What soapy thing have you done today?

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Just made soap was looking for spring look used moringa powder anatto powder and papaya powder with a nice black chamomile scent
Those are really pretty!!!

I cleaned my kitchen today ...I know that doesn't seem like a soapy thing, but it definitely was because I usually have to clear my kitchen, or at least a space of my soapy stuff to be able to actually cook in it these days. I mean it was clean...just soapy supplies everywhere. I have an insurance inspection coming up on Thursday, so I had to clean and make my kitchen look like a kitchen again. Its like "aaahhhh". I really need to get my other room finished so that I can at least store and organize my ever growing pile of supplies. Needless to say, I will not be making soap until at least Thursday night.

The better part of my last couple of hours was spent trying to find soap label templates for cigar bands. I found Petals Bath Boutique as suggested on an inquiry I made here last year. I like the labels, but formatting them to my needs is hard for me because I am using a mac computer...on a windows computer, which I am much more experienced, it would have been done by now LOL. And I don't know if it is a mac vs windows computer conversion problem, but the original formatting of the label is weird. Like when you print out her original version, the grid lines show up all over the place, and its hard to select them in order to hide them. I will figure it out. I managed to do the top label of the template, so I will probably just get that one done and make my own template out of that.

I know I would get a better response by posting a question as its own thread, but I figured I'd ask since I'm talking about it...What weight paper do you use to print cigar band labels for your soaps? I have card stock, but I think thats too heavy, and I think copy paper is too light.

@AliOop I printed out the template for online labels, they seem too big. But thanks anyway lol. I wish I could send this template to them ...."please make labels like this". I didn't find anything there like these ones.

Listening to Tool, wishing I was in Philly for the concert Sunday night (tonight). I was supposed to be there :(.
I make my own cigar band labels using 65 lb wt card stock and the cricut. I get 4 labels to one sheet with a circle cut in the middle showing the bar, and the band covering up to both top and bottom edge. I really like the way they look.
 
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Yesterday I made a small batch to try out my "homemade" lard and my new silicon cavity molds. (Side noteā€”I was pretty pleased to find this succulent mold at our local Michael's!) My standard recipe turns out much nicer if it goes through gel phase...but these didn't gel. Can anyone direct me to threads here with info about how to gel soap in individual cavity molds?
 
@The_Emerald_Chicken those look great!

I gel my cavity-mold soaps by placing them on a heating pad turned on low, inside an insulated box or bag, for an hour or two. Then I turn off the heating pad and let the residual heat finish the job, usually till the next morning.

I prefer this method to using the oven because:
1) it doesn't tie up the oven,
2) it doesn't make the oven or the food cooked in the oven smell like FO,
3) my soap doesn't have to leave my soap room and potentially get damaged along the way, and
4) it isn't at risk for being cooked by someone who doesn't realize there is soap in the oven.

#4 is really unlikely in my house, since my husband rarely turns on the oven. So the first three reasons are my real reasons for using a heating pad to force gel, rather than the oven.

I used to turn the heating pad up to high, but after getting some silicone rash and heavy ashing from a few molds, I now stick to low heat + insulation, which gets the job done just fine.
 
I made soap for our Fabulous February Ocean Inspired Soap Challengeā€™ itā€™s been 3 months since I last created soap šŸ§¼ or anything, I gotta admit I so enjoyed it even though it turned out way to soft it will harden as it completely cures in time, though iā€™m now wondering if our Soapmakingfriends calculator is off or itā€™s my fabulous soaping skills thatā€™s a wee bit off lol šŸ˜šŸ¤£šŸ˜‚?. Tuth be told Iodine soap calculations was in the higher rangeā€™ which can indicates a softer bar, so Iā€™ve read this info somewhere & it seamā€˜s to be a good guideline for my soap šŸ§¼ not becoming to soft, I shouldā€™ve adjusted my fats to lower it & would of been fine. For those of you that took the time to read my boring post, I thank you šŸ¤—šŸ§¼šŸ’«šŸ’•
 
@dibbles , I'm holding you to that 6 weeks prediction! Lilacs are in my top 10 favorite flowers and scents. Growing up, there was a tall lilac bush outside my bedroom window and Spring was always intoxicating. I thought Chicagoans enjoyed their lilacs -- then I moved to Minneapolis and whoa, baby! Minnesoh-tans, tho', have wierd pronunciations. Lie-locks and arbor VIE-tee, what? It's lie-lack and arbor vee-tay.

Today I made 2 dozen lip balms (thanks again, @IrishLass ). My supervisor is leaving for another job. He loves my lotion bars and says he uses them as lip balm, so I figured I should give him some real lip balm as a good-bye gift.
 
because I also restocked annatto and threw some other things into my cart for good measure.
As you do!

I think I've just found a perfect tall and skinny mould in the shed!
Aahh yes - you're in the 'Everything I see is a possible soap mold' stage of your journey. We've all been there šŸ˜‚šŸ¤£šŸ˜‚šŸ¤£
 
...looking up cricut lol
Owning a Cricut die cutting machine for crafting is a rabbit hole you may not want to go down. Donā€™t get me wrong I love my Cricut & have owned more than one & have used it to make everything from a simple tag to using it to cut fabric letters for quilts for my children.
@Basil Have you posted a pic of a bar with your Cricut label?
 
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