What soapy thing have you done today?

[Kerry K.]

Yesterday, me and my sister got together and I taught her how to make soap. I've only been making it for a few months. I came up with the fragrance myself - it's jonquil, sunflower, amber tonka bean and lemon verbena. Smells incredible, and happily it turned out great. Off to the shelf to cure, I can't wait to use it!

 

[msunnerstood]

I bought lard and coconut oil. I was running low and soap panic set it. Its not that I have to make soap but the idea I couldnt make soap. If that makes sense lol

 

[Dahila]

Refreshing body mist , which helps as mosquito repellent and 500 g of Arnica salve , printed the labels and watched to soccer games on Word Cup 2018

 

[earlene]

Shrink-wrapping is all. My day has been busy elsewhere. Plus it's Hubby's birthday, too.

 

[Dean]

Made my first batch of dual lye soap. Swirled with beta carotene.

The KOH made it soft. Same recipe w/o was rock hard in less than 24 hours. Will try 1.1:1 water/lye next time.

 

[Alfa_Lazcares]

Made a soap! Couldnt resist, but I ran out of lard, had to adjust the recipe again (it was only off 10 grm, so it wasnt that bad).

 

[Misschief]

Made soap and rescued my shrink wrapper from the garage, where it had been stored while my husband's boss stayed with us (our spare bedroom is also my craft room and I'm running out of space). Shrink wrapping will happen tomorrow or later this week, before next week's market.

 

[msunnerstood]

I ordered Vanilla stabilizer and my first soap stamp.

 

[amd]

Made a disaster out of my soap lab over the weekend. I have too many projects going on. I think every work surface is covered. So... yeah. I'm cleaning up my mess this week. I'm going to try to get the tomato vine and dirt scented soap made this week. I have a show on Saturday, plus the Thursday night market so I'm organizing what I should take to each.

 

[user 27375]

Today I cut apart two loaves I made on the weekend. The top bar was from a small batch I made to try out a new FO. The lower portion of the bar has light areas that look like soda ash, but I don't think it is. I used more oil than usual to mix in the mica and didn't stir the mixture into the batter all that thoroughly. Wondering if that created the discoloration which was dragged upwards when I used a wire to swirl the colors.

The bar at the bottom is from a larger loaf I made using various soap scraps I've saved up. Some of these had become so hard that I worried about a wire or two snapping when I cut up the loaf. I think the next time I'll process the scraps in a food processor first for smaller bits.

 

[earlene]

Very pretty confetti soap, DigitalEnigma. The swirl in your top soap is nice, too, and I do think you have probably concluded correctly about the TD not being mixed well enough. In this post, Saponista mentions that she has similar problems when the TD is not well mixed, and I have noticed it myself in some of my soaps when I do that.

 

[msunnerstood]

Uggh, ever get distracted and forget to do something with your soap? Had a great plan for a design, Pink and white swirl, mica swirled top with heart embeds.. yeah, got the top swirled, the hearts placed, snowflake glitter on, super cute....and then remembered, I forgot to Swirl the damn layers.. so instead of a pretty swirl, Ill have kinda sorta stripes.. too late to do anything about it so Ill cross my fingers and hope for the best

And the stripe

 

[Lin19687]

Aww bummer.

Nothing today, 90's this week and may not be a good idea to soap

 

[earlene]

I have printed labels, re-designing as I go along and change soaps. Hubby asked me this morning, "What's RBO Soap?" Better than what he first thought he saw. At first he thought it said BBQ Soap. He said that would be weird, to which I said,
'Not if it's for washing your hands after eating BBQ.'

Anyway, more soaps to label & wrap, but I am making progress and liking the look and ease of printed labels. The most fun part, though is choosing which paper to print which label on.

Also another slow process is soda ash removal. Why it has to happen to the batches of 14 or 16 bars of the same soap, but the smaller 4 or 5 bar batches have no soda ash, I don't know. The universe is just being persnickety, methinks.

 

[steffamarie]

Also another slow process is soda ash removal. Why it has to happen to the batches of 14 or 16 bars of the same soap, but the smaller 4 or 5 bar batches have no soda ash, I don't know. The universe is just being persnickety, methinks.

I saw a soapmaker on YouTube (Ariane Arsenault) who rinsed the tops of her bars in hot hot water before unmolding to get rid of soda ash. I haven't tried this, but if it works maybe it would be faster?

 

[msunnerstood]

Would have been much prettier had i not forgotten to swirl. Wish it would have been a smaller batch. Could have been worse but next time im writing the steps down to avoid it

 

[steffamarie]

Would have been much prettier had i not forgotten to swirl. Wish it would have been a smaller batch. Could have been worse but next time im writing the steps down to avoid it

I think the lighting makes it look like some sort of delicious strawberry shortcake!! I'm ready for Fourth of July eats and treats

 

[Holly8991]

Its still really pretty!

I did 4 batches yesterday and forgot to put the scent in one of them

 

[earlene]

I saw a soapmaker on YouTube (Ariane Arsenault) who rinsed the tops of her bars in hot hot water before unmolding to get rid of soda ash. I haven't tried this, but if it works maybe it would be faster?

Well, it's a little late for that. They are long unmolded. I don't shrink wrap or label until they are well cured.

I did try a steamer a few months back and it was a huge PIA, but I may try it again. Perhaps it's one of those 'practice makes perfect' kind of deals. When I figure out where I put it, I will give it another try.

 

[msunnerstood]

I did 4 batches yesterday and forgot to put the scent in one of them

Ive done that too!