What soapy thing have you done today?

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I bet it does smell good! Heads up, you probably already know this, but the lavender will turn brown pretty quickly, don't be disappointed.

Yeah, I kinda figured that. I think I just used it because I got a free sample of it from Nurture Soaps with my micas. I'm pretty excited to see how this turns out tomorrow and to see how long the scent lasts.
 
More bubble scoops. Now back to soapmaking. Eucalyptus Mint and Mango Sorbet. I used 3 different variations of recipes that I tweaked. Now to see if they harden up appropriately. They do smell delish. They all seem to make some awesome bubbles for sure. These could be addicting as well as my soaps.

Bubble Scoops-Eucalyptus Mint and Mango Sorbet.JPG
 
I have this weird thing about making manly soaps and naming them after famous characters. I have Jack Bauer, James Bond, Danny Ocean, Edward (a Jacob is in the works), and today was Tyler Durden. It had to be black and blue of course.
 
Yesterday, I took stock of what is in inventory, what is curing, and what I need to make. I counted and have nearly 1100 bars curing. Of that I need to get nearly 200 wrapped in the next few days.
 
I have just finished making it, I used a mixture of pine tar and neem. It accelerated like crazy and I had to scrape it into the mould and now it is giving out crazy amounts of heat. Definitely doen't need insulating.

ImageUploadedBySoap Making1427724037.235867.jpg
 
Not usually, as it can leave a mark on the top of the soap, but this stuff stinks so I wanted to mitigate the smell overtaking my house! If I want to gel a soap wrapped in a towel, I usually don't fill the mould quite to the top and put a piece of card on top as a lid.
 
Made laundry soap -- 70% coconut oil, 30% lard, 0% superfat -- yesterday and got it processed into a powder today with washing soda and generic oxiclean. The trick is to get the soap grated and broken down to powder while it is still fresh. Once the soap dries, even for a few days, it won't powder well.

I'm getting away from adding baking soda and borax that you usually see in most laundry soap mix recipes. Here's my latest recipe for laundry soap mix:

80 oz grated soap with high percentage of coconut oil
110 oz (2 each 55 ounce boxes) washing soda
80 oz oxiclean-type oxygen bleach powder

All weights are approximate. Grate the soap by hand or with a food processor. As you work, spread the grated soap in shallow pans to cool. Using a food processor fitted with a blade, add a large handful of grated soap and about the same amount of powder (washing soda or oxiclean) to the processor bowl. Don't overload the bowl for best results. Process about 30 seconds to a fine powder, but watch carefully that the mix gets finer and finer -- you do not want it to do the opposite and start to clump up, and that can happen really quickly. If at any time you do see clumping, stop immediately and add another handful of powder. Resume processing. The point here is to keep the soap cool and covered with dry powder, so the soap continues to break down into finer and finer bits, rather than clump up. Spread the powdered mix out into shallow pans to cool. Evaluate the powdered mix. If you want a finer powder yet, process the cooled powder another time and see if you can break the powder down even more. Depending on the soap, you may be able to get it very fine, but sometimes that just doesn't happen. When you're satisfied, pack the cooled powder into an airtight container and store in a cool, dry place.

I also made a gardener's soap. I used a tried and true bath soap recipe and made an uncolored batter. When it was at thin trace, I separated out about 1/3 of the batter and added finely ground coffee to that to make a scrubby brown batter. This batter went into the bottom of a slab mold. I added a dusting of cocoa to define the boundary with a brown-black pencil line. Then the plain batter went on top.
 
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Tried my hand at a soleseife ( eh, I guess I'm on a salt kick;) ).

And I figured I'd see what a spinning swirl would end up like in a 1? pint tomato tub since I have no proper slab mold for 500-700g batches...yet ( ̄▽ ̄)
(Even though I had to quickly glop the colours in there with spoons, after the salt bar I didn't expect it to thicken so fast)

Was it the smartest thing to do just before bedtime? Probably not ;p

Will I have a hard time unmolding/cutting it once I wake up....the answer is, most definitely, "yes" ;p


Thank goodness I decided to just focus on colours/technique and didn't add any FO/EOs. That would've ended up in a nightmare!

I think after this, while I wait for my mini loaf/slab molds, I'll keep it simple for a bit and just go for cavity molds. Especially with soleseife recipes.

I also think next time I might add lye to the water first and then salt, if possible, so I'll be 100% sure the lye is completely dissolved.





I keep going back to it to squeeze it though :oops:
 
I also think next time I might add lye to the water first and then salt, if possible, so I'll be 100% sure the lye is completely dissolved.

That looks fun!

On the other hand, the reason recipes say to dissolve the salt first is because it's extremely difficult to dissolve the salt in the water once the lye's in. It's a matter of chemistry and relative solubilities. If there's too much in there, it's the salt that's going to come out of solution.
 
That looks fun!

On the other hand, the reason recipes say to dissolve the salt first is because it's extremely difficult to dissolve the salt in the water once the lye's in. It's a matter of chemistry and relative solubilities. If there's too much in there, it's the salt that's going to come out of solution.

Ah, I figured it had to be something like that, or else all the tutorials would've probably done lye first and then salt too..
Thanks for confirming it :)
 
I can never get all the salt completely dissolved (even with a brine bar) I just strain it and push through as much as I can, most of it goes through and is fine. I have been wondering, though, FO's/EO's seem to fade more when I use salt, I have been using my strongest ones, and at higher percentages than normal. Is there a good way to troubleshoot fragrance issues with salt?
 

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