What soapy thing have you done today?

[Zing]

I love that color! I see a sweet little smiley face in there! ♥

I saw the smiley face too!

So after too many moons (just a tad crazy in Minneapolis just like most of the world) I took a coupla days off and soaped! With a twist this time -- Mrs. Zing wanted to learn! So I walked her thru a lye calculator, making a recipe, etc. She chose no colorant and mixed lemongrass and basil essential oils. (She took all of 60 seconds to choose a scent while I spend hours searching this forum, Google, and testing with cotton balls.)

I'm still riding on my THIRD PLACE WIN from February's challenge, and decided to do another Ione Swirl (that's spelled 'Lone' Swirl for you New Zealanders ) with white, pink, grey, and black. Scented with anise and lavender essential oils. I was trying to keep a thin trace but was mixing and tutoring my wife at the same time. I ended up with a thicker trace -- so we'll see what it looks like after the cut.... Everything's gelling and toasting under towels.

For the first time I have a dedicated soaping space! My new basement (that's spelled 'dungeon' for certain South Dakotans) has a woodworking shop with 2 counters, shelves, cubbies, and a sink. It's so nice to have everything within reach. No more packing everything away in a box. And I'll continue to use my trusty soaping hot-plate from our recent 6-month kitchen remodel. Also looking forward to using a dishwasher -- a first for us -- to do the cleanup. Have a good night, soapy peeps!

 

[MarinaB]

I did not make soap, but I started to render the beef tallow that I am going to use to make soap.

when beef fat is not rendered it is just beef fat. Only after rendering you can call melted fat as tallow. That I was told when today I was calling to butcher's stores in my area. I ordered 40 lbs of beef fat. On Thursday afternoon I pick it up.

Made bay leaf soap. I put in my Vitamix bay leaves and olive oil and put on high speed. In 3 days I used that mix in soapmaking. Brought bay leaves from Caucasian mountains.

 

[MCKim]

Newbie soaper!! This is my CP attempt! I am struggling with ash, so I am digging into the forum for your best tips!! Thank you all for your great posts, this forum has been my bible!

 

[linne1gi]

Newbie soaper!! This is my CP attempt! I am struggling with ash, so I am digging into the forum for your best tips!! Thank you all for your great posts, this forum has been my bible!

View attachment 48360

Three things you can do to help prevent ash. 1-Pour at a thicker trace, 2-Discount your water, 3-Cover your soap until it has fully saponified, up to 48 hours. You can cover with plastic wrap which works well. Don't use aluminum foil as lye reacts with aluminum producing hydrogen gas.

 

[Cheeky Goat]

I’ve mostly been making purposely ugly soap dough for a project.

 

[Zing]

Newbie soaper!! This is my CP attempt! I am struggling with ash, so I am digging into the forum for your best tips!! Thank you all for your great posts, this forum has been my bible!

View attachment 48360

Very impressive and elegant, so-called "newbie"! I had ash one time. Now after pouring into the mold, I spray with rubbing alcohol, cover with saran wrap, then a piece of cardboard. I have not had ash ever since.

 

[Jersey Girl]

Today I made two batches of the August challenge soap. I’m pretty happy with them. Will see what they look like when I unmold and clean them up. I also tried a soap I made about 4 months ago. A Bastille with 70% OO, 25% CO and 5% Castor. Big bubbles and abundant silky lather. I was kind of surprised it was so nice. It’s scented with Baby Powder scent from BB and I think it will be a nice baby soap. I made it with a friend‘s daughter in mind so I’m going to give her a bar to try out. Pretty soapy day after no soaping for nearly two weeks as we went camping for a week with the kids. Got back just in time for the storm and lost power for 24 hours. Never fun.

 

[sarahmarah]

I signed up for the August soap challenge and I’ve simultaneously sworn off titanium dioxide. After one too many chalky mishaps.
I’m testing another swirl recipe and set a goal to use up the hundreds of sample FO’s I have taking up space that I’m not motivated to sell off...

 

[AliOop]

I’ve mostly been making purposely ugly soap dough for a project.

I wanna see the ugly dough!

 

[MCKim]

Very impressive and elegant, so-called "newbie"! I had ash one time. Now after pouring into the mold, I spray with rubbing alcohol, cover with saran wrap, then a piece of cardboard. I have not had ash ever since.

Thank you! I will try that!!!

Three things you can do to help prevent ash. 1-Pour at a thicker trace, 2-Discount your water, 3-Cover your soap until it has fully saponified, up to 48 hours. You can cover with plastic wrap which works well. Don't use aluminum foil as lye reacts with aluminum producing hydrogen gas.

Thank you!!!

I’ve mostly been making purposely ugly soap dough for a project.

PLEASE!! You have to share a picture!!!

 

[Zing]

I cut yesterday's soap and lovin' my new cutter, makes me feel all poe-fessional. Mrs. Zing cut her very first too. Her basil/lemongrass smells delicious and edible. Pics at Couple Project

 

[MCKim]

Mrs. Zing! I love your colors and the way you did your top!!!! I bet it smells amazing!!

 

[TashaBird]

Just got back from a camping trip and had the last of my recent new supplies. All set up in my new soaping area. I’m super excited to try soaping in this area, instead of my kitchen! I’ve got a new cylinder column mold with a pull through design that sounds like a whole new thing... happy to be home! YAY!

 

[msunnerstood]

So after too many moons (just a tad crazy in Minneapolis just like most of the world) I took a coupla days off and soaped! With a twist this time -- Mrs. Zing wanted to learn! So I walked her thru a lye calculator, making a recipe, etc. She chose no colorant and mixed lemongrass and basil essential oils. (She took all of 60 seconds to choose a scent while I spend hours searching this forum, Google, and testing with cotton balls.)

I'm still riding on my THIRD PLACE WIN from February's challenge, and decided to do another Ione Swirl (that's spelled 'Lone' Swirl for you New Zealanders ) with white, pink, grey, and black. Scented with anise and lavender essential oils. I was trying to keep a thin trace but was mixing and tutoring my wife at the same time. I ended up with a thicker trace -- so we'll see what it looks like after the cut.... Everything's gelling and toasting under towels.

For the first time I have a dedicated soaping space! My new basement (that's spelled 'dungeon' for certain South Dakotans) has a woodworking shop with 2 counters, shelves, cubbies, and a sink. It's so nice to have everything within reach. No more packing everything away in a box. And I'll continue to use my trusty soaping hot-plate from our recent 6-month kitchen remodel. Also looking forward to using a dishwasher -- a first for us -- to do the cleanup. Have a good night, soapy peeps!

You are cracking me up. As you know, I was born, raised and adulted in Minnesota but where I laughed the hardest was the South Dakota Dungeon reference. My Mom was born and raised in SD and I moved there for a year myself before getting homesick and moving back..

So nice to see familiar area's and terms.

 

[msunnerstood]

I poured my second rubber ducky mold attempt (I unmolded the first one too soon and messed up the beak) and tonight I made my first August challenge attempt. the zig zags aren't as tight as they would be with CP but i believe I may have the required waves. We will see when I cut it tomorrow.

 

[Catscankim]

I have an ash problem, and i spray several times with 70% alcohol. But i also have been pouring thin, trying to learn fancy things. But my fancy (to me lol) tops mean nothing if covered in ash.

what do you do if your top is higher than the mold and you cant cover it? I have been cpop, spritz, and gently cover with a towel when its firm enough.

edit: i think i thought i was replying to a different post

 

[SoapSisters]

Just got back from a camping trip and had the last of my recent new supplies. All set up in my new soaping area. I’m super excited to try soaping in this area, instead of my kitchen! I’ve got a new cylinder column mold with a pull through design that sounds like a whole new thing... happy to be home! YAY!

Love your new soaping area! Looks like paradise to me!!

 

[uma Naik]

So I'm just wondering what stages everyone's at. I'm a curious little cat, I am.

For myself, I'm waiting for my most recent batch of bar soap to firm up (trying to give it 24 hours before I even touch it, since the soapcalc numbers put it just shy of the 'ideal' hardness range). In addition I fiddled around with the liquid soap I made yesterday (a good chunk of it didn't dissolved, and I was seeing if that was because there wasn't enough water to dilute it all... sure enough that was the problem so it was diluted and added to the bottle holding the rest of it).

And right now I have a tea going that will eventually be strained and frozen, to be used when I make my shampoo bar. Still need to get to my aunt's to pick her citrus trees... But at least I can have the liquid ready to go! I measured out 1/2 oz of dried marshmallow root, 1 1/2 cups water (both weighed to the gram), and then for kicks I tossed in one bag each of Bigelow's Chammomile Lemon and I Love Lemon teas. I'm going to be infusing both chamomile and lemon into the oils, and needed to use the teas anyways (and I don't drink tea). Win-win, right? I might not need all of the tea for the shampoo bar (I'll only be using about 500g oils after all), but at least I'll have it done.

I am planning to make shampoo bars today.... infused olive oil with lots of ground curry leaves... thinking of making Shikakai and soap nut tea as well... little pureed onions, soaked fenugreek seeds and ginger will go at trace...
No colourants and fragrances... how do u think this soap bar will turn out ?

 

[Catscankim]

Well i got home around midnight (my usual time home), and i planned all day to make a new soap. I have been daydreaming all day about what i was going to make tonight....and fragrance, and color, etc.

Its 2:41 at the time of this post. All i have accomplished was looking up new designs and watching soaping videos. I finally settled on one (or three), but now its too late to start lol.

I did rearrange my curing soaps, so i guess thats a soapy thing...

 

[Jillyb]

when beef fat is not rendered it is just beef fat. Only after rendering you can call melted fat as tallow. That I was told when today I was calling to butcher's stores in my area. I ordered 40 lbs of beef fat. On Thursday afternoon I pick it up.

I get them to mince it. Makes the job so much quicker..