What soapy thing have you done today?

[Zing]

The only soapy thing today was at my work, a food pantry, I received 3 cases of soap loaf ends from my loyal soapmaker donor! Like 60 pounds! Our clients will appreciate the high quality soap. If you own BM Soap Company and are on this forum, bless you!

 

[MarinaB]

Never again will make such huge slab.

 

[AliOop]

@MarinaB I'd loan you my log splitter but it wouldn't get there in time.

 

[msunnerstood]

I got these super cute mini crates from Michaels Online and im going to make them into little gift boxes. I believe they will hold 3 bars of soap and a soap dish.

Now Im getting ready to make soap using Cedar Sage & Lavender FO from Midwest Fragrance. Hubby likes it oob so we'll see what it smells like in soap.

Edit: Here is the pour of Cedar Sage & Lavender. It behaved well. I tried to do a marblish mica top swirl. We will see what it looks like when its cut on top of the individual bars. The scent reminds me of mens deorderant. not over powering but nice.

 

[KimW]

Never again will make such huge slab.

Oh dear! I'm so sorry. Maybe look for a wire cutter for clay. I believe I've seen them even in our small WalMart's craft section. It won't make shiny smooth cuts like your knife, but they're inexpensive and will cut through a slab without splitting. That's what I used for my slabs before I made my sliding cutter.

ETA - Another thing I did long ago was to gently run a kitchen knife down the soap, while it was still in the mold and semi-soft/solid but far from being ready to unmold. I think I would do this after 4-6 hours (made soap before lunch, did knife thing before making dinner). I worked quickly so as not to interrupt gel too much. Mark cut spots on top edges of mold, set a ruler atop the slab mold to keep your knife going straight, wipe off knife before each pass. I found I could go so far as to do each bar, but found it really wasn't necessary, so I just did the loaf slices.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

I’m still not to the point of selling soaps, but I do label everything I give away. Right now, the sizes are a bit of a hodge podge because I’m still undecided about cut widths for logs out of my various molds. There’s something very satisfying about having labelled soap in neat rows.

 

[Tara_H]

Well despite it being a long weekend, I only made one batch of soap today and it was a tiny one first thing in the morning! Challenge attempt so I can't show it
But I did a bunch of soap related things.
I learned how to make cute little bags that fit one bar of soap.


The butcher told me he's been just throwing out loads of fat that he can't use! So I got more from him today and a promise of a whole box next week.
And I made a prototype soap cutter box to address some of the things I didn't like about the one I bought. For a start this one is a lot bigger!

It can eat the other one whole

 

[Ladka]

I learned how to make cute little bags that fit one bar of soap.
View attachment 55781

Can you show us a drawing with dimensions please?

 

[Zing]

I made soap so today was a good day! A friend of a relative liked my "cocorange" lotion bars and wants a similar soap. So armed with great tips from you all -- especially @HowieRoll, thank you -- I came up with a recipe. Several firsts including using sugar in my lye solution (to boost lather since I'm using 30% cocoa butter) and benzoin resinoid for scent. I also used orange 10X essential oil. Since I wanted an orange bar, I used red palm oil at 5%.
It's part of my alternating wall pour series with baking cocoa as a "mica" line in between layers.
Everything is cozy under towels for the night.

 

[Tara_H]

Can you show us a drawing with dimensions please?

I don't have dimensions, but this is the video that gave me the idea. As long as the initial tube is big enough to fit around the soap bar, the base can be adjusted to your preference.

 

[Ladka]

I don't have dimensions, but this is the video that gave me the idea. As long as the initial tube is big enough to fit around the soap bar, the base can be adjusted to your preference.

Thank you so much, Tara_H!

 

[MarinaB]

I try hard to make nice pictures for my Instagram page. It is not for sale though. It is for markets. When I apply to attend a craft event, I send my soap page to an owner of event. Last 2 times I was not accepted. I feel soooo sad. If anyone has time, please, take a look at my page, what I can improve there? My name on Instagram is exotictravelsoap.

 

[violets2217]

So I needed some laundry soap for my laundry detergent. Usually just 100% CO. This time I decided to add some Borax at trace. I used some lye water to dissolve it. And I had some FO from WSP - Agave Nectar odor neutralizing. Smells wonderful and according to the website behaves perfectly! I had my first soap volcano! It was fun and exciting trying to get it back in the mold. But now I have some good smelling laundry soap.. maybe!?!?

 

[earlene]

Never again will make such huge slab.

I ran into the same issue with my first huge slab mold and all I had was kitchen knives and a ruler to turn it into logs to then cut into bars. It was a pain, and taught me a lesson about planning ahead for huge batches of soap!

It was the largest batch to date and I have not been tempted to duplicate such a large batch since, in spite of now having a log cutter as well as a multi-cutter.

Maybe look for a wire cutter for clay. I believe I've seen them even in our small WalMart's craft section. It won't make shiny smooth cuts like your knife, but they're inexpensive and will cut through a slab without splitting. That's what I used for my slabs before I made my sliding cutter.

View attachment 55775

I bought one of those to use for cutting very thin slab slices for rimmed soap. Works pretty well, but there is a definite learning curve to obtain a smooth and uniform thickness.

Another place to buy them is an art supply store (I've never seen them at Walmart). I actually bought mine via Amazon.

Another option if in a hurry, is the cake decorating section at some stores for a cake cutter that looks like this:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Cake-Lev...Slicer-Leveler-Kitchen-Baking-Tools/907490000
I've seen cheaper ones in the $2 to $8 range in various stores with cake specialty stuff (Walmart, Hobby Lobby, Target, etc.)

 

[KimW]

I try hard to make nice pictures for my Instagram page. It is not for sale though. It is for markets. When I apply to attend a craft event, I send my soap page to an owner of event. Last 2 times I was not accepted. I feel soooo sad. If anyone has time, please, take a look at my page, what I can improve there? My name on Instagram is exotictravelsoap.

For starters, your soap is lovely and I think the pics do a fine job of showing your product for purposes of a craft/market event. I can only guess why you weren't accepted. and the only things I can think of is that the markets already have a number of soapers, or there's something to do with COVID restrictions but, again, these are only guesses. Perhaps it would be worth a call to the last two event organizers to ask them why you were not accepted?

 

[Corsara]

I got given $50 for Easter... How much soapy stuff can I get for that much without spending it all on shipping?

Either going to get into syndet, get cavity molds, or a cutter.. so many options!!

 

[KimW]

The dog saw me put the soap loaf into the oven, heard the timer go off, heard me get the loaf out of the oven...now she's looking for the BREAD.

 

[Quanta]

I got given $50 for Easter... How much soapy stuff can I get for that much without spending it all on shipping?

Either going to get into syndet, get cavity molds, or a cutter.. so many options!!

If you want a cost effective source for surfactants for making syndet bars, I recommend makeyourown.buzz. This is the version of SCI I recommend, too: Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate Powder
They also have SLSa and CAPB and both versions of BTMS. They have cetyl alcohol and even silicones if you want to put some in conditioner bars. Everything is waaaaay less expensive than other sources. I mean some of the more expensive ingredients are like half what others charge. And their shipping charges are not outrageous, either. They have excellent quality products and responsive customer service people.

They didn't pay me to say this. I'm just a really happy customer. They messed up my order one time but they made it right really quickly.
I probably would never have started making shampoo bars if I had to pay what everyone else charges for the ingredients!

 

[Corsara]

If you want a cost effective source for surfactants for making syndet bars, I recommend makeyourown.buzz. This is the version of SCI I recommend, too: Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate Powder
They also have SLSa and CAPB and both versions of BTMS. They have cetyl alcohol and even silicones if you want to put some in conditioner bars. Everything is waaaaay less expensive than other sources. I mean some of the more expensive ingredients are like half what others charge. And their shipping charges are not outrageous, either. They have excellent quality products and responsive customer service people.

They didn't pay me to say this. I'm just a really happy customer. They messed up my order one time but they made it right really quickly.
I probably would never have started making shampoo bars if I had to pay what everyone else charges for the ingredients!

Thank you for the suggestion! I have been shocked at the prices for some stuff

 

[Tara_H]

The dog saw me put the soap loaf into the oven, heard the timer go off, heard me get the loaf out of the oven...now she's looking for the BREAD.

Poor dog! Of course this must be a sign that you should be making more soap

For me, I spent a lot of time yesterday making striped soap the long way... And after all that and much painstaking calculation for the stripes, 5 separate batches, weighing of mica, etc... I forgot to account for the volume of the egg!

So the final (red) stripe is somewhat underrepresented. There are 5, but you can barely tell.


Interestingly it seems the purple pigment is weaker than the blue or red, it seems to have lost out in the combinations.

Edit: cut it this evening and I'm heartbroken over how everything else is just right - even the cutting came out perfect with the new box, and you can smell the guava and passion fruit even over the eggs - but there's that red half-stripe there just taunting me...