Recent content by sevenebulas

Thank you very much! I will have to try a fan. Maybe it will help with my heating fragrances cracking issue. Good to know! Thank you! And thank you everyone for your thoughtful replies to my original question! They have been so helpful!

Do you want the air flow around it, or do you blow it directly onto the soap top? I worry about cracking from dry tops, but I don't know a lot about it.

That's so smart. I just found the review chart and it's pretty neat. Thank you very much PJ!

I've just switched from a small pine hobby mold to a bigger poplar mold and with all my other variables changing too I haven't figured out whether it insulates less or more. I soap in an unheated basement room and it gets low 60s in there in winter. Fun times ahead:)

That is all terrific advice. Thank you. I'm definitely going to SB my oils next time! I need do better at testing 1 lb batches and controlling variables. I hardly have free time so I hate doing it and always end up just crossing fingers with bigger batches. Did you mean 85F (instead of C)? Do...

I used Sea Moss recently with 25% coconut oil and mine cracked also. I was soaping at around 100F, 33% lye concentration. It was insulated and also used a heating pad on low for 20 min:) It wasn't a huge crack, but it went down the entire soap.

What temperature and water discount do you use Toxikon? I just assumed my soap wasn't gelling because of low temp (70F) and 33% lye concentration.

Oh! Thank you DeeAnna that all makes perfect sense. I've made a ghost swirl that turned out like Auntie Claras and I was wondering if my bumpy swirls could be related to glycerin because of the impressions it made in the soap, but since it was soaped at 70F I didn't know if it could be. I recall...

Thank you! No it was slow to trace and I had to stick blend more than usual for the layers. I don't know why but adding cocoa butter to my normal recipe has slowed trace compared to normal. The swirl is something you can feel with your fingers like it's bumpy. The micas should have been well...

I've been soapmaking for several years but recently made several changes. I started doing it in the cold basement, switched from using 38% water to 33% lye solution (which solved my soda ash issues!), using more varied scents (some make it crack! ahh!) and have been experimenting with soaping at...