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I get the thick stuff basically with the approach in this video, except I use far less glycerin...like 3 drops. Your results may vary with different water, temp, humidity, product, etc:...

It is meant to hold a puck of soap, with warm water below. And it will work, no doubt. However, with the holes in the bowl, it's hard to regulate the amount of water you may need to add.

Sounds like what you have is an old fashioned scuttle, a design that made sense when hot water was a luxury. Today, most favor a scuttle that has no holes in the bowl but that does allow hot water...