What soapy thing have you done today?

[Lin19687]

Today I made dog shampoo bars with added Neem oil, and yarrow powder, peppermint oil, citronella oil, and eucalyptus oil. This is something my daughter has asked me to make for her dogs. Supposed to help with fleas and itchy skin. It is a very strong scented soap. I did 1 batch HP with rebatched soap bars and just added the powder and oils, and another batch CP. that way she has some to use right away and the CP batch can take more time to process. Then I hopped on this site to catch up and see what was going on and of course had to see the May challenge and figured I try that too since all my soap stuff was out and I had ONE empty mold left that could be easily filled. I almost ended up with soap on a stick because my FO excelerated to quickly. But I had fun anyway and it felt good to be making soap again. I have been so busy for the past 2 months and couldn’t even think of spending a day doing MY HOBBY. So now I’m off to read more fun soapy things here.

What % are you using ??? Peppermint is NOT good for dogs, neither is Tea Tree depending on the amount.

 

[Marilyn Norgart]

Ok so the "Over-flow" mold that I just plopped my extra soap in after my disaster batch, actually turned out pretty good. Its likely better than the actual batch.

View attachment 39238

that is very pretty, cant wait to see the other!!

 

[Marilyn Norgart]

Cut pic

This is my "popular with the relatives" rice soap, with turmeric for added goodness, the vegan version.

@KiwiSoap, because you asked, and I noticed more people trying HP, I'm gonna write a presumptuous post on fluidity next, because I'm gonna pretend I'm not a newbie anymore lol
View attachment 39244
Simple spoon swirl here, with the lighter soap poured only on one side, alternating with the darker part.

I really really like this one Dawni!!!

 

[earlene]

Washed soaping dishes when I got up this morning, before drinking my tea! Plans are afoot and I want to get started as soon as Hubby leaves for work.

 

[Marilyn Norgart]

picked dandelions before the rain started (I just got sprinkled on) they weren't open yet so will see how that goes!! I have them in the dehydrator now and am trying to figure out what type of soap I wanna make today.

 

[Deborah Long]

So, I recently have been having some seizing issues - soap that is immediately glop after adding FO. I wanted to eliminate everything that I could think of causing it because I've just begun my master batching lye journey, also!
So, I made a plain, no scent/no color just soap - turned out fine. Yesterday I tried a new scent (Nature's Garden Black Raspberry and Vanilla) and added aloe juice for the first time as my added liquid.
I was sooooooooooo happy with the results and now know it wasn't the colors/micas or the master batched lye - it was all the FOs! Yay!
Here is the result of my very fluid pour:

 

[Kari Howie]

Lol to all you fellow shapers, I have been in a funk lately.Actually got several new essential oils in recently, but for some reason all of the possibilities are swirling around in my head rather than in the mold...seems like it is harder and harder to decide what soap to make, what additives, colorants, fragrances, etc...maybe later today.I am still bummed because the las two batches I soaped at room temp and they did not go thru gel phase and the colors were not great...

I’m so sorry you’ve been feeling down. I also completely understand the difficulty of deciding upon what kind of soap to make. Sometimes it takes me two days of looking at soaps on the internet to get an idea or inspiration. Then finding a recipe or instructions for a a complex design can be daunting as well. I usually find a picture of something inspiring on Pinterest, Auntie Claire or Soap Queen. But you probably already know all this. May you break out of your funkiness soon!

 

[Kari Howie]

Lol to all you fellow shapers, I have been in a funk lately.Actually got several new essential oils in recently, but for some reason all of the possibilities are swirling around in my head rather than in the mold...seems like it is harder and harder to decide what soap to make, what additives, colorants, fragrances, etc...maybe later today.I am still bummed because the las two batches I soaped at room temp and they did not go thru gel phase and the colors were not great...

Almost forgot, I Soap at lower temps, too, then put the soap in the mold on a heating pad for 2-ish hours to promote gel phase and check on it periodically to make sure it doesn’t crack.

 

[amd]

I've been packaging soap like crazy for the upcoming show.

My new tent came on Tues - it was raining and my hubby wouldn't let me set it up in the house, can you believe that?! We did set it up yesterday. He was happy with my purchase, it folds up smaller and is much easier to work with. I'm pretty happy because it came with sidewalls!

I masterbatched 24lbs of oil. I'm out of RBO so I ordered that and Sweet Almond Oil. I got one custom order for 40 bars and 80 lip balms, another custom order for 24 bars, and one of my breweries ordered 100 bars so I took advantage of the WSP sale to stock up on lip balm tubes, order the two FO's I need for the custom order, I got one size of jars but they were out of the bigger jars I wanted.

I portioned out 300 oz of Shea butter, I have 44 pounds of tallow to do yet. I don't normally portion out my CO but I'm thinking of doing it just so I can see how many MB I have left. I wanted to order CO with my other oils but it jacked the shipping too high. It will be cheaper to order on its own when I do need it.

So today I am going to do 2 batches of soap cupcakes, get beer from the brewery, do a soap delivery, work on the table setup for the show, portion out the tallow, and hopefully clean the lab. And probably package more soap....

 

[msunnerstood]

What % are you using ??? Peppermint is NOT good for dogs, neither is Tea Tree depending on the amount.

I use very little of any essential oils in mine. Less than 1 percent and Only for one of my customers

 

[Jstheidi]

What % are you using ??? Peppermint is NOT good for dogs, neither is Tea Tree depending on the amount.

I’m using what my daughter asked me to use, the dog is not eating the soap, and it’s in small amounts and mixed with the oils. Why would this harm the dog? It’s not like we are pouring it straight from the bottle on the dog! Just like our LYE! We are not pouring that straight on our body either?!? But feel free to explain your thoughts! I’m not trying to hurt my daughters animals.

 

[Lin19687]

As always, I decide to SB just ONE more little burst............. and that is just ONE little bust too much and BLOB hope it turns out ok but I think it will go in the Oops Discount bin.
Why do I have to do that? Because I like living on the edge lol

8 more batches done

FYI, it actually turned out normal
I must be a Professional 'Banger" ( as in banging the soap mold)

 

[Lin19687]

I’m using what my daughter asked me to use, the dog is not eating the soap, and it’s in small amounts and mixed with the oils. Why would this harm the dog? It’s not like we are pouring it straight from the bottle on the dog! Just like our LYE! We are not pouring that straight on our body either?!? But feel free to explain your thoughts! I’m not trying to hurt my daughters animals.

You need to look up CREDITABLE INFO on EO's and Pets. I won't go into what has been talk about before............. But I will tell you that I can't tell you how many times, at the Vet I used to work at, dogs brought in sick/dying from EO's used (neet and in shampoo/soap, usually small dogs.
I won't start another trainwreck so I will stop here

 

[Jstheidi]

You need to look up CREDITABLE INFO on EO's and Pets. I won't go into what has been talk about before............. But I will tell you that I can't tell you how many times, at the Vet I used to work at, dogs brought in sick/dying from EO's used (neet and in shampoo/soap, usually small dogs.

Thanks Lin19687 I appreciate your post. I did use a very small % but I will do some research and make sure I feel safe with this before letting her have it for her dog. I wouldn’t want to be responsible if something bad happened. Thanks again for your input.:

 

[LilianNoir]

I (finally) made a second batch of soap on my own, and taught/introduced a friend to soaping! She came over and watched and helped with small things while I made a batch of the swirl soap from the brambleberry soap kit.

I'm curious to see how the swirls turn out when we unmold and cut.

I'm still super weird and nervous and anxious about working with the lye though. Doesn't help that my bottle seems to have a lot of very small/fine particles. Some of the lye got on my stirring spoon instead of in the water and for some reason that really frustrated me.

I really like soaping but...does it get less stressful??? lol.

 

[Marilyn Norgart]

I really like soaping but...does it get less stressful??? lol.

as far as the lye--yes. the more I do it and learn from my mistakes the less stressful it gets and the more I am willing to see the prettiness of the soap even if it didn't turn out the way I wanted, it gets less stressful. just keep reading, it will come in handy. I read a whole bunch of everything on soaping and when I had ricing the first time it came in handy!!

 

[LilianNoir]

as far as the lye--yes. the more I do it and learn from my mistakes the less stressful it gets and the more I am willing to see the prettiness of the soap even if it didn't turn out the way I wanted, it gets less stressful. just keep reading, it will come in handy. I read a whole bunch of everything on soaping and when I had ricing the first time it came in handy!!

I'm telling myself the more I do it, the easier it'll get. I also am learning the line between "careful" and precise and "obsessive". Like, it's ok that a bit of lye didn't make it into my batter. REALLY.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

I really like soaping but...does it get less stressful??? lol.

Yes. But all of us remember being at the stage you're at. For the time being, "fake it until you make it" -- i.e. -- take a deep breath and be confident, even if you aren't feeling that so much. You know what to do, just take good care and do it.

 

[msunnerstood]

I (finally) made a second batch of soap on my own, and taught/introduced a friend to soaping! She came over and watched and helped with small things while I made a batch of the swirl soap from the brambleberry soap kit.

I'm curious to see how the swirls turn out when we unmold and cut.

I'm still super weird and nervous and anxious about working with the lye though. Doesn't help that my bottle seems to have a lot of very small/fine particles. Some of the lye got on my stirring spoon instead of in the water and for some reason that really frustrated me.

I really like soaping but...does it get less stressful??? lol.

It gets easier once you get into your groove but those stressful moments will come up once in a while when something doesnt work as expected. Had one of those days both yesterday AND today lol

 

[Mobjack Bay]

Like, it's ok that a bit of lye didn't make it into my batter. REALLY.

Yep! At the beginning I would try to pick up any little piece of lye that went awry, which didn’t work very well with the bulky gloves on. Now I just put a dish towel on the counter to catch the little bits and drips. I also try to think through a plan B before I get started on anything new. Just yesterday I had to plop my soap from a new recipe into a little loaf mold because the batter accelerated in what seemed like 10 seconds. Plan A was to pour the batter into the nice new individual oval molds I bought. Next time I’ll know to expect that acceleration.