What soapy thing have you done today?

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I made an “ombré” soap on Friday. Not sure if I like it. Think I’ll try a different color next time.

IMG_1510456483.038011.jpg
 
Not exactly soapy, but I made another attempt at body butter tonight. Looks good so far. I started off trying not to have to melt anything, but the kokum would not smooth out. So I did heat and hold, 20 minutes at 180, to hopefully temper my butters. Since I was doing that, I decided to add part of my first batch (similar recipes, and I've already worked out how much of what was added). Used cold packs around the bowl of my stand mixer to help it start cooling down fairly quickly, with the mixer going on low. One hour on, half an hour off, another hour on and it finally got down to close to room temp. Added an ounce of unmelted shea and kept mixing. At the moment it's all smooth and fluffy and really pretty. Tomorrow I'll split the batch, and add scent to part of it and get it all packaged into jars. Meanwhile, it's sitting covered on my counter so I can make sure it doesn't go all weird on me.

ETA: Pic! It looks just like whipped cream...

bodybutterv2-1734.jpg


Kokum, shea, and mango butters, meadowfoam seed oil, rice bran oil, and vitamin E. I'll scent part of it with pink lotus and carnation and leave the rest unscented.
 
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I made 4 dozen chocolate Lip Balms today (20% dark chocolate) for my wholesale customer. Genteel lady that she is, she labels it "Reindeer Poop" and sells out during the holidays every year. Imagine that! XD
 
looked at and fondled my oatmeal honey banana soap (using gloves, of course). It's getting harder! and I took a a shower with soap! lol!

I discussed my soaps with a neighbor over coffee this morning and am planning my next batch...maybe half strawberry and half tangerine. I make big 4.5 lb batches so can split one after trace, on occasion. I'm considering going with ABS molds for round soaps. I had PVC molds once before, approx 20 yrs ago but sold them as I moved onto a different kind of mold. Now I want to go back to round soaps but will probably go with ABS molds as that's what I have on hand.

Any problems with ABS molds as opposed to PVC?
 
looked at and fondled my oatmeal honey banana soap (using gloves, of course). It's getting harder! and I took a a shower with soap! lol!

I discussed my soaps with a neighbor over coffee this morning and am planning my next batch...maybe half strawberry and half tangerine. I make big 4.5 lb batches so can split one after trace, on occasion. I'm considering going with ABS molds for round soaps. I had PVC molds once before, approx 20 yrs ago but sold them as I moved onto a different kind of mold. Now I want to go back to round soaps but will probably go with ABS molds as that's what I have on hand.

Any problems with ABS molds as opposed to PVC?

Sodium hydroxide solutions (10-100%) do not attack plastics, such as Teflon and other fluorocarbons,
such as ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (Tefzel), ethylene chlorotrifluoroethylene (Halar),
chlorotrifluoroethylene (Kel-F), polyvinylidene chloride (up to 70%), polyvinyl chloride (PVC),
polypropylene, nylon, acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS), styrene-acrylonitrile (SAN), polyetherether
ketone (Peek), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMPE),
crosslinked polyethylene (XPE), polystyrene and ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) (52,54); elastomers, such
as ethylene propylene (EP,EPDM), nitrile rubber (nitrile Buna N), neoprene, Viton A and other
fluorocarbons, Chemraz, Kalrez, Teflon and Fluoraz, chloroprene, butyl rubber (isobutylene isoprene;
IIR), natural rubber, synthetic isoprene, chlorosulfonated polyethylene (CSM), silicone rubbers, flexible
polyvinyl chloride (PVC), ethylene vinyl acetate; and coatings, such as chemical resistant epoxy, coal tar
epoxy, general purpose epoxy, epoxy polyamide, phenolic and urethanes (10-50% but see above for
higher concentrations).

From here: http://www.ercoworldwide.com/wp-content/uploads/MSDS-Sodium-Hydroxide-Solution-Rev-41.pdf

Yes, ABS is safe to use with soap. I use ABS filament for printing soap dishes (better for wet environments than PLS) (not really relevant, I guess, though).
 
Ugh. Input months of entries into Soapmaker 3. I’ve been running an informal loan between myself and the LLC, and Soapmaker won’t do what I want re: keeping track of what is owners equity vs account payable. Bah.
 
Cleared off all the fully cured soaps from my racks. :shock: Got quite a pile of soap to package and crate for storage/gifting.

Tried out some of the new recipes. The lard bar is rock hard and does indeed lather excellently. The color has faded to an old denim sort of light blue-grey. It's got kind of a funky, musty smell to it that is probably just because the lard I used was old. It's not a strong smell, though, and it doesn't seem to linger. New lard + adding fragrance should fix that.

The vanillin trial made instantly dark brown lather. Not too surprised, since the bars have turned almost black. Not sure if it'll stain skin or surfaces, though I sort of expect it to. The fragrance of the bars is present when they're dry, vanishing completely far as I can tell when the bar is wet.

Rose geranium EO sticks in soap. Used as part of the blend in my celebration soap, and it's very much present. Thankfully, it's lost a lot of the harsh, green notes that is the first thing to assault my nose right out of the bottle, and the ones remaining have mellowed into supporting roles. It's quite a nice scent, now.

The orange peel wax is tenaciously holding its orange scent. Used at 5%, it's the dominant scent even in the batch I used green cognac EO in with it. I'm wondering if it would help anchor other citrus scents, or would they still fade and leave behind the orange? I've not used lanolin (yet), so I can't actually directly compare the two materials in soap, but the orange peel wax leaves a nice feeling behind after washing with that soap.

Planned out several batches of soap to make over the next week or so.

Picked out the three recipes I've given people bars of that have gotten the best feedback to make new small batches of.

Also tinkering with the homemade MP recipe, using a combination of butters instead of just cocoa. I don't care that it's not going to be clear. The cocoa butter only batch turned out quite nice.

And then a tiny little 100g batch of hot process peanut oil single oil soap. I have a scale accurate enough that I'm confident working with such a small batch size.
 
Did you ever have a bad day? A murderously bad day (not literally, of course)? A day where you have abundant excess energy, a headache, and need an outlet for your energy?

Today was that day. I don't do complex swirls. I can't do complex swirls. I definitely never do patterned tops.

This is what's currently in the oven at 160 and falling. It's 90% tallow, 5% coconut, 5% castor, unscented because I needed as much work time as possible. Work temperature was 120° to keep the tallow liquid.

That dun-colored sort of reddish stripe is actually Blue #1 and will flare brilliant purple by tomorrow.

Tallow_Soap_10.16.2017_3.jpg
 
Did you ever have a bad day? A murderously bad day (not literally, of course)? A day where you have abundant excess energy, a headache, and need an outlet for your energy?

Today was that day. I don't do complex swirls. I can't do complex swirls. I definitely never do patterned tops.

This is what's currently in the oven at 160 and falling. It's 90% tallow, 5% coconut, 5% castor, unscented because I needed as much work time as possible. Work temperature was 120° to keep the tallow liquid.

That dun-colored sort of reddish stripe is actually Blue #1 and will flare brilliant purple by tomorrow.

Tallow_Soap_10.16.2017_3.jpg



That looks awesome. Nicely done. I’m so jealous, I haven’t made soap since July. So want to and need to but life has gotten in the way. Can’t wait to see it when done. [emoji1303]
 
Soap For Me

:)
After all the soapmaking for the holidays, I decided to make a batch just for me. I made a shea-heavy soap scented with gardenia and used Mad Micas Hot Man Tin Roof, Guava Lava, and Snow White. I even dusted the top with some copper. It made me very happy and now I can't wait for tomorrow to see it cut. Soaping is my therapy
:bath1:
 
Made 32 bottles of Essential Lotion for my wholesale customer -- scented with 6 essential oils known to be anti-inflammatory and soothing for pain relief from arthritis and fibromyalgia. I love making it because the scent is very nice, not medicinal at all, and I know it may help the customers that buy it. It's a good seller for us.
 
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