What soapy thing have you done today?

[SaltedFig]

I wrote a book

(At least that how it feels, now that I've gone back and looked at how many words I put in one post to answer a "simple" cationic vs anionic question )

https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/anionic-cationic-ingredients.74317/#post-757709

I made another (small) batch of Solid Dish washing detergent, as in this thread:
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/solid-dish-detergent.74170/

I love this stuff and I found out from my granddaughter that they have a dishwasher but it isn't working. I think my daughter would appreciate this stuff. I love it.

It looked good, from the feedback in the thread ... do you think it's comparable cost-wise, Misschief?

 

[Micchi]

My Kitty Soaps are finally at their minimum cure, and so today was all about packaging and getting orders ready to ship!

Three hours of packaging orders. I'm only halfway through. I'm revising my business goal from "break even year 1" to "being profitable enough to hire someone else to pack orders".

 

[Cherrydene soapy]

I made cupcakes this weekend only my second go but was really pleased with them

 

[KiwiMoose]

View attachment 37565 View attachment 37564 I made cupcakes this weekend only my second go but was really pleased with them

Very pretty - they look great! What fragrance did you use?

 

[Cherrydene soapy]

Very pretty - they look great! What fragrance did you use?

I used Sweet Almond and Macaroon from Scent Perfique a UK company. It soaped perfectly

 

[steffamarie]

Well, it's been a prolific soaping weekend for me! Made two batches yesterday - Indian Sandalwood from BB (which is rainbow!) and Awapuhi from Elements Bath and Body. Unmolded the Sandalwood and realized my new tall and skinny mold actually holds about 300g more oils than my regular molds - so they're little rainbow cubes of soap. Awapuhi isn't ready yet but it does have some confetti-type embeds and my attempt at a mini drop swirl on the top - Bearfoot Gypsy style. If I can figure out how to upload photos from my new phone, I'll post them once everything is cut.

This morning I decided on a whim that I'd like to make a lovely Bastille soap, so that's what I did. Mostly olive and rice bran oils with a touch of coconut and castor for bubbles. I considered using Zany's no-slime seawater recipe but alas, my baking soda has disappeared. So I settled for a quasi-soleseife using my regular 50:50 masterbatch and then my remaining liquid as a 25% salt solution. We'll see how it turns out. Scented with Caramel and Honey from Nurture aka my favorite scent of anything ever.

I did, in true Stephanie fashion, cut myself while cutting my soaps. I had to use a knife to make my cubes because I didn't want to mess up the stop block on my single wire cutter XD It jumped up and bit me on the finger and boy howdy does fresh soap burn in an open wound. I washed it out really well and it's looking like I might just pull through.

 

[Marilyn Norgart]

Well, it's been a prolific soaping weekend for me! Made two batches yesterday - Indian Sandalwood from BB (which is rainbow!) and Awapuhi from Elements Bath and Body. Unmolded the Sandalwood and realized my new tall and skinny mold actually holds about 300g more oils than my regular molds - so they're little rainbow cubes of soap. Awapuhi isn't ready yet but it does have some confetti-type embeds and my attempt at a mini drop swirl on the top - Bearfoot Gypsy style. If I can figure out how to upload photos from my new phone, I'll post them once everything is cut.

This morning I decided on a whim that I'd like to make a lovely Bastille soap, so that's what I did. Mostly olive and rice bran oils with a touch of coconut and castor for bubbles. I considered using Zany's no-slime seawater recipe but alas, my baking soda has disappeared. So I settled for a quasi-soleseife using my regular 50:50 masterbatch and then my remaining liquid as a 25% salt solution. We'll see how it turns out. Scented with Caramel and Honey from Nurture aka my favorite scent of anything ever.

I did, in true Stephanie fashion, cut myself while cutting my soaps. I had to use a knife to make my cubes because I didn't want to mess up the stop block on my single wire cutter XD It jumped up and bit me on the finger and boy howdy does fresh soap burn in an open wound. I washed it out really well and it's looking like I might just pull through.

oh no!!! you need to invest in some cut resistant gloves .

 

[Misschief]

I wrote a book

(At least that how it feels, now that I've gone back and looked at how many words I put in one post to answer a "simple" cationic vs anionic question )

https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/anionic-cationic-ingredients.74317/#post-757709



It looked good, from the feedback in the thread ... do you think it's comparable cost-wise, Misschief?

To be honest, I haven't costed it yet. I just happened to have all the ingredients and wanted to try it before making any decisions. I've had the d-limonene for a long time; I still have several bottles of surfactants that I've had forever, too.

Now that I've decided I'll make a larger batch for selling, I'll be adding the recipe to Soapmaker; that will give me my cost; once I've done that, I'll get back to you.

 

[Meena]

View attachment 37565 View attachment 37564 I made cupcakes this weekend only my second go but was really pleased with them

Gorgeous! Cherry-Bordeaux frosting on Red Devil's Food cupcakes, yummy! (I think I just invented a dessert, lol.)

I've mostly been buying stuff, lately, although I've been jonesing to cook some more HP soap, now that I've finally learned how not to overcook it and get white bits all in the soap, hahaha. We'll see ... the day is still a bit young (for me).

I've ordered Carnauba wax, Cetyl Alcohol, Allantion powder, and Stearyl Alcohol from one company, but there might be a few more things I 'need' to somewhat replicate and substitute for my $52 face cream, which I decided to do instead of body butter right now. I still have a lot of store-bought lotion left to customize, and a brand new batch (refilled the bottle, IOW) recently made, so no need at this moment.

Yesterday, I ordered some silicone mats to see how well I can jerry-rig a re-usable mould liner, and 6 wide-mouth squeeze bottles for Dancing Funnel. Then I bought a 64 oz bottle of Natural Aloe Vera Liquid which only other ingredients are ascorbic acid and citric acid, for both the face cream and soap experimentation. Will have to search this Forum about whether Aloe will accelerate trace, potentially overheat, affect unmould and/or cure times, etc.

ETA: ... and just now bought 2 lbs. of organic pasture-raised beef tallow from Fannie & Flo on Etsy!

 

[Hawksquill]

A productive soaping weekend for me as well! Yesterday I set up a soaping area in one of my closets with shelves, all my supplies, a curing area on top, plus room to grow! Today I made a batch of soap for a friend who has sensitive skin - higher OO, lower CO, cocoa butter (my first time using a butter), a slightly higher superfat, and she requested subtle rosemary and grapefruit EOs. I didn't add any colorants and let it get to a slightly thicker trace, so it was really fun to pour and the color is BEAUTIFUL. I might prefer uncolored soaps, but we'll see how this one turns out! My husband was my soaping assistant and he loved it, so that was fun, too

 

[Marilyn Norgart]

I've mostly been buying stuff, lately, although I've been jonesing to cook some more HP soap, now that I've finally learned how not to overcook it and get white bits all in the soap, hahaha. We'll see ... the day is still a bit young (for me).

I've ordered Carnauba wax, Cetyl Alcohol, Allantion powder, and Stearyl Alcohol from one company, but there might be a few more things I 'need' to somewhat replicate and substitute for my $52 face cream, which I decided to do instead of body butter right now. I still have a lot of store-bought lotion left to customize, and a brand new batch (refilled the bottle, IOW) recently made, so no need at this moment.

Yesterday, I ordered some silicone mats to see how well I can jerry-rig a re-usable mould liner, and 6 wide-mouth squeeze bottles for Dancing Funnel. Then I bought a 64 oz bottle of Natural Aloe Vera Liquid which only other ingredients are ascorbic acid and citric acid, for both the face cream and soap experimentation. Will have to search this Forum about whether Aloe will accelerate trace, potentially overheat, affect unmould and/or cure times, etc.

I have made unscented aloe vera both HP and CP---HP it worked out great and CP I had a rind-----but I am now wondering if the rind was from gelling it--now I am going to try it CP ungelled. i didnt notice any acceleration but it did stink at first

 

[Paulie]

Cut my soap

 

[DWinMadison]

Poured what I hope will be “matchbook” soaps in my tall mold using the same modified mantra from last week’s full-size bars. Should be a fun experiment. Also, built a crude 1/2” string cutter for said bars. If all goes as planned, they will be 25ish bars at 2.5” wide x 1.75” tall x .5” thick.

 

[Meena]

Cut my soap

Well???? Where IS it????

Poured what I hope will be “matchbook” soaps in my tall mold using the same modified mantra from last week’s full-size bars. Should be a fun experiment. Also, built a crude 1/2” string cutter for said bars. If all goes as planned, they will be 25ish bars at 2.5” wide x 1.75” tall x .5” thick.

Love those colors! Everything is looking summery and ocean-y to me here lately! I love it!!

 

[DWinMadison]

Love those colors! Everything is looking summery and ocean-y to me here lately! I love it!!

Thanks. Tea tree, lemon verbena and a little peppermint.

 

[Marilyn Norgart]

Poured what I hope will be “matchbook” soaps in my tall mold using the same modified mantra from last week’s full-size bars. Should be a fun experiment. Also, built a crude 1/2” string cutter for said bars. If all goes as planned, they will be 25ish bars at 2.5” wide x 1.75” tall x .5” thick.

nice cutter you are going to like it!!!! and the soap is pretty too

 

[steffamarie]

Alright, here's the cut of my first two soaps from yesterday, and my third from today which is still in the mold. I expect it will take a few days to come out, considering it's 85% olive/rice bran oil. The green one is awapuhi from Elements and it's got some soap curls and confetti in the bottom layer. The rainbow one is Indian Sandalwood from Brambleberry, and the final one is Caramel & Honey from Nurture.

 

[DWinMadison]

nice cutter you are going to like it!!!! and the soap is pretty too

Thanks, Mrs. Marilyn. I have a more substantial go-to one that I like for my 1” bars...this one was just a throw together, because I was anxious to try these matchbook size soaps. Once I build the table cutter I guess they’ll both be obsolete.

 

[DWinMadison]

A productive soaping weekend for me as well! Yesterday I set up a soaping area in one of my closets with shelves, all my supplies, a curing area on top, plus room to grow! Today I made a batch of soap for a friend who has sensitive skin - higher OO, lower CO, cocoa butter (my first time using a butter), a slightly higher superfat, and she requested subtle rosemary and grapefruit EOs. I didn't add any colorants and let it get to a slightly thicker trace, so it was really fun to pour and the color is BEAUTIFUL. I might prefer uncolored soaps, but we'll see how this one turns out! My husband was my soaping assistant and he loved it, so that was fun, too

That’s an GREAT idea. We have empty closets galore now that both kids have moved out. One even has PVC-coated wire shelving!!!

 

[KiwiMoose]

Just boiled this puppy down ready for my next batch. "Strawberry and Champagne fragranced.