1st SMF Soap Challenge- July

[not_ally]

The sad thing is, I can imagine watching many of us watching "watching mica flow" intently. We are a strange, geeky bunch

 

[galaxyMLP]

Tried one yesterday. Came out bleh. Need more white this time but.. I ran out of my wine to play with. Looks like I'll have to pick another color scheme/fragrance.

 

[not_ally]

I feel the need to make another batch, just b/c I didn't take pics on all the stages with the nice ones, darn it. All of yours are so pretty I just hate to post pics of a boring/mediocre one, the only one I managed to document properly ...

At least the next challenge will be easier in that respect, I bet, since the process is more visually self-explanatory as long as you include the stamping tool ...

 

[Saponista]

We are all such perfectionists! My husband couldn't understand why I wanted to try again!

 

[dillsandwitch]

I'm so not gonna get another chance to have another go at this. I was really hoping I would be able to on Saturday and enter it at the last minute but DH is a greedy bastard and is wanting us to work First attempt it is then unless we finish up early

 

[karenbeth]

Dill hubby just doesn't get it:???:. Wait till you've been soaping a bit longer and all of a sudden he understands the different oils in soap and starts telling other people about it. Trust me it won't happen over night but it will happen:wink:. What work do you do?

 

[not_ally]

I visited w/Seawolfe and her husband was so great and interested in the soap, he actually hung out with me, Sea and JBlaney for the whole long visit while we all (including him) yakked and yakked about them. It was really nice.

 

[Saponista]

I'm so jealous that you guys had a soap meet up!

 

[not_ally]

It was awesome. I think soapers just have an instinctive commonality

ETA: It is strange, it is always a bit tricky meeting people that you don't know except for on line (cough, match.com,eg). I am pretty picky about IRL friends b/c they take time, you want to be a good friend and devote that time if you choose them to be in your life. But I have to say that Sea and J are people I would gravitate to in the real world, too, they are just really interesting, smart, nice, and we had lots of stuff to talk about in addition to the soap.

I do think soapers share certain qualities - creativity, curiousity, love of beauty in the senses - so there is a certain friendship baseline there ..

 

[lionprincess00]

Well, I have two batches out and prepped. Need to melt, mix etc. This is it. one will be my entry. Pko flakes, do you melt them separate and add or melt with the other oils?

 

[newbie]

With the other oils, at least for me. I melt all my hard oils together and then add the soft oils.

 

[not_ally]

LP, I melt all the hard oils separately, so do the PKO that way as well. Do you put all your hard oils in one pot when you are melting? That makes sense, I guess I haven't been b/c I thought they might have different melt points or something. PKO does seem to take longer to melt than the rest of them oz for oz, though.

 

[not_ally]

That is good to know! That you guys do all the hard oils at once, that is.

 

[lionprincess00]

I dump all into a stainless bowl and place directly onto a burner...I've already put everything into the bowl minus the pko. I'll melt it in a separate bowl then and add...Thx for the tip on doing it separate (hard then soft) for future reference!

 

[not_ally]

LP, why do you use a burner, do you prefer it to the mv?

 

[Saponista]

I always use the burner too. I have a microwave, I just never use it. I don't like the way microwaved food tastes so I automatically gravitate towards the burner for all heating purposes.

 

[lionprincess00]

I don't want to overheat, then it gets too cool, then I heat again etc... or just worry about it. Since I use a stainless bowl, it does fine on the lowest burner setting. I can keep it warm until I'm ready (or the lye cools I should say). I directly pour the lye water into it and sb. Works great for me

 

[not_ally]

That is good to know, I have always used the mv automatically. I have some nice big heavy guage stainless mixing bowls but have not been using them b/c they don't fit in the mv, it never occured to me to just put them on the burner! Thanks, you guys.

 

[Sonya-m]

I always mv my hard oils at 30 second intervals so I can see when they're almost melted then just let the residual heat do the rest. Then add my soft oils and any butters - butters first

 

[not_ally]

So cool that we are getting to the end of this month's challenge. Without ever having participated in another one, it seems as if it has been a resounding success, ie; lots of entries, lots of posts/questions/feedback, just everything I would want to see in a challenge. Are they usually like this? Part of my liking this one is that I feel so comfortable here, so am willing to post with utter failure (ie; teeth in batter, yucky ash cover) and get support/advice. So wondering how people that have done others feel ..