What soapy thing have you done today?

[Basil]

I made these soaps that I'm going to sell and donate all the proceeds to the Ukrainian Red Cross. (The dried flowers on top are sunflower petals.) View attachment 65016

Those are beautiful! I saw others are doing the same. I plan on making them as well and my daughter will sell and donate for me. So many different causes to donate to. @JoyfulSudz I’m sure you’ll be successful with your cause. Can I ask what scent you used or did you?

 

[Feelin' Soapy]

Those are beautiful! I saw others are doing the same. I plan on making them as well and my daughter will sell and donate for me. So many different causes to donate to. @JoyfulSudz I’m sure you’ll be successful with your cause. Can I ask what scent you used or did you?

Thank you! It was hard to choose, but I settled on the Ukrainian Red Cross -- a site recommended by Forbes Magazine.
The fragrance is a combo of Nurture's Persephone's Kiss and Star Showers.
Hope you do well with your Ukraine soaps!

 

[Zing]

I made these soaps that I'm going to sell and donate all the proceeds to the Ukrainian Red Cross. (The dried flowers on top are sunflower petals.) View attachment 65016

I am so glad you shared this! You have sparked an idea. I have felt powerless about the situation -- but this is something I can do. Do you mind sharing the colorants you used? They are brilliant. I have not had good luck with yellow.

 

[AliOop]

An accidentally discovered tip for obtaining a good yellow: use Nurture's Awaken fragrance!

The notes say that it discolors to a light yellow. However, when it turned my batter a dark tan, I panicked and added a good bit of TD in an attempt to lighten it. Even with all that TD, I have quite the yellow soap (fortunately, that probably improved my overall soap design; I'd show a pic, but it's my challenge soap for this month, so you will have to wait). Anyway, combining that fragrance with some yellow mica should produce a really nice yellow.

 

[Zing]

Thanks for the tip, @AliOop! Tonight I finished packing up 2 dozen lotion bars and 1 dozen lip balms to ship to my neice to share with her Navy boot camp mates. This uncle is so dang proud of her! She is thriving at boot camp! Many of us worried she'd become a permanent fixture in her mom's basement playing video games. She's floundered in the past but is finally launched.

 

[Feelin' Soapy]

I am so glad you shared this! You have sparked an idea. I have felt powerless about the situation -- but this is something I can do. Do you mind sharing the colorants you used? They are brilliant. I have not had good luck with yellow.

That was it for me exactly! I feel powerless and it helps doing this one small thing. Many drops in a bucket can eventually fill it to the top!
I used Nurture micas -- Proud Peacock with a touch of Klein Blue for the top. Firefly Yellow for the bottom.
Good luck making the bars and your perfect yellow!

 

[Basil]

Thank you! It was hard to choose, but I settled on the Ukrainian Red Cross -- a site recommended by Forbes Magazine.
The fragrance is a combo of Nurture's Persephone's Kiss and Star Showers.
Hope you do well with your Ukraine soaps!

Thank you so much! We have friends who participate in Doctors Without Borders so we’ll be doing that. Good luck to you as well!

 

[Catscankim]

I unmolded last nights soap, but didn't cut it yet because I don't know what to do with it. all the corners stuck in the mold, so will be losing a few usable but unsellable bars. I unmolded early and always do, but its been raining if that matters. I dunno...

I made a thin blue line charcoal soap tonight. At the last minute I added a gold mica line. Hope that wasnt a mistake cause I didn't need to do it, I just felt like it would be a nice touch.

I wanna make a Ukraine soap, but haven't decided on colors yet.

 

[Catscankim]

I just cut two batches of soap: a lemon bar scented yellow/white swirl (with no bubbles yay!), and my attempt at yet another thin blue line soap.

I think I am usually good at straight lines in my soaps, but doing a thin blue line seems to elude me. I don't know why, but my lines always come out wonky. Too thick or thin, or just plain crooked. I'm going to have to come up with another plan, or just give up the concept completely.

 

[maryloucb]

I just cut two batches of soap: a lemon bar scented yellow/white swirl (with no bubbles yay!), and my attempt at yet another thin blue line soap.

I think I am usually good at straight lines in my soaps, but doing a thin blue line seems to elude me. I don't know why, but my lines always come out wonky. Too thick or thin, or just plain crooked. I'm going to have to come up with another plan, or just give up the concept completely.

I feel your pain! I have at least 3 batches of thin blue line fails! And so many people want me to make it. It’s a pain and my least favorite soap to make.

 

[Catscankim]

My plan was to give it to our cops that man our ER at the hospital. I love those guys/gals. Our ER keeps them pretty busy. Plus I missed an unofficial deadline for an officer friend who died in the line of duty. EOW

 

[maryloucb]

My plan was to give it to our cops that man our ER at the hospital. I love those guys/gals. Our ER keeps them pretty busy. Plus I missed an unofficial deadline for an officer friend who died in the line of duty. EOW

That is very sweet of you, and so sorry to hear about your friend

I make 3 separate batches for the 3 layers and mix them when the previous layer is set up. It’s the only way I can remotely get straight lines.

 

[kittyclark53]

That is very sweet of you, and so sorry to hear about your friend

I make 3 separate batches for the 3 layers and mix them when the previous layer is set up. It’s the only way I can remotely get straight lines.

That's a great idea!

I made these soaps that I'm going to sell and donate all the proceeds to the Ukrainian Red Cross. (The dried flowers on top are sunflower petals.) View attachment 65016

Beautiful and the colors are Marvelous!

 

[Catscankim]

That is very sweet of you, and so sorry to hear about your friend

I make 3 separate batches for the 3 layers and mix them when the previous layer is set up. It’s the only way I can remotely get straight lines.

I have a pretty good grip on making straight layers. It is just this soap that is giving me troubles. I guess cause its not forgiving. I have a non-scientific theory about the charcoal layers being heavier than the blue mica layer.

Then there is the color blue. It driving me batty. I will mix a bit of mica w/oil and it seems like a perfect blue, but not so much in the soap.

I have one more try left in me. After that I am done lol.

Anyway, my soapy thing today...

My aunt who wants something "good for her skin". I made two batches of shea butter soap. One is my own recipe with 95% shea, 5% castor, and sugar. And the other is @Zany_in_CO 67% shea. Only about 10 days in, I tested two scraps of soap.

Both felt really nice for 10 day old soap. I kinda like my color better: like a nice creamy nutty white, whereas the 67% soap has a distinct translucent coconut look . But zanys bubbles were awesome. Far superior than my 95% shea. Mine got plenty of bubbles but I had to really work up the soap to get them... zanys had nice thick creamy sustainable bubbles with almost no work at all.

Can't really comment on the after-feel of the soaps being at only less than two weeks old. My hands right now feel really dry after washing with both young soaps one after the other lol.

So +1 to mine for the color, but everything else goes to Zany's recipe so far.

Didn't intend to make this a mine vs zany competition LOL. It's definitely not. I just tested both soaps just now. I'm honestly just really excited that my soap bubbled at all.

Excited for the cure after a few more weeks to see how they behave in the shower. Thank you for the recipe zany. I think yours are winning this unintended race so far.

 

[LisaBoBisa]

View attachment 64668
Yesterday I made a small batch to try out my "homemade" lard and my new silicon cavity molds. (Side note—I was pretty pleased to find this succulent mold at our local Michael's!) My standard recipe turns out much nicer if it goes through gel phase...but these didn't gel. Can anyone direct me to threads here with info about how to gel soap in individual cavity molds?

OMG I just bought two of those at Michael’s today! The crazy thing is, I paid $15+tax and shipping for a 4-succulent mold from BrambleBerry (unmolded my first batch of succulents Monday, so happy with the shape), and when I brought one of the soaps to Michaels today to compare their mold, my soap slipped right into the cheaper Michael’s version.

So Michael’s’ mold is identical to BB’s for the middle two succulents. Bought two 6-succulent molds with a coupon for 12.78+tax. So much cheaper—you were smart to buy them at Michael’s instead of BB— and now I can pour 2 lbs of succulents at a time w/ 3 molds.

FTR, I CP Oven Processed mine by heating up the oven to the lowest setting for a minute, covering the cavity mold with a silicon liner, wrapping the mold and the cookie sheet it sat on with a big towel, and sticking that bundle into the turned-off-but-still-warm oven. I left it in there overnight.

Seemed to work:

colorant: spirulina

I could use advice for avoiding
bubbles in those leaf tips—it happens when i pour roses, too.

Those are really pretty!!!


I make my own cigar band labels using 65 lb wt card stock and the cricut. I get 4 labels to one sheet with a circle cut in the middle showing the bar, and the band covering up to both top and bottom edge. I really like the way they look.

@Basil these sound wonderful—would love to see a picture of the cutout cigar band labels!

 

[Zany_in_CO]

Thank you for the recipe zany.

My pleasure, Kim. Keep up the good work and thanks for sharing!!!

 

[maryloucb]

I have a pretty good grip on making straight layers. It is just this soap that is giving me troubles. I guess cause its not forgiving. I have a non-scientific theory about the charcoal layers being heavier than the blue mica layer.

Then there is the color blue. It driving me batty. I will mix a bit of mica w/oil and it seems like a perfect blue, but not so much in the soap.

Interesting. I've never done lines except in the tbl soap, so that's been my only experience! In my next batch I'm going to try indigo for the blue. I know it won't be as bright as the mica blue, but I try to use only natural ingredients, so we shall see how it turns out!

 

[Christa10]

I was googling how to get a good yellow color and found this recipe that looks good but I have no experience using carrots to create the color. Any thoughts on doing this to get a nice yellow color? I don't have the fragrance/colors mentioned in the original beautiful photo that started this thread, and don't want to have to order something and wait for it to arrive, so I thought perhaps this would be an alternative that I could do sooner - here is the link: All Natural Carrot Soap Recipe with Real Carrots

 

[AliOop]

I could use advice for avoiding
bubbles in those leaf tips—it happens when i pour roses, too.

Pour in a little batter, and use a small paint brush or makeup brush to paint the soap into the crevices to remove the little air pockets. Then pour in the rest of the batter.

I think Oh Yvonne was the first YouTuber I saw doing this, and it works very well for all kinds of detailed molds where air can get caught as you pour.

 

[LisaBoBisa]

I was googling how to get a good yellow color and found this recipe that looks good but I have no experience using carrots to create the color. Any thoughts on doing this to get a nice yellow color? I don't have the fragrance/colors mentioned in the original beautiful photo that started this thread, and don't want to have to order something and wait for it to arrive, so I thought perhaps this would be an alternative that I could do sooner - here is the link: All Natural Carrot Soap Recipe with Real Carrots

Yes!! I love LovelyGreens! I tried those instructions last Sept, and the results were beautiful. So far I’ve done two batches of soap with carrot puree as colorant. I weighed 4tb carrot purée PPO as part of my liquids, then added the rest of the weight in distilled water, then added my lye mixture. After it reacted and cooled down to the right temperature, I strained the mixture into my oils and proceded as usual (both batches were hot process). I worried a little of my lye would be strained out with the carrot solids, but the soap didn’t seem overly superfatted. It was my second time trying Hot Process, and my freehand-cutting is pretty wobbly:

The first batch turned out a bright sunflower yellow. The second time, I added 1tsp honey ppo to give it more of a gold color. The bars that didn't see much light held their color well; the bars that cured near a sunny window faded to a pale lemon yellow over a few months.