What soapy thing have you done today?

[Sudds]

I just started out setting up my soaping area in a different home after losing my husband, moving back to WI and starting over after almost eight years. I threw out about 60 bottles of almost 100% new essential oils and fragrance oils and about 25#s of butter, as I had planned to start soaping as soon as we had finished building our new retirement home, that didn't pan out so well! It was a hard thing to do. Now to find my scale and cooktop, have a few more boxes to go through. I am so thankful for my superman of a son who has helped me throughout this entire nightmare, he is my hero! Hi Zany, I remember your name from a soaping group on Facebook all those years ago! You were a fantastic book of knowledge then and your soaps were always lovely, looking forward to seeing what you are up to now....things have progressed a lot since then!

 

[The Park Bench]

Finished labeling the last few soap batches and got my state as well as federal taxes ready to file!

Syndet Shampoo Bars! The first time I’ve made them!!!! So fun and pretty easy! Just lots of ingredients and kinda expensive. But since I’m obsessive and could stop making them until I ran out of some ingredients we will have shampoo and conditioner for years to come!

Awesome

Mad Mica. Tickled Pink! It’s almost neon!

It looks so fun!!!!

 

[Vicki C]

I made some Neapolitan soap for valentines day! Each layer is strawberry, vanilla bean, and dark chocolate. I was really nervous about this but it was fun! and turned out pretty great!

I love this, was thinking about doing this for Christmas but didn’t get to it. I love how much it looks like ice cream. Fabulous.

 

[Arimara]

I finally found some printed recipes I need to update notes of.

 

[msunnerstood]

I bought a National Shrink Wrap System!

Now I'll drive everyone crazy until it gets here. I wonder what I look like with my face pressed against the window?

 

[Sudds]

No wonder you are excited, I just watched the video of their smaller system and am so envious! I have so much to learn to get back in step with the soaping world as it is now!

 

[msunnerstood]

Can you tell me what made you decide on this particular system?

I have a roll of film and a 16" sealer but I can never seem to cut the film close enough to the soap and there's always a bunched-up side when I hit it with the heat gun. currently, it takes over 10 minutes to wrap 9 bars of soap. I needed something faster and able to seal closer. I also hate wrapping soap so I have no fewer than 12 loaves sitting on shelves Ive been putting off wrapping.

I chose the 14" wand as thats what I have room for. National has a good reputation and is the most reasonably priced.

 

[The_Emerald_Chicken]

I cut my challenge soap that I made spur-of-the-moment after getting home from work yesterday.

 

[TashaBird]

Finally recovered from the ordeal of my first colonoscopy and endoscopy, and got to make some soap.
I’m excited because I can’t believe this is my first Galaxy soap! Rolled up some soap dough for planets. It was fun! Hopefully it works out.

I wasn’t going to do anything soapy today, but my new Soap Frosting Kit was calling to me... I had to see what I could do. Can’t wait to cut it and see what the ITPS looks like. I don’t think I used enough mica... my colors are going to be a bit wonky I think. Fun first try though! View attachment 53357

I love that pink! And the definition on your piping is so crisp!

 

[Catscankim]

If your impulse sealer is like mine, more than likely the metal strip underneath it broke. It does happen and the replacement piece is fairly inexpensive. I say that but bear in mind that I haven't used my impulse sealer in at least 3 years since I found shrink wrap bands, so the replacement cost may have gone up since then. This is my impulse sealer:
View attachment 53358
The arrow shows the strip I'm talking about, you take off the screws and underneath the sheath is a metal strip that's really easy to replace. I wouldn't have thought of this either but my hubby isn't afraid to take things apart and figured it out. Just a thought in case your replacement sealer does the same thing, it may not be the sealer itself.

I think my original one must have been defective to begin with. I got my new one and it seals instantly. The first one I had, had to be done a few times on hight heat...right out of the box. I didn't have anything to compare it to, so I thought it was normal.

 

[Vicki C]

This is so impressive to me! I don't have the patience to do this. Do you just make a batter and split it off into small portions then add colorants? |Are they all different colorants? And how does the concentration of colour equate to what goes into a larger batch?

Thank you! There are four different colorants in these photos, two in each brownie pan. I start with enough batter for twelve and then add more colorant each time I pour some off. I came up with a spreadsheet that accounts for how much colorant is left from the previous round and how much batter is left, and it calculates how many drops to add to get the percentage I am after. The spreadsheet can be used for larger batches too if you know the total oil weight, and the weight and concentration of colorant in whatever you use to disperse it. I’m going to share the spreadsheet, I want to make it a little more user friendly, but others might find it useful.

 

[violets2217]

I cut it! I couldn’t wait the full 12 to 18 hours! I wanted to see what the swirl looks like! It’s funny. I used 2 accent colors... the same amount of batter for each with the same amount of mica... the first Mad Mica wasTickled Pink and the second was Lettuce Entertain You green... I can’t find the green! Lol! Still love it! And it smells pretty good. Since I was experimenting I used a fragrance I didn’t care for... but it’s growing on me! Poison Crocus? From Nature’s Garden...

 

[Booker]

My birthday is in like 8 months. I should treat myself too

You should, BB is pretty slow on shipping--so you might as well order now LOL!

View attachment 53389
I cut it! I couldn’t wait the full 12 to 18 hours! I wanted to see what the swirl looks like! It’s funny. I used 2 accent colors... the same amount of batter for each with the same amount of mica... the first Mad Mica wasTickled Pink and the second was Lettuce Entertain You green... I can’t find the green! Lol! Still love it! And it smells pretty good. Since I was experimenting I used a fragrance I didn’t care for... but it’s growing on me! Poison Crocus? From Nature’s Garden...

I love it!

 

[AliOop]

Haven't had time to soap for weeks, but am hoping to do so this weekend - time to make my planet soap, plus more pink kaolin clay bars, apparently! A friend texted me a pic of a mostly-used bar of my soap, which she had gifted to her sister at Christmas. The message said, "Do you have any more of this soap? I hope you can figure out what one it is. My sister who does not like bar soap is just raving about it. If you have an online store, she wants to buy some. She said the scent was very light and really pretty."

I knew exactly what soap it was because it was a pale pink from the kaolin clay, and it had been lightly scented with that classic EO blend of lavender, peppermint, and lemon. A quick rummage through the soap curing rack turned up three more bars. Two of them had my sad little string-pull designs on them from the Nov challenge, which were promptly shaved off the top before the soap was bagged and sent off.

This inspired me to text another friend to see if her husband wanted more soap. He ended up with the fire soap from the Dec un-challenge. I threw in some lotion bars to get some feedback. The recipe needs some tweaking, I think.

It's always so nice when someone loves our soap, isn't it?

 

[TashaBird]

Fun cut today. Galaxy soap! Then I made drop swirl. Or at least I think I did. I forgot to actually watch any videos on how it’s done. So I was just winging it. It was super fun! Soaper fun!
The fancy mermaid mold I bought to use for left over bits of batter has become my most commented on item online. Every time I post a soap with a photo of the mermaid I get a dozen messages. I told my husband when I bought “mermaid people are crazy for mermaids!” Turns out I was right. I keep smooshing her face. But she looks like she has a mask on.
New order of EOs. Finding my faves that perform and stick well.

 

[Misschief]

The fancy mermaid mold I bought to use for left over bits of batter has become my most commented on item online. Every time I post a soap with a photo of the mermaid I get a dozen messages. I told my husband when I bought “mermaid people are crazy for mermaids!” Turns out I was right. I keep smooshing her face. But she looks like she has a mask on.
New order of EOs. Finding my faves that perform and stick well.

Funny, isn't it? My most commented on soap so far has been a rebatch that I poured into an owl mold. A rebatch... and we all know what a rebatch can look like. But because it's in an owl mold, I'm sure it will be one of the first soaps gone when the market opens.

 

[TashaBird]

Funny, isn't it? My most commented on soap so far has been a rebatch that I poured into an owl mold. A rebatch... and we all know what a rebatch can look like. But because it's in an owl mold, I'm sure it will be one of the first soaps gone when the market opens.

STILL getting private messages about it today! It’s hilarious! I might have to get a few more do an intention batch with the batter thin rug that I can actually get the facial features.

When will I learn?!! Step away from the soap until it’s hard enough not to smoosh!!! I figured if I could get the silicone liner out of the wood and release the sides it would harden up faster. But I’m doing so I munched my pretty swirl on top. Grrr.

 

[Vicki C]

Fun cut today. Galaxy soap! Then I made drop swirl. Or at least I think I did. I forgot to actually watch any videos on how it’s done. So I was just winging it. It was super fun! Soaper fun!
The fancy mermaid mold I bought to use for left over bits of batter has become my most commented on item online. Every time I post a soap with a photo of the mermaid I get a dozen messages. I told my husband when I bought “mermaid people are crazy for mermaids!” Turns out I was right. I keep smooshing her face. But she looks like she has a mask on.
New order of EOs. Finding my faves that perform and stick well.

Planet soap, wow. And count me among the commenters on the fancy mermaid, she’s lovely, with or without a mask. And I love all those EOs, been using Listea in CP because it seems to stick. I can’t get lime to last at all in CP.
I bought some cedar EO this fall which I usually love... but this batch smells like... well... tinkle. I know there are different kinds, this was Himalayan. My husband likes it so I’m just pretending I don’t smell what I smell.

 

[TashaBird]

Planet soap, wow. And count me among the commenters on the fancy mermaid, she’s lovely, with or without a mask. And I love all those EOs, been using Listea in CP because it seems to stick. I can’t get lime to last at all in CP.
I bought some cedar EO this fall which I usually love... but this batch smells like... well... tinkle. I know there are different kinds, this was Himalayan. My husband likes it so I’m just pretending I don’t smell what I smell.

I use 5-10% cedar in all my blends because it anchors them in, I think. I’m really loving the cedar from Oregon through Liberty Naturals! Also, LN packaging materials are great for reuse!!
Can someone please tell em what the H is wrong w me?!! I still unmolded too early. In my defense, my dish gloves tore, and it was now or much later! It felt hard enough in some places. The NS silicone is almost too thick! My cheaply molds I could just turn inside out!! Also, I swear the same recipe unmolded perfectly in the same time last round. I did add 2T of water w the TD, and this batch was covered lightly, and the heat was not on the heating pad as long. (Due to the way the orange discolored last time.) So, I guess there were still variables to the softness. Sheesh soap can be finicky!!!

 

[AliOop]

@TashaBird your planet soap looks great!

Are you putting your mermaid cavity mold in the freezer, and then letting it defrost a few minutes before unmolding? That always helps with nice sharp details on my cavity molds.