michelleB

OMG...I just wanna grab that yummy candy-looking soap bit and see if it tastes as good as it looks! I'm wanting a push-up or a creamsicle now!

You're very welcome! And don't worry about it turning out 'not quite right'. Whipped butters can always be re-whipped (learned that the hard way from my own mistakes, lol). You may even find your own preferred way of making them from now on. There's a lot of different methods. Some people repeat the whipping/freezing for several hours. Some, even overnight. And then others make terrific whipped butters without ever freezing them at all. It really depends on what's easiest for you and what you want the finished product to look like...and your batch size. I work with relatively small batches, so I can get mine done pretty quick, but if I were making a humongous amount of it, I'd probably have to spend hours whipping it too. Isn't experimenting FUN! Best of luck & keep us posted on how it goes.

I whip for about 2-3 minutes or so on med-hi, then put it in the freezer for a few minutes (no more than 5 mins), then I repeat those two steps whipping/freezing until I've got the whipped consistency I'm going for. You don't HAVE to freeze it. You can just whip, then wait a few minutes, then whip, etc. like you've been doing so far. I freeze mine because I've found that it helps to keep the shea from getting so grainy on me later. That's not a problem for everybody though. Another reason I freeze in between whipping is because it speeds up the process, and I usually don't have a lot of time to spend standing around waiting on it to firm up. Go ahead and try sticking it in the freezer for 2-5 minutes and then whip it again and see if that makes a difference for ya. Then if you need to, stick it in the freezer for another 2-5 minutes and repeat til it looks the way you want. That recipe will make you an AWESOME whipped butter once you're done. TIP: After getting it out of the freezer, take your rubber spatula or spoon and scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl you're using before you whip. That way everything will mix up perfectly for ya!

Ah, ok. I misunderstood your original post. Can you post your recipe (in percentages or amounts) so that we can see if maybe you're a little low on butters and high on soft oils?? It might be as simple as adding a little more butter to it. Mine...I normally whip, freeze, whip, freeze, etc..6-7 times, but I've actually stopped after just a few times and had it turn out ok. Weird that you're whipping the snot out of it and it's still not firming up.

You have to whip it with a mixer until it gets to the 'whipped' consistency...sorta cool whip/frosting thickness. Fluffy is a good word for it. Are you following a whip/freeze recipe? Or just mixing at room temp? I know everybody seems to like doing it a different way, but you'll get the same results. Either way though, it won't turn into a whipped butter by itself by cooling. It'll just end up looking like a vaseline paste/balm (I learned that when one melted in the sun and that's what I got after it cooled). Hope that helps ya! Whipped butters are FUN! I'm making a large batch right now in Tropical Peach Smoothie scent & I'm in between whip/freeze cycles, so thought I'd read a few posts lol.

Hubba...Hubba! Soap Porn Overload! Those are so freakin fantastic, I don't know what to do! I just keep scrolling my little mouse wheel back & forth so I can look at em from top to bottom, lol. I'm wearin my little mouse balls out!

Carrots Honey Carrots AND Honey, lol Sorry, couldn't resist. I only recently made a carrot & honey soap and I'm LOVIN using it on my face! Can't keep from touchin myself. oooh, that didn't sound right.

Yep! Exactly! This soap is what I'd consider "harsh" compared to my normal body bars, but it's that harshness that makes it effective for things like poison ivy & the like. Strips the oils right off....but that includes body oils, so always follow up with a good moisturizer. Or in your little boys' case, calamine lotion or your poison ivy ointment of choice. Poison ivy/oak is very tough on little kids, sorry to hear he's got it on his hands. How miserable! The way I've always used this soap is to lather it up really good and spread the lather all over the rash. Then you let it dry (feels a little sticky as it dries) and you rinse it off. I did this a few times a day when I was covered from head to toe, and it truly helped. Just be prepared for the possibility of dry, scaly skin for a day or so afterwards, lol. To me, it was worth it. :-) In a pinch if you don't have anything like this handy, I believe some people have had success using a harsh store-bought soap called "Octagon" (sp?) or something like that. Never tried it myself though. Ok, I'll stop hi-jacking this thread now, lol. Just thought I'd give you a little info since you mentioned the poison ivy problem with your son. Good luck with it and I hope he gets over it quickly & without it spreading!

I just cut into a batch of white, white soaps yesterday. This recipe was for laundry/poison ivy rashes...so it's got the following: Coconut Oil = 92% Castor Oil = 5% Stearic Acid = 3% If you're looking for a recipe that's much milder, I would suggest subbing out a high percentage of lard or hydrog soybean for most of the coconut oil. I've had really good results so far with those oils turning out a pristine white bar (except on my milk bars). Here's a pic of what I ended up with, using the percentages above: [ATTACH]7505[/ATTACH] The pic really doesn't do them justice, as they are "ivory soap" white. I really need to brush up on my photography/lighting skills.

OMG that's fantastic!

Great job! You're being WAY too hard on yourself, those bars are terrific! And I'm very curious about that fo now. I'd never heard of that one before, but it sounds interesting & I'm always trying to find scents that the guys like. Guess I'll head on over to canwax and order yet ANOTHER box of stuff that I'm gonna have to hide in the dog house til hubby goes to work! Poor dog. He can never get in his house during the days anymore, lolol. Thanks for sharing!

Try this place: http://www.labelsbythesheet.com/store.asp You can mix-n-match and pick sheets of whichever labels you need. They're adhesive, so no cutting! All sorts of sizes, colors, waterproof or non, etc. Lots to choose from. :-) I love ordering from these people. Shipping is cheap and service is great! (I'm in no way affiliated, I've just had great experiences with them in the past)

I've got LOTS of catching up to do where I've been too busy with my summer classes lately, I've gotta get my soap batches stocked up cuz I'm thinking that this upcoming festival is gonna wipe out a good chunk of what's on hand(least I hope so!) and I don't want a completely "dry spell" while I wait on more stuff to cure afterwards. So...it'll be a batch each of: Carrot/Honey Warm Vanilla Sugar (blech! ptuh! ick!) Cucumber & Aloe Cherry Almond Huckleberry Patch Strawberry Milk VS LoveSpell Waterfall Rush ...for now. LOL. I hope to get around to the others scents next weekend. Just got me some more lye today, so I'll be a soapin fool all weekend long! Ooooh, goodness thunder just rattled my whole house! Lightning's flashing blazes too! Better hop off of here for a bit. C-ya'll later!

Um, strange, but when I open this thread...I'm asked to sign into the MSN communities using my passport, lol. OH I see why now. You're linking to your pictures that are hosted by msnusers.com and they're not going to show up over here. Try uploading your pictures to a free place like photobucket.com or something like that and then posting a link to em. See if that helps ya! :-)

:laugh2:

Yep! That's what I've been using and it's worked out great! Been using it for about 5-6 months now, ever since I bought up the last cans of Red Devil around here.

I want one!! Those bars are simply stunning! I can't imagine the fragrance, but the combination sounds like a dream. And you've got them swirlies a-goin ON!!

OMG, I just had a slice of pie that looked almost exactly like that! And it was DELICIOUS btw! lolol Great job on that soap. It looks awesome!

OMG!! WOW! And OUCH!! That's so ridiculous, it's just plain INSANE! All of that stuff would probably fit inside of ONE flat rate box for $8.10. And even if it wouldn't, it would definitely fit in TWO of them for $16 or so. Maybe that's what they were gonna do and $30 is their 'handling' fee?? Makes ya wonder! Sheesh what a ripoff!

Wowzers! That's one HECKUVA fantastic soap you've got there! Good lord! If my first batch had looked like that...well...I dunno, cuz it DIDN'T! ROFL! It sure makes it hard to believe it's your first go at it! TERRIFIC JOB!!

Thanks so much! You've been a big help! Alas, I can resume banging in peace, lolol. My way of banging the jars is by holding them up about 3-4" above the table and letting them drop. THWAP! THWAP! THWAP! I do this probably 20 times or so for each jar. And you say you bang yours gently? I may need to ease up a little on mine then. I've been getting up to just shy of double volume before calling it quits (cuz I'm chicken of going up to or beyond that), so it's good to know I'm well inside of the safe zone! Now I'm gonna go play with some more butta!

Thanks Crafty! Good to hear you do it too! Hopefully lots and lots of people do & we're not just weird! LOL For all appearances sake, I wouldn't say it affects the fluffiness of my butters either...BUT...I haven't tested that theory out fully by not banging on the jars. Have you ever tried it both ways? Just to see what they look like the next day, banged vs. non-banged? lol

Yep, that's what I'm using too. Sorry, I shoulda clarified that a little better in my original post. Katherine, when you put your butter into your jars, do you worry with getting the air bubbles out, or getting a smooth top? By forcing it to 'settle' by banging the bubbles out of it, could I be sacrificing a nice whipped texture, for a smooth appearance? My main concern is...am I doing an injustice to the whipp-i-ness of the butters by doing what I'm doing? Maybe I'll go whip up another batch and just leave it however it settles in the jars, to see if there's a difference in the texture.

A thought just occured to me, so I figured I'd follow up and ask about it. Ok, when I put my whipped butters into my containers using my handy-dandy little spatula, I then BEAT THE CRAP outta the container on my tabletop to get all of the air bubbles out and give a smooth top. I've done this every single time. Question: Is this process (banging/getting bubbles out) UN-whipping my whipped butters? Hadn't really thought about it til now, but seems like it would at least to some degree. How do YOU put your whipped butters into containers? Am I the only one doing this? Please say no, lol.

Awesome! My son would LOVE that! One of his all-time favorite scents, and he LOVES the color black too. Perfect for that scent & terrific swirls!