What soapy thing have you done today?

[SPowers]

Soap related but not very soapy... I spent the last 2 days setting up spreadsheets, etc readying myself to start selling. I've not taxed my brain so much since I retired.

 

[Jersey Girl]

Today I made some hilariously ugly soap...

I was trying to do a Lazy Susan swirl, but two of the colours ended up getting thicker too fast, so I have some very unfortunate brown lumpy bits in it. It's in the oven now at a super low temperature; I was hoping that it might melt and spread out a little bit but that doesn't seem to be happening. I'm kind of disappointed since I really liked the EO mix for the scent: patchouli, bergamot, lemongrass and a hint of cinnamon. I think I'll call the fragrance 'spice market'. Don't know what I'm going to do with this clown vomit though.
View attachment 54515

I also read through about half of the Soaping 101 liquid soapmaking video? thread last night and decided to give it a go, so I've spent a lot of today fretting and diluting, but I think I'm going to end up with exactly what I wanted, so that's a nice surprise! (documented at the end of that thread, for the curious)

You can alway plane the rough top off. You may be pleasantly surprised with the result when it’s cut. And remember...no matter what it looks like, it’s still soap and it’s still useful. I like to say...there is no ugly soap!

 

[Misschief]

I didn't make soap today but I did go out and hunt down some more photo props at Michael's. And then I played with my camera.

 

[Vicki C]

Here are some results from my experiments changing confetti proportions and size, as well as color schemes. I like the grey one where the confetti is 15% of the total batch weight the best. The green soap has a bit more, maybe 25% of total batch weight and seems “overcrowded”. I think a higher proportion of smaller chunks would work better at 25% confetti. The one on the right is my “exotic” color scheme and was layered using my new mold with one divider. I‘m happy enough with the layering, the proportions and the size of the confetti, but I’m not sure what I think about the contrasting colors. All of this confetti is from different parts of my first wrecked ring attempt.

View attachment 54510

ETA: I forgot to mention that all of these soaps were made at 40% lye concentration and using a lard (50%) based recipe, with the “melted” oils in the high 70F range and the lye water a bit cooler. Even though the oils were not clear when I added the lye water, there are no stearic spots apparent. BUT, the lard and CO were melted clear before I added the liquid oils - RBO and/or OO and/or HO sunflower. I avoided castor so as not to push my luck. I got bold enough to try BB’s Grapefruit Lily, a notorious accelerator, in the grey soap and had no acceleration. In comparison, I haven’t been able to produce similar results when I start my palm-based recipe with the oils below 95F or my soy wax-based recipe below 120F.

These are lovely. I am organizing a quilt for my son and wife’s first baby, friends are contributing and the colors are grey with a spot of color in the middle of each square. I had an idea to make a confetti soap as a thank you, sort of in the color scheme and pattern of the quilt. Your gray soap is inspiring me!
Here is the beginning of the quilt.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

These are lovely. I am organizing a quilt for my son and wife’s first baby, friends are contributing and the colors are grey with a spot of color in the middle of each square. I had an idea to make a confetti soap as a thank you, sort of in the color scheme and pattern of the quilt. Your gray soap is inspiring me!
Here is the beginning of the quilt.
View attachment 54549

That looks great! You’re sweet to make them a quilt and clever to pick the grey/neutral background since it goes with everything. I look forward to seeing your soap

 

[Tara_H]

Cinnamon EO contains eugenol, which will accelerate your batter and make it get thick very fast.

Very good point! I only used half a gram in over a kilo of soap, but I think I was too complacent since it's the recipe I use all the time and I expected it to behave exactly the same (normally I only use lavender oil which behaves very nicely for me). I actually SB'd in the individual pots because it was too thin to start with, and that was definitely the really big mistake! Next time I'll just wait a little bit longer.

You may be pleasantly surprised with the result when it’s cut.

You're very wise

It's already growing on me - I was kind of aiming for a Dead Sea look and now that it's cut I'm feeling a lot better about it. The colours have also become considerably more muted, thank the stars! I'll definitely plane the lumpier ones (hiding at the back left there) but I'm sort of liking the landscapey look of the others.

 

[penelopejane]

One of my favourite fragrances has been discontinued so I got 5 samples to test for a replacement. I was making a soap so just reserved some of the batter. Perfect. I mixed in the FOs to small cubes of the batter. Wasn’t until later that I realised that the charcoal soap won’t allow me to see if the FOs discolour!

 

[Mobjack Bay]

I‘ve been planning to make a wood box for my new silicone mold, but I’ve only gotten so far as to sketch it out on the plywood. Here’s the interim solution I came up with to keep the sides of the mold straight.

 

[Peachy Clean Soap]

Here are some results from my experiments changing confetti proportions and size, as well as color schemes. I like the grey one where the confetti is 15% of the total batch weight the best. The green soap has a bit more, maybe 25% of total batch weight and seems “overcrowded”. I think a higher proportion of smaller chunks would work better at 25% confetti. The one on the right is my “exotic” color scheme and was layered using my new mold with one divider. I‘m happy enough with the layering, the proportions and the size of the confetti, but I’m not sure what I think about the contrasting colors. All of this confetti is from different parts of my first wrecked ring attempt.

View attachment 54510

ETA: I forgot to mention that all of these soaps were made at 40% lye concentration and using a lard (50%) based recipe, with the “melted” oils in the high 70F range and the lye water a bit cooler. Even though the oils were not clear when I added the lye water, there are no stearic spots apparent. BUT, the lard and CO were melted clear before I added the liquid oils - RBO and/or OO and/or HO sunflower. I avoided castor so as not to push my luck. I got bold enough to try BB’s Grapefruit Lily, a notorious accelerator, in the grey soap and had no acceleration. In comparison, I haven’t been able to produce similar results when I start my palm-based recipe with the oils below 95F or my soy wax-based recipe below 120F.

Love your soap' beautiful! thank you so much for your soaping temp's & process.

I‘ve been planning to make a wood box for my new silicone mold, but I’ve only gotten so far as to sketch it out on the plywood. Here’s the interim solution I came up with to keep the sides of the mold straight.

View attachment 54552

Brilliant Idea' Love the Heart Shape Design In Your Soap!

 

[Martha]

My soapy thing has been catching up on about a month of posts here. Missed you guys. Been feeling Covid crappy and haven’t done much of anything. I don’t have Covid. Just the low-level angst we are all dealing with.

And a giant smooch to whichever amazing person suggested putting the jar of EO into the soap mold! Forgetting the fragrance has been my number one problem lately.

 

[Peachy Clean Soap]

I tried an end piece of my first soap (from a kit) today, after 2 weeks of cure I couldn't wait any longer to see what it's like!

The scent is great, the soap lathers nicely but not excessively and my hands feel squeaky clean after use, which translates to slightly dry skin. I now realise it's a pretty high CO soap, so that isn't surprising, but I'm hoping it'll get a little milder after the full cure time.

I ordered a batch of sample size FOs a couple of days ago, which have apparently shipped but there is no indication of when they're going to arrive. I thought I was a fairly patient person, but soap has taught me that I'm not nearly as patient as I thought! Lol.

Thats awesome. also it's so hard to be patient! you're not alone.

 

[Jersey Girl]

I‘ve been planning to make a wood box for my new silicone mold, but I’ve only gotten so far as to sketch it out on the plywood. Here’s the interim solution I came up with to keep the sides of the mold straight.

View attachment 54552

Love it! Hmmmm now to dig out that massive box of LEGO I have stored somewhere.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

Love it! Hmmmm now to dig out that massive box of LEGO I have stored somewhere.

Yep! These legos are 20+ years old.

 

[Ladka]

My soapy thing today is making moulds using silicone compound and plastic toys for forms.
I'd like to have various moulds to make soap bars for my grandchildren soft enough to be able to unmould easily. The plastic the toys are made of is rather rigid and my first attempts were difficult to unmould and some soap bars came out broken.
I'm on the point of pouring silicone just now - wish me luck!

 

[Jersey Girl]

My daughter got engaged last week so now we’re planning a wedding. I figured I’d make some favors for her and here’s the prototype that I just made to test.

The embeds are M&P. Should I avoid gel so they don’t melt? I’ve never really put M&P embeds on top of a cold process soap before. Need some advice!

 

[The_Emerald_Chicken]

I‘ve been planning to make a wood box for my new silicone mold, but I’ve only gotten so far as to sketch it out on the plywood. Here’s the interim solution I came up with to keep the sides of the mold straight.

View attachment 54552

Great solution! I love the soap...does this design have a name?

 

[Tara_H]

My daughter got engaged last week so now we’re planning a wedding. I figured I’d make some favors for her and here’s the prototype that I just made to test. View attachment 54567 The embeds are M&P. Should I avoid gel so they don’t melt? I’ve never really put M&P embeds on top of a cold process soap before. Need some advice!

Wow, that's going to be some awesome favours!

 

[Mobjack Bay]

Great solution! I love the soap...does this design have a name?

I call it a minimalist top swirl, to match what I’m hoping is a minimalist swirl on the interior of the soap.

 

[TashaBird]

Cleaning is done. Waiting on my label guy. (The hubs.) Prepping to test new soap dough recipe and some new FOs. I can’t believe how much I love these fun fruity ones from NS!
Avalon, Smell the Rainbow, Sugared Strawberry.
And these mermaids came out so good! They have noses AND chins!!
Cleaning, packing, prepping.
Happy Sippy Soapy Sunday!

 

[violets2217]

Well.... my Kiss pour swirling thing sure didn’t work out to well for my rimmed soap! As per usual, my plan jumped ship!
moving on to plan b!?!?!