What soapy thing have you done today?

[toxikon]

Finally tested a slice of my new recipe that's been curing for about 6 weeks. I love it! I was trying to add some hardness to my go-to recipe so I subbed half of my lard for tallow. It's a nice hard bar with a good lather. I'm pleased!

Here's the recipe:

• 25% Lard
• 25% Tallow
• 25% Olive Oil
• 20% Coconut
• 5% Castor
  
• 3% SF
• 33% Lye Conc.
  
• 1 tbsp sugar PPO

 

[NsMar42111]

Threw out 6lbs of CP testers where something went badly wrong and I have mushy oily soap (and thats the good pound). 6 different molds, and the control with no fragrance zapped the heck out of me (the other ones werent zappy). The ones with fragrance, no zap. Same bottle of lye I used on a HP batch at the same time and it's fine. I did change a few percents of oil from my "normal" batch on the CP batch, but it was just 15% less lard and 15% more rice bran and yes I reran it through the lye calculators. Soft I expected, zappy I did not. Bleh.

 

[Kittish]

Threw out 6lbs of CP testers where something went badly wrong and I have mushy oily soap (and thats the good pound). 6 different molds, and the control with no fragrance zapped the heck out of me (the other ones werent zappy). The ones with fragrance, no zap. Same bottle of lye I used on a HP batch at the same time and it's fine. I did change a few percents of oil from my "normal" batch on the CP batch, but it was just 15% less lard and 15% more rice bran and yes I reran it through the lye calculators. Soft I expected, zappy I did not. Bleh.

Is it possible that when you made the control, you left out the 15% lard but didn't actually add the 15% additional rice bran? Or maybe forgot to tare your scale between two different oils? That sounds to me like it's mostly likely to be a weighing error.

 

[Kittish]

I ordered supplies! Mango, shea, kokum and cocoa butters and apricot kernel, babassu, meadowfoam and argan oils. Mostly going to be used for body butters and solid lotion bars, but some will wind up in soaps.

I remembered, not long after I placed those orders, that I needed containers to store the butters in! So I ordered some screw top pails for them. Hopefully the pails will get here before the butters do.

I think I need to make another batch or two of shaving soap. That one is being rather well received by everyone who I've given any to. I tried it out, and didn't get any stings at all from my vinegar hair rinse after shaving. And I didn't use a new blade, either. Wow.

 

[jules92207]

It has been a ridiculous year for soap making, I finally made 7 batches last weekend and 7 batches this weekend.

BB Earl Grey Lemon salt bars, lavender lemongrass eo, WSP Peppermint Stick, WSP White Christmas, BB Hot Apple Pie, BB Gingersnap, Lavender Oatmeal

 

[dalewaite48]

Christmas Gift Bag

A store my wife and I are vendors at requested if I would small 1/2 bars that will go into these gift bags. They be giving them to the first 50 shopppers coming into the store to celebrate the Christmas season. I made them out of a milk and pour goat milk base and added splashes of green and red.

 

[SoapAddict415]

A store my wife and I are vendors at requested if I would small 1/2 bars that will go into these gift bags. They be giving them to the first 50 shopppers coming into the store to celebrate the Christmas season. I made them out of a milk and pour goat milk base and added splashes of green and red.

Ooooh! That's very pretty!

Sent from my Z828 using Soap Making mobile app

 

[Zany_in_CO]

Those are really pretty. Well done! Thanks for sharing!

 

[SoapEh]

Last night I made soap rocks from my scraps! My plan is to use them as toppers on a beach soap -- the weighed-out oils are sitting on my soaping counter, along with the additives and all my soaping tools, the mold, safety equipment etc.

Tonight's plan is to hit the beach -- never mind Christmas/Holiday soap, it's getting COLD here and I want to go to Tahiti

 

[GreenDragon]

Mica Line

Was experimenting with Mica Lines last weekend. But what surprised me was the pretty lines of color that naturally formed in the mold. Guarantee that if I tried to get it to do that it would come out solid as usual! LOL

 

[SoapEh]

Made my first batch of soapy cupcakes, it was a bit of an adventure!
I had a little sample-sized bottle of 'cupcake' scent F.O. that I bought on Amazon (when I bought my first few supplies to see if I'd like making soap, I got a package of six 'coffee shop' scents to try). It wasn't quite enough for the 2lbs of oils, but nearly, so I thought I'd go for it. I soaped at about 100F, nothing outrageous, and used a recipe that's worked well before. Not this time! I've never seen soap seize, WOW. Chemistry in action, right in my kitchen! Well, I figured I had nothing to lose so I got mad and stick blended the living daylights out of the nearly-solidified mess, and got it back to a very thick but smooth consistency (before it had been splitting into a solid/liquid monstrosity). I globbed it into cupcake molds, mashed it down, and vowed never to buy fragrance from some unreliable unknown ever again.

I made another batch of soap and split it into two, hoping to use a split piping bag for chocolate/vanilla icing. Yeah... no. Vanilla set up way faster than chocolate because of the TD in the batter; I knew if I waited for the chocolate to set up, the vanilla would be too stiff. So I piped the cupcakes with vanilla and it turned out I had more than enough. Now I had a pound of chocolate fudge scented soap and nothing left to do with it.

I took out a little 6-bar rectangle mold, threw the fudge soap in, decorated the tops with little dabs left from the vanilla bag and now I guess I have little cupcakes and little chocolate brownies.

Now all I have to do is find some oddballs who want to wash themselves with desserts

 

[SoapAddict415]

Was experimenting with Mica Lines last weekend. But what surprised me was the pretty lines of color that naturally formed in the mold. Guarantee that if I tried to get it to do that it would come out solid as usual! LOL

That's very pretty.

I just completed my first attempt for the 1920s theme challenge! Challenges seem to bring out my adventurous​ side so I tested a new recipe, attempted a hanger swirl & cpop'd for the first time! I can't wait to see how it all turns out!

 

[Kittish]

Checked in supplies today! Hmm, my butters came in pails already. Guess I don't need these screw top ones after all? Though they might be easier to open and close than the pails the stuff is in already. 5 pounds each of mango, kokum, shea, and cocoa butter from chemistrystore.com. Mostly for body butter and lotion bars, but some of it will wind up in soap. Same with the oils, 7 pounds each of babassu, apricot kernel and meadowfoam and 16 ounces of argan from Brambleberry. The argan probably won't be used in soap, it'd be pretty well wasted like that.

Glow in the dark CP safe pigment from Nurture! Stuff glows BRIGHT! Straight out of the shipping box it was glowing darn near bright enough to see in daylight. Niece and nephew both already have let me know they want glow in the dark soap. Their mom is going to be just nuts over it, too. She went absolutely bonzo when she found out I had glow in the dark filament for my printer. I made a Star Wars ring and a whole bunch of Star Wars themed snowflake ornaments with the glow in the dark filament for her.

Later this week, when I finish my current editing job, I'll make my first attempt for this month's challenge. Since I'm on a deadline for the editing, it does kind of need to be done first. :???:

 

[SoapAddict415]

I rushed home from work to cut my first attempt for the November challenge. My hanger swirl is non-existent but CPOP-ing for the first time made my colors pop. I'm hooked on CPOP now. Oh darn! Guess I'll have to make more soap for the challenge lol.

 

[SherylG]

I cut my 4 lb batch of infused herbal soap this morning. It turned out very nice. I had to rebatch it for several reasons but it's good now.
Tomorrow I plan to make a 4 lb batch of oatmeal, honey and banana soap with the honey mixed into just some of the final soap and used as a brown swirl. The banana is just the scent. No real banana in the soap. I'm going to try the hanger swirl for the first time too.

Soap cupcakes and brownies would make great stocking stuffers for kids, as long as the label was REALLY clear. lol SOAP

 

[SunRiseArts]

Checked in supplies today! Hmm, my butters came in pails already. Guess I don't need these screw top ones after all? Though they might be easier to open and close than the pails the stuff is in already. 5 pounds each of mango, kokum, shea, and cocoa butter from chemistrystore.com. Mostly for body butter and lotion bars, but some of it will wind up in soap. Same with the oils, 7 pounds each of babassu, apricot kernel and meadowfoam and 16 ounces of argan from Brambleberry. The argan probably won't be used in soap, it'd be pretty well wasted like that.

Glow in the dark CP safe pigment from Nurture! Stuff glows BRIGHT! Straight out of the shipping box it was glowing darn near bright enough to see in daylight. Niece and nephew both already have let me know they want glow in the dark soap. Their mom is going to be just nuts over it, too. She went absolutely bonzo when she found out I had glow in the dark filament for my printer. I made a Star Wars ring and a whole bunch of Star Wars themed snowflake ornaments with the glow in the dark filament for her.

Later this week, when I finish my current editing job, I'll make my first attempt for this month's challenge. Since I'm on a deadline for the editing, it does kind of need to be done first. :???:

Oh pictures?

 

[SherylG]

I made a large batch of oatmeal soap today with honey soap mix swirled in, or rather lightly mixed in, since I poured it as soon as it was blended so it was too thin to swirl.

I usually dissolve the lye in the water and don't add the milk until I mix, when the lye has cooled. Today I forgot to do that and mixed it with the water before adding the lye. It'll still make the same soap, it'll just be darker brown. I'm such a dolt to do that when I know better! I don't usually want brown soap. I wanted the soap lighter in colour so the honey soap bit would be dark brown swirls, anyway, I think the honey soap mix will still be darker than the cooked milk soap. The last honey soap I made was very dark brown. Oh well, it's oatmeal/honey soap. It can be brown. It's all still good.

At least I remembered to mix the sugar and salt into the lye water this time. I mixed it in the water before adding the lye. Thanks guys, that was a good tip! No candy bits.

I think I will make tangerine soap next, or maybe strawberry. This time I will remember to do every little thing right!! I just can't seem to get back into the groove after a few years off!

 

[ozziesgirl]

Hemisphere Soap

I used a Pringles can for a soap mold (one of my favorite molds), and it was just a fluke that the top bar has this cool round top. It is the perfect shape for washing your armpits! I wish I could make tons of them!

 

[SoapEh]

Made my first batch of round soap! I have a cardboard tube just a little bit wider than a Pringles can. I lined it with a flexible plastic cutting board that was rolled and taped around the outside, with a piece of freezer paper to cap the end. Then I took a second cutting board, folded it into a tight S, put it inside the first, and voila, a yin/yang symbol mold (all credit to the interwebs - I didn't make this technique up, I've seen it a few times on YouTube).

Now... YouTubers make the process of making black and white soap look easy. It's not.

Two pots. Check. Black iron oxide, titanium oxide. check. pre-mix both in a little bit of oil / water. checkity-check.

Made up a 3lb batch of soap (knowing the mold holds about 3.5; too little is fine, but I didn't want overflow). I would normally test a technique or recipe with 1-2lbs, but I didn't want to take all the tedious steps involved, make an incredible soap, and only have a couple of bars of soap to show for it. So I went all-in and crossed my fingers.

Pouring both colours at the same time seems to be super important with this soap. Like using dividers in a loaf mold, you want to keep the two sides at the same level so they stay on their respective sides.

I didn't want to have the soap too thick, it needed to be pourable. I was afraid if it started to thicken, the whole thing would be ruined. I think I poured early -- it was TOO thin, snuck under and around the edges, and what I ended up with was, basically, a very tall and thin in-the-pot-swirl. And because the white wasn't *white* but rather creamy, and the black wasn't *black* but charcoal grey, the mix is probably going to come out... greige.

Oh, and when I went back to check on the soap, the round profile of the plastic cutting board had pinched inward, so it was a bit ovalish on one side.

TL;DR -- I won't know for sure until tomorrow, but I'm pretty certain I made beige/grey, not-quite-round soap.

 

[SherylG]

Oh Dear! Well, it was a good plan. You never know, it might turn out to be beautiful soap!