What soapy thing have you done today?

[Firefly24]

I made this adorable Bubble Bath Confetti!

 

[Humblegoat]

@ackosel early on in my soaping adventures, I watched a video that recommended making a batch with hand stirring only. It was the best experience ever! It really locked down understanding emulsion and especially trace!! That one experience advanced my skills exponentially.

 

[ackosel]

@ackosel early on in my soaping adventures, I watched a video that recommended making a batch with hand stirring only. It was the best experience ever! It really locked down understanding emulsion and especially trace!! That one experience advanced my skills exponentially.

Thank you! I started a new thread about my difficulties so as to not overpower this one with my problems.

https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/accelerating-batter-stinky-soap.94588/

I agree, hand whisking was very educational, but I managed to botch that, too! I'm a slow learner!

 

[Shelley D]

I forgot to add a pic of the cuts from long overdue soap making nothing fancy, just my style Although I did make a couple cute flower soaps with the 2nd batter. The second batch didn't get as light with the faux sea water because I had to combine some red palm with my regular palm to hit my total amount needed for the recipe, and that stuff made it turn darker than I expected (but I did intentionally buy it to see how it would work in soap so I got my answer ). Don't come at me about the metal baking sheet ~ it's old and a solid surface so it's good for transferring the soap from one place to another, where it sits and cures I can't wait to try these

 

[AliOop]

I forgot to add a pic of the cuts from long overdue soap making nothing fancy, just my style Although I did make a couple cute flower soaps with the 2nd batter. The second batch didn't get as light with the faux sea water because I had to combine some red palm with my regular palm to hit my total amount needed for the recipe, and that stuff made it turn darker than I expected (but I did intentionally buy it to see how it would work in soap so I got my answer ). Don't come at me about the metal baking sheet ~ it's old and a solid surface so it's good for transferring the soap from one place to another, where it sits and cures I can't wait to try these

Love the soaps, but honestly, that does look like an aluminum pan. That can have a very bad reaction to fresh soap. Would you humor me and put a piece of parchment paper or a silicone baking mat down before putting the soap on it?

 

[Shelley D]

Love the soaps, but honestly, that does look like an aluminum pan. That can have a very bad reaction to fresh soap. Would you humor me and put a piece of parchment paper or a silicone baking mat down before putting the soap on it?

I only use it to move from where I cut the soap to where it's curing ~ it's on a piece of cardboard now but I put the cardboard down in the shelf and then started cutting so I didn't want to undo my work just to take a picture and go 5 feet The shelf is low and bending over is torture so I only had one more "bend over" left before I went to my recliner!

 

[justsomeguy]

I used my handheld steam cleaner to clean my silicone mold.

It made quick work of it

 

[melinda48]

It didn’t warp it?

 

[justsomeguy]

It didn’t warp it?

Nah. They're designed for high heat. I wanna say at least 375°F

 

[melinda48]

Yes, that’s true-guess I never gave it enough thought-we can cook in silicon, can’t we.

 

[justsomeguy]

Yes, that’s true-guess I never gave it enough thought-we can cook in silicon, can’t we.

Exactly.

 

[Nonnie]

I used my handheld steam cleaner to clean my silicone mold.

It made quick work of it

Oh snap why did I not think of this!

 

[Nonnie]

I finally got print and cut to work for me with my Siser cutter. I HOPE this will help me with labels.

I set up box inserts for sample sets with corresponding labels. Now for the boring part of putting it all together.

Stamped the last of the soap I have ready and put it away to cure. I had hoped to have things readyat first of month, but that didn't happen lol

 

[Mobjack Bay]

I finally made an actual beach soap, with a sandy layer and shells on top. I had my fingers crossed on this one because my son called right as I was making the first layer. We kept talking because he called during a window of opportunity (the Alligator Alley drive from Naples to Plantation in FL) and I didn’t want to miss the chance for a good long chat. The middle blue layer could’ve been a little lighter, but overall I am super happy with the color of the new blue ultramarine I bought from BrambleBerry, plus it’s much easier to mix with oil compared with the last batch of UB I had from an Amazon supplier. (Edited to add: I also used a tiny bit of Hydrated Chrome Green in the middle blue layer). The only thing I missed was adding FO to one of the blue layers. Whew! Rough cut:



ETA: here are the two colorants in case anyone is not familiar with them

 

[Humblegoat]

I finally made an actual beach soap, with a sandy layer and shells on top. I had my fingers crossed on this one because my son called right as I was making the first layer. We kept talking because he called during a window of opportunity (the Alligator Alley drive from Naples to Plantation in FL) and I didn’t want to miss the chance for a good long chat. The middle blue layer could’ve been a little lighter, but overall I am super happy with the color of the new blue ultramarine I bought from BrambleBerry, plus it’s much easier to mix with oil compared with the last batch of UB I had from an Amazon supplier. (Edited to add: I also used a tiny bit of Hydrated Chrome Green in the middle blue layer). The only thing I missed was adding FO to one of the blue layers. Whew! Rough cut:

View attachment 80936

ETA: here are the two colorants in case anyone is not familiar with them

View attachment 80937

@Mobjack Bay those are beautiful!! Do you mind sharing your process? I’m not familiar with the scraping tools (not sure if that is the name), is that how you did it?

 

[Mobjack Bay]

@Mobjack Bay those are beautiful!! Do you mind sharing your process? I’m not familiar with the scraping tools (not sure if that is the name), is that how you did it?

Sure, I was somewhat on autopilot, but here is my best recollection of my method.
1. made a batch of soap that I hand mixed to a very weak emulsion after a couple of quick SB bursts.
2. split off the amount of soap I needed for each layer (roughly, based on volume), plus enough for all of the white splits for the accents in each layer
3. added colorant to the two splits for a layer - the blue ultramarine (and a wee bit of chrome green to the middle blue layer) and TD to a split of the split batter for the white layers, then added the FO (non-accelerating) and stirred or stick blended as necessary to get to a heavy light trace (or a light medium trace? ).
4. ITP swirled most of the white split for each layer into the blue portion before pouring.
5. Poured the layer
6. Gently poured the remaining white batter in a band or two on top of the first two blue layers before coloring and pouring the splits for the next layer, and may have done a little chopstick swirling to move some of the band into the layer
7. The beach layer has real sand (very fine), ground walnut shell and a little cocoa powder added.

So, no scrapers were involved - this is an entirely poured soap except to the top sculpting. Success depends on working reasonably quickly because you don’t want the reserved batter to set up in the jugs due to getting cold. Stirring the waiting batter helps as does getting the starting temperature right.

I used a friendly FO (Oregon Trails which may discolor slightly) but a slight to moderately accelerating FO would also work fine. I don’t recommend using decelerating FOs for this approach to a layered soap because they make it difficult to bring the small splits of soap to trace in a reasonable amount of time.

Hopefully this is clear. If not, let me know.

 

[Humblegoat]

Sure, I was somewhat on autopilot, but here is my best recollection of my method.
1. made a batch of soap that I hand mixed to a very weak emulsion after a couple of quick SB bursts.
2. split off the amount of soap I needed for each layer (roughly, based on volume), plus enough for all of the white splits for the accents in each layer
3. added colorant to the two splits for a layer - the blue ultramarine (and a wee bit of chrome green to the middle blue layer) and TD to a split of the split batter for the white layers, then added the FO (non-accelerating) and stirred or stick blended as necessary to get to a heavy light trace (or a light medium trace? ).
4. ITP swirled most of the white split for each layer into the blue portion before pouring.
5. Poured the layer
6. Gently poured the remaining white batter in a band or two on top of the first two blue layers before coloring and pouring the splits for the next layer, and may have done a little chopstick swirling to move some of the band into the layer
7. The beach layer has real sand (very fine), ground walnut shell and a little cocoa powder added.

So, no scrapers were involved - this is an entirely poured soap except to the top sculpting. Success depends on working reasonably quickly because you don’t want the reserved batter to set up in the jugs due to getting cold. Stirring the waiting batter helps as does getting the starting temperature right.

I used a friendly FO (Oregon Trails which may discolor slightly) but a slight to moderately accelerating FO would also work fine. I don’t recommend using decelerating FOs for this approach to a layered soap because they make it difficult to bring the small splits of soap to trace in a reasonable amount of time.

Hopefully this is clear. If not, let me know.

Thank you so much, yes I think I get it. I’m not looking to duplicate it, no where near a beach! my goal this year is to try different methods and pours. I am trying to organize my soaps into categories as I prepare to get my soaps online for sales (yuck). I think the placement of the different colors would fit into my “coastal drift” category. Thanks again for sharing @Mobjack Bay and in such detail!!

 

[Mobjack Bay]

Yes, that was a long post. The devil is in the details