Mellon's Showcase

[AliOop]

Great colors! Sorry to hear about the run of bad luck. I had that for awhile before I figured out that my oil masterbatch had oxidized. It didn't smell rancid or anything, and the soap hasn't gotten DOS, but man, every batch traced in seconds. I realized that my soapmaking had slowed way down (while I got sidetracked with lotions and scrubs), so I hadn't used it up as quickly as in the past. This new masterbatch was quite a bit smaller, plus I portioned it out into smaller containers that went into the freezer.

 

[MellonFriend]

Great colors! Sorry to hear about the run of bad luck. I had that for awhile before I figured out that my oil masterbatch had oxidized. It didn't smell rancid or anything, and the soap hasn't gotten DOS, but man, every batch traced in seconds. I realized that my soapmaking had slowed way down (while I got sidetracked with lotions and scrubs), so I hadn't used it up as quickly as in the past. This new masterbatch was quite a bit smaller, plus I portioned it out into smaller containers that went into the freezer.

Oh bummer! Was it a lot of oil you had to throw away?

I think my trouble is I'm trying to do intricate designs with goat tallow as my main oil, and that's just not in the card for this stuff. I probably should just keep to a maximum of two colors when using it.

 

[AliOop]

I actually finished up the last of it - there wasn't much left by the time I finally figured it out.

 

[MellonFriend]

I actually finished up the last of it - there wasn't much left by the time I finally figured it out.

Well that's fortunate!

 

[akseattle]

Just thought I'd like to start a soap showcase of my own to keep track of my batches. I make almost all of my soap with goat milk unless otherwise specified.

After a few months hiatus I made a little six bar batch using a new recipe which I'm developing as my standard majority goat tallow recipe. This one is about 60% goat tallow and I've been tweaking a few things to get it the way I want. This is scented with Crafter's Choice Cucumber & Mint and also has menthol crystals in at 1% of the oil weight. The fragrance accelerated the batter a little on me which I was prepared for based on the reviews, but I got the design I was looking for pretty much. I'm calling this batch: Mysterious Mint. The camera doesn't pick it up well, but the darker color is a dark purple and not black. It's Nurture Soap's Blackberry.View attachment 74492View attachment 74493View attachment 74494

Beautiful soap!

 

[akseattle]

I finally found some time to jam in a soaping session yesterday. This is a design I've had on my mind for a while now. Thanks to everyone who helped me pick a scent and talked to me about coconut milk vs coconut water. I ended up just going with coconut milk. If I had had more time, I would have made the center a cane and embedded it in the middle, but since I only had one day to dedicate, I did it all at once with a contrivance that I'll show below. It didn't go quite as planned, but I'm just happy the colors turned out. Coconut is the idea, so it's scented with Crafter's choice Caribbean Coconut and I used coconut milk as my liquid. The brown is cocoa powder (Cocoa-nut ) and the white is TD and some white mica I had laying around. The scent said it discolors to tan so I thought maybe adding the mica in along with the TD could help, but maybe that's crazy. Is it possible that I'm smelling the cocoa powder in it? The scent in the soap is a lot different than straight out of the bottle. Much spicier, like sweet bread. View attachment 75889
I was really surprised when I unmolded it because I had seen this light tan color on the top figured I hadn't put enough cocoa powder in, but it turned out it was just fine. Maybe gelling was my friend? That light tan was what I saw while pouring.View attachment 75891

Here's what I did with my mold. I think the trouble was that there was no way to get it centered in the bottom, and my batter was a little too thick. The batter really stuck to the inner tube and I got a little antsy and pulled it out with a little less care than I should have taken if I wanted the white to be more centered. View attachment 75892

@MellonFriend, I kind of like the off-centered middle circle. A little more personality than an ordinary circle!

 

[akseattle]

I think I'll be calling these Rainbow Sherbet. The FO Apple Honey Champagne from WSP smell A-MAZE-ING. Design didn't go exactly as planned due to several factors. I've got some uncolored batter in places due to panicked get-it-in-the-mold syndrome. I've really been having a string of unlucky batches. I think I'm going to need to go back to one of my tried and true recipes so I can at least have a win. Oh well, at least it's still functional, relatively beautiful soap.View attachment 76659View attachment 76660

Very pretty. I definitely want to take a lick

 

[akseattle]

Just thought I'd like to start a soap showcase of my own to keep track of my batches. I make almost all of my soap with goat milk unless otherwise specified.

After a few months hiatus I made a little six bar batch using a new recipe which I'm developing as my standard majority goat tallow recipe. This one is about 60% goat tallow and I've been tweaking a few things to get it the way I want. This is scented with Crafter's Choice Cucumber & Mint and also has menthol crystals in at 1% of the oil weight. The fragrance accelerated the batter a little on me which I was prepared for based on the reviews, but I got the design I was looking for pretty much. I'm calling this batch: Mysterious Mint. The camera doesn't pick it up well, but the darker color is a dark purple and not black. It's Nurture Soap's Blackberry.View attachment 74492View attachment 74493View attachment 74494

@MellonFriend, I just ran into your ShowCase. Thanks so much for doing this! I love looking at soaps and reading about the soaper's choices and decisions. I appreciate your exploration of your art, whether or not it's profitable- although kuddos to those who enjoy making soap and are able to make money doing it. This is a hobby for me (or an obsession...) It's a good thing I have a day job because I move so slow, I'd earn about 10 cents an hour - definitely would not make a living at it I'm excited to see more of your show case!

 

[MellonFriend]

@MellonFriend, I just ran into your ShowCase. Thanks so much for doing this! I love looking at soaps and reading about the soaper's choices and decisions. I appreciate your exploration of your art, whether or not it's profitable- although kuddos to those who enjoy making soap and are able to make money doing it. This is a hobby for me (or an obsession...) It's a good thing I have a day job because I move so slow, I'd earn about 10 cents an hour - definitely would not make a living at it I'm excited to see more of your show case!

I'm glad you've enjoyed it! And thank you for all the nice comments. I have a little extra free time right now, so I'm hoping to make some more batches in the coming weeks.

 

[MellonFriend]

On Saturday I made a batch of my go-to lard soap, and finally I had runny batter for as long as I needed it to be! This was my first time using 100% natural colorants and EOs (unless you don't count TD as natural). The bottom darkest color is straight up indigo and subsequent layers have increasing amounts of TD. On the top are jasmine buds, dianthus leaf, and rock salt. It's scented with 85% Lime, 10% Cedarwood, and 5% Rosemary. The scent is exactly what I was going for. Mostly lime with a woodsy, almost menthol complexity. I put the indigo in my lye solution and I ended up getting some indigo spots in the batter, so next time I'll be sure to predisperse it. I don't mind how the spots look though. I'm very happy with it! I think I'm going to call this batch Indigo Rain.

Since I had all my soap stuff out, I decided to go ahead and make a batch of unscented, colorant free, 100% tallow soap today since we ran out recently. So I have unmolding and cutting that batch tomorrow to look forward to.