What soapy thing have you done today?

[MGM]

looks like some pretty soaps in your future!!!!

Well, if not pretty, at least COLOURFUL!

 

[Mooicle]

My soapy thing was a humbling lesson that soap will do what soap wants to do. I think I got a big head after my tiger stripe pour I had accomplished, and then my angled layer pour where I had EXTREMELY workable batter, so naturally I thought I could plunge right in to a tear drop pour. Ha ha to me because my soap had other plans. Everything went well until I added the FO that, from reviews, wasn't supposed to do anything bad. But it accelerated SO quick and riced (not terribly bad but it wasn't expected, especially since I had just SB the color and FO in) so my lovely (in my head lovely) tear drop pour quickly turned into a plop in the mold pour, with a quick hanger tool mash up added in for good measure. Positive thing is that it smells SO SO SO amazing and I really liked the colors. I guess I will see what comes out in 2 days.

 

[Bladesmith]

I've still been cranking out a good bit of soap. One thing I've started using pretty regularly is soap dough. When I first got interested in it, I wanted to do 2 main things. 1) Utilize soap dough to extrude embeds for my HP soap. This has been pretty successful thus far and I'm happy how it has been turning out. 2) Make guest soaps with the extra soap dough I make.

So today I decided to play around with making some "guest soaps". This idea was inspired by Bee's (from Sorcery Soaps) soap dough cookies that she makes. Obviously mine look a little more "rustic" but I like them

Because the soap dough is similar to clay, it takes a stamp really well and can be quite detailed and intricate. Just rolled out the soap dough with a fondant roller and used cookie cutters to cut out the circles.

 

[MGM]

I had planned a confetti soap to use up some leftover curls. I don't shred my soap, just use the curls or various sizes that come from planing and beveling, so I need to be sure to have a very liquidy batter to ensure that it gets in all the nooks and crannies. NP, my current recipe has been taking forever to get to even medium trace, so I thought I'd have time to play with my new micas and make a couple of coloured layers with the confetti. Mixed my FO in the oils, as I've started doing lately. SB for 1.1 seconds and BAM, no soap batter, just cookie dough. No to be deterred, I split the batch and coloured some and shoved it into the mould. Added more colour to make another layer and spread that in. Lots of banging on the tile floor. I wasn't rushing as it didn't seem to be thickening further: whatever state it got to in the 1.1 second, it stayed there for 10 minutes. Had time to open my new mica packets, mix them up, add them and stir. Even used TD for the first time (all my whites have been zinc oxide....no sunburns on *my* soaps!). My mold was a bit small for all the batter, so it was good that it was thick, as I sculpted a very well-frosted cupcakey top.
We'll see tomorrow how many air bubbles there are in there....
I'd used this FO a number of times before...why hadn't I noticed that it accelerates? Because I'd only used it in M&P! When I went to the website afterward to read the reviews, they all said "Don't use this for CP!"....I always read reviews religiously, but I guess because I knew i was buying for M&P, I just conveniently forgot all that.
Time to stick a label right on the FO bottle....

 

[earlene]

Salt soap/Humidity Experiment follow-up:

Well, apparently this salt soap required a longer and more intense exposure to bead up. 24 hours in high humidity was not enough. BUT, a bathroom with a whirlpool tub running for 15 minutes a few feet away from the soap WAS sufficient to re-create the water beading on top like it did when it was 4 weeks young and just sitting inside in high humidity.

Here's what it looks like:

However after wiping it dry and leaving it alone, it remained dry the rest of the day. Last year when it was only 4 weeks of age, it would bead up very quickly.

Conclusion: With a longer cure, salt soap requires a more instense exposure to high humidity before water will pool or bead up on the surface. NB, although some may call this 'sweating' it's not really sweating at all; It is drawing ambient water from the air.

And after another 24 hours in the room with AC on, it continued to attract water from the air. It did not bead up like in the previous photo, but was slick with moisture accumulation. So I am assuming it reabsorbed its loading limit of water from the exposure a couple of days ago, and now just continues to pull what it can from the air in spite of the AC. I would leave the ceiling fan running to see what difference that makes, but Hubby doesn't like the ceiling fan on while he sleeps. Maybe I'll turn it on before we leave for the day and check it upon our return. At some point I may compile all this into one post, but for now, it's just a bit of an ongoing experiment.

 

[msunnerstood]

I've still been cranking out a good bit of soap. One thing I've started using pretty regularly is soap dough. When I first got interested in it, I wanted to do 2 main things. 1) Utilize soap dough to extrude embeds for my HP soap. This has been pretty successful thus far and I'm happy how it has been turning out. 2) Make guest soaps with the extra soap dough I make.

So today I decided to play around with making some "guest soaps". This idea was inspired by Bee's (from Sorcery Soaps) soap dough cookies that she makes. Obviously mine look a little more "rustic" but I like them

Because the soap dough is similar to clay, it takes a stamp really well and can be quite detailed and intricate. Just rolled out the soap dough with a fondant roller and used cookie cutters to cut out the circles.

View attachment 40542

I really like these!

No soaping for me today, Had some hardware in a knee come loose from an old surgery so they did a search, find, and remove this morning. My leg is in a full wrap so it would be hard to soap

 

[Marilyn Norgart]

I really like these!

No soaping for me today, Had some hardware in a knee come loose from an old surgery so they did a search, find, and remove this morning. My leg is in a full wrap so it would be hard to soap

Ouch--heal fast!!

 

[Mobjack Bay]

I just made a batch of goat's milk, buttermilk and coconut milk soap. I didn't insulate it, as I didn't want the heat to scald the milk. As it went through gel phase, it cracked. It also has a funky smell and I'm hoping the batch isn't ruined. I wish I had followed my first instinct to put it in the fridge after pouring it into the mold. I'll have to wait and see what happens.

Hope it turned out okay!

 

[TAS]

I used micas for the first time. So easy, so colorful, no fading...

View attachment 40396

Can't wait to see this baby cut!

 

[Mobjack Bay]

Can't wait to see this baby cut!

That’s the last one in my series of landscape soaps!

Working on getting complex wispy/pointy swirls without a tutorial... The one on the right is cut and while it’s a possible step in the right direction, I took a different approach for the one on the left. As you can see, I’m also playing around with the tops.

View attachment 40519

Here’s what I ended up with. Progress, but the two different base recipes I’m using still need some tweaking.

 

[Marilyn Norgart]

made a real awesome swirled soap the beginning of July (yeah I just bragged ) unfortunately the scent got left on the counter. finally tried it again today--it was 6 colors and some of them accelerated but one color after the second round of pours thickened and when I poured it into the bowl it just plopped out in a big hunk and when it went in the mold that's what happened too--I am not holding out much hope for this one

Here’s what I ended up with. Progress, but the two different base recipes I’m using still need some tweaking.

View attachment 40550

I like the one on the left best--but I really like soaps with minimal color in them

 

[Mobjack Bay]

I like the one on the left best--but I really like soaps with minimal color in them

I’m working towards perfecting the design on the right because I really like the way soap artist Mee Hue uses the effect to give the feel of ocean waves.

 

[Mooicle]

I had planned a confetti soap to use up some leftover curls. I don't shred my soap, just use the curls or various sizes that come from planing and beveling, so I need to be sure to have a very liquidy batter to ensure that it gets in all the nooks and crannies. NP, my current recipe has been taking forever to get to even medium trace, so I thought I'd have time to play with my new micas and make a couple of coloured layers with the confetti. Mixed my FO in the oils, as I've started doing lately. SB for 1.1 seconds and BAM, no soap batter, just cookie dough. No to be deterred, I split the batch and coloured some and shoved it into the mould. Added more colour to make another layer and spread that in. Lots of banging on the tile floor. I wasn't rushing as it didn't seem to be thickening further: whatever state it got to in the 1.1 second, it stayed there for 10 minutes. Had time to open my new mica packets, mix them up, add them and stir. Even used TD for the first time (all my whites have been zinc oxide....no sunburns on *my* soaps!). My mold was a bit small for all the batter, so it was good that it was thick, as I sculpted a very well-frosted cupcakey top.
We'll see tomorrow how many air bubbles there are in there....
I'd used this FO a number of times before...why hadn't I noticed that it accelerates? Because I'd only used it in M&P! When I went to the website afterward to read the reviews, they all said "Don't use this for CP!"....I always read reviews religiously, but I guess because I knew i was buying for M&P, I just conveniently forgot all that.
Time to stick a label right on the FO bottle....

Anxious to see what comes out!! Guess we both had FO issues today.

 

[earlene]

Great work, Mobjack. The one on the right is 'right on' for pointy layers and really do go well as ocean waves IMO.

We are back early today. Granddaughter went snorkling at a beach right next to the National Park we wanted to revisit. She was done and ready to come back before I had even finished walking around the area (it's kinda small National Park-wise) & called me to say she was ready for me to come pick her up. Funny kids these days. I would have walked it, if it were me.

So we got back and I checked my salt soap, which had been directly under the full-force ceiling fan for several hours. Beads of water all over it. My husband and I both were surprised that even a full force fan doesn't prevent the salt soap from beading up the water.

When I get back home, I think I'll repeat this experiment in my own home and see if my salt soap just stays wet all the time. With shrink wrap and stored in paperboard boxes they don't.

 

[Dawni]

@Bladesmith I really like those colors. So smooth too, look like sugar cookies hehe

@Mobjack Bay good job on the waves.. You'll get there

 

[Mobjack Bay]

@earlene and @Dawni I just watched about 2 hours of YouTube videos. Apparently there are the right ways to do these things and then there are my ways .

 

[Dawni]

@earlene and @Dawni I just watched about 2 hours of YouTube videos. Apparently there are the right ways to do these things and then there are my ways .

But if your way works..... Yknow lol

 

[Kari Howie]

Not necessarily today, but yesterday and the day before I made a loaf of 42 oz soap each day; very proud of myself. It's my go-to recipe (30 OO/30 PO/30 CO/10 SA) but I tried some different scents, EO, and colors I got from Hobby Lobby.

Not impressed with the colorants, they seem like I'd need to use the whole thing for a really vibrant color, which would get expensive, or maybe I should make the batch white first. Scent and EO turned out really well - a honey and oat blend with the first, which went interestingly with the first soul's final color, a nice peachy pink-orange. The second batch got a nice vanilla scent and tea tree oil - and was thankfully not overpowering; the last time I used tea tree oil it nearly vaporized me - paired with a blue-green color that looks kinda pale blue right now.

I'll also say I'm sad how hard it was to make a straight cut with a crinkle cutter. One of the bars from the peach loaf ended up tens of grams over my original intent of 100 grams per bar and most are slightly lopsided. I'll just have to practice, I suppose!

I have trouble with crinkle cutters, too and

I really like these!

No soaping for me today, Had some hardware in a knee come loose from an old surgery so they did a search, find, and remove this morning. My leg is in a full wrap so it would be hard to soap

I really like these!

No soaping for me today, Had some hardware in a knee come loose from an old surgery so they did a search, find, and remove this morning. My leg is in a full wrap so it would be hard to soap

Oh, I hope your knee is OK now! I know how painful knee surgery can be.

made a real awesome swirled soap the beginning of July (yeah I just bragged ) unfortunately the scent got left on the counter. finally tried it again today--it was 6 colors and some of them accelerated but one color after the second round of pours thickened and when I poured it into the bowl it just plopped out in a big hunk and when it went in the mold that's what happened too--I am not holding out much hope for this one

 

[Mobjack Bay]

The tiny tall skinny interior dimensions are 6" long x 2" wide x 3" tall. I used 15 oz. oils for the bars pictured. I got the mold from Micas and More. The bars actually fit really nice in my hand. It would be great for testing recipes. I liked it so much I bought a second one.

My new mold arrived yesterday. It’s the perfect size for my test batches. Thanks again for the info!

My cute new test mold with a mini loaf of soap. The loaf is just 6” long.

Great work, Mobjack. The one on the right is 'right on' for pointy layers and really do go well as ocean waves IMO.

We are back early today. Granddaughter went snorkling at a beach right next to the National Park we wanted to revisit. She was done and ready to come back before I had even finished walking around the area (it's kinda small National Park-wise) & called me to say she was ready for me to come pick her up. Funny kids these days. I would have walked it, if it were me.

So we got back and I checked my salt soap, which had been directly under the full-force ceiling fan for several hours. Beads of water all over it. My husband and I both were surprised that even a full force fan doesn't prevent the salt soap from beading up the water.

When I get back home, I think I'll repeat this experiment in my own home and see if my salt soap just stays wet all the time. With shrink wrap and stored in paperboard boxes they don't.

Sounds like you’re having a wonderful trip. The pointy layers videos are starting to show up on YouTube!

 

[earlene]

Yes, we are. Yesterday we went to a Captain Cook Trading Company, a funky little place where you would never expect to be able to buy coffee beans or ground coffee. The guy sells equipment to coffee growers & others in the coffee business & he services the machines. But he also buys coffee beans wholesale and resells at such a cost savings that Hubby brought $100 cash along just for buying coffee (plus one bag of cocoa tea for me) and got what he figures would have cost him $310 at the growers's gift shops. So well worth the price!

I'd post a photo of her hula lesson to show the great time we are having, but granddaughter is picky about what photos of her are posted online. But the colors here are so vibrant! The lady teaching the hula wore a vibrant magenta; I achieved the same sort of magenta in soap once and perhaps I can do that again in a soap to commemorate the hula dancing lesson. I will be putting that on my soaping To Do list.

Today is our last day on this Island and I think swimming and Boogie Boarding are the order of the day, but I'm letting granddaughter sleep in. Yesterday's snorkling and the heat of the unfiltered sun really took it out of her. Then dinner at an Indian Restaurant she thought looked enticing. We both love Indian food.