What soapy thing have you done today?

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Well I personally didn't do this, my wife did and made homemade laundry detergent. It's in a pickle bucket, so I think we are set for the zombie apocalypse. I did, however, do the research and print out the recipe.
I also got my new soap savers and put them to use immediately. Thanks to the tipsters on this forum! What a difference!
And I'm continuing to research and fine tune my next soap which will be a gardener/mechanic soap. I got two 'new to me' essential oils, mint and anise, and am anxious to try cotton ball testing new blends.
I tested my litsea/lavender soap. I'm not a big fan of lavender, but this blend is awesome.

And, really? NO ONE did any soapy thing yesterday?! Aren't we all isolating and crafting? I think it's the first time I had to go all the way to the second page to find this thread!
Stay safe everyone! Happy soaping,
 
And, really? NO ONE did any soapy thing yesterday?! Aren't we all isolating and crafting? I think it's the first time I had to go all the way to the second page to find this thread!
Stay safe everyone! Happy soaping,
I just today was able to pick up some more lye using the 'click and collect' feature now available for all stores - now that we have moved into alert level three. As my sister says it's just like alert level 4 only with KFC - lol. Still no going into stores for shopping (except for restricted supermarket access). And people are now allowed to get fast food ( drive through or delivered only).
 
I cut my first ITPS soap - a lavender scented one with purple mica (my daughter's choices!). I was really tickled with how it came out!
Lavendar_ITPS_Soap.jpg
 
And, really? NO ONE did any soapy thing yesterday?! Aren't we all isolating and crafting? I think it's the first time I had to go all the way to the second page to find this thread!
Stay safe everyone! Happy soaping,

Since making my challenge soap, I haven't done anything soapy except look at my soap. However, my husband did suggest I make more soap on the day that I was at a low point. I haven't done it yet, though. I've been too busy baking.
 
Planning soaps to make sometime this week. I still need to restock the Citronella yogurt and honey soap, and now that gardening season has kicked in I had a run on the mechanic scrub soap so that needs restocked. I'd like to get another OMH soap done, I'm thinking NG's Rosewood and Musk scent will be nice in that, just need to pick out colors and design. I'll also be making a custom order sugar scrub. Maybe tackling some video editing. Anything to distract me from cooking/eating more food...
 
Made an ocean themed soap. Everything went sort of ok. It got a little thick at the end as I was adding the colors but I wasn't too worried about it. My only thing is my white soap that I made to add for accent in the middle hardened up like crazy so it probably didn't swirl like I wanted it to. It's probably going to be chunks of white. Oh well it's still soap. What annoys me is that as I was cleaning up, there's the sodium lactate, sitting there mocking me. Yes, I forgot to add it. Argh.
 
Experiment #14
I made another small batch, still testing tallow subbed for palm. This one has tallow 35%, olive 30%, coconut 20%, shea butter, cocoa butter and castor 5% each. I used 3 different clays for a 3 color soap but the green clay didn't happen, so it just looks like 2 color, rose and white cosmetic clay. The essential oil blend is geranium, bergamot, spearmint and a touch of pachouly to hold it together. So many details to mind.
IMG_0053.jpg
 
Experiment #14
I made another small batch, still testing tallow subbed for palm. This one has tallow 35%, olive 30%, coconut 20%, shea butter, cocoa butter and castor 5% each. I used 3 different clays for a 3 color soap but the green clay didn't happen, so it just looks like 2 color, rose and white cosmetic clay. The essential oil blend is geranium, bergamot, spearmint and a touch of pachouly to hold it together. So many details to mind.View attachment 45615

Those are lovely. I’m thinking about trying tallow as well. I have lots of Palm and lard but I’m ready for my next experiment too. 😁 Looking forward to hearing what you think.
 
Experiment #14
I made another small batch, still testing tallow subbed for palm. This one has tallow 35%, olive 30%, coconut 20%, shea butter, cocoa butter and castor 5% each. I used 3 different clays for a 3 color soap but the green clay didn't happen, so it just looks like 2 color, rose and white cosmetic clay. The essential oil blend is geranium, bergamot, spearmint and a touch of pachouly to hold it together. So many details to mind.View attachment 45615
Very beautiful soap, even without the green!
 
Those are lovely. I’m thinking about trying tallow as well. I have lots of Palm and lard but I’m ready for my next experiment too. 😁 Looking forward to hearing what you think.
The first bars I made are cured now and I am liking them for their creamy lather and they are hard like rocks. I used 5% superfat in the beginning and I think that my old crackley sensitive celtic skin likes 7% better so have been moving that up a bit on later batches to see if they will be less drying. I made 100% tallow, 50% plus all the others, 25%. I think the 35% might be where I settle given that I get the fat free from the butcher (and local, no shipping) and it is white and lovely. I have had some questions about whether or not the EOs stick with the tallow, that is an expensive factor. I found that bars that I cannot smell in my soap room (and cry about) are quite lovely when taken away from there and sniffed later in the kitchen. I am seeing tiny white spots that I think are the tallow and I might get better at rendering to reduce those. Loving white soaps, though, have not done those before, I tend toward the rustic look.
 
Today I will be cutting a lavender coconut soap I made last night. Unfortunately, after I poured the second layer in, I realized I forgot to do my charcoal pencil line (which I've been arguing with myself as being stylistically the most important part of the soap!😤). I think it should still look nice.
 
The first bars I made are cured now and I am liking them for their creamy lather and they are hard like rocks. I used 5% superfat in the beginning and I think that my old crackley sensitive celtic skin likes 7% better so have been moving that up a bit on later batches to see if they will be less drying. I made 100% tallow, 50% plus all the others, 25%. I think the 35% might be where I settle given that I get the fat free from the butcher (and local, no shipping) and it is white and lovely. I have had some questions about whether or not the EOs stick with the tallow, that is an expensive factor. I found that bars that I cannot smell in my soap room (and cry about) are quite lovely when taken away from there and sniffed later in the kitchen. I am seeing tiny white spots that I think are the tallow and I might get better at rendering to reduce those. Loving white soaps, though, have not done those before, I tend toward the rustic look.

Thank you for the feedback. Now I definitely need to get me some tallow. Lol. I do have a butcher locally but I don’t usually shop there and I feel funny asking him about the fat but maybe I’ll send my husband to do my dirty work. Lol. If they are just throwing it away I can’t see the issue but you never know...I could always supply him with soap. :nodding:
 
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I'm almost out of shampoo so I'll be making my VEGAN BABY MILD LIQUID BASTILE SOAP (Dr. Bronner's Dupe) Today. I've been having a problem with my KOH. I'm guessing it's old -- lacks oomph. So I shall up the amount X 10% to see if that helps. I'll be using Carrie Petersen's Glycerin LS Method with 2 parts glycerin and 1 part water to make the lye solution. It's been a while --
 
Thank you for the feedback. Now I definitely need to get me some tallow. Lol. I do have a butcher locally but I don’t usually shop there and I feel fumy asking him about the fat but maybe I’ll send my husband to do my dirty work. Lol. If they are just throwing it away I can’t see the issue but you never know...I could always supply him with soap. :nodding:
I offered one butcher a trade and he trimmed up the sebo (the fat around the kidneys, white, dry and crumbly) for me and gave me a ton in exchange for only one bar of pachouly soap. If I were you, I would try for something like that. My second butcher didn’t trim it up, dumped some bones on me and I cut my finger trying to separate out the good fat from membranes and embedded glands before rendering. I am going to try to talk to him about trimming t for me and offer him a few pesos for his trouble. Sometimes free is not worth it to me. They put this fat in the trash, you are helping them in a way because they must pay for disposal, so don’t feel bad about it.
 
Thank you for the feedback. Now I definitely need to get me some tallow. Lol. I do have a butcher locally but I don’t usually shop there and I feel fumy asking him about the fat but maybe I’ll send my husband to do my dirty work. Lol. If they are just throwing it away I can’t see the issue but you never know...I could always supply him with soap. :nodding:
That butcher would be getting the better end of the deal!! Your soap is gorgeous!
 
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