What soapy thing have you done today?

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OK, @Zing wanna play "whose bathroom was pinker?"🤣 Here are some pics of my formerly pink bathroom in my former home. The tub, toilet, and sink were solid pink. The only surface not covered in mosaic tiles was the ceiling. It might have been cute, except the grout lines were all crooked, which made my brain scream when I walked in. The matching BLUE bathroom was upstairs.
@AliOop wins this one
 
I finally had the energy to make soap today, but only because our role play session this evening was cancelled and I already had leftovers planned for supper, so I could spend the energy I'd usually use for cooking to make soap. I'm pretty knackered now though!

I did 2 batches (as noted last time I was able to soap, half the energy is the pre-soap tidy of the kitchen, the soap prep and the clean up, so making 2 batches isn't double the energy). The first was a full size ~1kg total batch with lavender and cedarwood EO, added kaolin clay to try to anchor the scent. Base colour was a light pink, made with red mica blended with the clay into the oils, then I split the batter into 3 and added 2 shades of purple. Drop swirled them, then used mica in oil to do a fun swirl on the top, which I ruined when I tried to cover it with cling film. Doh. 🤦‍♀️

Smaller batch ~500g total weight I used a tester of Freshskin 'rock salt and driftwood' FO, which smells lovely. I used white mica and kaolin clay in the base oils, and a little "black" mica in the accent colour which was more a graphite grey than black, which suited my purposes as I wanted a grey. (I have AC if I want actual black.) I also added the remaining mica in oils straight into to the ITP swirl. I also ruined the swirl on the top of this one with cling film. Le sigh. Hopefully the inside will be pretty, at least.

Something I noticed in both batches was a little clumping during the pour. Not false trace I don't think, it was at a definite light trace and had sat for a few minutes when it happened. I suspect the clay - I think I should have hydrated it with water before I started, but adding it was slightly impulsive. Wasn't clumpy enough to ruin the swirls, I don't think.

I plan to thoroughly test the 3d printed stamp my friends made me recently, it's been frustrating to have it there and not be able to make soap for testing...

I'll post photos of the cut if they're presentable!
 
I put some bath gift sets together and got them listed on my Etsy shop site. They are in three scents: Lavender Woods & Honey, Eucalyptus Tea, and Madagascar Vanilla. They come with with two soaps (goat's milk & oatmeal), two fizzy bath truffles, and a bath loofah. It's fun putting these together and I'm happy with how they came out. I've got a craft show coming up on July 3rd and I'll put them out for sale then too.
 

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OK, @Zing wanna play "whose bathroom was pinker?"🤣 Here are some pics of my formerly pink bathroom in my former home. The tub, toilet, and sink were solid pink. The only surface not covered in mosaic tiles was the ceiling. It might have been cute, except the grout lines were all crooked, which made my brain scream when I walked in. The matching BLUE bathroom was upstairs.
I have no words...
 
I made soap! I've only made two other batches of soap since mid-May, and both were for the June challenge. I have some mango butter I need to start using up, and I've been wanting a Mango Sorbet soap so it was just meant to be. I'm hoping my layers are straight and it holds together at the mica lines. I guess I'll see tomorrow.
 
@AliOop - wait I do have words. Can we see the blue one too?!
Your request is granted, madam...I only have a partial pic so you can't see the blue tub that would be on the left side of the pic. Note how the tiles are a grey blue and the sink and toilet are more of a turquoise blue. 🤮 Great memories of throwing that tub out over the upstairs deck into the yard below. Wheeeee! Buh-bye!!
Bath upstairs original 2007.jpg
 
I've been building a light box. Cut out sides of a cardboard box, hot glued very think fabric over the holes, drape the inside with poster board, and bought two super inexpensive desk lamps from Walmart. Really hoping it works because the amount of effort I put into taking mediocre photos is silly. Will play around with it tomorrow.

Also made a batch of soap using a FO I've been too nervous to soap with because it's sooo lovely and I worried I might screw it up. It's OT's Sandalwood Rose and...oy...I think it's the most fantastic FO I've ever soaped with. Even my very finicky daughter, who will ONLY use the lavender EO soap I made forever ago, is smitte.n
 
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I actually loved the wacky house with all the colors... it was Pepto-Bismol pink outside, with lavender trim. While I did a lot to the inside, I never painted the outside till we were ready to move. Where else can you have a pink house, if not at the beach?
That sounds like a fun house. Is that the house you just moved out of?
 
That sounds like a fun house. Is that the house you just moved out of?
It was a very fun house - an 8-minute walk to the beach, and a killer view of the coastline. Bought it as a fixer in 2007, in a somewhat undiscovered town at that time. Did a ton of work on it and rode out the great recession before selling in 2013. It's now worth almost double what we sold it for back then. 😆 Ah well.
 
Here's yesterday's soap, all cut! I need to rinse or plane it once it's harder. Is there any way to plane soap without buying an actual soap planer?View attachment 58754
I have used my mandolin, if you have one. Its just unpredictable with how straight it comes out. I have also shaved very thin slices off with the wire cutter
 
My soapy thing today...

been a little while since i actually made soap. And by a while, i mean last week lol.

I am attempting a gm white lavender soap using the split method. A bit of kaolin clay and colloidal oatmeal. The trick for me is to get no air bubbles, because they show up horribly in my white soap.
 
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I tried out the rock tripe (lichen) infused ammonia using @DeeAnna ’s guidance for ammonia. The infusion is a beautiful deep red wine color - but - did not survive the lye. I’ll watch to see if it morphs into something else, but here is how it looked. Also, I am aware that some lichens cause contact dermatitis. Rock tripe is an edible lichen. These experiments are just for my knowledge. In any case, it didn’t work. 😐
Beautiful ammonia infusion:
681055D9-E0B2-4C85-9251-CA6A79C9B00C.jpeg
Soap in the mold a disappointing brown:
1D7398F1-4FC1-47BC-A590-E0E3A5202E44.jpeg
 
I've been building a light box. Cut out sides of a cardboard box, hot glued very think fabric over the holes, drape the inside with poster board, and bought two super inexpensive desk lamps from Walmart. Really hoping it works because the amount of effort I put into taking mediocre photos is silly. Will play around with it tomorrow.

Also made a batch of soap using a FO I've been too nervous to soap with because it's sooo lovely and I worried I might screw it up. It's OT's Sandalwood Rose and...oy...I think it's the most fantastic FO I've ever soaped with. Even my very finicky daughter, who will ONLY use the lavender EO soap I made forever ago, is smitte.n
Please share photos of your light box! Great idea. And is OT Oregon Trail? I haven’t bought from them before.
 
I melted up some palm stearin, and wondered why it appears to have some bluish tint to it. Not as if it was, but more like aerogel, Cherenkov radiation, or tonic water. Turns out that palm oil is UV fluorescent. Illuminated with a black light tube, the palm stearin tabs glow in a bright aqua-blue. My first suspicion was that the candle manufacturers added optical brighteners to the palm stearin to offset a yellowish tint (just like common with laundry detergents and paper).
Next test: regular RBD palm oil (with a yellowish tint to it, out of suspicion for added fluorescent dyes) – glows greenish-blue too!
palm_stearin_uv.jpg palm_oil_uv.jpg

Does this mean that soap with palm oil glows under UV light? YES!
uv_soap.jpg

Even better! This is my ZnO/TiO₂ lollipop swirl with 30% RBD palm oil. The swirl is hardly noticeable by eye, I had to increase the contrast on the left to make it visible at all. Its stripes without white pigment and those with the zinc white are glowing bright blue. But those stripes that happen to be brightest under normal light: the ones with TD: don't fluoresce – no surprise that TD and its legendary UV absorption is a common ingredient in sunscreens.

The test with unrefined red palm oil was inconclusive; but as obscenely orange as this stuff already is, I'd have been very surprised anyway.


Who else has their soap under suspicion to glow under disco lighting, bank note counterfeit detector, or face tanner?
 
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