Punkins' world....SUNSHINE, seeds and no more drought!

punkin

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Here is a pic of some of the first soaps I've made (well, from melt & pour and handmilled):
177_soap.jpg


The green bars are Sandlewood & Mountain Pine with dried Peppermint leaves. It's a nice manly scent. The blue oval is a lightly scented fresh rain with dried peppermint leaves. The lighter green ovals & turtles is Grapefruit Blush Scent. Perfect for a teen-age girl, I think. I made the turtles for one of my cousin's who's sorority mascot is a turtle. The ugly bars in back are handmilled using Ivory as a base soap. The Ivory scent is too strong so I've ordered some base soaps from Brambleberrys. I'm still learning and have a long way to go, but have been pretty pleased with the results so far.

One of my raised strawberry beds is just full of crapgrass. Crabgrass, but my dad calls is crapgrass and that's more fitting to me. I cleaned it out about 3 weeks ago, and now it seems worse. I may even have to kill everything in it and transplant plants from the other bed back to it. I have plenty to do that.

I did something yesterday that I hadn't done in a few months . . . went clothes shopping. I found 3 pairs of pants (1 jeans) and 4 shirts for about $100. They are all basic pieces or will go with something I already have.

This morning I think I will make some lavender melt & pour goat's milk and glycerine soap for a dear friend of mine for her birthday coming up in about a week. I already have some lavender bath salts ready. I'm going to use some of the dried lavender buds, chamomile flowers and lavender salts in a floral bath bag. I've figured out how to make the bag out of coffee filters. She can just toss it in a warm bath and enjoy the scents.

Tonight, DS has a race. He is still ahead in points for series championship. There are only 7 more races for the season.

So, gotta get moving. Ya'll have a wonderful day!!
 

Farmfresh

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I noticed that your soaps are all wrapped with plastic.

I just wanted to remind you that while wrapping the soap in plastic WILL keep the scents nice and strong it will also keep the soap somewhat softer.

I never wrap my soaps until I am ready to gift them. Then I try to use a breathable wrapper, like paper or cloth. This allows my soaps to get harder and harder. That in turn helps them to last longer.

It was a trick I learned WAY back when I was still buying soap. I always unwrapped my soaps as soon as I brought them home and stored them in a basket in my linen closet. This helped them dry harder than when store bought and last longer in the bathroom. :D
 

Dace

Revolution in Progress
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Great looking soaps! thank you for sharing pics....really inspires me to get up off my butt!
 

punkin

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Farmfresh said:
I noticed that your soaps are all wrapped with plastic.

I just wanted to remind you that while wrapping the soap in plastic WILL keep the scents nice and strong it will also keep the soap somewhat softer.

I never wrap my soaps until I am ready to gift them. Then I try to use a breathable wrapper, like paper or cloth. This allows my soaps to get harder and harder. That in turn helps them to last longer.

It was a trick I learned WAY back when I was still buying soap. I always unwrapped my soaps as soon as I brought them home and stored them in a basket in my linen closet. This helped them dry harder than when store bought and last longer in the bathroom. :D
Thanks for the tip, FF. If I start making up a bunch for Christmas and leave them unwrapped, will the scent still be strong enough? How long should I leave them unwrapped? I know the handmilled soaps should be unwrapped, but what about the glycerine and goat's milk? I'm going to look for some just plain celophane bags today. Should I just wait until I'm ready to gift them to put them in it then? :idunno

I made lavender today for a gift next week. I'll just leave them unwrapped until then.
 

Farmfresh

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I keep them in paper sacks if I am trying to conserve the scent more. It still allows air flow but keeps in more scent. Also remember the scent is still inside of the soap. It may evaporate some from the surface but when used it should still smell nice. :D
 

soapmaker

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I keep my soaps exposed to air while drying. IF you put enough scent (eo/fo) they will keep their scent. I typically use anywhere from 0.7-1.0 oz per pound of oils. I prefer a nice hard bar, the top layer may lose a little scent but once wet it returns.
 

SheriM

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The amount of fragrance to use has always left me a little confused. I've seen mention on other forums of using 1 oz per pound of oils, just as Soapmaker said, but to me that seems extremely high. For a 4.5 lb batch, I use 1 oz of fragrance and even then sometimes it's way too strong. Yes, it does fade a bit during the curing process, but if I find an FO that fades too much, I'll just a wee bit more to the next batch.

What could be causing such a discrepency? I'm not trying to suggest that those who use 1 oz per lb are wrong or anything like that, I'm just trying to figure out what's going on.
 

Farmfresh

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I usually make unscented bars when I make cold process soaps, so I could not begin to tell you. If I make hand milled bars I just add essential oil until is smells right to me. :/
 
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