What soapy thing have you done today?

I do. Up to about 9 bars in the shower rack along with a bottle of slowly congealing liquid soap (another failed experiment)

OCD? Not here...

 

Whenever I make a cocoa butter soap, I can usually smell it in the soap but this soap is different. The soap is unscented but coffee tends to neutralize odors. I just didn't expect it to work so well.

Anyway, You can use whatever FO, EO, of blend of the two you want. I've found it fun to use a coffee FO before.. BUT, if you are using actual coffee grinds in the soap, make sure the grinds are espresso grind, which is as finely ground as you can get it. Any courser, and that would be a scratchy soap. I also tend to suggest using instant coffee due to sheer laziness.

 

Busy day. Made two batches:

Mint, lavender and avocado oil

Vanilla, patchouli and almond milk

First one came out a treat, and it's sitting in my new mould. The second smells, well, weird. I like patchouli, but in soap, it creates strange undercurrents (if you know what I mean)

Happy soaping everyone

 

Just finished a 12 bar batch of a favorite recipe (heavy on the lard). All covered and insulated. I scented it with a Nag Champa FO that I bought many years ago. Still has a strong smell. I hope it lasts. It accelerated the trace ++. I read somewhere that Bob Dylan and The Grateful Dead burn Nag Champa incense at their concerts. My soaping partner said it smells "hippie". If so, his sister will love it.

 

Cut my new batch of oat milk, oatmeal and flaxseed soap:

 

Beautiful!

I havent done much soapy stuff because I have a ton of wrapping to do before I have room to make more soap lol. In the meantime, Ive been making Bath Salts and Sugar scrubs.

 

I got my first e-mail through the contact form on my website that wasn't spam! lol Someone bought a menthol & cucumber shower steamer at the last craft sale I was at. She said she loved the smell so much she wants to buy some more for gifts. Of course its something I hadn't put on my site yet so I just listed it and also gave her the dates for upcoming sales i'll be at.

I've been busy shrinkwrapping and labelling. The order for 50 gift bags that will include a soap, lotion and lip balm was changed to 65 bags. Luckily I made extra of the soaps 'just in case'. I'll be happy when they're all picked up. I haven't made soap in over a month, i'm starting to go through withdrawal

 

Infusing some colorants the quick way - inside my slow cooker. I don't have time to wait weeks this time.

Also, I received my tall & skinny mold today! I'm excited to soap with it.

 

I get what you mean with the cocoa butter! I made a loaf with kaolin clay and cocoa butter and I’m so glad I didn’t fragrance it! It smells nice as is.
I might use coffee grounds and something with cocoa butter and and some cocoa powder or something. Thanks for the tip on the espresso and instant coffee... wouldn’t have thought of that! Also might try poppyseeds with a flowery FO for me and see what we like best!

 

I un- molded the oatmeal, milk, and honey bastille soap I made last night.

 

I made my first batch of coffee soap. It was a thing of beauty coming out of the mold, and then I tried to cut it. It shattered like cutting a block of chocolate. I posted the recipe on the recipe feedback board hoping someone could help me figure out what went wrong. Wah! I used coffee instead of water, 2t of sodium lactate in a 2lb mold, 2t of espresso fo, soaped at 99F, and unmolded at 24hrs. This is only my 3rd batch using SL and I started because some of my recipes wouldn't solidify enough to get them out of my molds after a week! Any help would be *greatly* appreciated. I would really like to make another batch for holiday gifts, but obviously I don't want to give them soap shards.

 

I could be wrong but it looks from the pic that its lye heavy, it looks to me like some of them are starting to get "crust" that lye heavy soap gets ...... again i could be wrong as i am new soaper maybe someone else can let me know if i am right or not

 

Did you use some other additives for hardness like salt or vinegar? If so the use of SL might have been overkill.

 

I love my tall & skinny molds. They make bars that are so much easier to use than my traditional molds.

 

Not soap, but I made a small batch of hair conditioning bars. Now my testers (DD and DH) get to see how well they work. I am trying for something like VO5's tube of conditioning cream from the 60's. My gran had a tube and she would melt a tiny bit in her hand to wipe through her hair.

 

I am too stubborn for my own good lol.

First attempt at a HP spin swirl went wrong near the end mark. Everything poured nicely, the corners pours were starting to meet in the middle.... Then plop! One color hardened up quicker than the rest (I blame you red clay) and refused to spin lol

Oh well. At least I made soap today.

Down side is I didn't remember to order my NaOH so now I have to wait for it before I can attempt a challenge entry again.

Pics later. The top is horrible. I'll cut it n trim it then show it to you guys lol

 

While checking on my 2 day old aloe & matcha tea soap, I found DOS on one of my older soaps-first time. So far that's the only one.

I' started soaping in July and I've had good success because I kept it simple, no FO or EOs. I just used different oils. Now, I've moved into FO & EOs and what a difference. Every FO except one has accelerated on me. I found out Tea Tree oil is very strong; it overpowered one of my soap batches. I didn't like the smell at first but it's starting to grow me.

My goal was to start selling for the Christmas holiday but there is no way that I'm ready for that. Still so much to learn.

 

does taking a hot bath and trying out a solid bath bubble I made count?? I guess it doesn't matter if it does or not but it felt great---baby its cold outside