What soapy thing have you done today?

[KiwiMoose]

Soooo, here's my Raglan Sand and Surf soap - made from real Raglan seawater and black sand. A little more rustic than I had in my mind's eye before I made them - but it seized up really quick from the EOs I used. And actually the black sand was even LESS gritty than the pumice I used in my previous soap. It was very, very fine, almost like rice flour. I certainly won't be using it again, not very scrubby at all!

.

 

[Zing]

Soooo, here's my Raglan Sand and Surf soap - made from real Raglan seawater and black sand. A little more rustic than I had in my mind's eye before I made them - but it seized up really quick from the EOs I used. And actually the black sand was even LESS gritty than the pumice I used in my previous soap. It was very, very fine, almost like rice flour. I certainly won't be using it again, not very scrubby at all!View attachment 34942 View attachment 34943 .

Okay, @KiwiMoose , I'm so intrigued by this! Tell me more. Seawater and sand? Do you have to boil it first? And what was your mold? and colorants and scents? Visually, this is striking and beautiful. The January challenge should be "seawater"! This dots thing, not so sure, completely out of my league -- you overachiever, you!

I made another soap for my church's auction, a double loaf lavender. The colors are purple, gray, and white which is a great combo. And it was my first time with a 'spoon plop' swirl -- argh, the anticipation, I can't wait to cut it and see what it looks like!

I have enjoyed making my intricate (for me!) Christmas soaps and soaps for the auction -- but I think my next several soaps will be single color and single scented just to save time. I got some rosehip powder on sale and a gift of an essential oils sampler and am thinking of rosehip color with the clove EO for my next recipe.

And I boxed up my cured "Zesty" (orange 10X) soap and my "Bergamot Chicago A-gogo" (Bergamot/Cedarwood, blue and brown) soap.

So what soapy thing haven't I done today??!!

 

[KiwiMoose]

I made another soap for my church's auction, a double loaf lavender. The colors are purple, gray, and white which is a great combo. And it was my first time with a 'spoon plop' swirl -- argh, the anticipation, I can't wait to cut it and see what it looks like!

I have enjoyed making my intricate (for me!) Christmas soaps and soaps for the auction -- but I think my next several soaps will be single color and single scented just to save time. I got some rosehip powder on sale and a gift of an essential oils sampler and am thinking of rosehip color with the clove EO for my next recipe.

And I boxed up my cured "Zesty" (orange 10X) soap and my "Bergamot Chicago A-gogo" (Bergamot/Cedarwood, blue and brown) soap.

So what soapy thing haven't I done today??!!

Photos or it never happened ;-)

 

[Zing]

Photos or it never happened ;-)

Patience, grasshopper! Photos will come but right now it's buried under several towels and I'm trying not to peek!

 

[KiwiMoose]

Okay, @KiwiMoose , I'm so intrigued by this! Tell me more. Seawater and sand? Do you have to boil it first? And what was your mold? and colorants and scents? Visually, this is striking and beautiful. The January challenge should be "seawater"! This dots thing, not so sure, completely out of my league -- you overachiever, you!

Both the sea water and sand were strained through a very fine sieve. I left the lye to 'boil' the water he he. The sand was washed and drained, washed and drained, washed and drained.....about 14 times before I was happy that the water was draining off clear and it was clean. The main EOs were Rosemary, Marjoram, Cedarwood with a dash of both lemongrass and May Chang. The colours were activated charcoal for the 'sand', apple green mica with a few drops of my new liquid 'teal' soap colouring (and of course the black sand made it appear darker) for the 'water' and the top 'waves' were left au naturale. A bit of soda ash on top doubles as seafoam ;-)

 

[SaltedFig]

What I found works well for zinc oxide is combining enough ZO with distilled water to make a paste and adding that to the batter and stick blending to combine. I have also added the powder straight into batter and stick blended, but it can't have any clumps in it. If I am doing the whole batch with ZO, I add the ZO to the lye water.

@MissLinda, I'm glad amd's advice worked so well for you!
I do the same (make a paste) if I'm colouring part of the batch, so I can vouch for that part of @amd's advice too ... the top of the soap in my current avatar is done this way

Won’t let me upload my pics

I think it might be a post limit (a minimum requirement). Perhaps set a message to one of the moderators, or post a 3 or 4 more comments and re-try - it might work then

Brace yourselves: I bought all the rest of the stuff i need for my first batch of soap, including KD-8000 scale (but not the SB yet -- will just do it the way our mommies might have). [Have now spent way too much money -- see above post, LOL!!)

I bought 3 lovely colorants, 2 of which are micas. I already have several organic EOs, but will likely make this batch unscented as I am going for a very skin-friendly bar to include facial use, and I'm not ready to mess around with EOs, as they can introduce problems that I am not prepared for with a first batch. Make sense?

Crafty SO is outside sawing wood as I type, to make me a small (beginner-sized) wood loaf mold because I was not going to pay $40. Looks like tomorrow will be the day! Oh my gosh, i am nervous and excited!!!
Weeeeeeeeeeeee!

Ready, set ... soap!

Good luck Meena!

 

[MGM]

These are my ginger-orange-cedar-patchouli shampoo bars. I had intended for them to look rustic, but perhaps not QUITE so lumpy. I intended an in-the-pot-swirl but ended up with an on-the-spoon-pudding, for the most part. They are quite soft, so I'm going to leave the rest unmolded for another day, then start the long waiting process.

 

[melinda48]

What I found works well for zinc oxide is combining enough ZO with distilled water to make a paste and adding that to the batter and stick blending to combine. I have also added the powder straight into batter and stick blended, but it can't have any clumps in it. If I am doing the whole batch with ZO, I add the ZO to the lye water.

I have yet to try using zinc oxide. I have successfully been using titanium dioxide and like its effect very much.

 

[Chris_S]

Brace yourselves: I bought all the rest of the stuff i need for my first batch of soap, including KD-8000 scale (but not the SB yet -- will just do it the way our mommies might have). [Have now spent way too much money -- see above post, LOL!!)

I bought 3 lovely colorants, 2 of which are micas. I already have several organic EOs, but will likely make this batch unscented as I am going for a very skin-friendly bar to include facial use, and I'm not ready to mess around with EOs, as they can introduce problems that I am not prepared for with a first batch. Make sense?

Crafty SO is outside sawing wood as I type, to make me a small (beginner-sized) wood loaf mold because I was not going to pay $40. Looks like tomorrow will be the day! Oh my gosh, i am nervous and excited!!!
Weeeeeeeeeeeee!

Your braver than me id not have the time or energy to make soap without a sb. I saw a brand new one for like £5 the other day can your budget not even stretch to that?

Good luck though and hope the heads feeling better now.

Im off to see if my local asda has some stuff in that i saw reduced the other day that would help me with my soaping. Then im euther going to get some candles and melts made or soap not deiced yet. I ordered some plastic sheets earlier for my curing shelves which should be here tomorrow or saturday. so i can finially stop using lots of paper towel and im hoping it will mean they need less attention because they are needlework plastoc sheets so have holes in them and should get air to the underneath right?

Might also mix some lye solution when i get home and leave it to cool so i can try out the remaining fo and eo and get my records sorted out

 

[Meena]

Soooo, here's my Raglan Sand and Surf soap - made from real Raglan seawater and black sand. A little more rustic than I had in my mind's eye View attachment 34942 View attachment 34943 .

Simply beautiful... Your artistry is delightful, KiwiMoose. Love these colors so much. Sorry the scrubby factor disappointed. They don't strike me as rustic; in fact, the way you did the top of the loaf and in those colors makes it look like waves on the ocean, which just amplifies your theme.

Your braver than me id not have the time or energy to make soap without a sb. I saw a brand new one for like £5 the other day can your budget not even stretch to that?

lol, it's not the money, it's that i came home yet again without one. But i also forgot distilled water yesterday, so i have to go out again, anyway. Cee @Zany_in_CO told me that making batter WITH an SB is 12 minutes plus, so i have renewed motivation to get one.

I would think those needlework plastic thingies will allow air flow, especially if you get the larger needlepoint size. (I hope i said the right needle-craft -- I can tell my mind is still not working up to par.)

 

[Chris_S]

lol, it's not the money, it's that i came home yet again without one. But i also forgot distilled water yesterday, so i have to go out again, anyway. Cee @Zany_in_CO told me that making batter WITH an SB is 12 minutes plus, so i have renewed motivation to get one.

I would think those needlework plastic thingies will allow air flow, especially if you get the larger needlepoint size. (I hope i said the right needle-craft -- I can tell my mind is still not working up to par.)

I got the cheapest one possible lol which i think is also the largest or least hole per square inch. Iv got some lovely metal shelving for curing and iv been using paper towel which is fine but its in my living room and would just look more aestheticly pleasing with the sheets iv ordered plus i always forget to turn my soaps but also when i have done its taken longer because iv knocked some over so best of both worlds hopefully.

12 minutes to trace surely would depend on the thin medium or thick trace and the recipe you are using? iv had very light trace in less than a minute but iv wanted to do swirls so very light trace is perfect for me in that instance cant say its ever taken as long as 12 minutes but i do soap at 100-110 which i think can also speed things up considerably. Would definatly say sb is the way to go unless you want popeye arms

 

[KiwiMoose]

These are my ginger-orange-cedar-patchouli shampoo bars. I had intended for them to look rustic, but perhaps not QUITE so lumpy. I intended an in-the-pot-swirl but ended up with an on-the-spoon-pudding, for the most part. They are quite soft, so I'm going to leave the rest unmolded for another day, then start the long waiting process.

Looking fab though! I might try a shampoo bar next coz hubby likes them.

Patience, grasshopper! Photos will come but right now it's buried under several towels and I'm trying not to peek!

Is it ready, is it ready? Huh?

 

[Zing]

Is it ready, is it ready? Huh?

Argh! It's been 24 hours and I usually pop it out at 24 hours. It's still gelling!!

 

[MissLinda]

This has been a good soap day. Sliced the Arabian Spice loaf I made yesterday. First time to try an angled pour. Made some Creamy Lavender Soap. Still trying for that nice white soap, but creamy will have to suffice. I'll see tomorrow if maybe it whitens a little. I read today that I probably should be using Olive A instead of Olive Pomace for a lighter color. Last night 4 soaps came off the curing rack & were wrapped for selling...or giving, which I usually do. Working on a plan for making wood molds from unnecessary bed slats. Kind of excited about this.

 

[Meena]

12 minutes to trace surely would depend on the thin medium or thick trace and the recipe you are using? iv had very light trace in less than a minute but iv wanted to do swirls so very light trace is perfect for me in that instance cant say its ever taken as long as 12 minutes but i do soap at 100-110 which i think can also speed things up considerably. Would definatly say sb is the way to go unless you want popeye arms

Done. Purchased the Kitchenaid because it was the only one locally where the manual said the shaft was Stainless Steel.

Really SUPER curious AND nervous about 'trace.' In the videos, people's batter all looks so liquidy. Nervous about pulling the trigger at the right time -- not too soon or too late. If I'm not going to swirl, is it better to keep stirring to a less-thin trace? What does the 'right' trace feel like? - pudding, or something thinner?

This has been a good soap day. Sliced the Arabian Spice loaf I made yesterday. First time to try an angled pour. View attachment 34969 Made some Creamy Lavender Soap. Still trying for that nice white soap, but creamy will have to suffice.View attachment 34971

Those are nice! Your angle pour turned out great, and i love the shade of blue on your lavender & patchouli soaps.

Today I lined the homemade one pound loaf mold, bought a SB, returned the respirator as overkill, bought wood for a larger loaf mold, talked to Cee @Zany_in_CO , and took 2 naps (AFTER arising at 10:45 a.m.). Going down again real soon. Will have to choose my recipe tomorrow, I guess. Too mentally tired now to do any more today. Overdid it yesterday and have been paying today.

 

[KiwiMoose]

This has been a good soap day. Sliced the Arabian Spice loaf I made yesterday. First time to try an angled pour. View attachment 34969 Made some Creamy Lavender Soap. Still trying for that nice white soap, but creamy will have to suffice. I'll see tomorrow if maybe it whitens a little. I read today that I probably should be using Olive A instead of Olive Pomace for a lighter color. Last night 4 soaps came off the curing rack & were wrapped for selling...or giving, which I usually do. View attachment 34971Working on a plan for making wood molds from unnecessary bed slats. Kind of excited about this.

Lovely! I think @dxw would quite like those lavender soaps - I think that's what he was aspiring to when he made his apostrophe soaps.

 

[Meena]

Looking fab though! I might try a shampoo bar next coz hubby likes them.

Either shampoo or shampoo bar is on my future projects list as well.

 

[KiwiMoose]

Today I lined the homemade one pound loaf mold, bought a SB, returned the respirator as overkill, bought wood for a larger loaf mold, talked to Cee @Zany_in_CO , and took 2 naps (AFTER arising at 10:45 a.m.). Going down again real soon. Will have to choose my recipe tomorrow, I guess. Too mentally tired now to do any more today. Overdid it yesterday and have been paying today.

Take it easy please young lady!
You should be getting plenty of rest.

 

[Zing]

This has been a good soap day. Sliced the Arabian Spice loaf I made yesterday. First time to try an angled pour. View attachment 34969 Made some Creamy Lavender Soap. Still trying for that nice white soap, but creamy will have to suffice. I'll see tomorrow if maybe it whitens a little. I read today that I probably should be using Olive A instead of Olive Pomace for a lighter color. Last night 4 soaps came off the curing rack & were wrapped for selling...or giving, which I usually do. View attachment 34971Working on a plan for making wood molds from unnecessary bed slats. Kind of excited about this.

Indeed a VERY good soap day for you!! What's your blue coloring? That's my favorite. All of them are beautiful.

I looked at my lavender soap. It's still not ready to unmold yet. Here's a photo, @KiwiMoose , and I hope you are...what's the word...um, satisfied?

 

[KiwiMoose]

I looked at my lavender soap. It's still not ready to unmold yet. Here's a photo, @KiwiMoose , and I hope you are...what's the word...um, satisfied?View attachment 34973

Oh I am VERY satisfied. I love it! It's so pretty on the top.

And I've just made a batch in my new makeshift cardboard box slab mould. A bit late getting dinner on as a result ( it's 7.30pm here now) but what can you do? And all I can say is - who needs CPOP when its 29 degrees inside ( about 84 in your weird measurements )?