Wisconsin Dells soaps circa Dec 2017

[earlene]

In December I went to Wisconsin Dells for several days as a soaping holiday (and to use up timeshare points at the end of the year.)

Here are some of the soaps I made while there. I brought along more soaping materials than I ended up using, but was still able to use up the stock of several oils and not have to schlep everything back home again. I even shred several pounds of soap with my Salad Shooter to prepare for making laundry soap. I had forgotten to bring Washing Soda with me and forgot to buy some when I went grocery shopping, so I didn't make the laundry soap until I got home.

The soaps that follow are each of the same recipe with one alteration. * The difference is the oil used at 30%. I did one each with 30%; 30% Cocoa Butter; 30% Shea Butter; 30% Shea Butter; 30% Lard. There were other soaps that I made as well, but so far I have not taken photos, so this is all I have at the moment.

* I'll say it even if it should go without saying, I always use a lye calculator when revising a soap formula.

 

[ibct1969]

Those are so pretty. How did you make those circles?

 

[dibbles]

Very pretty Earlene. I'd love to know what you think of the soy wax soap once you start using it. I think I have some around here, somewhere...

Don't you kind of wish you had known to drag a skewer through the circles to practice the hidden heart swirl challenge?

 

[toxikon]

Gorgeous!

 

[Cellador]

Beautiful! ...and I love the idea of a soaping holiday. Sounds lovely...

 

[earlene]

Thankyou, ibct969, Cellador, dibbles and toxikon.

Those are so pretty. How did you make those circles?

ibct969, I used a faux funnel pour from the side of the mold, alternating colors with each pour. The circles enlarge as the batter fills the middle. Depending on the mold used, and how you pour, and if you tilt or move the mold, the circles can either stay round, elongate, or even get wobbly.

 

[BattleGnome]

Love the funnel pour.

I find it interesting that the sunflower is already fading for you. I used 1oz in 2lbs of soap for the mermaid tail challenge (July, I think?) and it’s still going strong, almost overwhelming.

 

[SunRiseArts]

you got some beauties there Earlene!

 

[earlene]

Love the funnel pour.

I find it interesting that the sunflower is already fading for you. I used 1oz in 2lbs of soap for the mermaid tail challenge (July, I think?) and it’s still going strong, almost overwhelming.

I looked back at my notes and see that I didn't use enough for the batch size. For one, I forgot to change the FO percentage from the default in the lye calculator. Too bad, too, because I chose the colors to go with the fragrance.

 

[BlackDog]

That teal and purple is a color combo I never would have thought to try but it is beautiful! Well done

 

[earlene]

In December I went to Wisconsin Dells for several days as a soaping holiday (and to use up timeshare points at the end of the year.)

EDITED to include working photo links (Nothing else is changed from the original post except this line here and the photo links.)

Here are some of the soaps I made while there. I brought along more soaping materials than I ended up using, but was still able to use up the stock of several oils and not have to schlep everything back home again. I even shred several pounds of soap with my Salad Shooter to prepare for making laundry soap. I had forgotten to bring Washing Soda with me and forgot to buy some when I went grocery shopping, so I didn't make the laundry soap until I got home.

The soaps that follow are each of the same recipe with one alteration. * The difference is the oil used at 30%. I did one each with 30%; 30% Cocoa Butter; 30% Shea Butter; 30% Shea Butter; 30% Lard. There were other soaps that I made as well, but so far I have not taken photos, so this is all I have at the moment.

30% Shea (I really like the looks of this one because of the colors and design):

30% Soy Wax (So far, the hardest bar of the four):

30% Cocoa Butter (I used BB's Sunflower FO, but it is already faint):

30% Lard (This one looks a bit like Half & Half ice cream from my childhood and the Orange 5X smells devine):

* I'll say it even if it should go without saying, I always use a lye calculator when revising a soap formula.

 

[dixiedragon]

Lovely! Thoughts on the 30% cocoa butter recipe?

 

[cmzaha]

Those are all gprgepis soaps. That is a shame about the Sunflower, which would possibly hold if you had used enough.

 

[Lin19687]

Those are YUMMY !!!

 

[earlene]

Lovely! Thoughts on the 30% cocoa butter recipe?

Dixiedragon, I plan to review the recipe for all 4 of these soaps and do a video of hand washing with each for comparison purposes. I'll respond to your question after that. All I can say about it now is that I used that one while I was on my trip, but only for the last couple of days, and I liked it far better than the one with lard, but I am not a fan of lard anyway. In fact when I brought those 2 with me, I forgot to make a note of what they were, so I was testing them blindly. I used up small sampler of 30% Lard soap before switching to the 30% Cocoa Butter soap, but by then, I was already on the road back home and need to test it further.

 

[CaraBou]

Really love the blues of the shea soap - but they're all pretty cool, Earlene. Looking forward to hearing/seeing your test results.

 

[earlene]

I am getting ready to do the handwashing testing video. We shall see how the video making works out. But for now, I am sad to report that the 30% shea soap, the one with the pretty blues and purple has begun to turn DOSy. I am so dissappointed! The rest are DOS-free. I'll take a closer look at the formulas as there were some differences as I began to run out of oils I had on hand toward the end of that experiment. And I had not use the German Chamomile EO before, so don't know how that played into it.

 

[soap1daze]

Earlene so interesting this test! Did you make the video? I'd be interested in it!

 

[earlene]

No, not yet. But I also have news to report. I thought the discoloration was DOS, but strangely the color washed off when I started using the soap. I've not had that happen before, so am waiting to see if the discoloration returns or not. It was only on the outer surface and not as spots like the DOS I have seen before.