What soapy thing have you done today?

[Terri E]

@Terri E those are really beautiful and artistic soaps. So, is this cold process? I'm still confused about the dragonflies, fish and turtles, etc. when did you add the colorant?

Thank you and yes the dragonflies, turtles etc. are cold processed soap. When I made the separate 1.5 lb batches for each layer with the natural colorants ( clays, spices & herbs) I poured some of each color of each batch into a small silicone individual cavity mold. I also did a few layered little soaps in cavity molds. When I cut the soap the next day I unmolded the cavity single color soaps and put them in plastic bags to keep them soft. Those are what I made the dragonflies and turtles from. I knead the soap like clay so it can be pressed into shapes. I hope this helps.
I also wanted to mention that if you find the soap a little too moist to work with, roll it in some of the starch and then proceed to knead it. You want to be able to roll it in your hands. Also, if you want a mult-colored dragonfly or turtle etc., roll the soap clay between your hands to form a rope. Do this with two or three colors and twist the color strands together. Then you can flatten the strand and push it into the mold

 

[sudszensoaps]

What does lavender and peppermint smell like together? I'm not a big fan of lavender, but I don't think I've ever smelled it mixed with mint, and I love mint. (I'm just in a bigger citrus kick right now. lol)

When I was at the salon, the stylist put a lavender/mint product in n my hair, and that’s the first time I experienced the scents together. Interesting. I made some lav/mint lotion that I used for a while.

 

[Jorah]

I don't understand why 100% CO takes sooooo long to trace, but it sure does.

So, I'm a newbie and have no personal opinion about trace, but the author Anne L. Watson (Smart Soapmaking) claims that as long as you've blended enough to emulsify the lye-oil mix, saponification will happen, and there's no real need to blend to trace. I wonder what the experienced soapers here think of this idea... have you ever just stick-blended a bit ...so that things are well mixed, but well before trace... and then poured into the mold?

 

[Terri E]

So, I'm a newbie and have no personal opinion about trace, but the author Anne L. Watson (Smart Soapmaking) claims that as long as you've blended enough to emulsify the lye-oil mix, saponification will happen, and there's no real need to blend to trace. I wonder what the experienced soapers here think of this idea... have you ever just stick-blended a bit ...so that things are well mixed, but well before trace... and then poured into the mold?

I blend “just to emulsification” when I am doing more complicated designs and need a thinner batter. I have even hand stirred my batter to keep it fluid. I just make sure it is homogeneous and no oil appears on the top of the soap batter.

 

[Jorah]

I blend “just to emulsification” when I am doing more complicated designs and need a thinner batter. I have even hand stirred my batter to keep it fluid. I just make sure it is homogeneous and no oil appears on the top of the soap batter.

I like simple processes, and this is very encouraging to me! Thanks for your reply. Also, I've been so alarmed by the high acceleration when I've attempted to add EO and FO that I've been reading up on ways to work with them, and keeping the batter fluid and adding the scents at the last second seem to be the keys. I have some EO/FO on the way and will experiment some more in July.

 

[Misschief]

Last night I did it. I pulled out all my base oils (hard and soft) and wrote down exactly what the labels show for amount and what I paid for each. Then I used Google to figure out how much the fluid oz of each oil weighed in grams and my calculator to figure out my cost per gram of each oil. Thankfully, some of my oils were already packaged and sold by weight so all to had to do was convert oz to grams. I did the same for my lye. Now, any time I calculate a soap recipe, I can simply multiply how many grams of each oil in a given recipe by the cost per gram and then add up the total and divide by how many bars for an actual cost per bar. I'll use this method for FO/EO, too, since those add up. Water, colorants, and other additives will get ballparked based on how much goes into a batch.
Ok, now that THAT'S done, can I just make soap now?

Or you could invest in a program like Soapmaker 3.

 

[ShirleyHailstock]

Hi. I'm just checking in. Alive and well and thinking about making soap. I haven't done it in a year, but I keep track of the forum. I mainly do basic soap, not artistic work like I see here and drool over. Have a great time soaping everyone.

 

[Servant4Christ]

Or you could invest in a program like Soapmaker 3.

Thanks! I've never heard of this, but I'll look it up. I went old school and even calculated the cost per gram of distilled water. Now I have a much better idea of my cost and how much to charge.

 

[AliOop]

Hi. I'm just checking in. Alive and well and thinking about making soap. I haven't done it in a year, but I keep track of the forum. I mainly do basic soap, not artistic work like I see here and drool over. Have a great time soaping everyone.

Hey @ShirleyHailstock great to hear that you are doing well. We miss you!

So, I'm a newbie and have no personal opinion about trace, but the author Anne L. Watson (Smart Soapmaking) claims that as long as you've blended enough to emulsify the lye-oil mix, saponification will happen, and there's no real need to blend to trace. I wonder what the experienced soapers here think of this idea... have you ever just stick-blended a bit ...so that things are well mixed, but well before trace... and then poured into the mold?

I only stick-blend enough to emulsify most of my soap batters. The exceptions are when I'm making a salt bar or a scrubby bar (pumice, coffee, etc.) that needs heavier trace to suspend the additives, or if the design technique is better with more trace.

 

[ShirleyHailstock]

Hey @ShirleyHailstock great to hear that you are doing well. We miss you!

Thanks. I'll be back soon.

 

[Savage Daughter]

Thank you, by the way, I love reading your posts!

Awww. that is very sweet of you I'm keeping an eye on your posts for more design inspiration! I love seeing / experiencing other people's products & then farting around with my raw ingredients to create my own versions based on my own aesthetic.

Yes I love it too! I use it for my homemade sourdough milk bread!

That's an awesome idea! I love making spelt / honey bread when I have a few minutes to put together a loaf or two. So delicious! I will add some sunflower lecithin the next time I do that, along with some ground flax seed. Nothing in the stores can come close to competing with homemade bread straight out of the over So easy, and so worth making the time for

"roll said:
I don't understand why 100% CO takes sooooo long to trace, but it sure does."

I made my first batch of soap using extra virgin olive oil vs pomace in my regular recipe (shea / palm / castor / cocoa butter / olive) about a week ago or so. It took FOREVER to thicken up, even afetr I poured This was in another attempt to successfully complete a pull-through design, which was something I was struggling with but getting closer & closer to.

So, I'm a newbie and have no personal opinion about trace, but the author Anne L. Watson (Smart Soapmaking) claims that as long as you've blended enough to emulsify the lye-oil mix, saponification will happen, and there's no real need to blend to trace. I wonder what the experienced soapers here think of this idea... have you ever just stick-blended a bit ...so that things are well mixed, but well before trace... and then poured into the mold?

Normally, this is what I do when using pomace, which works great (although not so great for pull-throughs). But when working with the extra virgin olive oil, this was a mistake. NOTE TO SELF

I ended up with very nice soap, beautiful scent from my essential oils (natural colorant infusions are not ready for use yet), but I will definitely be blending to thin-medium trace with extra virgin olive oil next time. My pull through worked, although my colorants were far too pale & my batter was too thin. The pull-through would have turned out even better had a blended a bit more.

Well, I sold the remainder of my soap yesterday......50 pounds + POOF! (even my test batches sold). My mouth is still hanging open in shock. I assumed my wholesale customers would want to test things first (although they've tried products I've gifted to them before & know my work ethic), check out the labeling (which just got finalized with the test print yesterday afternoon), discuss display options etc. NOPE. They want soap. Now.

'I'll take 21 of these, 21 of those, 21 of those, 7 gift boxes, 14 assorted lip balms, 14 each of assorted salves in 2 different sizes (a customer who likes doing things in 7s), 14 solid body butter sticks...."

Holy ! I went back to my car & sat there stunned And then I got running!

Yesterday was checking my test labels, taking samples to wholesale customers, taking orders from the same customers, searching for more display options, even taking orders from random people I had never met before while I was sitting & having lunch.

Today was organizing my equipment & soap room to be more efficient, re-alphabetizing all of my herbal oil infusions, cleaning all of my jars & gallon jugs, thinking things through....I need to rent a larger workshop space sometime soon.

Tonight is looking for an optional individual cavity mold - a beautiful sun, or something else round which looks gorgeous - to fulfill part of the above order. That was just one customer.

According to my calculations, I believe I need to get making between 150-200 pounds of soap in the next week & a half in order to keep up with just 2 customers, which doesn't include another customer who lost out on soap this round because she wanted me to email her a full list of available products first. I also have an Indigenous gift shop / gift shop owner who wants to have my products on her shelves who isn't in the immediate area, which means travel time. I ended up with several 16 pound & several more 8 pound molds, and I am going to need them!

If someone can suggest a good round cavity mold (preferably multi-cavity) which has a nice sun or something similar) I would greatly appreciate it Molds are something which I have been struggling with as I haven't yet found ones which make me say WOW! THAT WOULD LOOK AMAZING ON DISPLAY! She wants something which differentiates her from other merchants in the area, in addition to my regular soap bars.

 

[River]

Thank you and I would be happy to share it with you! So easy! First, I choose the soap design I want, swirl, layers, and colors etc. Then I make the loaf of soap, I like the “Essential Depot red mold” but any mold will do. Then next morning I cut the soap and let it rest until the afternoon. I always make a little extra soap for my embellishments pouring it in plain little square molds. If I don’t use all of the extra soap, I store it in small freezer bags and organize it in a sealed plastic bin. (No waste, I will use it for future embellishments). That evening I squeeze the end pieces and extra soap I made into soft balls (like Play-Doh) and flatten them slightly, placing them in plastic bags. The next day I trim my soap bars, get out my little silicone molds, blades & tools, 91% alcohol, tapioca or corn starch and I’m ready to go! I use a small paint brush to dust the inside of my mold with starch and press my soap dough into it. I use a clay cutting blade to level it. I then carefully bend the mold slightly and peel out my little dragonfly. I turn it over, spray it with alcohol and place it in position on my soap bar. I lay it flat for a little while until it dries. I lightly spray alcohol over the bar for uniformity. The bars dry fast and then I sit them upright. You can use any little mold shape you like, I have a ton of them but use just a few Etsy and Amazon are the most reasonably priced places to get those little molds. I have added some pictures to show versatility and give you some ideas.View attachment 73185View attachment 73184View attachment 73183View attachment 73182View attachment 73175View attachment 73174View attachment 73181

@Terri E Your soaps are stunning! Some of the dragonflies, etc. appear to have been coated with glitter or mica dust. Is this the case? How did you do that? Did you spray them with alcohol after unmolding and dip them before attaching to the bars? They are so lovely!

 

[Terri E]

@Terri E Your soaps are stunning! Some of the dragonflies, etc. appear to have been coated with glitter or mica dust. Is this the case? How did you do that? Did you spray them with alcohol after unmolding and dip them before attaching to the bars? They are so lovely!

Thank you so much! I have a very fine gold mica that I use. After the soaps dry completely I dip my finger in the mica, tap my finger on the upturned lid (to remove the excess) and run my finger over the high spots on the dragonfly, goldfish, turtle, leaf etc. I try to press it in just a tiny bit because if you wrap it in clear plastic little bits can get on the plastic and you have to pull the soap back out and wipe off the plastic if you want you could
spray 91% alcohol with a fine mist sprayer just very lightly. It will set the mica but not too much or it will run. If you have any mica that accidentally gets where you don’t want it, dip a Q-tip in alcohol and you can easily remove it.

 

[dibbles]

If someone can suggest a good round cavity mold (preferably multi-cavity) which has a nice sun or something similar) I would greatly appreciate it Molds are something which I have been struggling with as I haven't yet found ones which make me say WOW! THAT WOULD LOOK AMAZING ON DISPLAY! She wants something which differentiates her from other merchants in the area, in addition to my regular soap bars.

I only have this in single cavity molds, but I think it is beautiful, especially in a single color soap. https://www.amazon.com/Silicone-Cav...sprefix=sun+moon+silicone+mold,aps,117&sr=8-3

 

[Terri E]

I only have this in single cavity molds, but I think it is beautiful, especially in a single color soap. https://www.amazon.com/Silicone-Cavity-Crescent-Homemade-Polymer/dp/B08LDFJ66J/ref=sr_1_3?crid=GJUG20PIPGLO&keywords=Sun+moon+silicone+mold&qid=1687703990&sprefix=sun+moon+silicone+mold,aps,117&sr=8-3

Yes, I love that one, I have it as well, also single molds.

I have this one as well and love it but I can only find it in single molds

 

[River]

Thank you so much! I have a very fine gold mica that I use. After the soaps dry completely I dip my finger in the mica, tap my finger on the upturned lid (to remove the excess) and run my finger over the high spots on the dragonfly, goldfish, turtle, leaf etc. I try to press it in just a tiny bit because if you wrap it in clear plastic little bits can get on the plastic and you have to pull the soap back out and wipe off the plastic if you want you could
spray 91% alcohol with a fine mist sprayer just very lightly. It will set the mica but not too much or it will run. If you have any mica that accidentally gets where you don’t want it, dip a Q-tip in alcohol and you can easily remove it.View attachment 73227View attachment 73228View attachment 73229

Thanks so much. Your techniques are awesome! Really appreciate your sharing them.

 

[basti]

Today I am planning to make a red, pink, and white soap. Manifesting good vibes that I don't make it too meaty.

Erm... I successfully made the soap "meaty only if you squint" but after cutting, the faces of my bars are undergoing the soda ash of a lifetime and are going straight to wagyu town.

I normally have a "it's no big deal" philosophy to soda ash. But um... these bars might need some help

 

[dmcgee5034]

Erm... I successfully made the soap "meaty only if you squint" but after cutting, the faces of my bars are undergoing the soda ash of a lifetime and are going straight to wagyu town.

I normally have a "it's no big deal" philosophy to soda ash. But um... these bars might need some help

I can’t wait to see them, @basti - sounds delicious

I believe @AliOop suggested covering with plastic wrap for a bit to avoid soda ash. I can’t recommend this tip more highly! I cover my loaf after it sets before the cut, and then the cut bars for a few days to a week - this has been so awesome is eliminating the soda ash monster. HTH

 

[basti]

I can’t wait to see them, @basti - sounds delicious

I believe @AliOop suggested covering with plastic wrap for a bit to avoid soda ash. I can’t recommend this tip more highly! I cover my loaf after it sets before the cut, and then the cut bars for a few days to a week - this has been so awesome is eliminating the soda ash monster. HTH

They got reduced water and the plastic wrap treatment but with the monstrous humidity and endless rain this week, I think I'm fighting a losing battle I'll give 'em a steam further in their cure

 

[Terri E]

They got reduced water and the plastic wrap treatment but with the monstrous humidity and endless rain this week, I think I'm fighting a losing battle I'll give 'em a steam further in their cure

I agree with dmcgee5034,
Soaping at 33%, I wrap mine for 24-48 hours and spray with 91% alcohol as soon as it comes out of the oven. If after being covered a day it looks like there may be a few spots of ash forming, I run it under very hot water for several seconds, (while still in the mold) I let it dry and spray with alcohol covering it for a little longer. All of this has worked for me for several years. It also gives me shiny tops If ash forms in crevices, I use a Q-tip dipped in alcohol to lightly “rub it out”.
I should add that I do have a floor model clothes steamer that I occasionally use after this process if I want super shiny tops but not usually.