Short Weekend...

The custom tubes I wanted to make are finally done, due to calling upon a friend with a great table saw. I glued caps on the ends, and sanded the edges a bit. Then I was ready to go.
I started my first batch 11 PM. I was having a good time watching a movie with my wife, so started after that. This batch would remain a natural colour, for the outside of the pink grapefruit. When soap is ready to be poured, it thickens up like pudding, and you add your fragrance and mix well, while it is still pourable. This batch was going to start it's curing right in the bucket I made it in, as it would be hand moulded the next day.

Fast forward 12 hours, the soap has started setting. I weighed out 10 oz portions, then pressed it into the moulds to evenly cover the entire surface.

Now it was time to make the interior of the soap - this part would be coloured pink - the fragrance I used was 'Pink Grapefruit and Rosemary' - amazing fragrance. This batch would also have tiny pieces if white soap in it, to look like pulp, or seeds. This batch was going to be 75% of the capacity of the mould - about 25 lbs. Same recipe base was used, just bigger proportions. This batch was coloured with red iron oxide. I usually don't colour my soaps, so started with just a little, and added a bit at a time, until I was close to the colour I wanted. Then close to 'trace' which is when the soap is ready to pour, I added the fragrance, and 130 oz of soap shreds, and continued stirring until they were well incorporated.

I dipped a measuring cup into the soap, and poured it into each mould cavity - I had to clear off a desk to do this, as there were 24 of these moulds to fill. Pouring went well, and I had a couple of other moulds on hand in case I had more soap than I thought, which was the case. So now I'll have a few standard tubes of soap, and a silicone tray for sample size soaps. I covered the tubes and moulds with plastic food wrap. and a blanket, and let them sit overnight, finishing at 9:30 Saturday night. Each batch of soap takes me about 4 hours, from start to pouring into moulds.

Sunday afternoon I removed the blanket and wrap, and moved them into my bakery rack to continue to cure. I'll check tonight, they may be ready to be removed from the tubes and cut, to continue the curing process. I'll post some photos tonight.