Soap Dough Techniques

[TashaBird]

Working on some new embeds. Hoping I ca. Get this designer to work with me in the extruder discs. Every image doesn’t translate to a useable embed. But still excited for what I’ve got so far!

Please pardon the typos.

 

[SoapWitch]

Working on some new embeds. Hoping I ca. Get this designer to work with me in the extruder discs. Every image doesn’t translate to a useable embed. But still excited for what I’ve got so far!

Wow! That's a massive endeavor. Good job! I'm so impressed.

 

[TashaBird]

I’ve got some little soap dough caterpillars I’d like to paint eyes and mouth on. I’d love it if they didn’t smear too easily. Any suggestion?

 

[The_Phoenix]

I’ve got some little soap dough caterpillars I’d like to paint eyes and mouth on. I’d love it if they didn’t smear too easily. Any suggestion?

Maybe you could poke little eye-holes into their faces and dip a toothpick into oil-dispersed black mica and, using the same toothpick, dap that into the eye-holes? Or, if you're making soap, reserve a tiny bit of batter, add black mica and use that??

 

[SoapWitch]

Maybe you could poke little eye-holes into their faces and dip a toothpick into oil-dispersed black mica and, using the same toothpick, dap that into the eye-holes? Or, if you're making soap, reserve a tiny bit of batter, add black mica and use that??

Two ways, like I show in this video. Or pack the hole with soap dough. Hope this helps.

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[The_Phoenix]

Two ways, like I show in this video. Or pack the hole with soap dough. Hope this helps.

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Oh my goodness, those are the cutest little mice!
I really want to get a handle on making cute soap dough sculptures but I have no idea where to begin. I have gobs of soap dough store but haven’t had the nerve to make anything with it. I want to make Earth embeds for Earth Day but the few attempts I’ve made had fallen horribly short.

The things you’ve made with soap dough...gosh...I’m just enormously impressed. The Wizard of Oz is my all-time favorite movie and your soaps blew me away.

 

[SoapWitch]

Oh my goodness, those are the cutest little mice!
I really want to get a handle on making cute soap dough sculptures but I have no idea where to begin. I have gobs of soap dough store but haven’t had the nerve to make anything with it. I want to make Earth embeds for Earth Day but the few attempts I’ve made had fallen horribly short.

The things you’ve made with soap dough...gosh...I’m just enormously impressed. The Wizard of Oz is my all-time favorite movie and your soaps blew me away.

Where to begin... There is the thread that needs to be pulled to open up one's creativity. Start with basic shapes. The Wizard of Oz incorporates basics and more complex ideas.

If you'd like to explore some ideas I have over 300 free blog posts about soap dough, mostly. I also have 100's of videos up, many for basic shapes. I cover how to start with basic shapes and go over each shape.
Everything I have shared is built on basic shapes.
And thank you, for your compliment on my Wizard of Oz soaps.

 

[TashaBird]

Two ways, like I show in this video. Or pack the hole with soap dough. Hope this helps.

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Yaaaaaaaasssssss QUEEN!

@SoapWitch will activated charcoal work for black soap dough?

 

[SoapWitch]

@SoapWitch will activated charcoal work for black soap dough?

Indeed, it will work. If you want a saturated black I would use oxide. It's the only time I use oxides.

 

[Peachy Clean Soap]

There's a challenge going on right now (the one sponsored by Amy Warden) and it is the lollipop swirl. However for the advanced category you have to do something on the outside of the circle, either piping, an impression mat or a soap dough rim. I have been working on the soap dough rim and it has been such fun! I never thought I could do it. Here's one of the rims (not a good lollipop though).

Your rimmed soap looks great. Haven't heard of this Soap Challenge sponsored by Amy Warden' where is it?

 

[violets2217]

Haven't heard of this Soap Challenge sponsored by Amy Warden' where is it?

Soap Challenge Club

hosted by Amy Warden

soapchallengeclub.com

A lot of the members post videos on YouTube! They are awesome!
My fav this month!

 

[TashaBird]

Soap Challenge Club

hosted by Amy Warden

soapchallengeclub.com

A lot of the members post videos on YouTube! They are awesome!
My fav this month!

That pour makes me want to get a slab mold!

 

[violets2217]

That pour makes me want to get a slab mold!

You're pretty handy, build one! LOL! I just want to try that our with one layer! it was so cool!

 

[AliOop]

Slab molds are pretty easy to make from containers found in the Dollar Store.

 

[TashaBird]

The red dough I made that was too sticky for the cookie cutter is working well in the fondant mold I bought. The mold is much tinier than I thought, so it’ll take several fills. I plan on using an individual cavity heart mold and putting these on top, for Mother’s Day Soaps.

 

[Cheeky Goat]

Where to begin... There is the thread that needs to be pulled to open up one's creativity. Start with basic shapes. The Wizard of Oz incorporates basics and more complex ideas.

If you'd like to explore some ideas I have over 300 free blog posts about soap dough, mostly. I also have 100's of videos up, many for basic shapes. I cover how to start with basic shapes and go over each shape.
Everything I have shared is built on basic shapes.
And thank you, for your compliment on my Wizard of Oz soaps.

And the books are Amazing!

 

[JoyfulSudz]

I buy RBO at SmartFoodService (used to be called Cash n' Carry) for $11.69 a gallon. That's only 9 cents an ounce

 

[TashaBird]

I learned a bunch new tips from the soap stamps and stuff FB page live demo.
Made my first big batch. Left out the scent, sugar, and SL. SB to thick trace. (That took way longer than expected!) And poured right into baggies laid flat on cool counter to prevent gelling.

 

[TashaBird]

Dough DISASTER!
What a miserable, sad, disaster mess! I’m hoping to get some insights on what happened. It’d be great if it never happened again, to me or anyone else. Also, I really want good workable soap dough! I’ve made a ton of soap dough before, with this exact recipe when left over from scrapers or pull throughs. So, the only differences are no sodium lactate, no sugar, and no essential oil. I use EOs at %5, so that might be significant. My lye concentration, as I always use, was %33. My oils are %50 tallow, %15 coconut oil, and the rest liquid oils. Like I mentioned, I’ve made lots of soap dough with this recipe before.
As suggested in a tutorial, I left out the sugar, fragrance, and sodium lactate. I soaped with everything at 90F. I mixed to a medium/thick trace. Poured directly into bags, then vacuum sealed the bags. There was no air. Laid them on a cold metal counter. They never got over 80F
This morning they were super hard. I opened the bags and the dough was crumbly and awful. I sprained my hand trying to massage balls of it.
So, I busted out the food processor. Broke up the bricks, misted with water, and ground them up. Smooshed them into balls, wrapped in plastic wrap, and vacuum sealed again. I quit after the white and purple because it was too much work. I think the portion with the activated charcoal is a lost cause anyway, it’s even harder! Also, I’m not even sure it will work, they may be grainy. But, I’ll let them sit for a few weeks.
WHAT HAPPENED?! Oh wise and wonderful soap community. What should I do different next time?

 

[GemstonePony]

Dough DISASTER!
What a miserable, sad, disaster mess! I’m hoping to get some insights on what happened. It’d be great if it never happened again, to me or anyone else. Also, I really want good workable soap dough! I’ve made a ton of soap dough before, with this exact recipe when left over from scrapers or pull throughs. So, the only differences are no sodium lactate, no sugar, and no essential oil. I use EOs at %5, so that might be significant. My lye concentration, as I always use, was %33. My oils are %50 tallow, %15 coconut oil, and the rest liquid oils. Like I mentioned, I’ve made lots of soap dough with this recipe before.
As suggested in a tutorial, I left out the sugar, fragrance, and sodium lactate. I soaped with everything at 90F. I mixed to a medium/thick trace. Poured directly into bags, then vacuum sealed the bags. There was no air. Laid them on a cold metal counter. They never got over 80F
This morning they were super hard. I opened the bags and the dough was crumbly and awful. I sprained my hand trying to massage balls of it.
So, I busted out the food processor. Broke up the bricks, misted with water, and ground them up. Smooshed them into balls, wrapped in plastic wrap, and vacuum sealed again. I quit after the white and purple because it was too much work. I think the portion with the activated charcoal is a lost cause anyway, it’s even harder! Also, I’m not even sure it will work, they may be grainy. But, I’ll let them sit for a few weeks.
WHAT HAPPENED?! Oh wise and wonderful soap community. What should I do different next time?

If I'm pretending to be wise, the best platitude I've got is, "Don't fix what's not broken."
Substitute water for the FO/EO amount, and if your recipe usually makes good soap dough with the additives, don't remove the additives. Also, different colorants (even among Mica) do make harder or softer dough, so be prepared to add more water or oil to charcoal, TD, clay, and finely ground Micas, just as you would have to do to pre-disperse them and keep the trace slow.
As with all recipe changes, I'd recommend a small batch of soap dough to start with, to make sure that the water instead of FO still works as dough.