What soapy thing have you done today?

[earlene]

TeresaT, it wasn't until I read responses to you being home sick that it hit me you were sick at home, not 'homesick' which I first thought you said/meant. I hope you are on the mend.

Last night I finally chose colors for my first September attempt at the ribbon pour for this month's challenge. I premixed the micas before sleeping, fighting myself not to get started in the middle of the night. I know it doesn't go well for me when I stay up all night working on intricate detail work. I used to be able to do it in my 20's and 30's, but not so much in my 60's. Anyway, I made that ribbon pour, and just like when I did it in June, my first batch was too thin when I poured it. A bit better than that time, I am hoping, but still too thin. And for some reason the TD just didn't feel like whitening the batter. I guess the batter was too beige to start with. I'll try a whiter recipe for the next attempt. I still want some of it to be white. It's in the oven now.

 

[traderbren]

I'm home sick today. I feel like a truck ran me over. But I did manage to put together 12 sniffies for my boss. I need to buy some cotton swabs to make it easier (and cheaper) than using pipettes and cotton balls. I'm going to go sit on the chair and pretend to watch a movie.

I hope you feel better!

 

[penelopejane]

Now that you mention it...
Mmmm.... Cheeze : D

Try a bit more course grater too, if you have one.
It's a personal thing but I like the coarser gratings as I think they add a bit more interest to the finished soap.

If you are HP rebatching I guess the finer the better. I've never done that.

 

[dillsandwitch]

I looked with longing at all my soaping equipment today. Wishing I had more free time to do things other than sleep or vegetate in front of my pc/TV. :S

 

[amd]

Went on a mad soapy spree this week - restocks and a few trial runs with new colors and/or fragrances. I am out of masterbatch and soaping dishes, so tonight I do the washing! And prepping for my 4th soap class on Saturday (Saturday is going to be chaos - a car show at noon and class at 3, each in different towns 45 minutes apart... it's gonna be close.) Hopefully will have time to masterbatch on Friday night/Saturday morning and then back to soaping on Saturday night because I am dangerously close to being out of everything! August was a good month.

 

[artemis]

I am valiantly resisting the urge to make a batch tonight. I need to fill out school paperwork for 4 children. Not my idea of a relaxing Thursday evening.

 

[TeresaT]

Bought 50 lbs lard, two 5 gal buckets, a bucket warmer blanket and I'm debating on getting one of these two things to hold lye solution. Does anyone have any ideas if these would be good for long-term lye storage? I'd make a 1:1 solution.

 

[dillsandwitch]

Bought 50 lbs lard, two 5 gal buckets, a bucket warmer blanket and I'm debating on getting one of these two things to hold lye solution. Does anyone have any ideas if these would be good for long-term lye storage? I'd make a 1:1 solution.

the only thing I would be worried about is what the seals for the taps are made from. If they are made from a plastic that can withstand lye then either one would be good.

 

[MySoapyHeart]

Try a bit more course grater too, if you have one.
It's a personal thing but I like the coarser gratings as I think they add a bit more interest to the finished soap.

If you are HP rebatching I guess the finer the better. I've never done that.

I have never had to rebatch a soap before, but if I ever need to, I agree, I think the fine one will make it "melt" easier.

I have used the coarser grater a lot, and I like it, and will still use it. But the finer one gave a nice and a bit different effect. I will stick with both versions. I think the effect will show better if the fine confetti is darker and the batter light, and vice versa.

Here are two pictures, one with fine shreds and one with coarse shreds. The finer ones are just a coupple of days old, so havent cleaned up the bars yet.

I like both effects for different reasons. I think the finer shreds can be made to look like sand, without having to use additives like oatmeal or pumice or whatnot, for those who don`t want things that can cloc their system, and the more coarse can look like tiny pebbles etc, depending of what you want to do with it.

 

[jimmygarison]

i take a bath with soap.

 

[powderpink]

I got impatient, so I cut a slice of my (butterfly) hanger swirl attempt.

View attachment 22297

Not *too* bad for a first attempt where I made all the wrong choices for a swirl design (50% hard fats, clay in oils before stickblending, 8? colours, stickblending too long etc. etc.)

 

[jules92207]

I made soaps for my cousins wedding favors and tonight I got to see them in all their final glory.

 

[powderpink]

For some reason my picture didn't come through :/

but here it is:


And the other side looks like this



which looks more like two angry crickets having a face off :mrgreen:

Save​

 

[penelopejane]

I have never had to rebatch a soap before, but if I ever need to, I agree, I think the fine one will make it "melt" easier.

I have used the coarser grater a lot, and I like it, and will still use it. But the finer one gave a nice and a bit different effect. I will stick with both versions. I think the effect will show better if the fine confetti is darker and the batter light, and vice versa.

Here are two pictures, one with fine shreds and one with coarse shreds. The finer ones are just a coupple of days old, so havent cleaned up the bars yet.

I like both effects for different reasons. I think the finer shreds can be made to look like sand, without having to use additives like oatmeal or pumice or whatnot, for those who don`t want things that can cloc their system, and the more coarse can look like tiny pebbles etc, depending of what you want to do with it.

They are really, really beautiful soaps! Congratulations. I think you are right. :mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen:

 

[MySoapyHeart]

They are really, really beautiful soaps! Congratulations. I think you are right. :mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen:

Thank you, you are so sweet! : )

(I just noticed I wrote "cloc the system", when I mean "clog".
*sigh* me needz coffe me thinks... : P

 

[doriettefarm]

Made v2 of my shampoo bar recipe this time with more hair loving goodies like hydrolyzed oats & panthenol

 

[biarine]

I made my first liquid soap today as my liquid dish soap. I am pleased that turn out ok. I scent it with lavender and lemon essential oil. I used coconut oil and soy bean oil.

 

[DeeAnna]

Cut and cleaned up two loaves of soap I made yesterday.

One batch I made with water infused with fresh sweetgrass and scented with a sweetgrass FO. There is no essential oil of sweetgrass so the best one can do is fake it with other EOs or an FO. I tried the Ione Swirl that Irish Lass shared awhile back. The main color is a medium green created by the sweetgrass infusion with a dash of titanium dioxide. The sweetgrass green will eventually fade to a soft greenish tan. I created accent colors of darker green and dark blue. I realize now I need to add a lighter shade of blue as a third accent and a fourth contrasting accent color to spark it up. But I did good with the swirl technique -- got nice lacy swirls and even a few butterfly shapes.

I used a discoloring FO for the other loaf of soap. This FO had not accelerated for me in the past ... but it happily accelerated this time. My in-the-pot swirl instead turned into a truly awkward plop-in-the-mold. The cut bars are mostly a homely brown surrounded by muddy swirls of the accent colors. I'm hoping the FO will darken the browns to something that looks more like cut rock and less like baby poop. The soap itself turned out really nice and smells good ... just the color scheme is awful. Maybe would it help if I shower with my eyes closed? :think:

 

[Guspuppy]

For some reason my picture didn't come through :/

but here it is:

And the other side looks like this

which looks more like two angry crickets having a face off :mrgreen:Save

I love the fighting crickets!

 

[earlene]

I opened two deliveries today: Tetrasodium EDTA and KOH.

So I decided to try out the EDTA in the same recipe I used 2 days ago. I re-read how to make the 39% solution and calculate for batch size, etc. I decided to use 0.5% (dry weight adjusted by multiplying by 2.56) to not only help with soap scum, but also for DOS retardation. I triple checked my calculations and am absolutely positive I got them right. First I added the FOs to the oils, then I added the EDTA solution & stirred, then I added the lye solution. With only about 3 quick bursts with the SB, my soap turned into thick pudding in less than two minutes. This recipe has been slow to trace at room temperature, so I tried to soap warmer, but still the oils were only about 125-130F when I added the lye solution, which was cooler. I avoided overuse of the SB just to see how it was going to mix because of the new additives.

Maybe next time I will try the same recipe with just the EDTA to see if I have any trouble. It could just be the FOs. Or the heat and the FOs. Anyway. I have soap in the oven overnight to facilitate full gel. I can't wait to see how it turns out with the lovely colors I managed to get just right (I think.)

I plan to watch some Game of Thrones DVDs tonight and forget about soapy frustrations for a few hours.