What soapy thing have you done today?

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How do you get the cylindrical soap out of the PVC mold? Looks great!
You just bang the mold and it slides out.

I cut my pull-through today. White sage and lavender, yum! Not as good as @TashaBird's but she is the pull-through Queen!
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Well, it was a learning experience. I was so focused on having fluid batter that it was TOO fluid. I’m certain all three colors are fully mingled/mangled. Waiting a whole day to unmold and cut this is going to be torturous. I have no idea what to expect. Now I know why people invest in fancy dividers. Hmmm.
 

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Results of last night's soap escapades:

Loaf Mold Soap - design turned out as planned: a plain, cream-colored body with a swirled top (pic below). However, since I don't have a log splitter, after trimming all the inevitable trapezoids resulting from my kindergarten-level cutting skills, the bars are all different sizes. Ah well. Still going to be nice soap when it cures.

Taiwan Swirl Challenge Soap - ok, but not great. Colors are fine, but it was hard to get enough of the design going in my small 1lb tester mold, which makes four bars. I should have paid attention to the advice from @Mobjack Bay to mark the swirl points on the mold, because tighter swirls would have worked better. Also, I turned the first bars in the wrong direction for the second cut, so only the last two bars show the design. It's clearly a Taiwan circling swirl, but not a great one. No pics yet since it may be my only chance to make an entry.

Pull-through Soap - don't know yet. For the first time ever, the soap won't release from my PVC mold. Tried the freezer, then banging on concrete. Used a stainless measuring cup as a pusher, and it is now stuck to the end of the soap! 🤣🤣 For now, it's gone back into the freezer to see if it will freezer harder so more condensation will form. I could potentially throw out the PVC mold and the soap, but I'm not tossing my nice stainless measuring cup!! I'll do a lot for soap, but I have my limits.
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I have a 500 ml bottle of FO from New Directions... it's metal and the perfect size for the pvc mold.
 
You just bang the mold and it slides out.

I cut my pull-through today. White sage and lavender, yum! Not as good as @TashaBird's but she is the pull-through Queen!
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Those are lovely! I’m just obsessed with them.

How do you get the cylindrical soap out of the PVC mold? Looks great!
I had to catch these because they shot out of the molds. Freezer then sweat.

HOT DANG!
Waiting to cut with such anticipation as to be physically uncomfortable
 

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Soooo - I noticed this morning that two bars of 'leftover' soap (which I always pour into cavity moulds) that had previously been riddled with soda ash (@violets2217) were today very sweaty. We have 76% humidity today which is higher than usual. Results: sweaty soap = soda ash all gone. I gave them a bit of a wipe to remove excess moisture and have put them in a room with a fan to see if they will dry out. I was going to keep them for myself, bit if they clear up, they'll end up on my market stall! Given that they're only 5 days old, the soda ash may well return though.
 
I'll take some of that beautiful soap! Wow, looks like you're a hanger-swirling veteran! We remodeled our bath but kept the floor, small tiles from 1932 mostly pink with black and white. Not our first color choice but we've embraced it. Now I make a lot of pink and black soap.
I actually like the pink and black bathrooms, although the aqua ones from the same era are my favorite. My grandparents had an aqua one in mint (haha) condition.
Wow - so pretty!! I think you must be a natural at the hanger swirl, lady. I don't have a pink bathroom, but I do like the color combo!
You guys are making my day. I’m inspired by the beautiful (or should I say fancy? 😋) soap I see you do. I aspire to swirl greatness..
 
One of these days I will stop experimenting with recipes, but I’m not quite there yet. Here’s some soap I made yesterday using a tried and true lard-based recipe that has a good dose of OO. I usually soap this recipe between 85 and 90F and 35% lye concentration, but started this batch with everything at 73F and used 40% lye concentration. Wowsers! I planed the tops because they were uneven, but there was no ash. The batter stayed fluid for a quite a long time

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Really beautiful soap!
 
Hope you like the cold and snow. I lived the first 25 years on the Pacific Coast, then 12 years moving around the country & Europe, and the last 40+ in WI. All I can think about is moving back home although, I am just too old to start over. I hate the cold, snowy winters and the humid, hot summers. It hasn't been bad the past couple of years but this winter is making up for the last two years of decent weather. At present it is 4 outside but feels like -7 and tomorrow it is not getting above 0. Presently we have about 15" of snow left on the ground. ug! Having friends and family helps a lot. My son and I are down to just the two of us so I do a lot of chatting with my friends in WA and CA and I actually miss the rain in Seattle and the Pike Street Market, Ivars, and a great book store that is not far from the Market...it is very old, it smells of books and the old wood floors creak as you walk on them!
 
Results of last night's soap escapades:

Loaf Mold Soap - design turned out as planned: a plain, cream-colored body with a swirled top (pic below). However, since I don't have a log splitter, after trimming all the inevitable trapezoids resulting from my kindergarten-level cutting skills, the bars are all different sizes. Ah well. Still going to be nice soap when it cures.

Taiwan Swirl Challenge Soap - ok, but not great. Colors are fine, but it was hard to get enough of the design going in my small 1lb tester mold, which makes four bars. I should have paid attention to the advice from @Mobjack Bay to mark the swirl points on the mold, because tighter swirls would have worked better. Also, I turned the first bars in the wrong direction for the second cut, so only the last two bars show the design. It's clearly a Taiwan circling swirl, but not a great one. No pics yet since it may be my only chance to make an entry.

Pull-through Soap - don't know yet. For the first time ever, the soap won't release from my PVC mold. Tried the freezer, then banging on concrete. Used a stainless measuring cup as a pusher, and it is now stuck to the end of the soap! 🤣🤣 For now, it's gone back into the freezer to see if it will freezer harder so more condensation will form. I could potentially throw out the PVC mold and the soap, but I'm not tossing my nice stainless measuring cup!! I'll do a lot for soap, but I have my limits.
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I had to get a loaf cutter because I am so bad at cutting - it’s the same with homemade bread - ridiculously uneven slices of toast. It’s like I have a blind spot for cutting evenly. And.. the first pull through soap I made ended with a smashed soup can and shards of pvc soap mold all over the soap room. Not pretty. Now I line with a flexible cutting board!
 
You must have the patience of an eagle. Is there a beginner’s kit for pull-throughs?
Raptors are totally my jam! I got the kit from wildplantanica I love it! I follow her instructions. Some come out amazing, and some kind of meh or weird. But they’re fun either way.

I was doing an experiment with this batch to see if kaolin clay really anchors the EOs. So two got KC and two didn’t. One with KC, it’s super visible, and the others not too bad. I’m not sure what I did different.
One without KC got weird spots too! So I really don’t know!
I also played with soap dough today.
I’m just anxiously awaiting my new jumbo extruder discs. I want to do something new and fun for my 100th (documented) batch.
Here’s 4 of today’s 4.
 

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I've been making hot process soap for a little over a year but yesterday (and again today) I made my first batches of cold process soap. It's the same basic recipe I normally use (goat's milk and colloidal oatmeal soap) but with a 10% water discount. I poured the first batch in the new goat soap mold I got from Bramble Berry and the batch from today in molds shaped like Texas. It's going to be very hard to wait the day or two before unmolding them. It's fun though and nice to work with thinner batter for the more intricate molds.
 
Raptors are totally my jam! I got the kit from wildplantanica I love it! I follow her instructions. Some come out amazing, and some kind of meh or weird. But they’re fun either way.
I think the orange and blue one is my favorite but they a all beautiful!!!! Have fun with that 100th batch!!
 

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