Recent content by judymoody

You could mix all your leftovers together in a blend. It will probably be the best smelling thing ever and you will never ever be able to repeat what you did. ;)

The soap is very tie dye! I have been soaping for some time and I still sometimes get into a panic when things go wrong. I had soap batter seize on me the other day. I know what I should do - let it gel in the container and then plop it in the mold. But no, instead I try to cram crumbly play...

I tried the corrugated plastic but preferred freezer paper. After a couple of batches it tended to stick to the soap.

Yep, brown. Unless you hot process and add them at the very end after it's done cooking.

Why do you think your first batch failed? What went wrong? Never be in a hurry to pitch a batch - there are ways to save mishaps much of the time. There is no hard and fast rule about oil and lye temperatures. If you want to gel, soap hotter; if you don't soap cooler. Some people use room...

Welcome to the forum! Grapeseed oil has a short shelf life but I use it as a main oil in an acne soap and it has its place there. Otherwise, no. Regarding poppyseed, I've found that the seeds themselves go rancid, so I'd hesitate about using the oil. I suppose you could try it in a small...

There is a huge shampoo bar thread (like 25+ pages) here on this forum that should be easy to find if you search. I believe that the moral of the thread was to avoid use of coconut oil in shampoo bars and it yielded much better results. I also agree on cutting beeswax and butters. For what...

The outside of the soap looks gelled to me. My theory is that on the outside it got hot enough to gel (but not separate) and the inside got overheated, and did separate. I have rarely gotten separation but pumpkin puree was one of those times. Cinnamon leaf EO has always seized instantly for...

Most excellent! :D

Very pretty and I like your packaging!

Do you use FO or EO? If EO, both litsea and lemongrass are cheap and stick and are good blenders. If FO, Brambleberry's orange peel and grapefruit FOs are very authentic smelling and also stick well. A lot of people swear by Energy (also BB) but I personally find it too sweet.

The alcohol spray seems to make a difference for me. I also found that I got a lot of ash when I used shea so I stopped using it and switched to cocoa butter.

Somebody did an experiment, I think on this forum, that made a compelling case for saponification being the primary reason for EOs fading or morphing, rather than the hottest temperature that the soap mixture attained. I'd like to guess DeeAnna as she's our resident soap scientist. Based on...

Fantastic! The honor is well deserved!!!!

Patch, lemongrass and vetiver sounds like a fantastic combo! Go easy on the vetiver, though, because it is very strong, not to mention expensive. I'd start at 1/10 of my scent blend, and divide the remainder depending on whether you want it more lemony or more patchy.