What soapy thing have you done today?

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I made a 2nd batch of Tea Tree & Calendua yesterday and today I just put it aside to wait til tomorrow - I think I cut the first one too soon so will see if waiting helps.

Then I remade one of my earlier soaps... it's layered with AC on the bottom; a green layer made with barleygrass powder and the centre is uncoloured to which I added some of each colour to make an in-pot swirl. It was the 6th soap after starting and while I was still trying to formulate a recipe. This time I used my go-to recipe and it behaved really nicely. Here's the 1st one - I will post a pic of the 2nd one in a day or two.
 

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I'm rebatching in hopes that I can cook off an FO I'm hating. I might just throw out the soap and the FO, if not just the FO.
FOs can be really stubborn, and if they've already survived the lye process, odds are good they will also survive the heat. I would either try to blend it or just toss the soap. Curiosity's sake, which FO is it?
 
FOs can be really stubborn, and if they've already survived the lye process, odds are good they will also survive the heat. I would either try to blend it or just toss the soap. Curiosity's sake, which FO is it?
Some of the FOs I've tried faded but this one (Nature's Garden Orange Blossom) is a strong sucker indeed. If you wanna know what I smell in this FO- think citrusy laundry detergent that is very strong. Thank God I never buy more than an once when it comes to trying fragrances. Luckily, the Vanilla Blossom and Fruitcake scents smell way better (and aren't headache inducing).
 
Sooooo how much mica is too much? I realized I used double the recommended. I sure do love pretty colors! I’ll for sure wait and see how it goes. But are we talking staining, or just tinted lather? 1-2t PPO is recommended, I used 2t per 3/4lb.
Edit: Now that I say it like that it doesn’t sound so bad. Sometimes I don’t math so great.
 
Sooooo how much mica is too much? I realized I used double the recommended. I sure do love pretty colors! I’ll for sure wait and see how it goes. But are we talking staining, or just tinted lather? 1-2t PPO is recommended, I used 2t per 3/4lb.
Edit: Now that I say it like that it doesn’t sound so bad. Sometimes I don’t math so great.
TBH, as long as we're talking soap, the soap can usually wash off the Mica. Washing things off is it's job. I'm sure the lather will be pretty, and if you don't rinse a spot there may be sparkles, but that's probably the extent of the problem. Also, Mica doesn't stain, not truly. The super fine ones can be a pain to clean off soapy dishes, but they're still inert rocks that can't spread color to any place they aren't at.
 
I cut my Cucumber Melon soaps. I am going to admit, i got my color inspiration from @Jersey Girl with her cucumber melon lol. I would have never thought of putting green and orange together on my own. My sister thought i was nuts with the colors, but now she loves the cut. I wanted the white to be whiter. The mica is new to me ..Winter White from NS. The website states that you need a lot to make it white to replace TD. I am just really bad at determining how much when i split off the batter i guess.

I was going to do a drop swirl, but when i saw the colors i got scared lol. So ITP it is.

edit...annnnd that picture just reminded me i need to clean lol
 

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I cut my Cucumber Melon soaps. I am going to admit, i got my color inspiration from @Jersey Girl with her cucumber melon lol. I would have never thought of putting green and orange together on my own. My sister thought i was nuts with the colors, but now she loves the cut. I wanted the white to be whiter. The mica is new to me ..Winter White from NS. The website states that you need a lot to make it white to replace TD. I am just really bad at determining how much when i split off the batter i guess.

I was going to do a drop swirl, but when i saw the colors i got scared lol. So ITP it is.

edit...annnnd that picture just reminded me i need to clean lol
SO pretty! I just ordered some winter white mica to try instead of TD also. How much did you use for how much batter? I’m excited to try it!
 
SO pretty! I just ordered some winter white mica to try instead of TD also. How much did you use for how much batter? I’m excited to try it!
The site says 3tsp ppo. I used 3tsp here. I split off 1000ml of the white batter, so i guess i should have almost doubled that amt. it just seemed like so much lol.

Feel free to correct my math lol. But 3tsp wasnt enough for the 1000 ml of batter.
 
Sooooo how much mica is too much? I realized I used double the recommended. I sure do love pretty colors! I’ll for sure wait and see how it goes. But are we talking staining, or just tinted lather? 1-2t PPO is recommended, I used 2t per 3/4lb.
Edit: Now that I say it like that it doesn’t sound so bad. Sometimes I don’t math so great.

You'll likely be okay. Depends on the color though. If it's black or red you may have some bleeding/staining.
 
I cut my Cucumber Melon soaps. I am going to admit, i got my color inspiration from @Jersey Girl with her cucumber melon lol. I would have never thought of putting green and orange together on my own. My sister thought i was nuts with the colors, but now she loves the cut. I wanted the white to be whiter. The mica is new to me ..Winter White from NS. The website states that you need a lot to make it white to replace TD. I am just really bad at determining how much when i split off the batter i guess.

I was going to do a drop swirl, but when i saw the colors i got scared lol. So ITP it is.

edit...annnnd that picture just reminded me i need to clean lol
I always think of cucumbers, cantaloupe and honeydew when I use that scent so I always include a peachy orange. 😁 One of my favorite scents.
The last batch I made I used one of my cucumbers from the garden that I puree’d.
 
I have supplies coming! But they're from Brambleberry, so I'll start soaping again in October. Just kidding, I'll probably use the rest of the not-favorite FO in another batch of (solid) dish soap this or some future weekend.
But I was running a little low on Shea and cocoa butters. I also wanted some ingredients to play with body butter, and I wanted to replicate a face oil I love but with less safflower/sunflower oil. Brambleberry had a specific mold I wanted, and I've been considering adding oatmeal to a specific recipe or two for a while now.
And after finalizing that, I realized I'm also low on Castor, put in another order, and impulse bought a Lily of the Valley FO. Which... Lily of the Valley is my favorite smelling flower, but also, I don't want to cut my testing base in half by doing overly feminine or masculine things. Maybe it'll combine with WSP Sugared Spruce to become more unisex? I'll see what it's like when I get it. If it's a clear enough fragrance, I might soap it in a spring design anyways.
 
Had an event at a wine bar last night and sold 40 bars! Very exciting. Today I'm working on my website and digging deeper into the Square app. The app and the online version are not syncing. Figured out how to send an invoice in order to ship an order. Probably won't use this feature much, though, because there's a service fee % attached to receiving a payment via an invoice. Although, my best friend suggested tacking the 3.3% service fee onto the order. Thoughts??

Need to fulfill a big order out-of-state and can't figure out how to add shipping cost to the app to include in the invoice, even though I selected the "Request shipping address" to the invoice. What the heck am I missing here??

Can't yet create posts in the General Business Forum because I do not have sufficient posts. Otherwise I would have stuck this question in there. :p

Other than that, I feel super antsy today and plan to make a larger batch of soap with a recipe using hemp seed oil that my testers LOVE. That's a good feeling. Also making another batch of lard soap with a different % of fats to compare the two.
 
Super excited for my order of micas!!! Disappointed I didn’t read the use notes for my big ticket item of the 4 oz jar of silver holographic eco glitter.
“We recommend using silver holographic glitter on top of soap to give an iridescent rainbow shimmer. If used inside of soaps, it may be scratchy and it will definitely lose it's rainbow shine!”
Anyone else using this? It’s SUPER pretty!!! How do you use it? Any wins or fails, tips or tricks?
 

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Super excited for my order of micas!!! Disappointed I didn’t read the use notes for my big ticket item of the 4 oz jar of silver holographic eco glitter.
“We recommend using silver holographic glitter on top of soap to give an iridescent rainbow shimmer. If used inside of soaps, it may be scratchy and it will definitely lose it's rainbow shine!”
Anyone else using this? It’s SUPER pretty!!! How do you use it? Any wins or fails, tips or tricks?
Hmmm.. holographic eco-glitter from Nurture Soaps? Has anyone seen Katie Carson around here?
Anyways, almost any Royalty Soaps YT video in the last year at least probably features some. Sometimes she disperses it by gently tapping a spoon for a more narrow effect, sometimes she disperses it from a brush by tapping the base of the bristles for a more broad dispersal.
 
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