This newbie gets to eat crow! The top looked so promising... The soda ash will steam off, but the inside looks like mud, steaming or not. A couple bars look like a sunset if I use my imagination.
But hey, it's all functional soap that will still be amazing. It's a good thing we have a huge extended family who don't mind using up dud design soap!
Oh my land, it looks like chocolate chunk brownies! Drool, drool! Your family will be much happier at Christmas time than mine!
Yep. Used about 25% Laurel Berry and the rest was olive oil. And a 20% water discount. It’s on the bottom of my drying rack so I won’t see it. Maybe I can forget about it for a good long while
Such good ideals regarding testing!! With the long cure time and me wanting to give as gifts, I’ll need to make some more to put away for next Xmas!I agree with @Elise it does depend on your ratios (most people go with a ratio of 80% olive:20% laurel berry, but some do 70:30 or even 90:10). But with all high percentage olive oil recipes, longer cure times make for a better soap for sure! I have used some of mine at the 3-4 month mark, but they were still soft. The ones that cured longer were much more firm and had a richer lather. Maybe set one bar aside and cut test slivers off the end at different monthly intervals and keep notes? Or cut a bar into quarters and test one quarter at 3 months, 6 months, 9 & 12 months (taking notes on how the bar felt, how it lathered, how long it lasted, etc). Have fun! I do love an Aleppo type recipe ~ I like the laurel berry oil scent
Just curious ~ can the oils and butters not normally available be sent to you by someone else? Or is that a no-no? I'm not very familiar with foreign shipping rules or laws
They discontinued it here Relle, but then brought it back in again. It's from Candle Science in the USA (assuming it's not another FO with the same name): https://www.candlescience.com/fragrance/ocean-breeze-fragrance-oil/Made soap yesterday, a long time coming to get it done. It's a seaside soap with 5 different greens, blues, turquoise and a little white,.ocean breeze scent that I can't get anymore. I might have to contact them and see if they can remake it. Will cut in a few days.
That's a great idea to make a batch now to put away and let it cure the full year for next Christmas!Yep. Used about 25% Laurel Berry and the rest was olive oil. And a 20% water discount. It’s on the bottom of my drying rack so I won’t see it. Maybe I can forget about it for a good long while
Such good ideals regarding testing!! With the long cure time and me wanting to give as gifts, I’ll need to make some more to put away for next Xmas!
And I love the scent too!!
Thanks Kiwi, I got mine from eroma, it's not a candlescience one, I'll check out others here, thanks for looking.
It’s so gratifying to learn something new, however small.
@ackosel I think those look great! Like planets or something. (PS. Let's hear it for steaming soap!)This newbie gets to eat crow! The top looked so promising... The soda ash will steam off, but the inside looks like mud, steaming or not. A couple bars look like a sunset if I use my imagination.
Because the wood grain didn't turn out, I cut half of the loaf vertically and like the design that shows up that way better than mud.
@Chaiat5 "madness and mayhem"...hello, sister! I'm looking forward to seeing what your project develops into.Last week, I ordered Himalayan rhubarb because I’d had success with infusing my olive oil in alkanet root and paprika. Silly me, I didn’t realise I was ordering the whole roots instead of powder. They were too hard to grind, so I was really quite disappointed. Then I had a brainwave… use the Thermomix for low heat and stirring the roots about in the oil. Nothing happened…. No red colour … oil ended up looking somewhat cloudy-olive after straining. I was SO peeved. My soap forays are always madness and mayhem.
ANYWAY, today, I trotted out that oil and decided to use it today and will wonders never cease! The cheeky oil turned a pale red after the lye was added! My son was the one who spotted it — “Look at the bottom of the jug!!! It’s going red!!! He was thrilled! I guess it isn’t too bad to be ignorant
Several people said it looks like slate tile, so if I just "market" it as *slate* instead of *wood grain*, nobody has to know!
@KiwiMoose
Is that not cheap? I usually buy 100ml bottles of FOs for around $NZ14-18 so would certainly pay $52 happily for a 500ml. But I don't make enough soap to warrant buying such a big bottle.
No not cheap, I wouldn't pay $14-18 for 100ml, most of my 520ml bottles have been under $30, I think I paid $40 for one during covid because they didn't have it for about 3 yrs, saw it and had to have it. I don't buy the dearer 520 ml bottles and wait until there is a sale, looks like most of the 100 ml bottles I use to get are not available anymore, so it's 30ml, then 520 ml.
Oh, I got a cute wee tiny bottle of a FO in my order that arrived yesterday, too! Plum & Vanilla, which was subtle and sweet.
That sounds lovely! I wish I could just order a wee tiny bottle of every scent so I know what I like rather than buying a trial bottle and not liking it and not using it.Oh, I got a cute wee tiny bottle of a FO in my order that arrived yesterday, too! Plum & Vanilla, which was subtle and sweet.
Or that we could have an SMF swap meetup where we all being the FOs and other soapy stuff we don’t want, so we can trade.
I support an SMF conference/meet up! That would be so much fun!
I'm in!
