Wow! I have an aversion to squeeze bottles so would love to know how you achieved this with pitchers. Was it medium trace?
What soapy thing have you done today?
- Thread starter FlybyStardancer
- Start date
Help Support Soapmaking Forum:
I think I would have to say light trace? I don't know, I've only made five batches at this point. But it was very liquidy.
It's not a soapy thing I did, but a signal of how soapy my life is becoming: my spouse said today, "I never know anymore whether it's food or soap in this kitchen."
AliensrReal
Well-Known Member
My family says the same thing. Their mouth waters when they smell something and then they become sad when it’s just soap.
Shoot. I think I was wrong when I responded earlier. I do think it was a medium trace. Sorry about that! I'm getting my batches mixed up! I think I was able to sort of lay the stripes down on top of each other rather than them going straight to the bottom.
Made my first soap with both colorants and fragrance, and also my first hanger swirl. Seventh batch ever. Will show it when I cut it no matter how weird it looks!
AliensrReal
Well-Known Member
I have never made a soap without color or fragrance. I applaud you for being the smart and patient one. You will truly learn a lot by taking your time.
Thank you! I've made two batches with colors and two batches with fragrances but I've never combined them before. Also I'm changing my recipe all the time. It is kind of cool to change just a thing or two at a time and see what happens.
The soapy thing I did today was stand by and watched as my batter thickened up to plopping texture before my eyes, cursing myself for changing too many things at a time. Should have increased tallow OR used 35% of a new floral in a blend OR impatiently decided to go ahead and mix before the temp dropped enough. Definitely not all three at once.
ETA: @GuacamoleSalad from the post above, you appear to have already learned the lesson I have yet to master!`
ETA: @GuacamoleSalad from the post above, you appear to have already learned the lesson I have yet to master!`
I feel your pain on the temp! I got impatient with the two soaps I made yesterday and soaped hotter than I usually do, and ended up with silicone rash on them both
Hi All! Hope everyone is having a good day!
I didn't do this today, but late yesterday. I found a video by Tree Marie on how she did a marble cold process soap and decided to do the same... This soap is made by doing several discrete pours into a large mold. Well! She makes it look so easy and I thought the outcome was really nice, so why not give it a go with my new mold?
So I did all the math, split my batter and lye into 9 different events to do the pour. I used nearly every small container I have and some small cups for the colorants... I can now say I know why she only used two colorants, because I used 5 and it was nearly unmanageable (at least for the rookie that I am). I needed a much larger countertop space than I had, and my little cups of colorant thickened up way faster than I had anticipated which changed my pace. After nearly 3 hours I finally finished and placed it on a heat pad. I have no idea how this soap is going to look. It seems like it was okay, but it won't be until I cut it that the truth will show itself. I'm going to give it a full two days before I cut it, and then I'll post pics. Hoping for something nice, but realizing it could be an ugly monster!
Wishing you all Happy Soaping!
I didn't do this today, but late yesterday. I found a video by Tree Marie on how she did a marble cold process soap and decided to do the same... This soap is made by doing several discrete pours into a large mold. Well! She makes it look so easy and I thought the outcome was really nice, so why not give it a go with my new mold?
So I did all the math, split my batter and lye into 9 different events to do the pour. I used nearly every small container I have and some small cups for the colorants... I can now say I know why she only used two colorants, because I used 5 and it was nearly unmanageable (at least for the rookie that I am). I needed a much larger countertop space than I had, and my little cups of colorant thickened up way faster than I had anticipated which changed my pace. After nearly 3 hours I finally finished and placed it on a heat pad. I have no idea how this soap is going to look. It seems like it was okay, but it won't be until I cut it that the truth will show itself. I'm going to give it a full two days before I cut it, and then I'll post pics. Hoping for something nice, but realizing it could be an ugly monster!
Wishing you all Happy Soaping!
Punkerdoodle’s Homestead
Active Member
My daughter and I went to Buff City Soap in Athens, AL to watch soap being made. The young ladies there were phenomenal at explaining what they were doing and why, even though they knew I was working on making my own soaps. I discussed my thoughts on some potential recipes for old thin skin and lupus, they walked right over and handed me bars that would be similar to try for comparison. So refreshing to meet young people starting in business with the right attitude. Will definitely be visiting them again.So I'm just wondering what stages everyone's at.
For myself, I'm waiting for my most recent batch of bar soap to firm up (trying to give it 24 hours before I even touch it, since the soapcalc numbers put it just shy of the 'ideal' hardness range). In addition I fiddled around with the liquid soap I made yesterday (a good chunk of it didn't dissolved, and I was seeing if that was because there wasn't enough water to dilute it all... sure enough that was the problem so it was diluted and added to the bottle holding the rest of it).
And right now I have a tea going that will eventually be strained and frozen, to be used when I make my shampoo bar. Still need to get to my aunt's to pick her citrus trees... But at least I can have the liquid ready to go! I measured out 1/2 oz of dried marshmallow root, 1 1/2 cups water (both weighed to the gram), and then for kicks I tossed in one bag each of Bigelow's Chammomile Lemon and I Love Lemon teas. I'm going to be infusing both chamomile and lemon into the oils, and needed to use the teas anyways (and I don't drink tea). Win-win, right? I might not need all of the tea for the shampoo bar (I'll only be using about 500g oils after all), but at least I'll have it done.
Well, I did post the photo, but it got moved to the photos forum. Here it is in case you were on tenterhooks but not looking in the photos forum:
Okay I realize this was nine years ago but if you still have sandalwood fragrance notes, I am interested in what you found out! I used a Candle Science sandalwood in the batch I unmolded this morning but I don't have anything to compare it with.Made the notes on the sandalwood testers. As it turns out, is hard to come up w/different words to describe the same basic scent over and over, if you are not a pro
Also made the dark batch I wanted to use for testing my stamps. It was experimental, I included dead sea mud and more AC than I would normally use. Also CPOP'd (although that is my norm.) A couple of hours after taking it out of the oven, it is getting humpy on top, like a loaf of bread. I am sufficiently soap-geeky that I think that is really cool, have stuck it in the freezer, and am waiting w/baited breath.
AliensrReal
Well-Known Member
Glad you enjoyed going there. I am not a fan of their soaps. They were drying my skin out and made me itchy.
Punkerdoodle’s Homestead
Active Member
Maybe so, and it’s a chain so different attitudes result in different quality of products. I was impressed nonetheless with the ladies running this store. I’ll say this without reserve, anything they have will beat the crap out of commercial products simply because of the ingredients. They have a base soap that is the foundation for all of the other recipes. Not meant to solve every problem but simply be good. Gotta admire their dedication to quality and consistency.
I probably have them somewhere but would have to dig them out. I remember that my favorite was Oregon Trails Mysore Sandalwood FO, and I also really liked the Sandalwood FO by a company called Gemlite. The Mysore Sandalwood is expensive and the Gemlite is cheap, so I think I used to blend them for CP, but used Mysore Sandalwood in B&B. My very very favorite sandalwood was a tiny vial of real Mysore sandalwood EO from Liberty Natural, but it was googobs of money for a tiny little vial which I never used because it was too precious, just sniffed every once in a while!
I went to the store today to buy more olive oil it has gone up almost 20 bucks more these past few months it went up 10 buck and this past few weeks another 10. It's about 50 bucks here in Canada now for 3 L It used to be 24 bucks so I'm not a happy camper right now, I think I'm going to have to change my soap recipe. I'm curious can I substitute HO sunflower for the full amount of olive oil I've been using in my recipe? I use 45% Olive oil. I don't know what I'm going to do now. @Vicki C
AliensrReal
Well-Known Member
Thank you! I've made two batches with colors and two batches with fragrances but I've never combined them before. Also I'm changing my recipe all the time. It is kind of cool to change just a thing or two at a time and see what happens.
Yup, that’s the way to find the perfect recipe for yourself. Not everyone gets the recipe right on the first try.
You could. I’ve seen a few people doing that due to the price of olive oil. Just run it through a soap calculator.
Similar threads
