Thank you all for the information on Wintergreen. I didn't know about health hazards until researching it after my soap fiasco. I am a little concerned because it is going to an elderly family member as a gift. Also younger people that may also be on blood thinners. I used 3.1% (per SoapCalc's default .5 oz per lb). I really look forward to the challenge of using it, but may go half or third with another EO. It's just my most Christmas-y fragrance! And I have so much EO FO to use up. Thanks again!!!
What soapy thing have you done today?
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I went through this with a wintergreen-spearmint blend, going with the 3% default on SoapCalc, then learned that I should have checked it against the scent calc. I'm going to keep it for myself; I have no reaction to it, and I'm hoping that over time as the EO evaporates, that it might be usable by others as well.
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There are different grades & 'families' of stainless steel.
Some information:
https://www.unifiedalloys.com/blog/stainless-grades-families
Anyone can put a stamp of anything on any material. Keep that in mind
As far as good brands of stainless steel which should not cost a fortune, I have found Zebra brand to be very good. I used to buy stainless pots & melting vessels of this brand for making salves & such in a local Asian supermarket for a *very* good price. The stuff is heavy duty, nice & thick, and will probably outlive the majority of the world's population the way most of us are going
At the time I was buying that brand, I believe it was still made in Thailand ??
_____
EDIT: my god, I have become the queen of typos lately...I feel like my brain is going through a 'rewiring', almost dyslexic for lack of a better term, because this is not something I have ever had an issue with....neuroplasticity...fascinating field! Therefore, my slurry is now slutty in another post LOL
I have recalculated all of the soap formulations I use - I now have 3 standards for different situations - into 1 pound, 4.4 pound, 8 pound, 16 pound batches. This was necessary for my soap making for the upcoming year.
Dear baby jeebus, what a mind numbingly boring task .... but it's done ... and now I can get back to making soap after taking a break for a couple of months...I think it has been that long. In that time I have learned a few more things based on the research I have been doing...was it @dibbles or @Mobjack Bay who shared a link to a post on Auntie Clara's blog 
which spoke about the effect salt has on soap...and suddenly, differences between batches I had noticed began to make sense...soap opacity, vibrancy of natural colorants maintaining itself over time, SCENT RETENTION, and so on...that woman is amazing. Super knowledgeable. I have tucked this info away in my noggin now!
I am about to put my brand spanking new Custom Craft Tools loaf molds to use in the next few days....they've been sitting around gathering dust since I spent a fortune on them, along with the slab & cylindrical shaped molds I bought from them. Well built, and they have excellent customer service, but I am still not sure if I am going to keep them
Ya may see me put an advert up for them in the near future, we shall see....
Dear baby jeebus, what a mind numbingly boring task
.... but it's done ... and now I can get back to making soap after taking a break for a couple of months...I think it has been that long. In that time I have learned a few more things based on the research I have been doing...was it @dibbles or @Mobjack Bay who shared a link to a post on Auntie Clara's blog which spoke about the effect salt has on soap...and suddenly, differences between batches I had noticed began to make sense...soap opacity, vibrancy of natural colorants maintaining itself over time, SCENT RETENTION, and so on...that woman is amazing. Super knowledgeable. I have tucked this info away in my noggin now!I am about to put my brand spanking new Custom Craft Tools loaf molds to use in the next few days....they've been sitting around gathering dust since I spent a fortune on them, along with the slab & cylindrical shaped molds I bought from them. Well built, and they have excellent customer service, but I am still not sure if I am going to keep them
Ya may see me put an advert up for them in the near future, we shall see....
Servant4Christ
Well-Known Member
There are different grades & 'families' of stainless steel.
Some information:
https://www.unifiedalloys.com/blog/stainless-grades-families
Anyone can put a stamp of anything on any material. Keep that in mind
As far as good brands of stainless steel which should not cost a fortune, I have found Zebra brand to be very good. I used to buy stainless pots & melting vessels of this brand for making salves & such in a local Asian supermarket for a *very* good price. The stuff is heavy duty, nice & thick, and will probably outlive the majority of the world's population the way most of us are going
At the time I was buying that brand, I believe it was still made in Thailand ??
_____
EDIT: my god, I have become the queen of typos lately...I feel like my brain is going through a 'rewiring', almost dyslexic for lack of a better term, because this is not something I have ever had an issue with....neuroplasticity...fascinating field! Therefore, my slurry is now slutty in another post LOL
I had at least three different reactions to this post and had to pick one. Thankyou for the information.
AliensrReal
Well-Known Member
I got a bunch of samples from Indigo fragrances and I’m probably gonna make some individual soaps to test the ones I like. I think their lemonade is nice, but I’m still looking for a replacement to Snowdrift farms sparkling lemonade. I’m also looking for a dupe of Snowdrift farms cranberry and pomegranate that I liked.
I also have several fragrances from WSP that I need to soap, but am running a blank on how I want to color the soap.
Samples I got from Indigo:
Avocado & Sea Salt
Bamboo & white grapefruit
Blood orange
Cactus & sea salt
Country hayride
Cranberry
Cranberry Mango
Fresh Squeezed Oranges
Hawaiian Punch
Kumquat
Lemonade
Macintosh apple
Peach Nectar
Pink Champagne
Pomegranate
Satsuma
I also have several fragrances from WSP that I need to soap, but am running a blank on how I want to color the soap.
Samples I got from Indigo:
Avocado & Sea Salt
Bamboo & white grapefruit
Blood orange
Cactus & sea salt
Country hayride
Cranberry
Cranberry Mango
Fresh Squeezed Oranges
Hawaiian Punch
Kumquat
Lemonade
Macintosh apple
Peach Nectar
Pink Champagne
Pomegranate
Satsuma
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Servant4Christ
Well-Known Member
I keep sniffing and resniffing one of my FO samples (OMH from Lonestar) and I still can't tell if I like or dislike it. It definitely is not what I expected this to smell like, but I can't place exactly what it does smell like. 
Just placed orders at 3 vendors. Am cutting it super close for ingredients to make lotion bars and lip balms. Many thanks to @not_ally for the tip on Abyssinian Oil!
Gah, that darned inventory guy, again, as always! Smart inventory staff would pay attention to Black Friday sales. But I can't let him go during this holiday season!
Gah, that darned inventory guy, again, as always! Smart inventory staff would pay attention to Black Friday sales. But I can't let him go during this holiday season!
A fair number of OMH FOs have a cherry smell and an almond smell. Could it be one of those?I keep sniffing and resniffing one of my FO samples (OMH from Lonestar) and I still can't tell if I like or dislike it. It definitely is not what I expected this to smell like, but I can't place exactly what it does smell like.
Servant4Christ
Well-Known Member
Maybe? I'm picking up something floral along with a touch of vanilla and oddly enough, that fake cinnamon broomstick smell.
AliensrReal
Well-Known Member
Made green tea soap today. Fragrance is from WSP. It smells heavenly. I put it in my massage bar mold and added poppy seeds for exfoliation. I need to make more glow in the dark soap. Everyone has already claimed a bar for themselves.
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Fake cinnamon, yuck. That's not one I've smelled in OMH before. Thankfully!
Servant4Christ
Well-Known Member
I keep resniffing because I just can't tell what I'm actually smelling. I've had one friend say it smells like wood, another says it smells floral, and another says maybe a cookie? Then again, this is just sniffing the open bottle. Maybe it'll smell different in soap or lotion.
Abyssinian oil is a beautiful thing
I just had some bakuchi seed oil come in recently which is also amazing 
Still waiting on a few other orders of oils to arrive!<holds up hand> I'd like Right of First Refusal, please!
@Jorah I had to look that term up because I had no idea what it meant LOL
I'm thinking....why does dude want to REFUSE something he wants....or am I just clueless...or is he taking the p*** as the British say....or? Turns out I was just clueless! 
Is that a legal term used only in the US? Or elsewhere? I've never heard it uttered before
We don't know what we don't know
It's here in Canada as well. I/we encountered it about 20 years ago when we were involved in opening a restaurant here.@Jorah I had to look that term up because I had no idea what it meant LOL
Is that a legal term used only in the US? Or elsewhere? I've never heard it uttered before
We don't know what we don't know
Ah ok, thanks for clearing that up....I never had to deal with any actual 'laws' when I had my small restaurant because I lived in a 'lawless' place - so to speak - at the time
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Not usual to hear that here.
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Today I unmolded some of my second batch of salt soap. I liked making the first batch so much that I grabbed some salt and coconut oil at Wally World Sunday morning and started weighting and melting and mixing. This time I went with a 2.0:1 water:lye ratio and it was pretty thick batter by the time I got it all into the bar molds. I will probably bump up the water a bit next time 'round. The earliest bars (the oval is an example) look solid, except for some salt I failed to mix in (another thing to fix), but the rectangle bars have some air pockets. I am thinking of the 'shakers' we used in the foundry to settle the sand, and wondering if something like that could help me with these air pockets. I'll put these on the shelf as 'seconds' or perhaps as 'rustic' bars (har har) and hope for the best. I won't tell you the total weight of the batch because I don't want to scare anyone.*
Edited to add a photo of the 42 bars of soap sitting on top of my freezer, starting the cure.
I put it on top of the towel so that show up for the photo, and now I'm going to move it onto paper so that there's no chance of the towel transferring dye or something.
-=-
*that's a joke
Edited to add a photo of the 42 bars of soap sitting on top of my freezer, starting the cure.
I put it on top of the towel so that show up for the photo, and now I'm going to move it onto paper so that there's no chance of the towel transferring dye or something.
-=-
*that's a joke
| Component | % |
| Coconut Oil (Great Value & BJ’s) | 100 |
| |
| Non-Iodized table salt | 100 |
| |
| Water | |
| Lye | |
| Sodium Citrate | 1 |
| EDTA | .1 |
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