What soapy thing have you done today?

[Jersey Girl]

All soap that looks like meat looks better when it cures. I know this from experience .

Are you cutting with a wire cutter? Do you find that you get fewer "pimples" if you wait longer to cut it? I am not the most patient when it comes to cutting.

[/QUOTE]

Yes, I’m using a Bud Cutter and I always cut too soon. I never wait 24 hrs and most of the time I’m lucky if I hold out til 18 hrs. I need to work on that as that is definitely the reason for the “zits” Lol.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

Experiment # 17, I am still trying differnt stuff. Last night I tried a recipe from Lovely Greens/Soleseif, it is a salt-brine simple soap with 30% coconut, so I upped the SF to 7%. It is hard and shiny like french milled and I used Peru Balsam for the first time to scent it. I love the smell, but it is quite viscous and left some brown dots. Next time I use it, I will put it into the oils and stick blend to homoginize it better before combining with the lye. I mostly stirred with a spatula because the stick blender caused tiny, tiny bubbles, it was like making 7-Up soap! So, I stirred it down and just kept stirring.

I just identified the scent, it smells just like "Cashmere Bouquet" of olden days!

I made one batch of salt brine soap and it turned out soft! i was disappointed because I like hard, shiny soap. I obviously did something wrong, but I haven't a clue. How much salt do you use?

@Ladka I usually felt wool by putting it in the washing machine, which sometimes doesn't work as well as I would like. When you do it by hand, how are you getting it to felt?

 

[Arimara]

I made a batch of soap containing 25.88% cocoa butter. I will never get deodorized cocoa butter again, if I can help it.

 

[dippy]

Why not Arimara? Is it just the lack of smell or does deodorized behave differently? I have some on order that is currently on its way.. it was cheaper so I went for the deodorized one.

 

[Ladka]

Mobjack Bay wrote: "I usually felt wool by putting it in the washing machine, which sometimes doesn't work as well as I would like. When you do it by hand, how are you getting it to felt?" Do you "felt" crocheted or knitted items in the washing machine? This is in fact not felting but fulling - getting the piece to shrink to become sturdier. I have put some items in the washing machine to get variable results. I should have used a top loader to check the piece every so often and to adjust its shape if necessary.
Strictly speaking, felting is a process you do with fibers, not with woven or knitted of crocheted cloth. Fulling is the word we use to cover what happens to fibers in a woven/knitted/crocheted cloth when it is wet-finished, either by hand or in a washing machine.
The techniqes/steps in hand wet felting are rubbing, pressing, rolling, throwing, shocking with alternate hot and cold water, rinsing, and drying.
All in all, good for developing patience.

 

[Arimara]

Why not Arimara? Is it just the lack of smell or does deodorized behave differently? I have some on order that is currently on its way.. it was cheaper so I went for the deodorized one.

Personal preference. I love the smell of cocoa butter, even in soap. deodorized doesn't behave any differently but I miss the scent.

 

[IslandSoap]

I made this wonderful watermelon soap last night. I read the reviews about the fo ... was prepared for ricing and acceleration. Well... no ricing at all... but it did accelerate.. which worked out well for the pouring.. or should I say “ spooning” into the mold. It smells fabulous!!

 

[Adobehead]

I made one batch of salt brine soap and it turned out soft! i was disappointed because I like hard, shiny soap. I obviously did something wrong, but I haven't a clue. How much salt do you use?

I followed the recipe exactly and used the low range of 3.5% which she said was the salinity of seawater. In the small batch, that was about a teaspoon. She also mentioned you can go up to 25% but I liked the seawater idea. For my dry skin, I think I will make this again with 10% SF and see how Iit feels and of course, it needs more than one day curing.

 

[Arimara]

I'm waiting to cut this soap. Nurture's Crisp Juniper was used. It behaved well and I'm not noticing any discoloration BUT dang this smell is not for me at all. I think I would have needed a mint or something that adds some sweetness to citrus because this scent... Juniper definitely influences it's scent and I'm reminded of gin constantly. *sigh*

 

[Virgogoddess]

I'm waiting to cut this soap. Nurture's Crisp Juniper was used. It behaved well and I'm not noticing any discoloration BUT dang this smell is not for me at all. I think I would have needed a mint or something that adds some sweetness to citrus because this scent... Juniper definitely influences it's scent and I'm reminded of gin constantly. *sigh*

I’ve ordered about 6 fragrance oils from nurture and have only liked one. I thought it was just me?

 

[Arimara]

I’ve ordered about 6 fragrance oils from nurture and have only liked one. I thought it was just me?

They had two I didn't like. They have some nice scents and I have more samples. This one is just the second one I don't like and also possibly the second Lush type I've tried too. I think I have one more to go (Three Wise Men) but that one smells way better to me OOB.

 

[Quilter99755]

I made three batches of soap today, all 500 gram batches, to see if I can tell the difference in Lard, Walmart's Tallow/lard combo and Palm oil as the main ingredient in my regular soap. I do all my soaps in HP. I've done all three oils in other batches, but my notes at that time were skimpy so I cannot figure out which I liked the best and why! And they were all done at different times and not necessarily consecutively, so relying on my memory is not the way to do this. And each of them were tweaked just a bit so I wouldn't have known if it was the tweak or the actual oil. So this time everything is the same except for the main oil.

So far in the cleaning up process the Tallow/lard combo seemed the most drying and it was the first one I made. By the time I cleaned up the third time everything felt drying. I plan to test at one month and two months just to check it out. Usually I cure about 6 weeks on this soap, so maybe will try it out 4, 6 and 8 weeks just to be sure.

But hubby remarked on how good the house smells...and says he wants to try out the first one which was Cocoa Butter and Cashmere FO by Maple Street Candle. This is the guy who has used Dial soap for 50 years and wouldn't touch my soaps until he started getting old skin (dry, flaky, itchy skin) Now he is sold on my soaps. I told him he'd have to wait at least 6 weeks and he was surprised....and then said, "That's why you make at least one batch of soap a month and have such a huge amount in storage!" He's finally getting it! Yay

 

[Arimara]

I made three batches of soap today, all 500 gram batches, to see if I can tell the difference in Lard, Walmart's Tallow/lard combo and Palm oil as the main ingredient in my regular soap. I do all my soaps in HP. I've done all three oils in other batches, but my notes at that time were skimpy so I cannot figure out which I liked the best and why! And they were all done at different times and not necessarily consecutively, so relying on my memory is not the way to do this. And each of them were tweaked just a bit so I wouldn't have known if it was the tweak or the actual oil. So this time everything is the same except for the main oil.

So far in the cleaning up process the Tallow/lard combo seemed the most drying and it was the first one I made. By the time I cleaned up the third time everything felt drying. I plan to test at one month and two months just to check it out. Usually I cure about 6 weeks on this soap, so maybe will try it out 4, 6 and 8 weeks just to be sure.

But hubby remarked on how good the house smells...and says he wants to try out the first one which was Cocoa Butter and Cashmere FO by Maple Street Candle. This is the guy who has used Dial soap for 50 years and wouldn't touch my soaps until he started getting old skin (dry, flaky, itchy skin) Now he is sold on my soaps. I told him he'd have to wait at least 6 weeks and he was surprised....and then said, "That's why you make at least one batch of soap a month and have such a huge amount in storage!" He's finally getting it! Yay

Tallow is a little more cleansing than lard in soap. Just give it some time. You did just make the soaps. I am curious to know how you feel about the soaps after minimal cure.

 

[SPowers]

I made my 3rd batch 2 days ago... it was supposed to be a tiger swirl but the cream colour really accelerated on me so it turned into a plop, pour process. I know what happened so lesson learned but I should have had the foresight to use a chop stick and swirl rather than leaving it as it now looks like the plop & pour soap it is. On the bright side, I used a Lemon FO & Lime EO and it smells amazing!

 

[GGMA0317]

I've only been organizing my supplies while my new 3X24 and 2X24 inch molds sit there tempting me. I just gott an order of surf's and essential oils that need my attention as well. But I can't focus if my supplies aren't organized
But soon I'll be posting my new babies in the gallery

 

[Claudette Carignan]

I just un moulded my parsley soap that I made On Sunday. I’m so happy with how they turned out. I’m looking forward to getting more creative with the moulds I used

 

[Misschief]

I just un moulded my parsley soap that I made On Sunday. I’m so happy with how they turned out. I’m looking forward to getting more creative with the moulds I used

Nice! I just got that mold last week. Nice to see soaps made with it.

 

[Claudette Carignan]

Nice! I just got that mold last week. Nice to see soaps made with it.

I had Seen someone’s soap made using these molds and loved them. I wish I could Remember who it was! They had a clear soap with a sold bumblebee. They were so beautiful.

 

[msunnerstood]

Im holding off making soap until my stamp gets here (Hopefully this week) but I did make cleansing powder.

 

[TheGecko]

I just made two-1 lb batches of Dragon's Blood; two because I'm using two different vendors (Wellington & Rustic Escentuals). Yellow, Orange and Black layers, hanger swirl, textured with a dusting of Ruby Red Mica. I am CPOPing them

My youngest daughter helped, she really enjoyed mixing the colors up. Daughter is 30 BTW. She didn't think she needed gloves...until she splattered the raw batter on her hand and it burned.

Next we are making two-2 lb batches of Chocolate Espresso...it is my BIL's favorite soap and I told him I would make a loaf just for him. I got glycerin rivers on the white 'topping' last time so I think I will not put any FO in it.

After that we are make two-4 lb batches in my new-to-me molds; 1 Lemon Verbena, 1 Lilac. Going to go with a white batter with a yellow and lavender swirl.

ETA: Exhausted. We made just over 14 pounds of soap.

The Chocolate Espresso looks good enough to to eat. I add some Toffeelicious Mica and Hershey's Cocoa because I read somewhere that it helps to even out the discoloration. Blended the “topping” until it was thick and it looked like whip cream...then a light sprinkling of cocoa.

Daughter and I split duties on the Lemon Verbena and Lilac...and I messed up. Got to talking/teaching too much and my batter started to thicken up more than I wanted, but I figured I would do a drop hanger/swirl...except I forgot to do the “hanger” part. It should be okay since I got the “drop” part at least. Daughter really got into it, did a chopstick swirl and two-color swirl on top. She’s now excited to unmold and cut her soap.