What soapy thing have you done today?

[LynetteO]

I should be Spring cleaning on break but instead I have made two batches of soap in as many days. In my attempt to make use of a discoloring FO & do a simple ITPS, I somehow messed up. I poured backwards & added 2Too much caramel coloring! Instead of making a yellow go orange I made yellow go brown! I pepped a swirl tool & when cleaning up I noticed it sat on table, unused! In hind sight, I’m hoping it’s meant to be because a brown & yellow swirl matches the out of bottle smell of the FO. Can hardly wait to see it!

 

[WeLoveWabiSabi]

Followed a tutorial I found on this forum for welding soap together. Went through every step carefully and fully. Soap melted into gooey blobs - they looked like microwaved marshmallows. Everything had to be melted down and repoured, which was incredibly disappointing because I was really happy with the original result. The white top of the soap just didn’t want to stick to the rest of the soap because I waited too long to pour the white part of the soap onto the rest of it. It’s a beer soap scented with BrambeBerry’s Scotch Whiskey, and I was so excited about the layers I put into the soap. The final result is not what I wanted, but at least I managed to salvage what could have been a total loss, and the soap still smells amazing. Live and learn, I guess.

I've had pretty good luck getting soap to stick to itself with just water. Maybe try wetting it down really, really good with a spray bottle, then letting it sit to get sticky before adding the next layer? It did look super cool though. I'm sorry it didn't work out.

Now I'm worried though. I had a soap that I started that was supposed to have two diagonal layers. so that one corner was black and one corner was white. But time got away from me and I had to make other soaps for my biz rather than just experimenting and playing around and I left it just sit in the mold forever. I think it's been at least 4 weeks. I hope that when I finally do the black side that it will stick.

I made pine tar soap. Two batches. The first batch I was pouring it, turned around and realized I forgot to add the essential oil blend. Ooops!! Not the first time I've had unscented pine tar soap. It's such a quick process once you add the lye that I just forgot to think about adding the fragrance. Glad it's my daughters favorite soap for her acne cause I haven't had a lot of luck selling unscented pine tar soap. She'll have plenty, for the entire year. ha ha!

 

[Catscankim]

She'll have plenty, for the entire year. ha ha!

I use that as a selling point: get it now if you really want it..home made soap lasts forever, it will be gone if you want another bar later!! I sell more loaves that way. Cause they are usually like "i want every one you have". Which is 8.

 

[WeLoveWabiSabi]

I use that as a selling point: get it now if you really want it..home made soap lasts forever, it will be gone if you want another bar later!! I sell more loaves that way. Cause they are usually like "i want every one you have". Which is 8.

haha! I wish my daughter were a paying customer. I usually just give her the odd balls and ends. I'm sure I could find customers to buy it though. It's good quality soap. And yeah, at the markets customers always freak out when they see I only have one of something left. They panic buy thinking someone else might get it before the market ends. I usually have more at home though.

 

[Dawni]

Hallo everyone! Been missing you guys! But as usual, I've just been soooo busy with.. Well, life. Haha

Not made soap
But I did check inventory and had to dispose of a few kgs of my butters. The weather has been sucky here lately so that's a bummer. Money earned that's now money lost pfft.

OK now I'm going to back read several pages and oggle everyone's soaps

 

[Zing]

Hallo everyone! Been missing you guys! But as usual, I've just been soooo busy with.. Well, life. Haha

Not made soap
But I did check inventory and had to dispose of a few kgs of my butters. The weather has been sucky here lately so that's a bummer. Money earned that's now money lost pfft.

OK now I'm going to back read several pages and oggle everyone's soaps

Hmm, now, who are you again? Remind me?

 

[Dawni]

Hmm, now, who are you again? Remind me?

I'm the one who does lotsa smacking n banging Mr. Zing... I know you missed me

 

[Zing]

I'm the one who does lotsa smacking n banging Mr. Zing... I know you missed me

Okay, now it's all coming back to me!

 

[~Dragonfly~]

I got my Caterpillar! And I still managed to cut some bars wrong

 

[Zing]

OK now I'm going to back read several pages and oggle everyone's soaps

I can give you a short summary of what you've missed. The main thing was that I GOT FIRST PLACE IN THE FEBRUARY OCEAN-THEMED CHALLENGE!!
(Okay, so I know that sounds kinda braggy -- but really I'm still in shock considering all the professional artists on here. And I was still riding high from placing third two years ago!)

 

[DianaMoon]

I made a mold from a shell and 2 part silicone mold for soap dough & two experimental soaps. Success! Except for the dull yellowish neutral soap color which looks fine in bars but this novelty needs a color. Can you put mica powder into already-made soap dough? I'd have colored beforehand but (tedious long story) I didn't know what I was doing. I made up the idea of soap dough & then I discovered everyone else had.

 

[squarepancakes]

I'm sure many of us relate to that. I passed a friend a bar that was packaged in vellum paper, he kept it in his bag and decided that it smells so good he doesnt want to take it out. Only reason he finally did was because I made him a scent tablet instead. But that feeling really sucks. If I wanted them to place it aside and enjoy the scent, I could have just used cheap oils instead of considering the skin types of them prior to gifting!

I'm proud to report that my little trick worked! My friend removed the soap from his bag and actually used it! He liked it so much that he texted me asking to buy another bar!

In less happy news, I made some embeds two weeks ago (half filled, my first mistake) and placed them flat down thinking that they were somewhat less fluid by then. Horrors, unmolding them today yielded me a 1/2 star and broken heart embed. To the terrazzo soap pile!

 

[Catscankim]

Hallo everyone! Been missing you guys! But as usual, I've just been soooo busy with.. Well, life. Haha

Not made soap
But I did check inventory and had to dispose of a few kgs of my butters. The weather has been sucky here lately so that's a bummer. Money earned that's now money lost pfft.

OK now I'm going to back read several pages and oggle everyone's soaps

I was just thinking about you the other day! Hope all is well.

 

[Jersey Girl]

I got my Caterpillar! And I still managed to cut some bars wrong

Oh noooo! Tell us what you think of it. I’m collecting opinions before I pull the trigger.

 

[Babyshoes]

I'm back from my oopsie ban, did ya miss me?

I made soap with my friend yesterday, and I'm pleased with how mine is looking today. I sent her home with hers in a Pringles tube to unmould and cut in a couple of days - my high lard recipe takes a while to harden fully. She did a simple itp swirl with lavender EO, and coloured about a third of the batter purple. I think it's going to be fab.

My demo batch that I made first, is a giant batch which fills my new big mould, old test size mould *and* a few smaller cavity moulds. In the future, I might split and scent/colour it separately because my recipe moves nice and slow, especially if I soap cool. This time though, as it's only the second time I've made this size recipe, I scented it all with lemongrass and used 4 micas I wanted to test. I was pleased that the batter stayed at a nice light trace the whole time I was working.

Sadly, the new red mica that someone on Facebook promised me would stay red in CP, is (so far) a deep pink. I'm still looking for a really red mica in the UK!
The bright yellow went very orange, but is now mellowing to a paler orange.
At least the blue and purple are nice!
The inside is a drop swirl, with a fun pattern on top. There is a little soda ash on top but I think I'll try to steam it later. I did CPOP to try and brighten the colours, so we'll see what the cut is like in a day or two...

 

[LynetteO]

Cleaned all my soapy dishes from the “Soap Bag” under my table & instead of packing the clean equipment away & cleaning my house, as planned. I’m itching to make more soap because everything is clean & ready to roll.

 

[Babyshoes]

Cleaned all my soapy dishes from the “Soap Bag” under my table & instead of packing the clean equipment away & cleaning my house, as planned. I’m itching to make more soap because everything is clean & ready to roll.

{Creepy whisper} dooooo iiiiiiittttt!

 

[DianaMoon]

My silicon mold & shell soaps. I've sent away for some micas because I think the natural color on these is dull and also for the "chocolate chip cookie" because I don't yet have micas I used cacao powder & cornstarch but those washed away, so it now looks like an unbaked chocolate chip cookie.

 

[~Dragonfly~]

Oh noooo! Tell us what you think of it. I’m collecting opinions before I pull the trigger.

Keep in mind I’ve only used it once, and I used a slab mold. It’s a little fiddly getting the wire into even slots when you have to put the bar under the base. For a shorter soap, I can see not putting the bar underneath and probably easier to line up. I may sharpie every 4th line to make that easier on these eyes. I love the little slider they include to set the soap on, and it cleaned easily. I don’t know if you’re supposed to be able to run the whole thing under water but I didn’t chance it with all the metal screws and line guides, but it still wasn’t hard to clean. I’m sure I’ll get better at lining up wire into slots with more use. I don’t regret buying it.

 

[WeLoveWabiSabi]

I made a mold from a shell and 2 part silicone mold for soap dough & two experimental soaps. Success! Except for the dull yellowish neutral soap color which looks fine in bars but this novelty needs a color. Can you put mica powder into already-made soap dough? I'd have colored beforehand but (tedious long story) I didn't know what I was doing. I made up the idea of soap dough & then I discovered everyone else had.

I've seen it done. Just maybe add the micas little by little too the dough till you get the color you want. You can also paint finished soap and Embeds using a little mica with a little alcohol.