My Funny Soaping Moment, What's Yours?

Soapmaking Forum

Help Support Soapmaking Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

MissE

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 14, 2017
Messages
149
Reaction score
68
I made a batch which was separating into thick soap mix and water at the bottom so I thought I would cook it up and see if I could get the soap to mix up again. In my panic I poured the soap mix into an aluminum pot and of course I had to pour it right out again when the reaction started!

Double panic, comical moment!

Who else has made some laughter in the soaping workshop lately, besides soap? :wink:
 
Well I'm short and the counter in my workshop is a little too tall for me. I had a batch recently that started to rice so I began to stick blend and stir vigorously. An ever so tiny drop of raw soap splashed out and when straight up my nose :shock: I got a piece of tissue, twisted it, wet it and stuck it up my nose and carried on smartly :)
 
Well I'm short and the counter in my workshop is a little too tall for me. I had a batch recently that started to rice so I began to stick blend and stir vigorously. An ever so tiny drop of raw soap splashed out and when straight up my nose :shock: I got a piece of tissue, twisted it, wet it and stuck it up my nose and carried on smartly :)

Funny ... and scary! Didn't it hurt?:)
 
A few years ago I was making a soap and things were going quite splendidly- the batter behaved beautifully, it poured and swirled beautifully, etc... Yep, things were going mighty fine and dandy.....until I banged my mold on the counter just to level things out, that is. The vibration caused my nearby aloe plant to somehow topple off its perch and land right into my freshly poured/swirled soap, scattering potting soil all throughout it. I can laugh about it now, but at the moment, I felt a lot like this poor guy:



IrishLass :)
 
I was making red-and-white swirl peppermint soap. I was being lazy and didn't wipe down my equipment very well - bowls, pot, probably 10 spoons (I use a lot of spoons when I soap and when I cook). I put everything in the dishwasher and left to go do something. I come back...the dishwasher looks like it has rabies. Pink, peppermint bubbles are pouring out of the bottom of the machine. I figure that machine is already full of soap and bubbles so stopping won't help...so I put a roasting pan under the washing machine to catch most of the foam and I just mop every 5-10 minutes as the machine finishes it cycle. My kitchen smelled REALLY good - plus it got rid of my ant problem!
 
A few years ago I was making a soap and things were going quite splendidly- the batter behaved beautifully, it poured and swirled beautifully, etc... Yep, things were going mighty fine and dandy.....until I banged my mold on the counter just to level things out, that is. The vibration caused my nearby aloe plant to somehow topple off its perch and land right into my freshly poured/swirled soap, scattering potting soil all throughout it. I can laugh about it now, but at the moment, I felt a lot like this poor guy:



IrishLass :)


Lol...yeah, I think we can agree that usually when these things happen they are so not funny and sometimes it was even potentially dangerous moment. It's only in hindsight, with the danger safely past, that we can think back and imagine how silly and laughable it was.:)
 
It was scary for a bit but I left the tissue in until I was done cleaning up and everything lol, so no no pain lol

Lol! Now that's funny, soaping with tissue up your nostril!
:mrgreen:
 
I was making red-and-white swirl peppermint soap. I was being lazy and didn't wipe down my equipment very well - bowls, pot, probably 10 spoons (I use a lot of spoons when I soap and when I cook). I put everything in the dishwasher and left to go do something. I come back...the dishwasher looks like it has rabies. Pink, peppermint bubbles are pouring out of the bottom of the machine. I figure that machine is already full of soap and bubbles so stopping won't help...so I put a roasting pan under the washing machine to catch most of the foam and I just mop every 5-10 minutes as the machine finishes it cycle. My kitchen smelled REALLY good - plus it got rid of my ant problem!


Lol@ ants killing machine!
 
One of my first batches: I weighed my oils and heated them in the microwave. Lacking in confidence, I decided to re-weigh the oils to make double-sure the weight was correct. I started pouring and then gasped in horror as my cheapie kitchen scale plastic weigh basket melted before my eyes and the oils, now hot, spilled over onto the counter. Lesson learned. LOL
 
One of the first times I wanted to mix up my lye water I had a fabulous brain fart. I reached into the cupboard and grabbed a plastic jar -- sometimes we wash out and keep jars from things like mayonnaise, peanut butter, coconut oil, etc. -- when I meant to grab a measuring cup. I don't know why, but it seemed perfectly reasonable at the time to add some distilled water to this *plastic* jar and then add the lye.

The lye heated the water to near boiling, and even though it was a thick, tough jar, it was obviously not designed to take that much heat. The results were... a little bit spectacular. Thankfully there really wasn't any chance of danger; I do all things soapy -- whether I'm mixing lye, stirring a bowl of soap batter, putting micas into oil, or whatever -- inside a plastic wash tub. The tub was on top of our stove, under the fan (for the fumes) and I had gloves and goggles on, of course. Even though I was pretty safe, I still scared myself. When the lye reacted with the water and heated up, the jar MELTED and collapsed onto itself! It was about 1/3 full initially, but by the time it finished shrinking and folding down it was pretty well full.

I grabbed the *proper* cup, poured the lye water into it, neutralized the weirdly shrunken/melted plastic with loads of water and threw it out, and then poured the lye water down the drain once it had cooled, with lots and lots of water. I didn't know if it would be contaminated with plastic, or just fine, and didn't want to take a chance.

From that day on, I had a dedicated lye cup made of steel, and it lives in my soaping cupboard. I don't do *anything* until everything is laid out and ready, and that includes the steel cup.
 
Back
Top