What soapy thing have you done today?

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Good score. I looked at that stick blender (I like the turquoise one). Let me know what you think of it.

I had hoped to get a pink or purple but there was only black and gray. I’ll let ya know whenever I get around to making some soap. Hopefully, in the next couple weeks...the blade end is interesting, I think it will work great for scraping the bottom of the soap pot.
 
I finally made a soap I'm happy with. I'm calling this one Paloma (it's based on Soaping 101's Dove copy), fragranced with a combination of Litsea Cubeba and Nag Champa.
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Gorgeous! I love Nag Champa incense. Not familiar with Litsea Cubeba though. Can't believe this is the First soap you are happy with?!
 
I bought my final piece of safety equipment: A respirator. :D Also got some free wood pieces for SO to make a smallish loaf mold for me (about 2 - 2-1/2 pound size). Tried to buy 100% lye, but Home Depot doesn't have it. (Tried Ace last week and they didn't either. What the heck?) I got a good-sized bottle of hexane-free castor oil this weekend, too. :rolleyes:

Oh, i also got 2 dropcloths -- one called "One Tuff Dropcloth" for the floor, and one called "Trimaco SuperTuff Double Guard Dropcloth" to cover the chosen work surface. Hoping these will be effective if there's ever a lye or batter spill. (I can hear you all already -- "IF??? :lol:) !!!!"
 
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Gorgeous! I love Nag Champa incense. Not familiar with Litsea Cubeba though. Can't believe this is the First soap you are happy with?!
What does Nag Champa smell like?
Litsea is what we call May Chang over here, and it has a light floral/citrus smell. Very nice - I used a tad in my Strawberry Rhubarb loaf just to give it a bit more 'oomph'.

I bought my final piece of safety equipment: A respirator. :D Also got some free wood pieces for SO to make a smallish loaf mold for me (about 2 - 2-1/2 pound size). Tried to buy 100% lye, but Home Depot doesn't have it. (Tried Ace last week and they didn't either. What the heck?) I got a good-sized bottle of hexane-free castor oil this weekend, too. :rolleyes:

Oh, i also got 2 dropcloths -- one called "One Tuff Dropcloth" for the floor, and one called "Trimaco SuperTuff Double Guard Dropcloth" to cover the chosen work surface. Hoping these will be effective if there's ever a lye or batter spill. (I can hear you all already -- "IF??? :lol:) !!!!"
Gosh you ARE safety conscious. Luckily for me, I've always been fairly compact and tidy and not a 'spiller' or 'slosher'. Having said that, I did ruin my formica counter by wiping up small spills, so I've learnt my lesson there - I always use a silicone mat to soap on now.
 
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What does Nag Champa smell like?
Litsea is what we call May Chang over here, and it has a light floral/citrus smell. Very nice - I used a tad in my Strawberry Rhubarb loaf just to give it a bit more 'oomph'.

Nag Champa has a complex or compound smell, I guess I'd call it, but not sure how to describe it. It smells East Indian, lol! I don't have any here right now, but from memory I'd say it has a bit of sweet, a bit of muskiness, some earthiness, some herbal scents -- it's just a lovely amalgam. If i knew more scents, i could probably describe it better, but today alone I've come across two fragrances I never heard of. It's a very popular incense in a white box with blue writing and a bit of red too, iirc. It's found easily in the U.S. (states I've lived in, anyway), but not sure about NZ. Maybe I will mail you a packet of it! :D
 
Gorgeous! I love Nag Champa incense. Not familiar with Litsea Cubeba though. Can't believe this is the First soap you are happy with?!
No, no, not the FIRST soap I'm happy with... I've made 3 batches this year. This is the first I'm happy with this year. (I've been soaping seriously for about 4 years.)

That was rude of me...I’m sure he’s a wonderful guy!
Didn't skunk him but I did win 2 out of 3 games. ;)
And he is a wonderful guy.. I married him for a reason. :)
 
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Introduced a new line of liquid hand soaps I am calling Dale's Essentials. I make it completely from scratch and made it 3 different scents, Four Thieves, Lemon, & Lavender. I think they turned out great.



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I never spray my soaps with alcohol. For soaps that have ash (that I can't live with), I steam them. Literally, I hold them over a pot of steaming water. It helps to get rid of the ash after it has developed. I'm not usually picky when it comes to ash; it actually looks good on some soaps. It's more of an aesthetic thing and certainly doesn't affect the quality of the finished soap.
 
Anything to be done with soap that was not spritzed with alcohol and is developing ash as it cures? Steam ? I am not sure what this means...

I spritz the top of all my soaps once poured in the mold and all my swirling is done. I spray with 91% alcohol and then cover. I thing with a lye discount and the spritzing it has pretty much eliminated ash. Unfortunately, there are some fragrances that ash a bit still.
 
I unmoulded and cut my Strawberry and Rhubarb soap. My first attempt at a mica line was successful, however I could probably have used a little more mica to make it more prominent. I will know for next time. In one pic I have zoomed in in the mica line so you can actually see it. lol.

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Gorgeous!! It looks absolutely edible!
 
Despite my intentions to make soap this weekend... I did not. I was sick most of the weekend, and when I wasn't sleeping I was doing class work, at my second job (I work alone, so I wasn't concerned about contaminating anyone), or working on my accounting books. Ugh. Tonight I am going to try to get two soaps done, not sure which two though. One of the gals at church heard about my video camera problem and gave me a camera that she isn't using, so I might only get one soap done if I spend a bunch of time setting it up and recording. My daughter sat down with it last night and figured out the workings, so she might be in the lab tonight showing Dear Old Mom how it works. If it's a good night I might even take a stab at a new shampoo bar recipe.
 
Made a batch of Green Tea / Lemongrass Shampoo Bars. Loaf of Arabian Spice Shampoo Bars from yesterday ready to be cut today. Trying to make shampoo bars in fragrances to match all the soap bars I have. Just ran out of Shea Butter today. Have to wait for payday to order more. The only con in retirement!
 
591F4FDA-54E4-4BFE-A516-6364CFA4AD05.jpeg @KiwiMoose That looks lovely.

I haven’t soaped since late November except for one tiny shampoo soap test. Today after I put new supplies away I made a loaf scented with espresso from brambleberry. I wanted to pipe the top but didn’t have the right coupler for the tip, dang it. I also filled some small molds for embeds. Orange round for a setting sun, a yellow half moon, and a pink heart. Here’s a pick of my coffee soap. Will see if my swirls turn out when I cut it. Did an in the pot and then chopsticked for good measure. Time for the kids to get out of school. Christmas break is nice but we were getting kinda sick of each other.
 

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