What soapy thing have you done today?

[Mobjack Bay]

I always contemplate changing up my lye concentration, but always chicken out and stick with my 33%. I have been soaping at room temperature, which is usually 75 to 78F for me and I like it a lot! I might be brave next batch and try 35% lye concentration, I would love more working time. That’s a beautiful soap, awesome swirls!

Thank you ! I inched my way up on the lye concentration from 33 to 35 to 37/38 and now 40 over the course of a year or so, all without any issues.

@Zing It’s a combination of a ”wrecked ring” type pour the acrylic pour artists do, with some swirled faux funnel pours over the top. All in a slab mold. I over-ambitiously planned four wrecked rings, which required layering unique color combinations into 4 cups, pouring, swirling with a skewer and tilting/sloshing the batter in the mold. I got through that part but then realized I still had batter left , so I faux funnel poured the remaining batter around the slab and swirled it over/into the the first set of pours.

eta: @The_Phoenix - those are mostly Nurture’s Vibrance series micas, except the green, which is Jade Green I received as a sample.

 

[TashaBird]

Whew! Today was my second time doing 4 pull throughs at the same time. Doing a few small recipe adjustments and experimenting with kaolin clay vs no kaolin clay. I meant to take a pic of the bucket with all 4 in it. But I forgot.
Vacuum sealed most of my extra batter so I can make soap dough. I’ve got new extruder discs coming that I’m super excited about! 2” diameter!!
Also with some extra batter filled my fancy mermaid molds and my dragon mold.
I’m tired!!!
Cutting tomorrow will hopefully be fun! Sopamine rush!!

 

[KiwiMoose]

Lovely as usual @TashaBird !

I just made another batch of White Sage and Lavender (form Candle Science) but this time used it in a pull through design. Disappointed that it accelerated (as it did last time, but it was a very hot humid day last time and my oils/lye solution were also a lot hotter), but i managed the pull through successfully. At least i hope I did - we shall find out tomorrow when i cut it. I really love the scent otherwise I wouldn't have used it again.

 

[Catscankim]

I keep forgetting to go to the store for more lard and olive oil. I might have enough olive oil, but definitely not enough lard for a batch of my regular recipe.

So I am contemplating experimenting with whatever else I have and running it through soapcalc and seeing what i come up with LOL.

 

[rdc1978]

Lovely as usual @TashaBird !

I just made another batch of White Sage and Lavender (form Candle Science) but this time used it in a pull through design. Disappointed that it accelerated (as it did last time, but it was a very hot humid day last time and my oils/lye solution were also a lot hotter), but i managed the pull through successfully. At least i hope I did - we shall find out tomorrow when i cut it. I really love the scent otherwise I wouldn't have used it again.

I'm having the exact opposite problem. I blended and whisked to emulsion, added my colorant, added my f/o (Green Tea and Cucumber from BB), and have been waiting for it to move out of light trace for like an hour now so I can add in some embeds. I can't think that this is anything else other than the f/o, so if you ever want something that moves like molasses, Green Tea and Cucumber from BB might be the scent you're looking for! As for me, I just want to go to bed already!

I ran out of distilled water … but gladly, just today it snowed here like it didn't in the last five years, so I collected some of the snow to melt up – that bought me a week or two to catch up with my terrible purchase organisation, to not endanger progress of my countless little projects.

Edit: Now all had thawed, and it was a good idea to filter the water. There might be no hardness cations in it, but quite some other dirt that I don't exactly want in my soap. We only had this crazy Sahara dust weather just two days ago, and I expected some of it to land into the snow. But luckily (?), that wasn't the case, just the ordinary dirt flakes left behind from carefully harvested fleur-de-snow.

Its so amazingly cool that you can use nature instead of having to go to a store.

 

[Ellacho]

I made these batches over the weekend. Which would you prefer? I actually love the peach rose soap!

 

[KiwiMoose]

I made these batches over the weekend. Which would you prefer? I actually love the peach rose soap!

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Gorgeous! peach rose is my fav too - love the tops.

 

[Martha]

Cut my soap. I colored it with pink clay and activated charcoal. I forgot to add the eo, but it wouldn’t be one of my soaps if I didn’t screw something up. Fortunately I used cocoa butter and it smells lovely despite my best efforts. The colors remind me of the pink tiled bathrooms from the 50s. It’s my first hanger swirl. Overall I’m pretty happy. Not my favorite color combo, but I think other people will like it. Especially if they have pink tile!

 

[Zing]

Cut my soap. I colored it with pink clay and activated charcoal. I forgot to add the eo, but it wouldn’t be one of my soaps if I didn’t screw something up. Fortunately I used cocoa butter and it smells lovely despite my best efforts. The colors remind me of the pink tiled bathrooms from the 50s. It’s my first hanger swirl. Overall I’m pretty happy. Not my favorite color combo, but I think other people will like it. Especially if they have pink tile!
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I'll take some of that beautiful soap! Wow, looks like you're a hanger-swirling veteran! We remodeled our bath but kept the floor, small tiles from 1932 mostly pink with black and white. Not our first color choice but we've embraced it. Now I make a lot of pink and black soap.

 

[KimW]

I made these batches over the weekend. Which would you prefer? I actually love the peach rose soap!

BE-AH-U-TEE-FUL!! I too like the peachy one the best!

Cut my soap. I colored it with pink clay and activated charcoal. I forgot to add the eo, but it wouldn’t be one of my soaps if I didn’t screw something up. Fortunately I used cocoa butter and it smells lovely despite my best efforts. The colors remind me of the pink tiled bathrooms from the 50s. It’s my first hanger swirl. Overall I’m pretty happy. Not my favorite color combo, but I think other people will like it. Especially if they have pink tile!
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Wow - so pretty!! I think you must be a natural at the hanger swirl, lady. I don't have a pink bathroom, but I do like the color combo!

 

[The_Phoenix]

I made these batches over the weekend. Which would you prefer? I actually love the peach rose soap!

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These are all stunning! Did you pipe all of the roses or use a mold?

 

[TashaBird]

Usually I make myself do “chores” before the joy of soap cutting. But today all I have for myself is throwing laundry in the washer and playing with soap dough before I get to cut FOUR! I’m super excited for my workday!!!
Recently someone on here responded to a photo of my workspace saying they’d be there all the time. I keep hearing that in my head. I feel really grateful!
(Dishes gotta wait cause saponification yada yada...)

 

[Ellacho]

BE-AH-U-TEE-FUL!! I too like the peachy one the best!

Thank you ! This was my first time to pipe peach roses and I am really loving them!

 

[TashaBird]

So much is STILL a mystery! Why doeth the oils ooze up?!

 

[GoodLuckFishing]

It happened. And I am pretty excited. Bramble Berry delivery. I guess this is a soapy thing.

Well it is my first delivery from them and oh the joy. I spent a small fortune but the products arrived in a big box, with plenty of packaging. And the different smells were/are extraordinary!

 

[SPowers]

Beautiful soap and the roses are amazing. Love them all.

Today I will try to remove my damaged soap and silicone mold from the wooden box... I think they may all be toast though!

 

[AliOop]

Results of last night's soap escapades:

Loaf Mold Soap - design turned out as planned: a plain, cream-colored body with a swirled top (pic below). However, since I don't have a log splitter, after trimming all the inevitable trapezoids resulting from my kindergarten-level cutting skills, the bars are all different sizes. Ah well. Still going to be nice soap when it cures.

Taiwan Swirl Challenge Soap - ok, but not great. Colors are fine, but it was hard to get enough of the design going in my small 1lb tester mold, which makes four bars. I should have paid attention to the advice from @Mobjack Bay to mark the swirl points on the mold, because tighter swirls would have worked better. Also, I turned the first bars in the wrong direction for the second cut, so only the last two bars show the design. It's clearly a Taiwan circling swirl, but not a great one. No pics yet since it may be my only chance to make an entry.

Pull-through Soap - don't know yet. For the first time ever, the soap won't release from my PVC mold. Tried the freezer, then banging on concrete. Used a stainless measuring cup as a pusher, and it is now stuck to the end of the soap! For now, it's gone back into the freezer to see if it will freezer harder so more condensation will form. I could potentially throw out the PVC mold and the soap, but I'm not tossing my nice stainless measuring cup!! I'll do a lot for soap, but I have my limits.

 

[GoodLuckFishing]

How do you get the cylindrical soap out of the PVC mold? Looks great!

 

[Ellacho]

These are all stunning! Did you pipe all of the roses or use a mold?

Thank you! I did pipe all roses and leaves.

 

[AliOop]

How do you get the cylindrical soap out of the PVC mold? Looks great!

Normally I just put it in the freezer for at least 30 minutes, and then let it sit out and start developing condensation for 5-10 minutes. Once that happens, it normally slides out with just a light tap on the counter or table.

This time, with extra time in the freezer, and extra banging and smacking (a la @Dawni lol), the soap finally slid out. But the cup is still stuck in the mold. The pull-throughs were less than fantastic, but much better than the last time I tried. I need to practice with those more.