Soap Makers Help!

[redhead83402]

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Thanks!! I am pretty psyched about my scent orders getting here too ~ oohh ~ I thought I Might DIE when the gal told me she was shipping today!! I thought (HOPED!!) they might have been in the mail already! Oh well, the lady is a saint, & the scents were an awesome deal....sighhhh... so I wait, & waittt.....uuhhhhgggghhhhh. lol ~

But to answer your question, it's actually only the little bitty ones & the end cuts all chopped up that I stick in the baggies, & I leave the baggies open, so they can continue airing ~ I just didn't want the tiny ones to lose all of their scent quickly. ( that I sell for $1 each, they are an ounce apiece ~ cuz there are LOTS of folks out there like me, who want them alllll ~ but can't afford them all, so , samplers work,lol.)
I leave all of my large soaps out in the air in the basement ~

Redhead, Wow, what a soap stash you are building! I love the look of the pink one you have. How did you get that color? very nice.

Morgaine ~ Thanks for the tip on incorporating chlorophyl, I am going to the health food store now to see if they have it. ( I want green soap!!! ~they DID have it!) & Thank you! both of my pink bars are from pure unsweetened crabapple juice. I am testing a batch right now with some plum juice ~ I don't know how it's going to react, though. I will post pics when its done. I have REALLY liked the result of the juices though. Thank you Cheeptrick for that awesome suggestion!!

Chiknwhisperer ~ ah ~ don't worry about that ~ even if every one of us made a lavender bar, it would turn out differently. Plus, I love your new roo ~ sooo cute! ~

smom ~ what pretty soaps! They are perfect for kids & themed bathrooms, eh! I like the round ones best. Maybe I should try out a few pringles cans ~ lol, ~ I am sure my kids would gladly finish off a few chips for me. ;-D

cheeptrick ~ thank you!! ~ lol ~ my molds consist of an old cardboard shoe box from tall daughter's size 11 tennis shoes, & a 24 x 19 stainless chafing dish. Hubby said I had to know what I wanted before he was going to build one, so I've been testing these out. And I just love all of your beautiful soaps! I went to your website, & WOW~ You rock, my soaper friend! I can't remember if it was in TSC ( Hubby bought me one at B & N on black Friday! WOOHOO!), Milk-based Soaps(by Casy Makela), or Soap (by Ann Bramson), but one of them talked about making your own ph strips, using either blueberry juice, or something like that, and apparently it will respond correctly. I believe the strips are made of either 100% heavy cotton stationary, or high quality rice paper. I will have to look that up. I was just using the zing/zap method as well. ;-D

Muller Lane ~ Welcome to the chicken lovin' shnoz-meister & otherwise nasally gifted Soaping Circle!! :-D And thank you ~ I love your pretty swirled soaps as well ~ very pretty.

BB ~ jenlynn, ~ miss prissy, ninja, and all the rest, ( can't recall , sorry) can't wait to see all your new lovely creations.....(hint hint ~ ;-D)
~Red​

 

[redhead83402]

I am actually wondering when all of you package your soaps, and whether you plastic wrap them under the cigar bands just prior to selling, and also, does it effect the intensity of the scent to leave them out to air too long?
Thanks ladies!!
~Red

 

[cheeptrick]

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Pringles cans are lined with a real thin plastic film. If your soap get too hot, air will get under the film and produce the craters you see. OR if you poured at too thick a trace, you may have had air trapped within your soap.

If the craters are only on the sides of the soap, I'd go with the first reason.

Do NOT insulate soaps in pringles cans and be sure to leave a couple inches between them if you're making multiple cans.

but all look like this from the tops.

What FO/EO did you use? Did you use palm oil in your recipe? The reason I ask is because of those little white spots. It could be ricing from the FO/EO or it could be stearic acid if you used palm oil and you did not stir the palm real well before weighing it into your batch.

these are my new molds.. some stuck??? not sure why.

Could be the soap recipe you used - not enough hard oils or too much liquid. Or it could be too much detail in your molds.

I think someone else mentioned putting them in the freezer until frozen. It really does help to unmold!

RedHead - Beautiful soaps!!

I know I'm new on this board - but I've been making soap for 10 years (come January) I love swirling colors in my soaps

http://www.mullerslanefarm.com/lemoneucalyptus.jpg

http://www.mullerslanefarm.com/lilyofwood.jpg

http://www.mullerslanefarm.com/motherearth.jpg

http://www.mullerslanefarm.com/orange.jpg​

THOSE are some gorgeous soaps!

to the soapers circle and BYC! We would LOVE your advice on swirling!! I just received some oxides and am too scared to use them. THANK you so much for posting photos!! We are some serious soaping folks here.....and we'd LOVE your 10 years experience and advice!! GET ready to soap and get in on the BYC Soap and SEED SWAP after X-Mas!

 

[chiknwhisperer]

The eucalyptus was out of stock

The said they will ship as soon as they get more though. Everything else is in TN right now.
So I guess I'll just assighn a section of the basement to storing soaps and pile them up in difrent piles with labels by them of which one is which? I think I need to start buying crates or something lol.
Tomorrow is goats milk soap with lavender or vanilla FO. Wish me luck

 

[MullersLaneFarm]

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I reduce my liquid (milk) when soaping. Using about a 35% lye saturation of my solution (35% lye and 65% milk ... pretty dicey with a 100% milk soap, but it works for me!) With that, I leave them on the rack 3-4 weeks, then shrink band them (the ends are open) and take them to market. As the soaps continue to lose moisture, I can just zap them quickly with a hair dryer to pull the shrink band tight again.

When using quality EO/FO, your scent can last for years! You may not smell it on the outside of the bar, but once it hits water, you will.

A long 'cure' time will only enhance the mildness and intensify the lather of your soaps.

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Thanks for the warm welcome. I use oxides & ultra marines a lot. Biggest problem with using them is they tend to make specks in the soap if you add it straight to the soap pot. To resolve this, I pour a little bit of glycerin in a bowl, add my oxide or UM and incorporate the two. I put the bowl of oxide in the soap mold (as well as putting the weighed out scent in the soap mold - helps prevent forgetting to add them to the batch!!!). Once the soap has come to a light trace, I'll take a little bit of the batch and put it in the bowl of oxide and use the SB to combine them. If I'm making a single colored soap, I'll just put the colored soap back in the pot. If making swirls, I'll add the soap that will be the swirl into the colored soap and SB it.

For making swirls - I use my slab molds (kelsei molds). Pour in the base, then pour in the colored soap in an up and down, back and forth motion. You want to pour high enough that the colored soap penetrates the soap in the mold. If your soap is too thick, it is harder to do. Then I take chop sticks and drag it through the soap making swirls. There is an excellent pictorial on the 'net.

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Have you tried a Eucalyptus & Mint combo?? It is one of my best sellers!

Tomorrow is goats milk soap with lavender or vanilla FO. Wish me luck

How about a Lavender & Vanilla?? hmmmm, separate the soap in half and scent each separately. Do an in-the-pot blind swirl & pour in the mold.

The vanilla will darken - delightful!!!​

 

[smom1976]

hey RH for me the pringles cans are harder to use than the apple juice concentrate cans... there is not waxy film that can release.. I had that problem with my pringles cans.. aparently they got too hot.. not as much of a problem with the smaller cans..

and we go through a lot of juice.

 

[ninjapoodles]

Hey, Mullers Lane!! A VERY familiar name; nice to see you here!

I just want to say congratulations to all our "beginner" soapers for jumping right in there and making some nice things...welcome to the addiction!

I'm really hoping I can get back on the soaping track soon, but all this surgical drama with my mom has GOT to calm down first. She goes back in for exploratory surgery this morning, where HOPEFULLY they will find where she leaking chyle and FIX IT.

 

[MullersLaneFarm]

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Hey!

I have found a cure for the soapmaking addiction .... Fiber! Spinning, Knitting, Weaving, Crocheting, Tatting, Felting ....

prayers for you and your Mom

 

[ninjapoodles]

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Thanks for the prayers; we can use every one we can get. If not for this weird, pesky leaky chyle issue, Mom would be 100% by now, after radical double mastectomy last month. This drainage issue has really been a thorn in her side.

Ever since I got a felted bar of soap in a swap, I've wanted to try it myself, so hopefully fiber arts are in my future someday!

Cyndi (is it Cyndi?), I feel certain that I "know" you from soaping forums, and possibly, years ago, participated in a soap swap with you? I am (not recently, though) on forums like Latherings and SoapDish as "millersfarm." That was before I just gave up and became "ninjapoodles" everywhere because it was easier to remember!

 

[MullersLaneFarm]

Yeppers, it's Cyndi (short for cYnthiIa- made sense to me way back when.)

I've been on the Dish, Latherings, short stint on the Whisk (was banned!), Soap Dreams, Rational Soapmaker, various Yahoo soaping groups & the MMS groups years ago - also Homesteading Today and other homesteading groups .... all using mullerslanefarm.