What soapy thing have you done today?

[dmcgee5034]

I didn’t make soap, but sometimes you have to do some prep work, right?
I made some 50/50 MB lye, weighed out the last of my current MB of fats and cleaned the container so it’s ready for the next batch. I bought a cute fall silicone mold and a new soapy stuff note book since my current one is almost full.

I ordered a basic extruder so I can make seed embeds for future batches of watermelon soap, maybe I’ll like it and do more with it, but that was my justification for getting it. The 2 times I’ve tried making the seeds (drop swirl and pouring into a little well and covering) they have been epic fails and I’m frustrated. Isn’t there a thing where you use a squirt bottle with and extended tip and squirt soap into already poured soap to make drop or seed type designs? If anyone can point me to something to help with this, I’d be super grateful.

 

[Savage Daughter]

Photos?

Would love to, but the only photos I take are with my phone, which is nothing more than a camera out here due to the extreme rural area I live in & having zero cell service. I also don't use Wifi - cabled connection to my router only - and don't even have a TV. Transferring the photos to my laptop has also become an issue, even when cabled, due to the One Plus phone I use.

That said, I absolutely love where I live & have never regretted making this change in my lifestyle. A satellite internet connection is all I need

If & when I'm able to, I will definitely do so

Glad you have a successful batch!!! Will you be posting pictures? I have been shopping on line for a pull through and cylinders as I love the look of kaleidoscope bars. Do you have any recommendations?

Nope, no photos. As I said to @KiwiMoose: "the only photos I take are with my phone, which is nothing more than a camera out here due to the extreme rural area I live in & having zero cell service. I also don't use Wifi - cabled connection to my router only - and don't even have a TV. I watch all videos / documentaries etc on my laptop. Transferring the photos to my laptop has also become an issue, even when cabled, due to the One Plus phone I use."

In addition, because I have worked in IT for many years, I am well aware of how posting photos of anything can become a personal privacy / security issue, which I won't get into the ins & outs of here because most people either don't care or won't listen. The aforementioned issues are one of the reasons I shut down all of my social media accounts many years ago.
_______

Anyhoooo....I initially bought Wild Plantanica pull-throughs. I like a lot of them, but some of the disks can only be used with quite a thin batter due to their detail. That said, too thin of a batter can also result in a crappy result It's something I have been struggling with - too thick / too thin / the right natural color additives at the right concentration etc all affect the end result. Chas from Wild Plantanica has amazing customer service & packs her orders very securely. She was very easy to deal with. I highly recommend watching her YouTube videos as well. She is the queen of pull-throughs as far as I'm concerned! Her disks also fit all cylindrical molds I've used, including my silicone column molds and Custom Craft Tools cylindrical molds, which are not my favourite, for several reasons.

I also bought another smaller set from Lovin' Suds, I think?? Smaller as in less disks. I need to check that again. Most of her disks don't fit Custom Craft Tool cylindrical molds, which I was very disappointed with, but they do fit all of my cylindrical silicone molds.

Good luck finding what works for you

More soap ingredients recon ~ was curious about local ethnic grocery markets as a source for milks, oils, butters that might possibly be less adulterated (less preservatives, additives, sweeteners added) than the options on the major grocery shelves
My first stop was going to be a little Mexican grocery next to a little produce market I frequent and I could have sworn there were cars in the lot a week ago but it is an empty store now
Now for more Google searching for other stores. In the meantime, has anyone else had any luck finding quality ingredients at ethnic grocery stores?

Yes, that was the one place I used to be able to find coconut milk with just coconut cream & water - no polysorbates & no added gums - the coconut cream at 80-85%, if I remember correctly. And then I moved far faaaarrrrr from that store

Coconut oil, for sure.

Palm oil, most definitely.

Coconut sugar, stellar.

Palm sugar, likewise (I use either / or, as well as raw honey, in soaps).

I use/d a whole lot more as well, such as natural colorants (annatto seed / fresh turmeric root), lemon grass stalks infused into base oils for products other than soap & so on.

If you find a good store like that - I recommend ones which carry a wide variety of products from a wide variety of Asian countries - frequently visit it to keep them in business.

That said, I didn't trust the liquid oils in that store, because I know that they are often adulterated at the source where they are being manufactured. Those countries have learned well from those of us running businesses in 'affluent' countries, unfortunately To be fair, I don't trust any liquid oils, regardless of where they are manufactured, unless I know a lot about the company. I always assume that there will be some degree of adulteration, especially after the research I have done / do on these subjects. For food uses, I make sure to do a great deal of research on companies, their products, their manufacturing practices. Don't be afraid to call companies / manufacturers & question them on what they are putting on store shelves. If they are proud of the high quality they are turning out, they will be very likely to share a great deal of information regarding their supply chain, their batch testing process & more.

Good luck in your hunt

which makes me think that my earlier practice of curing on metal racks likely caused a lot of the issues we're seeing now.

It depends on the metal. I have stainless steel shelving, it seems, and have had zero issues with this. How long after you made & cured your soaps did this issue start showing up?

Question for the assembled savants: could handling fresh (day-old, and two-day-old) soap barehanded trigger DOS? I'm wondering if I should just make a habit of wearing nitrile gloves from here on out whenever handling soap.

I never wear gloves when handling my soaps, with rare exceptions like when I'm polishing them from time to time just to keep my fingers from leaving prints when they are slightly moist on their exterior. Potential customers who pick up your soaps for a sniff will never wear gloves either.

Personally, I doubt that's the problem, otherwise this would be a huge issue for everyone across the board.

I believe it's well worth the investment. Read more here:

ROE Use

I am using this in my body butters, lip balms etc to extend shelf life / prevent rancidity for the customers who are selling my products in their stores.

I have begun to wonder if simply adding freshly dried sprigs of rosemary to base oil bottles would function similarly to how people used to keep their freshly-milked milk fresh longer - say that 10 times by adding a silver coin to the milk jug / canister. They would need to be dry to avoid contaminating with water from the fresh herb. It's something I intend on trying out, just for the hell of it.

I interestingly read something this past week regarding how using more than a specific percentage of vitamin E to prevent rancidity can actually speed oxidation & rancidity of oils. I wish I could remember where I read this. There is also a big difference between types of vitamin E and what they will do in base oils, skin care products etc. I am hesitant to use it at all now.

I have not yet started using rosemary extract in soaps, however.

 

[Vicki C]

Sort of soap adjacent but my husband built a step to go from the garage to my studio. I use this entrance to load my car for markets, so it has been pretty inconvenient. It was about a 16” gap and I had been using a milk crate to step down. I know, I know. Every time I stepped on it I thought “you are going to break your ankle one day.” I have been thinking of @dibbles all summer with her injury. In any case my husband built a step and I’m so grateful. I didn’t “help” as I am somewhat prone to bossiness and I knew he’d prefer to just work through it on his own.

 

[dibbles]

@Vicki C it is so nice to hear your hubby made it safer for you. It doesn’t take much to completely change our lives. If sharing my story helped others be aware, that is at least one good thing.

 

[dmcgee5034]

I have been shopping on line for a pull through and cylinders as I love the look of kaleidoscope bars. Do you have any recommendations?

@Tammyfarms - I got this one from Amazon and have been really happy with it. It fits a pringles can perfectly, and my column mold.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B099F9ZLLP/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

 

[Georgeandstella]

I didn’t make soap, but sometimes you have to do some prep work, right?
I made some 50/50 MB lye, weighed out the last of my current MB of fats and cleaned the container so it’s ready for the next batch. I bought a cute fall silicone mold and a new soapy stuff note book since my current one is almost full.

I ordered a basic extruder so I can make seed embeds for future batches of watermelon soap, maybe I’ll like it and do more with it, but that was my justification for getting it. The 2 times I’ve tried making the seeds (drop swirl and pouring into a little well and covering) they have been epic fails and I’m frustrated. Isn’t there a thing where you use a squirt bottle with and extended tip and squirt soap into already poured soap to make drop or seed type designs? If anyone can point me to something to help with this, I’d be super grateful.

I want one, but can’t decide which one, what size etc. which extruder did you buy? Thank you

 

[ScentimentallyYours]

Isn’t there a thing where you use a squirt bottle with and extended tip and squirt soap into already poured soap to make drop or seed type designs? If anyone can point me to something to help with this, I’d be super grateful.

Tree Marie has a good video on mini drop swirls and includes links in her YouTube post. I think this is what you’re looking for?

 

[dmcgee5034]

Thank you @ScentimentallyYours - that’s what I need. I am going to have to get over my squeeze bottle aversion

 

[Jorah]

My soapy plans for this week off from work have been sidetracked by exhaustion. I'm not a frequent traveler, and hadn't been on a plane (if I recall correctly) in 8 years. My trip to visit my younger brother for his 60th turned out to be a lot more tiring than I anticipated, and I spent yesterday resting. I watched an Amazon series called The Power which had a scene early on where one character explained that they raised money for their convent by making soap, and there were brief scenes of women pouring batter into slab molds, slicing the slabs, and cutting and wrapping bars, which was a tiny synchronicity.

Aside from errands I need to do, I'm going to moderate my soapy to-do list to avoid disappointing myself (or further exhaustion), to something like organizing my soap workshop area, trying to design a loaf-cutter I've been dreaming about, and perhaps making the last (?) two batches in my honey-soap experiment. I'm trying to learn moderation of self-expectations, but it isn't easy: I'm wired to over-commit myself and then rake myself over the coals. It's a self-destructive loop.

As part of our study on DOS causes and prevention, I was thinking about the guitar wires on my various cutters, and looked to see what they're made of; the spares I bought online are steel wrapped with nickel, and nickel is listed as one of the culprits, so I'll be seeking to replace them with pure stainless strings; another live-and-learn item in my soap education.

We're taking advantage of my vacation days to plan a trip to Ikea to look for storage ideas, and trying to stop by a restaurant supply house to see if I can pick up a few commercial dishwasher trays to use for drying racks.

My wife's gotten fully into the swing of things and is now interested in making shower steamers and has been seen pricing bath bomb presses. Yesterday she shared a link to a recipe for shower gel! It appears that our house will be bath-products-focused for the next while.

 

[Whillow]

As part of our study on DOS causes and prevention, I was thinking about the guitar wires on my various cutters, and looked to see what they're made of; the spares I bought online are steel wrapped with nickel, and nickel is listed as one of the culprits, so I'll be seeking to replace them with pure stainless strings; another live-and-learn item in my soap education.

I have been following along on this as well and is good to know. Although I have yet to replace any of my wires but hopefully my wee little mental note will stick in my brain about this.

I have made some more soap dough with different colours to try another garden topped soap. This time I will be cutting the loaf first and THEN adding the flowers on top. I think I may do one with mushrooms as well (cause they are cutesy wootsey).

I have several markets this fall starting next month, so getting ready for those will keep me hopping (& stressing).

I had to purchase a new dehumidifier for my basement the other day because my bath bombs were becoming warty. It is a 23 litre bin which is supposed to be 50 pints. It filled up within a day and now I am emptying it in the morning and at night before bed. I think the renos my significant other did with the wood shelves were much too wet. Now I have finally the humidity down where I need it.

 

[Jorah]

I had to purchase a new dehumidifier for my basement the other day

We've just ordered our first, and hoping it will make a difference!

 

[ScentimentallyYours]

guitar wires on my various cutters, and looked to see what they're made of; the spares I bought online are steel wrapped with nickel

Why are you using wrapped strings @Jorah? All of the soap cutters I’ve seen use single gauge steel, not wrapped.

 

[AliOop]

Agreed @ScentimentallyYours - wrapped strings are not what you want since they are thicker and won't give a clean cut. Also, as @Jorah mentioned, they often are wrapped in something other than stainless steel, and thus, will be a DOS trigger. Jorah already found the other thread where I recommended a source for inexpensive and appropriate stainless steel unwrapped wire, but I will link to it here in case others who are wondering want to find these.

Replacement wires for soap cutters

 

[Whillow]

We've just ordered our first, and hoping it will make a difference!

It has made a huge difference. I made a quick batch last night and they weren't warty. Whoohoo.
It has been very humid here in Southern Ontario with tonnes of rain. I think you will notice a difference.

 

[Jorah]

Why are you using wrapped strings @Jorah? All of the soap cutters I’ve seen use single gauge steel, not wrapped.

Simple ignorance; I looked for strings in the right gauge; it never occurred to me that there were other factors to consider!

 

[ScentimentallyYours]

Maybe the wound wires looked stronger @Jorah? The problem is that a wound string is only as strong as the underlying straight wire that the windings sit on. If that breaks, the windings come undone like a Slinky.

(For those who don’t know, one of my other hobbies is working on Autoharps, which requires restringing and tuning and tuning and tuning 36 strings for each instrument. I also know the one person in the United States who makes wires by hand for a Autoharps.)

I followed the recommendation of @AliOop and purchased a Hercules cutter. It arrived yesterday, and I love it! The design is so smart, and I can split logs into slabs. The handle for the cutting wire is like a tank compared to the little cheese cutter I was using before. I also previously used a knife or a bread cutter. The downside of a knife or bread cutter is that the blade follows behind the cutting edge and creates drag on the soap. The wire makes a nice clean cut, sort of like the edge of a knife with nothing behind it to create drag. And when I think of the knife edge, I understand why it’s important to have the thinnest wire possible that will stand up cutting soap without breaking. It’s like a knife edge without the blade.

The Hercules cutting handle has wonderful easy to use tuning gears, the kind used for guitars. I can mimic a video I saw and pluck the wire to hear if it is at the right tension. Maybe I should check it against my tuner to find out what note place when it is at the right tension? If the wire is at the right tension, there is no reason to loosen it between uses. In fact, loosening and tightening the wire may create more stress and cause it to break over time.

 

[Ephemerella]

Today I did a 3500g mini-masterbatch of oils so I could get a few pending things completed. I don't normally use shea butter in my soap recipe, but decided to use up some that had gone grainy and ended up with almost 20% shea in the recipe. It will be interesting to get user feedback on this pretty significant change from my usual recipe.

Next up was completing an order of Gardner-Mechanic Soap. This is my interpretation of @earlene's Blacksmith Soap, using her borax + pumice mix but with my oil recipe, with sorbitol instead of honey, and without the dual lye. Scented with d-limonene at 1% and Orange 10x EO at 3%, it smells really nice. I soaped hot because I wanted a medium-thick trace to suspend the pumice, so it was a quick batch. Now it is tucked into the boxes with the heating pad underneath.

I wish I had time to get a few more soapy things done, but as they say, tomorrow is another day, Scarlet.

@AliOop curious how your soap went? I've got a pail of refined shea that's been sitting around calling my name. It's gone grainy, and I really am not in the mood to temper it, so thinking I could use it for soap.... did your grainy shea soap come out as planned?

 

[Jorah]

After seeing The Worst Movie of the Year, nay, Even Worse Than I Expected, as It Wasn't Even Fun, I finally motivated to do a tiny soap-related task (multiple tasks, really). I set up our new thermal label printer, picked and packed a box of soap for a fellow soap maker (someone on Mastodon who has been very encouraging of my early steps), and tested the printer by setting up a Click-n-Ship label on USPS. Package will go out in tomorrow's mail. Yay!

 

[AliOop]

@AliOop curious how your soap went? I've got a pail of refined shea that's been sitting around calling my name. It's gone grainy, and I really am not in the mood to temper it, so thinking I could use it for soap.... did your grainy shea soap come out as planned?

Yes, it turned out just fine!

 

[Zing]

I sold soap today! A friend is leading a retreat soon and wanted tiny soaps for the participants. Thanks to help from, who else, THIS FORUM, I effectively cut already cured bars into fourths.

Long story short but my friend loves the retreat center and is besties with the owner. The owner uses a vendor that supplies full-size bars of Dial bar soap (so there's that) and she throws away the bars after every guest leaves even if it's just a couple of days. My friend was determined to not add to the landfill and so approached me.

The same friend noted my beautiful new mandala rock from our very own @KiwiMoose and went on and on and on about the detail and getting mesmerized and the detail. She asked if I painted it because it matched my soap!! Good thing I had just swallowed my wine or there woulda been a spittake. These eyeballs are OLD and these hands shake too much. I didn't even have the presence of mind to say "yeah, yeah, of course I did!"