I finished felting 60 wool dryer balls to go with my laundry soap, and I just poured a new batch of cowhide soap that I’m donating for auction at the National Highland Cattle Convention that will take place in June.

Am curious.... what is 'cowhide' soap??

 

[Lin19687]

I bet it looks like a Longhorn Love those !
Maybe a leather scent ?

 

[loriag]

Today I unmolded and cut these Pomegranate Poppy Seed bars. I also made a batch of Satsuma for the embossed mold I have.
Being new to all this, I just discovered Mica swirls leave glitter on you when you touch those pretty swirls. Eek, I may like glitter but not sure if those testing my bars will!

 

[earlene]

Am curious.... what is 'cowhide' soap??

Last year Jewels posted a photo of her cowhide soap here and here. They might be in the Media section also.

Today I unmolded and cut these Pomegranate Poppy Seed bars. I also made a batch of Satsuma for the embossed mold I have.
Being new to all this, I just discovered Mica swirls leave glitter on you when you touch those pretty swirls. Eek, I may like glitter but not sure if those testing my bars will!

Beautiful!

 

[Saffron]

Today I unmolded and cut these Pomegranate Poppy Seed bars. I also made a batch of Satsuma for the embossed mold I have.
Being new to all this, I just discovered Mica swirls leave glitter on you when you touch those pretty swirls. Eek, I may like glitter but not sure if those testing my bars will!

They look delicious! The tops look like raspberry cheesecake

 

[Saffron]

Last year Jewels posted a photo of her cowhide soap here and here. They might be in the Media section also.

Thanks Earlene x

The cowhide soaps are very innovative and interesting. Never seen soaps with 'leather' scent before. Would be interesting to have that in a shaving soap.

 

[Jayne]

I made my third batch of soap today. Played with soapcalc a bit to get a recipe as I wanted something that used cheaper oils and it is more fun than just following a recipe. Which meant I also spent a lot of time looking up what the various acids do and how they impact the soap. It is in the oven now.

Edited so I can have a whine: My stickblender broke. The one I bought just to try soaping. It was a cheapee so I knew it wouldn't last long. But 3 batches? That is beyond ridiculous.

 

[Misschief]

I cut my Salt & Pepper soap this morning. I'm now planning a couple of test batches for later today.

 

[earlene]

I made my third batch of soap today. Played with soapcalc a bit to get a recipe as I wanted something that used cheaper oils and it is more fun than just following a recipe. Which meant I also spent a lot of time looking up what the various acids do and how they impact the soap. It is in the oven now.

Edited so I can have a whine: My stickblender broke. The one I bought just to try soaping. It was a cheapee so I knew it wouldn't last long. But 3 batches? That is beyond ridiculous.

I am so sorry your SB broke, Jayne. Was it overheating before it stopped working? My original SB kept overheating because I over-used it when making soap and before too long the motor burned out. I had not yet learned I wasn't supposed to be using it non-stop. The motor can't take long-term use, but short bursts of just a few seconds (3-5 seconds per burst) intermittently is really all that's needed. Often I don't do more than 2 or 3 bursts with the SB and the rest is just stirring. It saves the SB motor and prevents moving the soap into a thickness I can't work with for coloring and swirls.

I bought a used SB exactly like the one I originally used because I loved it so much and have never had a problem since. I use a $13 WalMart cheapie SB when I travel and follow the same 'only short bursts' rule and it's never given me any problems either.

edit: Do you still have the receipt? Maybe you can take it back and exchange it for a new one if you tell them you only used it 3 times.

 

[jewels621]

Am curious.... what is 'cowhide' soap??

Cowhide is my signature soap for our farm, made with tallow from our own Highland cattle. These were just cut so are unfinished....they’ll be stamped with either our brand or a Highland cow head.

 

[Lin19687]

Jewels, LOVERLY SWIRL !!!


Saffron, thanks, now I want Cheesecake !

 

[Saffron]

Cowhide is my signature soap for our farm, made with tallow from our own Highland cattle. These were just cut so are unfinished....they’ll be stamped with either our brand or a Highland cow head.

Absolutely beautiful! You gotta post a video of how you made that.

 

[jewels621]

Absolutely beautiful! You gotta post a video of how you made that.

It’s just a very simple hanger swirl. Bottom has no color, black is AC, and the brown is cocoa powder. Poured the layers and hanger swirled in big circles first one way, then the other. The last couple of batches I scented with Leather. The guys like it, but I can only take so much of that scent and it hangs in the house for so long. This batch I scented with Green Clover and Aloe from NG. My house smells like a sunshiney pasture in the spring right now. So much better! Thanks for the kudos!

 

[Primrose]

I tried the inverted stamping technique, and a new bastille recipe. Not very good photos, just off my phone.

Also did some wedding favours for my SIL but no photos of those. So a slight soapy weekend lol

 

[Zany_in_CO]

Edited so I can have a whine: My stickblender broke. The one I bought just to try soaping. It was a cheapee so I knew it wouldn't last long. But 3 batches? That is beyond ridiculous.

Ditto what Earlene said. Please take it back... even if you don't have a receipt. My first SB was a cheapy too, but it lasted 9 years before I melted it in HOT gycerin liquid soap (plastic shaft). So, me thinks there's something seriously wrong with the one you bought.

I remember "Cook's Magazine" tested stick blenders a few years back. The one they picked as "the best" turned out to be a lemon sometimes and sometimes not -- and the ones that failed, failed shortly after purchase. A big problem with SBs these days is that it's hard to find one that isn't made in China. And some of those Chinese ones seem to fail sooner or later, even the expensive models.

 

[Moebym]

I saw an ad on craigslist for fragrance and essential oils from a person quitting her bath bomb business, and got 40 oz. worth of fragrance oils for $1/oz. The fragrances were White Tea and Ginger, Rain Cybilla, and Jasmine Dreams from Brambleberry. She had many more, but I didn't want to spend too much even at that price. That amount ought to last me a good while if I keep the oils in my cold, windowless closet.

She had a large canister of lavender essential oil that I inquired about, but she didn't want to part with any of it.

 

[Karens62]

One of those days. It all started when I made the first batch and miss-measured the olive oil. I added Lilac FO and thought the reason it accelerated so fast was the FO since it was the first time I had used this one. I plopped in my three colors squiggled the top and added some mica drips and moved down onto batch #2. As I was weighing out the OO, realized what I had done with the first batch. So I heated up another 250gm of OO, unmolded batch #1, cut it up, added the hot oil and a little extra water since I had discounted anyway, stirred and smushed, heated up for a few seconds, stirred and smushed some more, added a bunch of purple vibrance mica and plopped it back into the mold for a second try. The other two batches went okay but I just didn’t have my mojo today. I had planned to pipe the top of the black rasp/vanilla one but in the end just threw on some embeds and called it a night. Tomorrow is another battle. I’m very curious to see what these all look like cut.

 

[earlene]

I love the embeds you 'threw on' there. It looks so much like pinecones between those leaves, is that what they are?

 

[Jayne]

I am so sorry your SB broke, Jayne. Was it overheating before it stopped working? My original SB kept overheating because I over-used it when making soap and before too long the motor burned out. I had not yet learned I wasn't supposed to be using it non-stop. The motor can't take long-term use, but short bursts of just a few seconds (3-5 seconds per burst) intermittently is really all that's needed. Often I don't do more than 2 or 3 bursts with the SB and the rest is just stirring. It saves the SB motor and prevents moving the soap into a thickness I can't work with for coloring and swirls.

Thanks guys. It wasn't actually the motor that was the problem. It is the type that unclicks in the middle for cleaning. That click no longer happens so as I'm using it it comes apart. Unfortunately I don't have the receipt. I could return it and get a replacement but I'm not sure.

Today I unmolded the soap I did yesterday. It is a solid block but it seemed to be very oily on the sides and bottom. I've put it back in the mold and will look at it tomorrow. It was very very hot here today, about 45C (and humid too). This hasn't happened with any of my other soaps but we'll see how it goes.