What soapy thing have you done today?

[earlene]

I honestly had no idea you could get prescription goggles. Gonna have to look into that. I wonder if i could get progressives

Yes, you can get progressives. Also bi-focals. However, they aren't goggles; they are safety glasses. There is a difference. Googles have a facial seal, whereas safety glasses do not.

Soapy stuff so far today: I cleared my work table so I can make soap. But I have to go get an EKG done first, then I'll get started.

 

[violets2217]

Made another big batch of soap last night and finished up a couple of my “primitive” wire cutters. I made one to cut my slab mold into loafs and one to cut my bars 1 1/4 inch thick. So now my bars can be 3/4, 1 or 1 1/4 inch wide. This morning I couldn’t wait to cut my slab of aloe soap! It definitely heated up last night and fully gelled... it bubbled up a bit in the middle, but It smells so good! I used coconut lime verbena. But I just wanted to try out my loaf cutter!

 

[The_Phoenix]

Waiting on supplies. I found a supplier for local cocoa butter that isn't more expensive than the imported one so I'm so happy about that. Really been looking for local alternatives to everything, or at least most of it.

I'm also waiting for my Pandan boxes to be delivered. If y'all don't wanna Google, here's what the supplier sent me. They're a small family run business, with him and a cousin and his mom working on my order.
View attachment 51287
Pounding the leaves to make em soft
View attachment 51288
Hanging to dry
View attachment 51289
Making the boxes
View attachment 51286
Part of my order

I'm excited to receive these as they will house my Christmas gift bundles

I'm also testing rice bran wax to replace my beeswax. If I like it I'll offer both, coz several people have asked me for vegan lotion bars. Thing is, none of the vegan waxes (in the same price range of my beeswax) has all the benefits, and none are produced locally. So in not really sure I want to sell em, but then SO is vegan and he's coming home soon (yey!) and he'll need em so I will be making them regardless.

I keep meaning to respond to your post. I've also been experimenting with rice bran wax in my lotion bars to help increase the melting point a bit. I use 75% beeswax and 25% rice bran wax. So far, I like it. I use a 1:1:1 ration of oils, butters, and wax. I think if I were to use 100% rice bran wax, I'd need to bump the ration of wax down a bit and compensate with either an oil or butter because it would take a LOT more effort to generate enough friction to build heat to get the product to melt onto the skin.

 

[MarinaB]

My fall time soap.

My the most complicated soap with 6 oils and butters, aloe vera juice.

Cut one batch. Poured another. First time using aloe juice for the liquid. Excited to see how it changes the properties. I LOVE soaping with lard. The batter is always so beautifully fluid and I adore soaping with it. Bought tallow but haven’t come up with a recipe yet.

Love using tallow. I melted beef fat myself.

 

[CatahoulaBubble]

Made another batch of my bastille soap using the 50% water discount. I'm really liking the water discount batches. I've never done one so steep before but since my bastille soaps are nothing fancy and just use the bubble wrap for a honey comb topping I don't have to worry about acceleration. I always find I have to stick blend the crap out of it anyway to get it to a medium trace so the water discount aids in that manner too. And not to mention the batch I made last night I was able to unmold this morning. Usually my bastille soaps have to sit in their mold for a week before I can unmold them. Harder bars and faster set up is a plus for this recipe. These are smaller than my usual batches. It only makes 9 bars at a time so I usually make 4-5 just to keep inventory in stock but waiting a week between each batch is quite annoying. I only have one specific mold that I use for these because of the way I like to cut the bars. Being able to unmold the next day means it only takes a week to get my normal quantity. I cant' wait to see if the cure time is reduced. My Bastille bars usually take 12/14 weeks to cure.

 

[TashaBird]

It’s going to be a lot of labeling packaging next week!
(going to chase turkeys this weekend!)
Gave my label guy, aka DH, my list of label info.

 

[RevolutionSoap]

I watched way to many Soaping videos on YouTube. And when I told my wife I should make drunk soaping videos she shot me down lol.

 

[Catscankim]

I watched way to many Soaping videos on YouTube. And when I told my wife I should make drunk soaping videos she shot me down lol.

Ever watch Drunk History?? THAT is some funny stuff there lol

 

[TashaBird]

I watched way to many Soaping videos on YouTube. And when I told my wife I should make drunk soaping videos she shot me down lol.

After several attempts I decided to avoid SUI. (Soaping under the influence.) Mostly because I almost always forgot something!

 

[Zing]

The only soapy thing I did was test various essential oil blends. Gotta request to use tea tree which I don't really like, too medicine-y/camphorous so I'm trying it out with black pepper, cinnamon leaf (yes, I'll be careful and conservative), lavender, rosemary.

 

[Kari Howie]

Tralala!


Aaaaarrrrrrggggghhhhhh!

I’m embarrassed to admit that the above catastrophe, characterized by concrete stuck in a pot in one pic and soap on a stick that was hand-mashed into a mold, represents my mathematically dyslexic attempt at a ghost swirl. Of course neither is even fit for laundry detergent. Today, when I went back to Auntie Clara’s articles, the only way I could come up with her same recipe was if I used an 8% SF. I usually do 5%.

 

[toomanydogs]

Made a batch of my rice milk soap, put labels on some balm bars, and stamped a batch of coconut milk soap. My holiday soaps didn't turn out great, but my late winter/early spring soaps are going to be killer.

 

[Ladka]

Turned each bar of the latest four batches upside down so they dry (and get ash ) uniformly.

 

[Basil]

@Dawni hope you’re doing ok there! And yes, spirulina turns brown in my soap too one month later...checking soap today.

 

[earlene]

Opened my order from makeyourown today. Now I need to make a luxurious soap with mango butter. I've only used it in very small amounts before, and may still, but I have enough to try at least one batch of higher percentage to see how it feels. Plus the DIY vanilla stablizer ingredients came in the order along with a couple other butters that were also on sale.

 

[The_Phoenix]

On day two of a mental health day off from soaping. Super crazy bummed that my parents have decided to stay put (they live north of Phoenix and we are in SoCal) out of an abundance of caution. I'm more sad for my mom because I know how hard it is going to be on her to not be with her family for the holidays. For that reason, just not in the mood to be creative today.

 

[CatahoulaBubble]

Printed labels and wrapped soap. My least favorite part of soap making. I'm rather disappointed in my shrink wrap skills. It takes way too much time and I make too many errors. Plus I was supposed to get the perforated shrink wrap and ended up with the non-perforated so I end up with pillowing and then have to carefully make a hole without destroying my wrapping. I really need to scour some forests for some wrapping fairies to help me wrap and label my soap. The dogs are no help at all.

 

[Jersey Girl]

Made a few soaps with the guys in mind.
Mahogany Teakwood ( I’m really loving this fragrance @cmzaha ) This is the first time I’ve done a drop swirl. Could use some improvement but I’m happy with it for a first.

Rosemary Mint
Deadly Weapon

 

[earlene]

I'm rather disappointed in my shrink wrap skills. It takes way too much time and I make too many errors. Plus I was supposed to get the perforated shrink wrap and ended up with the non-perforated so I end up with pillowing and then have to carefully make a hole without destroying my wrapping.

It improves with practice.

Maybe you could get something like this to make perforations prior to packaging:

https://www.amazon.com/Perfect-Leat...KIH5E?ref_=ws_cp_69fe08e517a759a5b6dd_p_3_t_p

Made a few soaps with the guys in mind.
Mahogany Teakwood ( I’m really loving this fragrance @cmzaha )

Yes, I also love Mahogany Teakwood. It's a fabulous scent. Beautiful soaps!

 

[Rsapienza]

Thanks! I like to make loaves with various things that I’m practicing. They’re usually pretty enough, and makes it more worth the effort. I can’t wait to pipe a bunch!!!

They're Russian piping tips, I believe. If you search that on YouTube, there will be a few videos.