What soapy thing have you done today?

[MarinaB]

I forgot a name for this kind of pepper I brought from Indonesia. Never used in cooking. My soap is a last resort to use it.

 

[tommysgirl]

I just cut it. Its looks terrible. I guess i can cut the ends off to erase signs of plopping, but that will leave me with a small bar of soap with what looks like an ink blot in the middle.

I'm with @Zing, I like it. I like the rustic look of it. The rough tops, hole-y spaces on the sides and shock of color in the middle all lend to each other. It is disappointing when things don't go as planned, though, so I get it. I have some soaps that I don't like, my husband says they look good to him, that I'm going to try to felt b/c I just don't like the look of them. That may end up being a disaster too, lol!

 

[Misschief]

I have had more and more disappointing soaps lately. It keeps accelerating on me, even with FO that i have used before. AND i have been soaping cool, AND I have only been SB to emulsion to start with.

I made a Lavender EO 40/42 charcoal bar last night. I kept some batter made with Champagne mica for a “secret feather” hanger swirl, which i have done before.

I added the EO at emulsion and it quickly went to medium trace. I didn't even use the full amt of lavender because i didn't have enough. I should have just poured it then and left it at that. But nooooo....i had to go and add my ac and mica. Plop plop into the mold.

Yes I live in FL, and yes its hot and humid. But my ac is set to morgue and the doors are closed.

I just cut it. Its looks terrible. I guess i can cut the ends off to erase signs of plopping, but that will leave me with a small bar of soap with what looks like an ink blot in the middle.

edit...i guess i should show the soap lol

If it's any consolation, I did the same kind of thing with what was supposed to be a margarita inspired soap. It accelerated like crazy as soon as the FO went in. There's nothing wrong with the soap and, even though I wasn't going to, when I took it to the market it sold pretty quickly; people loved the scent and they loved the colours.

I think yours looks like a happy little cloud. It's not as bad as you think it is.

 

[LilianNoir]

I think you are being entirely too hard on yourself -- but I know how disappointing it is to have a vision in mind but end up with something else. I still struggle with that myself but am learning to call it "rustic" . I love your color combination, the top, and even the design in the middle.

What Zing said! I know this feeling well! I was right there until this most recent batch. It helps to remind yourself (and this applies to me too!) that there are SO many variables at work with soap that it surprises even folks who have been doing it a while. I suspect you may be similar to me in that you want to know why it went sideways so you can fix it for next time.
Look to see if there was something you did differently between this and a batch you liked. Even if it was swapping steps (e.g. adding EO first, and then color).
Colorants can cause acceleration too and I think TD and AC can cause slight acceleration maybe.

I think it looks neat personally. ^_^

 

[violets2217]

Um, were you peeking in my basement window? I didn't take a photo of my top but it is eerily similar to yours. Great minds and all that....

See... my tops look pretty cool it’s the rest that looks weird and not with beautiful whispy lines ... like yours! Love your colors! And I’ll try to stay away from your basement window, but it was so worth it!!! Lol

 

[The_Phoenix]

Well...poop. I intended to make the loveliest soap today. And it was lovely from start to...fragrance. It riced beyond anything I've ever experienced. I knew that there was going to be some acceleration (based on the FO reviews), so I soaped cool, waited to the last minute to add the FO to each color, and worked fast with a spatula. Not quite seized but darn close. Normally I can stick blend ricing on low and can fix it, but not this time. And boy is it hot, even just after an hour after pouring it! Super bummed because I made it at my daughter's request--she wanted a flowery soap. Cross your fingers for me that it comes out ok!

I am humbled today...

 

[Misschief]

I made more poop... Unicorn Poop this time, scented with Energy FO. The smell remaining on my fingers takes me right back to picking raspberries when I was a teen.

 

[earlene]

I ordered some stuff from Make Your Own and Amazon for soap and body stuff; also made some insect repellant.

 

[msunnerstood]

I made more poop... Unicorn Poop this time, scented with Energy FO. The smell remaining on my fingers takes me right back to picking raspberries when I was a teen.

Yay! More poop. I love the colors. Its on my list to make but i need to wait for FB to open back up for the fo I want
I posted my pumpkin poop on my personal FB page just to show friends and Im pre-saled out. They didnt seem to mind waiting for it to cure before I shipped.

One of my regular Customers likes to be surprised so she Pay Pals me an amount and I choose the soap and products so Im having fun putting together her box tonight.

 

[TashaBird]

I made more poop... Unicorn Poop this time, scented with Energy FO. The smell remaining on my fingers takes me right back to picking raspberries when I was a teen.

I need to make these poops for my 3yo grandson. He laughs at all things poop! And, I miss him so much!!!

 

[Zing]

I made more poop... Unicorn Poop this time, scented with Energy FO. The smell remaining on my fingers takes me right back to picking raspberries when I was a teen.

Better to smell raspberries than....WAIT, WHAT? WHY HAS THIS THREAD BEEN TAKEN OVER BY POOP TALK??!! What is happening??!!

 

[TashaBird]

Better to smell raspberries than....WAIT, WHAT? WHY HAS THIS THREAD BEEN TAKEN OVER BY POOP TALK??!! What is happening??!!

Leave humans together long enough and the talk will always turn to poop.

 

[Arimara]

Leave humans together long enough and the talk will always turn to poop.

Not this human. I personally find it revolting talking about poop if it does not concern the bovine kind I sometimes smell in the country. Medical reasons also don't count.

 

[Catscankim]

I'm with @Zing, I like it. I like the rustic look of it. The rough tops, hole-y spaces on the sides and shock of color in the middle all lend to each other. It is disappointing when things don't go as planned, though, so I get it. I have some soaps that I don't like, my husband says they look good to him, that I'm going to try to felt b/c I just don't like the look of them. That may end up being a disaster too, lol!

I thought about trying my hand at felting soaps i dont like. I just dont know where to start with that

 

[violets2217]

I thought about trying my hand at felting soaps i dont like. I just dont know where to start with that

Did you see this post? So cool! I didn’t even know what that was!!!

https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/i-tried-felting-today.80754/

 

[Catscankim]

Did you see this post? So cool! I didn’t even know what that was!!!

https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/i-tried-felting-today.80754/

I know. I never knew it existed until that post lol. Might be a good way ofsaving ugly soaps!

 

[Cosmo71]

I have a 2lb batch of Lavender/Peppermint soap sitting on the counter wrapped in a towel going through gel phase. I am not fond of the scent, but my daughter requested it. I made both of us some lip balm also. Hers has peppermint EO in it.

I will probably get lots of flack for this, but this is how I clean up my soaping. I make sure my sinks are free of dishes that we eat out of and the dishwasher is also.

I pour about half a sink of really hot water with about a pint of vinegar added to it. I scrape every last gram I can get of soap out of my bowl, and off my SB, and off the spatula. I then wipe everything down with paper towels to remove all possible residue. Then they get rinsed with LOTS of HOT water at full force. Then into the vinegar sink they go. They get swished and washed thoroughly with a plastic scrubbing brush. All of this with gloves still on. Rinsed again, then run through the dishwasher.

I am making liquid soap when my new pH meter comes in, so I am going to do some testing of the vinegar water before and after washing my soaping stuff just to see.

My lavender mint was quickly chosen by my friends who smelled it as well as ordered by friends online. I always try to remember it is not about what I like but what my customers/ friends want. We all have unique tastes so I ask what fragrances they like and try to appease them. The lavender mint smells pretty nice and I am not a fan of lavender myself.

I cleaned 200 and eleventy million soap utensils, pots, pans and bowls. I may have fudged the numbers there. I think there was more. Felt like it anyway . Cleaning up because the Mother-In-Law is coming to stay. She will be doing her not so subtle inspection. Kill. Me. Now.

Oh your kitty is too adorable

 

[earlene]

Oh your kitty is too adorable

Derpina Bubbles has not been on the forum for 4 years, so she probably won't be seeing your response. But it's cool you are reading the hundreds of posts from the past. I did that too when I was new; so much wealth of information! Another fun thing was to go through all the past SMF Challenge threads and try my hand at some of the techniques introduced in those challenges.

 

[Arimara]

I melted about 9oz of MP soap and tested 3 FO's. I'm not sure if that is an accurate way of seeing how and FO holds in soap but, I did learn a few things about MP soap.

 

[tommysgirl]

I thought about trying my hand at felting soaps i dont like. I just dont know where to start with that

I had seen a few things on it but it was @gardengeek post referenced by @violets2217 that made me want to actually try. I ordered an inexpensive pack of felting wool on Amazon that had sample quantities of like 30 colors. Tried it last night and it's pretty cool! Not hard at all, just takes a little bit of time. My bars are pretty small because I've been working with relatively small batches and smaller homemade molds until recently. So my biggest worry was that I was going to use up all the soap before I actually got it felted, lol! But in reality I didn't loose that much soap at all. I love playing in the lather and bubbles, tho lol!