What soapy thing have you done today?

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Taught a friend to soap the other day. I had her mix the colors and fragrances and I did the actual soapy part. The first one has a creepy comic-book villain face in the drop swirls, and the Taiwan swirl I’m calling licorice Allsorts meets March of the penguins.

The micas really faded. The green and yellow were absolutely neon to start. Same yellow in the second batch. I added oil I steeped with indigo to pink mica, which I think helped the pink stay vibrant. Holly of Kapia Mera has a video on getting a pretty pink from indigo.
Those are so cool!
 
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Got hooked by the WSP sale. Really didn’t want to miss that deal on a couple of FO I wanted. I love their Vetyver! Have a daunting pile of dishes to do from my big batch of goat milk and honey soap. But I also have a ton of bath bombs ready to airbrush, which sounds way more fun!


Airbrushing Bath Bombs??!! Way too cool! I just started (trying) to make them. I've had success but the decorating part is something totally new to me!
 
Against my better judgement, I agreed to make more thin blue line soap for someone who wants to purchase 30 bars. I'm having such a hard time with the straight lines the way I am currently doing it, so I am going to try it differently this weekend. I'm going to make 3 totally separate batches, one for each line. Then pour the first layer and let it set up before I mix the lye into the oils for the second layer, and then the same for the third layer. We'll see how it goes.
 
Against my better judgement, I agreed to make more thin blue line soap for someone who wants to purchase 30 bars. I'm having such a hard time with the straight lines the way I am currently doing it, so I am going to try it differently this weekend. I'm going to make 3 totally separate batches, one for each line. Then pour the first layer and let it set up before I mix the lye into the oils for the second layer, and then the same for the third layer. We'll see how it goes.
That is how I do my layer soaps. It makes it so much easier to make separate little batches.
 
I have been stalking Kevin Dunn on YouTube. He's got a fair point about solvents for soap titrations (like to detect excess lye, or SAP determination). They just don't work well in water. I will now redo my MCT titration in alcohol, and be it only to find out if my test soaps are lye-heavy due to inappropriate choice of solvent 😑.
 
I soaped today for the first time in around 2 months. This is English Rose, especially for my mom and grandma. There's a pink layer on the bottom with an ITP swirl on top.

I just love wet soap tops!
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I forced myself to make soap this evening. I really didn’t feel like it after I got my soap cart all cleaned up, but I didn’t want another weekend to go by without making soap.

I had four planned, but only got three done and I’m okay with that.

The first one was a Confetti Soap…I used the soap from the Rainbow Soaps I made last year for one of the Challenges. I kept the calculations simple…I weighed the ‘confetti’ and then subtracted it from my total batch weight and the adjusted via SoapCalc. I added a regular amount of FO since the previous soap was unscented, brought it to emulsion, dumped the confetti in and stirred it. It was looking a little yucky, then I remembered I need to add some TD. Looked much better and I poured it.

Next was a new FO test…Kentucky Bourbon from BB. Typical when I test an new FO, no colorant is added to check any discoloration regardless of what the review says. It smells really nice.

Last was was a couple of new things…first time using a column mold and I decided to try a Lollipop Swirl since I was making my 1920s Barbershop with red, white and blue. It was…interesting. I wasn’t using my Regular recipe as this was a special order for someone who is allergic to Cocoa and Shea Butters and I’m a bit out of practice so my batter was thicker than it probably should have been. I was a little uneven in my pour so I had a little more blue at the end and I was a bit short on batter since I didn’t reach the top. But it should be okay…hopefully.

I have most of the oils prepared for the fourth soap…the Red Palm Oil test. I measured out all the oil/butters except for the Palm Oil. Tomorrow I will melt the Oils/Butters and divide into cups. I will then add the appropriate amount of Palm Oil/Red Palm Oil, followed with Lye Solution, then blend and pour.

I then wash up everything…fairly easy since I clean as I go. It felt nice.
 
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The Gecko
Great descriptions, don't blame you if you don't but from the descriptions, I would like to see the end result. Don't get me wrong, I always have plans to take pictures when I get into my bees but then decide it is too much work after I am in them.
Cheers
gww
 
Great descriptions, don't blame you if you don't but from the descriptions, I would like to see the end result. Don't get me wrong, I always have plans to take pictures when I get into my bees but then decide it is too much work after I am in them.

I have a thread in the Photo area that I will add photos to after I unmold and cut. And per my usual, I will add similar descriptions and observations in case someone else is interested in trying the same.
 
My KOH-35 masterbatch was used up. I had made 35.07% last time, so that it's equivalent of 25% NaOH and I can just replace 1 part pure NaOH by 4 parts KOH-35. But I was unhappy with its viscosity. NaOH-50 masterbatch is thick, similar to glycerol, and easy to dose drop by drop; KOH-35 is runny like water.

So today, I've made “KOH-47” instead, that is 46.76% KOH, equivalent to 33.33% NaOH, i. e. a 1:3 ratio to pure NaOH. Just to find out that it is just as runny as the KOH-35. The oily consistency of concentrated NaOH solutions apparently is something peculiar to sodium. (Of course someone had looked at this before.)
 
I messed up a batch of soap this morning. I needed to go to my office for about 15 minutes (I thought) and got stuck there for 2 hours. I had already measured my oils so I just quickly put together the rest of the batch as I had to leave at 2. I've been working on cooking HP a bit less.

This one isn't zappy, but it seems too oily. It was weeping oil when I cut it- which I've had happen with CP but never HP. I don't love the FO either. If it doesn't look miraculously better in the morning, it may end up in the trash....
 
Let me second the curiosity about airbrushing bath bombs. How does one do that? What do the results look like?
Had company and went crabbing all weekend. Got to airbrushing bath bombs today. I doubt my video will upload, but they performed really great on their tub test!
These are scented with Maiden Rose from NS and I love it!
Tomorrow more airbrushing and another attempt at the “shower bomb” recipe I bought. I love the formula! But I hope to get them to hold their shape better. The mix fizzes, foams, and turns into a gel! And it can be used straight on the skin in the shower!! Recipes from Bath Fizz and Foam.
 

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