What soapy thing have you done today?

[SaltedFig]

...Really SUPER curious AND nervous about 'trace.' In the videos, people's batter all looks so liquidy. Nervous about pulling the trigger at the right time -- not too soon or too late. If I'm not going to swirl, is it better to keep stirring to a less-thin trace? What does the 'right' trace feel like? - pudding, or something thinner?

Meena, newbie made an excellent video on stick blending to emulsion:
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/stickblending-to-emulsion.60618/

Pouring anytime after this will be fine. Because you aren't swirling or doing anything fancy, you may as well stir the batter (and occasionally give it a burst with the stickblender, if you like) to see how it thickens up.

When it leaves a trail on the top if you lift your spatula out, or you can see a line left behind when you stir the batter, that's "trace".
It will keep on thickening, and you can check if it is thick enough to coat the back of a spatula (can't use the old wooden spoon - they dissolve , as if you are cooking (that's a good point to pour for quite a lot of recipes), but you can go as thick as pudding or cake batter if you like.

For a first go, it would be interesting to watch it thicken up as you stir it - as long as it is pourable, it will be fine

 

[MissLinda]

Those are nice! Your angle pour turned out great, and i love the shade of blue on your lavender & patchouli soaps.

Today I lined the homemade one pound loaf mold, bought a SB, returned the respirator as overkill, bought wood for a larger loaf mold, talked to Cee @Zany_in_CO , and took 2 naps (AFTER arising at 10:45 a.m.). Going down again real soon. Will have to choose my recipe tomorrow, I guess. Too mentally tired now to do any more today. Overdid it yesterday and have been paying today.

Thank you, Meena. I'm looking forward to getting more colors to play with. And I love my naps. Lots of days I need a couple.
As far as trace, I'm no expert for sure...but - I find as long as I have trace, I'm good. Even if it's thin & I want to swirl or whatever, I can wait a few minutes for the soap to thicken. You will develop your eye and your style as you go along. No worries.

Indeed a VERY good soap day for you!! What's your blue coloring? That's my favorite. All of them are beautiful.

I looked at my lavender soap. It's still not ready to unmold yet. Here's a photo, @KiwiMoose , and I hope you are...what's the word...um, satisfied?View attachment 34973

Zing, your soap looks beautiful.
That blue is Ultra Marine Blue pigment. And, yes, I'm more than satisfied. I'm happy with all my soaps because I'm always learning, even from the complete failures like I made a few days ago. I am a crafter and soaping is one of my favorites.

Lovely! I think @dxw would quite like those lavender soaps - I think that's what he was aspiring to when he made his apostrophe soaps.

Thank you, KiwiMoose. I've watched not a few videos. Mine don't turn out like the experts, but that's fine. Practice makes better. ;-)

 

[Zing]

Meena, newbie made an excellent video on stick blending to emulsion:
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/stickblending-to-emulsion.60618/

Thanks, @SaltedFig , I spent 10 minutes searching unsuccessfully for this video to show @Meena . Glad you found it. @Meena , this is one of the best videos out there. And give yourself time, the more you make, the more confident you'll get about when is too soon, too late, etc.

 

[SaltedFig]

Thanks, @SaltedFig , I spent 10 minutes searching unsuccessfully for this video to show @Meena . Glad you found it. @Meena , this is one of the best videos out there. And give yourself time, the more you make, the more confident you'll get about when is too soon, too late, etc.

Usually I link newbie's video directly, but it's great to see newbie's original thread
(To find it easily, remember the key word ... "emulsion" )

 

[amd]

Really SUPER curious AND nervous about 'trace.' In the videos, people's batter all looks so liquidy. Nervous about pulling the trigger at the right time -- not too soon or too late. If I'm not going to swirl, is it better to keep stirring to a less-thin trace? What does the 'right' trace feel like? - pudding, or something thinner?

I see Salty has answered your question about trace, but I'm just going to throw this out there too... Trace is really hard to show on camera unless it's a heavy trace. So don't feel like you're missing something if you don't see it in soapmaking videos.

Soapy things I've done: Besides finishing my bookwork, I pitched myself to a couple breweries, and ordered more lye. I'm down to two bottles! I'll need to buckle in and order more oils in the next two weeks. Tonight's plan is to do dishes because @Zing still has not shown up to do them for me, get labels made for two castile soaps and January's soap of the month, and edit photos and video. Tomorrow will be buckling in to class work and working on the peddlers booth. (I need a bit more signage and I'd like to cover the bare metal shelves, just to pretty it up.) Oh yeah, I have to go to my second job tonight, so maybe I won't get those dishes done... and I need to make at least one batch of soap, maybe DB on Sunday if I do dishes...

 

[Jill B Blasius]

Weighed out a batch of oils while waiting for my tea to cook. Just need to sort the lye then got to making it after i let my tea settle doctors advised i shouldnt get over excited too close to eating, just because im special like that.

The fo accelerated AGAIN this is getting boring now. Iv used that fo before and dont remember it accelerating but oh well made a note about it this time i think i just about saved it but should know in the morning if its presentable. Rinsed everything off and threw it all in the dishwasher to properly clean.

Input this and my last 2 batches into sm3 ended up sat at the desk swearing like a trooper because it was really confusing me. So i gave up on that and just for @shunt2011 i edited the cigar labels she told me were wrong the other day. Hope your happy now shunt

Does anyone here who sells in america do a nice apple scented soap? A friend who lives in america asked me if i would sell her an apple scented soap obviously i cant but i said i would ask here maybe via etsy or an independent website that i could send her a link too?

Well, I don't have any Apple soap to sell, but I had made some previously with Apple & Sage FO from BB and it smelled very nice.... not sweet/fakey apple, but a very smooth scent.

 

[Meena]

I looked at my lavender soap. It's still not ready to unmold yet. Here's a photo, @KiwiMoose , and I hope you are...what's the word...um, satisfied?View attachment 34973

Very nice swirl

 

[Meena]

Meena, newbie made an excellent video on stick blending to emulsion:
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/stickblending-to-emulsion.60618/

Pouring anytime after this will be fine. Because you aren't swirling or doing anything fancy, you may as well stir the batter (and occasionally give it a burst with the stickblender, if you like) to see how it thickens up.

When it leaves a trail on the top if you lift your spatula out, or you can see a line left behind when you stir the batter, that's "trace".
It will keep on thickening, and you can check if it is thick enough to coat the back of a spatula (can't use the old wooden spoon - they dissolve , as if you are cooking (that's a good point to pour for quite a lot of recipes), but you can go as thick as pudding or cake batter if you like.

For a first go, it would be interesting to watch it thicken up as you stir it - as long as it is pourable, it will be fine

THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU Salted Fig!!! I feel better already!!

 

[Meena]

Thanks, @SaltedFig , I spent 10 minutes searching unsuccessfully for this video to show @Meena . Glad you found it. @Meena , this is one of the best videos out there. And give yourself time, the more you make, the more confident you'll get about when is too soon, too late, etc.

Wonderful, thank you! The posts I've read this morning have tweaked my attitude very favorably.

 

[Meena]

Finished writing out Step One: Making the Lye Solution instructions for myself. Now I am going to write out the basic recipe instructions and run a book recipe through Soap Calc.

It's around the freezing mark and snowing outside, so whether i go through with this today depends on how long these final prep steps take me.

 

[Chris_S]

Made my test batch this morning for fo test was pleasently surprised that didnt get much reaction from them some accelerated once in the mold most stayed to trace i mixed it too so iv got a very good idea of what does and doesnt work now.

Also learnt the lesson to not leave a box full of candles on the windowsill the hard way, let my friend out the house came back in to find 2 of my candles had half melted over the heat from the radiator heat thought it was cat vomit at first then i thought it was the radiator exploded then when i touched it it clicked it was candle wax then i saw where i put the box with all my candles in lol

 

[KiwiMoose]

Unmoulded and cut my orange and patchouli soap made in my makeshift cardboard box slab mould. Not bad, a few improvements to be made fro next time, namely get a proper slab mould. No pics until @Zing posts his!

 

[Chris_S]

Unmoulded and cut my orange and patchouli soap made in my makeshift cardboard box slab mould. Not bad, a few improvements to be made fro next time, namely get a proper slab mould. No pics until @Zing posts his!

Despite you having cheated by using a silicone mat rather than blood sweat and tears going into carving out it looks absolutly gorgeous. where did you get the silicone mat from anywhere we might have in the uk?

Got my plastic needlework sheets today so just spent 15 minutes reorganising my curing shelves got them looking pretty awesome and squished them a little closer to make some more space as i cant be doing with not soaping because iv run out of space thats just NOT acceptable.

Tomorrows plan after other jobs is to double check cure dates on all the soaps and draw out a basic spreadsheet so i can start keeping better track of what batches were made when ect

 

[KiwiMoose]

Despite you having cheated by using a silicone mat rather than blood sweat and tears going into carving out it looks absolutly gorgeous. where did you get the silicone mat from anywhere we might have in the uk?

Got my plastic needlework sheets today so just spent 15 minutes reorganising my curing shelves got them looking pretty awesome and squished them a little closer to make some more space as i cant be doing with not soaping because iv run out of space thats just NOT acceptable.

Tomorrows plan after other jobs is to double check cure dates on all the soaps and draw out a basic spreadsheet so i can start keeping better track of what batches were made when ect

I ordered it from Wish.com who send anywhere in the world.

 

[Chris_S]

I ordered it from Wish.com who send anywhere in the world.

Awesome thank you ill have a look

 

[MGM]

These are my ginger-orange-cedar-patchouli shampoo bars. I had intended for them to look rustic, but perhaps not QUITE so lumpy. I intended an in-the-pot-swirl but ended up with an on-the-spoon-pudding, for the most part. They are quite soft, so I'm going to leave the rest unmolded for another day, then start the long waiting process.

Ok they're out of the mold and have a lovely swirl and the mica is very sparkly IRL. Now, one just needs to get over the fact that large chunks of them are missing because the batter got so thick I couldn't cram it down to the bottom of the mold! A mere detail....

 

[Chris_S]

Ok they're out of the mold and have a lovely swirl and the mica is very sparkly IRL. Now, one just needs to get over the fact that large chunks of them are missing because the batter got so thick I couldn't cram it down to the bottom of the mold! A mere detail....

Just wait till the fo makes the batter sieze then try putting that in a smaller mold lmao. Iv had far worse results than that with chunks being put of the shape.

They look really nice

 

[user 27496]

Made my first batch of soap ever after procrastinating for 3 years . . .

 

[Alfa_Lazcares]

I made a batch yesterday and one today after a month break of soaping (too much soap! The problem now is that the wire on my cheese cutter broke and replacements are hard to come by so if anyone has any ideas, I'm open to try...

 

[KiwiMoose]

Ok they're out of the mold and have a lovely swirl and the mica is very sparkly IRL. Now, one just needs to get over the fact that large chunks of them are missing because the batter got so thick I couldn't cram it down to the bottom of the mold! A mere detail....

The swirl is very nice. Did you use the bronze mica? I used that on top of that other soap in my slab mold. I had a bit left over so I mixed with the uncoloured spa batter and it turned out the exact same as the browny shade in your soap. It's a lovely colour - and seems to suit the patchouli methinks.