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    Happy with my dual lye tallow soap!!

    When using the KOH at a low rate (5 ish is the norm I think ?) do you soap as usual, or is there any secial technique involved ? I bought some KOH thinking about making liquid soap, but this has my interest piqued.
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    Tattoos

    I wanted to have my kids' birthdate (month and day) in roman numerals on the inside of my forearms... that is until my girlfriend pointed out to me what that thirty in roman numerals is not something I would want in a corporate environment :headbanging: I don't want to do names, especially...
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    Freezer Soap Fragrance Question

    I used black tie at 5% in a cp soap and that fragrance is strong. It did gel. Split the same recipe using a reliable fo but force gel in one batch and freeze the other and then compare ? I also find that a soap may need 3-4 outings in the shower to regain its scent so to speak.
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    SMF April 2017 Challenge-Stripes

    Congratulations to all the winners !
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    How to weigh very small amounts

    I have a similar scale to yours and I have the same issue. I use the lightest and smallest container, zero it, and I remove it after adding each bit of the material I want to weigh (FO, EO, additives). I don't know why, but it seems to register better that way and avoid having a 2-5g jump at one...
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    We have Humming birds again!!!

    You are so lucky. We had 15 cm of snow today :( We do have a lot of beautiful deers who practically live in our yard, but they destroy their fair share of plants and trees every year, so it's a wash.
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    INS Value of Soap Recipes

    This thread is almost ten years old, I don't think you'll getmany responses :mrgreen:
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    April 2017 Challenge Entry Thread

    This is my entry, it's a simple lard soap using zebra stripes. I scented with eucalyptus eo. I like the sober and simple ''spring'' design.
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    Crumbly soap - using vinegar (CP)

    Obsidian, that's my experience too. Lard produces a very hard bar, but it can take up to a week not to feel spongy.
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    Crumbly soap - using vinegar (CP)

    When I say drag marks, I mean marks left on the soap from soap bits sticking to the blade during the cut, leaving a rough texture.
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    What soapy thing have you done today?

    Not today but yesterday I rebatched (again) some of my crumbly soap which turned sky blue, so I decided to add a bit more water to make things fluid and poured some activated charcoal in a portion of the batter and went for an in the pot swirl. It made for a very dramatic effect on the top and...
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    Crumbly soap - using vinegar (CP)

    So far in soap making, when to cut (or not to cut) soap has been the biggest challenge. I started using vinegar because I had a few recipes that even with a lot of hard oils and a steep water discount, still had drag marks after cutting even after 48 hours of waiting. One such soap had 80%...
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    Crumbly soap - using vinegar (CP)

    I've done 3 batches using vinegar as part of my liquid to produce sodium acetate (1% oil weight) in order to make the bars harder and improve lather, but all three of them are crumbly when I'm cutting them. Some bars even fractured in two. All of the recipes had a high percentage of hard...
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    SMF April 2017 Challenge-Stripes

    :cry: The feeling you get when people are posting way more beautiful soap as a non-entry than what you want to enter.
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    DIY Wire Cutter

    You're most assuredly fine then.
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    DIY Wire Cutter

    For the less music minded folks out there, from what I gather, what you is an electric guitar steel high E string (not banjo or god forbid, bass). Some strings are bronze, nickel, chrome or coated and I'm not sure they would work as good. Basically, you want the cheapest strings made for an...
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    SMF April 2017 Challenge-Stripes

    If a difference in gel doesn't explain it, the soap gremlins probably got to it is my take. I shredded some of the bars for rebatch (with another bar that was fine, but ugly as sin) and didn't think to test for zap, but I didn't wear gloves while doing it and my hands didn't feel any lye. I know...
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    SMF April 2017 Challenge-Stripes

    The recipe was: 5% castor 30 % olive 10 % avocado 55 % lard 5% superfat, 33 % lye concentration, both my lye water and oils were at 110 F when combined. I used 117 g vinegar along with 102 g of beer as my liquids. I did not use a fragrance, but used 24g peppermint eo for 800g of oil. I...
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    SMF April 2017 Challenge-Stripes

    This is another non-entry that I'm posting for troubleshooting: As you can see, the bottom white layer is very crumbly. In fact, this is the least crumbly bar. When cutting, the top three layers (white, blue and peach)would cut as usual and as soon as I got to the bottom white layer, the...
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    What soapy thing have you done today?

    My second try at the April challenge wasn't all that good. I waited too long to cut and some bar crumbled and others had the colour layers separate (this is probably due to me pouring the bottom white layer at very thick trace and waiting a while before pouring the second layer, to insure a...
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