What soapy thing have you done today?

[Misschief]

I usually do what Zing does. If my soap is still warm, it stays in the mold and usually under cover. I have a somewhat different method of covering my soaps. I have two wooden boxes, made of 1" thick plywood/MDF; I put the soap mold in one, lined with a wash cloth and place the second one over it. (Some of my soaps have higher tops that the depth of the box.) Once it's cool, I remove it from the mold and cut it. That said, it depends on the soap recipe, too. I have a couple of recipes that get pretty hard and need to be cut sooner rather than later. Those I'll remove when they're still slightly warm to the touch and allow them to cool down, then cut.

Soaps made in cavity molds, I will remove once they're hard. I also don't gel soaps in cavity molds.

 

[Chris_S]

@Meena , the purpose of the plastic wrap is to prevent ash (a white powdery film that is harmless and it's just a cosmetic thing). After pouring, I put plastic wrap on my mold, then cardboard, then towels. I don't get ash.

I keep getting ash regardless of alcohol sprayed and wrapping it in bubble wrap then towels maybe i should be a bit more patient and leave it wrapped for long. Tbh i really dont mind ash as long as it only develops on the top ect i think it looks pretty nice. And as misschief said before about air bubbles it just shows its treuly hand made.

Edit. Sounds like i might be uncovering it too soon as sometimes its still warm but i leave it out and thinking about it thats when iv got the worse cases of soda ash. Iv not been unmolding it while warm just havnt recovered it and left it on my soaping desk

 

[Meena]

@Meena , watch out, this is how it all begins....
Way to go, and 2 colors on your first time?! Overachiever! And sandalwood is hands down my favorite but out of my budget -- if you got a good price, let me know your source.

Gelling isn't necessary but gelling makes the colors "pop" and unmold quicker. After pouring into the mold, I lift up a corner of the towel covering the mold every couple of hours and if it feels warm (it can get really warm), then it's gelling. I wait 24 hours and if it's still warm, I keep it covered another night.

I don't know what kind of mold you are using, I have silicone loafs. You can tell if it's ready to unmold if you gently pull the side away from the soap -- if it pulls completely away, it's ready; if there's still a tight seal between soap and mold, wait another 24 hours.

For micas, I've long been fine with just dumping the micas directly into the batter and have never had clumps. I've used other colorants that need to get dispersed in oil first and, just personally, find it too "fussy" so I usually always just use micas or other naturals (like paprika).

Thanks for all this.

Found my receipt and the sandalwood was $13.49 at Natural Grocers. Was surprised -- must not have 'noticed', which happens sometimes. Sort of a 'whim' purchase.

Using a homemade wood mold lined with freezer paper. I will do your tests and hope i can detect 'warm'.

I'm going to try paprika one of these times! It should go well with calendula flowers.

 

[MissLinda]

More photos: Picture of the trace I got and the split; soap in mold after scraping out/adding a few more bits of soap; 1st pass clean-up and now just sitting. View attachment 35013 View attachment 35014View attachment 35015

Meena, you made a beautiful soap! You are much braver than I was with my first soaps. It was quite a while before I tried adding colors.

 

[MissLinda]

I made two 4 lb wood soap molds today. Daughter had 4 pine bed slats headed to the trash. I grabbed them. They're somewhat warped & not pretty, but they work for me. After the two molds today, I still have two boards left. Will likely make a slab mold after seeing Zing's beautiful soap she made in a box. Will have to glue some pieces together for the bottom. Since I'm out of lye & don't get paid until Wednesday, it will be a good way to keep me on the soaping trail.

 

[Misschief]

Will likely make a slab mold after seeing Zing's beautiful soap she made in a box.

I made that mistake..... once. Zing does take offense at generalizations. Zing is HE.

 

[MissLinda]

I made that mistake..... once. Zing does take offense at generalizations. Zing is HE.

Thanks for the correction, Misschief. I just realized the soap I was talking about was actually created by KiwiMoose. I've never been accused of being the brightest crayon in the box. ;-)

 

[JasmineTea]

Made Lemon Sweet Tea salt bars, with 2.8% beeswax. FO is from WSP.

 

[Dennis]

Hmmmm. Well, I perused Peak fragrance oils, read up on different methods, found a container and put it in the car for tomorrow's road trip to the beach for some sea water. Should have gone yesterday but trip was cut short by a visit to a new pizza joint. They won't be there long I suspect.
I ordered coconut oil, lard, shea butter, vegetable shortening (palm), and checked on olive oil. Gotta watch those prices. I used to buy the big jug as it was cheaper after per ounce calculation. Now, the 101oz jug is the most expensive ($0.20/oz) and the cheapest ($0.14/oz) is the 25oz bottle. Gotta watch em. Has anyone used the African Shea Butter from WalMart? I'm taking the chance.
I can't seem to be able to pull the trigger and buy the KD8000 scale. Don't know why. If my old Escali would just up and crap out it would be no problem. It just stares at me as if it knows and is saying "I know, you just want to kick me to the curb and go with that sweet new thing, all shiny and cute". Actually I'm just frugal and don't need it but want it. It's a short run from frugal, to thrifty to CHEAP.
It's not soap, but the Santos Tour Down Under comes on at midnight here. Gotta watch.

 

[SaltedFig]

Doing a massive (belated) clean out ... and while I was moving things around I managed to topple 8 or so bars from one batch ... to the floor
Upside => I didn't feel the slightest twinge of disappointment ... they are in my personal soap stash now

@Meena Congratulations!!!
I can't wait to see the cut pictures!
(Sorry I missed this this morning, I was watching the wrong thread for your first soap photo's )

 

[Suzy Knight]

Yesterday I made a batch of my cocoa rose soap for a Valentine's day gift.

 

[Zing]

I'm happy to take full credit for @KiwiMoose 's designs anytime!

 

[MGM]

I made sooooooaap

Yay! It's gonna be great! and will probably smell fantastic. I'm another one who can't afford Sandalwood EO -- even my cheap NDA store sells it for between $57 and $72/ teaspoon. That's very surprising that you got a large amount for $15. Luckily the NDA FO of Sandalwood is swoon-worthy!

Can't wait to see more photos!

 

[MGM]

Ok they're out of the mold and have a lovely swirl and the mica is very sparkly IRL.

Shampoo bar update!
Couldn't wait 4-6 weeks for it to cure, so I tried one last night in the shower to see how it performed. IT WAS THE BEST SHAMPOO BAR I'VE EVER USED! (It was the only shampoo bar I've ever used )

Lathered nicely and was easy to get through my hair. I decided to do a vinegar rinse, as I recalled reading about that....but it's not like I arranged ahead of time to make up a vinegar & water rinse to use properly...I made one of the kids bring me the bottle of vinegar in the shower and slopped it on. So it was less a a rinse and more of a "oh wow, you just put full-strength vinegar on these two parts of your head. good luck with that." And then, I went out for the evening, so I couldn't even keep track of what my hair was doing and how it reacted to the shampoo. And I mean, I went *straight* out...didn't even dry my hair. And I was walking to my event. And it was -18C

You guys are going to get the idea that I'm not very good at planning ahead...alarming (amusing?) to think that a significant part of my day job is project management....

So anyway, initial reports are good! The fragrance was great, although I really only noticed the orange-ginger FO: the additional cedarwood, patchouli, and (earthy) ginger EOs that I added were lost (or just too subtle).

I have some technical questions about my process, but I think I'll put them in the newbie forum.

 

[MGM]

The swirl is very nice. Did you use the bronze mica? I used that on top of that other soap in my slab mold. I had a bit left over so I mixed with the uncoloured spa batter and it turned out the exact same as the browny shade in your soap. It's a lovely colour - and seems to suit the patchouli methinks.

Yes, you guessed it exactly! I got a 120g tub of it from NDA before they stopped selling it, and a little goes a long way, so I may need to put it in everything. I do like it though. Funny that you and I were making orange-patchouli soap with the same colours at the same time....except that my patchouli fragrance disappeared. Oh well...the mica will remind me....

 

[MGM]

Poured some master batched base to try to get my bars to the right dimensions and weight...decided to add lavender eo at the last minute so that the soap could go to a loving home. This weekend I'll be labeling all of my (safe) experiments so I can donate them to the food pantry at the college I teach at.

Wow, you are clearly a pro.....pouring soap and not even fussing over it like the rest of us! Do you teach soap-making, too?

 

[Deborah Long]

Just a question and no offense intended, but were these micas for cold process soap? I'm just asking because my micas never behave badly -- it's the oxides and other colorants that always surprise me. I too have seen a wood grain swirl and someday hope to try that!!

We may never know! I got them for Christmas from my husband who bought them from Amazon and there was nothing in the box they came in that said. They did mention good in soap, however, so I took that to mean 'good for Deb's CP'! lol

Honestly, I should have whisked them in, instead of sb, but I wanted to get to the pour! lol They *may* have stayed a little more fluid that way. And thanks! I am still so happy that I can get to emulsion and recognize that and then go from there. I WILL be doing this again!

 

[Dean]

Woke up and poked my @Zany_in_CO Zea Zoaps while the coffee brewed. Rock hard in less than 24 hrs but they do have 15% CB. Will unmold later.

 

[Misschief]

I unmolded my Salt bars this morning. I'm really liking the shape of the bars with my new molds. They fit very nicely in the hand. The new mold soaps are the ones at the left.

 

[KiwiMoose]

Some supplies arrived this morning ready for my dotty challenge...