What soapy thing have you done today?

[earlene]

I made this swirl tool today. It cost me all of 97 cents (plus sales tax, so a bit over a dollar) for the paint brushes. The corrugated plastic piece was left over from a lawn sign. I have been saving it with a mind to using it for something to do with soaping. It came in quite handy when I had to create a comb for making the peacock swirl. The cheapo paint brushes are plastic and have a little nub that made them a perfect fit into the corrugated plastic sign, giving me a uniform fit for length of the 'teeth' of the giant 'comb'. I can easily move the paint brushes to change their distance from each other or to fit any size mold.

When Hubby came home from work he asked, 'Is that a Swirl Tool?' Perceptive, isn't he? It was just sitting on my work table and I had said absolutely nothing about swirl tools. He asked what size my mold is for the planned soap, so I showed him the mold for the next soap & showed him how the peacock swirl is done.

Anyway here it is:

 

[Zany_in_CO]

Standing O on the swirl tool :clap:

I don't know how you managed to do it, Earlene, but methinks you managed to turn your hubby into one of us! LOL

 

[earlene]

Made soap today & my back is so sore and I am now so tired. Standing for long periods of time does that to me. I have a stool under my worktable so I can perch as needed, but do I ever remember to pull it out and sit? No, 'fraid not.

One small loaf & a bottom layer of an 8.5 by 13 inch slab mold are cozy in the oven. Most of the clean-up is done, aside from the bowls & squirt bottles soaking in water in an out-of-the-way spot (spare shower) until tomorrow.

I was going to cut the loaf from 2 days ago today, but unless I feel more energetic later tonight, it will sit another day. Won't hurt any to wait another day; this recipe takes a while to harden up.

 

[Dahila]

I made bath whip today, Tomorrow I am going to use it to make foaming sugar scrub

 

[biarine]

Just made liquid dish soap. 100% coconut oil.m

 

[earlene]

Ordered more micas, including a black, since I seem to have either misplaced or lost my black oxide. I think I brought with me last time I did soap while traveling, but it wasn't in my travel soap bag (or I need to look again.) Also realized I really like Steph's Micas & More neon green but didn't have anymore. So of course, I had to add a few others to the order, right?

Last night decided on where to stay for the Advanced Swirls class I'll be taking this weekend. Hotel reservation made. I am so excited. Maybe I can get better at these swirls. Same teacher who taught the beginning soapmaking class I took; I really like her as a teacher and as a person.

 

[earlene]

Delivered a couple dozen bars of soap to the nursing home staff where MIL lives. This was on my way out of town; I have an advanced swirls class in the morning. I am SO looking forward to it. Two nights in Ohio, not a luxury hotel, but I have a tub, and boy did a hot soak in the tub feel good on my feet tonight.

Brought along 2 test soaps I made to determine if SL added makes any noticable difference to my original favorite recipe. I need to look back at the recipe as I made it that day to see if I changed anything else. So far the version without the SL seems to bubble and lather better than the one with SL. The feel of the no-SL lather is nicer, too. But I don't have that notebook with me, so I'll just keep using them this weekend and look at the recipe when I get back home.

Also stopped at a truck stop I always stop at when I can because they have bidet's in the lady's restroom. I love bidets and wish I had one, so I always stop when it is on my route. It's a super-deluxe style model (IMO), and can be installed on an existing toilet, but you have to have an electrical outlet next to the toilet, so that's out for most private homes. I have yet to see an electrical outlet installed next to a toilet just about anywhere. Not to say that it can't be done; of course it can; for a small nominal fee (sure, nominal!)

 

[toxikon]

Made my first lotion bar! Hoping it will help heal my super dry painful hand skin without needing my steroid cream.

I used all my favourite oils: babassu, shea, meadowfoam, avocado, jojoba, argan and neem. I love how the polyglycerol-3 beeswax provides nice glide and a soothing occlusive layer!

 

[earlene]

Fabulous, toxikon! It looks and sounds wonderful.

Today I made 4 batches of soap at the Swirling Class I took. The first was a peacock swirl and I'm really happy with it. I feel better about going home and making more on my own again. I came away with some new ideas about soap combs. Because they were all made with slow to trace recipes today, I had to pack them carefully in the car for transport. I actually left them in the trunk to 'CPOP' in the heat of the car for a few hours. I've done that before when traveling and it works out pretty well, really. I just checked on them a couple of hours ago and they are doing great. I moved them to the floor of the front seat so they can continue to cool down tonight and as I drive tomorrow.

 

[Soapstars]

I am waiting for new and accurate scales to arrive so I am trying to nail my best recipe yet as a soaper who has only made about a dozen batches so far.
We MIL's have such a bad press I feel almost ashamed to have that title!

 

[biarine]

I made liquid soap with 100% coconut oil in 20 superfat. The first time that I make coconut oil that thicker. I used 2000 grams of water in 1594 grams of paste.

 

[Soapstars]

Just thought of using herbs from my garden to infuse oil for soapmaking. That'll save them going to waste as I've more than I can cook with. Anyone else used mint or rosemary in some sort of oil to use for soaps? Want to start a soapmaking business at some point but there is so much to take on board with safety assessments, recipes, methods, additives, colouring, fragrances - then samples, how to present it, sell it, price it - its like a parallel universe.

 

[earlene]

Soapstars, I have used other herbs and flowers for oil infusions, but not mint or rosemary. I have used rosemary essential oil in soap as well as a couple of mint EO's in soap, though. I think it's great to use your home-grown herbs in oil infusions. If you use some EO's or FO's to match, when you make the soap, you can actually get the fragrance, too. Unfortunately none of the scent carries through to the soap from the oil-infusion. But it's still a lot of fun to do.

This past week I've been keeping an eye on my climbing roses because I am waiting for the flowers to wilt enough for me to harvest them for an infusion. I used them in soap a couple of years ago and really liked the result. Last year, I guess I was gone on a roadtrip when they would have best been harvested, so no rose-infusion soap last year. I am looking forward to it, especially now that I found a rose FO that I like (from Mad Oils).

 

[Misschief]

It's been a while since I made soap but this week, I received requests for two of my soaps, Salt Soap and my tooth soap. I had none left of either so this morning, I'm making both. The salt soap is in the molds already and the lye water and oils are cooling, in prep for the tooth soap. I've let both people know that they won't be getting their soaps for at least two months and both were fine with it.

The one that surprised me the most was the neighbour. He's a young guy, in his late 20's, early 30's. I let him have a bar of the tooth soap to try; turns out he absolutely loves it and uses it daily. He has friends who want to try it too, apparently.

 

[earlene]

That's so cool, Misschief. I didn't think you'd ever run out of tooth soap. But I didn't think that anyone else would be interested. So far, I have not shared my tooth soap with anyone, not even my husband. He knows I made it, but hasn't shown any interest in trying it himself. He sure loves the bath soaps and the hand soaps, though, so that's good.

Today I started cleaning up the soaps I made at the Swirl class last weekend. I cut them a couple of days ago, but today they are firm enough to plane & bevel them. I have decided I just love one of them very much, but the peacock swirl with the plain white soap as the bottom is ugly IMO, so I don't know if I'll be keeping them as is or what. I do like the fragrance, so I don't think I really want to rebatch and lose the scent. The dancing funnel pour looks nice even though I poured too early, it still looks like it's supposed to look. And I love how translucent the bars look. CPOP in a hot car seemed to really force the gel quite nicely for this recipe. (I wouldn't normally CPOP in the car, but I was on the road for this class.) I'll post some pictures later.

 

[SoapAddict415]

What soapy thing did I do today? I came back to the forum after a long absence & was shocked to find a recipe that I posted back in 2012 to the favorite recipe thread. Now I can't wait to get more oils so I can start making soap again!

 

[Soapstars]

Yesterday I made some lemongrass soap with coconut milk powder included. There is no smell of coconut and no evidence of it being in there. I put 2 teaspoons of it in 100g of soap. Anyone know what quantity to put in a sample batch of 100g of soap for good effect please? Or is it something that I cannot expect to be noticeable in lemongrass soap do you think? Or would coconut milk cream from a tin be better?

 

[artemis]

Yesterday I made some lemongrass soap with coconut milk powder included. There is no smell of coconut and no evidence of it being in there. I put 2 teaspoons of it in 100g of soap. Anyone know what quantity to put in a sample batch of 100g of soap for good effect please? Or is it something that I cannot expect to be noticeable in lemongrass soap do you think? Or would coconut milk cream from a tin be better?

If the "good effect" you're looking for is coconut scent, the only way to get that is with a fragrance oil.

 

[Soapstars]

Artemis, I want the creamy look and feel of a coconut addition to my soap as well as the fragrance. How to achieve that or am I wasting my time with that one do you think?

 

[earlene]

Soapstars, you can substitute all of your water for any liquid when making soap. How much difference it makes to the feel of the soap is really quite a personal thing. Don't expect carry through of fragrance, but you would surely notice a difference in the feel of the soap with some ingredients. Partially that is due to the sugars and other molecular constituents in said ingredients.

But, again, it's quite personal. My soaping instructor told me that she did a blind testing of milk soaps with several people and out a small number (maybe 5 or 6 people) only one correctly identified the soaps by feel. She used buttermilk in one, coconut milk in another and goats milk in another and I think a control soap with no milk at all.

As far as Coconut fragrance, you'll have to find a good FO for that. I am not a particular fan of coconut, so haven't looked, but there is a thread here on the board addressing that topic.