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  1. Zen Pretzel

    First Time Salt Bar

    I made two batches of salt bars today at 17% sf. They had 100% and 75% salt as a percentage of CO. It took a long time to trace. I know salt bars need a minimum of six months cure time to reach their potential, but how long should I wait to test one to see if what I'm doing is working? I want...
  2. Zen Pretzel

    What soapy thing have you done today?

    I'm experimenting with salt bars. Today I made two batches. One had 100% salt and the other 75% in terms of percentage to coconut oil. My next covid inspired day off work, I'll make two more batches at 50% and 25%.
  3. Zen Pretzel

    What soapy thing have you done today?

    I made a double batch of charcoal soap with a fragrance called old time barbershop. I've made 8 batches in the past 4 days. This is how I plan to get through quarantine.
  4. Zen Pretzel

    First Time Salt Bar

    Very cool. Getting some good ideas here. I'll give it a go at 17%. I'm also going to experiment with salt at 50% 75% and 100% to see what I prefer. I am planning on letting the rest of the batch cure for at least six months. I just wanted to test one to see if I like it and want to make more...
  5. Zen Pretzel

    First Time Salt Bar

    UPDATE: After letting my bars cure, I've been using one of them for the past couple of weeks. Tbh, I'm not thrilled about how they turned out. They're too hard and I can't feel the salt when I use it. I did some research and it turns out that I should be doing something closer to 20% superfat...
  6. Zen Pretzel

    How quickly did you start

    It started with taking a soapmaking class. That gave me a base soap recipe to use. I wasn't planning on making all this soap, but I bought a bunch of materials over the couple of months that followed until I had a decent stockpile of materials. I'm now about 25 batches in. I'm making different...
  7. Zen Pretzel

    I Messed Up - Learn From Me

    A couple days ago, I made an error while soapmaking. I've been experimenting with mica powders and swirling techniques my last few batches. Using my usual soap recipe, I split my batch and added the coloring. I was more than halfway through pouring the soap into my mold when I realized that I...
  8. Zen Pretzel

    Beer Soap?

    That probably is what happened. I brought the beer to a full boil, but didn't give it enough time to cool off. The other times I gave it a few minutes and had no problems. I'll pay closer attention to this in the future. Thanks. For my next batch, I'm going to make a soap out of a beer lye...
  9. Zen Pretzel

    Beer Soap?

    I now have four kinds of beer soaps I've been making this past week. From left to right: Corona, Labatt Blue, Rickards Red and Guinness. I wanted to experiment with different types of beer from light to dark. Labatt Blue was my middle of the road beer soap. Strange thing with Labatt Blue: I...
  10. Zen Pretzel

    Beer Soap?

    We could definitely make some Corona beer soap with lime fragrance oils. Given the state of today's society, I'd call it "Coronavirus with a slice of Lyme disease". I'm sure it will be a bestseller.
  11. Zen Pretzel

    Beer Soap?

    Cool. So far I've made beer soap using Guinness and another batch using a red beer. Today I'm going to make a beer soap using Corona. I wasn't planning on adding any fragrances, but adding a lime scent to a Corona bar of soap sounds like a great idea.
  12. Zen Pretzel

    Beer Soap?

    From what I've been able to research, the beer doesn't add a whole lot to the soap. There are some minor qualities that get affected when beer is used, along with a slight odor, but I'm making this more for the novelty factor. Beer soaps are big sellers for a lot of soapmakers, so it's something...
  13. Zen Pretzel

    Beer Soap?

    I've also started playing with the beer soaps. A tall boy can is the perfect amount. After boiling off the alcohol, I just needed to add a tiny bit of water. I made soap with Guinness today. In the future, I plan on making beer using Corona, to test a light beer, Rickards Red to use a red beer...
  14. Zen Pretzel

    First Time Salt Bar

    I used silicone molds for the overflow, which I had a lot of with this recipe. I popped them out 24 hours later with no breakage or problems of any kind. So far they've held up better in the molds than the normal soap that I make.
  15. Zen Pretzel

    First Time Salt Bar

    So not as bad as I thought. Thanks for helping me understand. In the future, I'll use molds and stick to the cheap salt. I'm going to keep experimenting with salt bars. Future variations will include a similar recipe with a lower salt volume and a different one that uses coconut milk.
  16. Zen Pretzel

    First Time Salt Bar

    Wonderful. I'll keep an eye on it and cut it when it's ready in a few hours. Thanks for the help. Update: I just went to cut the soap and it's crumbling. Sometimes it feels like it's okay, but getting to the ends, even cutting slow, it crumbles. Research suggests I used too much lye. If you...
  17. Zen Pretzel

    First Time Salt Bar

    Hello I tried making a salt bar for the first time today. The breakdown is as follows: 380g distilled water 144g lye 800g coconut oil 150g olive oil 50g castor oil 800g various salts (mix of pink Himalaya, Celtic sea salt, and kosher salt) No additional fragrances or additives. The soap...
  18. Zen Pretzel

    Hello from Canada

    Most of my travels have been around Central and Southern America. There is so much to see and visit. I want to go to the middle east next.
  19. Zen Pretzel

    Hello from Canada

    Hello. I'm Zen Pretzel and I'm new to the world of soapmaking. I attended a beginner workshop a few weeks ago, really enjoyed it and now I'm setting up to make more. I hope to enjoy chatting with everyone here, learning and experimenting with different formulas, making gifts for friends and...
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