What soapy thing have you done today?

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Over the weekend: Made my entry for the monthly challenge. Bought shea butter, new gloves, a better tripod, freezer paper, and a light to get better pictures/video. Non soapy stuff: painting at the rental house because the rain held off until Sunday afternoon.

This week: I have three soap batches to get made. Working on plans to reorganize the soap lab, and getting rid of unused inventory (I mean it this time!). Reorganizing the display and the soap stock boxes so it makes more sense. I have three soapmaking videos to edit and post yet. I have a show on Saturday, my last one for the summer, then I am taking a much needed break from shows until October! The kids start school on Thursday, so I am considering taking Friday off so that I can properly enjoy having the house to myself.
 
Did three small 100% CO oil batches testing out some fragrances and making bars to practice stamping on...whew the ones in the small mold are gelling! I have to remember to do reviews because that FO is a huge heater!
 
Cut yesterday’s batches of HO and Beekeepers friend. I add pumice, ground apricot seed, tea tree and lemongrass to the BF so it’s one of my more complex bars but I have some mechanic friends who are requesting it. Spent some time trying to come up with designs and names for my fall/winter soaps. One is a wintery blend of fir and mint with a hint of cinnamon. I’m thinking Alpine Forest and the other one with be red/orange swirl with orange and cranberry and I have no idea what to call it. The last one is hot cocoa so I’ll just call it Hot Cocoa :) I don’t like holiday related names because come January, you’re stuck with those bars.
 
I made three batches (2lb) tonight with a new recipe. I like 100% coconut, but I wanted a bar that would last longer, so I did 85% coconut, 15% Shea butter, with a 15% superfat. I don't know it this will actually make it last longer, but I like shea butter in soap. I've been changing that water in soapcalc from 38 to 33 for my other recipes, so I did that with this one too. My 100% coconut would harden enough to cut in 4 or 5 hours (Hot Process, by the way), so I thought this would be the same. Nope, after about an hour and a half, they were almost too hard to cut. The second one was still hot (not warm, hot) to the touch. The third batch, I used more water, and just molded it, we'll see. First was vanilla hazelnut mixed with a mocha fragrance I've had forever, I'm gonna call it Hazelnut Latte, second was Strawberry, third Blueberry Lemon Verbena. I'll take pictures after the last one is cut.
 
20180820_224059.jpg

Three soaps, made tonight, all unmolded in less than 3 hours from "pour" (glop? Lol, hot process).

Blueberry Lemon Verbena
Hazelnut Latte
Strawberry
 
I did some prep work today. Went down the street for a forage and picked some fresh mint and nettle. Went home and dried them, ready for soaps.
Also infused some paprika in my oil for some natural coloring. Made my red wine soap and it's in the freezer till tomorrow! Phew....
 
Just masterbatched some lye and mixed up some more EDTA solution. Turns out I can make exactly 8 batches of my soap recipe from 2lbs of lye!! Mixing lye water is by far my least favorite part of soaping, so it'll be very nice to just have it ready to go whenever I get a whim. I've got lots of new FOs to try out and some EOs on the way!
 
Made Lilac Citrus AV soap last night. I was going to make a video for it, but the soap lab was hot and I was crabby, so decided not to. Over lunch today I unmolded my challenge soap. Not impressed with how they turned out (the ITPS that I did when I got bored turned out great though!), but I'm not patient enough to try this technique again so they will be my entry. Also unmolded the Lilac Citrus although it was too soft to cut. I love the way one of the colors morphs from a pink color to orange during saponification, it's one of my favorite colors to use.

Tonight I want to take a stab at the peach poppies soap that was such a flop two weeks ago, but I am exhausted. I may leave work today at three and sleep until tomorrow. Or maybe I'll just do the easy custom order Sandalwood batch tonight (if I'm not sleeping) because that FO doesn't give me any troubles and it's an easy two color soap. Sleeping still sounds like the better idea.
 
Yesterday I made a batch of peppermint stick soap. I'm also testing a new red mica. This morning I made a second batch, changing the mica mix a little. Everything went perfectly...it behaved so well and I think it will be a pretty swirl. And then I saw it - my FO all measured out and sitting right there. The lovely peppermint I was smelling while I was making the soap was from yesterday's batch. I don't think I've ever forgotten to add the FO. I was ready to dump it back into the mixing bowl, but decided not to since I do want to see the color. I guess I know what I'll be making tomorrow.
 
cmzaha said:
:thumbs: They all look very nice. I am one that does not mind the rustic look of hp when I have to do hp.
No soaping again for me. Market tomorrow so I can at least sell soap :D
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'm one of those weirdos who prefers the look. I like the rustic bars, and the whole process so much better than CP.

Off to make more, I think I'll do an activated charcoal soap. Haven't done that yet, because I couldn't figure out how I'd scent it. But I recently used tea tree and spearmint together in a homemade deodorant and think the combo will be perfect. I'll probably make a Blood Orange soap too, that one sells out fast.
 
Not today, but on Saturday or was it Sunday? I am losing track of the days.... My plan to gather more Bonneville Salt Flats salt in Utah was aborted. I almost didn't stop because of the heat in my car, but the parking is covered and shady, so I did stop. But on the South side of the freeway, the salt is far too dirty and after a bit of a stroll and hammering the surface to check for viability of this salt, I rejected it all.

The massive amount of Salt Flats on the North side of the freeway is far better and really easy to obtain pretty darn clean salt without much effort at all. So next time I head West, I'll make sure to stop and gather some again.
 
I made a batch using a new recipe... and i forgot to add the olive oil. I dont know how, i just did. So i colored it, scented it and molded it... and i wondered why the mold was kinda... empty. Didnt think much about it, started cleaning up, did the dished, started putting stuff away (all this i do to see how the soaps behaves, if its gonna gel easily i dont cover it, it is looks like it will but not fully i cover it, if it looks like it just wont i let it be), so as I was waiting for that and putting a ton of small bottles of almond and castor oil away, i remebered i wanted to empty somo of those smaller containers in to one big one that had olive oil... yep. Olive oil that i forgot to put in to the batch. So... i got the olive oil out, meassured it and dumped my (just “meh” swirl) in to a container and added the missing olive oil. The good news is that it looked like the batter was absorbing the oil and it was getting combined. The bad news is that, as much as the FO behaved while making the soap, since it was already sitting there, it made some clups that i couldnt break while stearing. I dumped everything back in to the mold and covered it in hopes it will gell and gets everything back together. Its gonna be an “interesting” soap.

At least the FO smels very good.

Note to self: dont forget the olive oil...
 
I think we all do that at some point. Just a bit ago, I made batch. I planned to scent it with "apple orchard" from WSP. I figured red and green for the apples and trees, and I wanted it to have a distinct "fall" theme. So I thought I'd call it "autumn apple" or "autumn harvest" or something like that. I mixed it all up did a nice in the pot swirl and saw the Christmas soap it became. I quickly tried to scoop out some white batter that remained, and mixed it with some orange mica. Managed to incorporate that in a non hideous manner. Then I saw the fragrance oil sitting in its little cup, all by itself. Said some swear words. Dumped it back in the pot, mixed it in. Now have some very ugly soap with vague fall colors. I also don't really like the smell, but my sister says I can't name it "Autumn Vomit"
 
Well I was not up at THAT time but I had a few notifications this morning.

I have a couple batches to make today, oils/lye done yesterday so just need to get my arse in gear here
 
Made Sandalwood soap last night. Cut the lilac citrus soap. Oldest son came in to visit and scout for a new soap for his shower because I STILL haven't made a new batch of DB. He thought the lilac citrus smelled "revolting" hahaha, I don't think I'll mention that to my customer (or maybe I will, she'll think it's funny). I packaged up some soap, tinkered with a new label idea (again! ugh. Why can't I just pick one label and stick with it??). Tonight will be night off from soapmaking due to church meeting. Thursday I will probably attack the peach poppy soap.
 

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