dcso580

I would like to invite all to visit our team blog and cast your votes. We are having a soap challenge. We were asked "If you were a bar of soap, how would you describe yourself". We had to use more than one color and fragrance. There are some awesome soaps, so you may have a difficult time choosing just one to vote on. If you don't want to vote, stop in and say Hi. http://www.etsysafeteam.blogspot.com

How long has it been curing? In my experience with rebatching, which I haven't had much luck with, it is more pliable for a longer period of time. If you used too much water to rebatch, it may take even longer to cure. It WILL eventually cure. I've switched to 1/2 batch of CP, with 1/2 batch of shreds. Works every time and turns out sooooo much better.

Haven't tried the honeysuckle jasmine, but did a plain honeysuckle. It did speed up a bit and came out yellow, which I expected. The acceleration was not so much that I couldn't work with it. Never soaped jasmine, so I don't know how it reacts. Most florals will accelerate, so just have your mold ready and use full water.

I would be for a tax, if it wasn't wasted as every other nickle and dime tax is. We are already over taxed! So much money is wasted and the solution is always a tax increase or a new tax of some sort. I will contact my legislators and oppose this, as every other online seller should. We are the same in GA, you collect from the buyers home, not yours. This has been "THE" selling point online since inception and should be left alone. Like it's already been stated, this will be the biggest burden on the little guys!!!

That's pretty much what color mine was. It has settled down a bit and is a darker yellow now. I will email her to let her know and try again. It seems to be a great site.

I couldn't get registered, it would never take me past the terms of service.

For those interested, I soaped CS White Tea & Berries. It performed very well! It seemed to slow trace a bit, which was great for swirling and such. It smells wonderful. Seems to be just a tad on the light side, so I will put in the full .7 next time. I did .5 on this batch. I'm not sure if it had an effect on the color. The base color came out very yellow, instead of the normal pale green. I added TD, so that may explain the yellow. Happy soaping!!!

Thanks again! That saved the batch and it turned out quite well. I wasn't able to do the HP, it had been too long (overnight). I think I did what we'll call a combo HP/rebatch. I'm kinda glad it flopped now that it's over, I learned alot!

Thank you Carrie! I've never HP before, but I guess I'll learn the differences now. I tried to stir through it, but it just kept getting thicker and thicker. I paniked and thought I needed to get it into the mold to "save" it.

I've seen a lot of things happen in soaping, but what is this mess? This is a batch using EVOO, CO, Lard, PO, CB, SB, Caster, and Red Clover Tea FO. Mixed Lye and oils at about 85 degrees, brought to a light to medium trace, then added the FO. Within about 10 seconds, I got thick, clumpy apple sauce. I went ahead and globbed into the mold and tried to swirl. I covered and thought it would finish out ok, as I had another batch with Fresh Air FO do the same thing. After 1 hour I peeked and this is what I found. There's a semi hardened layer, under about 1/4 inch of oils. Any suggestions, opinions, or expert testimony would be appreciated. Advice on saving the batch would also be very helpful. Thanks!

There are times in life when you just take a step back and say "duh"!!! This would be one of those times. All natural, no additives, pureed. What a great idea!

I second the No Bama 2008 and the rinse!

I made what I thought was soap, but it turns out, I found the secret ingredients for Playdoh. I have a whole batch of soap that has the back half of my house smelling like a Playdoh factory. I hope it cures out and the stink goes away.

Thanks Scented. Could I get a suggestion to get the Green out. I've got the lightest EVOO I can find. It's actually almost the color of corn oil, but I'm still getting Green. I made a test batch with nothing but oils, no fragrance, additives, or anything. White CO, White PO, and White CB, Golden EVOO, doesn't equal Green; I'm doing something wrong???

Thanks Carrie! The Pink Sugar didn't turn the soap Brown, I don't think. It went from a Honeydew Green to pastel Yellow, with the TD added. It didn't turn Coffee Brown until I added the cheapo liquid colorant in the swirl batch, that I set aside. I'm assuming the green comes from the EVOO. Would adding more TD lighten it more? I've read that too much can make the soap "chalky".

Hello, I'm new to soaping, have read for about 4 months, on my 5th batch. I have tried the search, with no results. Sorry, if this is posted somewhere I couldn't find it. I made a batch last night, appx. 3 lbs. EVVO, Coconut 76, Palm, and Cocoa Butter, Pink Sugar FO. I ran my recipe through 3 calculators, MMS, 9WP, and SummerBee. I'm confident my water and lye amounts are correct. I added Titanium Dioxide with my lye water, turned white as snow. When I added the lye to oils, it turned it a very pastel yellow. It's usually a pale green, from the evvo. What I expected (White Soap) and what I got were definately two different things. This in turn made my swirl color off too. I added red and got coffee. I did get a surprise this morning, it's pink as I originally wanted. That one makes less sense than the Titanium. I know colors can change, but wow! Can anyone tell me why the batch didn't turn white with the Titanium? I used 1/2 tbsp per pound as suggested. The Titanium came from FNWL and is water soluable. From what I've read, there are some very knowledgeable soapers here.....CareBear, Jbren...... and the list goes on. Thanks in advance for any and all tips, suggestions, and answers!

This is not exactly what you have, but try this one: http://www.organize-it-online.com/itm_intersoapsuct.html

I suppose it would have been helpful for me to know what Frumunda is.

Carrie, I've not been in soaping long enough to know when someone is kidding or not. I've already seen some very strange things! Are you serious about the squirrell tallow? The squirrells there must be huge compared to our Georgia ones. Ours have no fat on them at all. It would take 4 generations AND their friends to make a good pot here.

Thank you Jbren and CareBear. I will take your advice and stay away from it. There's just too many other oils that can be used. The batch I just made came out great, just cut it into bars. I used coconut, canola, olive, with a dab of scent. I will dive into color on my next batch. Thanks again!!!

I'm brand new here. So new that I'm watching the gel stage of my first batch. I've been wondering and searching different sites. I've read non stop for the last 6 weeks or so and found nothing on the topic. There seems to be heaps of knowledge here, so I will ask.... Does the soponification take care of the peanut oil? Or, is is still a problem for those that have nut allergies? I have a niece that can't even smell it without blowing up. If it's still a problem, wouldn't we have to include a warning on the label?

Very impressive collection....great work!!

I would think that some are asking just out of curiosity and aren't really looking for the exact specifics. But I guess if I WERE asked specifically, I'd plead the 5th.

The small ones like these are great for sending out samples too. Yours look great!!

We covered ours once....and only once. The candles looked horrible the next morning....nasty ole condensation.