What soapy thing have you done today?

[msunnerstood]

The lesson of the day is, no matter what Anne Marie tells you, Bath bombs dont work in silicon molds.
The question of the day is, now that my bath bombs have been reconstituted and are now purple, moon cake molded, and scented with Unicorn Sparkles fo, what do I call the scent now? Purple Unicorn?

 

[AliOop]

The lesson of the day is, no matter what Anne Marie tells you, Bath bombs dont work in silicon molds.
The question of the day is, now that my bath bombs have been reconstituted and are now purple, moon cake molded, and scented with Unicorn Sparkles fo, what do I call the scent now? Purple Unicorn?

I like Purple Unicorn, or Sparkly Unicorn.

For bath bombs, I also prefer the mooncake press. Way less work.

 

[GemstonePony]

Adventure of the evening turned out to be the worst case of ricing/separating I've ever seen. It wouldn't stay together from stick blending either, it just kept separating/ricing back out again. I had separated the colors out for heart embed with pink and purple layers and white and pink details, but I'll have to try that another time. I ended up scrapping my plans and throwing the colors back together to hot process the lot to see if I could get soap dough and use the fragrance that way. When I wrapped it in plastic it had the consistency of Silly Putty, and as of a few seconds ago it was holding the fragrance ok. The fragrance was WSPs Rose & Black Pepper, so I might see if adding it with oil mitigates the problem for future attempts.
I also made the dough for my embeds for my January entry, and I also tried piping some shapes to use as embeds as well. It's a new recipe because I'm crazy, so I'm not sure what the dough will be like, but the FA profile looked promising. The FO I picked was BBs Magnolia Leaf and Tonka Bean, and it soaped very nicely.
Tomorrow- I mean, later today- should be interesting for me.

 

[rdc1978]

Adventure of the evening turned out to be the worst case of ricing/separating I've ever seen. It wouldn't stay together from stick blending either, it just kept separating/ricing back out again. I had separated the colors out for heart embed with pink and purple layers and white and pink details, but I'll have to try that another time. I ended up scrapping my plans and throwing the colors back together to hot process the lot to see if I could get soap dough and use the fragrance that way. When I wrapped it in plastic it had the consistency of Silly Putty, and as of a few seconds ago it was holding the fragrance ok. The fragrance was WSPs Rose & Black Pepper, so I might see if adding it with oil mitigates the problem for future attempts.
I also made the dough for my embeds for my January entry, and I also tried piping some shapes to use as embeds as well. It's a new recipe because I'm crazy, so I'm not sure what the dough will be like, but the FA profile looked promising. The FO I picked was BBs Magnolia Leaf and Tonka Bean, and it soaped very nicely.
Tomorrow- I mean, later today- should be interesting for me.

Thats good to know about the Magnolia leaf and Tonka bean, I haven't used it yet, but I am sniffing it all the time and am totally in love. Good information about the Rose and Black Pepper.....it was on my list of f/o to try, but maybe I'll scratch it (my current list is 5 pages long, so its no great loss. LOL)

 

[Todd Ziegler]

Oh thats good information, thank you! @Todd Ziegler 's homemade VCS with only the metiasulfate (SP) was SUPER helpful with another discoloring f/o. I had no idea it might work for f/o without vanillian. Thanks a million! fingers crossed!

The combination of thiosulfate and metabisulfate helps prevent discoloring from vanillin and other discoloring ingredients. Banana FO's is a good example of an FO that can discolor without any vanillin in it. Those non vanillin ingredients are the ones that cause yellow, orange and shades other than browns. It has my educated opinion at this point that the thiosulfate catches non vanillin ingredients that the metabisulfate does not cover.

This soap is an example of a non vanillin discoloring FO that is prevented by the ZCS. This FO has no vanillin but causes a very yellow coloring. The FO itself is yellow in the bottle. The yellow you see on the edges is from the picture and not the soap itself.

 

[TashaBird]

Another total fail at piping. I did allow my batter to set up nicely and then scoop it into the bag. Pouring liquid batter last time was a learning fail. But the giant novelty tips I bought awhile back have just not worked out for me. They’d probably be great on cupcakes! So after much spatulaing this is what I came up with. And when all else fails... and hella glitter!
Going for an ocean theme. Another drop swirl, because they’re super satisfying and low stress.
Edit: and now folks are freaking out about my other mold I got for left over batter. It’s hilarious! People who’ve never commented before PMing me losing their minds over it! Dragons!

I can't count how many times my impatience has squooshed the corners trying to unmold too soon!

I can't count how many times my impatience has squooshed the corners trying to unmold too soon!

I’m literally leaving the house today so I won’t touch it.

 

[JoyfulSudz]

I’m literally leaving the house today so I won’t touch it.

I should have left with you. I just lost the corners of my rainbow loaf taking it out of the mold too soon. I put it back in the mold hoping it will mend. Will I never learn?

 

[SPowers]

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.

The thought of doing it makes my head hurt.. thanks for sharing your hard work!

 

[violets2217]

Another total fail at piping.

Hi! Might I recommend Royalty Soaps Frosting Club. For $50 you get a beautiful box filled with goodies. I think I posted a picture of the box when I got it... which includes piping tips (big and small) and everything you’d need to start frosting (4 Mad Mica micas are a bonus) It also comes with a PDF with recipes (I did tweak them a little cause she use vegan recipes and I like my LARD! Plus it seemed like a lot of CO.) and instructions. My favorite was access to an instructional video. My first try wasn’t so bad! I just need to work on my even pressure and spacing. But it was a fun and stress free learning experience! Well worth the $50, I think. One tip she gave was letting batter sit until you move your spatula through it and the frosting stays where you put it with nice peaks when you put the spatula away. Plus no juggle when you shake it!

 

[ResolvableOwl]

Today, I (herewith) suggested @jules92207 to bandage their soap cutter, instead of throwing it away and replacing it by a new one. (-:

 

[Zing]

Not much here but I did receive a Bulk Apothecary order and turned my curing soaps. Someone posted on FB that they were destashing their extensive shoe box collection (?) so I picked up a dozen for soap storage. And Mrs. Zing is making candles! While making a pie no less. She's raided my essential oil shelf.

 

[Lynnz]

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 want to eat this looks amazing

 

[Vicki C]

More color testing - rhubarb + turmeric / rose kaolin clay, alkanet and indigo / white clay, a periwinkle ultramarine. The alkanet was a bit strong (obviously) so the secondary colors don’t show up at all. Curious to see how they look after curing. I’ve never used the rhubarb before, what a pretty color, and mixes well with turmeric.

 

[The Park Bench]

Not much here but I did receive a Bulk Apothecary order and turned my curing soaps. Someone posted on FB that they were destashing their extensive shoe box collection (?) so I picked up a dozen for soap storage. And Mrs. Zing is making candles! While making a pie no less. She's raided my essential oil shelf.

Let me know if she has any luck scenting the candles with e.o.'s, I have been told that the molecules in e.o.'s are too large to wick up.

 

[Misschief]

I made a batch of Cucumber Mint soap this afternoon, after having lunch with a friend who ordered $100 worth of product from me as a birthday gift for her mom. It's a good day! Now, what next?

 

[Zing]

More color testing - rhubarb + turmeric / rose kaolin clay, alkanet and indigo / white clay, a periwinkle ultramarine. The alkanet was a bit strong (obviously) so the secondary colors don’t show up at all. Curious to see how they look after curing. I’ve never used the rhubarb before, what a pretty color, and mixes well with turmeric.
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Huge rhubarb fan here but I've only eaten it and never heard of using it in soap! How is it used in soap? It looks nice.

 

[rdc1978]

Huge rhubarb fan here but I've only eaten it and never heard of using it in soap! How is it used in soap? It looks nice.

I have wanted to try some sort of rhubarb dish for a while just because I have no idea what it tastes like. I've never had it and I cannot find a single place in these parts that carries a rhubarb pie. Because I am not particularly good at pie making I don't want to try making it on my own because I'm certain I'd ruin rhubarb for myself and it could be very, very tasty. Oh well, just another thing on my bucket list.

 

[Vicki C]

Huge rhubarb fan here but I've only eaten it and never heard of using it in soap! How is it used in soap? It looks nice.

I saw it somewhere on something I read about using natural colorants (thanks, memory) and then ordered the powdered root online. You make an infusion which turns olive oil bright yellow, and then when you add lye it turns a very pretty rosy orange. In my experimenting I then added increasing amounts of turmeric to that base. The colorant is called turkey rhubarb root - you can get it from many suppliers. Here is the infused oil base, same right after I added lye, and same about a minute later. It ended up more pink than that.

I have wanted to try some sort of rhubarb dish for a while just because I have no idea what it tastes like. I've never had it and I cannot find a single place in these parts that carries a rhubarb pie. Because I am not particularly good at pie making I don't want to try making it on my own because I'm certain I'd ruin rhubarb for myself and it could be very, very tasty. Oh well, just another thing on my bucket list.

It’s very tart, it’s available in spring in New England. It’s not for everybody, my kids called it gagbarb growing up. I love it though.

 

[Misschief]

It’s very tart, it’s available in spring in New England. It’s not for everybody, my kids called it gagbarb growing up. I love it though.

As kids, my mom would give us a stalk of rhubarb and a small bowl of sugar to dip it in. We loved it!! And my mom, who was NOT a good cook, would make rhubarb pies, which turned out remarkably well for someone who never liked cooking or baking.

 

[AliOop]

I love making rhubarb applesauce in the crockpot - so tart-sweet and very yummy.

One does have to be careful because the leaves are highly toxic to humans and animals; only the stalks can be safely eaten.