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Admin, feel free to move if this isn't in the appropriate section. I'm feeling so frustrated with some soap businesses at the moment - I need to rant and for someone to tell me to keep my mouth zipped! I'm a member of a small FB group for NZ Soapmakers - there's less than 50 of us in the...

I attended my first market today. We have just gotten through Winter here in NZ, so the area where I live is still pretty quiet. Luckily, it was a beautiful day and that seemed to help draw a few people out to market. There were around 18 stalls, with one other well established soaper. I drew...

I made a batch of lemongrass/eucalyptus salt bars around a week ago. I've made this recipe plenty of times before, and this is the first time that this issue has occurred. I used just enough water to dissolve the lye, and the rest of the liquid was coconut cream added at trace. 33% salt, 33% lye...

I've made this exact soap several times now, and have never had this problem occur. I cut it yesterday and moved it upstairs (on a baking paper lined baking tray, as I usually do) and I checked on it today to find this. It's a brown/red liquid on the tops of the soap. There are also little...

I attempted a Taiwan swirl with a very mediocre outcome, but the final result is something that I do quite like! It doesn't look how it's supposed to, but it does look like little tulips on top I think! Cut photos are just a simple drop swirl, so nothing fancy. Scented with Love Spell FO...

I made Genny's shampoo bar after excitedly reading and learning from the very long, but very informative, thread. I subbed the soybean oil for macadamia nut oil, and scented with rosemary and mint EOs. I love how creamy it looks, and I'm super excited for this baby to cure so I can try it out! I...

Normally, my soapy sessions are enjoyable and almost relaxing - but this batch was a total PITA and I'm feeling the stress! I shouldn't have picked today to make it, as I've already had a very busy and stressful morning at work and have to go back to work in less than an hour. So, I got new FOs...

This was my first batch of soap using hemp oil, and I love the light green colour that it imparted onto the finished soap. Unscented, but it does still smell slightly nutty - I quite like it. I'm also surprised at how hard this bar is - I made it around 18 hours ago and it was hard enough to cut...

This may be better off in the Photo Gallery, but I wasn't sure - admin, feel free to move if so. I came across Maple Soaps on Instagram, and I am just absolutely, stupidly in LOVE with their packaging. It's so simple but so beautiful and elegant. I love the different patterned paper they use...

Gah. I made this exact soap just a few days ago, but I wanted to make it again as I wasn't happy with the clumps of oxides and TD that I hadn't managed to fully incorporate. I soaped at 30% lye concentration and 7% SF, exactly the same as before. EOs used were a blend of pine, cedarwood...

Just sharing some photos of my first attempts at a pretty swirl. The colours didn't come out as I hoped and I found the pink pretty hard to mix so there's a few clumps of colour. I also overdid it with the TD and have lots of, what I believe are, glycerin rivers. I kinda like them though, so not...

So, I whipped up a big pot of pumpkin and coconut soup yesterday (yum!) for my boyfriend and I's lunch for the next few days as we're so swamped at work on the farm and barely have time to eat! We sat down for lunch today and I added an extra little dollop of coconut cream to my soup. Started to...

I've made lots of successful batches of salt bars so far using regular table salt and 90% coconut, 10% castor and 50% salt. I picked up some pink Himalayan salt at the shop the other day, and decided to use it with a new FO - black cherry bomb. Enhanced the pink of the salt with a little rose...

It's not even fully cured yet, but I think I'm in love. I made a lemongrass and coconut milk salt bar maybe 3 weeks ago (too lazy to go and dig out my notes right now), and I am literally amazed at how bloody good it makes my skin feel. I've had it by the kitchen sink for my boyfriend to use...

For the dog and cat lovers, here's a few snaps of my new puppy, and 9 month old kitties. Puppy's name is Harley, and he's 11 weeks old, a border collie x huntaway. I'm not going to lie, he's a major pain in the a** at the moment. He's peed on every single person he's met - he just gets way too...

For years, I've been buying stupidly expensive bath melts from LUSH. Yesterday, I realised how easy it is to make them myself! I use mini cupcake silicone baking moulds, the melts are around 10g and I like to use 2 for a nice, fragrant and "oily" bath, but you could just use one. This recipe...

This is NOT a "look at my pretty soap" thread, by any means! This is more of a hey, look at all the mistakes I made and hopefully improve upon... I thought it would be kinda cool to see a visual progress in newbie soaping. My first batch was made around 4-5 weeks ago. The most recent batches are...

So a few weeks ago, I tried to make a raspberry tea soap. It turned brown/orange and the scent doesn't match the colour at all. So I ordered some sweet orange EO and pink clay, and tried to make it again yesterday. I used paprika to colour the main part of the soap. I took a couple of table...

I'm way too excited about this, but aren't we all! My boyfriend works outside and it's the middle of winter here in NZ, so his poor hands are chapped and sore. He adores this hand cream from The Body Shop, but it's expensive here and I thought I could try and make something even better for him...

I made a honey and beer soap last week, and it's still very soft to touch. It looks and feels like fudge. I haven't had this happen with any other batches where the recipe has been the same. I used: Castor @ 8% SAO @ 8% Coconut @ 20% Cocoa butter @ 10% Olive pomace @ 24% RBO @ 20% Shea butter @...