What soapy thing have you done today?

[CritterPoor]

I was going through withdrawl...lye is on order and only a smidgen left. Thanks to experienced members here I was able to adapt my recipe to use up every last gram. It gave me enough to make 4 bars, 3 filled up my new coffee bean mold and the extra made a full rectangle mold bar. The coffee mold bar will be a gift for my sister who downs 3 pots a day! Included with the soap will be a mug that says "Coffee Ho, yeah I even bathe in the stuff!"
Here's a pic (not mine) of the finished soap with my new mold:

that mold is awesome!




I got in some 1 oz fragrance samples from FB. My husband goes, "Geeze! How many did you get?" I told him that since I was paying shipping anyway, I might as well try some stuff.

And i picked up 4 cigar boxes to use as molds. this will be my first venture into non-silicone molds. I'm pretty excited, but I really should have picked up freezer paper while at the store today.

 

[Confused_Penguin]

Yesterday I made a rose scented soap that seized and turned into this pink thing.. I mentioned this already but here are pictures.
Doesn't look that fancy but it am amazed at how incredible it smells. Just like walking through a field of roses... sigh... too bad it didn't turn out the way I envisioned but I still managed to save it so nothing really went to waste.

Haven't really given up on floral scents so I tried Japanese Cherry Blossom. It behaved quite nicely. I miscalculated the way I divided the colors and ended up with more piping than I would have intended but this is one of the most intricate designs I ever tackled so I"m still somewhat proud of myself lol. This soap I think is either a hit or miss-- part of me feels like my colors were everywhere >.>. Oh well, I will post cut batch tomorrow.

 

[CTAnton]

I made a six pound batch of obsidian's rendition of salt bars....80% coconut 20% OO...made a 50% lye solution undated coconut milk instead....used Soapalooza"s Attar of Roses...I'm no judge of fragrances , especially for rose but I'm feeling this one is a little old lady smelling...fortunately I'm at the age where I KNOW a lot of little old ladies!

 

[Dahila]

two 3 pounds molds of gardener\mechanic soap scented with Mint and eucaliptus, and colored with some green oxide, and 400 grams of nice dry face moisturizer)

 

[Krystalbee]

Re-batching some piña colada scented soap that misbehaved. Smells so yummy and looks so bleh lol.

 

[jules92207]

I poured some sample size fo bottles for my next vanilla test batch. I ran a few new recipes through soapcalc to make a new 100% olive oil batch and to try an 80% olive/20% coconut batch I was reading about on a thread here on the forum. Also tried to design a new facial bar, been using 100% olive oil bar but thought I'd try and design something new.

Unfortunately I haven't been feeling 100% the last week so actually getting to soaping proved quite difficult today. Maybe tomorrow.

Also tested a couple swap soaps today.

 

[amd]

Cut up my failed mica line bars. Some stayed together so I'll give those as samples and the pieces that didn't were added to the "stone soap" bin for future rebatching. Printed more business cards and bagged and tagged sample soaps for my peddlers booth. Contemplating another pumpkin bar.... Is there such thing as too many pumpkin soaps?

 

[TeresaT]

I laid out all my mica samples to decide what I'm going to attempt to swirl with today. (Emphasis is on ATTEMPT.). I am going to try out "Jacobs's Desire" from WSP. I've decided to use Peacock Blue Mica with a hint of Deep Pink Mica. I'm not going to do anything fancy, just a base of TD and pouring alternating shades of blue over a divider with a hint of pink now and then. Is that a "Zebra Swirl"? I've looked at so many videos I can't keep them straight. Anyhoo, here is the mother-lode of micas I scored a few weeks ago from "Steph's Micas and More" FB group. It's kind of like an online co-op/bulk buy thingy. I've already mixed the blue and pink micas I'm going to use. They're in the little cups. I've got to mix my TD. If this goes well, I'll make a second batch using my "Sandalwood" FO from WSP. I have no idea what sandalwood is supposed to smell like, but this stuff smells goooooooood!!! I haven't made soap in a long time. I did a couple of samples on Sept 13, but before that it was in Aug 7. August was, apparently, a really busy month for me.

 

[DeeAnna]

DeeAnna, I'm going to dilute my LS paste and add some herbs to use as a liquid shampoo. I want to add a preservative and I've optiphen plus. Does the soap have to be a certain temp or is it enough that it stays below 45 C ? I want to dilute using the no heat method like you, do I have to warm it up a bit for the preservative?

Optiphen won't work in LS -- this preservative will be inactivated in high pH product. I use liquid Germall Plus for diluted LS (I don't preserve the paste soap). Suttocide is another option for high pH products. See: http://www.makingskincare.com/preservatives/ As far as I can tell, Germall Plus mixes nicely with LS at room temperature.

Regarding using Optiphen -- I don't have any experience with the Optiphen line and have no idea if you need to warm your product to get the Optiphen to mix in. I'd check with your supplier to see if there's a tech sheet with that info.

Why do you use preservatives in liquid soap if you don't mind me asking? Where could I find IL's recipe please?

1. An abundance of caution. If you're making a basic LS paste -- water, fat, lye -- it's optional. If you're going to use botanicals (aka bug food) when making the paste, I recommend a preservative. IMO, preservative is absolutely required if you're going to add even a titch of anything when diluting the soap except for plain distilled water.

2. No-neutralization Liquid Soap Tutorials:
Irish Lass: http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?p=428988 see posts 8 and 9
Susie: http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=49852

 

[TeresaT]

My first Taiwan Circling Swirl. And I think it looks killer!! Unfortunately my dividers were a La Croix box and it wasn't sturdy enough. The bottom leaked through. Oh, well. It still looks really good for a first try. Considering I "never do anything right" this is an accomplishment!

 

[Misschief]

I'm in the process of making some salt brine soap (soleseife) that I intend to scent with lemongrass and ylang ylang (my fave combo right now). It will be coloured with lilac, peach, and seafoam. Right now, I'm waiting for the oils and the lye to cool to temp.

For the first time, as well, I'm using a Pringles container as a mold. For the leftovers, I'm using a silicone mold (nothing fancy). Pictures to come later.

 

[Misschief]

My first Taiwan Circling Swirl. And I think it looks killer!! Unfortunately my dividers were a La Croix box and it wasn't sturdy enough. The bottom leaked through. Oh, well. It still looks really good for a first try. Considering I "never do anything right" this is an accomplishment!

Teresa, I'm looking forward to seeing it once it firms up. Great colours! Very vibrant.

 

[handavaka]

My first Taiwan Circling Swirl. And I think it looks killer!! Unfortunately my dividers were a La Croix box and it wasn't sturdy enough. The bottom leaked through. Oh, well. It still looks really good for a first try. Considering I "never do anything right" this is an accomplishment!

For someone who thinks they don't do anything right, Teresa T....you're work is quite impressive! Great looking soap and swirl!

 

[jules92207]

My first Taiwan Circling Swirl. And I think it looks killer!! Unfortunately my dividers were a La Croix box and it wasn't sturdy enough. The bottom leaked through. Oh, well. It still looks really good for a first try. Considering I "never do anything right" this is an accomplishment!

That is gorgeous, Teresa!

 

[aprice522]

I'm in the process of making some salt brine soap (soleseife) that I intend to scent with lemongrass and ylang ylang (my fave combo right now). It will be coloured with lilac, peach, and seafoam. Right now, I'm waiting for the oils and the lye to cool to temp.

I want to soap so bad but have a bunch of home/housework to do...paper work for work to do.

I am excited for the new combo suggestion you had. I love using EOs and am always looking for a new combo. Question--What ratio do you use of each?

I have been touching my soaps from a week or so ago. I had those two very soft soaps and they have finally hardened up.

I actually had been comparing them to the previous soap I made that is very hard and one of them is the same recipe. Odd. The only difference was the harder bar had a 7% sf and was made with aloe for water, and the softer one was 5%sf and made with coconut milk....no differences other then that. hmmm...

I am just learning to swirl and use micas, so go easy on me...I know they aren't great but I am decently happy.

Here is my EO blend (Lav, Lemonrass, rosemary and peppermint--ratio: 2/2/1/1)
August soaps by Angie price, on Flickr

Here is my EO peppermint. Can totally tell they were too soft and I cut anyways!

August soaps by Angie price, on Flickr

I actually tried the Aug challenge, but happened too late, but took the pictures so I am posting them too.
I made this soap with Merlot I had leftover from a recipe that called for it. It is scented with a sample Vanilla Rosewood FO I was sent from BB.

The wet soap
August soaps by Angie price, on Flickr

And the cut
August soaps by Angie price, on Flickr

 

[Misschief]

I am excited for the new combo suggestion you had. I love using EOs and am always looking for a new combo. Question--What ratio do you use of each?

I used a 1:1 ratio. There's a local woman who has a line of creams and beauty products; her face cream (marvelous!) uses lemongrass and ylang ylang and I absolutely love it.

I have a couple of batches, too, that were really soft for some reason. Both are hardening up but I don't think they'll ever qualify as hard soaps. I was a little worried about both. I think they'll be fine but definitely not hard.

 

[Helenz]

Consuela, I love your avocado soap bars -beautifully trimmed too. You mentioned using a salt solution. How much salt did you use?

 

[Consuela]

Consuela, I love your avocado soap bars -beautifully trimmed too. You mentioned using a salt solution. How much salt did you use?

I haven't done the salt solution - but I use about 1TBS Salt PPO at trace. I know some people don't have luck with Dead Sea Salt... but that's the proportion I use... I've also used Himalayan Pink Salt (Which can be scratchy) so this time I ground it to a fine powder to see if that makes a difference....

 

[dibbles]

Cleaned up soaping area and put everything back where it belongs. It was getting a bit out of control. Now it's all ready to mess up again

 

[dibbles]

My first Taiwan Circling Swirl. And I think it looks killer!! Unfortunately my dividers were a La Croix box and it wasn't sturdy enough. The bottom leaked through. Oh, well. It still looks really good for a first try. Considering I "never do anything right" this is an accomplishment!

Pretty soap - post cut pics if you have time. I'd love to see what is hiding in there!