Very pretty... looks like marble!
What soapy thing have you done today?
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Very pretty... looks like marble!
Ugeauxgirl
Well-Known Member
Thank you! I colored it with rose clay and honey
My sister-in-law is in town from half a continent away. Her friend bought an entire batch of my soap, so SIL will deliver and save on shipping costs.
SIL also requested lotion bars, neroli scented. My lotion bars are like bullets or cake-pops, and she asked for lotion bars the same size as soap, so I used my cavity molds. (I'm not feeling terribly confident about that size and shape, but we'll see....)
SIL's friend, the soap buyer, also asked for lavender lotion bars so I made those too.
SIL also requested lotion bars, neroli scented. My lotion bars are like bullets or cake-pops, and she asked for lotion bars the same size as soap, so I used my cavity molds. (I'm not feeling terribly confident about that size and shape, but we'll see....)
SIL's friend, the soap buyer, also asked for lavender lotion bars so I made those too.
My friends came by today to unmold their soaps. They brought their hubbies, so all three guys hung out and talked, while we ladies did our soap thing. Both ladies were so in love with their soaps and are already planning to come back to attempt a Taiwan circling swirl and a hanger swirl.
It will be so fun to have soapy conversations in person. Hoping at least one of the two will get the bug so you have a soap buddy to play with!
Well, Im not homeless, low income, or have low standards. I am also not a snob who sees anything wrong with an affordable food option for folks on a budget. There are some Aldi products I like better than their brand versions so I will stop there when we are in the area to get them. We also have recycled paper bags at our Aldi. I don't think Ive ever seen a plastic one.
That said, I finally made soap tonight. it took over 3 weeks to feel human enough to give it a shot after being sick so it felt good.
Cut my cucumber mint soap. I put a little bit of spirulina in it and it came out much greener than I expected. I used 6 oz of cucumber purée for 2 pounds of oils and did a water discount. I also added 2tsp of bentonite clay mixed in with the essential oils. It smells lovely—peppermint and spearmint.
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I cut my TS drop swirl from the other day. Every soap that I have made in this mold was a structural fail.
So mad and frustrated that it came out an odd shape because of bowing... I tried to slice the top off to reveal the nice swirl. Cut too far and cut off the whole swirl. Ugggh. So now I cut those into bits for samples. I cut the soaps at 1.25" to help make up for the weight of the soap now that the whole top is gone. Then tried to straighten out the sides LOL. OMG this is the worst. If I could just get the mold to not bow out it would be a better experience. (cutting too much off the top is my fault, not the mold...cutting while pissed off is never a good thing lol).
I don't need advice on keeping it from bowing. I have tried everything...I tied strings around it and tied it tight. I put heavy cans of vegetables on the sides to hold it up straight. I even sat there holding it up with my hands until the soap was set.
I read on the website that some people put rubber bands around it. I just don't see trying to get a rubber band around a mold of liquid-ish soap and keeping it looking nice. That's where I got the idea to tie some yarn around it. I put the strings down first and put the mold on top of the yarn, then pulled up the yarn and tied it tight. Nope.
I've seen nicer molds that have a wooden mold to put the soap into with a silicone liner. I might try that one. I have another mold like that and it keeps its shape nicely.
It's a nice size in your hand. But I butchered it so bad to get it to look half decent. Right now as fresh soap it weighs 3.5 ounces, when it should be 5 after the cure.
The white looks nice. I never did a drop swirl in the ts mold before. I like the swirl better in the loaf mold. But I am not super unhappy with it.
So mad and frustrated that it came out an odd shape because of bowing... I tried to slice the top off to reveal the nice swirl. Cut too far and cut off the whole swirl. Ugggh. So now I cut those into bits for samples. I cut the soaps at 1.25" to help make up for the weight of the soap now that the whole top is gone. Then tried to straighten out the sides LOL. OMG this is the worst. If I could just get the mold to not bow out it would be a better experience. (cutting too much off the top is my fault, not the mold...cutting while pissed off is never a good thing lol).
I don't need advice on keeping it from bowing. I have tried everything...I tied strings around it and tied it tight. I put heavy cans of vegetables on the sides to hold it up straight. I even sat there holding it up with my hands until the soap was set.
I read on the website that some people put rubber bands around it. I just don't see trying to get a rubber band around a mold of liquid-ish soap and keeping it looking nice. That's where I got the idea to tie some yarn around it. I put the strings down first and put the mold on top of the yarn, then pulled up the yarn and tied it tight. Nope.
I've seen nicer molds that have a wooden mold to put the soap into with a silicone liner. I might try that one. I have another mold like that and it keeps its shape nicely.
It's a nice size in your hand. But I butchered it so bad to get it to look half decent. Right now as fresh soap it weighs 3.5 ounces, when it should be 5 after the cure.
The white looks nice. I never did a drop swirl in the ts mold before. I like the swirl better in the loaf mold. But I am not super unhappy with it.
Your soap is beautiful - love the colors. Could you put the mold in a box and shim it with pieces of cardboard to prevent the bowing?
ETA just saw you don’t need advice to keep it from bowing - sorry!
Sorry to hear about your T&S blues. But the soap looks lovely! I had hubby make me a T&S from wood - no bowing there. But yeah - maybe you could gert something made to sit your silicone one in? Otherwise it sounds like you won't be using it again.
I don’t remember the lye being cloudy - and I’ve dumped the jug out in my irritation so I won’t do any follow up testing. But that’s helpful to know.Potassium bicarbonate + chloride would be the secret shortcut to ZNSC faux sea water, weren't there the magnesium. I don't know by own experiments what to expect from added Mg, but I'd guess your lye solution is turbid? In the soap batter, Mg then would combine with fatty acid anions to form soap scum, that might clump into something similar to soda ash. In any case, the additions will eat up some lye, and impair SAP precision.
The solution must have been pretty dilute, but it’s annoying that they take distilled water and then add things to it and then sell it with a big “distilled water” label. Probably I wasn’t wearing my readers in the store.
I'm missing being able to make soap all the time.
KeepItSimpleSoap
Well-Known Member
Hey Y'all, I haven't made any soap since January 2020 until this afternoon. I'm down to 2 bars out of 68 that I had made originally. Everything seemed to go well. I've been doing CP with Lard. The difference today than winter when I made my last batch is the grease and LYE/water took longer to get down to ~120*F. The last time that I made soap, I had packed away all of my tools and the recipe in one box. It didn't take long to remember how to do everything. After trace and pour I put the batch in the fridge. In the winter I would leave it on the table outside. 24 hours we will see if my way of making it works again.
To make room in my freezer, I rendered the last of the local leaf fat into 1.5 gallons of pretty white lard. Let it cool, added the ROE and put it to bed in the garage fridge.
Since the last time I checked (which was last week), the price for a 48lb bucket of lard at my local restaurant supply store has jumped from $52 to $64. That's still cheaper than I can get it with shipping from other soap supply or restaurant supply stores. I'm probably going to switch to using this since life has gotten too busy for regular rendering projects. Fortunately this store is less than 5 miles from my house and is open to the general public with no membership fee.
Since the last time I checked (which was last week), the price for a 48lb bucket of lard at my local restaurant supply store has jumped from $52 to $64. That's still cheaper than I can get it with shipping from other soap supply or restaurant supply stores. I'm probably going to switch to using this since life has gotten too busy for regular rendering projects. Fortunately this store is less than 5 miles from my house and is open to the general public with no membership fee.
I cut a soap batch. And made a big mb of 50/50 lye solution using my new 50 pound bucket of lye. It was weird getting lye from a big bucket. Don’t know why, it just was.
And I opened it with a smidge more nervousness than opening my usual little containers of lye. I had a silly fear that I’d fall into the bucket and accidentally dissolve myself.
And I opened it with a smidge more nervousness than opening my usual little containers of lye. I had a silly fear that I’d fall into the bucket and accidentally dissolve myself.
bookworm
Well-Known Member
I've been experimenting with essential oil blends. (Lavender; Clary sage; Ylang-ylang; Spearmint)And also made a cherry blossom, trying a hanger swirl for the second time. Learning so much on this forum, thank you all very much. Who knew learning could be so exciting and enjoyable.
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Made this tonight. Hopefully the colors come out more with cpop. But it looks good to me so far. New to me colors....they were brighter in the pot LOL. Beachy vibe is the theme. Little bit of sparkles, but not too much. Learned my lesson the last time with them LOL Bottom layer is sandy color with pumice. Hope I didn't pour too much.
Just an ITP swirl, nothing too fancy about it.
Just an ITP swirl, nothing too fancy about it.
Gorgeous in spite of al the frustration it caused you. Before switching mostly to rigid-sided molds (with or without silicon liners), I had that same annoying problem. All manner of shoring up the side walls never made it perfect, but I tried my best as you say. I think it really does depend on the quality & rigidity of the silicone itself; even the ones with ribs on the outside, once full of soap, can bow and those uneven edges do try one's tolerance.
Really nice! I like that gold mica line in the layered soap.
I understand that nervousness. I’m about to mix my first 50/50 and the whole thing makes me anxious.
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