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Miller's Homemade Soap Pages |
Thanks for such a great site...you really have been working hard on it...there are so many new things!
Wanted to tell you, I read for awhile about a "stick blender" and wondered what the heck is that!!!!! Finally, when I saw your picture of yours. I cracked up, thinking..."that's what it is!!! I've got one, sits in a drawer not being used.
Wanted to share my experience....
Made the best recipe soap ever, I call it "Vanilla Hazelnut Dream"
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I use an herbal tea bag, just to color the water. (I don't let the bag sit there, just a couple of dunks!) Then the soap is what I call a "rich cream color."
WELL...My mom was visiting, and I decided to be brave and use a stick blender! I mixed w/ a spoon first, for about 10 min.
WOW-EEEEEE!!!!!! Man that stuff traced, in about 10 minutes. I would turn it on/off so I wouldn't burn out the motor. Wow! Then I turned it out in great molds I just got...large Rubbermaid drawer dividers...they are plastic so they don't "bulge out"like cardboard, and are cheap. I line them w/ plastic wrap, waxed paper or freezer paper.
Made 14 bars. (smells delicious) Next time I'll use almond. I love those smells.
P.S. two days later, i decided to make more of the same. Only I doubled the recipe. Did the same stuff, but added diff. scents (2 drams of whatever...) I used plain distilled water, no herbal tea in it, but...didn't quite come out the same!!!!! A bit softer, but still quite nice. So you never know...I did the exact same thing, as a matter of fact the second time it traced so fast, that it was hardening in the bucket!!!!!!!
That first batch was so great, and I gave my Mom most of it to take home with her, and then when I remade it...it wasn't quite the same .
Wanted you to know my experience with a stick blender... and this is my reaction to it..."It traces quickly, but you know, it's kind of like using a cake mix, when you usually bake from scratch! There is something missing about mixing with a spoon, and watching a crazy concoction actually become something we will use as soap! But don't get me wrong, I will use it again! But I will stop before trace, to "stir" with a spoon for a few minutes, to feel like "I made" it, rather than just concoct it!
Well, when I get my new order (ran out of palm oil) I am getting also, palm kernel oil! and avocado to try!
Sorry for the length,...but you once asked me what palm oil was like...cream of wheat! looks like cooked cream of wheat left sitting in a pot!!!!!
Just wanted to share this with you,
-Sherry Wersing-
Thanks! ...And I wanted to share it with all.
Hi Kathy. My first batch is curing now. I didn't stir it well enough after adding the beeswax and honey, though, and it is a little streaky looking, but finally smells wonderful. I'm looking at each batch as a learning experience. The hardest part is the cutting, so my husband will have to work some device out for me. At least a cutting guide for my knife or something less fancy for now. I have done 6-2.5lb batches and learned a little from each one. Pure shortening too chalky. Don't put a whole half cup of herbal tea in--too much! I plan to sell the bars I've done so far for $1 each to coworkers (to cover costs), then get down to serious business and cut some perfect bars and wrap with a cigar band with my new logo. I can't believe I'm making soap. It's just something I've always wanted to do but thought it must be way too complex. Thanks to lovely people like you I'm proud to say I'm a soapmaker.
=-] Kelli
I met a couple this last summer in Old Town San Diego who were from Washington. I've forgotten their names. I gave them some of my home grown, homemade loofah. They were Soapcrafters also.
A friend of mine wrapped small loofahs in saran wrap and poured soap into them. It made the loofah very soft. I tried it and liked it very much. I am going to try placing the loofah inside pvc tube or pipe the same inside diameter as the loofah's outside diameter, then pour soap into the tube. After it hardens I can remove it and cut accordingly.
The type loofah I grow is called Luffa Acutangula. This particular variety was brought over from the Philippines in the late 1940's by my father-in-law. He has kept it pure, growing it in Fresno California since then. I brought it to San Diego and am growing it on a small (2 acre) piece of land.
This type of luffa has sharp ridges as opposed to Luffa cylindrica, which is smooth skinned. Acutangula is more durable, higher fiber density and is softer than cylindrica. It is a little harder to process, though. Very hard on the hands. It is also edible. The Filipinos call it patola. However, the patola they are used to is not quite the same as what I grow. The variety I grow is much more prized by them because it is sweeter.
I am willing to sell dried loofah or seeds with or without instructions, if anyone is interested.
I've got lots of seeds (enough to last forever) and about 1,000 luffa of various size. Prices for luffa would be $.50 for small (< 5"), $1 for mediums (5" to <9"), $1.50 for large (9 to <12") and $2.00 for XL plus shipping expenses. Seeds will probably go for $.20/seed without instructions. I haven't yet decided what the instructions are worth...there's alot to consider on how to grow it properly and how to manipulate its size and fiber density. Prices are negotiable according to quantity. Again, I'm in the beginning stages of my little enterprise.
I don't normally advertise for people, but thought some of you soapers might be interested in securing or growing some of these. -Kathy
Thank you for your very informative site. I really enjoyed reading about others' successes and failures. I've had quite a few successful batches using recipes from the net. My problems began when I started adding Sweet Cakes fragrances (white vanilla, vanilla spice and peach). The vanilla spice batch came out a gooey yellow on the inside with a hard, dark brown crust (1/16th inch) on the outside. It looks like chocolate covered cheesecake. Is that crust ash or is this separation? Should I rebatch or just shave off the crust and hope the yellow gooey stuff hardens up? The white vanilla batch completely lost it's fragrance using recommended amounts, so I attempted to rebatch. I grated it, added half a cup of water and put in a warm oven (170). Then added almost 3 oz. fragrance and half a cup of evaporated milk to even out and thin the lumpy texture. After pouring into mold and popping out after 24 hrs., it is dry, but soft, airy and spongy. The fragrance is still too faint. Is there a fixative that will allow the fragrance to stick and allow me to use less fragrance? Why are my rebatches coming out soft and spongy? If I rebatch by boiling on stove top, will adding a bit more lye prevent this sponginess? Can you add more lye to an oven rebatch? The peach batch also came out soft and spongy. I had to use almost 2 oz. of fragrance to get any appreciable scent to stick vs. the .5 per pound recommended. Could adding too much fragrance be causing the spongy effect? Help!
Thanks, Debbie
Response:
>The vanilla spice batch came out a gooey yellow on the inside with a hard, dark brown crust (1/16th inch) on the outside. It looks like chocolate covered cheesecake.
This is because most vanilla FOs cause the soap to turn dark brown during cure where the air touches it. The White Vanilla from Sweet Cakes is not supposed to do this (but they say the fragrance is not quite as warm and nice) but all other vanillas do...or anything blended with vanilla, although the shade of brown will not be as dark in color as straight vanilla. The center is probably gooey because the bars have not completed curing yet. How much water did you use for your batch of soap? Was this a 12 oz. of lye recipe? You might do better with cutting back on the water. I prefer to use 24 to 28 ounces of water for a batch using 12 ounces of lye, unless I'm using a high percentage of hard fats, in which case I'd go with about 32.
I really hate rebatching so you're probably asking the wrong person about that. If lye is the problem with a soft batch, then you can add a bit more during rebatch, but should take care in not overdoing it and trying to figure out how much you might have been short. Also, it may be the added water that is causing the sponginess and the incorporation of air when you are mixing it all up before pouring. I'm only guessing.
> Then added almost 3 oz. fragrance and half a cup of evaporated milk to even out and thin the lumpy texture. After pouring into mold and popping out after 24 hrs., it is dry, but soft, airy and spongy. The fragrance is still too faint.
You cannot expect the soap to smell like the fragrance did straight out of the bottle and it will get stronger as the extra fluid evaporates from the bars. I don't prefer really strong fragrances and usually find 1 1/2 - 3 oz. of FO or EO or a blend to be plenty for my nose (for an 6# batch using 12 oz. lye). You might run these past someone else's sniffer to see if they agree on the intensity of the scent. Everyone is different. Rebatched soap is a lot softer...especially if you add much water at all and the bars will take longer to dry out. Try to add as little moisture as possible at the beginning so that they don't get too spongy in the whole process. You can always add more if you need to but can't take it back out very quickly.
I'd give these rebatched bars several weeks to dry out before deciding that lye is your problem and go from there. Sorry I don't have any magical solutions. I hope I've understood your email correctly. If not..set me straight.
>Is there a fixative that will allow the fragrance to stick and allow me to use less fragrance?
Some people think a bit of castor oil as a superfat helps...also gum benzoin powder is recommended, but I've not tried that yet. It might make the soap texture a bit grainy.
>I had to use almost 2 oz. of fragrance to get any appreciable scent to stick vs. the .5 per pound recommended. Could adding too much fragrance be causing the spongy effect?
If we're talking 2 oz. per pound of soap...that's an awful lot! It might change the character of the soap a bit. I suspect it will get stronger smelling after cure, but I have a feeling your expectations are that it should be as strong as in the bottle...that's too much.
Subject: making soap
Read all of the letters people have written in to you this morning and enjoyed them. I make all-vegetable soap. I purchase olive oil from Sam's club store - 5 qt. bottle for $15.00. I purchase coconut oil from Poya Naturals located in Canada - phone (877) -255-7692. It takes about 1 month to get the coconut oil because of U.S. customs. It costs about $16.00 American money.When you order this they will tell you in Canadian currency but when it is charged to your credit card it will be in U.S. currency. I ordered 3-35.3 bottles of it. This amount makes a lot of soap with my recipe. I find it to be really good coconut oil. I purchase essential oils and fragrance oils from Majestic Mountain Sage company. I also purchase some locally. Here is the recipe I use:
The temperature for the water should be 95 and the oil 125 degrees. You can purchase a thermometer at Ink Mart (? K.M.)for $2.99. It is a candy one and works really nice.
This traces in about thirty to forty minutes most of the time. I add 2 teaspoons of lanolin to make baby soap. I add essential oils at final trace just before pouring into molds. I purchased ten molds at Walmart - 2 for $1.98. These are plastic and can be used over and over. Be sure and use Vaseline to grease them with before filling. Most of the time 24 hours is enough to remove the bars. A little tip...set them in the deep freeze for thirty minutes and they will pop out very very easy (after you bring them back to room temp and let the molds warm until they sweat). I have heard not to put soap in the freezer but I have always done this and never had any problems. I make many different kinds of soap but use the same recipe, just adding oatmeal, lavender seeds and different things. I like to make soaps with spices too.
I sell my soaps at craft fairs. Never use butter flavored shortening as I tried it once. The soap came out okay but I used a yellow dye and the soap ended up an awful red.
I hope people will try this as it does beat the cost of rendering fat and purchasing it. Hope this helps someone and feel free to email me any questions you might have and I will certainly try to be of help.
Thank you...
-Dick-
Hello from Alberta Canada!!
I just wanted to drop you a line and let you know how much I enjoyed your site. And the recipes! WOW! I am a relatively new soapmaker and I am having a blast! I have to admit though that I am into the M&P soaps now because my kids are small and I'm unsure about using lye. I will try some of your recipes posted with the M&P and hopefully they will turn out well. I have been selling my soaps in various little shops around our rural area here and I also give classes. Do you know of any suppliers in Canada? It is difficult to find much here. I think soapmaking must be new and there are not enough suppliers here yet. Anyway I enjoyed your site, thank you for sharing it with others.
-Lisa-
First, I just want to say thanks for the wonderful information you have on your webpage!
I am a recent convert to soapmaking. I just started beekeeping in '98, and since my bees didn't make enough honey for me to give jars for Christmas presents, I decided I'd try to make soap with honey and beeswax. I tried three different recipes, and all three turned out great. I was pretty confused, though, because all 3 traced (I think) in less than 5 minutes! I was all set to keep stirring and stirring. I really thought I'd done something wrong. But I went ahead and poured them in the molds, and they turned out fine. Since, I've read that adding beeswax makes trace happen faster.
Honey-Oatmeal Scrub
This was my first batch to make, and it seemed to reach trace in less than 5 minutes. I wasn't sure it was really ready, but the spoon left a line, so I went ahead and added the oatmeal, honey, and orange oil.
Now, I'm wondering if I did something wrong. I poured the soap into cylindrical plastic bottles. It all hardened fine, but when I unmolded it, the top 1/3 to 1/4 of each bottle was lighter in color -- it was like something rose to the top. When I cut it into rounds, you couldn't tell there was a problem -- there were just some rounds that were lighter than others. They all seem to suds fine. Did I do something wrong?
Thanks a bunch for your help!
-Kathy Harris-
I've had soap do this with coloring agents...darker to lighter. I'm not sure exactly what causes it, but suspect it wouldn't be as likely if the soap were thicker when poured. When you are pouring it into bottles or PVC pipe the tendency is not to want it to be TOO thick, however, or you would have a terrible time getting the stuff in. Next time you might let it trace a little further before you pour it and see if anything moves around as it sits. The soap is probably fine, but it is irritating when you want it to be homogeneous.
Good luck with the next batch!
Subject: Soapmaking
Thanks to you, I just finished remilling my first successful batch of (tallow/lard) soap! I did find the lye at the grocery store after looking everywhere else first. My mom was all ready to send me ashes from her fire pit! I may have her do it yet. Thanks for the lead on the Ghana How-to-Make-Soap-If You-Are-Dirt-Poor-and-Miles-from-Nowhere-Site; I did find the ash soap recipe there. Also of note they told you how to gather flowers in the am and mix them with the fat to scent your own soap.Given the price of EO's I am ready to raid the garden.
Speaking of perfumes, National Geographic last month? had a very nice article on them.
I decided to try your advice and render the fat in the microwave. My Labrador had great fun eating the Scooby Snacks (cracklings) that remained. On the other hand, when my husband (who I suspect is a closet vegetarian) walked through the door and got a whiff, he was, no kidding, really bent out of shape. I thought my soapmaking days were over as quickly as they had begun. He joked, "Even Granny Klampett had the sense to make soap outside by the see-ment pond!" Fortunately, the smell cleared after a day or two. I got some more kidney fat and this time I just chopped it up and put it in the Crock Pot with an inch of water at the bottom and let it simmer OUTSIDE all day and overnight. It did great, and I didn't have to worry about the smell or burning down the house.
The other thing; I didn't have a stick blender, but I did have...a paint mixer, which is an attachment that goes in your power drill and is designed to fit inside the spigot of those big 5 gallon paint drums the contractors are fond of. It was a little long so I had to get up on a chair to use it, but it worked; I got trace using it intermittently over about 30 minutes. However, I went and bought a stick blender after that.
The basic soap went fine; I colored it but didn't scent it , intending to do so when I remilled it. It was hard and waxy and cut well. The bite went away in 6 days, so I decided to remill it.On remilling,every little batch I tried would melt enough to get clear and gelatinous and darker, but the minute I tried to stir, it would start getting opaque and lumpy. I tried the microwave, the oven, direct heat, and finally the double boiler. I tried the dry milk milling method. I am not really happy with any of the methods. I had to stuff the soap into the molds. With the last two molds (a whipping cream carton and an orange juice can) I put the molds and all back in the double boiler water bath and put a lid on the pot. The steam and hot water seemed to remelt the top and edges enough to smooth them out so they don't look so lumpy. It is very arid here; maybe I need to use more water? Or did I jump the gun on the curing?
So now, my kitchen smells nice again; I made rosemary oatmeal soap with a little freesia EO. It is much more fun to clean up soap than renderings...
Thanks again for a fabulous site.
-Robin-
Subject: First batch of soap
Hello. Wow my first batch of soap and it worked!!! I tried a castile recipe just a basic recipe and added honey and oats and for sent Patchouli oil the only one I could find in our small town. It look good and the sent is just a clean smell. There was a very thin white layer on top I cut off, but it cut into bars nice and did not crumble. The lady at the health food store will order any of the oils I want so I have a supplier close by. I'm hooked, can't wait to try again!!! I love your soap pages and will refer to them often. Thank you.
-Tammy-
Subject: change in soap colors
Subject: Thanks for all the help
About two weeks ago I stumbled upon your web site and couldn't get it out of my system. I bought the book The Complete Soapmaker, read every link on your site and went for it. On Monday, I rendered 5 pounds of tallow (with salt, but it didn't seem to matter). On Wednesday I used a recipe from the book (adapted for 12 oz of lye, using the SAP tables on the web site) and on Thursday I unmolded a beautiful 4 lb. block of basic soap. On Friday (yesterday) I remilled 1 lb. of the soap, using 1/4 cup dry milk (from the hints on the remilling page) and 1/2 cup honey, and although some of my remilled soap has a few white lumps of dry milk I couldn't get to dissolve, it came out gorgeous. I know future batches won't all be this easy, but thanks to the information on the web I feel well prepared for (almost) any problems that may arise.
I just wanted to thank you and all of the soapmakers who took the time and expended all the effort to put this information on the web. It is greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Debbie Kipp, El Paso,TX
You're welcome! I tried to email back to you, but that address bounced back to me. I hope you read this. :-)
Hi Kathy. Love your page...full of information!
Two questions:
1. It seems that fine soaps are always "triple milled." I have found plenty of information about re-milling, but none about triple milling. Do you know anything about this?
2. I am getting ready to make my very first batch, and can't decide whether I should make a tallow basic soap or an olive oil/coconut oil combination. (I have easy access to both materials) Any words of wisdom for a beginner??
That sort of milling process is not something you can do at home. It involves the removal of much of the glycerin, shaving the soap into fine flakes and pressing (lots of pressure) it into molds. The end product is a bar of soap that is very hard and lasts for a long time. It's not the same thing as rebatching.
I have tried to post any words of wisdom (?) I have on the web page and you might want to read more of that. I would make soap that has some hard fats in it first and if you're not working from a recipe that has already been tested, go to the Majestic Mountain Sage lye calculator and plug in your amounts to figure out the right amount for you can of lye, or at least, how much lye to use (if you're just measuring it out).
Good luck! Be careful...you'll get hooked!
Hello Kathy:
As you know, I made the oatmeal & honey soap. It turned out ok, but was not prepared with molds that I liked. I made a second batch with my own recipe, and it turned out great. It was: 2 cups tallow, 2 cups lard, 1/4 c. beeswax, 1/2 c cocoa butter, 1/2 c. olive oil. When it started to trace I added a strawberry candle scent and a touch vanilla. Then I took some old dried flowers that were bright pink and smashed them up in the soap. It turned out great. When I use the soap it doesn't dry out my skin. That is saying a lot to live in Tucson, AZ. The flowers kept their color. It really looks good enough to eat. ha! ha! Next time I won't use candle scent. It didn't stay very long. I bought some little paper cups from a professional hair care store that I used for molds. They are the right size and peeled off after the soap set up.
Thanks for all your help.
-Ronnett-
Hi all! I'm three batches new to soapmaking, well four if you count one that sat overnight, never traced, and I finally threw out. I was wondering where in the world (or preferably in the neighborhood) you find all these unique oils? I can easily find canola, olive, safflower, sunflower, and corn oil, but emu oil? I can't even find coconut, palm, and soybean oil. I would have thought a place like Fresh Fields would have been more helpful, but not with the exotic oils. They were great for essential oils, though a bit expensive. At least I can find some nice eo's on the spur of the moment. Thanks for your input!
-All the best, Chris-
You probably could have reclaimed that separated batch in the oven. There is information on doing this on the "reclaiming page" of soapy success.
I get coconut oil in the natural foods section of a local supermarket (a nice one). You can also buy it at a health food store (comes in jars) but it's more expensive there. It can also be ordered over the Internet (see my soaplinks page in the supplies section) but I don't know how much it costs after you pay for shipping it. I just noticed soybean oil at our local Costco in the oils and shortening section, but didn't know it was used so much for soap (there is a recipe that was just sent to this page recently that used it). Costco also had a great selection of olive oil at reasonable prices...I got the cheapest and lightest in color. Palm oil will probably have to be ordered, although some people find it in specialty sections at local supermarkets in the ethnic section. It's sold as vegetable "Ghee" in cans. I don't have that here, but it would sure be nice!
Good luck!
...I stir my soap for about 15 min and then use my stick blender. I somehow feel that the lye and fats have to blend fairly well before jiggling and starting up the trace. Since I have been doing that I I have never had trace take more than 4 min after I started the hand blender. I use tallow blend recipes and I have never had a problem...
My green tea soap turned out yucky...my son said it looked like congealed pork gravy. Ah well, mistakes are normal I suppose!
Someone named Rachel from the Latherings forum gave me this recipe. It's relatively cheap, traced almost instantly (I used a stick blender for about 3 min, but got scared because it was thickening quick...so I switched to a wooden spoon and got trace within 15 min)...and it doesn't require a scale, or olive oil.
Temp: 100-110
I was so happy to see the beautiful (almost effortless) trace! At trace I added orange peel I had dried in the oven and ground, 3 oz. of honey, tangerine, lemongrass and sweet orange EOs (these were relatively cheap and I've read that orange doesn't keep it's smell very well after curing, but hopefully the lemongrass will help hold it in...we'll see!) If they come out nice I'll call them Orange Blossom Honey Bars!
Thanks once again for all your help...don't know how I would have gotten started without your advice.
Michelle :)
Later...
On using a hand held (turbo) or "stick" blender (I am discovering how this saves SO much time and will soon add that to the main page...kind of scary how fast things set up, however!):
I was told to use a stick blender after you stir the lye in..but even so I only used the blender for about 2 min before it reached light trace and I switched to a spoon. I think I added my EOs too late though, because by the time I added them, it was getting pretty thick and the tangerine oil (which was quite orange) seems to be weeping out to the perimeter of the mold. Though now it seems to be absorbing back in but the edges are still darker than the middle. I guess this takes some practice!
BTW, if you ever need cocoa butter, I found some at K-mart in the African American beauty supplies section...and it was pretty cheap too. It smelled just like chocolate.
Michelle :)
I wrote a while back regarding my first batch of soap, and wanted to let you know how the second batch turned out. I used basically the same recipe (9 cups tallow, 2 cups lard, 2 cups olive oil, Lye temp 90 degrees, and fat temp 115 degrees). This time, I only used the electric mixer for the first 5 minutes, then stirred by hand. This worked better for me as it didn't set up so fast. I had purchased some tin dog bone cookie cutters, and had coated them with polyurethane. I used candle color (yellow) and a paraffin block of lemon candle scent. The color worked ok, but the scent didn't. First of all, the block was about 2"X2" and called for 1/8 of an inch per 2 pound candle. I shaved it all, and tried to melt it in the microwave with a little fat. It didn't melt, so I put it in a double boiler and melted it that way. However, when I added it to the soap just at the beginning of trace, it (the scent) sort of formed waxy globules in the mixture (it likely was hotter than the soap mixture). I poured it into a pitcher before it got too thick, then poured it into my molds. It was a little sloppy with some running out from the bottom edge of the cookie cutters, but overall, went ok. After 24 hours, I unmolded it. Again, there was no ash, and the texture was creamy hard like a block of hard cheese. It curled when I shaved it and was easy to cut without crumbling. Two problems though: first, the polyurethane had come off and was attached to the soap (was able to remove this with a potato peeler but it was a big job); second, I really can't smell the lemon at all. How do you know how much scent to add? Are some candle scents better to use than others? I don't think I will do the paraffin block-type again.
Anyway, it was great fun to do. My previous batch which I am now using is really nice. It's very mild and creamy and lasts forever! It has a nice clean scent (though not the clove scent I had added). I have given a number of bars away to friends and they all like it, so I think for now I will stay with this recipe. With this batch as well, I had no separation, and the color is even on the hardened bars. After pouring, I covered each litter pan with Saran Wrap, placed the pans on top of a folded blanket, and then covered them with another 2 blankets, "tucking" them around, and left them alone for 24 hours.
I really love this!
-Janet-
Glad you're having so much fun with this new hobby! No...wax based candle scents don't work well at all. If I didn't mention that on the page I should. I'll make a note for myself. When I was first making soap years ago, I tried them and to get it to melt, you really need to melt it into the fat at the beginning. By the time you've made the soap, etc. there's really no scent left. Not worth the bother.
I just ordered some fragrance oils off the Internet yesterday from Sweet Cakes. I visited someone locally who makes soap as a business and she had bottles of fragrance oil ordered from this firm (Liz Clouthier from PigDog Farm). Since I had anticipated making an order I smelled them and also soaps she had made with the oils. They were wonderful! This woman offers about 120 fragrance oils in amazing combinations. It's so hard to narrow it down to only a few because the cost does run up pretty quickly. Actually, they are probably more economical than using essential oils though...so when you consider the comparison, they are not too bad. Some of them are $5 per 2 ounce bottle, but most are closer to $7. You might want to check her out. She makes soap herself and tests the fragrances for that purpose before offering them, since some things will work well for candles but NOT for soap.
Would the polyurethane have come off easier after the soap had aged? I don't know exactly the texture of it, but I think I would have left it on until the soap hardened and shrank a little. Then maybe you could have pulled it off without hurting the soap underneath. Then again...maybe it would have warped the aging soap to leave it on? I haven't had any experience with this.
I have a feeling there is another batch lurking in your near future! Thanks for letting me know how it went. I'm always happy to hear of people's successes with their soapmaking efforts...especially if there were problems starting out which may have been discouraging (I had LOTS of those). When your soap makes those nice curls when you are beveling, you know it has a good texture!
I emailed you a week or so ago having trouble on my first batch of soap...but I'm on my second now, and I seem to have the hang of it!
The first batch was all lard, and I thought I'd have more success with part tallow, since you say it makes the soap harder. When I first read about this, rendering fat was something I definitely wanted to avoid, but I also really wanted this to work, so I went out in search of suet. I'm in the Boston area, and though it was pretty easy to find suet for sale, it is somewhat more expensive here (69-89 cents/pound). I did find some, and set to rendering it that weekend.
I can't believe it, but rendering the suet was actually kind of fun! I don't own a microwave, so I just melted it on the stove in a pot. Now that I think of it, it really was fun, and didn't smell that much at all.
My recipe was as follows:
I was so excited when I actually saw the stuff trace! I stirred in the tea, and poured into a Rubbermaid mold. About an hour later, I peeked, and the tea had all sort of settled to the bottom. So...I confess...I snapped the lid on tight and inverted the stuff, and swirled it around until it was more suspended (it was getting thicker, so this time it stayed).
The batch was a success! I'm so happy about it! The soap is pinkish with little specks of green and brown, and it looks really cool! I just finished beveling the edges, and now, I'm yet again venturing into something I didn't expect to get into at all: remilling the excess soap (there was quite a bit left.)
I have one question and one suggestion:
I plan to use a Pringles can for the remilled batch, since it sounded like such a great idea for disk-shaped bars, but isn't the lining aluminum? Won't that mess it up?
When I was cutting the soap, I inevitably got some of the lye on my hands. I had vinegar which I put on my hands in addition to washing them. I think it really helped to neutralize the lye before it burned me.
Thanks, and count me among the addicted!
-Lorien Carney-
As I recall, Pringles containers are cardboard with a silvery lining. I'm not all that sure the lining is actually foil, but maybe a foil colored plastic. People have used these with success, so I think you are safe. When you are remilling soap that has already been made, there isn't as much of an issue of the reaction with aluminum as there is with fresh cold pour soap. You should have no trouble with doing this.
I'm sure the addition of vinegar to lye helps to neutralize it quickly. I cut soap with my bare hands all the time and just rinse any free lye stuff off with water and I've never been burned. I don't think it's as awful in dilution as many people describe in their instructions. It really does scare me in the crystal form, however. If you got a piece of that sitting on your skin, gathering moisture (as it does) and didn't get it off, it could do some damage. You would likely get it off quickly though...because you would definitely FEEL it! The other terrible hazard would be if a small child or animal swallowed a crystal and it went into their throats. Esophageal damage would be a real high likelihood in a case such as that. It pays to treat lye with respect.
I am new at this whole soapmaking thing and have made about 5 batches of soap. I always peek at the soap about an hour after I have poured it into the mold. There has always been a separation of the oil to the top of the container. The size of the layer varies. It could be anywhere from 1/2" to 1/8". It always has disappeared within 24 hours. Is this supposed to happen??? The soap when removed from the mold seems to be even throughout when cut into bars. I have recently tested the pH of one of my batches by placing a hunk of the soap in water and placing a piece of pH test paper in the water. From this method the pH is between 7 & 8. Am I testing correctly?? I want to sell my soaps at area craft shows and craft malls and I want to be sure that these soaps will not harm anyone. I have used them to wash my hands and they don't seem harsh to me. Please if you have any suggestions for me they would be much appreciated.
-Thanks - Stephanie Miller-
I've not noticed the top of the soap looking clear like you describe, but if it's all turning out okay and even throughout, I wouldn't worry over it. Maybe you could stir it a bit longer (not constantly) before pouring so that it's a little bit thicker. Then it might not do this...I don't know.
I never test the pH of my soap so I'm not much help with that. I do make sure it's totally aged before offering it to others...at least one month but 6 weeks is better.
Sorry I don't have definitive answers for you! It sounds like you're doing fine.
Addendum...
I read on your page someone asked you about why the soap had a bit of a clear appearance when they peeked at their curing soap. I ordered the book by Catherine Failer on Transparent Soap Making, and she talked about how all soap goes through a gel stage. When making transparent soaps you try to get the soap to stay in that stage. It is a bit complicated and I am waiting until a slow time of year to try it myself, but back to the subject. After I read about it I had to check it out, and sure enough there it was, and in fact it looked as though the soap had swollen. The next day I checked it out and everything was normal. I found that very interesting and had never found that discussed in any of the books that I read, so I thought I would share that with you. Also the ash/wax debate, the last three batches I added beeswax in the measurements that you gave us, and the first batch, no ash, the second and third batch, just a very fine whitish layer, but not even close to what it was before. I am going to try the saran wrap next time and see if that works. For me ash is not a real problem as my mold is made in such a way that the air only gets at one side of the bars, so the vegetable peeler works great.
-Pat Prenty- *
Hi there - I have a question regarding adding colourants to homemade soap. I have made a few batches, which have turned out, but I would like to make some soap for Christmas, and would like to add some colours.
I only want to use natural products, no dyes or synthetic colours. Do you have any ideas for me? (I'm looking for green, yellow, and red primarily.)
I can share some information from a book I recently purchased by Melinda Coss... "The Handmade Soap Book." These are her recommendations and I have not tried them yet (I think she is referring to putting it into rebatched soap, but you could do it in the cold method also). She says to use 1/2 tsp. per pound of soap. Mix the powder into a bit of the soap and the mix that back in to the rest of the batch. Here are the colors:
This sounds like a lot to add to me, but that probably makes the colors stronger. I wasn't sure how the adding of Cayenne would affect the mildness of the soap either. I've used Turmeric to make a nice creamy beige color, but used only one teaspoon for a whole 6 pound batch of soap (that's six pounds of fat, before adding the water, etc.).
This doesn't really give you RED, but if you want clear colors, you almost need to use synthetic dyes (candle dyes work very well).
One other thing I have not tried are cosmetic colorants, clays, etc. These are kind of pricey but you can locate them in the supplies section of the Soapmaking Links page.
Good luck. If you try these, let me know what you think of the end product. The spices will probably add flecks to the soap, but that can look kind of neat and earthy.
I was reading a note on your site where someone was wondering if you ever made two different scents and/or color to a batch by separating some out. I did this on my last two batches with the help of my husband. I stirred the soap by hand for about 15 to 20 min, and then, while it was still very soft I called in my husband. I poured off about 2 1/2 cup of soap and gave him the pot to continue stirring. I took my hand blender and blended it until it was just at a light trace (about 2 to 3 min) I then added Valerian and rosemary (that I had crushed in the food grinder) and an apple fragrance oil, and mixed it up. I then poured it into molds. I washed all of the utensils and then poured another 2 1/2 cups and repeated the process with other ingredients and fragrances. I cut the recipe into four, and it worked great.You can't use your big molds, but if you want to experiment it makes great soap. I got my fragrances from Wellington Fragrances on the net, which are specifically made for soap making and they work really well. I use about 1/2 oz. to 1 lb. of soap and that makes a nice strong smell. The only problem with them is you have to buy quite a bit, and it is wholesale so you have to be a company. I live in Canada and even with shipping and exchange it makes it about 1/2 of the fragrance oils here, and I won't even talk about essential oils. I hope that this helps.
-Pat Prenty-
Hi Kathy,
Thought you might get a chuckle out of my first experience with soap making. First of all, I read your wonderful instructions thoroughly, and decided to go with tallow as my first attempt. I was able to find the lye ok, decided to use turmeric to color the first batch, and found some essential oils at a local health food store. I went to the supermarket and asked the butcher for "tallow". He looked at me funny and said that he didn't know what that was. I told him I thought it was the fat around beef kidney, and he said, "oh, you mean suet". So I picked up 6 pounds of suet which appeared very white and clean. Decided to use the microwave to do the "rendering". I put in one of the packages (about 2.4 lbs.) and turned on the microwave for 2 minutes, fully expecting it to melt down very quickly to all fat. I didn't really understand what a "crackling" was. Of course, nothing happened in 2 minutes, so I persevered and eventually got melted fat which I strained and measured out. Of the 6 lbs. I purchased, I was able to get 11 cups of rendered fat which I thought was pretty good. I did find out what "cracklings" are as instead of it all melting, it left these crispy globs of stuff. After the first batch, I cut it up into smaller pieces before starting the process and that worked much better. I did that a couple of days ago, and it hardened to a white, hard fat in the refrigerator. Today was the day and I ran into several problems. First, the lye wouldn't come out of the can. (It gets like that after sitting on the store shelf for awhile...I usually "knead" the sides of the plastic container or gently rap its side on the edge of the counter a couple of times. Once it's broken up some, I shake it vigorously to break the lumps up a bit more.) Finally it did after I hit the can with a hammer several times. I decided that I would use 11 cups of tallow, 2 cups of lard, and 1 cup of olive oil in order to get a little more lather. I dissolved the lye in 2.5 pints of cold water. I watched the temperatures carefully, and started the process when the fat was 120 degrees, and the lye was 85 degrees. I was surprised there was so little smell, as the rendering was a little smelly. After the lye was added while stirring with a spoon, I used a hand held mixer (electric), putting a timer on for 15 minutes. I was just congratulating myself on how little mess I had made, when about 8 minutes into the process, it began to trace. I quickly added my scent, then tried to pour it into my molds. It had very quickly thickened, and I had a terrible time getting it into the molds (it was too thick to pour). I was unprepared for it to set up so fast!
Realizing that I was heading for a disaster, I put the heat on it and after a few minutes, it thinned down enough to pour into the litter box. Other than being very thick, it looks ok. I covered it with blankets, and will see what it looks like tomorrow. I did not manage to set the house on fire, sustain any major burns, put holes in anything, but boy what a mess!
I am keeping my fingers crossed that it won't separate. Will let you know what it looks like tomorrow!
-Janet-
Next day:
It was with some trepidation that I uncovered the batch from it's layer of blankets today. I was prepared for large puddles of lye solution. It was cool, hard, creamy and waxy feeling. It was very easy to get out of the pan in an intact block with the Saran Wrap below it. One pan had some moisture on the bottom, but just a bit. It slid easily out of the few molds I had made. I decided to try cutting it with a sharp knife and it cut easily without crumbling. On one mold only (which I decided must have been aluminum because the mold turned black inside and looked eroded and rough), there was some ash. No ash ANYWHERE else!
The soap looked a little mottled which I am assuming will even out with further processing? I was a little disappointed with the lack of smell. I had put in cloves as an essential oil-came in a vial (for $8.00!) which was 0.33 fluid ounces. I wasn't able to detect any real clove smell in the soap.
A couple of things I will do differently the next time: 1) think I will hand stir the mixture in the hope that it doesn't set up so quickly-it was impossible to "pour" this mixture. As a result, the soap is uneven, and the molds that I had "stuffed" with the thick soap weren't totally filled. I think a little paring in a day or two will allow it to look prettier; 2) I think I will make a mark on the inside of the litter pan so that it won't be such a thick layer. The bars turned out to be about 3"X2.25"X1-1.5". A little too big, I think. The only other thing is that the color turned out nice, but a little lighter than I had hoped (I had used 1 teaspoon of the turmeric). I think I will try other sources for color. Haven't found a candle-making place around here, but haven't really looked, either. I would really like to find some "dog bone" molds, just for fun, since my kennel name is Bone-Afide. Any suggestions, comments on my first attempt are welcome. I can't thank you enough for your wonderful site and advice.
I am hooked! Think my results were beginners luck, but I'm going to thoroughly enjoy them!
-Janet-
I'm not sure if the mottling will go away, but you won't notice that when you start using the bars. The smell might be stronger as the lye smell dissipates. That's a lot of money to spend for .33 ounces! I saw some clove oil in the pharmacy section of a grocery store and I think it only cost around $6.50 or so for what looked like 1.5 to 2 ounces. I'll have to pay closer attention next time. Was yours pure essential oil? Maybe next time, you should pulverize a few clove buds and stir them in toward the end also...I'll bet that would give it some punch!
I usually use the electric mixer during the first 10 to 15 minutes (while adding the lye stream and for a bit after) and then switch to a spoon for the rest of the stirring until it gets close to pouring. With tallow soap like this, I don't actually wait for it to "trace" before pouring...that's too long. Usually, it will start looking kind of opaque on the surface (after a total of 20-30 minutes...I don't stir it longer than 30 for tallow and/or lard soap) and a ring of hardened soap will start forming on the bowl or pan around the edges. It will look a bit thicker, but I think honey-like would more describe the texture. If it starts getting a bit grainy textured and thicker, you have to MOVE fast! With all-vegetable soaps, you can wait until trace and probably still work with them since they are a softer soap in the first place.
Can your find any plastic packaging for dog chew toys or whatever that have the dog bone shape? If there was something that sold several bones and they each had their own compartment with that shape, you could probably use that to pour in after stabilizing it somehow. Plastic packaging affords all kinds of possibilities for mold material. Do you have a place there called PetSmart? We have one in Silverdale and they have a ton of animal products...I guess a good pet store anywhere might yield something you could adapt.
I think you will enjoy using this soap, even though it doesn't smell as strong as you'd hoped. You can store it with fragrant materials in a semi-closed environment and the soap will absorb the smell after the fact. You might try some oils in cotton balls, or whatever (after the aging process is complete). Maybe some crushed whole cloves in cloth bags would do it also. I would avoid direct contact of oils with the soaps since they might cause some uneven discoloration.
Kathy, I just tried my first soap made with beef fat. The fat was rendered easily. The butcher sold me about 5 lbs. meat trimmings for 75 cents. I used 24 oz. tallow, 3 lbs lard and 24 oz. of coconut oil (kind of stinky). I used the coconut oil to achieve some suds. Our water is very hard and a sud is hard to achieve with any soap. I used some vanilla fragrance but I' m not sure if I like it. It smells a little like Play Dough. The consistency is a little soft, so I hope it firms up with age. The color is ivory. I may try to reclaim it because I'm not sure I like the vanilla.
I am wondering about adding glycerine to soap. Does it change the consistency or the sudsing action? Also, does it make it more transparent?
Do you ever half your recipes during the cooking process? For example, do you transfer any out of the batch and add it to another pan so that a different fragrance can be tried? It seems to me that if you added it to a warm pan it might be OK. My husband says that I have too much soap with one batch and he doesn't understand that I am experimenting. I also need a little improvement in cutting the bars. I have a cat litter box but I think the bars are too thick. Next time I will use another container for part of it. The bars aren't too pretty yet!
Thanks for all your help.
-Lori-
All adding glycerin does is to superfat the soap and make it more gentle. I don't do it anymore (tried it a few times) because it drives up the cost and homemade soap is already so mild because it has all the natural glycerin left in. I can't prove it, but I think when you buy glycerin soaps, it's kind of like getting "enriched" flour. First they mill the flour and strip most of the goodies out of it, and when they add SOME of them back in, they call it enriched! When you grind your own wheat from scratch, your flour is much richer than the "enriched" stuff. I suspect adding glycerin to your homemade soap is redundant, since no one took the natural glycerin out in the first place. Glycerin doesn't make the soap transparent...it's a method of making soap either using alcohol or sugars that makes it transparent. We've just gotten to associate that look with glycerin soaps. There are some books out there that tell you how to do the transparent thing and on the Noah's Ark Soapmaking link there is a recipe for "Faux Neutrogena" soap that I think comes out clear (probably a golden color).
>Do you ever half your recipes during the cooking process? For example, do you transfer any out of the batch and add it to another pan so that a different fragrance can be tried?
I haven't done that, but have thought about it. It would be helpful to have another person to assist. I would wait until all the lye is mixed in and it's looking nice and smooth (but before trace and adding the fragrance). I'm not sure how it would work adding different colors at that point...whether it would mix in okay, but fragrance would be fine. There are people who do this and pour the two into a pan and then swirl them (different colors). Haven't tried that either, but it might look neat. Pouring some of your soap into separate molds is a good plan if it's too thick in your litter pan. I generally do about 18 small molded soaps in addition to my litter pan stuff. Your bars will look much better after you bevel them (in a few days after they harden up some more), but they won't be exactly alike or perfect. I don't mind that and think it lends a nice touch to the homemade idea. Beveled bars look nicer to me than just the straight cut ones with the little corners (mostly what I see in homemade), but it all works just the same!
Your husband is in deep trouble because you are hooked now! You'll just have to give some of the stuff away for Christmas. Then he'll be impressed with how resourceful and frugal you are! At least you can get reasonably priced ingredients at the local grocery.
I am sending this in response to your soap web page. I notice that from the comments that you have had and the experiences with people in my area, that once you have made soap, you get hooked. I have been making soap for about 2 years and I had about 3 batches not turn out. I have had the most problems with the vegetable soaps. I have been doing lots of browsing on the Internet, and at one place there was a reference to stearic acid, which makes vegetable soaps hard (That's interesting because I have some of this in a closet somewhere. It's not the harsh thing that the name implies and actually looks like waxy white shavings. It is often used in lotions...someone else ordered it for a cosmetic-making class at church and I'm not sure where she located it...pharmaceutical supply?). I am unwilling to do this as I don't like to add anything too much like chemicals to my soap, and I don't know enough about it to do it. I am abandoning all attempts at vegetable soaps as too much trouble, and I have learned the joy of rendering beef fat (that of course was a joke). I have found a source for ground beef fat, specifically suet (the fat from around the internal organs, which I understand is the best...probably kidney fat) for about 45 cents a lb. This renders down in about 2 hours. I have tried the method of rendering with fat chunks, and let me tell you, if you can get it ground before hand, it cuts the work and time to render in half. I use about 200 gms of coconut oil and 300 gms of olive oil, and it is the best soap I have ever made. If anyone is interested in checking out their recipes for saponification you may want to go to the Mountain Sage lye calculator...it will test your recipe to check how harsh the soap will come out. I have stopped having failures since I did that. Actually the reason I am writing is to share a bit of a trick I learned about cutting the soap. Cheese cutters work great. I have the type that has a marble base and a wire strung between the forks of a swinging arm (what a description). That works well for cleaning up the bars, and a hand held one is good for smoothing and your more sophisticated cleaning. I must say, yours is the best web site I have found for good solid advice and instruction. Thank you.
-Pat Prenty-
Thanks for the help. the batch of soap that I made today was the Crisco recipe. I added maraschino cherry scent and ground oatmeal. It smells really good and looks successful. I also found that cake decorating dye was great and marbled some cherry color in.
I've been able to find coconut oil , palm oil, and probably lard at Fiesta Grocery Store in Houston. I don't know if you are familiar with Fiesta but they have a food section for every country and Palm oil was in the African section. The Indian food section had tons of coconut oil. (note below) Albertson's was the only place that I had found lard so far.
I saw some beautiful soaps at a craft mall recently. Some were clear with swirls of what looked like curled wax (probably shavings of a harder soap of a different color) and they smelled wonderful. The vanilla soap was white and looked as if chunks of a cream colored soap had been added. I would sure like to know how the clear soap was made it looked beautiful with those curls of pink. (This is usually done by recrafting the soap but using alcohol to melt it in. When it is poured, it sets up clear. You would have to stir in the curls just before pouring. If you want precise directions for doing this, I would look in some soapmaking books or some of the links on the soaplinks page. I think the Noah's Ark site has a recipe for clear "Faux Neutrogena" soap.)
Do you do this as a business or for pleasure? (Pleasure...usually!)
Thanks for a great web site and the help.
-Lori-
Update from Lori on Sept. 27, 1998:
The coconut oil that I bought in the grocery store in the Indian food section was clear and liquid oil but smelled awful. I kept wondering why everyone thought coconut oil was so great. You may be right about washing it but I found a nice smelling one with a white solid appearance in the same store on the health food isle. It was $4.19 for like 16 oz.
I think that the next batch will be a success. I will let you know. I just didn't want to lead anyone down the wrong path. Just learn by my mistake. All coconut oil is NOT the same.
Thanks,
Lori
Wanted to tell you about the soap...I originally told you it was as if it had way too much oil, and asked you if you could add lye/water on the next day, if it did NOT set up properly. My husband (darn, why do they ALWAYS have to be right!!!) said to go ahead. I did so, the next day, not SAP properly, did so again (using 13/4 oz lye to 1 C water each time.) Next day, set up gorgeous, WOW, I really understood "trace." I had some essential oil - sample-sized ones in a packet, and ladled some mixture in 3 plastic bowls (now part of my official soapmaking equipment!) to use for 3 separate fragranced soaps!
Poured some into cute molds I got at a dollar store (good sized ones, a train, teddy bear, starfish and dinosaurs-a 4-pack for a buck!) and the rest in a men's boot shoebox lined w/ freezer paper (at our Georgia Mountain Fair the soapmaker told me to do that, I did, mitered the corners for a good fit, too).
24 hours later, a little soft, DEFINITELY SOAP! Had a bit of "sweating" on top, Must've been some water and oil, but the next morning (YES I HAD TO PEEK!...had them w/ cardboard on top, covered w/ a blanket) I showed my three sons before school, and they were so excited... like, "MOM, LET ME SEE, IT'S REALLY SOAP...AND THEY THOUGHT THE MOLDS WERE ADORABLE, EVEN THOUGH I HAVE 2 TEENAGERS AND A 10 YEAR OLD..."
So this morning, almost 48 hours later, it looks great.......the sweating mainly disappeared, and it probably w/ be easy to pop out of these flexible molds, because you can see where they're separating from the sides. The big boot box too, NEAT...I'll use a thin flexible wire to cut the bars and I BOUGHT SOMETHING NEAT AT WALMART LAST NIGHT...THEY HAD IN THE CRAFT DEPT....WALTON COOLING RACKS, A TRIPLE DECKER (i NEVER SAW THAT BEFORE!) W/ COLLAPSIBLE SIDES, FOR STORAGE, BUT THEY LEAVE ALOT OF ROOM IN BETWEEN THE LAYERS, I BOUGHT THE LAST THREE OF THEM MARKED DOWN TO $6.00 each, so for $18.00, I have 18 layers of rack to "cure soap!"
Now, I will at the time, test for pH to make sure the soap isn't lye heavy...
Yesterday, I found coconut oil in my health food store, and I will order off the Net, palm oil, for I have plans... for more soap!!!!
Thank you again, Kathy! (I just made up this cute poem of my experience :-) [see above] sorry for the corniness, but it just came to me, in like a minute...)
-Sherry Wersing-
I was laid off from my job the end of May and needed a new hobby to start. I wanted to start making some Christmas gifts for families and friends--a nice way to pass the time. I decided on soapmaking and now I'M HOOKED!!
I love it! My dining room table is filled with soaps. Orange soap, Rosemary soap, Basic White, Homesteaders, my personal creation: Cranberry Peppermint soap, and more! with buckets curing and bars drying my house looks like a factory.
The question I have is this... I made the mistake of purchasing (through a restaurant supplier) a 50 lb box of what was being called tallow. I was told it was like 98% tallow with a bit of veggie oils in it.
Well it doesn't behave the same as tallow... in fact the box came labeled as frying shortening and contained preservatives, anti foaming agents and other weird unnatural stuff. I received a credit for the stuff from the company but... since I couldn't dispose of it in our local (rural area) landfill without paying a disposal fee, I decided to try and use it... the soap made with it kind of comes out with a pink hue.. and seems to always have lye bubbles small very small ones... but when I cut up the soap and grate it (with gloves on of course) it grates well. I milled a batch like this and the milled soaps look beautiful. My question is this.. if there is lye present in a basic soap... and you mill it does it combine properly if its not present in the form of bubbles in the milled soap? Will it be safe to use or will the handmilled soaps be caustic and harsh? How can I tell??
Also is there a newsletter or forum that you know of for soap crafters? Also Thank you... Your website and email FAQ's are the tops!!!
Ray...
PS I've recently secured a great job...unfortunately I'm stressed out that my soapmaking will become less in my life...I've read, shopped, and thought of nothing but molds, oils, and scents for the last few months...... but I love it... (and so do my friends and family)
Sounds like you've got it pretty bad! As far as forums or newsletters, there's a link for a soapmaking forum at the top of the soapmaking links page. Check that out. I would also go to the Mining Company's soap and candlemaking page (I have a link for them also) and see what they have listed. I don't participate in the forum or get a newsletter, so I can't recommend more than that from personal experience. The most recent forum I recommend highly is Latherings...find link on soaplinks page.
As far as your tallow goes...if it has vegetable oils in it, it will change the saponification value, but I don't know how much. Also, the results of mixing it can vary according to the temperatures you are using before combining the lye with fat. I can't tell you exactly how to approach this, but if there is more vegetable oil present than anticipated, it would take less of that to balance a can of lye in a soap recipe than it would of straight tallow, I think. How much, I don't know...probably just a slight difference. It could take longer to trace also. Since people actually DO make soap from vegetable shortenings (it's kind of gross) you certainly can use your stuff and it probably will make a harder soap if it indeed has a lot of tallow in it.
As far as pockets of lye in the soap, I have found that soap like that usually turns out okay but takes longer to completely saponify and incorporate the free lye. Just let the bars rest longer in the future and those pockets should disappear. Are they large pockets, or just small beads of moisture when you cut the bar?
It sounds like you've come up with some interesting combinations in your soaps. If you'd like to share any of those recipes, I could post them in the section I started for that purpose on the main soap page (with your name next to it).
I hope this is helpful. I don't know all the answers, but it sounds like you are certainly learning a lot and on the right track! If you want to secure pure beef tallow for soapmaking, you can usually order it from a butcher (just the huge chunks of kidney fat...gross looking and in need of rendering, but pure and wonderful).
I spoke to you last month about making soap and want to let you know how it turned out! Well, everyone in the family just loves it! They prefer it even over liquid soap for hand washing. The oatmeal soap is the best by far. You remember, I powdered some oatmeal (got about 1 cup of the flour) and put it in the soap with vanilla scent. I call it my "oatmeal cookie" flavor. It's very creamy and sudsy. [I just made the usual lye soap recipe that can be found anywhere, the one with 6 lbs of lard and one container of lye, etc... I put some old fashioned oats through my grain mill until it came out like flour (not granules). This probably could be done in a blender or food processor, or maybe use store-bought oatmeal flour. When the soap was just starting to trace, I added about 1 cup of this oatmeal flour, and a small bottle of vanilla essential oil (not cooking vanilla), and blended it in well.] I am very lucky that it turned out so well, my next batch had to be thrown out because I put the corn meal in too soon and sorta cooked it! haha! eeuw it was a mess.
My most recent batch is with goat milk. It saponified well, but doesn't smell so nice. I just put vitamin e oil into it, no scent. It may not be usable. It doesn't stink, but just doesn't smell clean enough or something.
-Cindy Bennight-
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