What soapy thing have you done today?

[Dawni]

The only soapy thing I've done in the last couple of weeks is clean. Clean soaps, clean shelves, clean floors where the soaps are.. Lol

That being said, part of the cleaning was because I got myself some early Christmas presents! I got myself a spanking new curing shelf! I finished setting everything up today. Its got pull out racks, n quite sturdy. Had it made by a small time carpenter, so now he can offer the same to other soapers.

And last weekend I travelled a couple of hours away to collect someone's destash. I got new molds! She had em custom made and makes 20 bars each, and I got 4. There's 2 other smaller sizes, and I also got a single wire cutter, and an 8L slow cooker plus a stick blender with an extra blade. There's also a whole box of individual molds...

As for ingredients... I got a whole box of syndet shampoo bar stuff, along with a stainless steel mold, small amounts of carrier oils, smaller amounts of butters n waxes, some EOs and botanical extracts, and several plant powders. Some of these are unopened. And oh, some packaging materials like small boxes, glass ine and kraft pouches n more twine. I'm so happy!

 

[msunnerstood]

I don't do black Friday shopping. I did it once and swore Id never go back. Now that it moved online, however, I need my cards taken away from me. I've been to FB, Mad Micas, and NS already this morning.

 

[Peachy Clean Soap]

Shopped @ NS too, savings on many items with sample sizes still available. I'm impatiently waiting for my Lye delivery was hoping to squeeze in a couple of loafs before Christmas. Next year I'll start earlier.

 

[maya29]

I search a new recepee... olive, no palm, no shea butter, ...
I had few weeks ago a problem with my sewer pipes. The plumber have said that it came from home made soaps.

 

[linne1gi]

Shopped @ NS too, savings on many items with sample sizes still available. I'm impatiently waiting for my Lye delivery was hoping to squeeze in a couple of loafs before Christmas. Next year I'll start earlier.

Got my lye delivery today - I order from dudadiesel.com They have the quickest, cheapest delivery. I ordered on Tuesday and got it today!

 

[linne1gi]

I search a new recepee... olive, no palm, no shea butter, ...
I had few weeks ago a problem with my sewer pipes. The plumber have said that it came from home made soaps.

Use paper towels to really wipe out your soaping bowls/equipment. I think that makes the best difference.

 

[maya29]

Use paper towels to really wipe out your soaping bowls/equipment. I think that makes the best difference.

Thank you for your reply.

 

[linne1gi]

Thank you for your reply.

Of course.

 

[Catscankim]

I cut my Empress fo from nurture soap. This is a very weird fragrance. It was supposed to discolor to medium tan, so i added td to it to just lighten it up a bit.

Cpop as usual, and when i peeked in on it yesterday, it was bright as the sun yellow...really not pretty at all. Its a layered bar. Top and bottom the exact same color, split off about 300ml for a rose clay layer, with a rose clay pencil line. The rose clay was dispersed in fo prior to adding to the batter.

Here is the fresh wet soap:

Then the unmolded soap, i figure the white would be turning yellow as well


I let it sit a while before cutting, and these next pictures are 12 hours-ish after the cut. No sign of discoloring on the bottom layer. There was nothing different with the batters. Everything was added in the main pot and split off

 

[AliOop]

@maya29 You can also add a chelator to your soaps so that the soap scum doesn't build up in the pipes. There are lots of good threads in this forum regarding chelators, including citric acid, sodium citrate, EDTA, sodium gluconate, etc.

@Catscankim those are so pretty! Even if the top stays yellow, they should sell well.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

I’ve been trimming soaps and generally organizing soaps that are curing. My soaping/sewing room beyond messy, but my soaps are neatly lined up on the shelves. I just received a shipment of lye from Duda via Amazon that I ordered earlier this week. Fearing that it might not come fast enough, I also bought lye at Ace on Wednesday. I think I have enough now. I also heard the sales calling and stayed up until midnight last night so I could hit submit on my Nurture order before they sold out of anything I wanted. I’m finally going to try 8th & Ocean, Winter Wonderland, and Sambucus, along with a half dozen others.

Took a few soap pics, too:

This is the cut of the citrus basil soap I made last weekend. From left to right: bottom, middle and top of a swirled slab. The top had extra white soap and I like that color balance the best although there’s not much orange peeking through.


This one is not as intended. I was aiming for irregular pockets of color, but my over enthusiastic attempt to release bubbles flattened them out. I’m also working on muted color palettes and like the results I’m getting using Nurture’s Copper Penny and Adamant Olive, in this case with some TD because the base gets a little dark. This is scented with MMS Green Tea, one of my favorite FOs.



Another muted color palette using Adamant Olive, Copper Penny and Synergy, again with some TD in the base. It’s chopstick swirled. The scent is a blend of “last bit in the bottle” FOs, all BB - Ginger & Amber, White Tea & Ginger and a small bit of Wild Rose.

 

[Daisy]

Use paper towels to really wipe out your soaping bowls/equipment. I think that makes the best difference.

Another great idea someone had previously suggested is to cut up old towels into smaller pieces and use them instead of paper towels.
Leave them for a few days and after saponification, you can wash them.

 

[Peachy Clean Soap]

Got my lye delivery today - I order from dudadiesel.com They have the quickest, cheapest delivery. I ordered on Tuesday and got it today!

Im looking @ their Lye 2 lbs & its about half the amt thats on amazon wow' trying to find shipping cost' I may half to create an account.

 

[violets2217]

cut up old towels into smaller pieces and use them instead of paper towels

I use my cotton non-paper paper towels I made for the kitchen to clean out soap containers then leave them in a container with a lid for a couple days too! Sometimes I use them later to clean my counters then throw them in the wash! lol! But also every once in a while when I'm making soap I make an extra batch of lye water and pour it down my sink just incase...

 

[Mobjack Bay]

I started using dish towels that were getting old and stained and bought some new ones for the kitchen.

 

[linne1gi]

Another great idea someone had previously suggested is to cut up old towels into smaller pieces and use them instead of paper towels.
Leave them for a few days and after saponification, you can wash them.

Yes, an even better idea. But many people don't like the idea of cutting up towels - so I suggested paper towels. With the current paper towel shortage, cutting up old towels is a much better idea.

 

[msunnerstood]

If I had money to hire someone to help with my soap business it would be to wrap and ship. I swear it takes longer than the production. My soapy thing today is wrapping 8 bear poops shrink-wrapped and in special boxes, 12 soap cupcakes In bags with Ribbons. and 5 bars of soap, plus samples.

 

[GemstonePony]

I cut my Empress fo from nurture soap. This is a very weird fragrance. It was supposed to discolor to medium tan, so i added td to it to just lighten it up a bit.

Cpop as usual, and when i peeked in on it yesterday, it was bright as the sun yellow...really not pretty at all. Its a layered bar. Top and bottom the exact same color, split off about 300ml for a rose clay layer, with a rose clay pencil line. The rose clay was dispersed in fo prior to adding to the batter.

Here is the fresh wet soap:
View attachment 51965
Then the unmolded soap, i figure the white would be turning yellow as well

View attachment 51966
I let it sit a while before cutting, and these next pictures are 12 hours-ish after the cut. No sign of discoloring on the bottom layer. There was nothing different with the batters. Everything was added in the main pot and split off
View attachment 51967

Those really do look pretty! Sometimes I feel like soap is the half-feral housecat of the art world: You can make suggestions and try to force it to comply, but it pretty much does what it wants.

 

[maya29]

@maya29 You can also add a chelator to your soaps so that the soap scum doesn't build up in the pipes. There are lots of good threads in this forum regarding chelators, including citric acid, sodium citrate, EDTA, sodium gluconate, etc.

@Catscankim those are so pretty! Even if the top stays yellow, they should sell well.

I am interested by acide citrique. An canadian woman (Marie Mousse) explain what the acide citric is and I think it would be good for me.

 

[linne1gi]

I am interested by acide citrique. An canadian woman (Marie Mousse) explain what the acide citric is and I think it would be good for me.

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