What soapy thing have you done today?

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Vanilla Bean & Cocoa Swirl

Made another batch today - Vanilla Bean & Cocoa Swirl. I think it looks pretty cool! We'll see when it's cut.

Update:

Here is the soap after cutting. I'm happy with it.

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Today I cut this soap :) Some drag marks, but easily fixed and I couldn't cut from the side as it wasn't flat :/
Dried lavender flowers on top and the purple bit has Lavender seeds in for aesthetics 8)
It's all scented with Lavendin EO apart from the yellow/cream which is very light Citronella EO. I wanted to swirl the yellow and white (and for the yellow to be a bit more obvious) but still happy with how it turned out! :D Making my utility room smell amazing as well!

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Today I cut this soap :) Some drag marks, but easily fixed and I couldn't cut from the side as it wasn't flat :/
Dried lavender flowers on top and the purple bit has Lavender seeds in for aesthetics 8)
It's all scented with Lavendin EO apart from the yellow/cream which is very light Citronella EO. I wanted to swirl the yellow and white (and for the yellow to be a bit more obvious) but still happy with how it turned out! :D Making my utility room smell amazing as well!

Looks nice - I love lavender. I have a soap with rose petals on the top, and when I cut it - some of the petals got dragged down my soaps! Since then I got a wire soap cutter instead of the blade cutter. So much nicer.
 
Looks nice - I love lavender. I have a soap with rose petals on the top, and when I cut it - some of the petals got dragged down my soaps! Since then I got a wire soap cutter instead of the blade cutter. So much nicer.

Yours looks gorgeous! Especially the silver - I wouldn't want to cut it :D What should it be like on the inside? Been considering a wire cutter a bit for a while - might be a nice Christmas present :lol:
 
Yours looks gorgeous! Especially the silver - I wouldn't want to cut it :D What should it be like on the inside? Been considering a wire cutter a bit for a while - might be a nice Christmas present :lol:

I went on eBay and got it for around $9 I think - free shipping. Came w/ 2 extra wires. Thank you so much for the compliments! That silver is Sparkle White Snow mica from Crafters Choice. Inside is a swirl of cocoa color, beige and a lighter beige (white)
 
Yours looks gorgeous! Especially the silver - I wouldn't want to cut it :D What should it be like on the inside? Been considering a wire cutter a bit for a while - might be a nice Christmas present :lol:

Invest in a wire cutter. The single wire types that look like oversize cheese slicers aren't hard to find or very expensive. Or if you've got a hacksaw laying around not doing anything, replace the blade with steel guitar string.
 
Just got some botanical oil infusions set up. Indigo, madder root, safflower and annatto seed. Tablespoon of each in 8 ounces of oil (used olive, since I use that in pretty much all of my soaps at the moment even though it might affect the infusion color).

Got my oils measured out and warming for two batches of soap, both intended to be monthly challenge attempts. Making another attempt at blue lace agate as well as a run at emerald.

I found a small silicone slab mold (cake pan?) last night on ebay- inner measurements 6 inches square by just shy of two inches deep. Get six slightly smallish bars from it? It's $14 with shipping.
 
Another divine creation - you really have got the hang of this! Soap looking beautiful : )
 
I unmoulded and cut my Summer Meadow loaf today. Was still a bit soft after 3 days. I love this fragrance which is freshly cut grass and patchouli mix. Some kaolin clay and a little green oxide for colour. Still working on presentation but I have passed my safety assessment now with the Guild of Craft Soap and Toiletry Makers and am getting ready for craft markets etc. You can see a few slight oily spots on the sides of the soap and I am wondering if this is because I stirred my fragrance in this time instead of stick blending as I wanted to do a swirl and was hoping it wouldn't be too thick.

Got these fantastic "curing" drawers from Ikea, they seem perfect for the job.

I am 63 now and no pension for another two years so have to create a bit of income somehow and this seems quite exciting really. A totally new direction after many different jobs and types of business over the years. Love the creative aspect to it and aspire to make some "beautiful" soaps as well as ordinary ones. This is a great place to learn too :)

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Went through the soaps I have saved from the start to see how they fared. The oldest were three year old, and I *think* one that was two year old had DOS! : D

It smelled wonderfull and fruity, not bad smelling at all, and lathered up great, but it had a deep orange edge along the side. This soap was wrapped in shrinkwrap (regular) but had two holes for breathing on each end. I saved another from the same batch as a control subject, unwrapped to see if it made a difference, and that one was perfectly fine. I think the shrinkwrap was so thick, not enough opening to alow it to breathe, and packed close together with other soaps. That was usefull experience!

All the rest of the bars were perfectly fine, although most of them was faded a bit in the fragrance.

The only one that hadn`t faded in fragrance AT ALL (!!) was my castile type soap made in 2014. The SF was 5% and soap was made with 100% EVOO, because that was all I had on hand the first time I soaped. I fragranced it with 2% of Ylang Ylang. It still smells so good. I used one endsliver today, and it gave off a lovely, creamy suds, and was a delight to use, left my hands soft with a hint of ylang. I wiped it dry and put it back with the a fullsized bar, to dry and be left alone. Will check again in a year.

This was fun!
 
Good point, how quick can DOS form? I've been using these for a couple of months now but like that the air is really circulating well although I put tissue on top of the drawers to keep dust off. Also on top of the soaps in the drawers.
 
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