What soapy thing have you done today?

[lou]

So I'm just wondering what stages everyone's at. I'm a curious little cat, I am.

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.

I'm setting up for my next batch It's Dandelion Honey. My Dandelion Infused oil is ready, so here we go.

 

[ewhitake]

I infused madder root, ancho chili, tumeric, and tomato powder into castor oil (sous vide, 12 hours, 152°)View attachment 77438View attachment 77439 Life popped up in the tumeric
The tomato didn't seem to do a thing
The ancho and madder root seem to be the same color

Nice!!! I was just going to post something about whether to infuse tomato powder in oil or add it like mica into my soaps.
Do you mean the tomato powered didn’t change the oil at all? What was the ratio of powder to oil? I tried to infuse some Himalayan rhubarb the other day and infused it at a ratio of 9 to 1. Then I read something else and it said I only needed to use a fifth of that amount. But when I used the infused oil as a fifth of my recipe the soap turned out pink, a pretty shade of pink, but not red. So the next time I’m just going to use my infused Himalayan rhubarb oil as I would any other oil and see if I can get a deep red color.

 

[justsomeguy]

Nice!!! I was just going to post something about whether to infuse tomato powder in oil or add it like mica into my soaps.
Do you mean the tomato powered didn’t change the oil at all?

Correct. It just looks like castor oil. I've not put lye water into it yet though so I don't know if it'll change color.

What was the ratio of powder to oil?

.37oz per 8fl oz of oil.

I tried to infuse some Himalayan rhubarb the other day and infused it at a ratio of 9 to 1.

I did .37oz per 16 FL oz of oil for that too.

Then I read something else and it said I only needed to use a fifth of that amount. But when I used the infused oil as a fifth of my recipe the soap turned out pink, a pretty shade of pink, but not red.

This is the red I got using mine.

I can't remember what percent rhubarb infused oil produced that red though. But I don't think it was 10%.

So the next time I’m just going to use my infused Himalayan rhubarb oil as I would any other oil and see if I can get a deep red color.

 

[ewhitake]

.37oz per 8fl oz of oil.

I use grams instead of oz. Doing some back of the envelope math, I figured my oil probably has 2.5 times the concentration but using a fifth resulted in a softer pink than you got.
I’m going to see what happens when I use at full strength

 

[ewhitake]

I didn’t do anything but my husband did! He finished my drying rack.
I ask for something simple and get a piece of furniture

 

[justsomeguy]

Beautiful!
I see a potential product line for sale if he wants to use his toys tools...

 

[dragonmaker]

I made soap using real ocean water from a trip to the beach with all of my adult siblings. I’ll be sending them to those siblings as Christmas gifts.

 

[ewhitake]

Beautiful!
I see a potential product line for sale if he wants to use his toys tools...

I’m now asking for molds. I’m really afraid

I made soap using real ocean water from a trip to the beach with all of my adult siblings. I’ll be sending them to those siblings as Christmas gifts.

That’s such a lovely thought!! How do you sanitize the water? Or is that necessary?

 

[Elise]

Unmolded and cut this soap. Forgot to take pics of the cut bars though.
I soap at my boyfriend's place, and all my materials and oils are at his home. He recently decided he wants to move (planning for 2025). So I want to make things easier and decrease my raw material stock. Especially oil infusions I made and used in soal a while ago. I have small quantities left.
So this soap top batter is made with 60% St John's wort infused olive oil, while the bottom contain 60% ginger infuse olive oil.

This is my first diagonal pour. I think I wasn't patient enough for it to be straight.

 

[Chaiat5]

I scored some palm kernel oil!!! Some oils and butters are a little hard to come by here, so I am really happy! I'm not sure what sort of soap to make yet, but I am excited!

 

[ackosel]

I didn’t do anything but my husband did! He finished my drying rack.
I ask for something simple and get a piece of furniture

Now I have drying rack jealousy! That's beautiful! I've been asking my husband to 3D printed me some stackable drying racks. Maybe this winter when he's not working 18 hours a day...

 

[Elise]

Had fun placing my last bars on their drying rack.

 

[ewhitake]

Hey @Elise, me too!!! Now all my soap is in one place and my space is a lot neater!!!

 

[Elise]

Hey @Elise, me too!!! Now all my soap is in one place and my space is a lot neater!!!

Except your drying station is way better !
I can't wait for you to show us the molds you will get

 

[justsomeguy]

I use grams instead of oz. Doing some back of the envelope math, I figured my oil probably has 2.5 times the concentration but using a fifth resulted in a softer pink than you got.
I’m going to see what happens when I use at full strength

I used 10% Himalayan rhubarb infused HO sunflower oil for the red in this soap. It's really nice I think. It's only about 12 hours old though

Edit: forgot to mention that it's 100% HO sunflower

 

[dragonmaker]

I’m now asking for molds. I’m really afraid


That’s such a lovely thought!! How do you sanitize the water? Or is that necessary?

I boiled the water. Not sure if that was necessary but it’s what I did.

 

[Shelley D]

I'm not able to make soap due to health, & it's been a while this way. It doesn't stop my brain from making "soap in the sky" instead of castles though!
So, like e/ morning I'm perusing the News, & come across this person whose Wishlist has gem: Tomato Leaf soap.
So down the rabbit hole I go. Just a short trip though bc I have a Dr's appt soon-ish today. And I find the one she's drooling after. If I'm out of line for linking it, pls forgive, & delete. But it's what she posted & I couldn't find another.
https://www.perfumesloewe.com/int/e...-leaves-large-soap-bar-LWSolidSoapTomato.html
It's an incredible US$65/bar that e/ weigh 290g.
Us soapmakers would immediately say, "I could make that!" But really, we could! Except how many of us have access to tomato leaves?! I know I don't. Most stores have tomatoes on the vine, sure, except NO leaves. Just stems & those remnants from the flowers. I used to know their names ... Brain fog took it.
So you see, we "could" make these bars, except for the main ingredient. AND, the buyers don't realize that THAT screaming RED color isn't from the leaves. Maybe clay?

So . . . I was scrolling through Pinterest and was reading a post about the preference of picking tomatoes just as they start to turn red vs fully vine ripened and it got me thinking about this tomato leaves soap I couldn't figure out why they call it tomato leaves but it's colored red so I checked out the link and the description ~ turns out, tomato leaves is the name of the fragrance used. So I expected to find they colored the soap red to keep the theme of tomatoes, but in fact, they add red algae for exfoliation and the nutrients. So ~ my mindless scrolling to unwind at the end of the day paid off with interesting information. Is that soap worth $65? I really don't see how or way Unless that fragrance is unreasonably expensive (or the red algae, or both).
So I guess that was my accidental soapy thing for today ~ research

 

[ewhitake]

So . . . I was scrolling through Pinterest and was reading a post about the preference of picking tomatoes just as they start to turn red vs fully vine ripened and it got me thinking about this tomato leaves soap I couldn't figure out why they call it tomato leaves but it's colored red so I checked out the link and the description ~ turns out, tomato leaves is the name of the fragrance used. So I expected to find they colored the soap red to keep the theme of tomatoes, but in fact, they add red algae for exfoliation and the nutrients. So ~ my mindless scrolling to unwind at the end of the day paid off with interesting information. Is that soap worth $65? I really don't see how or way Unless that fragrance is unreasonably expensive (or the red algae, or both).
So I guess that was my accidental soapy thing for today ~ research

I bought tomato leaf fragrance by mistake. It’s cheap…

 

[Shelley D]

I bought tomato leaf fragrance by mistake. It’s cheap…

Interesting ~ so maybe it's the red algae? I mean, how do you justify a $65 price tag??? My husband saw a bar of soap for $11 and said if people can sell theirs for that much, I should be able to sell mine too! But $65 ?!?!?

 

[ackosel]

Maybe it tastes like fresh tomatoes?