There is sometimes confusion about superfatting and lye
discounting when you are first starting out with soapmaking. They both mean
the same thing using less lye than needed to completely saponify (turn
into soap) the oils used but refer to it being done at different times in
the soapmaking process
You have just made the your own soap, and you have let it cure... finally it is ready for use, for showing and maybe for selling.
But the ugly cube displayed in your photographs definitely is not "your soap";.... the one you made. You have made great,
creamy, silky, yummy, bubbly soap, and there is nothing shown of all these features.
Your photos are showing a little bad looking; boring piece of something
... experienced soap makers may recognize and value your work... but what about customers?
Here's a cube shaped soap I made using the yellow stamens
I collected from my lilies in the garden. I snipped them
off the bloom and steeped them in a vegetable oil then after a couple
of weeks I strained them through cloth. It's a
nice fresh lemon yellow but will it last I'll put a couple of bars away
and check on them occasionally then report back.
This is a 3 part soapmaking video tutorial from Christy Rose,
Owner of KBShimmer that shows
you the step by step process of creating your own
beautifully swirled hand made soap bars. This method utilizes a technique
called "In the pot swirl", also known as ITP
swirl; The colors are swirled inside of the soap-pot rather than in the
mold, and produce a beautiful and unique visual effect.
Using an 'Upright' log mould. I
had this idea going around in my mind for a while now, I wanted a soap with
contrasting colors on each side and a swirl that doesn't look too
contrived. I decided to go with the vertical position. If the log mould is
horizontal you get a different style of swirl altogether so the brain was
placed into gear and this is what I came up with...
I have made a simple soap cutter using a block of pinewood
and some fine fishing trace wire. The wire was coated with a thin layer of
plastic but I simply burnt that off. It works just like a cheese cutter.
Guitar wire should work the same. Simple and does the trick nicely.
A good tip is to cut the soap while its still fresh,
usually the first few days. It gets too hard if left longer.
Here is a topic that has come up on the forums quite a bit.
Many of our forum users have asked for guidance about what type of blender to buy.
Mostly in soapmaking stick blenders (or immersion blenders) are used, but you are not
limited to these alone. The most important factor is making sure that the blender you buy
is of good quality. There are many options and you really don't need to spend all that much
money to pick up a quality blender that will last you for many batches of homemade soap.
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