What soapy thing have you done today?

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Hallo all! The only thing soap related that I did today was take pics of my almost done soap studio/lab/dungeon/sanctum/room (yes, I want and need a name for it lol.. Any ideas?)

Here's one
View attachment 60099
Still lots more work to do. The metal bracket things are for the fake walls of the "curing room" and my shelves will all be adjustable

Hope everyone had/is having a great weekend!
It’s great to have an update from you. That looks like a fantastic soaping space. It has way too much light for a dungeon. I can envision you in a studio or a lab!
 
It’s great to have an update from you. That looks like a fantastic soaping space. It has way too much light for a dungeon. I can envision you in a studio or a lab!

Nice to see you!

I mean to come on here more often but things have been really hectic as of late with construction (my soaping space is within a commercial+residential building my parents are having made next to the house so there's a lot more than just this room that needs decision making and overseeing), and the pandemic making things slooooow.... And getting ready to homeschool this demon spawn of mine, and with the elder one starting university tomorrow/later.. Helping mom with her fruit n veggie business.. And of course, my grandma, y'all know that story.

There's not enough hours in a day lol as it is it's almost 4am here haha but I hope to be posting about actual soap soon
 
Nice to see you!

I mean to come on here more often but things have been really hectic as of late with construction (my soaping space is within a commercial+residential building my parents are having made next to the house so there's a lot more than just this room that needs decision making and overseeing), and the pandemic making things slooooow.... And getting ready to homeschool this demon spawn of mine, and with the elder one starting university tomorrow/later.. Helping mom with her fruit n veggie business.. And of course, my grandma, y'all know that story.

There's not enough hours in a day lol as it is it's almost 4am here haha but I hope to be posting about actual soap soon
OMG, you really have your hands full. Congrats on sending one off to university. 👏🏻
 
Hallo all! The only thing soap related that I did today was take pics of my almost done soap studio/lab/dungeon/sanctum/room (yes, I want and need a name for it lol.. Any ideas?)

Here's one
View attachment 60099
Still lots more work to do. The metal bracket things are for the fake walls of the "curing room" and my shelves will all be adjustable

Hope everyone had/is having a great weekend!
It's your workshop! Congrats on getting one off to college and good luck with the home schooling-
 
It had been way too long since I made one of my staple soaps. %100 tallow lavender rosemary. I forgot that should NOT wait 24 hrs to cut it! My poor wire cutter rang with the twang of despair for every cut!!
I intentionally soaped at 120f to try to avoid stearic spots, and got them anyway. Kind of bummed. What else can I do to avoid them?
 

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It had been way too long since I made one of my staple soaps. %100 tallow lavender rosemary. I forgot that should NOT wait 24 hrs to cut it! My poor wire cutter rang with the twang of despair for every cut!!
I intentionally soaped at 120f to try to avoid stearic spots, and got them anyway. Kind of bummed. What else can I do to avoid them?
Are you sure they are stearic spots? The wire cutter can sometimes make air bubbles more pronounced.
 
Are you sure they are stearic spots? The wire cutter can sometimes make air bubbles more pronounced.
Ooooh that may be it. I had to SB way longer than I’m used to. It was really slow to trace at first, and then BAM! Went thick as I was pouring. I bet it’s air bubbles. Oh well... guess they look rustic!
higher temps is how to avoid stearin spots though, correct?
 
I have molded (err, moulded?) some moustache and hat embeds that are going to be placed on my Gentlemans soap.

Then I went and pet checked on some old soaps I have saved from earlier years. They had still no signs of rancidiy, and I didn`t smell much of any particular fragrance. Just some generic soap smell that isn`t unpleasant, but nothing to write home about.
 
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I have molded (err, moulded?) some moustache and hat embeds that are going to be placed on my Gentlemans soap.
Depends if you are a British or American English user. I switch between the two spellings quite regularly.

Ooooh that may be it. I had to SB way longer than I’m used to. It was really slow to trace at first, and then BAM! Went thick as I was pouring. I bet it’s air bubbles. Oh well... guess they look rustic!
higher temps is how to avoid stearin spots though, correct?
yes but yer wanna be careful that the higher temp doesn't cause the batter to thicken too quickly. It's a juggling act I tell ya, a juggling act! 🤪
 
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(yes, I want and need a name for it lol.. Any ideas?)
Call it Kurt. This is just a random name that popped into my mind reading ths, and is utterly unfitting for a location. Nobody in my closer acquaintances is called Kurt, so my subconsciousness is free to associate wildly. It connects this name to a middle-aged bald man, not the brightest person, but very good-natured, sociable, and spreads happiness wherever he's going. A humourous guy, but not overly tidy, and tardy at times. You could “drop by Kurt”, or Kurt could “call for you to look after his children”, lol.

I think there is something wrong with me...
Not sure if we're the best audience to judge this 🤭🤔
Honestly, if such issues are what keeps you awake at night, then you're a very lucky person (or, well, hopelessly psychic/romantic, but then again, better ask a professional, not random internet strangers who migh or might not be in a very similar situation to justify to themselves/their intimates).
To speak from myself: If not for the landfill, an embarrassing portion of my soaps does not end up being flushed down into the sewerage (not a very romantic ending either, if you think about it), but is circulating as rebatch/salt-out/confetti, and this keeps me from a more definite confession of the obvious 😩.
 
Hallo all! The only thing soap related that I did today was take pics of my almost done soap studio/lab/dungeon/sanctum/room (yes, I want and need a name for it lol.. Any ideas?)

Here's one
View attachment 60099
So good to see and hear from you! This made my day. Your soapy shop is delightful and light and definitely not a dungeon. Best wishes on your transitions with the kiddo -- sending a child to college is equal parts pride and loss.
 
Nice to see you too @dibbles! Yes, thankfully enough, I am quite well hehe

@ResolvableOwl, unfortunately I do know someone named Kurt, and you've described him perfectly, except that he isn't middle aged nor bald lol but maybe I'll name our next dog that 🤣

So good to see and hear from you! This made my day. Your soapy shop is delightful and light and definitely not a dungeon. Best wishes on your transitions with the kiddo -- sending a child to college is equal parts pride and loss.
Always good to see you Mr. Zing!
Here in the Philippines covid is still bad, in fact, we're in our nth lockdown since it all started, this round til end of August. A lot of universities, including my son's, have opted for distance learning for the freshman (no laboratory or field work), so he'll be with us for another year still.

After that comes the loss as this school is about 1.5hrs away by plane as it is only one of three schools with the degree he wanted - Marine Biology - which, he's been telling me he wanted to do since before junior high. I'm proud that he's brave enough to go for something other than the usual business/medicine/law/accounting/engineering, but a little apprehensive coz I have no idea what our local job scene is like for Marine biologists (which probably means there isn't much lol). I foresee him having to go even further than our islands for work.

I feel old I'll tell you that lol
And I'm sorry everyone else for non-soap related stuff lol
 
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@Dawni There are jobs for marine biologists, even at the entry level. They are mostly technical research support type positions. He needs to gain research experience and develop strong quantitative skills (chemistry, physics, calculus, statistics) as an undergrad to be most competitive. Even for biologists, we always look at the other science and math coursework first. Some policy coursework is good, too. If he ultimately decides to go to graduate school, tell him to contact me! ❤
 
So I am doing something I should have done a long time ago, testing which butters I like best. It basically ended up being a plop in and hope for something nice looking. I was pleasantly surprised at the design, disappointed at the fact that the yellow was too pale and the purple didn't show up very well. I expected the air bubbles.
2761040F-33D4-44B9-A64F-DF135CD5D3BD.jpeg
 
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Depends if you are a British or American English user. I switch between the two spellings quite regularly.

Being a Norwegian I think I have ended up like a box of Bassets Allsorts, a mix or different things:p
I googled it yesterday, after I wrote it to see if there were differences between the two languages, and as you pointed out, there were.

I have an american friend I have emailed back and forth with for years, so although my English teacher back in school had imprinted proper English in the back of my head for years, I have apparently been influenced by that too. My English teacher was actally English and very proper. ("Nooo, my dear, it isn`t pronounced "fooore-heeeaad" it is pronounced "FORR-IDD".)
40 years has passed, still etched into my mind that is!🤓

Now off to make lye sollution for my gentlemans soap! I posted some pictures of the embeds I made for that soap, but it is still awaiting moderation in the media gallery. Hopefully they will let me know if I posted in the wrong section...

Not sure if we're the best audience to judge this 🤭🤔
Honestly, if such issues are what keeps you awake at night, then you're a very lucky person (or, well, hopelessly psychic/romantic, but then again, better ask a professional, not random internet strangers who migh or might not be in a very similar situation to justify to themselves/their intimates).
To speak from myself: If not for the landfill, an embarrassing portion of my soaps does not end up being flushed down into the sewerage (not a very romantic ending either, if you think about it), but is circulating as rebatch/salt-out/confetti, and this keeps me from a more definite confession of the obvious 😩.

Uhm, I think it is actually best to be judged by a jury of my peers. That way we can be equally nuts normal or crazy dedicated in our craft... 👀

Right?
Right?
😬🙀
 
So I am doing something I should have done a long time ago, testing which butters I like best. It basically ended up being a plop in and hope for something nice looking. I was pleasantly surprised at the design, disappointed at the fact that the yellow was too pale and the purple didn't show up very well. I expected the air bubbles.
View attachment 60106
On 📍& 🪡 waiting the results.
:swinging:
 
I'm making a list and checking it twice... and it's way too early to get Christmas songs stuck in my head...
Starting to get into planning mode for soapmaking. This week I'll start filling my MB buckets.
Dug in over the weekend into some research on Sodium Citrate, so I've added a trial run of making my own onto this coming weekend's schedule.
Made the list of restocks and new products (fall themed scrubs and lotions) that need to get made before my first fall show in 2 weeks.
Sent out wholesale pricing lists to a couple of new clients.

Now to just have the time to do everything that I'm planning.
 
I made soap for the August challenge today. After dreaming up all kinds of complicated designs, I decided I should master the ombre technique first. It’s so hard to control the impulse to be a soap architect.

I’m also doing a series of experiments this month. I made five soaps that have the same “recipe properties”, with each batch based on a different hard fat or hard fat combo. The fatty acid profiles across the batches are as close as I can get them after considerable iteration. Palmitic + stearic is controlled across the series, but there is a bit of variation in p:s. None of the soaps are stearic dominant. I used NS 8th & Ocean because I want the tests to reflect how I make soap, i.e. usually with an FO or EO added. It behaved well enough in every batch and does not discolor. There’s no colorant added to the main batter. The next experiment depends on how I like the early testing of this first round. Here‘s a visual of the first set.

View attachment 60088
Just lovely
 

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