What soapy thing have you done today?

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Of course! I always associate CP with cold process and HP with a crockpot or any other source of heating with out thinking of a distinction between crock pot or saucepan, so was thinking Hot Process Cold Process ?!?!?!?! and getting myself rather confused. Not helped by the fact that they are slow cookers, not crock pots............. :)
 
Checked the most recent batch of soap (made Monday). Still doesn't seem hard enough to unmold and cut. Aaaaaaaaah! I'm going crazy wanting to see how the swirls came out!
 
this thread is slowly becoming the unofficial soaping diary thread :D

well, this is what i've done today.. finally finished my guest soap order. now i am free to do whatever i want.. next is another pt batch, and i wanna start using the tomato red color i just got. excited to finally have a true red... finally!
 
CPHP = cold process hot process (this can be any heat source to cook the soap; crockpot, oven, double boiler)
CPOP = cold process oven process
RTCP = room temperature cold process

Today sadly was not a soapmaking day. I had to shovel tons of snow off my driveway left from PAX's flyover the eastern seaboard. Thanks a ton PAX!
 
I finally got my act together and made a soap today, re-using two chopped up bars of the soap from hell. Two down, eight to go! :D
 
More prep work today. Got a few lemons from my aunt's tree (along with oranges for eating, and grapefruit to give to a friend). The lemons were zested and juiced (though not much juice... only 2/3 cup from 5 lemons). Zest is spread out on wax paper on a baking sheet and placed on top of the fridge to dry, so I can infuse oil with it. (Unless fresh zest can be infused into oil? I was planning on doing a hot fast-infusion and using the oil pretty quickly.)

Juice is going to be frozen. I also made a strong tea with DI water to freeze, so it can be used sometime for soap.

Out of pure curiosity, I did a search on the citric acid content of lemons. I found this abstract from the NIH, and according to them lemons have 1.44g citric acid per oz of juice! I did the math and that means for the bastille recipe I came up with for my most recent batch of soap (40% OO, 35% Soybean, 20% CO, 5% Castor, 500g, 6% SF, 38% water), if I replaced all the water with lemon juice, I'd have 9.65g citric acid! That is nearly double the amount of pure citric acid I added. Now, I know citric acid isn't the only acid in lemon juice (Vit C, aka ascorbic acid, jumps to mind), but it would give a ballpark idea for how to adjust the amount of lye to get the superfat I want.

ETA: Also, I checked the batch I made Monday. STILL seems too soft to unmold. Granted, I used full water and had 80% soft oils (between olive, soy, and castor). I expected a longer time to unmold, but I'm starting to get antsy. How much longer will I have to wait?!
 
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Yesterday I made purple potato soap, today I gave hubby his Valentines day gift which was Tomato Soup soap. Guess he liked it, he shoved his nose in the bars and took a big whiff, then grabbed a bar to put in his shower dish :smile: In truth, its the first bar I've made specifically for him, usually he uses whatever I have on hand. I may do an HP oatmeal, goat milk, and honey tomorrow as hubs will be working all day. And lastly my pb&j soap. Then I'm taking a long break...I think :problem:
 
Today I . . .

I finally cut my latest bar which was a special order in Blackberry Sage. I am thrilled since it is my best swirl to date and I just love the fragrance and my micas aren't fading! (yay).

I am opening a bottle of beer tonight to get it to start going flat. Making a beer soap tomorrow.

Planning on getting two friends lined up for scheduling parties for me. We are ready to beat the winter blues by beating up on a groundhog!

Got my ducks in a row (literally) to start making Easter soaps.

I finally ordered Monkey Farts fragrance and a new red Mica from my supplier.

I am also planning a very special soap for my sister for her 10th wedding anniversary coming up.

The only other thing I need to do is get a bunch of labels printed so I can get all my wrapped soaps labeled and packed.

Then, I can go to sleep!
 
I made a chocolate mint soap and aloe soap. I started some infusions and I worked on my cigar bands.
 
Made a 5 lb batch of soap and then played with my FO shipment from BB (bought a few from their FO sale). I love opening up new FO and smelling them for the first time. Almost as exciting as getting to cut soap after waiting patiently to see how your swirls came out........
 
whaddaya know.. the electricity was off when i woke up today, so of course no soaping time for me. now, i am at the mall with my fiancee to see robocop and all i can think of is when can we go home?!
 
So far I've beveled and stamped my first attempt at a tiger swirl, in lemongrass and litsea EOs, chlorella and Brazilian yellow clay for color. I didn't use enough of a contrasting color for the yellows, and my swirl is too shallow, but at least I understand how to do this fun technique now. Will be making more tiger swirls tonight, and two batches of doggie soap with soapnut tea.

It's also a feltie day, I can't seem to keep these critters in stock. The firecracker one is Sweet Orange and Chile FO, fiber from Calico Farms on Etsy, the blue is Lavender Lime EOs with fiber from Molly Girl Yarns on Etsy. Obviously I'm having a fun soaping weekend :)

The pics are lousy, blurry and dull, tried the tablet camera instead of my trusty Android smartphone. Ah well, will reshoot later.

tigerswirl.jpg


felties1.jpg
 
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