What soapy thing have you done today?

[Zing]

Oh! I forgot to mention that I picked up the soap dish I painted at the ceramics place last week. The 'stripes' are graduated so that there is more teal on the first one, than on the last one - giving a different effect depending on which way you view it. Im very happy with it, and I even like the underside, so you get to see a pic of that as well ( purely for your viewing pleasure ;-))
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Just. Stop. Homemade soap in homemade molds and now homemade soap dishes too?! Pretty soon you're gonna be making homemade lye!

 

[Zing]

Made a batch of soap today, my go-to recipe but with apricot kernel oil. Blue mica and cocoa powder, in the pot swirl. Rosemary/bergamot and splashes of fir needle and cedarwood essential oils. While I was experimenting with possible EO blends, discovered 50/50 lavender/litsea cubeba and my wife just lost it, that'll have to be the next loaf, even tho' lavender's not my thang.

And big thanks to this forum, clean up of the mica spoon was the best ever! I tried @amd 's dry wipe but it was a plastic measuring spoon and mica was still clinging and then I sprayed with rubbing alcohol. My sink and other dishes did not turn blue this time!

And a 'duh!' moment for me. I have long weighed my solid oils in the soaping pot but too nervous to weigh liquid oils all in the pot. And then tonight -- yes, after more than a year of soaping -- it occurred to me that I could weigh the olive oil (largest percentage of liquid oils) in the pot and then add my solids to that pot. Little time- and dishes- saver there.

And a bit of drama that unbeknownst to me, a paper napkin was stuck to the bottom of the soap pot and started a little fire when I turned on the gas burner. Yikeskers! No lasting damage but a lot of scrubbing....

 

[Zing]

Forgot to mention we saw the movie "The Favourite" last night and lye plays a major plot point!

 

[Meena]

And a bit of drama that unbeknownst to me, a paper napkin was stuck to the bottom of the soap pot and started a little fire when I turned on the gas burner. Yikeskers! No lasting damage but a lot of scrubbing....

Even though your accident was pretty small, it was the 3rd soaping mishap on this forum TODAY!! Hmmm

 

[Zing]

Is there a full moon?!

 

[Meena]

The no-added-heat HP technique didn't work for me. I had to turn the stove on because the batter only reached 154 F for some reason. Maybe my lye cooled too much by the time i had the oils weighed and up to temp stated by the soaper i copied? More likely, it's the relative size of our batches. Larger batches will hold more heat. This was my largest batch, ever, at 29 ounces of oils, but the video was showing 16 POUNDS of oil (This may also be why I haven't gotten gel -- not enough batter and not large enough mold. Possible?)

It was much smoother than my first HP, and did actually pour, but I may just stick with CP or try CPOP because HP seems like a lot of extra work to me, and takes about twice as long.

I will end up with 13 - 14 bars of face soap out of this batch. I should have remembered to take a pic before the pour. The soaps are still cooling in the molds. Pics tomorrow.

 

[KiwiMoose]

Get ready for a big surprise!

Cut this puppy tonight:
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/stripey-soap.73608/

 

[Dawni]

@Misschief and @Meena I'm glad nothing serious happened to the both of you. You too @Zing.

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I love it, even if you don't nyahaha

you might be better off just glopping the HP--its kinda thick to pour. I have tried that but its hard to hold onto a hot crockpot while trying to scrape it out

What I do is glop as much as I can out from the cooker into a smaller container with a handle and preferably a spout thingy. For those who have ovens, they'd keep both spoon/ladle and container heated. What I do is have them sit in hot water. Beats having to work with heavy pots.

The no-added-heat HP technique didn't work for me. I had to turn the stove on because the batter only reached 154 F for some reason. Maybe my lye cooled too much by the time i had the oils weighed and up to temp stated by the soaper i copied? More likely, it's the relative size of our batches. Larger batches will hold more heat. This was my largest batch, ever, at 29 ounces of oils, but the video was showing 16 POUNDS of oil (This may also be why I haven't gotten gel -- not enough batter and not large enough mold. Possible?)

You should weigh your oils first, maybe melt your waxes n butters if you're using them, then make your lye liquid and immediately mix them.

One pour only. That way the heat from the lye doesn't cool down too much. Too much transferring between containers of both lye and oils will also cool it down drastically. Just FYI, not saying you did hehe

 

[Lakee]

Friday and Saturday, I received 4 boxes from different suppliers. Can I mention how impressed I am that all 4 used materials that are easily recycled or composted?

I started to whinge at the last box with what looked like Styrofoam peanuts but which melt in water! May be corn starch. Nothing in package said so I won't put them in a flower bed or compost pile/bin but I am very pleased.

 

[Meena]

One pour only. That way the heat from the lye doesn't cool down too much. Too much transferring between containers of both lye and oils will also cool it down drastically. Just FYI, not saying you did hehe

Dawni, do you have your pot on a burner the whole time, or just use the heat from the lye and warmed oils?

 

[Dawni]

Dawni, do you have your pot on a burner the whole time, or just use the heat from the lye and warmed oils?

I only use my slow cooker. But I have tried it on and off, and by on I mean it's on high from melting butters all the way til "almost done" and by off I mean I turn it off once my oils and butters are one consistency, then pour my lye water. So technically it still has residual heat from the earlier warming n melting.

But I've seen on YouTube people using just the heat from the oils and lye in a plastic container or steel pot, just sitting on their counter top, with good results. Maybe your ambient temps were just too cold? It's quite warm here generally so that might be a factor? And maybe your temps were just too far apart? Cooled oil and warm lye or vice versa?

 

[Marilyn Norgart]

What I do is glop as much as I can out from the cooker into a smaller container with a handle and preferably a spout thingy. For those who have ovens, they'd keep both spoon/ladle and container heated. What I do is have them sit in hot water. Beats having to work with heavy pots

how do you swirl when its thick enough to glop? I have had a mottled bar from HP. I am just wondering how thin it has to be to swirl. this soap was HP. but I don't consider it swirling

 

[Marilyn Norgart]

I tried a technique I saw on YouTube last night, which results in a pourable rather than gloppy HP batter.
My main difficulty is that there's no room in that kitchen and not all things that are in my way can be removed, they just have to be worked around. Next time, I'll prepare our eating table in the next room with the molds, then I'll have elbow room to pour from a large pan. Or just stick with CP.

can you direct me to the video--I would be interested in watching--I read an article on it that gave a lot of info on it but no video. thanks

 

[Donee']

Just saying - South Africa = Rugby.
But cool idea - make a ruby ball soap for the merchandisers to sell - drunken rugby fans will buy it for their home bars.
South Africa rocks at rugby.
Boerewors is da best
And biltong rocks my world.

pe

Just saying - South Africa = Rugby.
But cool idea - make a ruby ball soap for the merchandisers to sell - drunken rugby fans will buy it for their home bars.
South Africa rocks at rugby.
Boerewors is da best
And biltong rocks my world.

perhaps a beer soap!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Clarice]

OMG that is insanely beautiful! I assume the pattern is from a mold? WOW! Where did you find molds like this?

May I ask where you got your recipe? I have seen some on Soapee and other sites and have been pondering which to pursue.

Woot! Charcoal swirl in the pot! Can't wait to cut this puppy. I'm a bit worried about how black the charcoal part is, I used 1.5 teaspoon PPO. Mixed the powder straight into the batter
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This is GORGEOUS - Can i clarify - did you swirl the charcoal in the powder form, or had you mixed it with a medium? Also, dod you swirl it into your whole batch, and then pour?

Thank you!

 

[Susie]

Made 3 batches using new fragrances and 2 new molds my hubby made for me. They are a bit wider than intended, so I am going to increase my batch size so they are proportional. This will give me some extra large bars, but I will give the customer a choice of bar size, so it will all be OK. Since these molds are my standard build, all we have to change is the bottom if I want to change to a more standard size. Good news is that we started out too narrow, so I have some tall and skinny molds already.

 

[Zing]

Just saying - South Africa = Rugby.
But cool idea - make a ruby ball soap for the merchandisers to sell - drunken rugby fans will buy it for their home bars.
South Africa rocks at rugby.
Boerewors is da best
And biltong rocks my world.

@Donee' You are making me hungry and taking me back -- 2 summers ago we traveled to Namibia and Cape Town, South Africa. I've never had so much meat in my life (I'm not a vegetarian but a fish/chicken-ian) and loved the biltong and boerworst and sundowners and pinotage wine.

 

[Hendejm]

I just made another soap tonight. It is going to be called “black and tan” after the beer although it doesn’t have beer in it. The batter performed perfectly so hopefully it will turn out well. The FO is supposed to have moderate discoloration so I added TD to the tan portion to help keep it a creamy beer foam color. We will see tomorrow morning! I’ve decided to soap at night so I’m not tempted to peak during its saponfication process. Hopefully the TD and activated charcoal play nice and don’t give me glycerin rivers. But if they do - it should be ok given the color scheme.

So - I was in bed last night and realized that my “Black and Tan” soap was poured wrong! I have the colors opposite of what a beer would be like! The foam should be in the top - not the bottom. Oh, well! I still like how it turned out and it did develop glycerin rivers but I think they look pretty cool in this soap.

 

[Dawni]

So - I was in bed last night and realized that my “Black and Tan” soap was poured wrong! I have the colors opposite of what a beer would be like! The foam should be in the top - not the bottom. Oh, well! I still like how it turned out and it did develop glycerin rivers but I think they look pretty cool in this soap.


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I think it's a very sexy soap...... And the glycerine rivers look like an intentional ghost swirl

 

[Misschief]

Friday and Saturday, I received 4 boxes from different suppliers. Can I mention how impressed I am that all 4 used materials that are easily recycled or composted?

I started to whinge at the last box with what looked like Styrofoam peanuts but which melt in water! May be corn starch. Nothing in package said so I won't put them in a flower bed or compost pile/bin but I am very pleased.

I throw mine in our compost pile. Our landlord was a little concerned until I explained to him that they're plant based, perfectly safe for composting and safe around animals.