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Just found this paper that discusses several antioxidants (ROE, tocopherol/vitamin E, ascorbyl palmitate, and citric acid, as well as combinations thereof). For sure also a great starting point for further research into the academic literature around slowing down rancidity. They, however, look...

NaOH:KOH mass ratio 100:0 97:3 89:11 100:0 + sorbitol Na:K molar ratio 100:0 98:2 92:8 100:0 + sorbitol Lye concentration XOH/(NaOH+KOH+H₂O) 38.3% | 0% 37.5% | 1.1% 35.2% | 4.3% 38.3% | 0% | 3.1% sorbitol All made from the same oil blend (30% HO sunflower & RBO, 15% macadamia, plus just...

I'm intrigued by this somewhat exotic recipe class. I learned about it from Mellen (YT SoapNCrafts: Process | FAQs ). She quotes Catherine Failor's 2000 book “Making Transparent Soap. The Art Of Crafting, Molding, Scenting & Coloring” as a reference. But honestly I have not seen any other...

tl;dr: Dilution of LS paste with (hard) tap water is possible, but at the expense of clarity and viscosity. These are dilutions from the same single-oil peanut LS paste; the only difference being that in the left, I diluted the paste with tap water (net Ca/Mg content: 1.8 mmol/L aka hardness...

The “entry thread” for my early 2022 to-do list. Posting nice pics of soaps to be chuffed about, once they're presentable. Regardelss if they have or haven't fulfilled their actual objective. I won't start with the lard/vanilla/ZCS lollipop since it'll get some more weeks to eventually do...

Warining: Rabbit hole! (lye-based, because you will need some alkali to precipitate the alumina, that's the whole point of lake pigments) Right now, things are about to escalate once again, the topic this time are lake pigments. Lakes are an age-old technique to convert soluble, organic dyes...

Everyone feel free to contribute and extend this thread! I'm including some links to the few projects that came to my mind, but this of course is a terribly incomplete list! Reasons for this thread: Praise the marvellous colour of red palm oil! Give a clue about dosage to obtain different...

I'm undecided which of the following projects to tackle next. Reasonably – neither. But you know how the game goes, and maybe you know this wonderful, slightly sarcastic, and painfully true adage of G. B. Shaw: “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in...

Among the slightly early Christmas presents, was a candle, scented with a questionable FO cocktail and some sloppy decoration. I won't show it out of respect to the gifter (totally not because I forgot to snap it). But that jar!!! 😃 Hunter-gatherer genes, y'know 🙄 I found a label on the candle...

Today, a fortunate accident led me to Tree Marie's video of transparent ombré. She is unhappy about the tinge of yellow in her final M&P base. What she does to relieve this is that she adds few drops of purple dye (soluble). Genius idea to compensate the yellow hue, and to shift the visible...

… straying off the path of soapmaking, lighting three simple tea lights. Well, not that simple, of course 😜. One is fueled with palm wax (fractionated-triglyceride-type palm stearin), one with “Wenzel Raps Wax” (hydrogenated canola), and the last one with my latest haul, OBW073 canola wax...

This batch was originally intended to be my trial give soapnuts in bar soap a chance. The soapnut soap (left) actually went fine, but my control soap (right) crazed out in a truly uncanny way: I've put the mould aside, as a size comparison. The soapnut soap has shrunk a bit (like one would...

I've learned about nixtamalisation like a foreign language. Corn doesn't play much of a role in the cuisine over here, and when, then it's cultural (more often than not literally pop-cultural) import: corn flakes, polenta, popcorn, tortillas. Accordingly exotic was it for me to read up the...

I've gone crazy and ordered hydrogenated coconut oil (“CO92”), which is about to arrive soon. Not sure if I'll notice any difference to regular/virgin coconut oil (“CO76”) when it comes to soapmaking. There wasn't much to talk about with palm kernel oil, babaçu, or murumuru either (except the...

Collecting experiences with the fruits of Sapindus saponaria and related soapnut tree species, as a source of natural detergents (saponins)! They also appear under many traditional/local names, such as aritha, reetha … which doesn't make literature work easiser. There are various mentions as...

Can't decide for no more than two (but no less than one) of these: galangal (Alpinia glanga) EO or CO₂ extract ginger (Zingiber officinale) rhizom EO ginger (Zingiber officinale) rhizom CO₂ extract turmeric (Curcuma longa) EO ETA: ginger lily (Hedychium spicatum) EO ETA: ginger (Zingiber...

Disclaimer: It doesn't become any less esoteric with my weird ideas to reïnvent the soapy wheel. It also doesn't become a short post, and I'll have to split it in multiple posts if only for the many photos I'll include. I've called today's programme Acid rebatch. It is kind of a rebatch in the...

Sooo … I'm wondering for a good way to get subtle dark (brownish) specks into CP soap in a controlled way. Doesn't seem difficult, because so many soapers have got them, and usually want to get rid of them 🙄. Not me this time. But I'm kind of negative-creative at the moment, and seem to only...

In recent times, I seem to have bad luck with clear cold-process LS. First off, I don't mind if my LS is clear or turbid, especially for domestic use. But I am under the impression that I'm overlooking something important. I've run out of ideas what else to consider. From the about one dozen of...

Of course I couldn't leave my idea for rainbow LS without at least trying out some of its (less troublesome) aspects in some way! So here is, at least, a proof-of-concept simple two-colour gradient ombré “swirl” within an LS bottle. The other day, I had pre-dissolved a ridiculously tiny...