What soapy thing have you done today?

[Jersey Girl]

Today I photographed the three batches I made this weekend. All fragrances and micas are from Brambleberry.

View attachment 58002
Cucumber Melon
Colored with a mix of Mermaid Blue and Kelly Green. I love how this turned out, but I don't love the fragrance. Cucumbers are delicious, but I don't like to smell them in my soap.

View attachment 58003
Baby's Breath
Base color was a mix of Stormy Blue and Queen's Purple. Added TD to the white. I find this fragrance to be overly floral for my liking.

View attachment 58004
Coconut Mango
Used the same mix of micas for all the layers, a combination of Sunset Orange, Red, and Raspberry. This FO I do like. It's fruity, but not overly sweet.

(Can you tell that I like to mix micas to get the shade I'm looking for? )

Stunning soaps. Love love love the Baby’s Breath!

 

[Peachy Clean Soap]

Today I photographed the three batches I made this weekend. All fragrances and micas are from Brambleberry.

View attachment 58002
Cucumber Melon
Colored with a mix of Mermaid Blue and Kelly Green. I love how this turned out, but I don't love the fragrance. Cucumbers are delicious, but I don't like to smell them in my soap.

View attachment 58003
Baby's Breath
Base color was a mix of Stormy Blue and Queen's Purple. Added TD to the white. I find this fragrance to be overly floral for my liking.

View attachment 58004
Coconut Mango
Used the same mix of micas for all the layers, a combination of Sunset Orange, Red, and Raspberry. This FO I do like. It's fruity, but not overly sweet.

(Can you tell that I like to mix micas to get the shade I'm looking for? )

Iv'e gotta say' thats some beautiful soap...

Beautifully executed OPW design. love the color too.

 

[The_Emerald_Chicken]

I'm sure it will be equally gorgeous inside.

It's the same batch as the Baby's Breath in this post

 

[Peachy Clean Soap]

@gardengeek
It's Your Special Day' Wishing You Happy Birthday

 

[violets2217]

One more go at Ombré with green tea powder. Adding colorant a little at a time was much easier than calculating amounts of batter for each degree of color. But we will see. And I think this is the smoothest top I have ever poured! I couldn’t bring myself to texture it!

I just hope it doesn’t overheat or crack like the last loaf.

 

[ResolvableOwl]

On the first glance I thought I see wood grain soap
Can't wait to see it cut open!

My own soapy day wasn't too exciting (or was it?). Out of boredom, I practiced a bit of beveling and planed the white vertical lollipop bars into cuboids. Wetted the chippings with 10% aloe vera juice, to see what would happen. Turns out that they indeed re-hydrated and turned into something that strikingly resembles soap dough … hrm … cradle-to-cradle soap recycling! (I have to add that this is from that crazy-slow-moving 45% cottonseed oil recipe that hasn't totally hardened up after 4 weeks of cure. No idea (yet) how average impatient's recipes would react.)

 

[Dawni]

Soapy thing for today is checking in on the forum hehehe

Pssst.. Miss you guys

 

[MrsZ]

I took a Baby soap recipe that I've made HP a couple times to test. I split it in half and HP'd one half of the recipe, and and CPing the other half for the first time. I want to see side by side the differences.

My first soap was this same recipe. I gave my husband's grandma a bar to test, and she asked me to please make her more because it was so nice and gentle.

ETA: I also remembered why HP usually uses a lower lye concentration. I HP'd at 35% lye concentration when it is usually 33%. Every other time it has turned out pretty smooth and easy to mold, but Not this time.

 

[Misschief]

Soapy thing for today is checking in on the forum hehehe

Pssst.. Miss you guys

Miss you, too... here and on IG!! Hope you're doing well.

 

[KimW]

My soapy thing today was, finally, soaping after a while: a pine-themed soap with pine needle infused water and olive oil. Curious to see how it comes out. The green is spirulina so trying to keep it covered to see if the colour stays, fingers crossed! It's now CPOPing in the oven.
My struggle with soap tops continues (applying the right pressure doesn't come as intuitive to me, not sure if I'm the only one), mental note to self: browse soap top pictures for inspiration before next soaping session!View attachment 57982

LOVING that improvised divider!! So much better than the hot glue fiasco I use.

 

[Misschief]

Does this count as a soapy thing?

 

[KimW]

Thanks to @dibbles, I discovered the bubbly benefits of aloe juice for 100% water replacement in bar soap. So, I made LS for dish washing using aloe/glycerin at 50/50 for 100% water. I also put my toe into uncharted territory and made it -1% SF (which I never do for dish washing soap). I know - I'm such a risk taker, but what a lovely soap! I was afraid it would be too harsh on my hands. It is a bit drying, but nothing that didn't dissipate on its own within an hour or so, and certainly not enough that I would have to go back to wearing gloves for the few dishes I have to wash.

So, kids, what happens if you pour a -1%SF LS into a jug with an equal amount of 0%SF LS? Answer: You get two layers with the -1% SF falling to the bottom and the 0%SF floating on top. I forgot to take a picture but it was so cool. Just a good shake and it all came together and has not separated again (sort of a bummer...LOL).

 

[TashaBird]

Seeing my family for the first time since covid. We’re CA/FL. Brought soap dough for the gbabies. One of them made these cool designs. Pretty creative!
And I watched a ton of bath bomb videos and bought some ingredients, molds, and a press! Something to look forward to when I get home.

 

[AliOop]

Yesterday, I eventually jumped on the salt bar hype train as well. 50/50 palm kernel/babaçu, 20% lye discount, salt at 100% TOW, CPOP.
Looking at the bars 12 hours later, they sweat like crazy (no particularly moist weather here). It's for sure aqueous lye/brine/glycerol (no soft oils or EO/FO added).
View attachment 57995
Should I give the liquid a chance to reabsorb, and wait with unmoulding? Or doesn't make it a difference?

Could the extra heat from the CPOP be partially at fault? I've never CPOP'd a salt bar before - they normally get quite hot on their own, and very quickly become firm. And they can and do sweat early on, although I don't usually see such large drops. In any event, I'd probably set them under a blowing fan, or even in the fridge if you have room, to see if it reabsorbs.

Just curious... because I never learned the "lye discount" method, what does a "20% lye discount" translate into as far as a water:lye percentage?

 

[ResolvableOwl]

Could the extra heat from the CPOP be partially at fault? I've never CPOP'd a salt bar before - they normally get quite hot on their own, and very quickly become firm. And they can and do sweat early on, although I don't usually see such large drops. In any event, I'd probably set them under a blowing fan, or even in the fridge if you have room, to see if it reabsorbs.

Several sources I consulted (including I dream in soap) CPOPd the salt bars, so I thought it'd be a reasonable thing to do as well. Yes, maybe things moved forward just a bit too fast for these tiny salt bars. And I also regularly find that the thermal expansion of silicone can be ludicrous at times (e. g. squeezing HP batter into a mould, it first appears loosely filled, and overflowing the next minute, and after cooling it nearly springs out of the mould by itself from elastic strain) – something that would worsen with CPOP in any case.

I unmoulded the bars after 24 hours, but that's a topic for another post…

Just curious... because I never learned the "lye discount" method, what does a "20% lye discount" translate into as far as a water:lye percentage?

No, lye discount in the sense of “NaOH discount”, i. e. 20% less NaOH added than needed for complete saponification, independent of the amount of water added (3:1 lye/25% lye concentration). I try to avoid the ambiguity of “superfat”, but “lye discount” appears to be not much less ambiguous (people have different opinions if “lye” is the hydroxide crystals and/or its solution).

 

[Tara_H]

Cut the experimental column this morning:



It's a little untidy, I think it could have done with being cut a bit sooner, but I wasn't about to get up in the middle of the night to check!

The pattern isn't quite was I was expecting, but I think it's pretty cool all the same - I like how they all look a bit different but there's a family resemblance

This was inspired by something which occurred to me during the lollipop challenge when I was turning the mould a fraction, pouring a little bit, turning again... What if I didn't have to keep stopping to turn it? So I got a very cheap rotating display stand, balanced my pipe mould on it, and poured both colours down the walls simultaneously at opposite sides while it rotated. I was hoping for something a little more spirally, but I guess the rotation speed was too slow/my pour speed was too fast for that to really happen.

 

[ResolvableOwl]

I was hoping for something a little more spirally, but I guess the rotation speed was too slow/my pour speed was too fast for that to really happen.

I'd guess so too. My experience was that the surface subdivision during Lollipop pour is a good approximation to the cuts (though not looking too similar). Your “snail swirl” has shown that a pour that is slow in comparison to rotation gives the sensation of “depth” and rotation much more than “fat” pours that cover >half of the free surface each.

Most cuts appear quite random and not very “intended”, but some show that you are on the right track! Mind planing one of these logs into slices? Maybe also in vertical direction?

You might buy another of these display stands and stack it, to double the rotation speed (gosh, this emoji fits sooooo well here!)

 

[Tara_H]

Most cuts appear quite random and not very “intended”, but some show that you are on the right track! Mind planing one of these logs into slices? Maybe also in vertical direction

Next time I try it I might set aside one piece for non-standard cuts, good idea!

Part of the reason I was pouring so (relatively) fast was that I recruited husband to 'spot me' and catch the column if I knocked it; I had a full jug in each hand so wouldn't be able to prevent a disaster! But he was tired at the end of a long day so I was hurrying a bit. Also, it being an opaque column this time, I couldn't see what was going on inside until the pour was nearly done, so was mostly going on blind faith.

I'm quite tempted to open up the stand and see if I can fiddle with the inner workings to speed it up, although I have to say there's something strangely appealing about a stacked column of stands all rotating on top of each other!

 

[Peachy Clean Soap]

One more go at Ombré with green tea powder. Adding colorant a little at a time was much easier than calculating amounts of batter for each degree of color. But we will see. And I think this is the smoothest top I have ever poured! I couldn’t bring myself to texture it!
View attachment 58021
I just hope it doesn’t overheat or crack like the last loaf.

I See Perfect Wood Grain Ever So Slight. Looking forward to seeing the cut.

Seeing my family for the first time since covid. We’re CA/FL. Brought soap dough for the gbabies. One of them made these cool designs. Pretty creative!
And I watched a ton of bath bomb videos and bought some ingredients, molds, and a press! Something to look forward to when I get home.

Awww that's adorable' I see your training our next generation of "Soapers"

 

[SPowers]

I cut my 2nd attempt at the OPW and I'm quite pleased with the outcome. The colours aren't quite as dark as in the picture... poor lighting.