What soapy thing have you done today?

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Well, four batches done and resting. I did three yesterday but encountered some of the same issues @Douging encountered. All three batches yesterday (all wine) accelerated. I figured that was enough for one day. Today, I did the cider soap and it went beautifully. The fo I used has almost 3% vanilla so I left it uncoloured.

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@Misschief Did you do anything to the wine (heating/boiling), or did you use it as-is? Ethyl alcohol is a known trace accelerator.
I boiled them first, to burn off the alcohol but may not have boiled long enough. They're all fairly sweet so I'm pretty sure that amount of added sugar made a difference as well.
 
Ask a local bootlegger to distill off the alcohol? You can do with it whatever grown-ups do with brandy. It is more gentle to the wine than DIY stovetop boiling, and you're sure to have removed all of the booze from the distillation residues.
But yes, sugar is another point. Both your added sugar, as well as the residual sugar from the wine.

I'm curious how the vanilla FO will behave. Bisulfite, a major component of ZVCS, is also a common wine additive.
 
Ask a local bootlegger to distill off the alcohol, and do with it whatever grown-ups do with brandy? More gentle to the wine, and you're sure to have removed all of it.
But yes, sugar is another point. Both your added sugar, as well as the residual sugar from the wine.

I'm curious how the vanilla FO will behave. Bisulfite, a major component of ZVCS, is also a common wine additive.
To be honest, the wine and cider in the soap is more for label appeal than anything else. Oh, and no extra sugar was added, just the sugars in the wines.

I'm expecting the FO to turn the soap a tan/brown over time; I can work with that. I added a Copper mica line for added interest.
 
Are you going to make venison soap with the fat? Haha- nevermind. I just scrolled up and you said you are. Let me know how it turns out. I'm looking for some venison fat to render...
one of the benefits of butchering them myself this season was keeping all the scraps for rendering. If I take the carcass to the butcher, most of that goes in the trash.
Made up for some deer season delays today. Made 80 of my most popular bath bombs and packaged my 90 holiday soaps. They’re making me so stinking happy!! I’m trying to time an actual release this time, instead of having everything roll out as they’re ready. Super excited!!
nd steamed the ash off my extras.
 

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My husband went fishing for a few days and said he was going to bring back some fish (hopefully) and fresh shrimp. He asked if we had freezer space. We do, sort of. That 9 lb hunk of beef fat was taking up an entire shelf, so I'm rendering it. Also making Yaupon tea while I'm waiting for the instant pot and crock pot to do their thing.
 
Not much soapy today unless we consider cleaning the soapy kitchen a soapy thing lol. I did make soap on Friday that I haven't cut yet because I know I ruined it.

I saw a cranberry soap on BB that I wanted to recreate with slanted layers and a melt and pour "cranberry" on top, so I poured my cranberries (which came out nice), then began pouring my soap, and all was going well until my white layer turned stark orange with the fo, even with the td. I have used this fo before and do not remember it turning orange the first time. It was my soap from september's challenge with the cranberry drop swirl. I loved it so much that I bought a lot more.

Totally annoyed with myself...I dumped the orange soap into the mold too soon and it mixed with the green layer. So much wasted time and oils. I need to stop having hissy fits LOL.

I went back to wsp to see if I inadvertently purchased a different fo than my first bottle, but I didn't. I always check the discoloration and the only one I remember buying that discolored was Sugar Cookie. I guess I went on reviews only, and not the actual specs.

Anyway, after all this catastrophe, I peeked at it today and its white LOL. So now I am doubly annoyed with myself. Still, I don't remember it changing orange the first time I used it.

I salvaged leftover green for soap dough, which was supposed to be piped leaves on top of the soap.

I slept terrible last night because of daylight savings time. I woke up at 1am, got up to pee and went back to bed. Woke up again and looked at the phone and it was 1:15am. SERIOUSLY? Then I woke up again and it was only 3. Finally I got up at 4:30 after looking at a regular clock, not the phone (have gotten used to getting up at 4:30-5 for work, so I figured this was just my normal time getting up). I drank coffee (couldn't figure out why the news wasn't on yet) and started doing laundry and cleaning the inside of the refrigerator, when I realized that it was only now 4:00 (after making coffee, etc) LOL. The second time I woke up is what screwed me up because I imagine thats when the clocks changed back and it was 1:00 again. Glad it wasn't a work day, I would have been there early LOL.

The rest of my day was doing chores around the house. I power washed the front of the house and the driveway and back gardening area. Got my kitchen clean and deep cleaned my fridge and freezer. Laundry done, trash out (trash night), took a nap, and now I'm wide awake when I should be sleeping lol.
 
Quick pic! Soap for the lavender lovers in my life. BB’s Peaceful Lavender behaved super well for layering. The extra mixing to incorporate micas that weren’t premixed took the top layer a little too far for the swirly look I was going for, but it’s close enough!

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Good grief @Mobjack, I replied your soap was beautiful but didn't realize I posted the picture of mine on that same reply. I'm so sorry. That was tacky, and not intended. And your lavender soap Is beautiful. Very peaceful :)
 
I soaped today! I got a brainstorm for a second attempt at a Pittsburgh Steeler soap for my beloved sis's January birthday. It requires 3 mini-column molds and because I have just one mold, it'll be a tedious week of soaping -- and it means doing dishes in a timely fashion, so ugh. First I made up a masterbatch, and then I soaped. So. Much. Math! I've got the first column poured and wrapped in a heating pad rolled inside of a water pitcher.
Also visited dear sis and enjoyed using my long-time cured soap now that she is finally using my soap instead of decorating with my soap. At my dad's, though, I discovered a whole drawer full of my soaps going back years..
Beautiful!

I’m pretty happy! My hot chocolate and hot chocolate mint soap with my first soap dough marshmallows. They smell really good! I used a blend of essential oil peppermint and hot cocoa FO from WSP.
Mm. Mm. Good. So want to drink/eat that!

And @Misschief has inspired me to search for a distillery partner, you know, for, ahem, soaping purposes. There's gotta be a demand for whiskey label appeal, right?!
 
I'm alive! Haha how is everyone?
We caught covid :( But fortunately we came out a lot better than some others. I have to say though, that this virus sucks something hard. It's been a month since recovery and we're still feeling the after effects.

Hence, nothing soapy has been going on lately.. Unless you count showering, washing hands and little butts..

But the soap room/dungeon/workshop is coming along nicely. It's done actually, I just have to set my stuff up and I'm only able to organize a few minutes a day. This was last night.
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Also, my demonspawn has long ago decided that everything that's mine is also his. Not much of a choice since half this room is for him - I'm homeschooling him this year but a lot of his stuff is still in boxes n bags too. This was also last night.
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And I'm so behind on Christmas soaps :(
 
Good grief @Mobjack, I replied your soap was beautiful but didn't realize I posted the picture of mine on that same reply. I'm so sorry. That was tacky, and not intended. And your lavender soap Is beautiful. Very peaceful :)
Oh Basil, no worries ❤ I forgot to post that I LOVE your marshmallows ❤❤❤

@Dawni You sure have been through more than your fair share of challenges and yet you keep moving ahead and smiling. I look forward to seeing a photo or two of you making soap in your new space and the soap, too. 😘

I’m pushing the boundaries now on my holiday soaps - used 38% lye with a new to me FO, OT Cranberry Woods plus a little Orange 10x EO. I attempted a bit of a hanger swirl. We shall see.
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@Misschief your reminding me that I have boiled red wine in the frig. Does the wine discolor the soap at all?

@MellonFriend that top is pretty. The colors in the photo of the soap look much more red and green compared with your concept diagram. I’m on an ipad.
 
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@Misschief your reminding me that I have boiled red wine in the frig. Does the wine discolor the soap at all?

I added Merlot mica to give my red wine soap some colour. That's how I've done all my red wine soaps so I'm not really sure how much colour the red wine would impart, tbh. The white and the rose added no colour at all.
 
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