Recent content by Jenny Sparks

I’m keenly interested in following your experiment, as a fellow NYC based soap maker. Distilled water is getting harder and harder to source and I’ve been wondering how our famed tap water would pan in CP soap. Do you plan to periodically revisit the soaps to compare at different points of...

To sign up for the challenge, please copy and paste this list into the next post, adding your name with the next number. Sign up list: 1. Jersey Girl- Coming out of my cave to try this one. ♥Haven’t used my slab mold yet! 2. AliOop - How can I resist when Jersey Girl is back??? 🥰🥳 3. Vicki C...

I have the exact same thing! It does work better for me then a peeler. I love it for planing the sides.

Help me not be a terrible beveler! I like a neat soap look with beveled edges but mine don’t look good. Now I usually just smooth the edges with a gloved finger. But I’m not ready to give up on having clean beveled edges yet! I tend to use inconsistent pressure, going too deep on some sides then...

I like the brown bag idea. I would totally reuse the plastic and styrofoam fillers that come with most deliveries but it goes against my branding. My husband ends up re-using it all anyway to ship the comic books he sells. We get so much plastic and bubble wrap from deliveries- it’s a shame...

At live events, my soap is sold naked or in minimal packaging. I use twine to tie a card with the ingredients & other info to the naked soap. Even my packaged soap is barely wrapped. I put a (recycled-paper) cigar label on some bars. But I want something different to ship orders (semi-naked soap...

Zap test passed! And I managed to safely try out a bar. I dispersed the mica using oil I measured out for the recipe. Thank you, this is very helpful! I agree that based on oils and butters this recipe shouldn’t have stayed soft. I’ve used those ingredients at the same percentages many times...

About 3 weeks ago, I had a very wonky batch and it still seems pretty soft. It should definitely be harder at this point. My recipe was 25% coconut, 25% palm, 25% olive, 15% beef tallow, 5% mango butter and 5% castor oil. I did a 6% superfat and used a 34% lye concentration. I soaped at 90...

Its only been a few weeks so my rebatched bars are not done curing but I gave one of them a try to get an idea of whether they would be usable (for personal/ family use). You were right about the Himalayan salt. These came out more than scratchy though- they actually feel sharp. And it’s fine...

I’m glad to hear that because I want the Pink Salt to work out !!

That sounds like the way to go for the future. I ended up pulverizing the bars and rebatching them. After melting, I put them in individual molds. 🤞🏼

Thanks, that’s good to know, I’ll read up on it. Does that apply to the fine ground salt or just coarse grind? I used an equal mix of finely ground Himalayan and fine sea salt.

Thanks, that’s good to know, I’ll read up on it. Does that apply to the fine ground salt or just coarse grind? I used an equal mix of finely ground Himalayan and fine sea salt.

That’s does sound better! I’ll try that next time.

I attempted to make a small batch of salt soap for the first time today. I did 80% coconut oil, 5% castor oil, and 15% olive oil with 20% superfat. Lye:water ratio was 1:1.8 and I soaped at room temperature. I also added 1 small spoon of green clay to the oils. I added a fragrance oil calculated...