Recent content by rainycityjen

This is genius. It makes a lot of sense.

I wonder if the something in that fragrance crystallized somehow.

I made soap for the first time in my new house and I already ruined my kitchen island. It's my own fault for not laying down a protective layer, but a soap bowl or lye bowl must have somehow been dripping and created a ring in my dark quartz counter. It looks like the top layer of colorant has...

A superfine salon mister bottle for isopropyl alcohol, to keep the ash off without alcohol pooling or dripping. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00WXXIWVG/ Seconding or thirding little condiment cups or condiment tupperwares for mica. Press N Seal style cling film for sealing in air during the first...

Sheep milk yogurt... was really lovely, comparable to goat's milk.

In my experience mango is great for anhydrous body butter (over shea and coconut) due to its less greasy texture. Kokum is a great addition to Italian style shave soap. I have heard online that a lot of butter being sold as shea is actually sal butter.

I tried some WSP/Crafter's Choice Caribbean Coconut FO after reviews on WSP and on the coconut experiment thread in SMF. It smelled just as described OOB, but IMMEDIATELY faded to a faint gingerbread smell after cure. I soaped at 110 F and gelled, with no colorant. So disappointing. Just...

Sent a PM!

I tried my hand at piping soap for the first time ever (well, piping anything for the first time ever.) Originally I wanted to enter this month's GC soap challenge, but I spent a week out of state during prime entry-making time. Oh well, I still got some practice in.

How's the final hardness - I imagine very hard! Probably don't even need sodium lactate.

In addition to using it for ornery FOs, I love HP for honey and sugar batches. (OMH bars look great as rustic brown HP bars!)

I've soaped Redwood and London Fog and have yet to soap Falling Leaves, and love all three. Redwood I like best for a candle. London Fog is a husband favorite. I think AH/RE has some of the most unique and sophisticated scents I've purchased to date. I could use more notes on usage in CP though.

I had a big batch of herb infused OO sitting around waiting for my lazy butt to do a castile. Then I was making some mashed potatoes and remembered a thread on SMF about using potato water for liquid dish soap. I looked but couldn't find any "after" photos of a potato-water-for-water bar, so I...

These are old soaps using my favorite recipe of the past year. I usually have trouble with my edges getting ashy and crumbly, and I'm an impatient un-molder. These soaps have a lovely smooth semi-opacity with no ash, and unmold beautifully with sodium lactate. Like most milk soaps they have...

Ditto on using glycerin especially in TD. Don't make the newb mistake I did and overdose on the glycerin though; it has caused rivers for me.