What soapy thing have you done today?

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TeresaT said:
I've got a question for those of you that use mango butter. Does your mango butter smell weird? I purchased some and it smells like fryer grease or oil. When I first got it, it was really bad. The distributor (a Facebook bulk purchase group) said refined mango butter has a "light" smell and definitely does not smell like mangos. She suggested I let it air out since it had been closed up and the odor will diffuse. The majority of the "grease" smell has gone; but it still does not smell pleasant at all. I'm trying to find out if that is normal for mango butter. I'm used to butters with either no smell or something like raw shea butter, kind of earthy but not unpleasant. Definitely not a product that smells like fryer grease. This is my first experience with mango butter. I have nothing to compare it with and don't know if it's a bad batch or just a naturally stinky product. I have no idea what it is supposed to smell like. I've gotten other oils from this company and everything else is fine; no other funky odors. It's a brand new batch of butter. I received my other oils and butters a week before this one because it hadn't arrived from the shipper yet.
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Teresa, I've still got some raw organic mango butter from ONBeauty that I purchased 6 months ago, and it has a pleasant, clean smell, nothing at all like you describe. But I vaguely remember thinking when I first got it that it smelled....well, nothing like I expected it to. But I soaped with it, and it was fine. And now the butter smells quite alright to my nose. I would go ahead and give it the suggested airing out and reserve judgement until later, unless you feel a refund wouldn't be accepted after the wait.
 
Spent the day introducing one of my best friends to soap-making. We made two batches, and one of them was even a trial run for the GC Soap Challenge teardrop pour. We watched the videos several times, discussed tactics, and recipes, and colors, and I could tell she was really getting into it. So I let her take over, choose the colors and do the pour. She did fantastic---I can't wait to cut into her soap!
And then over lunch & coffee at a really nice bistro I sealed the deal completely on her budding addiction and showed her newbie's daily "browsing soap pics" thread......Should friends really let friends look at those when they're still so new and impressionable?:wink:
 
Well, after kids went to bed, I got 2 batches done. The blue colored is South Pacific Waters, and boy did it accelerate...hopefully, it won't look too much like the plop and drop it was...lol. I used the Misty Magic Supplies micas...this is the first time I've used them. The pink, yellow, and green is Hippie Chick.

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IMG_20160502_223100.jpg
 
mzimm said:
Teresa, I've still got some raw organic mango butter from ONBeauty that I purchased 6 months ago, and it has a pleasant, clean smell, nothing at all like you describe. But I vaguely remember thinking when I first got it that it smelled....well, nothing like I expected it to. But I soaped with it, and it was fine. And now the butter smells quite alright to my nose. I would go ahead and give it the suggested airing out and reserve judgement until later, unless you feel a refund wouldn't be accepted after the wait.
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I'm not worried about a refund. It was less than $10 for a pound. I think it was $6.50, I'd have to check my receipt. The smell isn't as strong as it was before and I've purchased some Dollar General disposable food containers to put my butters in. I'll transfer the mango into that and maybe melt it down to aerate it better and re-solidify. It probably won't actually do anything except make me feel better. :)

I might buy some from a mainstream company the next time I place an order with one just to compare the quality. I know she is ordering in bulk from a mainstream supplier and then breaking it down into smaller orders; however, this is my only experience with mango butter. I'll try to find raw and refined to have something to compare to. I may have to look up ONBeauty to see what they offer. Thanks for the help.
 
Actually, I did this yesterday. I went to Michael's to pick up some squeeze bottles for this month's challenge and discovered the cake stuff was buy two get one free! So, three packages of squeeze bottle for the price of two. Three tiny molds to use as embeds or decorations (butterflies, doves and hearts) for the price of two. Three bigger molds (the 24 square brownie bites, 12 heart shaped individual cupcakes and an 8 pc shot glass mold) for the price of two. CHA CHING! (OK. I did spend a lot more than I intended to; however, I purchased things that I've been wanting. So, it's actually a win.) I never shop at Hobby Lobby or Michael's and I've been there twice this month. Both times I was looking for specific items and both times I happened on huge sales. Hobby Lobby had the paper for sale & now Michael's had the cake stuff for sale. Yay, me!
 
BlackDog said:
I cut my embeds for the May challenge and picked dandelions to infuse oil for a salve I read about in the B&B forum!
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I should have picked dandelions last week. But my husband mowed the lawn and they are all gone now. Maybe I can beat him to it before he mows again. I want to try a dandelion infusion. (We do not use chemicals on our lawn. Don't want to kill the rabbits.)
 
I unmolded and cut my "Mica Madness" from Sunday (5/1) and was pleasantly surprised at how it turned out. It's not perfect, but it is much better than I thought it would be. It is scented with "Pretty Kitty" from Nature's Garden and I used the Vibrant Set of micas from Nurture. I was afraid I had used too much mica, but it turned out to be "just right." I've got two more from Sunday to unmold and cut. However, neither of those have any color to them. BTW: since my soap cutter was a cheap one from Hobby Lobby and it is bowed in the middle, I used a kitchen chef's knife to cut these. However, the big difference is I wet the knife between each cut and that made for a much cleaner cut. Just to make sure it wasn't my imagination, I tried a couple of times without wetting the knife and it was more difficult to go through the hardened soap and I ended up with striations in the cut sides that I'll have to plane out.

ETA: OOPS! I just realized I used the BRIGHTS set of micas, not the Vibrant set. I used 1 teaspoon in 200 gm oils (pre-mixed with 1 TBSP of oils from the 200 gms). These are the colors in order of the pour (if you're interested): Hollywood Pink, Turquoise, Sunshine Yellow, Wisteria Purple, Lime Appeal. I bought four sets at the same time (Vibrance, Brights, Pastels and Rainbow) and got my set mixed up.

Mica Madness.jpg
 
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TeresaT said:
I unmolded and cut my "Mica Madness" from Sunday (5/1) and was pleasantly surprised at how it turned out. It's not perfect, but it is much better than I thought it would be. It is scented with "Pretty Kitty" from Nature's Garden and I used the Vibrant Set of micas from Nurture.
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How is the fragrance today? They look gorgeous, btw!

Soap stuff today; I was up very late putting the finishing touches on some soaps for my DIL. I brushed/painted some mica onto some of the prettier ones to highlight some of the features. I cut & wrote out some labels & wrapped some of them before going to bed. Then finished up the wrapping, labeling and boxing up for mailing. Later walked downtown to mail them. Four pounds of soap out the door.
 
Thanks, earlene! The fragrance has toned down (thank heavens!) and smells nice; however, I don't think I'll get it again unless someone specifically asks for it. It's a floral scent, but not funereal floral.

(To me there are two types of floral scents, fresh and funereal. Most bulbs and orchids are of the funereal kind. Roses are on the cusp and can go either way. Carnations and daisies are on the fresh side. I pretty much stay away from flowers unless they're plastic.)
 
There molds (each 5 lb) of my dandelion and stinging nettle soap with cocoa butter, one mold Nag Champa, two Verbena and lemon . the soap does not look so good but is truly luxurious with a lot of cocoa butter, and avocado oil. Fast mover that for sure.
 
TeresaT said:
I unmolded and cut my "Mica Madness" from Sunday (5/1) and was pleasantly surprised at how it turned out. It's not perfect, but it is much better than I thought it would be. It is scented with "Pretty Kitty" from Nature's Garden and I used the Vibrant Set of micas from Nurture. I was afraid I had used too much mica, but it turned out to be "just right." I've got two more from Sunday to unmold and cut. However, neither of those have any color to them. BTW: since my soap cutter was a cheap one from Hobby Lobby and it is bowed in the middle, I used a kitchen chef's knife to cut these. However, the big difference is I wet the knife between each cut and that made for a much cleaner cut. Just to make sure it wasn't my imagination, I tried a couple of times without wetting the knife and it was more difficult to go through the hardened soap and I ended up with striations in the cut sides that I'll have to plane out.
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Love those Vibrance colors, TeresaT! And the tilt pour really rocks them!
 
I finally got around to looking up the saponification value for Tea Oil that I bought at the Charleston Tea Plantation last fall. And what do you know, it's already in SoapCalc by it's botanical name, which I had not earlier thought to check. Chamelia Oil, Tea Seed. So I learned something new today.

So I added it to my list of single oil soaps to do for oils I did not previously test. The list is up to 4 that I have on hand & have not yet done. My plan is to do those tomorrow. Tiny single bar/single oil test soaps.

And perhaps I will grate & package my 100%CO soap to prepare for making more laundry butter.
 
Yesterday I grated up my flop lard batch to use for a confetti and started the oil infusion for the dandelion salve for bf. I'm not getting very much done lately with everything else I have going on, and I really don't like it very much :( I need some distress me time.
 

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