What soapy thing have you done today?

[violets2217]

cut up old towels into smaller pieces and use them instead of paper towels

I use my cotton non-paper paper towels I made for the kitchen to clean out soap containers then leave them in a container with a lid for a couple days too! Sometimes I use them later to clean my counters then throw them in the wash! lol! But also every once in a while when I'm making soap I make an extra batch of lye water and pour it down my sink just incase...

 

[Mobjack Bay]

I started using dish towels that were getting old and stained and bought some new ones for the kitchen.

 

[linne1gi]

Another great idea someone had previously suggested is to cut up old towels into smaller pieces and use them instead of paper towels.
Leave them for a few days and after saponification, you can wash them.

Yes, an even better idea. But many people don't like the idea of cutting up towels - so I suggested paper towels. With the current paper towel shortage, cutting up old towels is a much better idea.

 

[msunnerstood]

If I had money to hire someone to help with my soap business it would be to wrap and ship. I swear it takes longer than the production. My soapy thing today is wrapping 8 bear poops shrink-wrapped and in special boxes, 12 soap cupcakes In bags with Ribbons. and 5 bars of soap, plus samples.

 

[GemstonePony]

I cut my Empress fo from nurture soap. This is a very weird fragrance. It was supposed to discolor to medium tan, so i added td to it to just lighten it up a bit.

Cpop as usual, and when i peeked in on it yesterday, it was bright as the sun yellow...really not pretty at all. Its a layered bar. Top and bottom the exact same color, split off about 300ml for a rose clay layer, with a rose clay pencil line. The rose clay was dispersed in fo prior to adding to the batter.

Here is the fresh wet soap:
View attachment 51965
Then the unmolded soap, i figure the white would be turning yellow as well

View attachment 51966
I let it sit a while before cutting, and these next pictures are 12 hours-ish after the cut. No sign of discoloring on the bottom layer. There was nothing different with the batters. Everything was added in the main pot and split off
View attachment 51967

Those really do look pretty! Sometimes I feel like soap is the half-feral housecat of the art world: You can make suggestions and try to force it to comply, but it pretty much does what it wants.

 

[maya29]

@maya29 You can also add a chelator to your soaps so that the soap scum doesn't build up in the pipes. There are lots of good threads in this forum regarding chelators, including citric acid, sodium citrate, EDTA, sodium gluconate, etc.

@Catscankim those are so pretty! Even if the top stays yellow, they should sell well.

I am interested by acide citrique. An canadian woman (Marie Mousse) explain what the acide citric is and I think it would be good for me.

 

[linne1gi]

I am interested by acide citrique. An canadian woman (Marie Mousse) explain what the acide citric is and I think it would be good for me.

https://classicbells.com/soap/rancidity.asphttps://classicbells.com/soap/citrate.asp

 

[maya29]

https://classicbells.com/soap/rancidity.asphttps://classicbells.com/soap/citrate.asp

thanks Linne. A lot of work to translate but My friend Google will help me. Good night

 

[KimW]

Got in all my Black Friday supply orders! Whew and Wahoo!

 

[linne1gi]

thanks Linne. A lot of work to translate but My friend Google will help me. Good night

You’re welcome.

 

[Zing]

I finished wrapping and labeling the last of my Christmas soaps, now that all are cured. And I'm steppin' it up, baby! No more lunch bag cigar bands but brown Kraft paper instead!
I also used simpler labeling and glassine bags for two dozen odds and ends that I'll donate to my food pantry.

 

[AliOop]

@Zing Pics of these upgraded wrappings and labels, please.

Soapy things for me today were rendering lard (about 1.5 gallons of finished product), and washing almost a month's worth of soap dishes. And of course, fondling my curing soaps, but that goes without saying, right?

More so than the soap dishes, which were just soapy (not greasy), washing the large roaster pan that I use for rendering sent a lot of grease down the drain. I need to get back off the couch now and pour in some lye solution before I forget. Sigh.

 

[KimW]

Scored a new stainless steel soaping bench on Amazon Lightening Deal.

 

[Dibennett]

I just ordered some loofah's from a lady in South Australia and they had a bunch of seeds in them so I am going to plant them and see if I can manage to grow them.

 

[Misschief]

I just ordered some loofah's from a lady in South Australia and they had a bunch of seeds in them so I am going to plant them and see if I can manage to grow them.

Just make sure you give them plenty of water. They're water hogs! And they're climbers.

 

[Shellonian]

You probably need to soak them for 24hrs first

 

[msunnerstood]

Playing around with more soap dough while waiting for my tallow to ship.

 

[AliOop]

Playing around with more soap dough while waiting for my tallow to ship.

Cuteness overload!!!

Washed some of my rendered lard from yesterday. The first part is always so clean, white, and non-smelly. The last half-gallon from the bottom of the roaster is always smelly and darker. Sure enough, today's wet rendering got out tons of gunk. Even so, it still has a bit too much scent for my liking. After it cools and hardens, I'll scrape off the bottom and do at least one more cleaning.

 

[Zing]

I soaped today! It's an Ione Swirl (that's Lone for the Kiwi readers....) with colors to match our new kitchen. I used marjoram -- compliments from @cmzaha 's destashing -- plus lavender and lemongrass essential oils. I barely had the words out of my mouth when Mrs. Zing said "yes!" to that blend. I hardly use my stick blender anymore and am gaining confidence at reaching emulsion.

My 2 main issues were the color red and calculating marjoram's usage rates (see other threads).

Now I'm in my normal post-pouring/pre-unmolding angsty mode. Did I use too much essential oil? Was it truly emulsion? Did the colors muddle together? Ad nauseum. 24 hours is too long to wait for results! Everything is warm and cozy under the covers for the night.

I had a doh! moment on a non-soapy issue. I have an antique oil lamp that I keep meaning to purchase oil for. But I do not want to really burn it, I just want something that looks nice. Just today, I realize, Dude! You have a plethora of oils and a rainbow of micas staring you in the face! Here's what I ended up with:

And to add to more non-soapiness, we were delighted to discover this telephone nook when we demolished our hallway (half of which was a shade of yellow-green that turned my stomach on plaster spikes 2" long, like a killer meringue pie, and the other half dark paneling).

 

[Mobjack Bay]

Playing around with more soap dough while waiting for my tallow to ship.

View attachment 51990

I totally agree on the cuteness factor.