What soapy thing have you done today?

[Zany_in_CO]

My sweet mother, who is 98 and still going strong, was found on the floor a few feet from her bed 3 weeks ago, unconscious and unresponsive . She was taken to the ER by ambulance. She lives in a retirement community in Phoenix where my brother-the-doctor and his family live. We haven't been able to talk during her hospital stay, her transfer to a Care facility, and finally, when she was well enough, moved back home again last weekend.

She called today to wish us Happy New Year -- and put in an order for my MSM Emu Oil Cream (arthritis), my Achy Breaky Balm (for other aches & pains) and my hand lotion! LOL We packed a box, included some other goodies like chocolate dipped macaroons, Pepperidge Farm cookies, microwave popcorn, etc and made the 4:00 pick up at the PO. YAY! Hopefully she'll get her "Care Package" on Saturday.

ETA: Forgot to mention... 2 bars of my Aleppo (type) Soap.

I was so happy to hear her voice! We gabbed for an hour. She's doing well and sounds like her old self, altho a little shaken up. Sometimes I wish they wouldn't put her (and us too!) through all those dumb tests -- they always seem to end up saying, "We didn't find anything wrong. Go home."

 

[GreenDragon]

2 batches

Everyone went to bed early last night but me, so I decided to have a little soaping party. Put on an old movie (Desk Set with Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn) and made two batches of soap. I've been experimenting with some new EO's and FO's, so I had some fun mixing and blending.

Batch one made with Brazilian red clay and burgundy pigment scented with 1 part spiced mahogany + 2 parts bay rum.

Batch two made with french green clay with evergreen mica lines and scented with Cedar, Cypress, White Tea & Ginger, and Bergamot Black Tea. I got the perfectly flat "top" mica line by pouring a thin layer of batter into the mold, adding the mica, then popping the mold into the freezer for one minute, then pouring the rest in. Think I'll go for a little thicker layer next time.

 

[penelopejane]

Batch two made with french green clay with evergreen mica lines and scented with Cedar, Cypress, White Tea & Ginger, and Bergamot Black Tea. I got the perfectly flat "top" mica line by pouring a thin layer of batter into the mold, adding the mica, then popping the mold into the freezer for one minute, then pouring the rest in. Think I'll go for a little thicker layer next time.

Your mica layer has to be so thin that it immediately wets up as it sits on the batter. If it isn’t thin or doesn’t wet up the soap will separate at that point when you use it or when you move it.

 

[MorpheusPA]

The lighting's not great here, but I tried a malachite soap today scented in lemon/lime. I'm also trying IrishLass' recommendation of gelling in a cooler oven than I usually do--about 110 or so--and I can't wait to see that work perfectly without giving me nasty pockmarks.

This false traced as it went, so it's a bit more gloppy than intended. The mix is majority tallow, with olive, a bit of coconut, and a touch of castor.

 

[SoapAddict415]

The lighting's not great here, but I tried a malachite soap today scented in lemon/lime. I'm also trying IrishLass' recommendation of gelling in a cooler oven than I usually do--about 110 or so--and I can't wait to see that work perfectly without giving me nasty pockmarks.

This false traced as it went, so it's a bit more gloppy than intended. The mix is majority tallow, with olive, a bit of coconut, and a touch of castor.

I love wet soap pics. That look decadent to me.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

We packed a box, included some other goodies like chocolate dipped macaroons, Pepperidge Farm cookies, microwave popcorn, etc and made the 4:00 pick up at the PO. YAY! Hopefully she'll get her "Care Package" on Saturday.

Good News: USPS reported the box arrived in Phoenix at 6:25 PM Friday!
Bad News: The package was then shipped to Kansas City at 6:52 PM!
ETA in Phoenix: Not until Tuesday, January 2. Grrrr.

 

[SunRiseArts]

Zany, so glad your mom is better. Mine is 92 and has more energy than I do. She is going on a cruise tomorrow to spend the new years ..... Finding her unconscious must have been so scary!

I got my courage back up, and wanted to try a new color I have, but my fragrance accelerated my batch like crazy. I still managed to put it on the mold, and who knows, sometimes those crazy fast designs turn out ok.

Green dragon, I like your soap.

soap addict, I can't wait to see it cut!

 

[SoapAddict415]

I ordered a soap stamp & a couple of molds thru the Wish app. I've got to wait until February for delivery but that's the trade off for selecting the cheap shipping option. I got this acrylic stamp for $5 including shipping. This is only my second order. I bought DH 2 things for his birthday. They weren't due to arrive until January 22 but I had one of his items waiting for me when I came home Friday. That was a bonus because his birthday is this Tuesday!

 

[SoapAddict415]

Zany, so glad your mom is better. Mine is 92 and has more energy than I do. She is going on a cruise tomorrow to spend the new years ..... Finding her unconscious must have been so scary!

I got my courage back up, and wanted to try a new color I have, but my fragrance accelerated my batch like crazy. I still managed to put it on the mold, and who knows, sometimes those crazy fast designs turn out ok.

Green dragon, I like your soap.

soap addict, I can't wait to see it cut!

Don't forget to post the pics

 

[SunRiseArts]

Nice stamp! I have seen those on eBay.

I was organizing my soapy cabinet and found a lot of MP embeds, so I decided to use them, and made this. I call it "bottom of the sea" :mrgreen:

My husband liked them! And they smell like coconut.

 

[bathgeek]

Nice stamp! I have seen those on eBay.

I was organizing my soapy cabinet and found a lot of MP embeds, so I decided to use them, and made this. I call it "bottom of the sea" :mrgreen:

My husband liked them! And they smell like coconut.

Those are GORGEOUS!

 

[SoapAddict415]

I agree with Bathgeek. Those are gorgeous SunRise! My hubby didn't believe it was soap when I showed him the pic!

Sent from my Z828 using Soap Making mobile app

 

[psfred]

Glad to hear your Mom is better Zany -- mine just turned 94 last weekend and is getting frail. Will be putting a ramp on the house as soon as it's warm enough on a weekend, she's starting to need help with the bigger steps.

 

[annalee2003]

Zany, I’m happy to hear that your mother is doing well after that scary experience. Glad she’s in good spirits and I’m happy that you got to talk to her and send her a care package.

Sunrise, the molds were all silicone. Found them on amazon. They were early Christmas presents from my husband. I really like them, but they’re tricky to get the details to stick. Some of them came out a bit wonky. I probably should have popped them in the fridge for a bit before unmolding. Lesson learned.
Also, I don’t have blue cosmetic glitter, but that sounds like a fantastic idea and I will keep that trick in mind!

 

[SunRiseArts]

Thank you all for the nice comments.

 

[Kittish]

I've gotten my mold lined and prepped for a rather ambitious soap I'm going to try. If it works out, I'll wind up with a sitting cat silhouette in the middle of the bars. Planning on going with simple black and white. There's a good chance I'll wind up with glycerin rivers in the white part, since I'm planning to use some TD to whiten that part even more, and working at a 33% lye concentration. If it comes out, at least half the bars will go to a friend whose birthday is in late Feb.

Made a small bottle of beard oil, just waiting for DH to come to a stopping spot in his game to try it out.

All set up to make several different body butters/salves, each one for a specific request. Going to measure each one into different glass jars and use my baby crock pot for melting and tempering, since I'm only making a small amount of each.

The butters/salves are all done, cooling on the counter. First one is an attempt to duplicate an herb infused balm at a friend's request. Made with kokum butter, rice bran oil, meadowfoam seed oil, vitamin e and menthol with camphor, clove bud, cinnamon leaf and ginger EOs added. The RBO was infused with cayenne, dried ground ginger and white willow bark powder. (Menthol crystals jingle very prettily together.)

Second is a lanolin based salve. Lanolin, babassu oil, cocoa butter, meadowfoam seed oil, rice bran oil and vitamin e. It's scented with a blend of rose absolute, rose geranium EO, balsam of peru oil, ylang ylang, ambrette seed, carnation absolute, liquidambar and tuberose.

Third one is Shea butter, apricot kernel oil, avocado oil and vitamin e. Haven't added any scent to this one yet. It's intended for an old lady who has very thin skin.

 

[SoapAddict415]

Please post pics when you cut your soap Kittish!

 

[amd]

Soapy endeavors: have made 2 batches of "New Year" castile. I think I mentioned the first batch as I did make it just before Christmas break (plain white with attempted mica swirl on top, but batter was too thin so the mica pooled back to dots and didn't stay swirled. It still looks kind of cool.) The second batch was split with charcoal and pink french clay - which really turns out more pukey looking in soap, btw, so I added a touch of pink mica to brighten it up) and did a random drop pour between the black and pink. I should be able to cut this tonight and see how the inside turns out. I attempted a lavender bergamot honey soap, but I may have wreaked the fragrance. I added 1 tsp of citronella EO by mistake (I thought I had the litsea cubeba in my hand...) and it's all I can smell now. I wrapped my gear tie around a (coated) metal hanger and swirled it. Curious to see how this worked out, but still after 2 days it was too soft to cut. I measured out some beer and let it sit for 2 days, last night adding the lye and leaving it to cool off. Should be able to soap with it tonight. I'm going to use Urban Cowboy from WSP, so hoping that soaps nice. Honey soaps and beer soaps are teaching me the art of patience.

Non-soapy stuff: I've been reading a lot about surfactants to get a handle on how syndet shampoo bars are formulated before I attempt to make some. A friend of mine got The Big Book of Kombucha for Christmas (her and I are booch brewers too) and she wanted me to make her the kombucha lotion recipe in the book. I took one look at it (no emulsifier, no preservative) and told her I would figure out a better recipe than that one. Trying to figure out how to keep the integrity of the kombucha intact and still getting a stable formula, because I won't be able to do heat and hold. I've been reading conflicting arguments that heat and hold isn't necessary as well. I've kind of arrived to the conclusion that because I'm doing a small batch (8oz tops), I probably can try it without the heat and hold and just keep it between my friend and I.

 

[CTAnton]

I spent the morning packaging soap and this afternoon watching the storm outside the window while I steamed off soda ash on 3 batches of soap. I bought a hand held steamer awhile back at Aldi's and gave it a workout these past few days. Love it!

 

[SunRiseArts]

Kittish, cannot wait to see how it comes out! I made something similar once with a horse figure, and it was not easy.

Amd please post pictures!

I made yesterday and cut this morning a small batch for a fragrance juniper breeze I had. I think is a dupe from BBW, and I tried to imitate the bottle. Did not really turned how I want it, but I still like the color, and smells sooooo good!



I am going to attempt to make soap dough with MP, and se how it looks. I did it once before. But just want to practice incase the challenge allows MP.