What soapy thing have you done today?

[Saponomancer]

I'm rendering tallow for the first time today! I've got five pounds of it in the crock now

 

[nsmar4211]

New recipe and I'm testing using spices as colorants. And yes I remembered to leave one empty as a control . Also seeing if the red/yellow "soap" dyes I have will morph in the same test (the blue turns lavender).

 

[osso]

Ordered some lye - first time ordering from The Lye Guy. And I have some KOH coming. Time to try some liquid soap!

 

[jenneelk]

Haha.. Just posted mine.
Got all my colors organized after way too long procrastinating. Didn't realize how much I had and new unopened stuff still.

 

[DeeAnna]

After spending more time researching the use of sweet grass in soap ... I honestly don't think the scent survives. It's become clear to me that people who are using sweet grass "essential oil" in their soap are either using a blend of EOs that simulates the sweet grass scent ... or using a fragrance oil. Sweet grass doesn't produce any essential oil, although one can make a hydrosol from it.

So ... back to the drawing board!

 

[doriettefarm]

About to make another batch of mead pucks. Nothing fancy but needed to polish off the bottle of mead taking up room in the fridge and test another new honey FO (Honey & Propolis MW dupe).

Also waffling about making another batch today. Can't decide if I should make a first attempt for the SMF challenge (slab mold) or use my 2lb tall/skinny mold to play with the new gear tie hubs bought me for swirling. Decisions, decisions!

 

[TeresaT]

Also waffling about making another batch today. Can't decide if I should make a first attempt for the SMF challenge (slab mold) or use my 2lb tall/skinny mold to play with the new gear tie hubs bought me for swirling. Decisions, decisions!

Ditto. Slab mold challenge (my first challenge). Salt bars (my first salt bars). Or nap. I think I'm going with the nap followed by the salt bars. Maybe.

 

[jules92207]

Definitely nap before salt bars. You could sleep too long and end up with it too hard to cut! Don't ask me how I know this...

 

[snappyllama]

I tried out another M&P drop into CP. I've never been really happy with my outcomes when trying this technique, but I'm hopeful I did a little better this time. Regardless of how it looks, the soap smells lovely.. WSP Sea Glass.

 

[doriettefarm]

Just so you guys can see the crazy color difference in the mead soap immediately after pouring vs several hours later. Thought it might help to see how orange the lye water & batter are when fresh but the color settles back down to creamy honey.

 

[mintle]

Thank you all!

That is fantastic, Mintle. Your folks are going to adore it. Is it a loaf? They are going to have difficulty framing it

It was loaf and an idea to frame it is EXACTLY what happened - my parents looked at each other and claimed they will never ever use it

 

[not_ally]

Mintle, that is ultra-cute. I would want to frame it too! They are probably going to make you redo it in a slab

Doriette, that is CRAZY. Good thing you knew it was going to go back to the original color. Although that electric orange is kind of cool.

 

[doriettefarm]

not_ally - I had already made a batch with mead so knew it would discolor when added to the lye water. The first batch was actually WAY crazier because it turned purple before I could get it in a water bath to cool down! This time I knew to water bath in advance plus I froze the mead syrup and still ended up with the orange lye solution. Just wanted to give folks a heads up not to panic if something similar happens when using an alternative liquid.

 

[SoapStephanie]

Today I'm giving it my second try for the Soapmaking Challenge.
I was pretty happy with the first one but I'm going to make some improvements to my design.
Love the theme of this month.

 

[reinbeau]

About to make another batch of mead pucks. Nothing fancy but needed to polish off the bottle of mead taking up room in the fridge and test another new honey FO (Honey & Propolis MW dupe).

Mead pucks - do you use mead for the lye solution? Sounds interesting!

 

[MoonStruck]

Failed. My batch, which was supposed be be a beachy gradient, has lye pockets. If it weren't for the expensive essential oils in it I might have tossed it. Instead it's in my crockpot. The result are bound to be hideous but they'll smell nice so I'll accept that.

 

[galaxyMLP]

If they smell that nice, you may want to try felting them if that's a possibility. I like shaping them into round balls and felting them like that. They are easy to hold and a fin shape that wouldn't be practical with regular slippery soap!

 

[MoonStruck]

I may try that. My sister has lots of fibre and lots of scraps. She'll probably be willing to toss some my way.

 

[galaxyMLP]

Cool! I'm pretty sure it has to be 100% wool roving though. I looked long and hard to see if I could use acrylic and even tried batting as someone suggested but it didn't work. Just a heads up so you aren't like "what the heck was this lady talking about... This doesn't work!"

 

[MoonStruck]

The only reason I already knew this is because my sister is a fiber snob and went on a long rant once about people calling acrylic yarn wool. She can't mock me for my soap and nail polish because she has more fiber (no acrylic for her, only natural fibers, mostly silk, cashmere and wool) then she can actually knit in a life time.

As it happens I found some of her scraps from her wedding veil and I'm claiming them for my own.