GrandmaArial

OMG Donna. The Roselle & Dead Sea Mud is one of the most beautiful soaps I think I have ever seen. You ARE sending me one of those, right? You better say yes or I swear we will come visit you and Boomer will have you cooking three times a day! And I will sneak around while you’re busy and steal the recipe and make it for myself. It’s spectacular! I’m going to have to get some pomegranate juice! The Balneario de Ámbar looks like something I would make! LOL. its beautiful. I do want to try it, I have to smell it. the others are also beautiful, your soap always is, and I think the Veviter & Rosemary has to smell like something I want to use, and I know the kiwi, lime and carrot has to be great soap, how can it not be with carrot in it?

Those are beautiful soaps! All of them!

This is just beautiful. I love the way the two greens have merged, melding to look like simple shade variations. Very zen.

Oh my, been busy and almost missed this... is it March yet? I can't wait to try this one!

Awww.. Thank you. I think the one you’re really going to like is the new improved 24 carrot gold. The texture, the scent, and the appearance combine to create an almost magical ambiance. It’s still too young to take to the tub yet, but initial tests show it to be as good as the original.

It puts me in mind of that movie “What Dreams May Come”, when he first dies and his “heaven” is made of paint. Beautiful.

I find MP is easier, both to pour and clean up. And depending on what you do with it, less time consuming, you can pop it out of the mold and use it an hour or so after pouring if you want (if you put it some place nice and cold). What I like about MP is it is so versatile in what you can do with it appearance wise. I think of MP as sculpting. I like to pour MP into elaborate molds, then carefully modify the shape with my old clay sculpting tools and “paint” it with pigment mixed in water. After it’s dry dip in clear MP to seal. Depending on how elaborate you get this can be very time consuming but the results can be spectacular! And clean up is so much easier, no raw soap or oily bowls to deal with. It’s already soap so add water to wash and rinse. Because it molds so easy you can use very elaborate molds with a great deal of fine detail. You can get very creative with MP, at least visually. My problem with MP is I have never had success in adding additives to it. And I love my herbs and botanicals! You can only change the nature of the soap so much, like starting with a boxed cake mix. You can add colors and flavors, fruits, what ever and almost make it a whole new animal, but the nature of the cake mix is always there. Don’t think I’m bashing MP, I love it! I started with MP, and still keep 20 or so lbs available for when I get the urge to make something really pretty. And others have learned to use additives to improve the quality of the soap, to adjust it to more their liking. And really MP makes the prettiest soaps I think, or at least I can make prettiest soap with MP. CP is harder to make pretty, you are more limited (or at least I am) on how elaborate I can get with appearances. You can use the milkyway molds or candy molds, what ever, but it is more difficult to get it poured before the batter gets to thick and I always have to wait sometimes more than a week before I can get it out of the mold intact. Also it is more labor intensive just to make the soap it’s self. And waiting 24 hours to know what it’s going to look like after pouring is hard (and it does change subtly, sometimes dramatically with gel) and a month to cure is very hard! And colors are so much more difficult to judge because of the PH, getting just the right shade is hard since you won’t know until after you mix it exactly what color vegetable colors will be so for bright vibrant colors you do need to look at the more expensive CP safe colors. However, this has actually helped push me to make better (if not prettier) soap using botanicals and herbs. I can use all the soft oil in my recipe to infuse with herbs, spices, or botanicals if I want (and I often do). With CP I get to design the soap I want. Not just what it looks like, but the characteristics of it. I choose the oils and additives. I choose how conditioning or cleansing it is, what kind of lather, what kind of texture. I design the very nature of the soap I make. One of the most satisfying points of CP is being able to create a soap that has the attributes someone is looking for, and I control the ingredients, this is soap I can use knowing there are no hydrocarbons snuck in for me to react to. Maybe it’s just a control issue, but I like that I am in complete control of everything that goes in my soap. And then there are swirls, something that is difficult to do in both HP and MP. Yes, CP is my passion. Clean up is a royal pain and it hurts when an experiment doesn’t work and you have to toss a couple lbs of oils, but the successes are wonderful! For myself, I find CP the most rewarding. The two biggest draws of HP is that you don’t have to wait as long ( a few days compared to a month) to experience the final product, how ever it is more intensive and time consuming to initially produce than CP and scents stay stronger and truer than with CP. Clean up is a little easier than CP (less raw batter to deal with, but same oily bowls). Some people produce beautiful swirls, I can’t. My HP is frankly ugly. Still, like CP, you get to design the qualities of the soap, and that means a lot to me. It is really individual choice, what fits your life style, your needs. Try them all, find out what satisfies you. As for FOs check before you buy. Although many candle safe scents are skin safe, many are not. Also, although I know some soapers who use candle dyes in soap, it is not advised. Although the amount is very small and most people probably won’t react to the hydrocarbon based oils and/or chemicals used to make the candle dyes up some could, and potentially have serious reactions.

My soaping space is in the basement now, and it can get cold down there. I am having more trouble with ash now than I did before, and had to set up a heater in the curing closet to try to combat it. But I have also noticed some batches come out of “bed” (I use an old ice chest to put the soap in as soon as I pour) with serious ash when it’s cold in the room when I make it. Many people don’t mind ash, and it isn’t going to burn your skin off or anything like that, but I don’t like it. If you don’t want to gel it will probably help, though, haveing the room so cool. I can’t not gel, it always gels no matter what I do, so if you don’t want to gel you’ll have to ask someone else, LOL. It will probabaly take longer to trace though, so you might want to start with your oil and lye on the warm side, well, warmer than room temprature.

ok Ginger, come on up, you clean, I’ll cook and soap. Won’t last long though, I have 2 dogs, a cat who thinks he’s a dog, and a husband who are all slobs. No one wipes their feet here, LOL. And it will take you about 2 batches to get you on the soaping wagon and you will run away from me and start making soaps that make me look like a piker! So save yourself a back ach and order some lye and pick up some oils. Pick a simple recipe for your first try. Wear your gloves, mask and goggles. Toss any critters, kids, and husbands out the door, and turn the phones off. I know you can do it Ginger. Plan simple, but have an extra bowl and color ready in case you decide to try a swirl your first time. I think most of us do, LOL. I know you’re going to make great soap… as soon as you start.

Thank you everyone! I have to admit I am pleased with the 24 carrot gold. It looks luxurious, and the red musk is perfect for it I think. I love what carrot does to soap, and if this batch comes out feeling as nice as previous batches it is going to be particularly special with the musk. I think I am finally starting to develop a line of good for your skin luxury soaps. I can’t wait til this one is old enough to use.

The first is “Goat’s in the Garden” done in the tray mold. I made this batch a month ago, getting ready to pack them. I really like the way the tray mold looks, though I am having a little trouble getting an even gel with it. Also, learning to cut with it has been a new experience. So every time I use it the bars come out different sizes. I can not not gel… so it is dark, but still.. I think attractive. And it smells so good! This is my last batch of Goat’s in the Garden til spring and my garden thaws out. The second is the new and improved “24 Carrot Gold”. Done in the tray mold, I used a larger portion of batter for swirling, colored with gold mica, with a light dusting of mica on top. I changed the scent, too, to “Red Egyptian Musk” (thank you Donna). This is the only FO I have found that I really like, all by it’s self. This one needs no help, completely stand alone, it is sultry, seductive, sensuous.

As a matter of fact… the basement, where I soap, smells wonderful! LOL. The curing closet is the best place to be, though it makes it hard to smell any individual soap. I also dry and store my herbs and botanicals in there. Hubby is convinced I’m going to poison him every time I go down there to get herbs to cook dinner! LMAO Yes, I am an experimental cook, and just like with the soap, some experiments work, others… fail miserably! LOL. How ever you should try my “white forest chiffon cheesecake”. Made with white and dark chocolate and cherries, in a sinfully rich chiffon, it is total decadence. How ever, the mocha tortonis I made for the feast of the seven fishes this year were less than successful. Every year I design a new recipe for Christmas Eve. For next year I am working on a chocolate, caramel, with pecans cheesecake. I think vegetables bring a combination of fibers, proteins, carbohydrates, and vitamins to the party. Many people think sugar boosts lather, and it may, but it also feeds the skin. A poultice with sugar or honey (be careful with honey, that the patient is not allergic) can help a wound heal (and is commonly used in geriatric nursing for bedridden patients in treating decubitus ulcers). Proteins (like silk) are commonly used in soap and bed and bath products, not only do they give the product a wonderful texture but also provide amino acids for cells to repair themselves with. But I think the fiber probably gives it the most. Both hard fiber and soluble fiber. I have noticed that the vegetable soaps are considerably more emollient than the same recipe with out the vegetable added, but also seem to “clean” better and I think that’s from the fiber. I have not found any information on it but I think the fiber works like microscopic exfoliants, debriding the dead skin and allowing the tissue better access to the oils and nutrients. The spices I think should help to stimulate circulation at the surface, at least that’s what I hope. The mesquite is purely for ambiance. I wanted to give it a southwestern feel. The sage is relaxing and the rosemary is, of course, antioxidant and antimicrobial. The florals, well, I just like them, LOL, though I really believe the soaps I add a lot of oil infused with petals are nicer, often more emollient, and develop wonderful textures. Rose is the most dramatic example of this. The soaps I make with large amounts of rose infused oils come out with a particularly soft “feel” and an appearance much like polished stone. As for bongs, yes, the set up I used was essentially a bong. Just think, if I hadn’t grown up in the 60s I probably wouldn’t have thought of it!

Do you do dishes and windows? Vacuum? How about laundry? I’ll set up the spare room for you! LMAO. Ginger, I know you can do it… and if we lived close enough you know you would be invited… so just pretend one of the pros are with you and do it. You’re sensible. Follow the basic precautions with the lye. Once you get a little experience with it, a feel for the oils I bet you’ll come up with some great combinations, great soaps! And probably a lot prettier than the beet/rose soap! Ok, so anything will be prettier than that, LOL. BTW, it needs a name. Anyone have any ideas?

The eucalyptus looks so shiny because I had just rinsed the ash off about a half hour earlier. It was still damp. It will stay with a bit of a glossy look to it, though not so shiny as it is in that picture. And Donna, get your mind away from bongs!

The first two are both sweet potato. The first is desert theme. Scented with mesquite smoke (which I made by smoking mesquite and pumping the smoke through water), sage, rosemary, purple prickly pear FO and a couple drops of other floral FOs. The second is the deserrt version, with “baklava” FO (smells like butter to me) and “oatmeal scotchie” FO and infused cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg oil. The third is beet and rose petal soap. I was expecting it to keep a little color from the beets or I would have added a little red oxide I think. I was interrupted as I was getting ready to swirl, just a couple minutes but long enough it was getting thick when I got back so I just dumped everything together and tried to beat it into submission and slammed it in the mold. The rose is rose petals I infused in olive oil I thin used to make the soap with. I drained the petals out and ground some fresh up to add to the soap. this may be really ugly but it feels very very nice! And surprisingly the rose scent held pretty well. Last is my latest attempt at eucalyptus soap. Instead of using EOs I used eucalyptus and spearmint leaves. Ground them up and infused in OO as above with the rose petals. No interruptions so I had time to swirl. This one is strong!

Really not bad looking for HP, better than mine, LOL. I like the colors you chose.

Oh Donna, That is so beautiful... I need one in my soap dish...

My husband collects Buddha’s… and has a set like that, only carved out of teak. Those are great!

Beautiful beautful swirls!

Very pretty, very masculine looking soap!

SS. what are you using the bowl for? Does lye come into contact with it? Be careful. Even if you are using it to measure oils be careful or the quality of your product could be compromised. With a soft metal like that I would only use a soft utensil like a rubber spatula. You do not want to scrape any iron into the soap. One of the things I found out in my research is that DOS (aka: dreaded orange spots, a form of rancidity) needs four things to form. Moisture (as in humidity), heat, oxygen, and something to form a nucleolus, and iron molecules make good nucleolus for DOS. Most bathrooms will have the first three. So, even though your cheap pot fortunately doesn’t seem to contain any of the many metals that lye reacts to, if it is soft enough to scratch then it is getting into your soap and the odds of it developing DOS are high. It can take a few months before you can see it. I would recommend you invest in a good heavy pot.

About a year and a half ago, when I first stated thinking about making cp soap I found a site where the owner had a tutorial. The best advice (now that I have about 70 batches under my belt) was on supplies. The lady (I believe she is in Australia) stressed the importance of using only high quality, heavy stainless steel. Not the thin pressed cheap stuff, not carbon steal, and nothing that has and alloys in it. Only high quality stainless. I took it to heart and have spent more on my soaping pots than I have on my kitchen pots. I hope we all take this to heart, newbies please know how risky it is to use anything aluminum. If in doubt, use it to make soup, not soap. Yes, this is an expensive hobby to start, but if you were going to take up parachuting as a hobby you wouldn’t buy a discount parachute, would you? For the old pros, (and I hope I remember this when I’m an old pro) never become complacent. Lye is dangerous! It can react with so many metals… we MUST be safe first! I am so very glad no one was injured. Please stay safe.

Beautiful creamy looking lotion! Looks almost like meringue... I like a thick lotion for this time of year.

It looks like a party!:party: Perfect for Mardi Gras!

Next time I will ignore the phone until after I’m done soaping! i did think about beating the chunks into submission... but they wers so chunky, I couldn't get it smooth in the pitcher and was afraid to put it in the oils. I used the last of my summer herbs for the "Goats in the Garden" soap. This is the last batch til mid spring...