bayougirl

That's how I do the layers. I would recommend when you pour the second layer, pour your soap onto a spoon to protect the bottom layer. If it's still soft, the mint layer could go through the cocoa one. The spoon protects it from penatrating the first and softly lets it sit on top of the first layer.

I love the colors, they do remind me of the ocean.

I split the batch and mixed the lavender first. I used Lavender F/O in the lavender color (I used 1/2 tsp. violet oxide for the color). I left the Vanilla, Vanilla (F/O) part of the batch uncolored. I poured the lavender part first, let it set in the slab mold while I mixed the Vanilla, Vanilla part and poured that in and swirled. I knew it would turn brown eventually, but it had already turned brown when it started to go into gel. By the next day it looked like the photos. The scent came out great, it blended pretty well. I used equal parts of both fragrance oils. I was really pleased with how it came out. Thanks for looking.

Here's a photo of the latest bar of soap made from this recipe. Bonsai I love this recipe, it's really fantastic. Thanks so much for sharing it.

Here some of the soaps I done lately, Black Raspberry Vanilla, Cut Green Tea & Cucumber Cut Fresh Snow Cut Lavender and Vanilla, Vanilla Cut Relaxing Cut Vanilla Forest Cut That's it for now. Thanks for looking.

You do great swirls, great looking (and I sure, great smelling) soaps!

Never mind, I whipped the heck out of it with one mixer beater and popped it in the freezer to harden up again. Then took it out and whipped it again before putting back in the jars. thanks anyway. Just panicked!

I made a couple of these in Feb and need to add fragrance oil to them now (2 were unscented). I don't know if it's the warmer temps, but it look like the fragrance oil doesn't want to mix in. Can I rewarm this and whip it again or just made another batch? Or can I pop it into the freezer and whip it again? I'm at a lose here. TIA

I started out with Brambleberry's CP kit, and look where that got me! I love their fragrance oils. Not everyone is my taste, per se, but they are good oils. I've only had a couple that haven't lived up to it's potential. I just used Mayan Gold the other day for salt bars and liked it so much, again yesterday in a goat's milk soap. I like their (fragrance oils) Energy (came with the CP kit) Black Amber & Lavender Bonsai Cedar & Saffron (great for the guys) Cinnamon Sugar (think Red hots) Dragonsblood (another good one for the guys) Drakkar type Juniper Breeze Neroli Relaxing Tahitian Vanilla (but I hear it doesn't do good in CP) Vanilla Forest Vanilla Oak E/O's Litsea Ylang Ylang III I haven't had many of their scents that I didn't like. Unfortunately, these are only a hand full of their line. Wish I had more money to spend on fragrances! Their customer service is great also, just wish they were closer, it takes about 5 days to get a package from them to Louisiana via FedEx.

Here's some photos of some of the soaps I've done recently. Salt Bars first, I did two batches at a time with about 2 weeks in between each time. The top ones will be ready at the end of the month. From top to bottom, left to right- Coconut Lime Verbena, Clean Scent, Mayan Gold, Tangerine/litsea, Peppermint and Creamsicle. These were from Last month: Neroli, Lavender and Sandelwood, Bamboo, Energy and Doublemint Some from this week Coconut Milk Soap (no f/o or color), Mayan Gold with Goat's milk, Clean Scent and Bonsai Just the Coconut Milk Soaps from this a.m. I even put them in a slab mold and threw them straight into the freezer and they still almost gelled all the way through.

I made this recipe for the first time about a month ago with Neroli in it. Gosh, it smells good. I took it into the bath for a try and it was great. I'll probably try it again with a more unisex scent to it. My DS's friend just bought 5 bars of soap from me saturday, he needs something for dry skin. This recipe would be perfect for him. Thanks for a great, white bar of soap with fantastic lather.

I generally mix my soap at around 90-100 degrees, I try to keep the oil and lye/water around the same temp. I'll have to keep an eye out the next time I use mint and maybe I'll change when I add it to see if it makes a difference. I made 2 batches of salt bars today and the Mint one took alot longer to trace, the other one, Creamsicle, mixed just fine. Thanks for the reply.

Hi all, I made a batch of soap with Doublemint (I add the f/o to the oils before lye/water) and it took forever to trace. This was a recipe I've used alot and I never have had it happen like that before. Then today I did some salt bars and used Peppermint e/o and the same thing happened. Is this something that happens with mint f/o's and should I just adjust and add them to the batch after reaching trace? TIA

I've been on my own this week, DH and DS are both out of town. So, it's just me and the 2 dogs. I got some soaping done, just need to make room for curing it all. Sunday's soap Cinnamon Sugar Oatmeal Soap (DD's favorite) Bamboo Tuesday was Energy Wednesday was Pina Colada Coconut Milk soap And thursday's soap was Fresh Lemonade I'm thinking of doing a couple more batches tomorrow, but we'll see I still was pretty productive with just these soaps.

Thanks, I'll remember that next time!

I made two batches yesterday, both CPOP. I used blue oxide and aqua oxide to swirl for one batch and the other I used canary and lemon yellow labcolors (yellow didn't really fade) and pink ultramarine as a swirl. The batch with the blue and aqua stayed pretty good. The other batch, the yellow is pretty good, but the pink faded. I made a batch last week, with black oxide and purple ultramarine swirls and it faded to light grey and darker grey. I realise now that the purple morphs in the lye. It's just a bummer when you get the color and then watch it fade away. I've been looking at micas for colorant, that will be my next purchase, just trying to reign in the spending right now.

I've done a couple of batches that were great when I put them to bed and after gelling, they faded. Purples, pinks, yellow, you name it. Is there some tips that you guys know of? Someone mentioned UV causes it, can you use a UV blocker like the kind used in candles? Any tips would be appreciated. TIA

Here's the Black Amber and Lavender batch I made last week. Boy, was it pretty! Loved the lavender color. But, alas, it faded to grey and dark grey! Bummed me out, at least it still smells great!

I saw one on a youTube about how to do a swirl, the woman's husband made one, it was pretty cool, they covered the inside with lexan (sp?) and the side and one end came off (in an L shape) they screwed to each other in the corners. don't recall her name, but she did amazing swirls.

I just made another 1/2 batch of this, 4 of the jars are have no fragrance oils or colors added. It's for the guys in the family (I covered all the lady's at Christmas time). The guy's hands are really taking a beating in the cold weather. They want something to help, but don't like the girly smells, so I just made a basic batch. The other 3 1/2 jars I used fragrance oils in. One of each scent Black Amber & Lavendar, Caribbean Coconut, and Lemon Verbena Mint. I changed up some of the butters, but it's really nice. Thanks again.

I bought some avery ones and when I printed them, they would never dry. Smeared all over the place. I haven't fooled around with them since, just used regular labels as they were only for Body Frosting anyway. Any tips to keep them from smearing, I have an inkjet printer.

The place I buy my lye from sent an e-mail saying that the potassium Hydroxide prices would be going up anywhere from 20 to 40% on Feb 4. I just order 10 more lbs of sodium hydroxide and it was the same price as the last time I bought some.

My husband made it, it's 4 x 17 x 3.5. That way I can mold the soap either vertical or horizontal. I just poured this bar until I finished the soap up. Usually, I keep some pineapple molds handy for overflow.

Here's a batch of Coconut milk soap, scented with coconut lime verbena And after it was cut up this bar is already pretty hard and I just soaped it at 11:00 a.m. this morning! I did have to pop it into the freezer for 2 hours and then the fridge for another 2. I can't wait to try it out.

I used black oxide and titanium oxide for the white. The last time I tried for the black, though, I got grey, not enough oxide, I guess.