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  1. traderbren

    Upcoming New Year Castile Soap Project

    Not earlene, but I'd guess she is trying just to see for herself. What fun is soaping if you just take the word of others? As for me, I have an excess of olive oil still that will be out of date before long if I don't give it a purpose. I'm planning a bastile for this week, with 10% each palm...
  2. traderbren

    I finally have room for a veggie garden!

    Wow, Irish Lass! I'm just seeing this thread after a long absence. How awesome, and I'm super impressed with how much you got from your garden! (Also, jealous of that blue sky.)
  3. traderbren

    Olive oil vs Olive Pomace

    I realize it's dependent on location, etc. I was mentioning it as a note that sometimes certain ingredients can be readily found cheaper or more easily locally, in case OP has not checked local sources. I know for me when I was starting, avocado oil was out of my hobbyist price range for quite...
  4. traderbren

    Olive oil vs Olive Pomace

    Olive Oil can be quite cheap if you source it locally from a grocery store or warehouse club. You don't need Extra Virgin Olive Oil for soap (it's far too expensive to soap with unless you need to). A 5 liter jug of 100% olive oil was about $20 at BJ's (warehouse club) the last time I bought it...
  5. traderbren

    Yuzu/Kumquat Salt Bars

    Very nice! I also use cavity molds for salt bars, and unmolding is fabulous, isn't it?
  6. traderbren

    Snow Witch

    So beautiful!
  7. traderbren

    why did my soap go brown like the picture?

    Was the Sweet Orange an EO, or a fragrance oil? If it was a fragrance oil, what brand? It looks to me a bit like discoloration from the fragrance, not fully mixed, giving you lighter and darker patches.
  8. traderbren

    Upcoming New Year Castile Soap Project

    In the past I used Ginger Patchouli from BB (faded big time, but I only used 5% PPO), and Sacred Sandalwood from NG (faded, but still can subtly smell it. Again only at 5% PPO) This year I finally decided on Black Linen & Amber from NG, mainly because I had it, and it's one of my favorite clean...
  9. traderbren

    Upcoming New Year Castile Soap Project

    I did 100% Olive Castile last year on NYE, and plan to do one again tomorrow. I usually add a fragrance but haven't decided on one yet.
  10. traderbren

    Hot process breaking issue

    What is your recipe? Also, cure time is no different between HP or CP, despite what you might have read. A soap at 1 or 2 weeks of cure time is not going to be "cured", and depending on your recipe, even at 5 or 6 weeks it might not be cured fully. I have a few recipes that are just not good...
  11. traderbren

    The new kitchen has begun...

    It looks great!
  12. traderbren

    What soapy thing have you done today?

    I hope you feel better!
  13. traderbren

    What soapy thing have you done today?

    Hit the Go button on my order today, so hopefully next week I can whip up a few batches of soap and lotion before my surgery. Also bought EO's for DH's beard oil. Today we learned that fractionated coconut oil on his beard overnight smells like baby puke. The oil smells fine in the jug, but...
  14. traderbren

    Face Scrub

    I'm no help on the rest of the ingredients, but the panthenol (if you can find it reasonably priced where you are) is an ingredient I use a good bit in hair care (leave in conditioner, detangler spray) and I'm working on a beard balm that I am going to try to incorporate it into for my hubs. I...
  15. traderbren

    Thread titles and my very strange mind.

    What to do with a mistake? Turn it into a tree, of course!
  16. traderbren

    Next question: soft soap

    33% water to lye is not making sense to me. Perhaps I need more coffee, perhaps it is the wording. How much water did you use and how much lye? When I make soap, I tick the box that says "Lye Concentration" and my default that I enter is 33%. That would be 2:1 water to lye ratio. Or 29% water as...
  17. traderbren

    Next question: soft soap

    When you say "33% wter to lye", do you mean water to lye ratio, or did you use 33% lye concentration? Did you see the soap go through the gel process?
  18. traderbren

    Question about fragrance oils.

    I use between .75- 1.0 oz ppo as well. I mainly use Nature's Garden FO's, and they fill by weight not volume, so I do not weigh those but dump the whole ounce in. Other FO's I weigh.
  19. traderbren

    FO and aloe vera

    I soap with aloe often since I have a ridiculously huge aloe plant. I also use closer to 5 or 6%. My soaps still smell nice and strong after a good long cure.
  20. traderbren

    What soapy thing have you done today?

    I've been taking a break from soaping for a while as I had lots of soap and have some recent health issues that made me not want to do anything. This morning I took inventory of my supplies and I'm working on a shopping cart at NG. I also made the Hubster a beard oil, as he has decided to go the...
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