What soapy thing have you done today?

Oh my! We got into the huge show!!!! I am so nervous I could puke! I was talking to my mom and she says that of her friends that go to these shows, she spends the least at $250.00. Most spend significantly more. Show attendance is around 10,000 with most spending at least a couple of hundred dollars at the vendors. If I figure that of the 10K, half will spend around $250 each, that is still 1.25 MILLION dollars going to the vendors at this show. If we got even .25% of those sales, we would gross over 3K. That is a LOT of soap to make between now and the middle of April.

I just spend $200 at NDA to replenish some EO's and I will need to place an order with soapers choice in the next few weeks...

Rendered 19 pounds of nice leaf lard I get for free from my neighbor up in Maine. It's lovely stuff! Got a new grinder last night from Bass Pro Shops, it's a cheap one, but it did a great job.

Haven't soaped today. Mainly I've been stocking up on supplies, molds, colorants, and finding the right tables.

Made a batch of salt soaps to test a new scent blend and started up my experiment on whether a partial gel is possible on a soap that overheats.

Made more champagne & pear this weekend, also made a jasmine batch as it's my oldest daughters favorite. I thought I would have it made in time for Christmas but technically it will be 4 weeks the 26th. Oops.

Also tried my hand at lotion bars. Not sure I have a great recipe yet but I didn't want it any bigger so I settled on what I had so far.

DWinMadison said:

Cut a 13-bar loaf white with a swirl of green and orange.

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Sounds lovely and a nice colour combo, off to see if I can see it in the pics department

jules92207 said:

Made more champagne & pear this weekend, also made a jasmine batch as it's my oldest daughters favorite. I thought I would have it made in time for Christmas but technically it will be 4 weeks the 26th. Oops.

Also tried my hand at lotion bars. Not sure I have a great recipe yet but I didn't want it any bigger so I settled on what I had so far.

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Oh Champagne & Pear sounds gorgeous <3

All I could do was dream about soap today, I have a good dozen soaps running riot in my head but little time to be making them hope tomorrow lends me so soaping time

I made some soap in a tube Friday. Testing it now.

Made my first attempt at the spoon swirl. used spirulina the first time, and ng coconut like verbena. I'm assuming it will become plain lime. Waiting for my champagne fo to make my final spoon swirl soap. Will cut today, and I am so curious to see how it turned out!

Lynnz said:

Oh Champagne & Pear sounds gorgeous <3

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Oh it is, my favorite now by far. I used sparkly glitter in it cause it feels like a party in a bar!

I'm doing a shaving soap after reading the giant shaving soap thread! Had to give it a whirl

I'm also making lotions and bath bombs later today...not soapy I know, but close enough lol

Scored 50 lbs of lye from my "dealer" for $45 and he threw in a gallon of 50% lye solution to boot. I gotta say it was definitely a "Breaking Bad" moment when my wife came in to where I was pouring it into containers wearing my gloves, respirator and safety goggles.

Also got some great buys at CoastalScents.com and BulkApothecary.com

Soaping chores today and yesterday

Been working on soap recipes using the lye calculator past couple of days, as well as watching a lot more soaping videos on you tube. Our son and his family were here for Thanksgiving and headed back to L.A. yesterday, so I finally made time to move all my soap making things out of my garage studio and into the house, which meant re-arranging a lot of cupboards to make room for all my soaping tools and materials. But now I have my most immediate things in a cupboard near my range top which is on a center island surrounded with a granite counter top which will be a perfect place to do my soaping. The range has a very powerful venting hood, so I won't have to open a door when I mix my lye.

It would have cost a fortune to heat the garage during the winter and I'd be always having to carry all the oils, soaps and fragrances back and forth from the house when the garage is not heated.Now I basically have most of my soaping materials in the same general area, except for the extra large bottles of duplicate oils which I have stored elsewhere in the kitchen or another part of the house.

I also ordered more colorants and fragrances the past two days, and got my batch of curing soap turned today. Now it's time to get back to the soap calculator for a while; but first dinner dishes need washing.

June

June, I worry about soaping on granite. Do you. I'm always afraid that a spill will etch the finish.

made a big batch of LS today, and tinkered with some new recipes in the calculator

DWinMadison said:

June, I worry about soaping on granite. Do you. I'm always afraid that a spill will etch the finish.

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I soap on marble - so far it has held up without a problem. I do wipe up my mess immediately. Wood floors and cabinets mar quickly though. I have to watch out for that!

I'm only really worried about acids on marble/granite... my daughter left a lemon juice spill on my countertop overnight and now I have a reminder to look at until I feel like refinishing them after all the kids have all been farmed out/gone for college!

I checked out my newest batch of soap I made yesterday and decided to let it sit in the mold until tomorrow. It is my first attempt at colours and so far it looks pretty. I hope when I un-mold them the colours will be all through the soap.

I also watched more soap making and colouring videos on Youtube to get more ideas and techniques.

Going thru inventory, prepping for another cleaning session tomorrow. Made another drying box as some of my soaps started sweating....it got really cold here last night.

Made another batch of All purpose cleaner, for household. 2015...is going to be a cleaner, better more productive year.