What soapy thing have you done today?

[TeresaT]

Browsing this thread and happy to hear everyone's "soapiness"! My upset-ness is gone and planning for soaping marathon next weekend! (Upset because someone commented that she's SOooo worried that my soap won't sell coz they look so plain she won't even buy, gosh I'm never gonna offer her any of my "gift soap" anymore...but thanks to her, I came up with more designs for my coming marathon) *feeling determined*

Snob. (And good for you. Keep her off your gift list!!) Personally, I'm a minimalist. I like plain stuff and wouldn't buy gussied up soaps for myself. (Although I did buy one that looks like a door in the middle of a "butterfly" bush. It's called "Fairy House.") However, that isn't stopping me from experimenting with micas and designs. I can't imagine I'd ever do anything really fancy; however, it's fun doing Taiwan circle swirls because I don't know what's going to be revealed. I'm not very good with hanger swirls, put they're passable.

Do what feels right/good for you and forget what anyone else thinks. I'm doing the colors and swirls to challenge myself. That's it. If I get a great looking soap, cool. If not, that's fine too. As long as it passes the zap test and is fully saponified, I win. It's soap. It will get me clean. That's all it's meant to do.

 

[earlene]

Browsing this thread and happy to hear everyone's "soapiness"! My upset-ness is gone and planning for soaping marathon next weekend! (Upset because someone commented that she's SOooo worried that my soap won't sell coz they look so plain she won't even buy, gosh I'm never gonna offer her any of my "gift soap" anymore...but thanks to her, I came up with more designs for my coming marathon) *feeling determined*

Cut her off!
~~~~
Before I left this morning, I deflowered some roses & put the petals into the oven to dry out. Had to leave Hubby a msg not to turn on the oven until he removes the rose petals. I also started a lavender oil infusion.

Tonight I washed my hair with my shampoo & fiddlesticks! By thinning it out to work in the foamer, it's now too thin to use from a normal bottle.

 

[apples]

Made Strawberry scented Soap this morning, used the embeds that I made a few days ago.

looks like play doh strawberry. how did you get the soap squishy like that (M&P or CP?)? i'm curious ~

thanks to everyone for the encouragement. i feel a lot better being in SMF now than being a loner soaper before this!

 

[penelopejane]

Made two mica test soaps and a coffee soap with a colouring FO that I hope changes the colour of part of the soap.

 

[crispysoap]

Made Genny's shampoo bar today. First time using avo oil (it's super expensive here) so excited to see how it turns out.

 

[penelopejane]

Made Genny's shampoo bar today. First time using avo oil (it's super expensive here) so excited to see how it turns out.

Can you get Almond oil more cheaply over in NZ?
It is a toss up which is better. I think Almond Oil might just be better but some people might be allergic to it.

 

[crispysoap]

Can you get Almond oil more cheaply over in NZ?
It is a toss up which is better. I think Almond Oil might just be better but some people might be allergic to it.

Good question, I'll have to look into it. I bought the avo oil at the supermarket as my sister decided she wanted a shampoo bar now. She leaves the area in a month so I needed to make it asap.

 

[penelopejane]

Good question, I'll have to look into it. I bought the avo oil at the supermarket as my sister decided she wanted a shampoo bar now. She leaves the area in a month so I needed to make it asap.

I use that recipe just for soap. I don't use it on my hair (search the forum for feedback on using it on hair - lots say it will damage your hair).
It makes a beautiful soap.

Avocado oil at the supermarket it really $$$ here. But from soap suppliers in bulk (5 litres) it is not too bad. Almond oil is about the same price, over here.

 

[skayc1]

looks like play doh strawberry. how did you get the soap squishy like that (M&P or CP?)? i'm curious ~!

I made my regular cp soap, & hand molded the strawberries. I tried to use a silicone mold of strawberries with my cp soap, & didn't like how they turned out, so took the soap and squished it like playdough till all smooth then divided them out & sculpted them with my hands, used a pointy object to poke holes in the strawberries.

here is how they turned out.

 

[Goldenapple]

Made some rebatched soap last night with a friend, we wanted to try it to make some little gifts for friends visiting soon. It was both our first time attempting soap, so we made testers and it was pretty fun. I'll post a few pictures of during and later when the soap's free from the molds.

 

[MySoapyHeart]

Yesterday I made an Oatmeal and Honey soap with fresh Norwegian goatsmilk, and gluten free and finely grounded oatmeal. I will cut the loaf later tonight. I just checked it and it just need to firm up just a tad more, although I can tecnically cut it now without too many issues.

I used Nurtures Oatmeal, Milk & Honey fragrance, a new one for me. Mmmm, that stuff smells sooo good, but I am interested to see how well it holds up after some months!

The only thing that worried me with this soap was the color of the top part that was supposed to look like a golden honey color. Well, it was a tad similar in color to *cough* something else.

Oh dear... I may post pictures after the cut so you guys can comfort me and say oh no, MySoapyHeart, the soap does not look like poop at all. (Or confirm my worst fears... )

At least it will smell great...

 

[kchaystack]

Yesterday I made an Oatmeal and Honey soap with fresh Norwegian goatsmilk, and gluten free and finely grounded oatmeal. I will cut the loaf later tonight. I just checked it and it just need to firm up just a tad more, although I can tecnically cut it now without too many issues.

I used Nurtures Oatmeal, Milk & Honey fragrance, a new one for me. Mmmm, that stuff smells sooo good, but I am interested to see how well it holds up after some months!

The only thing that worried me with this soap was the color of the top part that was supposed to look like a golden honey color. Well, it was a tad similar in color to *cough* something else.

Oh dear... I may post pictures after the cut so you guys can comfort me and say oh no, MySoapyHeart, the soap does not look like poop at all. (Or confirm my worst fears... )

At least it will smell great...

Well, I have used the FO and it does discolor more than I thought it would. It has held up well in a blend with Nurture's Lavender FO in soap that is close to 2 months cured.

 

[MySoapyHeart]

Well, I have used the FO and it does discolor more than I thought it would. It has held up well in a blend with Nurture's Lavender FO in soap that is close to 2 months cured.

I had checked so I already knew it would discolor andI kept my colors vanilla-friendly, which means I used very little color since I think the scent suits the neutral(ish) theme I went for. (cream and yellow) But the top... ohhh dearrrr.

Glad to hear it holds up well after two months, I have had a fragrance fade after two weeks and never show up again, so I`ll take whatever I can get! I didn`t mix anything else with this, and used more than I usually use (5%). Wanted to get a feel for it before venturing into mixing it with something.

Ps. I have a smaller size of the Olive Branch scent to. Sooo weak oob, but I know better than judge by that, need to soap with it first. Tried that one?

 

[Saponista]

On that note, has anyone had any luck with stabilising vanilla in cold process soap? I always try to work with the brown shade, but sometimes I wish there was a way to stop it turning brown.

 

[jules92207]

Yesterday I made an Oatmeal and Honey soap with fresh Norwegian goatsmilk, and gluten free and finely grounded oatmeal. I will cut the loaf later tonight. I just checked it and it just need to firm up just a tad more, although I can tecnically cut it now without too many issues.

I used Nurtures Oatmeal, Milk & Honey fragrance, a new one for me. Mmmm, that stuff smells sooo good, but I am interested to see how well it holds up after some months!

The only thing that worried me with this soap was the color of the top part that was supposed to look like a golden honey color. Well, it was a tad similar in color to *cough* something else.

Oh dear... I may post pictures after the cut so you guys can comfort me and say oh no, MySoapyHeart, the soap does not look like poop at all. (Or confirm my worst fears... )

At least it will smell great...

I found the Nurture Oatmeal Milk & Honey faded quite a bit for me, at least compared to Brambleberry's and WSP. I hope it holds for you.

 

[niclycha]

I am in the process of using the 25:43 from Nurture Soap it discolors to dark brown, I only had 2 Oz so I added Line Spitzer from Rustic Essentials and vanilla color stabilizer but I'm still going to section out the colored parts before I add the FO, I'm trying a column pour, with greens and brown again, fingers crossed it works.

25:43 type fragrance contains top notes of lemongrass and lime that mellow into a delicious blend of caramel and tonka bean in soap

 

[MySoapyHeart]

I found the Nurture Oatmeal Milk & Honey faded quite a bit for me, at least compared to Brambleberry's and WSP. I hope it holds for you.

Thank you, I hope it holds up well too! Will report back, hopefully it will stick around. I wish I could order from BB or WSP, but the shipping prices are over the doubble of what I pay for a bottle at Nurture or NG (which are a bit higher than Nurture) Otherwise I would love to try BB as I have heard good things about their stuff.

 

[Cindy2428]

Got that little thrill when the USPS box arrived - from Nurture no less. Ordered Monday, here on Wednesday. Got my silicone slab liner for this months challenge, some mica I didn't ordinarily have and a few new FOs. The surprise came when I opened my goodie bag.....

My trainer is probably late 50's-early 60's based on the music at his gym. I have been trying to come up with a scent for him and Carrie included it as a sample. Super Nova dupe - updated 70's musk. I think if I add a little lime eo to it, that it will honor the traditional and update it a little.

I am so excited to soap again - handwashed soap molds and started cleaning downstairs. (Uh oh, I'm enjoying cleaning.... must be a new soap virus)

 

[Guspuppy]

doing kitchen chemistry and making sodium citrate today. So cool!

 

[Navaria]

On that note, has anyone had any luck with stabilising vanilla in cold process soap? I always try to work with the brown shade, but sometimes I wish there was a way to stop it turning brown.

I have tried Nature's Garden vanilla stabilizer. It didn't smell weird (no gasoline smell) and so far it seems to be working. The bars are only about 4-6 weeks old though, so I'm holding final judgment for a few months more.