What soapy thing have you done today?

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Hi,
My husband and I are pretty new to soap making and are having the best time! I would like to make a FO combo using Leather FO, Patchouli FO and Lavender EO in a CP soap batch today. We will be making 32oz of batter.

I am aware that none of the three fragrance play nice in CP soap but since Terry and I work in tandem, we are able to work very quickly so have had no issue with using the oils on their own. Back to my question...I am thinking about using .5oz of Leather, .5oz of Patchouli and .25oz of Lavender in the 32oz. Since I do not understand Top Notes, etc., I am not sure if this sounds like a nice combination based on the ratios. Any experience using this scent combination, pros, cons, etc?

Thanks so much for your help!!

Lark Fitzgerald
Larksdesignhouse.com
 
Just made a batch of honeysuckle Jasmine soap. Design did not go as I was hoping but my fingers are crossed it will turn out ok anyway. Sure smells good.

Mmmm...I’m thinking of ordering a honeysuckle FO as I love the smell, but that combo sounds heavenly. Do you blend your own combo yourself or do you buy the FO already combined?
 
Mmmm...I’m thinking of ordering a honeysuckle FO as I love the smell, but that combo sounds heavenly. Do you blend your own combo yourself or do you buy the FO already combined?

I get mine already blended from FragranceBuddy. Its a pretty good seller for me.

You're lucky you can send stuff at all. We are not allowed to send stuff until the lockdown is over :-(

Wow I didnt know that. I do package my products wearing gloves and wipe all the bottles and shrink wrapped soap with rubbing alcohol to try and make it as safe as possible.
 
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Hi I was thinking of making camomile tea soap. Has anyone ever ground the camomile in the tea bag and added it into the soap batter for effect.

I watched a couple more hanger swirl videos and decided to forgo my desire to perfect the lone swirl and just get a good old plain hanger swirl. I think I got it now! This is the cut from my branching out from pastels attempt. I’m very pleased with it. :) There are some glycerin rivers as I always gel my soap. They don’t bother me too much, but next time I use TD I’m gonna try and avoid gel just to see if I like it better. View attachment 44745
Beautiful the swirls are impressive.
 
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Hi I was thinking of making camomile tea soap. Has anyone ever ground the camomile in the tea bag and added it into the soap batter for effect.
Hi I was thinking of making camomile tea soap. Has anyone ever ground the camomile in the tea bag and added it into the soap batter for effect.
I havent used the tea leaves but ive used the tea for the water and Ive used the dry leaves in bath salts but they do swell when wet are are kind of like dark spots.
 
Hi,
My husband and I are pretty new to soap making and are having the best time! I would like to make a FO combo using Leather FO, Patchouli FO and Lavender EO in a CP soap batch today. We will be making 32oz of batter.

I am aware that none of the three fragrance play nice in CP soap but since Terry and I work in tandem, we are able to work very quickly so have had no issue with using the oils on their own. Back to my question...I am thinking about using .5oz of Leather, .5oz of Patchouli and .25oz of Lavender in the 32oz. Since I do not understand Top Notes, etc., I am not sure if this sounds like a nice combination based on the ratios. Any experience using this scent combination, pros, cons, etc?

Thanks so much for your help!!

Lark Fitzgerald
Larksdesignhouse.com

Top notes are the first notes one can pick up when they initially smell a scent. They are often the first notes to fade away. From the sound of it, the leather FO may be the most complex fragrance you have. You may want work out the detectable top, middle, and base notes first before you mix up your scent. Also, if you have a pipette, simply take two drops each of the leather and patchouli and one drop of the and drop them onto a napkin or a cotton ball. You will get a feel for how you like that scent that way and as time goes on, you can note the detectable middle and base notes as well.
 
Hi I was thinking of making camomile tea soap. Has anyone ever ground the camomile in the tea bag and added it into the soap batter for effect.
I recently used a mix of finely ground lavender, calendula and chamomile in a batch of soap I colored with annatto. I like the way it gives the soap a speckled look. I can’t recall exactly how much I used, but it wasn’t much. If I can remember, I will check in the morning and let you know. I like to add things to soap, but there are some tricks to it. Lavender turns brown, while calendula does not. I’m not sure about chamomile because I only added it the one time in a mix with lavender. Based on my general experiences with flowers, teas and oatmeal, I suggest grinding the chamomile finer than you think it should be and possibly using less than you think you should the first time. The flowers are fairly soft even when dry, but you probably don’t want to end up with scratchy soap.
 
Since everyone's washing their hands more than usual, and since I'm home to continue replenishing and rotating soaps around the nine (9!!) sinks we have in this house, I'm finally delving into my stock in a serious way.
Does anyone else do like me...use a new soap, squeal with delight at how creamy/bubbly it is, and run to their files to see what exactly it was that they made??
Today's winner was Genny's Shampoo Bar, scented with Passionfruit Nectarine by Crafters' Choice, but also containing confetti scented with Champagne Toast by Nature's Fragrance and Cucumber by NDA (there! those are the only 3 companies I've ever ordered FOs from!). And it's a pretty nice-looking bar, if I do say so myself!
 

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Hi I was thinking of making camomile tea soap. Has anyone ever ground the camomile in the tea bag and added it into the soap batter for effect.
I have a big bag of dried chamomile flowers and powdered some in a little spice grinder and added it to my regular soap formula. To my taste, it pretty much disappeared. I like botanicals that make speckles, but my chamomile soap is boring white with no smell. If I do this again, I will powder some calendula with it for more interest.
 
I never wait after making cp. I always use a bar immediately, but for potential sales, I wait. To me, "curing" is nothing more than waiting for the water to evaporate.
 
I'm not sure what happened yesterday. I used one of Anne-Marie's recipes. It had Palm oil in it and that's the first time I'd ever used that. It traced in seconds, the first pump of the SB and it was already solidfying. I quickly poured the FO in it and it riced. I got almost no color in before deciding to get it in the mold. This morning I pulled the sides of the mold and the soap is soft. I'll wait a couple of days, but I think this is a failure.
 
It's been a productive week/end for me. During the week on my breaks and lunches I've been making soap and candles. Friday I ran out of masterbatched oils, and down to only batch left of my masterbatched lye solution, so yesterday I masterbatched 200 lbs of oils, and today I masterbatched 12 lbs of lye solution. Once it's cool I'll transfer the solution into my laundry jug, and then I can make more soap.

I have 4-5 planned out, just have to make the embeds for them.
 
I'm not sure what happened yesterday. I used one of Anne-Marie's recipes. It had Palm oil in it and that's the first time I'd ever used that. It traced in seconds, the first pump of the SB and it was already solidfying. I quickly poured the FO in it and it riced. I got almost no color in before deciding to get it in the mold. This morning I pulled the sides of the mold and the soap is soft. I'll wait a couple of days, but I think this is a failure.

Can you post the recipe and some other details like what temp you soaped at? I use PO a lot and have never had that problem. I do sometimes lower the lye concentration if I’m using a lot of hard oils and butters.
 
You will look back on this one some day and laugh. :)
That’s frustrating - but so funny the way you tell it!!!

Well, I mentioned that I made honeysuckle jasmine soap last night and I sold out already. Before anyone panic's, They know they will need to wait till it cured for it to ship.
That sounds like an amazing scent. I guess those must be FO? I really haven’t tried those only EO.....
 
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I made a smallish batch containing over 60 % rapeseed oil last night and it is still soft. Ugh, it's so frustrating ...
 
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