Thank you - I prefer cooler weather myself. It's the equivalent of 89 degrees upstairs today, luckily we have air con up there for sleeping tonight!
What soapy thing have you done today?
- Thread starter FlybyStardancer
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First attempt for January SMF is in the oven. Tried a recipe I hadn't tried yet with nearly half Aloe Vera Gel and a FO I hadn't tried yet. Thickened in a hurry and then stopped thickening, so I'm guessing it was the Stearic Acid and not FO or the gel (which was blended into lye solution). I almost dumped it uncolored in a different mold so I could start over with a different recipe, but then it slowed down, so I decided to go for the swirl anyways. Stayed fairly pourable throughout, though someday I should try this swirl with a recipe that doesn't accelerate moderately on its own.
Wow that looks great, would be so nice for a winter snow soap.
For the pink to red - if you mean the one with the black - I used red iron oxide from TKB trading. @Todd Ziegler recommended this source & I liked their products, prices and service even though they are shipping from the west coast. Red 541 that oxide has a bluish tint and they look a lot different now that they have hardened - more purple.
Just got back from a 3 day hunting trip. I hurt all over! I’m way out of shape since covid took my gym away. My new jerky gun arrived, now I want to make jerky! But, I bought it for the 2.13” extruder discs that I have on the way. I’m super excited to try them!! I am assuming some of the detail on some may be more than will work practically in soap. But, I’m excited for them anyway. I’ve got SO much soapy things to do over the next few days. But, I’ve also got to recover from hiking 7.24 miles, carrying gear, with a combined climbing elevation of around 1500’. Whew! (Didn’t get anything, yet. But, lots of good hunting and deep nature time!)
Edit add: I also received my order of Palo Santo fO from micas and more. I’m attempting to find FO I like, so far I only use EOs. It smells nothing like Palo Santo, but it smells kind of ok I guess. Not sold yet, but I’m waiting to decide until I use some and cure it. I also have some florals coming from NS, so hoping I find some that I like.
Is there already a translucent soap thread on here? I can’t find it. I bought Lovin Suds e-class, and I’m getting geared up to attempt it.
Edit add: I also received my order of Palo Santo fO from micas and more. I’m attempting to find FO I like, so far I only use EOs. It smells nothing like Palo Santo, but it smells kind of ok I guess. Not sold yet, but I’m waiting to decide until I use some and cure it. I also have some florals coming from NS, so hoping I find some that I like.
Your drop swirl looks so intentional and patterned, I love it! Mine always look.... abstract, random.Hello Friends. haven't posted in about a Month' trying a drop swirl.
Is there already a translucent soap thread on here? I can’t find it. I bought Lovin Suds e-class, and I’m getting geared up to attempt it.
I'm sorry, I can't keep up with you. Now, is Roger your old husband or the new one that @Fendigirl has just cruelly cast aside after a simple mistake?
JK. Twelve below temp here so I will gaze at your garden throughout the day.
After looking at my blue and white confetti soap closely this morning, I’m convinced that the color morph is due to overheating. At a 38% lye concentration, the soap had to get really hot to gel. I guess the higher than normal working temp pushed this soap over the edge, plus the outside edges that discolored have some bubbles that I attribute to overheating. The lye conc alone can’t be the culprit because the blue mica color is perfect in a thin band that probably didn’t overheat.
violets2217
Well-Known Member
Clean 2/3 of my kitchen cabinets to make room for my soap additives. Organized and labeled them and my bulk dry goods cabinets. It’s a work in progress, trying to get all my soap stuff organized so that I don’t have stuff laying everywhere!
And can someone explain to me why the leftover soap batter always swirls prettier than the originally poured soap?
For some reason theses have soda ash where as the bars that were poured in the loaf mold do not!?!? Weird... is it because they did not gel?
And can someone explain to me why the leftover soap batter always swirls prettier than the originally poured soap?
For some reason theses have soda ash where as the bars that were poured in the loaf mold do not!?!? Weird... is it because they did not gel?
I cut my challenge soap this morning and took some photos. Will post in the challenge thread, too.
Also in WI -15 with -24 wind chill. Why do we live here?
You’ll all think I’m crazy for saying this but we’re considering moving to Maine from Southern California when my husband “retires.” 
Guspuppy
Well-Known Member
You’ll all think I’m crazy for saying this but we’re considering moving to Maine from Southern California when my husband “retires.”
I'm with you, love winter! Under 10F is too cold for my old, thin-coated dog though so we don't go out much then. Otherwise I love it!
my soapy thing today: made a soap with an fo that 'slightly accelerates'. Riiiiight! Even adding it to the colors one by one it set up too fast for my planned drop swirl scheme! I admit I'm soaping too hot these days but that's because my basement is currently 53F and if I try to let the oils cool they start to solidify like right now. Ah well. It was just a test soap. Someone will like the scent!
After a couple of days the colour looks more 'lime' than 'kelly' green... oh well - maybe I'll use my palm tree stamp and rename it Limarita or something!
KimW
Well-Known Member
Just noticed the "Masterbatch Lye" option in SoapMakingFriend calculator. Wha?! Niftyyy
Cut my wildflowers soap - very happy that the colours have come through as planned.
@violets2217 Yes my little 'leftover' soaps always get more ash than the main batch that always gels
@Zing Roger is the current Mr KiwiMoose. I was outbid on the new hubby by @Catscankim
@violets2217 Yes my little 'leftover' soaps always get more ash than the main batch that always gels
@Zing Roger is the current Mr KiwiMoose. I was outbid on the new hubby by @Catscankim
ResolvableOwl
Notorious Lyear
I ran out of distilled water 
… but gladly, just today it snowed here like it didn't in the last five years, so I collected some of the snow to melt up – that bought me a week or two to catch up with my terrible purchase organisation, to not endanger progress of my countless little projects.
Edit: Now all had thawed, and it was a good idea to filter the water. There might be no hardness cations in it, but quite some other dirt that I don't exactly want in my soap. We only had this crazy Sahara dust weather just two days ago, and I expected some of it to land into the snow. But luckily (?), that wasn't the case, just the ordinary dirt flakes left behind from carefully harvested fleur-de-snow.
… but gladly, just today it snowed here like it didn't in the last five years, so I collected some of the snow to melt up – that bought me a week or two to catch up with my terrible purchase organisation, to not endanger progress of my countless little projects.Edit: Now all had thawed, and it was a good idea to filter the water. There might be no hardness cations in it, but quite some other dirt that I don't exactly want in my soap. We only had this crazy Sahara dust weather just two days ago, and I expected some of it to land into the snow. But luckily (?), that wasn't the case, just the ordinary dirt flakes left behind from carefully harvested fleur-de-snow.
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Careful - it doesn't play well with vinegar as the additional water. Other than that, it works well!
Guspuppy
Well-Known Member
@KiwiMoose that soap is absolutely glorious!!!
KimW
Well-Known Member
Ah - good point! Thank you!
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