Recent content by Elise

You calculate your infused olive oil just like plain olive oil. You can either filter the zest or keep it, but keep in mind that it will probably be a bit scratchy in the final soap. It could either provide for exfoliation or be too irritating. If you keep the zest in, I would advice you to...

I love the look of them ! Congratulations to Zing junior ;) Honey soap colored by using red palm oil is on my to do list already ! Money is tight right now and red palm oil is a cheap enough ingredient at the next door African shop. I thought that it might be a better option to reach the color I...

@AliOop @dibbles You're right, they don't like so bad. And it is also my lesson to try anything new on a smaller batch scale. I was too excited to try my new tall and skinny mold. Thank you to everyone that shared thoughts, experiences and did research on manganese violet. Also, talking about it...

The light purple that was visible on the sides of the soap finally disappeared. So I think it is safe to presume @Mobjack Bay have found the right info on oxidation states. And the manganese purple charge in my soap is all evened out. I like them more like that. Still kind of pointless to have...

Oups, you're right, there is more than soapmaking in the world !

It would be surprising that soapers wouldn't have noticed that all those micas caused DOS. So I actually feel relieved that I'll probably won't see DOS developing on my soaps (they are already bad enough) thanks to your research ! But seeing how manganese violet react in soap, I wonder what's...

I don't understand what the +2 oxidation state means (1st time I hear about oxydation states), but that rules out burning the pigment. It definitely was in contact with strong alkali ;) I'll keep at least one bar for sure. I don't know what to do with the others. Maybe it is time to try...

Oh no :( This was my biggest batch of soap yet, I'd hate to see it go rancid on top of being ugly !

According to their pictures it might be good to make grey soap 😂. So do you think that the outside part of soaps reacts less with lye than the middle part ? Or is it that it takes more time to react ? The fact that I can see a gel ring made me think that maybe it is a temperature thing... But...

I tried my hand on a secret swirl for the first time. I colored part of my batter with purple clay. I wasn't very good at it, but, most importantly, the clay lost its color during the process ! I was so sad when cutting and discovering the mere shadow of a swirl. I checked the packaging of my...

I got myself similar attachments that goes on a drill. I got them for very cheap and they worked for me (I tried only once though). I was able to turn a batch of 200g of oil into soap :) It took a bit more time than usual, mainly because I paused a lot, since I didn't want to exhaust my power...

Understood, thanks again :)

I wanted to try something new :) And also, yes, I feel like the point of adding coffee to a lotion is caffeine. I do have coffee infused olive oil that I like to use in soap for scent, but I know I can't hope for any other benefit in this form. I learned a lot reading this thread. Thank you to...

Thanks @DeeAnna for stopping by ! I enjoy reading your posts all around the forum. Since Natik mentioned the borax thing I've been reading about emulsifiers and why beeswax is not one. Quite interesting. I wonder how an acquaintance of mine managed to do body creams using only beesxax, oil and...

I had to do an english google research to find out about that borax thing ! In french google I found a lot of recipes using just beeswax, oil and some sort of watery content. But yeah, I read everywhere that beeswax isn't a very good emulsifier and you have to use less water than oil in your...