My mom used to decorate cakes for a living. I think she’d be proud.
I forgot to cut the moons to fit the molds and had to do it quick AFTER I’d already started mixing my batter for my sky. It made me so nervous! I rushed a bit.
What soapy thing have you done today?
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I forgot to cut the moons to fit the molds and had to do it quick AFTER I’d already started mixing my batter for my sky. It made me so nervous! I rushed a bit.
I smelled a few; some had strong scents and others were very faint- none like pizza tho.
It looked like nice soap: lard, coconut, olive, castor.
That soap is gorgeous!!!
Night before last I dreamed of making my soap, last night I dreamed about cutting it. Wanted to cut my soap so bad last night that I felt a physical ache!!
I’m nervous about unmolding with all that pipping on top! And, I’m nervous about using the wire cutter with all those embeds, although, they were fairly small and somewhat soft. I’m nervous and super excited. The dopamine rush is real!!!
xavalyss
Well-Known Member
I cut a batch of 3/4 Meyer lemon fo from WSP and 1/4 Orange 15x EO from WSP. My goal was a light yellow base with an orange swirl. When mixing I was upset that it went all orange (same shade as my silicone strip in the pic that I cover the soap with, under the wood lid) and was completely orange at pour. I'd read another thread that Brambleberry's Buttercup mica would do this, but would revert to yellow. Crossed fingers and it did. My orange swirl really didn't come through, but I was mainly after the yellow.
Aww that’s so amazing I love it!
I just made this Cedarwood and Pumice soap smells so good! Am I the only one that feels so impatient waiting to unmold your soap? Hehe.
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Last weekend I started making larger batches of soap to mail as gifts for Christmas. Today I unmolded last week’s Barber Shoppe soap and finally, for the first time, achieved some pretty swirls on the Lime Mint and Black Magic Sangria loaves I made today! It took me about 3.5 hours between prepping, cleaning, and soaping, then cleaning again. I’m so pleased with how everything went. 
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I cut my first attempt at this month’s challenge and made a second attempt directly 
Made and tried a new recipe for face soap, and used my 100% CO soap to clean up. The bar seems to have come into it's own a little more since the last time I used it, and it's now significantly more effective than Dawn for me. And Oh. The. Bubbles. I wouldn't use it without gloves, but it's absolutely an asset to soaping and I regret not making it sooner.
You had me at more effective than Dawn!!! How long has it cured now? I’ve got a ton of CO and I’d love to use it for dishes when my current bottle of Dawn is done!
Adobehead
Well-Known Member
Is it a gel thing? Since the individual mold stayed green? My individual molds never gel.
Ok, I made it September 12. So it's 4 weeks old today. I use long-sleeved gloves with textured fingers and palm, so I find rubbing the soap on my gloves is more effective at transferring the soap than rubbing it on the dishes.
Guspuppy
Well-Known Member
I've used 100% CO soap (0 SF) for dishes for years. I make a drawer-full of the dish soap about every 18 months, maybe? I get 30 bars, but I do give a lot of soap to my SIL. Rub the bar on the scrubby or sponge and wash away! I keep a small bottle of Dawn for big degreasing jobs (like rendering lard) but otherwise CO it is. I LOVE it.
Your tops are stunning! What were your colorants? Have you done this before? I like using activated charcoal but as an accent color because I'm paranoid of bleeding. Let me know how yours turns out. Really beautiful work. And no, you are not the only one who's impatient to unmold! And not just for the soap I made tonight, but now for yours too, so thanks a lot.
Non-soapy but this weekend I planted 125 bulbs and now have to wait until Spring. It's way worse than curing time! Why oh why did this impatient man choose gardening and soaping as hobbies?!
Tonight I made a Christmas tree soap (reverse secret feather). I've been focusing on emulsion -- I mainly use the stick blender to stir, with just a couple of blasts -- but am always paranoid that I stopped stirring too soon. I used fir needle/rosemary/spearmint/cedarwood essential oils at 4% of oil weight but it is still faint. Smells good, but faint.
So I'm on pins and needles about emulsion and if the design works out and the scent. I've been on a kick lately of making 2 loaves at a time. But tonight I only did one loaf because of the complexity. If it doesn't work out, I'll do a re-do. I'm pushing the limit here on holiday gifts and curing time!
Yes, I would agree that for a small farming community it seems rather pricey, but still as a native Californian who also traveled the entire state many times over, including that stretch of Hwy 99, some of those high-priced soaps seem to turn up in the most surprising places. A couple of years ago, while back home for a funeral, I shopped in a feed store I used to frequent (a different area, but not a ritzy area by any means), I was shocked to see bath soap half the size of what you found in Traver for over $3.00 per ounce. In a feed store! Tourist trade is all I can attribute that to, or a specialty soap that some customers actually buy, or something folks don't buy and they had not found that out as yet. But I lean toward tourist trade.
And one might say, tourist trade in Tulare County, south of Fresno, really? Personally I wouldn't have thought so, until I attended a Nursing Education Conference in Fresno back in the 80's or 90's and learned there is tourist trade even in farming communities. In fact, I now live in a farming community in the MidWest, and we also get tourist trade here. Sure, my late FIL would never spend that amount of money on a bar of soap, but some tourists will. And lots of people like to go 'antiquing' (I have done it once or twice myself) and when they do, they often stop in nearby establishments where they spend money. Plus the whole 'farmtiquing' market is another thing that draws tourists, and of course, farming communities are a perfect place for that. So although not every customer is going to spend that much money on a bar of soap, someone does.
I have not made soap in 1 whole week! The reason is 2-fold - 1. I have quite a bit of soap on my shelves with very little going out and I'm feeling a bit discouraged. The good news is that whatever I make will last a good long time and when things pick up I will have a pretty nice inventory. In my opinion, I already have one. I started in May and if I make soap tomorrow (today is our Thanksgiving), it will be my 50th batch! Woo Hoo! 38 of which are quite varied and nice enough for gifting or selling. The 2nd reason is this past week I've attempted and succeeded at getting the paper 'monster' under control. I've had so much paper including recipes, etc saved in a binder with no organization and I'm happy to have that completely under control including an inventory sheet which shows what I have, when made, when cured, etc. The other task I've been doing is labeling. My daughter created and made my new label which I'm totally psyched about and have gotten some really nice reviews on. Tell me what you think - I appreciate any and all feedback.
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I have been guilty of this when I buy soap... Just out of curiousity. Only a few times I have found less than listed, mostly though I find it is generously over. Typically the under bars are smaller to begin with (listed at 3 oz but weighing 2.7 for example).
My soapy things is 0, NetFlix 6, for the weekend. Although I guess I could give myself half a point for at least figuring out a way to support my mini T&S mold for this month's challenge. I could also give myself half a point for looking at soapy stuff on Instagram. This week will hopefully result in several soap batches made as I am now 2 weeks behind schedule, as well as playing with wax melts.
I just love drop swirls. You never know where or how each drop...drops...or swirls.
Too funny! If only!!!
What brand of dish washing gloves ar you using? I need new ones.
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