What soapy thing have you done today?

[TashaBird]

Yesterday was my soapaversary! I planned a fun fancy soap. But instead I’m busting out lotion bars and balms for my first farmers market Sunday. So my soapaversary soap will have to wait until next week. I love this group and all y’all soapers!!!
I’m so happy that my recipes for these are FINALLY exactly the right amount! Scraping that last bit into the molds is such a great feeling!!!

 

[Angie Gail]

Yesterday was my soapaversary! I planned a fun fancy soap. But instead I’m busting out lotion bars and balms for my first farmers market Sunday. So my soapaversary soap will have to wait until next week. I love this group and all y’all soapers!!!
I’m so happy that my recipes for these are FINALLY exactly the right amount! Scraping that last bit into the molds is such a great feeling!!!

You're set up looks really good! Good luck!

 

[Catscankim]

Yesterday was my soapaversary! I planned a fun fancy soap. But instead I’m busting out lotion bars and balms for my first farmers market Sunday. So my soapaversary soap will have to wait until next week. I love this group and all y’all soapers!!!
I’m so happy that my recipes for these are FINALLY exactly the right amount! Scraping that last bit into the molds is such a great feeling!!!

Oh my gosh good luck with your first market! I wish I was close enough to come help you!

I've done nothing soapy but spend money replenishing fragrances LOL. I literally have 2oz of each of my left over fo's...but there is a reason that I have two ounces...because they are ones that I made batches with and didn't like so much. Except the Lemon Bar from BB...I have a bottle of that, but I don't really know what to make as far as design or swirls. Guess I am on kind of a writers block.

Spent so much time trying to figure out what soapy thing I want to make...it's getting too late. And I ordered a bunch of garden stuff...mulch, soil, etc that I need to pick up in the morning. I need to get my front garden in order because it is starting to look like the Adams Family lives here. I was supposed to move, but now I am not, so my garden took the back burner. My garden used to be my pride and joy . It will be again, it's just gonna take a lot of tlc. My neighbors probably hate me right now LOL.

I had my eye on a log splitter. But I really gotta get the front of my house in order first.

Funny story... I was at the pool hall one day to have "a couple" of drinks, which turned out more than a couple. So I took an uber home...literally cost me $6 because I live a few blocks away. I called an uber the next morning to go get my car. My next day walk of shame back to the bar driver was my neighbor across the street LOL. "whats going on with your house?" he said, looking at the overgrown mash of half dead plants and one REALLY overgrown bougainvillea. So now am I not only really uncomfortable 3 minute drive back to the bar from my neighbor, I also have to explain why the pretty garden in my front looks so bad. THE LONGEST 3 MINUTES OF MY LIFE.

So not too much other soapy stuff going on this weekend LOL

 

[penelopejane]

Murphy’s law.

I’ve been soaping for 5 years. I’ve made hundreds and hundreds of batches of soap. I am making soap for my son’s wedding favours so of course everything that can go wrong has. It’s one of my standard recipes but it has a fragrance that I use in another soap. All fine.

Australia has a huge shortage of FOs at the moment and it is desperately difficult to get anything. Of course I can’t get the FO they want from my regular supplier. Amazingly I found the FO at a candle supply shop for twice the price, of course. Regardless I ordered 2 bottles – enough to do 7 batches – an extra one just incase.

I am doing cavity molds with a silicone mat decoration in the bottom and stamping them with their names and the date of the wedding.
First 2 batches I made something happened and they are blotchy. Might have been the temperature but could have been because I took it to emulsion, decanted it into a jug, mixed it and then poured. So there might have been some differently mixed parts on the top when I scraped them level. I don’t know I am usually pretty careful, but that is all can imagine it must be.

I only have enough silicone mats to do 24 soaps at a time and I have to wait 24 hours to unmold them and stamp them. Have you ever stamped soap? It’s insane. Yes, I do use plastic wrap so I can get the stamp out of the soap. It is still insane. You have to get the stamp positioned perfectly – I worked that out during testing and marked the stamp so I know where to line it up on the soap – and then press exactly evenly on the stamp, not too heavy (it bends the soap if it’s too heavy) but not too light (you won’t see it if it’s too light). So 1 have 2 failed batched because of the mix, 10 of which would have been failures anyway because of stamping despite my testing.

Batches 3 & 4. Batch 3 must have had some water in the corner of some of the molds and they are weird. Batch 4 is perfect. I think I have about 6 that didn’t work out because of stamping or water but I have at least one perfect batch.

Batches 5 & 6. I poured the first batch and put it to bed. Made the second batch and was pouring it when I noticed the silicone mats on the bench and realized batch 5 didn’t have the mats in the base of the molds. How I didn’t see this as I was pouring the mix in I do not know.

So far (if batch 6 worked) I have 2 usable batches. I need another 4 batches but probably 5 or even 6 if my current success rate continues. So I have to go back to the horribly expensive FO supplier and by another 2 bottles of FO.

When my daughter-in-law rang to ask how it was going I said “wonderful”, sent her photos of 2 successful soaps and went and ate a block of chocolate. It was either that or cry.

The only little positive thing about the whole episode is that I'm going to have heaps of seconds for my friends (lately I haven't had many seconds because I've been selling well and I haven't been stuffing up much). But, will they want soap with my son and DIL's name and wedding date on them?

 

[Tara_H]

Ok these are not the most professional looking soaps but I'm still pretty pleased with them!



In fairness a lot of the sloppiness was caused by my difficulty cutting them this morning, they were probably not quite long enough out of the freezer.

The rest was partly due to the red mica not having been sufficiently pre-dispersed, so I had to stir it more than I wanted, which meant the two colours were different thicknesses. And partly due to the squeezy bottles still getting too cold at the tops about halfway through, so I resorted to pouring straight from the jugs at that point.

Luckily I had made tons of extra batter against just such an eventuality, and what didn't fit in the tube ended up as two different swirly lots.


The first one is the more 'planned' one, using the rest of the reasonably fluid batter from the jugs, dropping the yellow into the red from a height and then swirling with one of the gear ties. The second one was created by the sophisticated technique of squeezing what I could out of the squeezy bottles, scraping in all the remnants, and giving it a bit of a stir and a lot of tapping to try to make it settle.

They smell perfectly like rhubarb and custard, and between those and the gently beefy smell of the tallow rendering, it smells like some lovely Sunday dinners in our kitchen...

 

[Peachy Clean Soap]

Yesterday was my soapaversary! I planned a fun fancy soap. But instead I’m busting out lotion bars and balms for my first farmers market Sunday. So my soapaversary soap will have to wait until next week. I love this group and all y’all soapers!!!
I’m so happy that my recipes for these are FINALLY exactly the right amount! Scraping that last bit into the molds is such a great feeling!!!

Looks Wonderful & Your gonna do great. If I was @ your flee market I defiantly stop to see all your wonderful items & buy something for sure. .

 

[Jersey Girl]

Yesterday was my soapaversary! I planned a fun fancy soap. But instead I’m busting out lotion bars and balms for my first farmers market Sunday. So my soapaversary soap will have to wait until next week. I love this group and all y’all soapers!!!
I’m so happy that my recipes for these are FINALLY exactly the right amount! Scraping that last bit into the molds is such a great feeling!!!

Happy Soapaversary! The lotion bars look amazing and your set up looks terrific! Best of luck on your first market!

 

[Ladka]

Learning how to mix lye turned out to be a lot easier than memorizing the alphabet soup of acronyms we use.

What soapy thing I have done today? None, because my farmer-butcher told me he doesn't get intestines or fat if he takes only half a cow

 

[Peachy Clean Soap]

Murphy’s law.

I’ve been soaping for 5 years. I’ve made hundreds and hundreds of batches of soap. I am making soap for my son’s wedding favours so of course everything that can go wrong has. It’s one of my standard recipes but it has a fragrance that I use in another soap. All fine.

Australia has a huge shortage of FOs at the moment and it is desperately difficult to get anything. Of course I can’t get the FO they want from my regular supplier. Amazingly I found the FO at a candle supply shop for twice the price, of course. Regardless I ordered 2 bottles – enough to do 7 batches – an extra one just incase.

I am doing cavity molds with a silicone mat decoration in the bottom and stamping them with their names and the date of the wedding.
First 2 batches I made something happened and they are blotchy. Might have been the temperature but could have been because I took it to emulsion, decanted it into a jug, mixed it and then poured. So there might have been some differently mixed parts on the top when I scraped them level. I don’t know I am usually pretty careful, but that is all can imagine it must be.

I only have enough silicone mats to do 24 soaps at a time and I have to wait 24 hours to unmold them and stamp them. Have you ever stamped soap? It’s insane. Yes, I do use plastic wrap so I can get the stamp out of the soap. It is still insane. You have to get the stamp positioned perfectly – I worked that out during testing and marked the stamp so I know where to line it up on the soap – and then press exactly evenly on the stamp, not too heavy (it bends the soap if it’s too heavy) but not too light (you won’t see it if it’s too light). So 1 have 2 failed batched because of the mix, 10 of which would have been failures anyway because of stamping despite my testing.

Batches 3 & 4. Batch 3 must have had some water in the corner of some of the molds and they are weird. Batch 4 is perfect. I think I have about 6 that didn’t work out because of stamping or water but I have at least one perfect batch.

Batches 5 & 6. I poured the first batch and put it to bed. Made the second batch and was pouring it when I noticed the silicone mats on the bench and realized batch 5 didn’t have the mats in the base of the molds. How I didn’t see this as I was pouring the mix in I do not know.

So far (if batch 6 worked) I have 2 usable batches. I need another 4 batches but probably 5 or even 6 if my current success rate continues. So I have to go back to the horribly expensive FO supplier and by another 2 bottles of FO.

When my daughter-in-law rang to ask how it was going I said “wonderful”, sent her photos of 2 successful soaps and went and ate a block of chocolate. It was either that or cry.

The only little positive thing about the whole episode is that I'm going to have heaps of seconds for my friends (lately I haven't had many seconds because I've been selling well and I haven't been stuffing up much). But, will they want soap with my son and DIL's name and wedding date on them?

Hopfully your next batches turns out perfect, chocolate cant fix everything but it sure is yummy instant feel good gratification.

Anyone remember Folgers Coffee commercial jingle?
The Best Part Of Waking Up' Is Folgers In Your Cup. That how I feel about Cutting Soap .

 

[Jersey Girl]

Murphy’s law.

I’ve been soaping for 5 years. I’ve made hundreds and hundreds of batches of soap. I am making soap for my son’s wedding favours so of course everything that can go wrong has. It’s one of my standard recipes but it has a fragrance that I use in another soap. All fine.

Australia has a huge shortage of FOs at the moment and it is desperately difficult to get anything. Of course I can’t get the FO they want from my regular supplier. Amazingly I found the FO at a candle supply shop for twice the price, of course. Regardless I ordered 2 bottles – enough to do 7 batches – an extra one just incase.

I am doing cavity molds with a silicone mat decoration in the bottom and stamping them with their names and the date of the wedding.
First 2 batches I made something happened and they are blotchy. Might have been the temperature but could have been because I took it to emulsion, decanted it into a jug, mixed it and then poured. So there might have been some differently mixed parts on the top when I scraped them level. I don’t know I am usually pretty careful, but that is all can imagine it must be.

I only have enough silicone mats to do 24 soaps at a time and I have to wait 24 hours to unmold them and stamp them. Have you ever stamped soap? It’s insane. Yes, I do use plastic wrap so I can get the stamp out of the soap. It is still insane. You have to get the stamp positioned perfectly – I worked that out during testing and marked the stamp so I know where to line it up on the soap – and then press exactly evenly on the stamp, not too heavy (it bends the soap if it’s too heavy) but not too light (you won’t see it if it’s too light). So 1 have 2 failed batched because of the mix, 10 of which would have been failures anyway because of stamping despite my testing.

Batches 3 & 4. Batch 3 must have had some water in the corner of some of the molds and they are weird. Batch 4 is perfect. I think I have about 6 that didn’t work out because of stamping or water but I have at least one perfect batch.

Batches 5 & 6. I poured the first batch and put it to bed. Made the second batch and was pouring it when I noticed the silicone mats on the bench and realized batch 5 didn’t have the mats in the base of the molds. How I didn’t see this as I was pouring the mix in I do not know.

So far (if batch 6 worked) I have 2 usable batches. I need another 4 batches but probably 5 or even 6 if my current success rate continues. So I have to go back to the horribly expensive FO supplier and by another 2 bottles of FO.

When my daughter-in-law rang to ask how it was going I said “wonderful”, sent her photos of 2 successful soaps and went and ate a block of chocolate. It was either that or cry.

The only little positive thing about the whole episode is that I'm going to have heaps of seconds for my friends (lately I haven't had many seconds because I've been selling well and I haven't been stuffing up much). But, will they want soap with my son and DIL's name and wedding date on them?

Ugh! As I read more and more of your post I wanted to cry with you! I’m sorry you had so much trouble. I have been wanting to try a stamp myself but read a lot from others that have had trouble with it too. Definitely a learning curve involved. I’m sure in the end you will have everything perfect, just a bit of extra soap. . I personally wouldn’t hesitate at all to purchase a “second” especially if the only reason is a stamp goof up, and if you are gifting to friends that’s a no brainer! Who would say no to that?!

 

[Mobjack Bay]

@penelopejane I love your idea of using an impression mat. The soaps will be beautiful when you’re done. Hang in there! {{{hugs}}}

 

[TashaBird]

Anyone remember Folgers Coffee commercial jingle?
The Best Part Of Waking Up' Is Folgers In Your Cup. That how I feel about Cutting Soap .

Sometimes it’s even why I go to bed. “I can’t cut my soap tomorrow until I go to sleep first.”

 

[KimW]

Murphy’s law.
When my daughter-in-law rang to ask how it was going I said “wonderful”, sent her photos of 2 successful soaps and went and ate a block of chocolate. It was either that or cry.

The only little positive thing about the whole episode is that I'm going to have heaps of seconds for my friends (lately I haven't had many seconds because I've been selling well and I haven't been stuffing up much). But, will they want soap with my son and DIL's name and wedding date on them?

Awe Naaahhooo. I'm so sorry - that stinks, stinky, stink. If I was your friend I'd be pleased as punch to get/buy a soap with DIL's name. Sometimes spraying the stamp with a bit of alcohol helps too... I'm glad you have chocolate. I send you chocolate hugs.

 

[AliOop]

@penelopejane ugh, so sorry about all that. I love your dedication to make these for your son's wedding! This is no help now, but in case the impression mat is ever left out, smooshing it onto the top of the soap loaf actually works pretty well in a pinch. Ask me how I know.

Anyway, sending prayers , hugs , and lots of virtual chocolate your way.

 

[Tara_H]

I tried egg soap! And goats milk instead of water! And (hopefully) very straight layers! That was a lot of fun

Actually it was super relaxed, which was lovely. Mixed the egg into the liquid oils and it tried to be mayonnaise pretty much immediately.


Added the warmed solid oils (super gingerly) and it all looked like very nice soap batter already. I split it 3 ways, then since there was no lye in it yet, I took my time colouring them and adding fragrance.


I used goat's milk for 100% of the liquid, put the jug in an ice bath and added the lye very slowly. It went an interesting yellow colour and smelled pretty foul at this point, ammonia I think.


Just to be contrary, I used what I believed would be a very slow-moving recipe, and indeed it was! I poured the yellow layer, mixed the lye into the next one and blended it a bit, then went and had a cup of tea and a sit down and it was still just about at a light trace when I came back. So it was super chilled, and I didn't have to rush with all of the spirit leveling that was required...

Finally topped it with the butterflies and gently CPOP'ed for a bit.


It's now out and it's taking all of my strength not to cut it; it's still just a little bit too soft, but I'm very excited to see what it looks like inside! This is the side view:

 

[KimW]

It's now out and it's taking all of my strength not to cut it; it's still just a little bit too soft, but I'm very excited to see what it looks like inside! This is the side view:

FAN-TABULOUSLY-TASTIC! Nicely done and, as always, love your write-up. It's always good to know the experience of others before trying something new, like eggs. I could see myself having a spot of tea with you, with me all the while itching to get back to the soap, but wanting to be polite and just sort of imploding quietly on the inside.

 

[Tara_H]

love your write-up

Thanks! I always worry I'm going on too much, but I love reading other people's experiences so I hope mine are useful to someone too!

I actually lost the battle with myself already... I am a weak-willed mortal and the Indian food took an hour to get here

I may have peaked, best put away my soaping equipment now, lol! But it's awesome to have a soap come out just how I had imagined it:


Or as someone once said, "I love it when a plan comes together!"

 

[Jersey Girl]

Thanks! I always worry I'm going on too much, but I love reading other people's experiences so I hope mine are useful to someone too!

I actually lost the battle with myself already... I am a weak-willed mortal and the Indian food took an hour to get here

I may have peaked, best put away my soaping equipment now, lol! But it's awesome to have a soap come out just how I had imagined it:
View attachment 55315

Or as someone once said, "I love it when a plan comes together!"

Beautiful!

 

[Mobjack Bay]

Thanks! I always worry I'm going on too much, but I love reading other people's experiences so I hope mine are useful to someone too!

I actually lost the battle with myself already... I am a weak-willed mortal and the Indian food took an hour to get here

I may have peaked, best put away my soaping equipment now, lol! But it's awesome to have a soap come out just how I had imagined it:
View attachment 55315

Or as someone once said, "I love it when a plan comes together!"

Nice! I have a mold to make butterflies, but I keep forgetting to use it. Now I’m inspired!

 

[Tara_H]

Nice! I have a mold to make butterflies, but I keep forgetting to use it. Now I’m inspired!

Go for it! It's the perfect time of year to start a butterfly soap, IMHO