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Miller's Homemade Soap Pages |
I bought two soap molds made like the ones you show on your site. The person who sold me them referred me to your site to see how they are used. (Sunshine Fun Soap)
The block of soap that resulted from a pour of 101 ounces of fixed oils (plus lye water & fo) was 8 1/5 X 8 1/4 by 3 1/2.
I am cutting challenged. <g>. My new cutter came from Chestnut Hill Farms and uses a guitar wire to slice through the block of soap. It's soooo easy. Before this I scored cut my block into 4 logs and then used the HD miter box to cut my soap into bars (using a Chinese cleaver with a thin blade).
My molds consist of two 12" X 9" wooded boxes and the two new boxes as listed above.
I have no problem cutting the 12 X 9 batch into 32 bars that when cured are 2X3X1". The cut for each bar is 1 1/8".
Today when I un molded the block of soap from the new square molds I was baffled. Laid 8 bars of soap up the long side and 4 across the top to try and determine the best way to cut them.
After much thinking I laid the block on the 8 1/4 inch side and used the new cutter set at 2 inches. Now I have 3 logs 8 1/2 inches high X 3 1/2 x 2. The 4 Th. log is under 2 inches - how in the heck that happened is beyond me. LOL!
What size batch of fixed oils should I be using in order to get 32 bars that are 3x2x1 and weigh 3.5 when cured?
Any insight and help on your part will be greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Bobbi Guerra
If you lined your mold with freezer wrap, the soap will not really be as wide as the inside dimensions of the mold... the paper takes up some of that. I'm guessing that's what happened. You kind of lost me on all this visual description because I'm kind of tired... so I'll cut to the chase!
The batch size that I post will work for this box mold just fine. That's the size mold I use. If you were visualizing the bars stacked inside the mold in the cut form (rather than a solid block), the bars would all be standing ON END. You would have four rows with 8 (32 per batch) or 7 (28... what I do) bars per row. I hope this is clear.
Subject: Sweating soap
Hi Kathy,
What are some reasons that soap will sweat? I have a batch of soap that always has a film on it--no matter where I place it. I used essential oils in the batch. It was a different recipe from the others I have used in the past. The others did not cause sweating. The recipe in question is: 36oz canola, 35oz olive oil, 10oz coconut oil, 8oz palm oil, 2oz beeswax, 24oz cold water and 12oz crystal lye. This recipe combined with the essential oils made a wonderful soap for me--so softening to the skin but this one problem keeps it from being ideal. What can I do if anything?
Thanks for your help.
Rasheeda
Boy... I wish I knew the answer to this question! I can only offer some observations. I had more trouble with some of my previous recipes sweating than the ones I make now. The earlier ones had a high percentage of unsaturated oils and a lower percentage of hard fats in them. That might be one factor. Soap that went through gel seemed less likely to sweat than soap that stayed cooler (it's more opaque looking... like around the edges and more brittle when cut than gelled soap). You might try a base recipe like the Sudsy-All Vegetable one on the All Veg page... I use that one all the time and like it a lot. You could still add some beeswax to it if you want and the water can be as low as 24 oz. or higher if you are using FOs. You might want to try more water in case your mixture didn't combine quite as well because of the lower water (which helps disperse the lye through the mix). I'd only raise it a couple of ounces though if using EOs. I use 26 oz. a lot with EOs for fragrance.
As far as what to do with this soap... I'd leave it out in the open air longer and it might dry out for you. Soaps like this sweat worse if closed up too soon. You can mop it off and let it have better air circulation. Other than that... use it up soon and make another batch with a different base recipe! :-)
Good luck!
At any part of the soap making process is the soap able to be hand crafted , such as clay?? I would like to craft some items, but don't want enough of them to constitute getting a mold.
My first batches as a newbie would not have stood up to this... but the texture of batches made with the stick blender (and having gone through gel stage) are SO much better, that I think you could model with the soap during the first week or so... when it seems firm enough but not so hard as to break when squeezed.
Dear Kathy,
I am a soap maker in Australia and just could not wait a moment longer before contacting you. I don't really have a question to ask you, but that is probably only because I am not yet aware of what I should be asking!!! I have learnt so much from your generous informative site that most of my questions have been answered. I know there is still so much for me to learn.
I have been making soap for a year now, although I had a taste of soapmaking about 16 years ago when my children were in kindergarten. (A local soapmaker ran a lesson for parents at a kinder committee meeting. I did follow through with that lesson and dabbled with soap making for just a short time, but in hindsight the recipe must have been rather basic and lye heavy because I was not that impressed with the results, and as life with little ones has it, I got too busy to keep it up.) However the seeds must have remained dormant and a year ago I had an urge to retry the making of soap. I was given Norma Coney's book, the Complete Soapmaker as a gift and found it very handy to get me going and also found a number of references on the internet to encourage me. But my spirit has been so touched by YOUR site that I am not sure which is the more addictive - reading your site or making the soap. When I am making the soap, I can't wait until I have finished so I can read more on your site. When I am reading your site I am so inspired I want to make soap...what a dilemma!!! And how addictive!
I have been pretty happy with my results, making both cold processed and remilled soaps with the trimmings...the latter with varying degrees of success. I am still learning...mostly through trial and error and reading of others' experiences.
However the thing I really wanted to tell you is how I am so impressed by the fact that it is such a small world. Your site has illustrated to me that so many others all around the world are also experiencing many of the emotions I have experienced by soapmaking. I just love every stage...the experience of the raw fats, and oils, the chemical changes they go through with saponification, the resulting logs and blocks as you cut the soap, the curing blocks in all their stages over the weeks and finally the finished block. Recently I have been making quite a lot of soap ready to sell at my first market. However, while they are curing I am falling more and more in love with them and feel that I don't want to part with them!!!! (my second dilemma!)
When I read your site I feel like the site has been made especially for me because I get such a great feeling from reading it. I still have not finished reading all the "soapy success" pages, but can't wait to get back to the next stage of reading. It is just like a good book to me. Although my family puts up with all the soap containers, blocks and general clutter I have around as I create, they don't experience the same feeling I do from the process. Thus I love reading your site that tells me others do love the same things I do.
Anyway, I appreciate all the time and effort you have put into your site. You are such a generous person and obviously a very talented one in so many ways...soapmaking, teaching, computing, mentoring, being amongst your obvious skills.
I am not sure that I have anything NEW to offer to your site because most of what I have done has been what others have done before me, but I have recently had great success with Norma Coney's Palm Oil soap but I substituted canola oil for the olive oil. I used the lye calculator that I found from a link from your site, and all has been fine. I have used oil based powdered dyes designed for confectionary use. They are a little expensive but I feel comfortable with the fact that they have been approved for oral consumption. I also use spices and homegrown herbs, and mostly fragrant oils rather than essential oils. My husband eats canned mackerel sold in oblong cans and I save them for moulds. The fishy smell disappears with an initial soapy wash and then a stint in the dishwasher. Most of my disasters have been initial ones while I was learning what to look for with trace, what separation looks like, how much fragrant oil I needed to use in order to retain a fragrance after saponification.
I am a Home Economics teacher and I am finding that soap making is so aligned with cooking. Someone once said to me "if you can read you can cook." It is not just a matter of being able to read, you must follow the message in the recipe, be accurate and have a foundation knowledge of how your materials will react under different circumstances. Your site certainly helps people with the latter.
I better stop so you can go and make some more soap. THANKS heaps for connecting me spiritually with others around the world who get a kick out of things I do. As others have said before me, I feel like I know you.
Yours gratefully from Down Under.
Annette Laskowski.
Ps. What shall I do - read more of the "soapy successes" or go and make more soap?! HELP!
What can I say? ...What a lovely person!
Hi Kathy, I am reading your finding ingredients page and found a bit on benzoin tincture. I have used it in my soaps {strawberry, orange and lemon, etc.} and have had no problems. Its smell is quite strong and colour dark but it doesn't interfere with colour or scent of the soaps.
Regards from tassie
Anna Schmidt
Hi Kathy,
I wrote to you last Christmas with a few questions that you so wonderfully took the time to answer :) My soap making had been going well and I actually took a large order for Christmas from a friend - so I finally decided tonight I HAD to make those bars. I made a HUGE batch of soap
Lots of soap - at least for me :) I was planning to pour into my kitty pans ( all 10 of them) and then add my color with scents and swirl it in ( I have done this before on a much small scale :)
Well, I have my husband take this HUGE pan off the stove and pour the oil into a large "muck" pan - the large plastic with rope handles
That goes well, he goes back to his computer game, and I add my lye and plug in my stick blender.....
Blending away thinking to myself, " oh this is working....when all of a sudden I realized the level of the soap mixture was rising RAPIDLY...I watch it for a moment and then SCREAM - " help me get this out of the house NOW" I don't think I have ever seen my husband move so quickly!! We each grab a handle and carry this now boiling, rising stuff to the side door and I thought we were going to stop in the screen in porch, so I stopped...he didn't stop and the stuff overflowed onto his leg - he starts cursing LOUDLY, ripping off his shoe and sock and hopping around our deck in our nice quite New England neighborhood, I am trying to get this stuff completely outside....all around 10:30 PM Finally the stuff stops boiling just at the containers edge and slowly settles back in...so I say happily " oh good I think the soap will be alright " I then looked at my husband, in his shorts, one shoe off...still hopping around on one leg. I thought he was going to kill me!
He is fine now, a 1/2 dollar size patch on his leg is bubbling, but I threw vinegar on it and then rinsed it well ( that started the screaming again - good thing HE didn't have the babies!!! ) My soap, on the other hand is very hot, when I went to stir it again, it started to bubble up - then it has this very weird gel like stuff in it, and some oil is separated, I mixed as gently as I could and poured it into the boxes with my fingers crossed. I had to keep it outside for fear of it blowing up inside....any thoughts on why it would do this? I did not check the lye temp as I figured it was outside for a while and it is cold here in MA. My oils were about 100 degrees. Is my soap still doable? I am hoping that I will be able to grind it down and just reshape the soap into balls. I have NEVER been able to rebatch right, my always comes out too soft - never dries right, and is lumpy. Anyway, sorry this is so long.
Octavia
[Side note: Octavia's husband made a speedy recovery and is just fine now.]
Sorry to hear about this.. hope his leg heals quickly. I'm sure you'll laugh about it for years to come once the pain stops. :-) If this ever happens again... as soon as the soap hits the skin or clothes... they come off ASAP. I'm sure he wanted to continue to help you carry the soap outside first so waited for a minute.
Really large batches are handled differently than smaller ones (I don't do big ones). I gather that lower mixing temps are used. It sounds like your soap overheated and you developed the "volcano" effect. The internal heat got so high that it had to escape and bubbled up and out of the container it was in. This can even happen in some small batches when they overheat. I had a gal who reported a volcano that spewed from her blender!
Your lye temp was probably too hot to start... better make sure next time before starting and lower the beginning temperature by 10 or 15 degrees (room temp might be okay). I'd also drop down the mixing temperature of the fats. For a BIG batch like this... something in the 80-90 degree range is not unheard of. Maybe you should make a batch smaller than this next time... maybe half this size?
Good luck! Your soap will probably be soap in the end if you got it well blended and settled down... let me know how it turns out.
Hi, I just loved all the information that you have on this page. I live in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, at the southernmost tip of the American continent. I grew up on an isolated sheep ranch, and had nature as my playmate for most of my childhood.
I thought that you might like to hear about my fantastic first experience with soapmaking. My father and I were all alone on the ranch when I decided that it might be fun to make some soap. We looked in all the old cookbooks that my grandmother and great-grandmother had, but the only information we could come up with was that soap was made with lard, ashes and water. SOOOOOOOOO..... we mixed melted lard, ashes and water together, and came up with some fantastic black sticky bars that looked more like boot polish than soap! And they left our hands nicely black too!
My second try, a few years after that, produced a good soap that washed any kind of stain out of clothing, but unfortunately it also washed the skin off other peoples hands. For some reason my skin stayed put!
I left off soapmaking for a few more years, until I finally found a book with a real recipe in it. But the recipe called for one tin of lye. In Argentina lye does not come in tins, so I had no idea as to how much lye I was to use. The soap, however, turned out perfect. The only problem was that I never wrote down how much lye I had used, so I could not duplicate it.
A few more years went by, and I came up with your web page. So once I can get back to my sheep ranch, and fresh lard, I will go right back at attempting to make some good soap. The only difference: now I have a large booklet printed out from your web page. I thank you one million times for all the information that is now at my fingertips!
Abby Goodall
What a nice email... thanks so much! :-)
Here's an update (at the time of posting, I've not gotten to answer this yet... maybe after updating this page!]:
Hi again Kathy!
I hope you remember me. I'm the crazy nut from Argentina that when first tried to make soap ended up with black boot polish. Well, I printed out practically all your page on soap and took it out to the farm and.... between December and January I made well over 1000 bars of soap, without counting soap balls. I am a little ashamed to say that I did not follow ANY of your recipes exactly, but then again I am a person that can NOT follow other peoples instructions. I did however use your saponification table and a lot of imagination, and ended up with fantastic soap!! I have even started selling some, and have made $200 in three weeks! I sell my soap at $2,50 a bar. I just wanted to let you know that I can never thank you enough for all the information that you so generously share with everyone. I have become a complete soap addict.
Do you want to know what goes into my soaps? Well, first of all, I can't get hold of coconut oil that seems so important in most of your recipes. All I can find at the end of the world is sunflower, olive, grapeseed, corn and canola oils. On the farm I can melt down my own sheep and cattle fat, and soon I will have pig fat as well, since we will be butchering one of our pigs. The fun part however is all the other goodies I have added. I tried with fresh fruit like cherries, peaches, banana, apple, avocado, also with mint and one that turned out real nice... beaten egg yolks!!! Two other great ones included grated lemon rind, and cinnamon. The ones that were scented with a mixture of spices were superb, I used paprika, curry and ginger.
I make rather small batches of each kind of soap, so I have made over 40 different scented soaps in 1 1/2 months. What resulted quite nicely was to mix up a large amount of base soap and then divide it into four or five batches, then I added all sorts of goodies to each different batch. It was much faster that way, but you have to watch out for your working speed, or the soap hardens up on you.
The only thing that I'm having some trouble with is colorants. I can't get hold of many things here, we are at the end of the world after all. Do you know of any other natural ingredients that I could use to give color to my soaps other than those mentioned on your page?
Please let me know if you have tried adding any of the items mentioned above to your soaps, and I would be delighted to hear any other crazy ideas.
One more thing that I have done is keep all the shavings from when I polish up the soap, and gently mix them together to produce interesting color combinations. Then I put them into clear plastic bags and wrap them with a ribbon. They look beautiful! All the thicker slivers I keep in a separate box, and once I have enough, I make up some plain soap and add all the little chips. The end result is delightful!
Well Kathy, thanks once more for all your inspiration, you have become my mentor!!!
Abby Goodall
Hello,
I would like to add a category of soap people, and that's "Highly Allergic." You might want to lump people like me in with the "Naturalist" category, but I don't care if the product is natural. In fact, a lot of the "natural" soaps are worse on my skin than regular soaps.
I've gotten where I won't buy soaps or shampoos that contain sodium laureth or lauryl sulfates. I look for products with amphoterics and glucosides, because they are supposed to be milder. I've been shooting for lower pH levels as well.
To put this in perspective, my scalp is so allergic to most shampoos that it would be fair to compare the reaction I get with them to getting athlete's foot on my scalp.
People like me are also not very happy with people making suggestions who don't really know what they are talking about. EVERYBODY has advice. The most annoying suggestions are that I use Baby Shampoos or Dandruff Shampoos, because they are the absolute worst. Most people don't have reactions like I do, so they are really just stabbing in the dark. I can at least make educated guesses, because I have been experimenting to see what works for me. But that doesn't stop people from giving useless advice.
Even a lot of the nonirritant soaps/shampoos cause me problems. I tried Pure Essentials Fragrance Free Shampoo, and it worked great for about 5 rounds. Then I started having a severe reaction with that soap as well. KMS Alternative Shampoo worked about as long.
I even tried using "Aritha" or Soap nut powder that I got from an Indian grocery. Once again, the "natural" approach failed me. I also tried a "natural" shampoo that had honey and some ground up grain or something in it--greasy and slimy stuff. It also was worse on my scalp than regular shampoo. So the assumption that "natural" is sensitive is load of $#%%^*&!!!!!
I just wanted to make the distinction here between "naturalists" and sensitive soapers, because "Naturalists" will frequently want crap like aloe vera in their soaps, which does absolutely nothing to prevent the harsh effects of sodium lauryl sulfate, which is found in about 95% of all surfactants -- including most "natural" brands.
I think these "natural" soapers are closer to the vegetarian category, because they tend to be going "natural" for philosophical reasons rather than genuine sensitivity issues. Otherwise they wouldn't be duped so easily by marketing ploys. My scalp tells me better. It doesn't care what the labels say. The products either make me miserable or they don't (or all the possibilities in-between.)
Anyway, just my 2 cents.
Sheryl Z.
Products containing sodium laureth or lauryl sulfates are not natural or "real" soap. They are detergent bars/or commonly called "SYNDETS" (synthetic detergents). Real soap is made from fats and oils like coconut oil, palm, olive, etc. The label will often read, "sodium cocoate, sodium palmate", etc." Most home soapmakers will say on their labels, "saponified coconut, olive, palm oils", etc..
At any rate... I don't want you blaming real soap for the problems that detergent bars might cause. Real soap made at home still has the natural glycerin intact... no one has removed it. In the average bar of homemade, there is 75% soap compound and 25% glycerin after the saponification process is complete. When soaps are made commercially, they generally tap off the glycerin and use it as a byproduct, so commercially produced "real" soaps are not usually as mild on the skin as ones done at home, or some that are now sold as "homemade" and done in the same way as a home soaper would do them (there are now more homemade type soaps available in the marketplace).
Shampoos are a bit trickier. You can make shampoo bars at home, or liquid shampoos if you use potassium hydroxide, but I've never tried them. Someone sent me a recipe for a shampoo bar that she really likes, but I have yet to try it myself. Since I don't have problems with commercial shampoos, I'm not motivated enough to do the other. If you ever would like the recipe, I can forward it to you. I'm going to post it on the site next time I have time to do a major update.
Thanks for your input. :-)
Thank you very much for sharing your wonderful site. I am so grateful to benefit from your soaping experiences. There's no doubt you saved my butt several times by having "Botched Batches" available. Not to mention my nerves when I experienced "alien brains", that ammonia smell, sweaty soap, lavender colored soap that ended up Bazooka Bubble Gum pink (egads, had to rebatch!) and other such tribulations. So far I haven't had to sacrifice any to the soap Gods yet.
Let me backtrack a bit and tell you how I started this whole adventure. Sometime early summer I caught the tail end of an interview with a soap maker from North Carolina (I'm from Raleigh, NC) on the Lynette Jennings Design Show. This gentleman apparently had lost his job and used the opportunity to start a business. For whatever reason, he decided to make soap. He said he got his soap making information off the internet. I was intrigued. Since I was unable to find any more information from Lynette's site, I had to go surfing, and that's how I found you. I read every thing I could find on soap. I bought books, I visited other web sites, I scrutinized handmade soaps in every store I could find, and every day I visited your home page. I have to tell you this much research is unusual for me. I have been a crafter / artist / renovator (my kitchen at present) for many years and usually I just jump right in. Also, I rarely am thinking of Christmas in August, but something compelled me to try a few batches.
Old Fashioned Oatmeal, Peppermint Tea Tree, Lavender Rosemary (bubble gum pink), Orange Calendula (alien brains), Oatmeal Goat Milk and Honey (smells like oatmeal cookies), Cucumber Aloe, Chocolate Almond Swirl (a big hit, but second batch stank like ammonia for a day. think it wasn't insulated enough), Citronella Orange Poppy Seed Scrub, more Peppermint Tea Tree, more Oatmeal.... Well, you get the picture.
Sounds good so far, right? I took a few bars to work (I own a small hair salon.). One of my clients has a small business painting pails which she sells at home shows. She wanted soap to market with her pails. Another client runs her church's gift shop. She wanted soap for the gift shop.
Other clients see my soap; more sales. I go to a quilters' shop to buy mylar, I sell soap. THIS SOAP THING HAS TAKEN ON A LIFE OF IT'S OWN! I am running out of soap. Guess what I plan to be doing this weekend? To make matters worse, my kitchen will probably be down to the studs by next weekend. Actually, I'm having a great time. My husband has been very tolerant of all the soap stacked all over the house. My cats have knocked only one batch on the floor. (Much of the soap is stacked on the new kitchen cabinets stacked in the living and dining rooms waiting to be installed.) Anyway, I guess I'll batch the best I can the next couple of weeks and then break for Christmas, which is my busiest time of the year at work. In the meantime I'll try to find someone to design a web site for me, since my programer husband probably is going to be too busy.
Kathy, even though my husband thinks my success is due to the very professional labels he printed for me, I feel I owe you a big thank you. Your generosity in sharing information has saved me, and many others, hours of headaches and I'm sure money. Well, this has gotten a bit long, so I'll write another time with questions.
Thanks again and happy soaping,
Mitzi Slaydon Treimann
P.S. I am assuming you don't mind me using your recipes and/or passing them on, but please let me know if this is not the case.
What a wonderful email! I enjoyed hearing about your soaping adventures... you're very welcome. :-) It's funny how life has its twists and turns. I decide to put up a garden page with a single addition of soapmaking instructions and it has bloomed into quite a thing. Sure is a response out there to soapmaking these days... all over the globe.
No... they are out there on the Internet for anyone who wants to use them. Not a problem.
Good luck to you and happy soaping! :-)
Subject: an interesting revelation
I just had to share with you a revelation about goat milk soap. I read in a country skills book that for successful goat milk soap you need to put it in the blender shortly before trace. I did that yesterday and today have the most beautiful soap without the caverns of last time. You wouldn't believe how nicely it set up.
Again, thanks for such a fabulous site.
Polly Schellinger
p.s. I started soaping only three weeks ago and last night counted my batches....20!
Hmmm... that is interesting. Did you hand stir the other batch? Thing is... I used a stick blender for mine, which works much like a blender, only with a portable blade.. mine still separated. I think it would help your soap to be better blended, but not sure that alone could eliminate the caverns. Think heat in the mold has something to do with it as well.
I do appreciate your feedback however... I'll have to keep my ear to the ground on this.
Thanks!
I used your recipe for "Sweet Grass and Clary Sage Soap. I wanted a yellow and wine combination. I used essential oils to fragrance. The problem--where do I start! My biggest problem I encountered is that I am at a lost as to when to pour the base into the mold. I used the stick blender, but it seemed to me that it was just too soupy to pour into the mold. I have used the hot process in the past and so I believe I am under the impression that the soap has to be thick and practically set before you pour. Even with the "No Palm" recipes that I have done, I will wait until it's almost pudding stage before I pour it into a mold. Please allay my fears. Tell me I can pour before pudding! I'm too afraid to try any time before that. I need the voice an assurance of an expert to tell me it's okay. :-)
Believing as I do about thickness, you can imagine what I encountered when I tried to introduce the color to the batch. It plopped down really comfortable like and of course didn't move a lick. But before that happened when I put the color in the leftover solution it went wax on me (too cold). I had to rush to the stove and heat it. I then used the stick blender to smooth it out as best and as quick as I could. When I put it in the base I grabbed a chopstick and begin my swirling dervish dance. It was so thick I ended up with peaks, valleys, and mountains. The design looks pretty but it's not an oil painting, it's soap so I don't know what surprise awaits me come cutting time. It was adventurous and exciting, but a bit stressful.
Can you give me a gauge on consistency during trace? Should it look Campbell Chicken Noodle soup consistency or Campbell Tomato soup or...?
Excuse the examples for comparisons, but they're the best examples that come to mind. I would greatly appreciate your help. I also want to thank you so very much for all the invaluable information you have graced the Internet with. I, for one, am extremely glad and grateful to be able to benefit from your generosity and expertise. Thanks again.
Rasheeda
Hi! I chuckled when I read your swirling experience... I've had some like that! You end up chopping up the swirling color to try to mix throughout the base or both end up so thick it's more like plastering a wall than swirling cake mix!
That recipe you used (if you used the same base oils I had on the site) had a lot of soybean oil in it. I've found that those took longer to get thick, which was good for swirling, since it gave you more time. It is okay to have it thinner with that kind of recipe because that's just how the soap tends to stay. Just be sure it looks really saponified... honey like, smooth and with a matte finish, regardless of how "thin" it is. I guess the thickness is often like cake batter or really soft pudding. When you lift out a spoon or stick blender (turned off), it should coat it nicely without being globby. If you wait until the trace is too far gone, swirling gets to be really difficult anyway. You might want to try the swirling in the pot method I mention on the "Modern Procedures" page. That is a lifesaver when the soap is getting too thick to effectively swirl in the mold.
Good luck on the next attempt! If I have to use an analogy from Campbell's soup lineup... maybe the cheddar cheese soup? ;-)
I APOLOGIZE THAT YOU WILL SEE THIS SAME QUESTION IN THE GUEST BOOK. I ASKED THERE BEFORE I FOUND YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS. I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW THE BEST WAY TO PRESERVE BARS OF SOAP UP UNTIL THEY ARE SOLD. IS IT A BETTER IDEA TO CUT THE BLOCK INTO 3 STRIPS THEN WAIT TO CUT INTO INDIVIDUAL BARS TO PRESERVE SCENT AND FRESHNESS. WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO WRAP BARS OF SOAP, ETC.
THANKS AGAIN FOR YOUR WEALTH OF KNOWLEDGE, DEBORAH
Have you browsed the Soapy Success section? I think this has been addressed there. I don't know that there is a "best" way and actually, I've not tried storing soap in logs or blocks and cutting later. That would probably depend on how long you're going to take to finish cutting the loaf and how hard that particular soap gets... whether it's on the brittle side or firm and easy to cut. I usually cut my bars when it's a day old and let them dry out. When they stay in a log for awhile and you cut just before sale, the inside will not be as dry and hard as if they were curing in smaller pieces. Doesn't seem to pose a problem to customers who like the soap by the slice idea, but soap that is harder from curing probably holds up longer in the bath or shower.
I like to keep my unsold bars in a semi-open environment after they have cured for 3 to 4 weeks... I have a storage unit that is plastic and has 9 drawers. One batch (the size I post on the site) will store nicely in each drawer. If the soap is still fairly fresh, I can leave the drawer cracked open to allow more air circulation... but I won't leave them fully open... just think it might hold the scent a bit better.
Kathy, I have thoroughly enjoyed using your soap webpages as references over the years and with your experience and experimentation I view you as a resource I can trust. Now, after about 5 years of making soap I succumb to using what everyone seems to say is the wonder of soapmaking, the stick blender. I purchased a Braun only because a recent show was so successful that it wiped me out and I had to make all my soaps quickly and I couldn't bear to think of standing and stirring all that time!
Anyway, here are a few things I've noticed between hand blending and stick blending and I wonder if you ever noticed this when you switched and could answer my questions:
1) I believe I always get a gel stage when I use the stick blender whereas I only once got gel stage hand blending. (Contrary to what I think are newbies to soapmaking, I don't believe you have to get gel stage to get a good bar of soap, I've made tons of good soap without it).
2) I've only had my stick blender for a couple weeks so I haven't seen what the soap looks like in four weeks but a good portion of my batches don't have the nice opaque, creamy look. Instead it is more like a translucent, maybe hardened gel look (hard for me to describe). Will this change to a more opaque look? Will it change the texture and feel of the soap when used?
3) I notice that people who use stick blenders say to be careful not to over insulate the soap so that it doesn't overheat. What happens if you overheat it? Will it look like what I described above?
I hope you have some time to answer these questions. I have another show in early December and I've just finished making all my batches with the stick blender. I want to be sure my soap will be a good product to sell.
Thanks so much for any info you can give me.
Kim Daubl
I certainly enjoyed learning about the stick blender myself and sure wouldn't like to go back to the old way.
It's true that you can make perfectly good soap without the gel stage, but I like the soap to go through that because I think the texture is better for cutting and it cures faster (saponification). The soap that does not gel is not only more opaque (sometimes attractive), but if often shatters more easily when cut... depending on the particular recipe.
The bars will be more opaque after curing than when first cut and fresh... but they will have a darker color than the soap that never gelled. I suppose if you want more of that opacity again, you could try adding some titanium dioxide (white powder) to the mix at light trace. It's water dispersible. I'm not sure what to tell you about finished texture... there might be a slight difference, but not the same is if you were to have cooked the soap (hot process).
Since soap is more likely to go through gel and heat up when stick blended, you don't have to be as judicious with insulation. The main problem I see with over insulating is that the top can develop the "alien brains" syndrome.. or if you are making soap with honey or milk in it, it can cause a separation problem. Those soaps hardly need insulation after pouring.
I like to prewarm my mold this time of year so that the soap gels to the corners and has uniform color, but once the gel stage spreads out to nearly the corners on the top, I leave an opening so heat can escape and it doesn't get overly hot and distorted on the top of the soap. This is more likely to happen with an all-veg batch than a tallow one, in my experience.
I hope this helps. Good luck with your upcoming show! :-)
I love your site and all the information that you freely share. I am a recently new soaper, less than a year, and I am hooked. Already have customers that love this soap. I would like to know when you mention wax color do you mean Crayola crayons or candle color. I have used Crayola crayons, CP color chips, and spices. Are crayons safe to use since they are nontoxic? Thank you for the info. From a fellow Canadian soaper.
Richere
Thank you for your nice email! I'm glad you've enjoyed the website. I'm reluctant to respond to this because the guidelines for producing soap for sale in Canada are different than the U.S. You have stricter rules. I'm sending a carbon copy of your message to a soaping friend who lives in British Columbia. Can you help this fellow, Jules? [I CC this email to her.]
As far as their safety, I don't personally have a problem with using crayons on occasion (when they work) or candle colors, but some folks don't like them because they are not U.S.D.A. approved (when I say "wax color" I usually mean candle color... don't use crayons very often these days). For soap, you have some leeway when selling it in the U.S. but in Canada, I believe it's treated more like a cosmetic, with all of those requirements.
Response from Jules [Thanks!]:
Richere, sorry for the delay in responding - I'm the Canadian friend Kathy Miller mentioned.
While I am not aware of any regulation specifically prohibiting the use of wax colours or crayons, do keep in mind that when you complete your Health Canada Cosmetic Notification Forms (which MUST be completed within 10 days of the first sale of a cosmetic product - and soap is a cosmetic in Canada) you must list each and every ingredient that goes into your product by it's correct INCI designation (with the exception of fragrance, of course, which is just listed as "fragrance"). Furthermore, the colour additives that you use must be those which are approved for use in Canada as colour additives.
Now, if you know to a certainty what all the ingredients are in your wax colour or crayons, (and can prove it - i.e. with documentation from the manufacturer) and that none of them are on any ingredient "hotlists", then by all means, go ahead and use them, making sure that you list all those ingredients on your Notification Forms.
For my part, I won't use anything other than cosmetic grade dyes and pigments. Personally, I don't like the idea of using something like candle colour in soap because I don't know what is in it. I could find out, I'm sure, but to me that's unwarranted effort when I can purchase and use dyes and pigments easily! It's also a lot easier to list on the Notification Forms, which are enough of a pain!
Hope that helps
Jules in Vancouver
Hi Kathy,
Found your website and think it's great! I could not find your privacy policy. If I put "do not post my address" at the end of a posting, is the request honored? I looked all over for a soap book reviews page but could not find any. Thought the rebatching/remilling page was the closest to it with all of the Norma Coney references:) A reviews page would be a nice addition to your site--I have read a lot of reviews on Amazon, but not all of the reviewers seem to have made soap on a regular basis, or even once!
Thank you,
Amy
Hi! Glad you've enjoyed the site. When starting the site, I never thought to post a privacy policy... I don't post all the email I get, but started putting ones up that I thought might mirror questions or experiences of others and help them. On occasion, someone will write but ask me not to post their question... that's fine. If anyone ever requested I take off a link for their email, I would gladly do that. I started putting the addresses on in a case soapers might want to contact one another.
Soap book reviews might have some value. I've not looked at all the books that are out there, but I've bought some that I thought were good or if I felt I should know what is in them because other folks are using them. I'll consider doing that. If I do... I suppose I should have one of those linkovers in case people want to go to Amazon and buy a copy [I'm not highly motivated to do this, I guess... starts getting too commercial and also... I'm too lazy to figure out how to set it up!]. Are there any particular books you wondered about? If you let me know which ones they are, I can let you know if I've read them.
Thanks again for your email. :-)
Lately, every time I make soap, it has this 2-phase consistency. The soap around the edges of the mold is hard and brittle, and the soap towards the center is softer and gummier. I have had whole batches with the brittle consistency, too. They don't seem to affect the mildness of the soap, but it is unsightly, and the brittle part is hard to cut without chipping and flaking. As the 2-phase soap dries, the soft center actually shrinks more, so the edges stick out a little. I've had batches where the difference in shrinkage was so great that the two parts separate. Also, the edges are opaque, while the center is more translucent (not like glycerin, but more like most vegetable soaps).
At first I thought that the brittle phase was from cooling too quickly, because it is on the edges. But my latest batch had that "brainy" texture on the top, from too much heat, and still had the 2-phase. I'm at a loss....
I make batches using 18 oz lye, and pour it into 7 Rubbermaid drawer organizers, which I keep, together, wrapped in blankets. I use a stick blender, and my recipe has coconut oil, shortening, olive oil, tallow, lard and cocoa butter.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks, Tricia
Hi! I think this might be a combination of things. It could be that you are pouring the soap a little bit too early. Might wait for a little thicker trace (not actually THICK... but like soft pudding?). The other is temperature. Now that the air temps are cooler, you might want to raise the temps slightly on your oils and lye solution. The softer portions of your soap might have gone through gel phase, while the edge parts did not because they were cooled by the mold. If the molds are thicker, they can be prewarmed gently in the oven, but with plastic ones, I'm not sure you can do that. Maybe having a warm place to set them right after pouring would work... warmed oven with the pilot on, or prewarmed and turned OFF (putting a small pan of water in there too can minimize ashing... you might need to set your molds on warmed cookie sheets... warmed but NOT hot). The brainy texture is from too much heat being trapped over the top of the soap, which makes me think it is going into gel phase in the center. Taking the excess insulation off the top while making it nice and warm around the whole mold might help this... and being sure that trace is well developed before pouring.
I hope this helps. Good luck with the next batch!
Kathy Miller
P.S. - If you decide that the warm place you are going to use is the inside of the oven... be SURE TO HANG A SIGN ON THE DOOR! There are horror stories of people preheating the oven, not knowing soap is there and making a huge mess... as well as ruining the batch. Might do it themselves or have a child or husband turn it on without knowing.
Hi! We are new soapmakers (in Canada) and found our lye at a farm and feed supply house for much cheaper than any grocery store (approx. $2/lb). Also, we have used tincture of benzoin in a darker soap, and it seems to work fine.
Thanks, John Kramer and Jasmine Lemon (Victoria, BC)
Hi Kathy,
(You are the best, by the way, you've helped me before!)
I taught my cousin, who lives in Mexico now, to make soap. She wants to refine a recipe using locally available ingredients, and teach a native woman who was recently widowed and has kids to make soap so she can sell it to the tourists in her resort town. They are in Ixtapa/Zihuatenajo, which is very hot and humid all the time. They have available: lard, tallow, corn, sunflower and (hopefully) coconut. (We'll assume for this discussion they have coconut, many trees, not sure about the rendering plant.) We want a nice balanced bar, without a great risk of rancidity and DOS. Most of the recipes on your sight with animal fat also include olive, which is prohibitively expensive down there. My cousin has some great ideas about making soap that will be "souvenir-ish"...I'll share once the techniques are dialed in.
So, if you have some recipe suggestions, we'd be grateful.
Thanks,
Terri
Not having made this... here is something I'd probably start with:
Temps: approx. 110-120 degrees (warmer during colder mixing conditions like wintertime)
Once she starts doing the soap, she may want to tweak her own recipes or have certain additives. Use a good lye calculator to fine tune when changes are made. This is around 5% lye discount which gives a bit of buffer. I don't like going higher than that. If she wants special oils in it (like shea, jojoba, whatever), I'd calculate those in and back off slightly on one of the others to try to maintain something close to the 5%... not over 7%. Certain FOs can add some SAP value to the mix as well... you figure those out when you get a batch that is softer to the touch or a little oily when cut.
If you'd like to try it lower on the tallow/lard and a bit higher on the oils... this might work:
Hope this helps!
Kathy,
I recently made a peppermint soap. My base was olive oil, palm oil, coconut oil. I then added grapefruit seed extract as a preservative, peppermint essence oil, and then the color red. My intention was to have a cream colored base with swirls of red. This did not exactly occur. The base color turned gold . Is there a way to get a cream or white base with only swirls of color it. I have changed the olive oil I am using to a cheeper grade that is greenish in color. Does this effect colors? Do essence oils effects colors? Help!!!! I never know what I'm going to get. The only thing I know is that it won't be what I intended!!!! I made some oatmeal and cinnamon soap and it turned chocolate in color with no scent or color added. The previous oatmeal soap I made was beige in color. What's the deal? Is it the green olive oil that's causing the distortions in color? Paula
Any number of things can affect the base color in your soap. Olive oil that is quite green in the bottle will surely contribute that cast to the finished soap. If you want to lessen that... get the grade A 100% pure olive that is more golden colored... no green. Pomace really puts a lot of green in soap, which is nice if that's what you're after.. but otherwise, kind of a problem. Fragrances can certainly affect the color, depending on what color they are. Some are quite clear, others nearly brown (patchouli) and some bright yellow-gold. It's always frustrating to have your color scheme planned out, only to see for the first time the flaming color of the fragrance as it goes into the pot! With fragrances often coming in amber bottles, you can be surprised. Berry scents seem to often have a lot of yellow in them, for instance.
Your oatmeal and cinnamon soap... did it have any milk or honey in it? Those will turn soap a brownish caramel color... depending on how much is there. Vanilla is another thing that turns soap brown as it goes through cure.
I've not used grapefruit seed extract, so don't know if that adds any golden color to the soap... you would know better than I. Sorry I can't pin it down exactly. You could try adding some titanium dioxide to your base soap if you want to whiten it up a bit. You can buy this stuff from the Pigment Lady on the Internet. I think you mix it in a little bit of water before mixing it in at light trace.
Good luck on the next batch! Even with the wrong color... I'll bet your soaps smells great!
I read your article on using a Stick Blender to make soap. My Husband uses a Kitchen Aid, he says set it and forget it! We love your site (just found it today) and all the great information.
All the Best
Bonnie
Does your site have any information on marketing? I find that everyone is too ruffly for me. Men like scent and soap too... my boys have produced many combinations of scents for our soap.
The KitchenAid is not the same critter as using the stick blender, but I've heard of people doing it this way. The stick blender will have the soap at trace within a few minutes... I think the KitchenAid takes longer.
I don't spend much time on marketing stuff, but I would highly recommend you visit the Latherings Forum and read the strings there. Also... browse their archives for past strings that would cover this topic.
I'm curious... what kinds of scents do your men like? I'm always interested in what young people pick up and prefer. My only way of knowing this is when friends of my kids come through the living room and pick up and sniff curing bars... then pronounce which ones they really like. :-)
Thanks for the nice email!
Hi Kathy...I spend my Saturday mornings (and more) with your site. Thank you for all the work it must take to maintain. I'm a single mom with little extra money, so if anyone ever needs advice on making "Shoestring Soap" I'm quickly learning and willing to share! Which brings me to the reason for this e-mail. I'm not sure if this is soapically correct, but I've been using those new GLAD storage containers that have just come out by the zippy bag companies for my soap molds. They work great for me. No need to line with plastic wrap. I just spray with a Pam type coating. They are so flexible that unmolding is very easy. And did I mention budget!? If you chose the right size, the bars can be cut in 1 inch segments for just the right size soap. Even the lid can be smushed down for sealing out air...If I could just convince the company to leave the GLAD imprint off the lid!
Again, thank you. Teresa
I started making vegetable soaps about a year ago, and I put it on hold in March. I have started up again, and have noticed with the soaps I have already made have started to become rancid. The oils I used were olive, coconut and palm oils. I have done a little research in some of the books I have and have found that I can use grape fruit seed extract, carrot root oil and Vitamin E, but that it will only keep the soaps from spoiling only a few more months. I do not want to add chemicals to them, but would like to know if there are other options I could use.
I also have question about using Vitamin E. Do you know if this Vitamin E oil or is it another form? Do you know where I could purchasing any of these items?
Thank you for any help on this matter.
Melynda Olsen
First thing I would check is the level of superfatting in the recipe... this could include the fragrance if you're using fragrance oil as opposed to essential oil. I back off the oil a tiny bit to offset fragrance... at least a couple of ounces. How are you storing the soap? It would help to know this. As far as superfatting... the lower numbers keep better. I would not go over a 5% cushion to have leeway but still have hard soap that keeps well for awhile. I'm not a fan of adding superfatting oils after trace either, since I worry that they sometimes to completely blend in and might contribute to pockets that could spoil more quickly.
I'm not sure how effective those additives are that you mention... some folks use and like them and would be better to ask than myself. I just try to keep the lye discount to a lower percentage. You may do well to check out the archives at the Latherings Forum... I know they've had lots of discussion in the past about these things. I have them listed toward the top of my soapmaking links page in the "general" section. The URL for the links page is below.
I've not used vitamin E in soap much, but when I did, it was an oil that was purchased at a local drugstore in a bottle. It was clear and quite viscous. I don't recall, but think it might have been in or near the cosmetics/lotions section... for using on the skin. Some folks buy capsules and squeeze the vit. E. out of those into the soap.
I hope this helps! Good luck. :-)
Subject: climate AND latex frog! :-)
Needless to say, I came across your website and have been addicted ever since. I have had much success and very few failures using your recipes...failures due to my inexperience not your recipes. I do have what to me seems like a stupid question but will ask anyway. This weekend I made 2 batches of soap both of which I have made before and have used the same molds before with much success. However, the weather has turned cooler and we even had some rain over the last couple of days and the soap is just not "popping" out of the molds as they have in the past. I made the soaps Sat. and today is Tues. and they are still too soft to budge. Could this be due to the recent climate change and how long can one leave soap in a mold before loosing it? I just wanted some "fancy" soaps for Christmas gifts and am so surprised at this turn of events.
Thanks...I love your website and your links.
Chris
Hi! I'm not sure what to tell you. I hope you didn't somehow end up with the soap overly superfatted... that can cause it to be softer. The usual cure for soap like this is time... it might be a week before you should try to pop it out. When it starts shrinking away from the sides a little... it's usually getting close to ready for unmolding.
Glad you've enjoyed the website. :-)
...Superfatting is a possibility...so will let it set.
...Like I said, we have just now seen some cooler temps and moisture for the first time in months. Just thought it might have some bearing on the curing of the soap.
One highlight...made a latex mold out of a "frog garden ornament" so I could make a friend at work a gift for her birthday and it turned out really well. If I can get a decent picture will scan it and send it to you if you're interested.
Thanks again, Chris
|
Followup: Yes, the latex mold held up just fine with the heat. It took a day to make (because of the numerous coats and drying time in between). The product is called Mold Builder by ETI and I got it at Michael's. Thanks for all your help...this is really fun. Plus it's a very unique hobby not to mention the benefit of using all natural soap on your skin. Chris |
![[Latex Frog Mold Soaps]](soap/latexfrog.jpg)
[Are these cute, or what?!] |
Wow... those turned out really nice! I couldn't figure out what my computer was grinding away on after sending an email so I brought up the status window... "latex frog"... just looked funny! The picture was over a meg so it took awhile. Was it very expensive buying enough latex in the kit do do the mold? I'm sure you can buy regular latex at the hardware store... what makes this kit stuff different, or is it?
Thanks for sharing...
It's not a kit...it's just a 16 oz. jar of liquid latex rubber. For the frog I used maybe an ounce. You just apply three very thin layers with a brush over the object you wish to make a mold of...in this case a frog garden ornament..allowing each layer to dry thoroughly, and then about 4-5 thicker layers. Again drying between each and then allow the whole thing to dry for 48 hours and that's it. The brush cleans up with soap and water. This jar cost $8.00. I never thought of looking in the hardware store. It probably would be cheaper. The mold itself cleans nicely, it's obviously pliable and you can turn it inside out to wash and dry. It's an interesting medium to work with and the soap comes out nicely. It picks up minute details and passes those along to the soap. I think one could get pretty intricate if desired. But, I'm still working on my "general contractor" husband to make me a soap mold fashioned after yours as I still like the bars. But, this was a fun project.
Thanks for your interest...
Chris
Hi Kathy, Just thought you might like to know that the strawberry mess turned into strawberry success. Do you remember the soap that I told you about, the colouring separated to the outer 3mm. I rebatched half of the one day old batch added more colouring and scent {I find this scent usually faded to nothing after four weeks} it melted beautifully and I am dancing for joy.
The other half of the batch I chopped up into little bits and added it to a plain batch of white soap{adding more scent again} and called it strawberries and cream...
I really love soap making and you have inspired me to try so many different things. Your web page is the BEST!!!!!!!!!!!!
Regards from down under,
Anna Schmidt
Just thought I'd drop a quick note of warning that some of your web site's users may be affected by... I bought all the supplies for soapmaking a few months ago, saving the lye for last. Had some trouble finding it here in New Jersey, so I went to Home Depot. Most of the people there looked blankly at me when I described it, but I finally found someone who responded to the phrase 'like Drano, only without the extra chemicals'. In the rear of the store, they only had Drano. I finally spoke to a pharmacist friend of mine who told me that, in New Jersey, it is illegal to sell lye to people who do not have some kind of safety lab. He didn't know why, but that's how it is - this state doesn't let people buy lye. Drano, yes; Red Devil lye, no. I don't know if it's illegal to possess lye in New Jersey, but the only way I can get anything to make soap with is to drive into New York. Maybe the rules are different for soapmaking businesses; I don't know. It was, however, TERRIBLY frustrating. Esp. since I'd bought all the equipment. (I actually tried to make a batch with Drano, after skimming out as much of the green goop and avoiding as much of the crud at the bottom of the pitcher. It seemed to saponify, but it was squishy for a month and a half afterwards. It did suds a bit when I tested a piece of it on my bathroom sink. I ultimately threw it out.)
Thanks for the information.. sounds frustrating, indeed!
I don't actually have a true forum on my site and I think you'd have more immediate response if you posted on the Latherings Forum. They have a lot of participation and maybe someone in your neck of the woods would be able to let you know where they get theirs. You could certainly copy some of the text you sent to me and supply your email address in the appropriate field and ask for direct replies, or just check back on the Forum to see if anyone has posted. It's nice when they post because it helps everyone who reads it. I will put your message in my "pending" folder to post later, but a followup of where to actually get lye might be a nice addition before I post it.
Let me know what you find out... or I'll just look for you on Latherings and see what they say.
Good luck! You can mail order lye from a few places (think Rainbow Meadow sells it) so as a last ditch... you could do that for smallish amounts. If you're close to the state line... maybe that's the way to go! ;-)
Well, that's the thing. I started off under the happy assumption that it'd be in the supermarket, so I went and I looked for it. A sampling of results from early this summer, when I was initially looking:
I truly don't want to alarm anyone. I just found my own experience very frustrating. I bought all of my equipment quite some time before I went looking for my ingredients, and to be honest I was a little puzzled in Edwards. I'd gone there to buy the olive oil for Castile soap and I went through their cleaning goods aisle, then their automotive aisle, then even the beauty products section (hey, maybe there was drain cleaner there next to all the hair stuff), and found nothing. I did as much searching as I could and I couldn't find anything. I went slightly nuts trying to find lye ("Lewis Red Devil lye! You know, like Drano! Only without so much stuff." "Huh?" "Red Devil lye? Lewis lye? Anything?" "Never heard of it. Is it paint remover?") and went to as many stores in my area as I could think of... The only place I didn't try was a plumbing supply house. I think I went to Home Depot in the hopes that it would be there instead. I wound up buying the Drano and going home with it, and I asked at Liberty Drug on the off chance the pharmacists (I used to work there) might be able to help me, at which point I got told about the safety lab. Whether that's true or not, I don't know, but I have looked in stores in Morris, Essex, and Union counties, and I haven't found lye for sale.
If anyone else knows about this or can be helped by it, let me know...thanks!
-Jessica M.
PS: this is my work address. Could you send any replies to camwynNO@SPAMwildmail.com? Thanks.
I have been making soap for years using information from several books on the market. I found your site after finally getting the internet and it has changed my life! I was at the point that I was going to give up soap making except for an occasional time when I had half of a day to do it because it was taking way too long and was frustrating me. I had a few Christmas orders to fill and when I read that using the hand blender would speed it up, I was skeptical. I have made recipes that said it would take 30 minutes to trace and I have stirred for THREE hours waiting for that to happen. The hand blender really works!!!!!! I have a new enthusiasm for soap and can now make as many batches as I need to in one day. Yours recipes are great, too. Thank-you so much for your help.
Vea McDonald
Thank you for such a nice email! I feel the same way.... the stick blender put FUN back into stirring soap and makes it so that you can crank out a couple of batches AND clean up in a couple of hours. I think the finished texture is more uniform and consistent as well... great little tool. Mine had been gathering dust until I found out it could be used for soaping!
Thanks for taking the time to write. :-)
Hi Kathy
I have just spent an entertaining few hours reading your site. I nearly leapt in the air when I saw your Australian respondents. I'm emailing them tonight.
I have produced three batches of CP soap, all successful at this stage and getting rave reviews. I made the 'Blowin' in the Wind' Laundry soap in Susan Cavitch Millers book but have found it didn't go to gel when I boiled it - it hardened. Any suggestions, I did change the vegetable shortening oil but tried to choose oils with similar SAP. I'm not sure what to do with it, it looks fine but I don't want holes in my clothes if I've got it wrong. Is there any way of telling?
I have also been taken with a book by Tatyana Hill - handmade soaps (UK -Lorenz Books) have you seen it? What do you think?
We have plentiful cheap supermarket supplies of Coconut oil (Copha), Palm oil (Frymasta), and Olive and Macadamia oil but don't have Soybean Oil (Crisco) - our Crisco is a different oil. Is soybean oil a solid at room temp?
I have done a pure Olive oil soap and it was like cream cheese but solid when I turned it out, how long should I cure it?
Anyway with lots of hits on your site I'm sure you get a million questions, Thanks for your time and effort. I noted with interest your chat community isn't working i hope you can get something up again. You're bookmarked and I will be a regular visitor. thanks again.
Lisa Cann
Hi! Sorry to take so long to respond... it's been busy and our son is home this weekend for a visit. I saw this morning that you posted on the Latherings Forum... hope you get some nibbles from Australia. :-)
The one gal was really interested in networking with other soapers there. I hope those addresses are still good and you hear back from them.
If your lye ratio was correct was correct... it won't hurt the clothes at all after it's cured. Soap made with lye tends to want to be hard and it takes a LOT of water to keep it softer. Even then... it becomes kind of a "slime" and not the liquid you usually associate with liquid soaps. Those are probably made with potassium hydroxide instead of sodium hydroxide. You can always grate this stuff up and use it that way instead of liquid. I'm not really familiar with this particular recipe although I do have that book. Sorry I'm not more experienced with it.
I think I just browsed this at our local bookstore and isn't it based primarily on the concept of remelting? I really HATE rebatching soaps, so would not be as inclined to buy a book like that, but maybe she has some wonderful ideas for scent and additive combinations. You can add scent and stuff to your regular soap before pouring and get around the rebatching thing... just might take more scent that way than when you remelt.
Not unless it's hydrogenated (made into shortening). The regular oil is a yellow liquid at room temp. There's nothing terribly special about soybean... it's cheap and readily available here is all. Olive oil makes wonderful soap and if you can get that it's fine. I did notice that soaps made with some soybean stay more fluid longer, which can be nice when using some fragrance oils or when you want a feathery swirl... but other than that, it doesn't make the bar of soap any nicer than olive.
The same as the others... 4 to 6 weeks. If you think it's especially soft, you can wait longer, but I think you'll find that it will get surprisingly hard in six weeks time. If it doesn't, it might mean that it needed more lye, but I wouldn't cast judgment just yet.
Glad you've enjoyed the page and that it has been helpful to you. Thanks for writing and happy soaping! :-)
Kathy Miller... who is dragging after five hours of sleep... I'll never learn! :-/
Kathy, just wanted to let you know --I used some of the holiday printed plastic wrap for lining my soap mold and my soap came out with the print on it! Looks kinda cool. I admit, this was leftover wrap from last year -- but it might make a nice Christmas or other holiday soap. Jody
This sounds intriguing... my only thought would be if the dyes used in the paper were something that would be bad for the skin. I don't know what kind of base they are. Otherwise... what a cute idea! :-)
I don't think there is enough to be harmful -- its just on the "skin" For me, Miss Supersensitive skin, it hasn't been a problem. Of course, you only get a little on each bar ...just the inch or so around the edges. . .
I completely forgot to relate the experience I have had incorporating rose petals. Several years ago we were growing Amber Queen roses and saved the petal all summer, along with others. I had kept the Amber Queens in a separate ziploc after they dried. I used about a 5 lb. butter tub full of food processor ground petals to a 6lb batch of soap. In this case I recall almost forgetting to add the petals until I ready to pour, (at this time I didn't know what trace was and hand mixed for about as hour or until the mix approached that of thin honey), after thoroughly incorporating the ground petals the mix was poured into cloth lined wooden trays and was cut into bars a few hours later. After curing about two weeks, we had the prettiest bright yellow (Amber Queen yellow) that you could want in a soap with a delicate fragrance - soap base was lard and was lye heavy due to the formula used. Since then I usually added the ground petals just after mixing the fat and lye. I gave no thought to this until earlier today when I read the question and your answer about roses in another email inquiry.
Thought I'd pass this along, even though you must be approaching email burnout.
Ralph Weinbaum
![[Baby in the Bath]](images/Bathtime2.JPEG)