What soapy thing have you done today?

[CatahoulaBubble]

I made my first egg soap today. Goat milk and Bielefelder eggs from my own chickens. I hopefully layered just right to have a yellow orange center surrounded by creamy white. I put Mata gold mica on the top to decrate it and stuck it in my oven. Hoping it turns out.

 

[Dawni]

I made my first egg soap today. Goat milk and Bielefelder eggs from my own chickens. I hopefully layered just right to have a yellow orange center surrounded by creamy white. I put Mata gold mica on the top to decrate it and stuck it in my oven. Hoping it turns out.

It will. Looks great already

 

[ShirleyHailstock]

I made my first (possibly last) salt bars late last night. The recipe said to cut them after 4 hours. I was asleep at that time and cut them this morning (11 hours later). Some of them crumbled, but not all of them.

I liked the feel of the exfoliant as I washed the residual off my hands. The batch was small as was suggested here.

 

[cmzaha]

I made my first (possibly last) salt bars late last night. The recipe said to cut them after 4 hours. I was asleep at that time and cut them this morning (11 hours later). Some of them crumbled, but not all of them.

I liked the feel of the exfoliant as I washed the residual off my hands. The batch was small as was suggested here.

View attachment 43566

Don't judge any salt bar for at least 6 months and best at a year. What grain salt did you use? I ask because salt bars should be relatively smooth and if using 50% or lower salt they will, many times, smooth out like river rocks. The main exfoliation comes from the fact that saltwater is a natural exfoliant. I use 100% salt and cut mine in 45 min so I never make salt bars late at night.

 

[CatahoulaBubble]

I cut the egg soap this morning. Not eggzactly the design I was hoping for and I think I will add maya gold into the middle next time, but I'm pleased with the unmolding. The fragrance is New Beginnings from Nurture and it's quite nice. Can't wait til it cures so I can comare it to my regular goat milk soap recipe.

 

[Kari Howie]

I think it’s awesome! I love the cheery yellow!

 

[ShirleyHailstock]

Don't judge any salt bar for at least 6 months and best at a year. What grain salt did you use? I ask because salt bars should be relatively smooth and if using 50% or lower salt they will, many times, smooth out like river rocks. The main exfoliation comes from the fact that saltwater is a natural exfoliant. I use 100% salt and cut mine in 45 min so I never make salt bars late at night.

I used regular table salt. There's a photo of the salt box below. The grit is pretty fine. The salt bars are relatively smooth. As usual, I'll wait and see what happens.

 

[KiwiMoose]

I'm getting soaping withdrawals.. we've had a long weekend here, with Monday being a public holiday. And we took Friday off. But we've been cleaning and tidying the house coz it's going on the market tomorrow. I feel very ripped off having four days off work and not making any soap!

 

[msunnerstood]

uggh, poured my soap. was fluid enough to do swirls so i layered it somewhat, designed the top and remembered I didnt swirl it.. so i plunked that gear tie down the middle and swayed it back and forth without disturbing the top too much but being HP its hard to say how much actually swirled and then I was worried about air bubbles so had to thump it on the floor.. dang it I wanted to see how the hibiscus powder worked in it but i may wind up with a blobby swirl..

btw: Hibiscus powder turns a deep reddish purple in oil and an even darker purple in the soap. It will be interesting to see how it cures.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

I’ve been playing around with plant colorants this month, picking up from where I left off last summer. Now that most of those soaps have cured for 6 months or so, I can see how the colors held or faded. While there are always surprises, madder, indigo and annatto are reasonably predictable. With those three, it should be possible to get almost any color. My first trials with indigo and madder produced nice purples. The indigo and annatto combo is going to be trickier, I think, based on a trial soap I made yesterday that turned entirely white on the outside . It’s pretty, but not what I planned. Another little loaf made with Spirulina also looks good this morning. The matcha tea soaps I made last weekend with strong oil infusions are a beautiful green. They’re living in the dark for now.

I'm getting soaping withdrawals.. we've had a long weekend here, with Monday being a public holiday. And we took Friday off. But we've been cleaning and tidying the house coz it's going on the market tomorrow. I feel very ripped off having four days off work and not making any soap!

You need soapmaking to help you get through selling a house!

btw: Hibiscus powder turns a deep reddish purple in oil and an even darker purple in the soap. It will be interesting to see how it cures.

I hope you soap turns out! Thanks for sharing the information about the hibiscus powder. I might try grinding some dried hibiscus flowers that I already have.

 

[shunt2011]

I used regular table salt. There's a photo of the salt box below. The grit is pretty fine. The salt bars are relatively smooth. As usual, I'll wait and see what happens.

View attachment 43577

That should work just fine. Salt soap has to be cut while still warm or they don't cut well at all and crumble. I cut mine at 3 hours. I only use 50% salt. I cure mine for 6-12 months but prefer them more even longer.

 

[Kari Howie]

I made 6 batches of soap over the past 2 weeks. Took me longer than usual because of my stupid arthritis pain. Aaarrrggghh! I’m too immature for my body to act this old.

 

[Ladka]

I've rendered a smallish amount of beef fat I'd skimmed from my soup yesterday. There's probably also some melted marrow in it. I'm going to wash it for the third time then weigh and build a recipe.
It still smells of the soup when hot. I wander if the smell is going to disappear completely or not. If not it'll be a garden soap.

 

[GML]

I watched soap making videos on youtube...does that count?

 

[AliOop]

I just tried out my first bar from a batch made with goat's milk powder, rather than liquid GM. It's only been curing 3 weeks but already has a wonderful, non-drying lather with no residue, even when used on my face. I almost NEVER use soap on my face, so this is amazing for me.

This was unscented CP using the HTM and then poured into cavity molds. Other ingredients were oatmeal, honey, and SL. Oils were lard (70%), CO (20%), castor (5%), and shea (5%). Honestly, this is probably my favorite recipe in almost 7 years of soap-making (I've been saying five years for awhile but just realized that my first batch was in 2013, so it's been 7 years now!). They are ashy but still very pretty, and have such a great feel to them. I'm going to give these bars another 3 weeks to finish curing, and then will probably steam them clean before giving them as gifts.

I already have another batch of the same recipe curing, but I scented the second batch with 2 parts each of lavender and sweet orange, and one part patchouli. Great blend but definitely need to dial way back on the patch, since it's all I smell when I walk into the house.

 

[linne1gi]

I made my first (possibly last) salt bars late last night. The recipe said to cut them after 4 hours. I was asleep at that time and cut them this morning (11 hours later). Some of them crumbled, but not all of them.

I liked the feel of the exfoliant as I washed the residual off my hands. The batch was small as was suggested here.

View attachment 43566

I made salt bars yesterday also. I used 75% salt this time, last time I made them I used 50%. I also used activated charcoal and the scent is an essential oil mixture called breathe. Have you heard of it? It's 20% Eucalyptus, 20% Peppermint, 20% Rosemary, 20% Lavender and 20% Lemon (I used lemongrass because I didn't have lemon). Let me tell you this mixture is to die for - WOW!

 

[KiwiMoose]

Woot! Look what came on the courier today - all half price and some unusual ones like black violet and oak moss, mandarin and coriander (cilantro), lime lavender and ebony, rhubarb and rose syrup.

 

[msunnerstood]

Ok here is the Hibiscus soap. I included the tops so you can see what color the actual Hibiscus petal powder was. In photos it looks almost black in the soap but in person its a very deep purple. Im curious to see if it fades as it cures.

 

[Kari Howie]

I just tried out my first bar from a batch made with goat's milk powder, rather than liquid GM. It's only been curing 3 weeks but already has a wonderful, non-drying lather with no residue, even when used on my face. I almost NEVER use soap on my face, so this is amazing for me.

This was unscented CP using the HTM and then poured into cavity molds. Other ingredients were oatmeal, honey, and SL. Oils were lard (70%), CO (20%), castor (5%), and shea (5%). Honestly, this is probably my favorite recipe in almost 7 years of soap-making (I've been saying five years for awhile but just realized that my first batch was in 2013, so it's been 7 years now!). They are ashy but still very pretty, and have such a great feel to them. I'm going to give these bars another 3 weeks to finish curing, and then will probably steam them clean before giving them as gifts.

I already have another batch of the same recipe curing, but I scented the second batch with 2 parts each of lavender and sweet orange, and one part patchouli. Great blend but definitely need to dial way back on the patch, since it's all I smell when I walk into the house.

Good for you! How gratifying it is to make such a wonderful soap!

 

[KiwiMoose]

Ok here is the Hibiscus soap. I included the tops so you can see what color the actual Hibiscus petal powder was. In photos it looks almost black in the soap but in person its a very deep purple. Im curious to see if it fades as it cures.

View attachment 43591 View attachment 43592

Nice work!