Candybee

Thanks for looking everyone! Trappeur-- I pm'd ya.

I do love her molds! It made doing this swirl pretty easy. I just need more practice so I don't spill soap batter all over the place! So I am trying another one today.

Beautiful as usual Suzy! I love them all. Your work has always been an inspiration to me. Truly!!

This is the first time I've tried this swirl since I got my new mold with the dividers from Nurture. It's why I bought them. I really wanted to learn how to do this swirl. Anyway, it was the messiest soapmaking I have ever done and cleanup took a while... but I got the soap in the mold and swirled! LOL Here are in the mold pics. Its way too soft to cut so I may have to wait a couple days. The colors match the scent, its a lime and lemongrass coconut castile. Also, when I unmolded it this morning I had to flip it upside down to get out of the mold and was surprised by how pretty the bottom looked. So I took a pic of the bottom too! First 2 pics are the top and second 2 are the bottom:

Thank you all! I cut the soaps up and they were still pretty soft and sticky so they aren't cleaned up. But here are some sticky soap pics:

I love lard in soap! Tallow too! There is nothing creamier than a good lard or tallow soap! I have a basic facial bar that has 25% lard in it. I sell the dickens out of it and customers tell me it clears their complexion and is the only soap they can use because it doesn't itch sensitive skin. Lard is actually very close to the natural oils in our skin and is non-comedegenic. JC you must have an allergy to lard. But thankfully their are some pretty good subs for it. I like a combo of palm oil and shea to sub for lard or tallow. The majority of my soaps are vegan but I also have quite a few with either lard, tallow, and even lanolin in them. Depends on the soap. I make a lot of specialty soaps so I have a wide range of butters, oils, and fats I use for particular specialty bars.

One woman's fugly is another one's treasure! Honestly I could beat you at fugly soap any day!

That looks great Trappeur! I also like how you spelled out Georgia. Very nice.

Same here. I don't bevel like I used to so I'm not collecting scraps anymore. But those end pieces are piling up! Sorry that one batch didn't work out. Glad you were able to save one and use it. Are you gonna post a pic of it? I bet its not as fugly as you thought it would be.

First let me congratulate you on your account! That is wonderful news! I am so happy it worked out for you. Re the labels--- I like your idea of using 'hand poured' on the other side. Another term you could use is handmade candle or handpoured candle. I'm sure whatever you decide it will look stunning!

What rotten luck! Hope the soap turns out okay. I've got about 2 lbs of shreds plus about 5lb of end pieces. I've been thinking of just putting the end pieces in baggies and selling them dirt cheap like $1 a bag just to get rid of them. If I make soap out of them I would have to shred them and I really don't want to! I'd rather bag 'em and sell 'em!

Today I used my new mold and attempted my very first Taiwan swirl. I am so excited but man oh man was it the messiest soapmaking I ever did! Cleanup was a nightmare! I think I used half a roll of paper towels! I sure hope it came out right but I know I messed it up. It's in the mold all wrapped up so I won't know until tomorrow how it came out. I used my coconut castile recipe so I had plenty of time to work with it. Its a good thing I did too!

I've seen those before in a men's line of candles. They would look smashing with your rustic lodge look. Actually, I think they would be gorgeous! I say go for it! Re the plastic lids, I don't see a problem with them. They are black too so it would be hard for them to discolor even if they could absorb any scent or dye vapors. I've only had a problem with discoloration from clear plastic lid liners on my apothecary jars. But when you call them ask about the inside of the lid. It may be white. Its possible that could discolor but again it depends on the type of liner. Some plastics discolor while others don't.

I would love to have more upscale looking jars but they just don't sell around here. I live in the country and the crowds from the city vacation in this area and they all want that country look and feel! Sooooooo..... I sell candles in jelly jars, salsa, and straight sided jars. That's what they want and that's what I give them!

The only way to tell what works for you is to experiment. Its unusual for a beginner to tackle a high coconut oil soap for their first soap. If that is what you want then keep working on it until you get the right mildness for your skin type. It makes more sense to strive to create a soap that moisturizes your skin and leaves it feeling comfortable and healthy without the need for lotion. Lotion should be optional. So I would not approach a recipe thinking in terms of making a drying coconut oil soap. Try to strive for a moisturizing and conditioning bar. HTH

Thanks for looking. If they are hard enough today I will cut them and post pics.

These are a couple of my coconut castile soaps. The pink and yellow is a rosemary blend with grapefruit and bergamot EOs. I call it Inspiration. The blue, lavender, and green is my rosemary blend with lavender and sage EOs. I call this one "Meditation". My new love is the apple green mica I got from Nurture for the Meditation soap. It looks just like the granny smith apple green. When it was gelling it turned a brilliant apple green! Here are pics of each in the mold:

Congrats on your first soap! I find I get ash if I unveil my soap before it is finished saponifying. The air oxidizes with some of the ingredients and forms a light layer of ash on the surface of the soap. Its harmless and can be cut away but I don't care for it or the way it looks. I only use a high amount of coconut oil for salt bars and detergent soaps. For my regular soaps I don't go over 25% as I find coconut oil can be very drying on my skin. For a salt bar its different as I use a high superfat and long cure time so the soap will be more mild.

They look pretty shiny to me in your pic!

Thanks craftlover!

Love your Bazooka bubble gum drops soap 8-gran-ones! Very pretty! I also love JC's gum drops too! The soap colored balls are so pretty! They look like candy on top of cake icing!

Has any supplier duped this MW fragrance? I have an old candle with it so I opened it take a sniff. I forgot how much I love it. Would like to use it in a men's fragrance line if I can find it.

OH I've been looking for the Dark Knight! Thanks for the head's up!!

I've always wanted to redo my bathroom. Its so small I wish I could make it larger. To make room I would have to knock out some bedroom walls. It would be a lot of time and money I don't have... or never seem to have. Hope your bathroom comes out as nice as you hope. New carpet is always nice too.

Beautiful work Vicky! I think she'll love them!