Man....I miss lilacs so much since moving to the South! Please update on whether they still smell realistic after curing!
What soapy thing have you done today?
- Thread starter FlybyStardancer
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Oooh! Ahh!Baseboards were finished today, so I finally got to unpack all the soapy things into their cabinets. Well, "all" meaning everything except the two 50lb buckets of oils, two large bags of baking soda, and one large bag of Epsom salt in the pantry, and the large box and small bag of lotion and potion containers in the my office closet.
Anyway, I'm excited to have everything organized and ready to soap. But I still have lots more putting away to do before I wouldn't feel too distracted to soap. Normally I'm fully unpacked and set up within days of a move, but so much had to wait until the flooring and baseboards were done, in order for things to be put into closets, etc.
So until soaping can happen, here are some soap cabinet pics for fun!
View attachment 55935View attachment 55937
This is supposed to be a formal living room at the front of the house, but it will be our exercise/soap supply room instead. My sweet hubby is already talking about making me a fold-down table that could go on one wall, so I could actually soap in here instead of lugging everything around the corner to the kitchen, and then back again when I'm done. Not gonna turn that down if he's up for it!
Did my second attempt at the Lollipop swirl tonight. Figured out that I can soap even on evenings when it gets a bit late, if I freeze some of my distilled water for lye solution so it cools down faster! I usually only have a full evening free every couple of weeks otherwise, because I have a baby. I spent forever hand stirring to avoid it thickening up again too fast, and I think it might have worked! I'm out of tallow now though 
I gave my mother-in-law some soap for her birthday yesterday, including a dual lye shaving puck, and she is so enthralled with it! Now my sister's-in-law all want some
I gave my mother-in-law some soap for her birthday yesterday, including a dual lye shaving puck, and she is so enthralled with it! Now my sister's-in-law all want some
Of the four I just tested with the pull throughs, Somali was the only one that didn’t accelerate when I added it to the batter, post emulsion, but before dividing and adding the mica. So, I’d say it had extreme “workability”. That is at 90-95F. And the scent has really softened over just a couple of days past CP. I am really liking it!
So, I had ordered those same molds (the rectangles and ovals) on Amazon, and Amazon lost the package. They made me wait for like a week just to make sure they didn't just find it and send it along, and after that Amazon let me ask for a refund. I reordered them and they should be here Tuesday. Only, I got tired of waiting for the molds and made soap in other molds and now I'm almost out of lye. So when I finally get those molds, I may not be able to actually make soap.
Those are mighty impressive.
So, I had ordered those same molds (the rectangles and ovals) on Amazon, and Amazon lost the package. They made me wait for like a week just to make sure they didn't just find it and send it along, and after that Amazon let me ask for a refund. I reordered them and they should be here Tuesday. Only, I got tired of waiting for the molds and made soap in other molds and now I'm almost out of lye. So when I finally get those molds, I may not be able to actually make soap.
I see Amazon got smart lol. My bro got an "extra" TV that was lost until it magically got delivered.
Tracking on the lost package shows that it left the Amazon warehouse and made it as far as an Amazon warehouse in my state, and that's where it stopped. It never left the second warehouse. I can still see the tracking for it as of this morning, and it's still there.
The replacement will be here tomorrow, supposedly. Tracking shows that it has been shipped (from a different warehouse this time) but it hasn't actually gone anywhere yet.
Ummmm....can you tell which two soaps won’t be making it to the website for sale? An unfortunate drop swirl SNAFU caused my normal batch of 12 soaps to be reduced to 10. 
This is a first for me but I’ve seen some competitors.
This is a first for me but I’ve seen some competitors.
Jubilee8269
Well-Known Member
I made 8 bars of soap yesterday. Two black and six orange. I tried to make a swirl in clear melt and pour and it failed, but worked well at the same time. I don't have the pictures on the computer to show them. But they ended up having really interesting patterns on the inside when you have the bars flat on a surface or up to the light it has starbursts of black and shapes inside of it. my aid and I saw a rabbit in the one bar. It was pretty neat. Just not what I expected for my first experiment at all.
Well so much for sticking with bath soap....I got 10 whole pounds of stearic acid on the way.
Those bars still look neat as heck, I wouldn't have thought anything was wrong with em.
Ummmm....can you tell which two soaps won’t be making it to the website for sale? An unfortunate drop swirl SNAFU caused my normal batch of 12 soaps to be reduced to 10.
This is a first for me but I’ve seen some competitors.
Those bars still look neat as heck, I wouldn't have thought anything was wrong with em.
If you didn't know they weren't meant to be like that, it could totally be a feature, though!Ummmm....can you tell which two soaps won’t be making it to the website for sale? An unfortunate drop swirl SNAFU caused my normal batch of 12 soaps to be reduced to 10.
This is a first for me but I’ve seen some competitors.
For me, I'm still plugging through the huge fat haul, but I did get my oils masterbatch made so I found time to actually make some soaps too
I cut the speedy tracing Castile from yesterday, it looks pretty cool in the end but half the bars are textured on top
The colours are alkanet, paprika and turmeric, as something of an experiment.
I've been daydreaming of smooth glossy bars so I decided to take another stab at the recipe. Just for fun I did the variation with a little coconut and castor oil. Coloured with the remains of the alkanet infusion so hopefully it will be pale purple in a few days.
It didn't trace fast at all this time - and I had just about got it to emulsion when I had to start work and join a call, so I ended up stirring it to trace while I talked!
It certainly came out smooth - it was so featureless I had to put a tool on the picture to give the phone camera something to focus on
Will cut in the morning, I'm hoping for great things.
Also tried an experiment that's been knocking around in my head:
I'll let you all know tomorrow what it's supposed to be when I see how it turns out
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Took first crack at lollipop swirl. Went better than expected. Need to make a few tweaks to my pouring technique but overall it was fun.
Also made some syndet bars. I’ve made two batches using what I call the “hot” process but it’s a PITA so I’m going to go back to using my mixer, or what I call the “cold” process of making them.
Also made some syndet bars. I’ve made two batches using what I call the “hot” process but it’s a PITA so I’m going to go back to using my mixer, or what I call the “cold” process of making them.
Interesting. I could never get everything to combine properly when I made them cold. When I poured in the melted ingredients, they just solidify before I can stir them in. I found it was much easier to use SCI powder and heat it up with the other surfactants before mixing in the melted stuff.
What kind of mixer are you using, and what kind of beaters? Are you using dough hooks?
It worked!
I love being in the phase of a craft where it's still exciting to see how something turns out! And given how much there is to learn about soap I hope to stay in this zone for a very long time...
This was my first soap with my masterbatched oils, so far I would call that a success.
(Edit: funny enough the garden this morning was echoing the design
)
It's been a good soap-cutting morning, I'm also thrilled with how the new ZNSC batch turned out.
Scented with lavender (my favourite!) And coloured lightly with alkanet, likely will end up a light purplish grey. They actually look a little green tinted in real life right now but I don't think that's showing in the photo.
Just washing the tiny bit of residue off my gloves produced quite a lot of lather! I'll be very curious to see what they're like when cured.
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KimW
Well-Known Member
Beautiful soaps beautiful garden. Ahhhhhh. Looks like that tallow (right?) is giving you some lovely white soap!It worked!
I love being in the phase of a craft where it's still exciting to see how something turns out! And given how much there is to learn about soap I hope to stay in this zone for a very long time...
This was my first soap with my masterbatched oils, so far I would call that a success.
(Edit: funny enough the garden this morning was echoing the design
It's been a good soap-cutting morning, I'm also thrilled with how the new ZNSC batch turned out.
Scented with lavender (my favourite!) And coloured lightly with alkanet, likely will end up a light purplish grey. They actually look a little green tinted in real life right now but I don't think that's showing in the photo.
Just washing the tiny bit of residue off my gloves produced quite a lot of lather! I'll be very curious to see what they're like when cured.
KimW
Well-Known Member
violets2217
Well-Known Member
I’m now using soap to de-stress and avoid Stuff! I used the lollipop challenge to experiment with my pvc column molds and my colors dispersed with glycerin. Love the molds... the glycerin not so much. 
A couple weeks ago my washer broke and I spent over $2000 on a new washer and a dishwasher (old one was taken out by a power surge a couple years ago). A couple days before they were supposed to be delivered and installed my washer was put on back order until mid May. They were going to hold my dishwasher until the washer was delivered., so I canceled the washer. Just to get my dishwasher delivered today. But after installing we found out the outlet for the dishwasher is not working. So my dishwasher is sitting in the garage until I get an electrician here to fix the outlet. And still no washer.... and as I was cleaning out under the sink and floor under dishwasher I realized my sink, that I just replaced the drain a couple months ago, is leaking again. I think my soaping clean up is eating away at the putty. So I’m about to try and re seal the drain... or maybe...
I’m going to make some more soap!
A couple weeks ago my washer broke and I spent over $2000 on a new washer and a dishwasher (old one was taken out by a power surge a couple years ago). A couple days before they were supposed to be delivered and installed my washer was put on back order until mid May. They were going to hold my dishwasher until the washer was delivered., so I canceled the washer. Just to get my dishwasher delivered today. But after installing we found out the outlet for the dishwasher is not working. So my dishwasher is sitting in the garage until I get an electrician here to fix the outlet. And still no washer.... and as I was cleaning out under the sink and floor under dishwasher I realized my sink, that I just replaced the drain a couple months ago, is leaking again. I think my soaping clean up is eating away at the putty. So I’m about to try and re seal the drain... or maybe...
I’m going to make some more soap!
It could be the quality of the putty. Some of them don't last a year in normal conditions. I don't even know why that quality is still available. Just last year, twice I had to ask maintenance to come out and fix the leak caused by the putty they used between sink and drain. And I was only there for a few months! Worst stuff ever!I realized my sink, that I just replaced the drain a couple months ago, is leaking again. I think my soaping clean up is eating away at the putty. So I’m about to try and re seal the drain... or maybe...
I’m going to make some more soap!
Bummer about being without either washers right now.
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