What soapy thing have you done today?

[Basil]

They’re beautiful!

 

[Sharyn]

Hi all! Thought I'd take a look at all your beautiful soaps. I love this thread most of all.
This is what I did yesterday. All hand molded from cold process soap dough. The soap is scented with Oudh Wood from Nurture. A gradient pour was used to push the boat out on this FO, to see how well it preformed. My results are yet to be seen, however, the experience was that is the batter stayed fluid and poured nicely. We will see upon un-molding.

"When in doubt, go to the library." — Ron Weasley

May your day be lovely and filled with magical surprises, because, after all, not all surprises are magical.

View attachment 51201

Wow! So very clever!! I love them!

Well, once again, life lessons through the soap making process. I can’t always get what I want, but it’s still pretty **** cool! The EO I used decelerated trace, but they’re not ruined. And they smell amazing!

Just gorgeous!

 

[CatahoulaBubble]

I love the microfiber cloths for cleanup!!

edit...dont put them in the dryer. Makes fuzzballs all over the cloths

I actually found that if I just toss them in my rag bucket and then a couple of days later I just fill the bucket with water and swish them around they come out perfectly clean because the soap that has hardened on them foams up and cleans them and then I just hang them on the sides of the rag bucket to dry and they are ready for the next batch.

I went to go cut the soap I made last night because I'm impatient but when I took the molds out of the oven they were still warm. Temp gun said they are all sitting at 88 degrees so I guess I will let them cool down a bit more before unmolding.

 

[lenarenee]

An order. One girl ordered for her Mom for Christmas. Made with sand from Delaware beach. Her Mom loves that beach.

Rehoboth Beach?
The soaps are spectacular!

 

[The Park Bench]

Well, once again, life lessons through the soap making process. I can’t always get what I want, but it’s still pretty **** cool! The EO I used decelerated trace, but they’re not ruined. And they smell amazing!

They are beautiful!

 

[CatahoulaBubble]

Dang there's just nothing more satisfying than when your concept actually comes together. I'm good at making soap but not so great at the designs I want to do. I have great plans and then my soap has other ideas so that what actually comes out is far from my concept. It's not awful and of course it's still good soap but man when it does come together it's like angels singing at me. Tonight was one of those moments. My batter stayed the consistency I needed, my colors blended just right, I didn't over stick blend my batter. I got my layers the way I wanted them and the mica lines without decorating the kitchen in mica. The soap frosting set up just the way I wanted. Most of the time I'm scrambling like a one armed man in a paper hanging contest but this time everything was just smooth and easy and slipped into place. I wish soaping was always like this. Not that I hate the chaotic scramble but it's so much more enjoyable when the soapy stars line up.

 

[TashaBird]

@CatahoulaBubble ”Most of the time I'm scrambling like a one armed man in a paper hanging contest”

 

[GemstonePony]

I cut and planed my flail soap: it's not a fail, per se, it's just really really struggling. It's an Oat milk, colloidal oatmeal, and honey soap, but somehow there are large chunks of oat from my attempt at oat milk and they all went to the side and the bottom. I put glow pigment in, but I poured at too light a trace, and all the pigment went to the bottom. It's oozing something for some reason, which could be because of the honey, oats, high liquid content, or something else altogether. Anyways, I'm concerned about the larger chunks of oat getting funky, so I've split everything into high oat/low oat, which gives me a grand total of 2 bars I'm happy with, 2 bars I'm unhappy with, and some small odds and ends also equally split. The purple ball is the result of my squishing my planing bits. I'll try Oatmeal honey again another day, but for now this is what it is. I'm relatively pleased with my wood pour attempt, but there's definitely room for improvement.
Also, I'm stress shopping in general, and fragrances in particular. Because if I can't use aromatherapy while I'm at work, imaginary aromatherapy is the next best thing, and somehow that stuff ends up in the shopping cart.

 

[TashaBird]

@GemstonePony scent has a direct pathway to memory, scent shopping online totally works! I bet those soaps will feel amazing! I’m super intimidated about using honey and oats.

 

[GemstonePony]

@GemstonePony scent has a direct pathway to memory, scent shopping online totally works! I bet those soaps will feel amazing! I’m super intimidated about using honey and oats.

At this point, online sniffing is my strategy to stay sane and off social media for the next week or so. I'm probably not going to buy most of what goes in the shopping carts. They're mostly just a way to rack up a collection of things that make me happy.
I'm cautiously optimistic about this batch, and very optimistic about future attempts. As long as you dissolve the honey in water and add it to cooled lye slowly, honey is easy. I'm still figuring out the oats, but it seems freezing the liquid before adding it to the lye worked well. And adding the honey with the frozen oat cubes worked very well.

 

[Guspuppy]

I made Zanys no slime castile last night. Wasnt sure where to put this msg since i started a thread yesterday about my weird lye. And i didnt want to blemish @Zany_in_CO thread with a weird experience lol. I guess my soapy thing today is the cut. But feel free to move if theres a better spot.

Its not quite 24 hours, but i decided to cut anyway even though the instructions said to cut on the second day.

It was hard as a rock. I thought i was going to break the wire...i had to turn the soap while on the wire to get the rest of the way through, which made ugly wire marks.

And now that i am looking at the pic, there is a rind around the outer border of the soap, which i suspect is just where it is harder than the inside, since it was the end that i had trouble getting the wire through. I think that will even out as it cures.

No fragrance or colors added.

I recently made Zany's soap too, and it was at cutting hardness after only 4 hours! If I had waited until I got home from work that night as I had planned, it would have been a rock. I also had the ring, which faded out a day or two after cutting. I made extra sure to do the 1.7:1 ratio, and used no colors, but did use a tiny amount of a FO.

 

[Dawni]

Alas.. Still no soap. Sigh. I'm already going through withdrawal.. B****iness n all lol

Lol - maybe I should name this after Van Gogh’s Starry Nights instead of Ocean? The stearic spots coupled with the oatmeal have made it very spotty!
View attachment 51202

It does remind me of the painting somewhat...

Juniper tar soap. Mama Mia how it smells.... I put it to cure to a separate room.

Looks like smooth chocolate blocks

I love your wrapping too Dawni! I’ve been saving grocery store paper bags and experimenting with labels, designs etc. for the past year . Starting with friends and family and the day when and if I’ll sell.

My family just gets em in their hand lol
The ones living nearby just come over n get what they need from a box they already know is free for all haha

 

[KiwiMoose]

Well, once again, life lessons through the soap making process. I can’t always get what I want, but it’s still pretty **** cool! The EO I used decelerated trace, but they’re not ruined. And they smell amazing!

I absolutely love your pull-thoughs Kim. Love, love love!
ETA - sorry, TASHA!

 

[Catscankim]

Hiya Cat! The only thing I can think of is an error in the amount of NaOH, 1.7:1. Even a slight variation, i.e., 1.5:1, would make the soap harder. I would go back over the recipe to make sure you didn't miss something.

Hiya Cat! The only thing I can think of is an error in the amount of NaOH, 1.7:1. Even a slight variation, i.e., 1.5:1, would make the soap harder. I would go back over the recipe to make sure you didn't miss something.

i printed this soap recipe to soap with

 

[TashaBird]

At this point, online sniffing is my strategy to stay sane and off social media for the next week or so. I'm probably not going to buy most of what goes in the shopping carts. They're mostly just a way to rack up a collection of things that make me happy.
I'm cautiously optimistic about this batch, and very optimistic about future attempts. As long as you dissolve the honey in water and add it to cooled lye slowly, honey is easy. I'm still figuring out the oats, but it seems freezing the liquid before adding it to the lye worked well. And adding the honey with the frozen oat cubes worked very well.

So you had honey dissolved in the frozen oat cubes? I ask because I’m about to attempt honey and goat milk. I already froze the goat milk into cubes, but I could unfreeze I guess. I’m so nervous about it!

I live far away from my gbabies right now and missing them terribly. A friends young 11yo daughter is having a tough time, and she’s really interested in soap making. So, we’ve scheduled a safe distance/masked/ventilated visit where I’ll make some soap with her. Going to use up some of my soap dough to do rolled tubes for dots, then an ITPS. I’m excited about it!

 

[GemstonePony]

So you had honey dissolved in the frozen oat cubes? I ask because I’m about to attempt honey and goat milk. I already froze the goat milk into cubes, but I could unfreeze I guess. I’m so nervous about it!

The honey was separate and dissolved in distilled water both times. For my first batch, I added the oat milk cubes 1 or 2 at a time and monitored the temps. The cubes were cooling my lye mixture down more than I wanted, so I slowly poured my honey-water in and stirred, continuing to toss in oat milk cubes as they dissolved. My lye mixture finished dissolving and reacting at around 130°f, so it cooled into my preferred soaping range very quickly.
ETA: I let the lye cool a little before adding the cubes, just in case the lye reacted strongly to them. I also slid the cubes into the lye on a slanted spatula to prevent splashing.

 

[violets2217]

So you had honey dissolved in the frozen oat cubes? I ask because I’m about to attempt honey and goat milk. I already froze the goat milk into cubes, but I could unfreeze I guess. I’m so nervous about it!

Just to warn you... when you add the honey to your lye and liquid it’s going to turn It a brownish red. It scared me at first but it always happens. I’ve never frozen the honey with my liquid. Cool idea!

 

[The Park Bench]

WOOOOOOO! DH and DS are making me some new molds!!!

Dang there's just nothing more satisfying than when your concept actually comes together. I'm good at making soap but not so great at the designs I want to do. I have great plans and then my soap has other ideas so that what actually comes out is far from my concept. It's not awful and of course it's still good soap but man when it does come together it's like angels singing at me. Tonight was one of those moments. My batter stayed the consistency I needed, my colors blended just right, I didn't over stick blend my batter. I got my layers the way I wanted them and the mica lines without decorating the kitchen in mica. The soap frosting set up just the way I wanted. Most of the time I'm scrambling like a one armed man in a paper hanging contest but this time everything was just smooth and easy and slipped into place. I wish soaping was always like this. Not that I hate the chaotic scramble but it's so much more enjoyable when the soapy stars line up.

That is awesome!!! I can relate to my soap realities being quite different from my soap imaginations

 

[TashaBird]

THank you @GemstonePony and @violets2217 for the tips!

Stress got me feeling like
But beside being excited to receive some soaping supplies, I get an extra bonus in the box!
also, not soap, but found a US grown jojoba source for my other skin care!

 

[CatahoulaBubble]

I cut my easy soap batch and I am tickled purple with this soap. It came out just the way I wanted if not even better than I expected. The "snowflakes" show in the blue the way I wanted. The hills look just right and I love the swirls in the piped top.