What soapy thing have you done today?

[KiwiMoose]

Today I had a shower with @Zing

 

[KiwiMoose]

Haha, now that i have your attention - today I had a shower with @Zing 's patchouli blend soap. Oh my - it smells so delicious! He had some friends travelling New Zealand so I got a special delivery of that and his famous 'Spring Clean' blend. And some of his lotion bars! oh wow - they really put mine to shame - they are such a lovely consistency and shape ( I WANT that mold Zing!)
How cool that we can make these connections with each other across such a huge distance, eh?

 

[dmcgee5034]

Haha, now that i have your attention - today I had a shower with @Zing 's patchouli blend soap. Oh my - it smells so delicious! He had some friends travelling New Zealand so I got a special delivery of that and his famous 'Spring Clean' blend. And some of his lotion bars! oh wow - they really put mine to shame - they are such a lovely consistency and shape ( I WANT that mold Zing!)
How cool that we can make these connections with each other across such a huge distance, eh?

Ok, that was hysterical, @KiwiMoose
This is the absolute coolest thing ever!! What a neat idea and lovely gift.

 

[CLMP]

My first Hightop and Easter soap

Wowsers those are amazing nice!

 

[CLMP]

Haha, now that i have your attention - today I had a shower with @Zing 's patchouli blend soap. Oh my - it smells so delicious! He had some friends travelling New Zealand so I got a special delivery of that and his famous 'Spring Clean' blend. And some of his lotion bars! oh wow - they really put mine to shame - they are such a lovely consistency and shape ( I WANT that mold Zing!)
How cool that we can make these connections with each other across such a huge distance, eh?

That's Awesome sounds so fun too! It's amazing the way we can connect from so far away and all over the world even in just seconds imagine if we were still in the 1800s with horses and buggies lol.

 

[Catscankim]

Haha, now that i have your attention - today I had a shower with @Zing 's patchouli blend soap. Oh my - it smells so delicious! He had some friends travelling New Zealand so I got a special delivery of that and his famous 'Spring Clean' blend. And some of his lotion bars! oh wow - they really put mine to shame - they are such a lovely consistency and shape ( I WANT that mold Zing!)
How cool that we can make these connections with each other across such a huge distance, eh?

That is really the coolest thing ever! I'm so jealous on top of that.

 

[Zing]

Haha, now that i have your attention - today I had a shower with @Zing 's patchouli blend soap. Oh my - it smells so delicious! He had some friends travelling New Zealand so I got a special delivery of that and his famous 'Spring Clean' blend. And some of his lotion bars! oh wow - they really put mine to shame - they are such a lovely consistency and shape ( I WANT that mold Zing!)
How cool that we can make these connections with each other across such a huge distance, eh?

Just did a double-take. Wait, what? What thread is this? What forum is this?

This has been in the works for weeks now and am glad it worked out!! I didn't want to mention it here before so as to not jinx it. When I learned my friends were traveling to New Zealand, I reached out to our good Kiwi friend here who was kind enough to be hostess to them.

This is the only social media I'm on and I was quite caught off guard years ago, first that there was a whole soapy sub-culture, and second that I felt real human connections to people who are just typing! Am very grateful here to @KiwiMoose in particular for hosting my friends -- and to all my soap peeps here who build a small world-wide community.

And someone is lucky she lives across the globe. Mrs. Zing doesn't like to share her man.

 

[VikingChick]

Haha, now that i have your attention - today I had a shower with @Zing 's patchouli blend soap. Oh my - it smells so delicious! He had some friends travelling New Zealand so I got a special delivery of that and his famous 'Spring Clean' blend. And some of his lotion bars! oh wow - they really put mine to shame - they are such a lovely consistency and shape ( I WANT that mold Zing!)
How cool that we can make these connections with each other across such a huge distance, eh?

How cool! You know, I travel all over the place for work…..it’d be fun to try to do some soapy swaps as I go.

 

[Servant4Christ]

I just made my first salt bars, but I can't remember if I'm supposed to cover/ insulate them since I used individual cavity molds. I wanted to make a loaf but was too chicken. I should've. I will next time if I like them after cure.

 

[Boxergirl1]

My first Hightop and Easter soap

Wow these are amazing I have lots of practice to do as a beginner

 

[Mobjack Bay]

I just made my first salt bars, but I can't remember if I'm supposed to cover/ insulate them since I used individual cavity molds. I wanted to make a loaf but was too chicken. I should've. I will next time if I like them after cure.

There’s no need to cover salt bars made in cavity molds. They’re going to ash up no matter what you do and they get hard really fast. If you decide to make a batch using a loaf mold, be vigilant. I vaguely recall reading a detailed post, possibly by @IrishLass , where the maker described how they decided when to cut salt bars made in a loaf mold. As I recall, the soap was cut after it had gelled, but while it was still quite warm.

 

[mx5inpenn]

Hmmmm it's been a long while since we had an exchange. <compose dm added to the to do list>

 

[Catscankim]

Just did a double-take. Wait, what? What thread is this? What forum is this?

This has been in the works for weeks now and am glad it worked out!! I didn't want to mention it here before so as to not jinx it. When I learned my friends were traveling to New Zealand, I reached out to our good Kiwi friend here who was kind enough to be hostess to them.

This is the only social media I'm on and I was quite caught off guard years ago, first that there was a whole soapy sub-culture, and second that I felt real human connections to people who are just typing! Am very grateful here to @KiwiMoose in particular for hosting my friends -- and to all my soap peeps here who build a small world-wide community.

And someone is lucky she lives across the globe. Mrs. Zing doesn't like to share her man.

I used to play an online game and became friends with my club members over the years. My (now) ex-boyfriend used to get upset that i was talking to them. Some even lived somewhat local.

One day I had a huge party down at the intercoastal and invited a few selected online friends...honestly, I had been talking with them for longer than i knew my boyfriend. One lived in my city, one lived about 45 minutes away, and one lived in washington state. They all came. The one in washington actually stayed at our house.

My bf was so freaked out at first. But it worked out so well that he asked the one from washington to stay longer at our house, which he declined because he was going up to stay with the one from 45 min away for two days before his flight back. It was just really cool. All of us sitting on our back porch after the party having a few drinks. That guy even got up and made us breakfast and all.

It was really the neatest thing. I knew these ppl online via the game, and via phone/text/fb for nearly 8 years. I even knew their wives etc. I don't recommend by any means to just willy-nilly invite people to your house that you met online, but I REALLY REALLY knew these ppl. It was great having all of us from a group that we knew each other for so long and having us all together at the same physical place...and playing the game online from my house and everybody else in our club online knowing that we were all together playing.

We were going to make this a yearly gathering, but the game shut down unexpectedly. I still keep in touch with the local guy and the one that lives 45 min away...plus a few others that I haven't met in person. It is amazing what kind of connections that you can make online. Even here at this forum I have a few connections that I now call my friends.

I think you need to be able to read people and be able to spot a scam...which is why I will say that it is not always smart to invite ppl to your home or give them your address. I talked to these people for 8 years and "was there" for all of their new grand babies, new puppies, new houses, new jobs, marriages/divorces, even one going through rehab.

Human connections are real in the online world. So now we need to have a gathering for us here at SMF LOL.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

I can’t seem to find the recent thread about lavender turning brown on the top of soap, so posting here, especially for @Nona'sFarm This soap was made at the beginning of February using 40% lye concentration. This is a mixture of flowers from a friend’s garden that I dried. The rose petals graded from pinkish red to yellow at the center edge. I’ve had similarly good results with other botanicals, including lavender, but don’t have any photos of those soaps.

 

[Catscankim]

I haven't done anything soapy yet, but I plan to LOL. Just not sure what yet.

But sort of soap thing: I FINALLY sat down this morning and did a cost break down of how much it actually cost me to make my regular, standard 1000g of soap per bar. Before this I was only guesstimating, and my pricing was based off of what I used to sell for a MLM homemade soap and BnB company.

The only thing I didn't account for was the price of packaging, which I will do that eventually, but so far I have not gotten 100% set on packaging, which has been my real hang-up with selling consistently.

In the end, I was probably only off about $.50 per bar than what I guesstimated my cost is, but at least now I have a breakdown on what raw materials cost per gram, at least for that bar.

Also didn't account for website hosting etc. I just did a raw material breakdown for making the soap.

 

[Catscankim]

I can’t seem to find the recent thread about lavender turning brown on the top of soap, so posting here, especially for @Nona'sFarm This soap was made at the beginning of February using 40% lye concentration. This is a mixture of flowers from a friend’s garden that I dried. The rose petals graded from pinkish red to yellow at the center edge. I’ve had similarly good results with other botanicals, including lavender, but don’t have any photos of those soaps.

View attachment 71102

I didn't see the thread. Is it because you used the lye concentration of 40% that you didn't get discoloration of the botanicals?

Lovely soap as usual

 

[dmcgee5034]

Human connections are real in the online world. So now we need to have a gathering for us here at SMF LOL.

In my dream, we all gathered in person to show our soaps to a good-sized crowd, and we had to produce our color formula, too.

That’s a really neat story, @Catscankim! I vote for a SMF cruise meet up! Can you imagine the soapy exchange and fun we could have? @Zing lotion bar testing…. Oh, the possibilities
@AliOop, we could host the dream you had, but obvi you would be prepared!
Sounds like a fun and safe way to host a meet up

For my soapy thing, I am excited I got an actual T&S mold, so I’m reading and watching videos to try a shimmy. I really want a blue soap, but keep making soap with blue micas and using a FO that slightly discolors with a yellow hue, so Ive gotten green
Luckily my new FO orders from NS and FB arrived yesterday, so I have some options to try again…..

 

[dmcgee5034]

I can’t seem to find the recent thread about lavender turning brown on the top of soap, so posting here, especially for @Nona'sFarm This soap was made at the beginning of February using 40% lye concentration. This is a mixture of flowers from a friend’s garden that I dried. The rose petals graded from pinkish red to yellow at the center edge. I’ve had similarly good results with other botanicals, including lavender, but don’t have any photos of those soaps.

View attachment 71102

Your soap looks so inviting and beautiful!
Was it this post, @Mobjack Bay, where @Zing had Mouse Poop Lavender…

Soap Peeps, Lord knows I love my dear sister and she and BIL are my biggest cheerleaders. She just gave me tons of gifts and has the best of intentions but what the heck? I'm trying to keep this a family show here so I'll see what I can get away with here. I used these lavender petals on my most recent soap, Lav 'n' Patch . In the package they were nice purple buds -- and now my soap is decorated with MOUSE TURDS!! MOUSE TURDS, PEOPLE!! What the kitten love? I spent so much time with a fork trying to flick them out and have barely made a dent. AND they made track marks when I cut the bars. The brand is called "Soap Expressions" -- why is it legal to sell something that is so destructive??!! I can't imagine it working with melt and pour either.

She also gave me rose buds and chamomile buds. I'm not really into putting flowers on my soap and after what happened with the mouse turds, I'm ready to toss all of it.

And sooo many clear plastic molds with intricate designs, words, and nubbies. There's no way I can pour CP batter in and expect to unmold an aesthetically appealing soap.

She's the type to give gifts and then visit and expect to see them used/displayed/hung/read/adored. Maybe I'll get some M&P base for the molds. As for the flowers, erg erg erg!

 

[BWt]

I made my first ever batch of Neem Oil Soap this morning, and decided not to add any EO’s. It was funny really, as at the last minute I decided to add a little Matcha, not realising how such a little bit of this stuff (quarter tsp) would make my soap such a dark Khaki Green … But, I ended up really liking it, as when I look at this colour, it makes me think that the smell of Neem Oil matches it.

It’s curious how colors can prompt a sense of scent and vice versa. Sometimes it seems that a color does not match a scent when making soap.

 

[BWt]

That's Awesome sounds so fun too! It's amazing the way we can connect from so far away and all over the world even in just seconds imagine if we were still in the 1800s with horses and buggies lol.

Soap would be nicely cured after a long journey!