What soapy thing have you done today?

[Zing]

I made soap today! I'm perfecting my mechanics soap with help from, where else, this community! And, ooh, my inventory guy is soooo lucky! I had probably one teaspoon of lye left in the container for tonight's batch! It was just a little stressful keeping the dissolved borax and the beeswax hot enough. I added beeswax from my beekeeper son.

Sensitive bits very tingly?

And the problem is what now?!

 

[Misschief]

Hi all!
Haven't been here for a while - the activities of daily loving took over and curbed my enthusiasm to make soap.

Another case of TMI???

 

[Benjifrazer]

My mount fuji scraped layer soap

 

[Vicki C]

View attachment 75233

My mount fuji scraped layer soap

Wow… this is so precise and detailed. Just amazing.

 

[soapysarah]

What soapy thing did I do today? It has been nearly a year since I made any CP soap and with present season coming I thought that I’d make a batch; used to be no problem. I doubled my recipe but forgot that I had doubled the EOs already- doh. So I have some rather lumpy soap. I will, of course, re-batch. I am tempted to just add enough Lye and water to take up the excess EOs rather than make another batch without EOs and blends the two. The kitchen smells lovely, though. What would you do? Thanks.

View attachment 75233

My mount fuji scraped layer soap

Wow, that’s clever. I can’t be bothered and just use a tub and cut into squares.

 

[Benjifrazer]

What soapy thing did I do today? It has been nearly a year since I made any CP soap and with present season coming I thought that I’d make a batch; used to be no problem. I doubled my recipe but forgot that I had doubled the EOs already- doh. So I have some rather lumpy soap. I will, of course, re-batch. I am tempted to just add enough Lye and water to take up the excess EOs rather than make another batch without EOs and blends the two. The kitchen smells lovely, though. What would you do? Thanks.

Essential oils wont react with the lye as they are not fatty acid oils - so you would essentially consume your superfat

 

[AliOop]

What soapy thing did I do today? It has been nearly a year since I made any CP soap and with present season coming I thought that I’d make a batch; used to be no problem. I doubled my recipe but forgot that I had doubled the EOs already- doh. So I have some rather lumpy soap. I will, of course, re-batch. I am tempted to just add enough Lye and water to take up the excess EOs rather than make another batch without EOs and blends the two. The kitchen smells lovely, though. What would you do? Thanks.

As @Benjifrazer said, EOs aren’t going to be consumed by the lye. You can put the blend into EOCalc.com to check if the amount you actually used is skin-safe. If so, the soap is fine to be used as-is. If not, you can shred it and mix it in with a new unscented batch that is big enough to bring the scent load down to skin-safe levels.

 

[soapysarah]

As @Benjifrazer said, EOs aren’t going to be consumed by the lye. You can put the blend into EOCalc.com to check if the amount you actually used is skin-safe. If so, the soap is fine to be used as-is. If not, you can shred it and mix it in with a new unscented batch that is big enough to bring the scent load down to skin-safe levels.

Thank you.

 

[The_Emerald_Chicken]

My mount fuji scraped layer soap

Wow, I happened to see this soap ion the Soap Challenge Club site over the weekend when I was searching for inspiration for landscape soaps, and I absolutely loved it. @Benjifrazer Did you make multiple small batches for the different layers? I struggle to keep my soap batter fluid long enough when executing a complicated design.

 

[Benjifrazer]

Wow, I happened to see this soap ion the Soap Challenge Club site over the weekend when I was searching for inspiration for landscape soaps, and I absolutely loved it. @Benjifrazer Did you make multiple small batches for the different layers? I struggle to keep my soap batter fluid long enough when executing a complicated design.

Yes this is multiple batches - you need to soap cool however as this is scraped layers you do need it to set up to be able to scrape each layer

 

[The_Emerald_Chicken]

Yes this is multiple batches - you need to soap cool however as this is scraped layers you do need it to set up to be able to scrape each layer

How cool do you soap for this sort of design?

 

[not_ally]

Far greener than I meant it to be, but it's a keeper. Every time I do anything with colorants, I grow more impressed with you-all who have what seems to be total control over your soap colors!

@Jorah, I think that is a really pretty deep green. I am amazed by the people like @dibbles who seem to be able to foresee exactly how colors/shades/tones will come out. For me it is a bit of a crap shoot, but that is part of the fun of it. Or so I tell myself

@Benjifrazer and @Vicki C both of those landscapes are absolutely gorgeous.

 

[dibbles]

@not_ally I appreciate your comment, but rest assured most of the time my colors aren’t what I expect, and natural colors is a total crapshoot for me. It would help if I was good about taking notes, but I’m just not. It helps that I always disperse my micas in oil and add until I get the color I want. I’ve gotten pretty good at estimating how much I will need so there isn’t a lot of waste. And my philosophy is if the colors go together, then shades and tones of those colors will also work.

 

[Benjifrazer]

How cool do you soap for this sort of design?

I will soap at between 32-45°C (90-107.5°F) - but i will also keep the batter fluid enough to fill the gaps and wait fir the layer to set up enough to scrape.

 

[not_ally]

And my philosophy is if the colors go together, then shades and tones of those colors will also work.

I think that knowing what colors go together well is a skill in itself! I have gotten better at soapy coloring through lots of practice, and I try to plan pretty carefully. But for some people (I think you are one) it just seems more instinctual.

It seems like a lot of things in soapmaking are, I see people like Lisa/I Dream in Soap and Holly/Kapia Mera design their soaps and they just seem to know exactly what will happen before they do it, and to know exactly what is happening in the batter *as* they are doing it. I can copy them, but I don't have that internal vision. Sorry for woolgathering, I was just thinking about this today.

 

[Lorey]

View attachment 75233

My mount fuji scraped layer soap

Absoutely beautiful ...wow

 

[AliensrReal]

Ordered myself some sapphire blue glow in the dark powder from Mad Micas. I can’t wait to use it!

 

[Jorah]

This week I ordered 8 pounds of castor oil. Many of my oils, like coconut, I can get at local stores, but castor oil is not among them, and I know if I run out I will not be able to make most of my favorite recipes, so I'm laying in enough to get me through at least the next six-twelve months.

Since I was ordering from Bulk Apothecary anyway, I also ordered some five-fold lemon EO and some spruce EO.

Oh, and I started trying out my 6% honey soap in the shower for the first time, and it didn't make my skin hurt!! This is a big deal, because so far, only my pure lard and pure tallow bars haven't made my dry skin hurt, and I was starting to think they'd be my only go-to shower bars.* That would be fine, but they're not very interesting visually or olfactorily. If the honey soap works for me, I'll be happy.

*One of the surprises for me was to discover that my castile and bastille bars aggravate my eczema. After reading so much good about them in the earliest days of my research into soap making, I anticipated them being very gentle... you gentle folk on the SMF had a much harsher opinion about high-OO recipes, which I'm starting to come around to joining you on! I may give up OO entirely, or reduce the percentage a lot.
-=-
Second edit to add the recipe if anyone's interested (Adapted from Almond Facial Soap, p. 60, Smart Soapmaking by Ann Watson):

Component	Grams​
Almond Oil 63.5%	400​
Coconut Oil 23.8%	150​
Cocoa Butter 12.7	80​
Beeswax	20​
Honey	38​
Water	188.3​
Lye	94.1​
Salt	10​

 

[AliensrReal]

@Jorah I’m so glad you found another recipe you like. That’s why I love soap making. My handmade soap recipe has helped my eczema so much.

I’m trying a third soap recipe today. This one is more slow moving than my original. The second recipe I made I used a higher amount of Shea butter and I love that one too. I’m not sure if my friend will like this one as she loves high superfat soaps and I only did 3%.

 

[Zing]

This week I ordered 8 pounds of castor oil. Many of my oils, like coconut, I can get at local stores, but castor oil is not among them, and I know if I run out I will not be able to make most of my favorite recipes, so I'm laying in enough to get me through at least the next six-twelve months.

Since I was ordering from Bulk Apothecary anyway, I also ordered some five-fold lemon EO and some spruce EO.

Oh, and I started trying out my 6% honey soap in the shower for the first time, and it didn't make my skin hurt!! This is a big deal, because so far, only my pure lard and pure tallow bars haven't made my dry skin hurt, and I was starting to think they'd be my only go-to shower bars.* That would be fine, but they're not very interesting visually or olfactorily. If the honey soap works for me, I'll be happy.

*One of the surprises for me was to discover that my castile and bastille bars aggravate my eczema. After reading so much good about them in the earliest days of my research into soap making, I anticipated them being very gentle... you gentle folk on the SMF had a much harsher opinion about high-OO recipes, which I'm starting to come around to joining you on! I may give up OO entirely, or reduce the percentage a lot.
-=-
Second edit to add the recipe if anyone's interested (Adapted from Almond Facial Soap, p. 60, Smart Soapmaking by Ann Watson):

Component	Grams​
Almond Oil 63.5%	400​
Coconut Oil 23.8%	150​
Cocoa Butter 12.7	80​
Beeswax	20​
Honey	38​
Water	188.3​
Lye	94.1​
Salt	10​

Working with beeswax and honey is tricky, so props to you, man! That's a whole lotta castor oil. I find castor oil cheaper online but the local pharmacy carries it with other Mexican products with other laxative products, LOL, and the local Whole Foods Market.
I also got away from olive oil. For what it's worth, rice bran oil feels great on the skin, I use it in both soap and lotion bars.