What soapy thing have you done today?

[Servant4Christ]

Over the holidays I donated soap to our church to raise money for the town’s food pantry, sold alongside the Christmas trees. It was the first batch ever of lard soap with a tip of the hat to our town’s history of pig farms.
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Because Burlington also had Apple orchards, and because it is a very mild long lasting fragrance, I used Apple FO from Nurture. This turned out to be an outstanding recipe after the cure, so now added to my favorites for future soaps. Note on the label that after a discussion here at SMF, I decided to not include sodium hydroxide on the list because it is no longer in the soap. I suppose I might include it as the saponification agent for the oils in some future version, but didn’t figure out how to do that at the time in the space allotted.

Two batches were made with “locally sourced” lard , which I obtained from the butcher shop at our local supermarket and rendered myself. One batch was made with Armour lard. After curing, all bars were pure white. (See @Servant4Christ’ lardinator thread.)

I had the pig stamp made with an image I purchased with the piglet holding a happy new year sign, but I pasted our town name over it. I then sent the image to an Etsy person for an acrylic stamp.

Our house is built on a former pig farm, and so are a huge percentage of homes here in Burlington. After reading this article, I came up with the inspiration for a tribute soap to the town history. There were also dairy farms, and I’m sure at least a few people had goats! So there is room for two more themes in the Burlington Heritage soap for future fundraisers.

Love that cute little lard soap! What an adorable stamp! If you get a chance to pm me, I'd love to know which Etsy seller you put based from.

 

[bookworm]

That sounds lovely.

It is lovely, there are lots of varients (eg Egyptian Oud; Persian Oud; Leather & Oud; Gucci Oud & many more) & for me they sell well especially to my male customers.

 

[MrsZ]

I made 2 separate batches of soap today, and planned 4 tester batches for tomorrow. I'm hoping to make the batter all at once, keep it fluid enough to split and color 4 ways, and then pour. I think I might just do single color soaps this time instead of designs. Hopefully that's not biting off more than I can chew! I just need to test out some more of these fragrances and empty out some space on the FO shelf.

Well, I didn't manage to do this the other day, but I made my 4 tester batches tonight. I forgot that I wanted to use my OO recipe instead of my RBO recipe, so it was getting pretty thick and hard to stir by the time I got to the 3rd and 4th little loaf. Note to self, soap even cooler next time I try that! I'm glad I decided to do single color soaps this time.

I'm happy to report that it didn't seem like any of my FOs accelerated the batter any more than it was accelerating on its own. Seventh Heaven even seemed to decelerate the batter a little.

I used Mad about Mint, Nirvana, Seventh Heaven, and Sea Myrtle FOs from Nurture.

 

[MrsZ]

I started soaping for the first time in around a year in November. I told myself my goal was to make 100 bars before I lose motivation and switch to one of my other hobbies, as I tend to do frequently. I just totaled all of my batches since mid-November, and I'm happy to say that I've made 200 bars! I don't know how long the soaping bug will stay this time, but I'm content that I won't run out of handmade soap for a good while. (My husband gets sad if he runs out and has to use store bought soap. What have I done?!)

 

[Servant4Christ]

Well, I didn't manage to do this the other day, but I made my 4 tester batches tonight. I forgot that I wanted to use my OO recipe instead of my RBO recipe, so it was getting pretty thick and hard to stir by the time I got to the 3rd and 4th little loaf. Note to self, soap even cooler next time I try that! I'm glad I decided to do single color soaps this time.

I'm happy to report that it didn't seem like any of my FOs accelerated the batter any more than it was accelerating on its own. Seventh Heaven even seemed to decelerate the batter a little.

I used Mad about Mint, Nirvana, Seventh Heaven, and Sea Myrtle FOs from Nurture.

Seventh Heaven is hands down my favorite fragrance on the planet. Sadly, it doesn't stick in cold process soap. Also, the maximum usage rate has changed significantly to I think ~ 2.5%.

 

[MrsZ]

Seventh Heaven is hands down my favorite fragrance on the planet. Sadly, it doesn't stick in cold process soap. Also, the maximum usage rate has changed significantly to I think ~ 2.5%.

I had read that it wouldn't stick, that's sad that it doesn't. Also, I have a bottle from before the IFRA change. It said to use 4-6%, and I did. Oops!

 

[dmcgee5034]

I used Mad about Mint, Nirvana, Seventh Heaven, and Sea Myrtle FOs from Nurture.

I love NS Nirvana!

 

[dmcgee5034]

Made a half and half batch yesterday - both discoloring FOs but they are what my 2 friends wanted a few bars of. I did the FOs only in the bottom sections. Left is FB Dragons Blood with the red and purple on top; Right is BB Sandalwood Vanilla with what was blue and green on top even tho it now just looks like all blues.



Yesterday I made some flower embeds with a new set of flower disks for the extruded and soap dough. Today I made a batch with BB Peach Prosecco to put them in. Looks like I’m following the peach theme you started, @Misschief .
I have never put a soap on the heating pad until this one, so we will see what happens. I’m normally cooling soap down perched on cans with a fan on it but this batch didn’t heat up at all like my GMS normally do, so I figured I should give it some help. I guess I better look up how long to leave it on the heating pad now that I’ve started down this path…..

 

[Servant4Christ]

I had read that it wouldn't stick, that's sad that it doesn't. Also, I have a bottle from before the IFRA change. It said to use 4-6%, and I did. Oops!

Mine says 4-6% too, but it has the older NS logo. I haven't ordered more since the logo change, so I'm not sure if the newer NH labels will reflect the new usage rate.

 

[MrsZ]

Mine says 4-6% too, but it has the older NS logo. I haven't ordered more since the logo change, so I'm not sure if the newer NH labels will reflect the new usage rate.

Mine has the older label too. I'm glad I made such a tiny batch. I'll have to keep it for personal use only.

 

[ackosel]

I started soaping for the first time in around a year in November. I told myself my goal was to make 100 bars before I lose motivation and switch to one of my other hobbies, as I tend to do frequently. I just totaled all of my batches since mid-November, and I'm happy to say that I've made 200 bars! I don't know how long the soaping bug will stay this time, but I'm content that I won't run out of handmade soap for a good while. (My husband gets sad if he runs out and has to use store bought soap. What have I done?!)

I made my first batch of soap just over a year ago, too. I didn't have any specific goals, but I made about 35 batches. Most of them were 4- bar loaves, the most recent were more like 10-15 bars per batch. So I guess our experience level is similar, though you have me beat in the skill department! You're soaps are so beautiful!

I made my first batch of soap just over a year ago, too. I didn't have any specific goals, but I made about 35 batches. Most of them were 4- bar loaves, the most recent were more like 10-15 bars per batch. So I guess our experience level is similar, though you have me beat in the skill department! You're soaps are so beautiful!

Oh, I misread your post. I'm still a baby soaper compared to you. 200 bars since November?! Wow, you're on a roll!

 

[MrsZ]

I made my first batch of soap just over a year ago, too. I didn't have any specific goals, but I made about 35 batches. Most of them were 4- bar loaves, the most recent were more like 10-15 bars per batch. So I guess our experience level is similar, though you have me beat in the skill department! You're soaps are so beautiful!

Oh, thank you! I started soaping almost 3 years ago, and made a lot of tiny batches. But then I got into another hobby and it took me a couple years to get back into soaping. I love your soaps though, especially your woodgrain! I think you are quite skilled.

 

[ackosel]

Oh, thank you! I started soaping almost 3 years ago, and made a lot of tiny batches. But then I got into another hobby and it took me a couple years to get back into soaping. I love your soaps though, especially your woodgrain! I think you are quite skilled.

Thank you, I'm blushing. I haven't been able to replicate my ONE successful woodgrain soap in three attempts. I'm going to keep trying though, until I get it down pat.

 

[Zing]

I started soaping for the first time in around a year in November. I told myself my goal was to make 100 bars before I lose motivation and switch to one of my other hobbies, as I tend to do frequently. I just totaled all of my batches since mid-November, and I'm happy to say that I've made 200 bars! I don't know how long the soaping bug will stay this time, but I'm content that I won't run out of handmade soap for a good while. (My husband gets sad if he runs out and has to use store bought soap. What have I done?!)

Whaddaya mean 'what have I done?'??!! Brought a little bit of heaven into your home and fambly?! Yeah, 2024 was a super low productive year for me too up til like October when the Christmas clock started tickin'. Do what you can do and be proud of that.

 

[Hope Elisabeth 68]

@Servant4Christ yes. It will go on my list

@AliOop i haven’t gone down the path of chemical supply stores yet. Struck out on restaurant supply, and haven’t tried Asian grocery stores yet. I’m wondering if the chemical supply store would actually have the 100% food grade. But I hadn’t thought about looking for rice brand oil! I think there’s gonna be a field trip day. We do have a US foods here.

@justsomeguy i checked the website and it looks like it’s blended into some cleaners. But no food grade.

Here is a chemical supply company I bookmarked a few months ago as the lye seems to be pure, and reasonable. But I honestly haven't looked extremely carefully yet.

https://level7chemical.com/cart.php

 

[MrsZ]

I unmolded and cut the soaps today. The Mad About Mint is kinda strong and now my whole kitchen smells like toothpaste.

 

[AliOop]

@AliOop i haven’t gone down the path of chemical supply stores yet. Struck out on restaurant supply, and haven’t tried Asian grocery stores yet. I’m wondering if the chemical supply store would actually have the 100% food grade. But I hadn’t thought about looking for rice brand oil! I think there’s gonna be a field trip day. We do have a US foods here.

I'm wondering why you believe it is important to use food grade lye, since the lye will not be used for food products. I doubt that any of the large soapmakers use food-grade lye. As long as the product label indicates something in the range of 96-99% purity, and no other ingredients, it is fine for making soap.

 

[justsomeguy]

I'm wondering why you believe it is important to use food grade lye, since the lye will not be used for food products.

Not @Humblegoat , but for me, it's simply because I'm trying to reduce the chances to zero of anything ever going wrong. I know it's impossible, so I look for opportunities for minimization. I've learned that "food grade" things get extra special attention/treatment. I like that. Overkill, yes. But, that's me

 

[AliOop]

Not @Humblegoat , but for me, it's simply because I'm trying to reduce the chances to zero of anything ever going wrong. I know it's impossible, so I look for opportunities for minimization. I've learned that "food grade" things get extra special attention/treatment. I like that. Overkill, yes. But, that's me

I understand the thought behind that, but if you research the differences between food grade lye, and the different grades of lye sold by chemical supply houses, you may decide that the difference in cost is not worth it. I've never purchased food grade lye, and never had anything go wrong with my soap that wasn't traceable to my own error, or a naughty fragrance. But, that's me.

 

[Humblegoat]

I'm wondering why you believe it is important to use food grade lye, since the lye will not be used for food products. I doubt that any of the large soapmakers use food-grade lye. As long as the product label indicates something in the range of 96-99% purity, and no other ingredients, it is fine for making soap.

I understand that, but I’m not a large soap maker. I don’t want to deal with heavy metals or impurities that could be issue with less than 99-100%. A personal preference.