siberia

I haven't been able to find any yet. I need to find myself a sheep farmer and make friends. lol

Very nice! The lemon is really beautiful!

I apologize for taking so long to get back to you...it's been a long week of no sleep watching the world series. Whew, I am so glad that is over with. Anyway, the milk can curdle when added to the lye mixture. I have never found it to be a problem in the end though. I just make sure to keep stirring the curds down to make the lye solution as smooth as possible and then once added to the oils, I blend the heck out of it. I've done a full milk replacement as well as 1/2 water 1/2 milk. Be sure to freeze your milk, particularly if you are doing the full substitution. The one exception to this for me is coconut milk. While not a true milk in the dairy sense of the word, it can still react weird with the lye. I like to warm coconut milk prior to adding to the lye/water mixture to help it blend easier and keep the curds at bay.

Like Robin said, that is a big part of the fun of soapmaking! Here's a good read on the different oils, their properties and how they compare to one another. Soap Naturally - Description of fatty acids properties of some soapmaking oils.

Oh my goodness, what a bummer! I hate throwing things away but you are smart to do so.

You're more than welcome! I can't wait to see the pics. One thing that I notice with this recipe is that the fresh soap smells a bit more doughy than honey. As it cures the honey smell takes over. It's so nice! My lye and water calculations are based on a 5% discount on both the lye and the water. I like to take what I consider to be a reasonable discount on both parts of the equation to help speed up drying/curing. I know that there are those that take much bigger discounts but I am not comfortable doing that. I make all types of soap. I tend to stick to a more natural recipe, favoring EO's over FO's and I love playing with various additives. Milk soaps are a particular favorite of mine. The soy milk soap sounds nice! I have soaped with just about every milk out there but that one. I'm dying to get my hands on some sheep's milk as I've heard it makes a lovely conditioning bar. I have not tried a tea tree soap recipe yet. I've heard that it is best to use the tea tree oil as part of a blend with other EO's in your recipe as opposed to tea tree alone. Tea tree is definitely a sensitizer and can be an issue for some people.

Donita, you have outdone yourself. That is lovely!

Hi there! I think that you would be fine in substituting almond for the apricot. Just be sure to run the numbers through a reliable soap calculator so that your lye number is adjusted to reflect the substitution. Two pound batches scare me. :laugh2:There is less room for error in your measurements. As long as you are careful and precise in your measurements you should be fine. The warmed/diluted honey should be added to your lye water after it ("it" being your lye water) has cooled down to approximately 110 F. I dilute the powdered milk with a tablespoon of extra water in a small bowl. Then in the same bowl I add all of my extra ingredients and mix well. These are the ingredients that are added at trace (milk, oatmeal powder, apricot kernel oil and essential oils). Here is the recipe that I would use with your adjustments for size and sweet almond oil. Oatmeal, Milk & Honey Oils: Olive 13 oz (40.63%) Coconut 8 oz (25%) Palm 6 oz (18.75%) Castor 2 oz (6.25%) Almond 3 oz (9.38%) Additives: Oatmeal (finely ground) .65 oz Honey .65 oz Milk Powder 1.27 oz Lye 4.53 oz (5% discount) Water: 10.12 fl oz (5% discount) Soap Characteristics: Hardness: 6.0 Stable Lather: 6.3 Fluffy Lather: 4.7 Moisturizing: 6.4 Notes: Honey is melted with a bit of the measured water and added to the cooled (100 F) lye water. Oatmeal, Apricot Kernel oil, milk and EO's are added at a light trace, hand stirred and then poured into the mold. Take care when insulating your mold. The honey tends to really heat up the batch. Once the soap starts to set in the mold you can then add fresh cut oats on top. There ya go! Let me know if you have any more questions.

Very nice! I love the color of the first bars.

Here's mine (the amounts may seem odd due to the fact that the recipe is sized for my particular mold): Oatmeal, Milk & Honey Oils: Olive 31.4 oz (40.05%) Coconut 19.6 oz (25%) Palm 15.7 oz (20.03%) Castor 3.9 oz (4.97%) Apricot Kernel 7.8 oz (9.95%) Additives: Oatmeal (finely ground) 1.6 oz Honey 1.6 oz Milk Powder 3.1 oz Lye 11.11 oz (5% discount) Water: 24.82 fl oz (5% discount) Soap Characteristics: Hardness: 6.0 Stable Lather: 6.3 Fluffy Lather: 4.8 Moisturizing: 6.4 Notes: Honey is melted with a bit of the measured water and added to the cooled (100 F) lye water. Oatmeal, Apricot Kernel oil, milk and EO's are added at a light trace, hand stirred and then poured into the mold. Take care when insulating your mold. The honey tends to really heat up the batch. Once the soap starts to set in the mold you can then add fresh cut oats on top. Kimberly Edited to add that the oatmeal listed under additives should be finely ground.

I second the recommendation of WYW Vanilla Grapefruit. The throw is awesome in soy and as guppygirl stated, there is very little vanilla in the blend.

That's true, topofmurrayhill. I didn't think about that. I think that jacobSue may have figured it out. It does look cut.

Couldn't that be done by simply filling a regular round pillar mold, fill about three-fourths full then tilt it at an angle and let cure?

Hi Llyrellin! What I do to avoid that issue is after I'm finished using the pot, I lay it on it's side with the spigot in the air (pointing to the ceiling). At this point the residual wax in the spigot is still warm and will run back out into the pot. Then wipe clean! I hope this makes sense.

Are you sure you blended/stirred to a full trace? Soaps high in OO can take a looooong time to trace. Did you add FO or EO?

Perhaps they lost their power due to a storm? Just a thought.

I take a smidgen of my heated oils and mix them with any powdered colorant I am using. Some of the colorants, oil dispersible TD comes to mind, can be stubborn. In such a case I use a pestle to help break up the clumpys.

I think that once you try this method you will be pleased. 99.99% of the time after adding the FO I switch to a wire whisk from the SB. I find that it helps to avoid a too-quick trace.

Wah! I ordered my Upland log on Monday and haven't received a shipping notice.

I have a hankering to make an oatmeal lavender soap. Anyone care to share their favorite recipe? TIA!

Gorgeous!! :highfive:

ROFLMAO!!!

I single wick my 10 oz and 16 oz apoths. I was determined to make it work. After going through a bazillion wick and FO combos I settled on a LX 24 wick. There is a variance among FOs in how fast it takes to get a full melt pool but have yet to find one that didn't get there in a reasonable amount of time. I should mention that I pour soy and soy blends. HTH

Here's what I do...I try to get out as much of the wax as possible (much easier with soy than paraffin). I then put them upside down on a cookie sheet lined with newspaper and paper towels. Put in a warm oven (about 175) and let the heat melt all the wax out. HTH :smiley2:

Below is a coconut milk soap fresh out of the mold. The milk was counted as approximately 75% of the water. I did not let it gel. It's still rather soft but has a really nice feel to it. The brown specs are the result of a light swirl of rhassoul clay.