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I, to no one's surprise, have rushed the reveal on yesterday's soap (hey, at least I haven't unmolded and dented everything...). Here are pix of three of the batches (sorry for the poor lighting, these were taken on my workbench with old school florescent lights).
Okay... the oval bar is my first Borax & Pumice try, based on the ‘Borax Handmade Soap Recipe’ at Borax Soap Recipe | Soap Recipes 101
I added a little cedarwood EO to counter the tallow scent (my staff perfumer hasn't prepped the oakmoss yet!
). I'm pleased with the bar, less pleased with the apparently mandatory cat hair. This is a really nice looking bar, and if it works as good as it looks, might be a standard for me. I'm going to try a version with lard instead of tallow, as lard is cheaper and more easily available (and doesn't have the fatty smell that the first tallow I bought has). I added a little castor oil out of habit, but this one might not need it for bubbles.
This is one of the two experimental 8% honey batches (the other is still too soft to unmold). This is the re-do of the 'hockey puck' recipe, with the stearic acid replaced with avocado oil. The discoloring is still there, which makes me think that it's the honey. This batch has no almond oil and no beeswax, the other two possible suspects. I gave it a good stick-blend just before the pour, so I don't think it's a lack of blending. You can see the batter was stiffening up, thus the folding gap on the side of this sample bar. It will be interesting to see what the other version looks like. I may just not be able to use this honey, or I might have to give up on honey soap! (or I might need to add some colorant to hide whatever-this is.)
Here's the recipe for the curious. The water:lye ratio is 2:1.
-=-
Next up is my third batch of the 72% pomace with madder root. I split the water amount between the original (too soft) and the previous one, which seemed brittle. I think this might be the sweet spot, at 1.9:1. Sadly, I ran out of the yummy Bramble Berry scent, so this one has half of another scent. Only time will tell if the combination works. I still only had 7 of the 9 cubes full, so I have to fiddle with my arithmetic a bit more. I think this is going to be a standard for me, depending on what my testers think of it. My first batch, from July 4, is about ready for me to start home testing. This is a very basic/standard recipe, so it should be okay.
Recipe for the 72% cubes (I jokingly call this ‘Savon du Bon Père Chat’ [Soap of the Good Cat Father*] because my wife refers to me as Cat Dad)
-=-
I've got to find a way to leave soap alone. I'm serious, it's like I'm eight years old, not sixty-three. Anyway, this is the slightly mangled other honey batch I made yesterday. another 8%; this one doesn't seem to have the strange color issues, but I'll only know for sure once I cut it.
-=-
Edited to fix punctuation.
*I used Google translate, so my apologies to the native French speakers for the mangling.
Okay... the oval bar is my first Borax & Pumice try, based on the ‘Borax Handmade Soap Recipe’ at Borax Soap Recipe | Soap Recipes 101
I added a little cedarwood EO to counter the tallow scent (my staff perfumer hasn't prepped the oakmoss yet!
). I'm pleased with the bar, less pleased with the apparently mandatory cat hair. This is a really nice looking bar, and if it works as good as it looks, might be a standard for me. I'm going to try a version with lard instead of tallow, as lard is cheaper and more easily available (and doesn't have the fatty smell that the first tallow I bought has). I added a little castor oil out of habit, but this one might not need it for bubbles.
This is one of the two experimental 8% honey batches (the other is still too soft to unmold). This is the re-do of the 'hockey puck' recipe, with the stearic acid replaced with avocado oil. The discoloring is still there, which makes me think that it's the honey. This batch has no almond oil and no beeswax, the other two possible suspects. I gave it a good stick-blend just before the pour, so I don't think it's a lack of blending. You can see the batter was stiffening up, thus the folding gap on the side of this sample bar. It will be interesting to see what the other version looks like. I may just not be able to use this honey, or I might have to give up on honey soap! (or I might need to add some colorant to hide whatever-this is.)
Here's the recipe for the curious. The water:lye ratio is 2:1.
| Component | % | Grams |
| Avocado Oil | 40 | 200 |
| Cocoa Butter | 10 | 50 |
| Coconut Oil | 10 | 50 |
| Mango Butter | 10 | 50 |
| Palm Kernel Oil Flakes | 20 | 100 |
| Shea Butter | 10 | 50 |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| Total oils: (500) | |
| Honey | | 40 |
| Faux Seawater | | 147 |
| Lye | | 73 |
| Honey FO | | 20 |
Next up is my third batch of the 72% pomace with madder root. I split the water amount between the original (too soft) and the previous one, which seemed brittle. I think this might be the sweet spot, at 1.9:1. Sadly, I ran out of the yummy Bramble Berry scent, so this one has half of another scent. Only time will tell if the combination works. I still only had 7 of the 9 cubes full, so I have to fiddle with my arithmetic a bit more. I think this is going to be a standard for me, depending on what my testers think of it. My first batch, from July 4, is about ready for me to start home testing. This is a very basic/standard recipe, so it should be okay.
Recipe for the 72% cubes (I jokingly call this ‘Savon du Bon Père Chat’ [Soap of the Good Cat Father*] because my wife refers to me as Cat Dad)
| Component | % | Grams |
| Olive Oil-Pomace | 72 | 606 |
| Coconut Oil | 14 | 118 |
| Palm Oil | 14 | 118 |
| (842) | |
| Madder Root Powder | | 5 tbsp. |
| Bramble Berry FO | | 39 |
| | |
| Faux Sea Water | | 181 |
| Lye | | 106.5 |
-=-
I've got to find a way to leave soap alone. I'm serious, it's like I'm eight years old, not sixty-three. Anyway, this is the slightly mangled other honey batch I made yesterday. another 8%; this one doesn't seem to have the strange color issues, but I'll only know for sure once I cut it.
-=-
Edited to fix punctuation.
*I used Google translate, so my apologies to the native French speakers for the mangling.
Last edited:
But then, like your wife, I was a Dove user in my earlier years so I love the softer shapes, plus I have small hands 
The technique is called a swing swirl. It’s fairly new, I think, but there’s at least one video out there, from I Dream in Soap. You use dividers To make “stripes” that are perpendicular to the length of the mold, then you drag a hanger tool or other object through to create inverse designs in your soap.
