DIY-Homemade Soap(non-shaving)

I unmoulded and cut it tonight. It smells delicious. Each bar is chunkier than a bar of Imperial Leather and I got eight bars so I'm actually pretty happy with the batch size.

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Clearly, the mould can be improved and I want to work out how to get the top flat. I'm thinking that it'd be better to make a mould similar to the shape of a 1 L milk carton instead of a square mould. Then I'd fill it higher and cut off some of the top. I'll keep playing with things but as a first effort I'm thrilled.

Now the waiting game.
 
We made a CP bath soap today.

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Initial thoughts:

i) It took almost as long to trace as the Castile blend of a few days ago. This was a surprise.
ii) There's too much coffee in there. I reckon an 1/8th of a puck would be plenty. Also, the grounds are too fine.
iii) There's too much rose geranium in there. It could have done with more patchouli or jasmine. The ratio was approx. 32/26/42 % (J/P/RG).

It's hard to tell at this stage though. I'll post some pictures when it's unmoulded and cut in a few days time.
 
I must admit at first I had no interest in this little side project done of you have going, but now it is starting to pique my interest.
 
'Castile' soap V2

Added a wee bit of coconut to see what would happen.

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This is double the previous batch size and so we used a different, larger mould. It traced about 33% quicker with the coconut oil and as it went into the mould, it somehow looked more 'professional'. We wrapped a towel around the mould this time to keep it warmer longer.

Scent was also upped from 31 g/kg to 35 g/kg. Ratio was 18:1:1 cedar, vetiver, juniper. It smells outrageously good.
 
I unmoulded V2 this arvo. Surprising, this batch took a lot longer to set than the @roger clone despite having more saturated FAs. In fact, it's still not completely set. It has been cut up in to 20 bars and therefore has a far greater surface area now so it should lose water more quickly.

In fact, I don't think it has anything to do with the reformulation but rather it is due to using a plastic mould instead of a cardboard mould (both wax paper lined). So in this regard, cardboard is superior.

The bars smell great but the scent strength is quite mild. Until I use the soap, I won't know for sure whether it will be strong enough. Quite possibly, the EO needs to be upped to 50 g/kg.
 
Bath Soap V2

Holidays are drawing to a close so we made one more batch today.

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Used a fancy pants plastic mould. This batch size fit perfectly. It'll probably be a few days until it can be unmoulded.

EO ratio was 42:38:1 and was dosed at 50 g/kg.
 
We put through a batch today. It was quite a bit more massive than we had done previously. We opted for a cardboard box mould again but this time it was a long, thin one.

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Fragrance was Eucalyptus radiata 57% and Backhousia citriodora 43% - dosed lightly as both are very potent.

Should be ready in about six weeks.
 
bald as said:
That is an impressive quantity.
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Well, I'm guessing it's enough for the Adelaidian Shavers to try some when they meet in 6 weeks time... [emoji6]

Thanks for continuing to update us on your soapy progress @khun_diddy
 
Sxot said:
You sure about that measurement? 3400 cm^3 is 3.4 cubic meters....

34 cm^3 perhaps?
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The dimensions are 50 cm x 8.5 cm x 8 cm = 3400 cm^3 or 3.4 litres.

3.4 m^3 would be a cube of side length (3.4)^(1/3) m - that is, approximately, 1.5 m x 1.5 m x 1.5 m.
 
That's a very impressive soap collection @khun_diddy
 
Changelog:

* Constrained by lye, this batch polished off all remaining sodium hydroxide.
* Water was super low, needed to be quick when trace came.
* New mould, 8 mm radius PVC lined with wax paper.
* Scent upped to 3.6 % w/w, 'clean & fresh' profile
- lavender 60 %,
- peppermint 20 %,
- clove 10 %,
- eucalyptus globulus 10 %.

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I must resist the urge to unmould it too quickly. Once out, it will need about four months to cure.
 
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