Wow, tried this Euro salt recipe, love it!

[Hazel]

@ Saponista -

Those are gorgeous! I love the colors and you did a wonderful swirl. It makes me think of a tropical seascape.



Well, I did 25% salt (I just used table salt since it was an experiment) and not all the salt dissolved. Since I made extra, the salt at the bottom didn't come out when I poured what I needed for the batch. So, I'd say the brine was possibly only 20%. I blended at room temp and didn't use the SB too much. I know the instructions said not too let it trace but I did take it to a light trace. Then I split the soap and colored the portions. I was quite pleased with how easy it was to work with since I was using an FO which some people said had accelerated on them. But I figured the cool temp helped slow it down. Also, I used 27% lye concentration which I'm positive helped. They're also quite hard today but not as hard as a regular salt bar even though I used 90% CO. However, I use 70% salt in my regular recipe.

 

[grayceworks]

I've been following this thread, waiting for when I have enough energy to try a new batch... I think it will have to wait another week though, fibro has been kicking my butt pretty hard for a few weeks now. Bleh. BUT, I just had to stop in and say how PRETTY everyone's soaps are! They cheer me up, even when I'm too tired to make any.

Paillo, I love those hearts! They look like raspberry sorbet. Yumm!

Saponista, I like those colors on the first ones - they remind me of the wild grapes growing on the vines that would climb up the trees in the forest where I grew up. The leaves were a lighter green than the pine needles, and the grapes were a frosty purple. But the grapes and vines didn't have much scent, all you smelled was the pine trees and earthy scent of the forest.

And yes, your second ones look like the ocean, with the wave crests and swirls-- very pretty!

Nframe, those are so cute! They look like springtime peeking out from under a late snow.
Anise is the perfect scent for that! It reminds me of spritz cookies in the winter which have anise and almond. Yumm!

MzMolly, love all your swirls! I'm tempted to try a very minimalist scribbly swirl in a batch, maybe with charcoal on white. I'd give it some high-falutin' sounding name and a fancy label and sell it for twice as much, for the extra fancy ingredients in the swirled part. Oh, wait. I don't sell yet. LOL but just think of the possibilities for crazy unintended swirl effects!

Twiggy, yours too! Beautiful elegant minimalist swirls! My swirls are like someone filled a whole page with scribbles lol. Yours is an elegant pen and ink drawing, beautiful!

Hazel, I know what you mean about doing black and white. I have done red and white, blue and white, but for some reason, that bag of charcoal sitting there intimidates me! And Hazel, yours is gorgeous! It looks like Agate, one of my favorite stones to collect!

 

[Paintguru]

I looked at your recipe guru and I also have high quantities of olive and lard in my recipe so it can't be that causing it to remain soft.

Yeah I may try one more half batch soon to see if it was a fluke of some sort. Maybe I'll cut back on the water/lye from 2.5:1 to 2:1.

 

[Twiggy]

I was too lazy to take one before so this is for you twiggy View attachment 8032

Sorry it's a bit dark, but it's late here and that's the best I could do. It has a few holes from bubbles so I'm wondering if anyone has any ideas of how to prevent them forming?

Woooo, looks like a summer sky! Thank you Saponista

 

[paillo]

Grayceworks, what beautiful tributes to beautiful soaps! Love your complementary photos. Thank you! Hope the fibro releases its grip and that you have the energy to soap soon, feel better...

 

[Saponista]

Your soaps are beautiful too hazel, they remind me of pebbles on the beach.

I love the way you post pictures of what our soaps remind you of grayce, it must take lots of effort to find all the relevant pictures.

 

[Hazel]

@ Saponista -

Thanks for the compliment!

@ grayceworks -

I'm sorry to hear you're not feeling well. Thanks for sharing the pretty pictures because they add emphasis to how you described the soaps. I wouldn't have thought my soap looked like agate if you hadn't posted a picture. I also wouldn't have thought of pebbles on a beach until Saponista mentioned it. However, I had a little extra after pouring these four and used tiny molds for the overflow. I thought one of them looked like flint which amused me since it's Ohio's state gemstone. Seriously, flint is considered a gemstone.

eta: I forgot to mention about the activated charcoal. Don't let it intimidate you and remember...less is more. :grin:

I've learned to use half the amount that I think I might need. I only used 1/16 tsp in approximately 5 oz of soap. I'd originally looked at it and thought "1/8 tsp" which is why I used less. I thought it turned out well.

 

[grayceworks]

@ grayceworks -

eta: I forgot to mention about the activated charcoal. Don't let it intimidate you and remember...less is more. :grin:

I've learned to use half the amount that I think I might need. I only used 1/16 tsp in approximately 5 oz of soap. I'd originally looked at it and thought "1/8 tsp" which is why I used less. I thought it turned out well.

Ok, I think I might try it in my next batch. Thanks!

BTW, sorry about the scary bunnies... I just couldn't resist. It was my evil twin, she made me do it. :angel:

 

[Hazel]

Don't worry about it. I was just joking and I was really amused by them. I like twisted humor. :grin:

 

[Twiggy]

So I have little update on my soap Today I tried my salt water soap. It has cured for 6 weeks now. I cut little piece of it, and wash my hands. It lather with some difficulties at the beginning, but I reached the point of nice fluffy lather after few seconds. It leaves skin nice and smooth, BUT… and now the strangest soap stories of my life – after I’ve rinsed the bubbles off I had very strong tingling like pins and needles feeling all over the area which was washed with that soap :Kitten Love: – quite unpleasant I must admit…. Not burning the skin, it doesn’t zap, the ph is ok. What just happened here???? My soap recipe is just an ordinary soap recipe I use for most of my soaps, the only different is the lye water was prepared with salt. The feeling last for some minutes, like 10 or so. Any ideas???

 

[Saponista]

Was your skin irritated or damaged before you washed with the soap? It might be the salt irritating sensitive skin? The tingling sounds a bit like an allergic reaction too though. I am allergic to whey protein and when I touch things that have high amounts in I get a weird pins and needles sensation and it goes red. Did you use any oils or fragrance that you haven't used before?

 

[Twiggy]

It is very odd, as the soap was based on my regular recipe I’m using with no problems. So all ingredients was tested on me before. It may be salt, as I just now remembered that my nerve system reacting strange when it comes to salt baths and so on. When I tried to soak my feet in salt water (MgCl2 x 6H2O) is a magnesium salt, I got a strange cramp in my legs – painless but very unpleasant. Maybe that is the reason behind. My husband did not experience anything like that when using the soap.

 

[julieanne]

Cool! What is the lather about for these brine bars? Nice?! Dissapointing?

 

[Mellifera]

Twiggy, sorry to hear about your reaction!

Julieanne, my 75/25 olive/coconut brine bar lathered beautifully as a 4-day-old. I haven't tried it since, but I assume it only got better! And they are so smooth and glossy!

 

[Saponista]

Mine have reached full cure now and lather beautifully, the lather is more bubbly than my regular soap bars. I am completely in love with this recipe.

 

[btz]

So I have little update on my soap Today I tried my salt water soap. It has cured for 6 weeks now. I cut little piece of it, and wash my hands. It lather with some difficulties at the beginning, but I reached the point of nice fluffy lather after few seconds. It leaves skin nice and smooth, BUT… and now the strangest soap stories of my life – after I’ve rinsed the bubbles off I had very strong tingling like pins and needles feeling all over the area which was washed with that soap :Kitten Love: – quite unpleasant I must admit…. Not burning the skin, it doesn’t zap, the ph is ok. What just happened here???? My soap recipe is just an ordinary soap recipe I use for most of my soaps, the only different is the lye water was prepared with salt. The feeling last for some minutes, like 10 or so. Any ideas???

My salt bar react the same way too, but I let it cure further. I don't know when it's stop 'tingling' or 'burning' (in my case) but at 5 months cure, it's like normal soap. No more unpleasantness, only the dreaded occasional sweating for me.

 

[OliveOil2]

Twiggy, I am sorry to hear about your reaction! I hope that the finished bars don't do this.

I do love these bars and they are very different from regular salt bars, the bubbles are bigger than salt bars, and more like regular soap bubbles. At first I thought my recipe was prone to Ash, after steaming and three batches (Duh) I figured out the opaque quality is from the salt being in a brine. They feel like velvet on the outside, and are more easily dented even though the bars are very hard now. I used 30% coconut oil and 25% salt in the brine. Another note, I was looking at a European site, trying to translate from German, and it was noted to use 33% lye water ratio, so far I only went to 34% so maybe then they will dent less?

 

[Nevada]

"They feel like velvet on the outside"
Workmate called it "Divinity" with the velvety texture and snow white colour.

Made a Peppermint Tea Tree Brine soap 8 weeks ago. Great Bar!
Olive 45%, CO 30%, Sunflower ho 15%, Castor 5%, Canola 5%
First time I used Canola, only used it because I ran out SO
32% water: oil 8% Salt: oil. Dissolved Salt in water before adding lye.
10% SF, very conditioning. Nice soap for the summer,
Roy

 

[paillo]

Velvety - what a great description, it's perfect! So finding I have to educate my customers about this technique, but hoping once they've tried it they'll love it...

 

[Dorymae]

I've never made brine soap before but reading this thread is inspiring!:wink: So tonight I have a batch that is hopefully reaching gel about now. How long of a cure time on these or should I treat it as any soap? I have alerted my guinea pigs that I'm trying out a new recipe and told them 6-8 weeks. (Do you think that is enough time?)

I'm really hoping I can perfect a few recipes of this - it sounds wonderful.

I made this with my mango soap recipe (modified with more CO) and used Himalayan pink salt (Also sprinkled it on top).

Fingers crossed!