What soapy thing have you done today?

[Catscankim]

I sold three orders of soap today...3 bar special, so nine soaps to three customers. One I had to ship to a friend, so thats a pita. I don't normally ship soaps unless somebody requests it, so I hate the shipping charge that I have to tac on. The other two I got to put in a pretty bag and drop off at work, and get to see their faces as they open their bag and smell their soap LOL.

The other pain in the neck is that in my bags I normally include something extra, I can't do that with my shipping boxes. I do priority mail and with the bubble wrap it takes up exactly 3 bars in the small box. I tried to squeeze a bar in there and it wouldn't work lol. I don't ship a lot, so I really am limited on shipping supplies.

 

[Zing]

My soapy thang is re-stashing a Forum friend's de-stashing. It's another time I've met up with someone here IRL in a parking lot to exchange goods. Kinda feels like a deal goin' down on the DL. The popo parked nearby added to the edginess. Can't wait to try new toys and ingredients! I'm sitting on the couch watching tv and keep smelling all the new bottles, not that I have a problem or anything. Really. I said for real, okay?!

 

[mx5inpenn]

I browsed fragrance oils. Of course I purchased more that I don't need. I also added a Caterpillar to my cart. I didn't get as far as completing the order yet, but I'm guessing I won't hold out too long.

 

[Jersey Girl]

My photo set-up is way more ghetto: a black poster-board and a white poster board from the Dollar Store ($1 each). The floor lamps on each side of my soaping table are angled to direct the light as needed in order to snap pics with my iPhone. It's definitely not pro level, but I was surprised at how much better my photos look with those simple changes. I have too many other hobbies and priorities to spend on photography equipment. Ok, ok, let's be honest, I'm just TOO CHEAP.

Dollar store…errr…$1.25 store poster board here too!

My soapy thang is re-stashing a Forum friend's de-stashing. It's another time I've met up with someone here IRL in a parking lot to exchange goods. Kinda feels like a deal goin' down on the DL. The popo parked nearby added to the edginess. Can't wait to try new toys and ingredients! I'm sitting on the couch watching tv and keep smelling all the new bottles, not that I have a problem or anything. Really. I said for real, okay?!

Popo

 

[Vicki C]

I’ve definitely been blessed with some wonderful deals lately! The destash included a big bag of stearic acid, about four lbs of glycerine, and some castor oil - all things I needed for making shave soap.

There was a lot more, too. I’m telling myself that I’m banned from buying FOs until I use up some of these. Has that worked for anyone here??

Oh, you know how disciplined I am when it comes to buying more fragrance oils. (Runs out to greet FedEx/ups/USPS driver)

 

[lalam]

I browsed fragrance oils. Of course I purchased more that I don't need. I also added a Caterpillar to my cart. I didn't get as far as completing the order yet, but I'm guessing I won't hold out too long.

Oh I had one of those FO browsing days last month. I found myself at the end of NG's long list of oils with 90 1oz samples in my cart. I pared it down to onlyyy 3 dozen, and then patted myself on the back for my great restraint

 

[Dooleykins]

Ugh I know that feel. I have tried to narrow down my "main" scents substantially, but still ended up ordering 2 sampler packs from The Flaming Candle along with the Black Tea FO that I actually went there for.

 

[KeepItSimpleSoap]

I was up at the crack of dawn to get my 6th mix and pour completed. a bit of "delay of game" occurred. There were zero eggs to go with the bacon. I had to make a quick trip to Dollar General. Some you may think that we eat a lot of bacon. Not really, we each eat a strip a day and on Saturdays and Sundays we eat a strip and a half each. It's a little amazing how much bacon grease that we accumulate cooking so little bacon. Now I will admit when the tomatoes get ripe, we eat more bacon. Gotta have the BLTs and I don't care if I have lettuce or not. BTs are fine with me. This morning my wife was telling me about someone making BLTs with fried green tomatoes. Really? I'll take mine raw and red. I do like fried green tomatoes though.
Back to the soap. I got batch 6 done and realized that I have enough rendered grease for batch 7 and 8. I have enough FO for one last batch. I have some samples on the way. they should be here by Saturday around noon. The second set of cavity molds will be here next week. They are coming from California and it seems that a lot of packages from there take 2 or 3 days to "launch" so to speak. I'm stretching my one last plain bar by using my test cocoa swirl on everything except for my face. You can see the brown tint from the cocoa powder but it washes right out of the washcloths. I won't make those again. BTDT.

 

[soapnstuffllc]

Hey fellow soapers.. i have a slight dilemma…i made s 3 pounds of soap the other day. I followed the recipe (or so I thought) i forgot to add the pomace10oz, now my hot process wont harden. Any fixes? I dont want to throw out any soap as my soaping business is struggling. Help!!!!

 

[LynetteO]

I made a 16 oz batch of soap in my tiny silicone molds for hand soaps. I pre-greased them with mineral oil for 1st time ever to see if I can prevent soda ash.

New stick blender, plugged into a new outlet & somehow got trapped by a 5 outlet power adapter. In the time it took me to find cell, call DH from basement to come HELP, my soap seized. Lots of color that wasn’t dispersed.
However, no soda ash except where I missed oiling.

 

[AliOop]

Hey fellow soapers.. i have a slight dilemma…i made s 3 pounds of soap the other day. I followed the recipe (or so I thought) i forgot to add the pomace10oz, now my hot process wont harden. Any fixes? I dont want to throw out any soap as my soaping business is struggling. Help!!!!

Rebatch it and add in the missing oil.

 

[mx5inpenn]

Hey fellow soapers.. i have a slight dilemma…i made s 3 pounds of soap the other day. I followed the recipe (or so I thought) i forgot to add the pomace10oz, now my hot process wont harden. Any fixes? I dont want to throw out any soap as my soaping business is struggling. Help!!!!

You are missing an oil and it won't harden? That seems odd. But it makes it easier to throw it into the crockpot for a rebatch. Just and the oil once it's heated up enough to mix it in evenly.

 

[Vicki C]

Ok hope you’re all sitting down cuz… I GOT A STAINLESS STEEL TABLE!!!! Local seller on FB marketplace. I might have paid too much but it is exactly what I wanted (72x 30) and is cheaper than a new table. I’m so excited. Also made lotion as part of a gift basket for each of my previously mentioned camp friends (yes, you heard right. I’m 61, I went to summer camp in the 70s with these gals). It is scented with Vanilla Blossoms from Natures Garden and smells and feel AMAZING… I could easily fall into this whole lotion making rabbit hole.

 

[AliOop]

Wow, so excited for you, @Vicki C!! You will love that table!

 

[soapnstuffllc]

You are missing an oil and it won't harden? That seems odd. But it makes it easier to throw it into the crockpot for a rebatch. Just and the oil once it's heated up enough to mix it in evenly.

Thank you so much this is extremely perplexing

 

[KeepItSimpleSoap]

I did my 3rd boil for batch 7/8. Also I unmolded batch 6 after the bars were refrigerated for 48 hours. They came out of the molds clean. I believe that I have a dehydration factor going on using the refrigeration process. I'm saying that this is a good thing for my particular process.

 

[AliOop]

I did my 3rd boil for batch 7/8. Also I unmolded batch 6 after the bars were refrigerated for 48 hours. They came out of the molds clean. I believe that I have a dehydration factor going on using the refrigeration process. I'm saying that this is a good thing for my particular process.

You are on quite the roll - great job! Refrigeration (or even the freezer) does help the bars release cleanly from molds, especially detailed molds. Adding salt, or using vinegar for some or all of your water, can work similarly.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

If you haven't done so yet, take a gander at the amazing range of talent displayed in this thread, SMF Giveaway. It is up to 309 posts, mostly just pictures contributed by first-time posters without comments by other members (which would slow down the ability to get through the list, JMHO in a fair amount of time. )

It's hard not to comment, I know, but probably best in the long run. It took me an entire evening or two, while resisting my itchy fingers ready to pounce, to just get through it.

I recognized very few of the contributors. I was impressed by the sheer number of soapmakers on this forum who don't participate regularlly but obviously benefit from being a part of the group.

My favorite poster? I was blown away by post #151 - @Christine Beale, Goat Milk Soap Lady, a Canadian, who joined SMF in May of 2018. She has come a long way since then... just wait until you see what 2,187 bars of soap looks like!!!

Have a look when you have time, maybe this weekend??? and, just for fun, post your favorite here.

ALL FOR FUN AND FUN FOR ALL!

 

[The_Emerald_Chicken]

I'm quite excited to be making soap for the first time since my March challenge soap! (Do you like my beautiful armored mold? )

 

[Christa10]

what a great idea with the legos!!