What soapy thing have you done today?

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Even though it was 100F in my soaping area I still poured a batch of Ahoy Matey Salt Bars. They smell great and already lather well. Recently I was playing with a new recipe hoping to make salt bars last longer and had 2 failed batches that actually ended up in the trash, and I never throw out soap :cry: Of I had to go and make 2-5lb batches not one batch when trying out a new recipe. Dummy me. The change I had made was to add in some palm oil and it has to be the culprit. Went back to my original never fail and they are going to be wonderful. By the way if anyone tries Ahoy Matey from Daystar it does accelerate quickly
 
Well I had just enough lye to try my first 100% coconut oil soap with a 20% sf. Scented with eucalyptus and tea tree. I also put some aloe in it. Its really quite pretty!
 
Even though it was 100F in my soaping area I still poured a batch of Ahoy Matey Salt Bars. They smell great and already lather well. Recently I was playing with a new recipe hoping to make salt bars last longer and had 2 failed batches that actually ended up in the trash, and I never throw out soap :cry: Of I had to go and make 2-5lb batches not one batch when trying out a new recipe. Dummy me. The change I had made was to add in some palm oil and it has to be the culprit. Went back to my original never fail and they are going to be wonderful. By the way if anyone tries Ahoy Matey from Daystar it does accelerate quickly

There is no way you could've rebatched the salt bars? I'm genuinely ignorant to that fact.
 
Well I had just enough lye to try my first 100% coconut oil soap with a 20% sf. Scented with eucalyptus and tea tree. I also put some aloe in it. Its really quite pretty!

Okay, you can't say things like, "It's really quite pretty!" without posting pics. :lol:
 
Okay, you can't say things like, "It's really quite pretty!" without posting pics. :lol:

Ha, funny you should write that, I went to go take a picture cause it was so white and creamy and found it starting to gel and it sank in the middle a bit. It wasn't that pretty at that point. Lol! Now it's covered in ash too...:eek:

1412526726532.jpg
 
Today, I am wrapping soaps for a show next weekend and making a few more tweaks to the website.
 
Today I'm trying something kind of crazy. I just bought a crock pot just for soap making, and decided to try it out. I bought some fresh lemongrass, and put it in my crock pot with 24 oz of EVOO on low setting. I'm trying to make lemongrass infused olive oil! I'm a little bit worried though, because I've read that dried herbs usually work better than fresh. I make sure to wash and dry the fresh lemongrass really well, then put paper towels under the crock pot lid to catch any condensation. I just took the lemongrass chunks out and I'm waiting for it to cool now. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this will work for a lemongrass and green tea soap without having to add EO or FOs to it (my husband likes minimally scented stuff). Yikes!
 
Today I'm trying something kind of crazy. I just bought a crock pot just for soap making, and decided to try it out. I bought some fresh lemongrass, and put it in my crock pot with 24 oz of EVOO on low setting. I'm trying to make lemongrass infused olive oil! I'm a little bit worried though, because I've read that dried herbs usually work better than fresh. I make sure to wash and dry the fresh lemongrass really well, then put paper towels under the crock pot lid to catch any condensation. I just took the lemongrass chunks out and I'm waiting for it to cool now. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this will work for a lemongrass and green tea soap without having to add EO or FOs to it (my husband likes minimally scented stuff). Yikes!
If you are going to use all the infused oil some condensation will not hurt. Unfortunately the scent will not survive the lye monster but you will have a nice infused oil. Just strain out the fresh herbs.
 
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Today, instead of simply providing soaps to two of my co-workers as I usually do, I invited them to see how I make their soaps and encouraged them to try their own batches. They were very happy to jump in and try their hand at it.

Together we made three batches; a vegan Lavender-Vanilla, a non-vegan Vanilla, and a non-vegan Citrus Berry. It was a lot of fun (despite my constant checking and double-checking of their measures! :roll:)

I'll cut the soap into bars for them tomorrow, and ensure they pass the zap test before I send them home to cure.
 
I cut my second batch of dragons blood soap today. First hanger swirl. Came out really nice. Then I made some lavender soap for my brother. Will see how that comes out tomorrow. I really dont know how people can tollerate lavender, YUCK. :S
 
I have gathered some supplies (Lard, olive oil) and tomorrow will gather a few more (FO). I have the things I need to make a blueberry cheesecake small batch. I only have an ounce of FO of this. I am thinking of getting some pine tar and try my hand at making pine tar soaps. I will do something tomorrow just will see what exactly. Also plan on making lotion bars. Need to pick up some honey, milk and almond FO for the lotion bars.
 
I cut my my first bentonite soap not too long ago and it didn't come out half-bad in my opinion.

First Bentonite Soap.jpg

Unfortunately, I also discovered a small case of DOS. This is my first case as well.

First DOS.jpg

My one saving grace is that the DOS occurred on only one bar. That is so much better than what could have happened. :)
 
I cut my second batch of dragons blood soap today. First hanger swirl. Came out really nice. Then I made some lavender soap for my brother. Will see how that comes out tomorrow. I really dont know how people can tollerate lavender, YUCK. :S

Trying some dragons blood batch here soon.

I cut my my first bentonite soap not too long ago and it didn't come out half-bad in my opinion.Unfortunately, I also discovered a small case of DOS. This is my first case as well. My one saving grace is that the DOS occurred on only one bar. That is so much better than what could have happened. :)

Looking good Lunaskye
 
If you are going to use all the infused oil some condensation will not hurt. Unfortunately the scent will not survive the lye monster but you will have a nice infused oil. Just strain out the fresh herbs.

Thanks, Carolyn! I just used it today, including green tea as my liquid. I'll post pics tomorrow when I cut into it. This is one of the more complex soaps I've done so far, so we'll see how it goes. ;-)
 
Made some gift sets custom ordered from Mom. She sent me a text asking me to explain the difference among "cold process, hot process and tallow." I don't even ... It's funny because you get so far down the rabbit hole you CAN'T BELIEVE anyone would not know how various soaps, soap processes and soap properties work! I mean, what do other people do with their time? lol.
 
Actually got soap made today in my 90F house. I am so done with the heat this year. Managed to get 2 batches of Frank & Myrr, 1 batch of Gardenia, 1 batch of Storm, 1 of Hardwood Musk and 14 square bars of Argan, Avocado with pink clay facial bars done. I am really running out of time for Holiday soaps. Now I am heading to bed. Tomorrow I am finally having the cataract removed from my eye. Been putting it off for several yrs.
 
Actually got soap made today in my 90F house. I am so done with the heat this year. Managed to get 2 batches of Frank & Myrr, 1 batch of Gardenia, 1 batch of Storm, 1 of Hardwood Musk and 14 square bars of Argan, Avocado with pink clay facial bars done. I am really running out of time for Holiday soaps. Now I am heading to bed. Tomorrow I am finally having the cataract removed from my eye. Been putting it off for several yrs.

Good luck with your cataract procedure Carolyn...I'll say a little prayer that it goes smooth and easy for you :)
 

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