For some of us, we were lured in by our children!!!! Then they come over and want to make soap using all our ingredients…..and we say, Yes, of course! How many batches would you like to make????
What soapy thing have you done today?
- Thread starter FlybyStardancer
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I made TWO batches of soap. I know for many of you that’s just a slow day. For me it’s huge. 
The first was an attempt to create glycerine rivers in a coffee soap. Not sure how it will turn out, should be able to unmold and cut it tomorrow. 
If nothing else, I can always use more coffee soap. Second batch is salt soap using a recipe that @Obsidian kindly shared. I have made this recipe several times and love it.
The first was an attempt to create glycerine rivers in a coffee soap. Not sure how it will turn out, should be able to unmold and cut it tomorrow. If nothing else, I can always use more coffee soap. Second batch is salt soap using a recipe that @Obsidian kindly shared. I have made this recipe several times and love it.
Wow that's super cool. Nice!!!
I cut some embeds today and cut my Pinetar soap just a moment ago lol now off to bed. If you'd like to see my Pinetar soap its posted now on my gallery.
She’s plenty capable of finding hobbies/addictions on her own, so I may as well enjoy her talents! She’s an art major working on her masters. Pretty sure crafting is a family tradition! My grandmother taught me to cook and bake. I’ve been hopeless for years.
I like your tag line and I’d like to put it on a t-shirt for myself!
Truth!!! I let her take half the batch unless she wants to come over and just make stuff for herself and her friends. “Okay baby, momma loves you, have fun!”
That is so cool and I love your duckies!
Got back home a week ago from my 'holiday' & have been working every night on graphic design of my product labels....soaps of course, but also lip butters, solid body butters, non-toxic deodorants, toothpaste, solid perfumes etc. On top of my regular job. Thank god everything I do is from home! Can't wait util label design is something I can set aside for a while. Test prints being done this week using an independent local business as I like to support as many local businesses as possible. If we don't, they will all disappear, god forbid.
Thought I would be able to work evenings doing this while visiting with my granddaughter, but it quickly became apparent that this was not a good plan if I intended on sleeping at all It was an amazing visit, and a very good personal reset for me as I rarely stop working on something. Time to make some life changes 
Picked up more clients along my travels as well, independent business owners, which is what I intend on staying with for the moment. Had a lot of opportunities to see the products being sold in larger stores & was not impressed. I do a lot of research, and some purchasing, of other people's products to critically compare to my own (there is always room for improvement). 'Handmade' (whatever this means anymore), poorly packaged, terrible marketing, stearic spots galore, many ingredients I would never use, most on store shelves which don't comply with labeling laws....I am disappointed seeing so many makers turning out so many substandard products, for the sake of sales. Yes, sales are important, but quality control, and overall product quality /efficacy is paramount in my world. This has been a good reminder for me as to why I choose to sell as I do, and why I choose the independent business owners I do.
Back to label designing
Thought I would be able to work evenings doing this while visiting with my granddaughter, but it quickly became apparent that this was not a good plan if I intended on sleeping at all
It was an amazing visit, and a very good personal reset for me as I rarely stop working on something. Time to make some life changes Picked up more clients along my travels as well, independent business owners, which is what I intend on staying with for the moment. Had a lot of opportunities to see the products being sold in larger stores & was not impressed. I do a lot of research, and some purchasing, of other people's products to critically compare to my own (there is always room for improvement). 'Handmade' (whatever this means anymore), poorly packaged, terrible marketing, stearic spots galore, many ingredients I would never use, most on store shelves which don't comply with labeling laws....I am disappointed seeing so many makers turning out so many substandard products, for the sake of sales. Yes, sales are important, but quality control, and overall product quality /efficacy is paramount in my world. This has been a good reminder for me as to why I choose to sell as I do, and why I choose the independent business owners I do.
Back to label designing
How exciting!! Love your work and business ethic!
sweethavenarts
Well-Known Member
I've been rendering and purifying tallow today. I picked up some suet from my local butcher. I'm excited to have some local tallow in my soaps. Remind me to never pick up from the butcher on the weekend again. I live outside a tourist town and the butcher is on the other end of town from me and I had to drive through all the tourist traffic to get there. It was Not Fun.
Yeeeehawwww....sold my first 100 bars of soap this afternoon after dropping off my stacks of product labels for test prints 
And now I need to get myself working at my cauldron making many more batches of soap, quickly, because things are ramping up very fast. I well remember this from the 90s and am kinda crapping my pants....but in the best way possible 
I actually was discussing how many bars one of my local shops needed initially when one of my neighbours walked in & asked if they could buy some of the samples I had brought with me, right then and there, and then ordered another 10 for next weekend.
This next week will be me pouring a lot of solid products, as well as labeling everything, transporting my products to stores, tweaking my product displays, and making a whole lot of soap. Need some signage too! Thank god I finished designing my graphics! Gotta love local businesses which come through for other local businesses when you need them And this is why I am sticking with independently owned community businesses for the time being. Because we all work together, for the good of us all. This entire circle of people rock 
coming together, and we all benefit.
I even got myself a new outfit for wearing when visiting shops / buyers / dropping off product orders, with several more to be purchased, at another independently owned community store...of course! I am so grateful to live in the community I do 
I think I may need to call in Spiderman to help me out for the next few weeks
I wish everyone abundance & good energy with their businesses
I am super-stoked with what I am doing right now, and I wish that for everyone doing this. I sometimes get the feeling that many people are no longer enjoying what they are doing, which sucks, but we can all change that for ourselves.
It's an amazing feeling, watching things travel full circle & then come right back around
I still need to try this, just haven't had the time yet. Awesome to see someone else's experience with your recipe
And now I need to get myself working at my cauldron making many more batches of soap, quickly, because things are ramping up very fast. I well remember this from the 90s and am kinda crapping my pants....but in the best way possible I actually was discussing how many bars one of my local shops needed initially when one of my neighbours walked in & asked if they could buy some of the samples I had brought with me, right then and there, and then ordered another 10 for next weekend.
This next week will be me pouring a lot of solid products, as well as labeling everything, transporting my products to stores, tweaking my product displays, and making a whole lot of soap. Need some signage too! Thank god I finished designing my graphics! Gotta love local businesses which come through for other local businesses when you need them
And this is why I am sticking with independently owned community businesses for the time being. Because we all work together, for the good of us all. This entire circle of people rock coming together, and we all benefit.I even got myself a new outfit for wearing when visiting shops / buyers / dropping off product orders, with several more to be purchased, at another independently owned community store...of course!
I am so grateful to live in the community I do I think I may need to call in Spiderman to help me out for the next few weeks
I wish everyone abundance & good energy with their businesses
I am super-stoked with what I am doing right now, and I wish that for everyone doing this. I sometimes get the feeling that many people are no longer enjoying what they are doing, which sucks, but we can all change that for ourselves.
It's an amazing feeling, watching things travel full circle & then come right back around
Zany's No Slime Castile not only reduces the "slime" factor of OO soaps made the old-fashioned way but also cures faster! I make the 10% coconut, 5% castor and 85% OO variation for a cold-cream like lather that rinses off quickly leaving my face feeling smooth and clean and not tight at all. I start using it at the 2-week mark, although "the longer the cure the better the soap". The bar holds it shape down to the very last bit. I then press it into a new bar. No waste!
Watch this video to see how soon the 100% OO batch is ready to unmold and cut.
I still need to try this, just haven't had the time yet. Awesome to see someone else's experience with your recipe
These are genius! I’m going to try this for my stone soaps!
CONGRATULATIONS! How exciting!Yeeeehawwww....sold my first 100 bars of soap this afternoon after dropping off my stacks of product labels for test prints
Just home from a market - really nice small town market I did last year. I gave away my “pre-cycled” soaps - zero waste bars made from trimmings. They were a big hit, really helped to draw people to my booth. I had several people tell me that they had bought soap from me last year - I’m not a whiz at face recognition - but I had identical twin men who seem to be always together come and show me the soap they had made. They are quirky and memorable, so I was glad to see them, and it was so cute that they brought their soap just to show me.
Precycled soap example below.
Precycled soap example below.
I had a request for soap sans coconut oil so I made 100% tallow and also made a batch of ZNSB using goat milk powder, 10% PKO instead of 10% CO, and 5% castor. I’m also exploring some new-to-me FOs and the house smells really good today. Two thumbs up for Fragrance Buddy’s Citrus Splash if it sticks. I also finally reordered Green Tea from MMS. It may be my most favorite FO even though it fades a bit.
That’s my good friend’s very favorite soap. I make her a loaf of it every six months or so. I am generally not a huge fan of high OO soaps, but have to admit that this one is quite nice. Curious to hear what you think about it!
I am getting ready to make some 100% tallow for a custom order - if you don’t mind my asking, did you use all NaOH? And (again IYDMMA) what was your superfat?
This might be better for a new thread so people can help you in depth. Make sure to post your entire recipe, even the lye + water amounts you used.
I should have mentioned “inspired by @AliOop” because I went looking specifically for your GM version. I went back and forth on increasing the pko to 15% based on your recipe, but decided to stick with 10% because I’ve already established the 10% CO version in my lineup and it has fans.
I used 90% NaOH + 10% KOH, 1% raw sugar, 1.5% sodium citrate, 3% superfat. I went back and forth on 2% vs. 3% and settled on 3% since it’s the first batch of a new-to-me recipe.
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Okay, thank you!
@Mobjack Bay with the GM, castor, and sugar, the bubbles should be lovely. I also add sodium citrate since my friend has hard water.
Servant4Christ
Well-Known Member
Out of curiosity, what kind of pko are you using? I'm finding refined, unrefined, and flakes (made with soy). I've read that pko is less stripping than coconut, so I'm thinking I should try it at some point.
I’m not a huge fan of Raspberry and Vanilla fragrance oils. They’re kinda meh. So I combined Blueberry Thyme from BB and NS’s BRV and it smells lovely. Not as meh.
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