Shari

Those are lovely. I too make a bastille as I just do not like castille no matter how long it's cured. I like a bit of CO and Castor in mine too.

it sounds like it's scorched to me. I've had one overheat in the mold so badly it had orange ish liquids oozing from it and it wouldn't go back together when I tried to hp it. I don't have pictures though sorry.

It looks like it turned out okay. The reason it's soft is because you added more liquid to it than was already in there more likely. It will just need a good long cure. Also, as for using glass for lye stop now. People have had their glass shatter. Use stainless or plastic with the number 5 or 2 on the bottom of the container in the triangle. Soaping too cool with a lot of solid oils can give you false trace because they solidify and are not really reacting with the lye mixture. I highly recommend you keep your oils at a point where they are just clear at the very least. Lye can be any temperature. I generally use room temp lye as I masterbatch it. We all have freak out moments. Just breath and have fun.

Those turned out lovely. The only thing that jumped out at me is too much CO for a facial bar. It would strip too much oil from the skin which causes more oil production. I only use 10%. Charcoal is great in soap. You want a soap that will clean but not strip all the natural oils. Nice job!

I have the same one as puma52 and love it. It's a little workhorse. I use the Avery templates for my labels without any issues. It just takes getting the adjustments right.

I agree that it was due to the high coconut as well as using full water caused the overheating especially if insulating. I always watch my 100% CO or High CO soaps though I've started using a higher lye concentration which has gotten things more under control. I generally cut at 3 hours or so and they are still warm.

I too get the majority of my oils from Soaper's Choice, except my Olive which I purchase from COSTCO. I too have been using ED lye with no issues. I'm just finishing up my 64 lb lot I purchased a year ago. Going to need to buy some more soon. I've also heard good thing about the Lye Guy though not used him personally. I agree that the way ED handled the situation was wrong.

I too highly recommend the KD8000. I also purchased the power cord. It's accurate and not expensive.

I've tried the Soap Supplies PS and don't care for it. My favorite is Peak. I've tried others too but that remains my favorite. I work with discoloring FO's when they go brown and don't mind it. I don't use VS.

I use Peak's and it starts out yellow and goes dark brown.

The funny part is that now that I've been making soap for so long that when I go on facebook groups I just laugh when they say they've used these expensive additives, multiple milks, 14 different butters, 8 oils etc....The only thing they've got going is the label appeal. Doesn't make it an outstanding soap in my opinion.

I too have one standard recipe that I tweak with different additives. I also make salt bars, shave soap, and a mild unscented bastille. It took me a couple years of playing with different oils, butters etc and realized that you don't need a bunch of expensive ingredients.

I think you'll be okay when all is said and done. I've had that happen once in 6 years. I love square and all it does. You can get a free card reader just by visiting their website. The chip reader is 50.00 I think. I love it. It's faster than most systems in the stores. I require a signature for all credit card purchases regardless if it's 5.00 or 500.00. Their processing fees are 2.75% for run cards and a bit more if you have to manually enter them. The reports and stock tracking is awesome. Gives me low stock notifications.

Nature's Garden Candles and Wholesale Supplies Plus carry a foaming soap base. I've used it and it's pretty nice. It's thick and creamy and whips up pretty nicely. I make a pumice scrub with it and some other ingredients.

I generally calculate my 1-2% on the total recipe before the preservative.

I've been making CP soap and other B&B for about 6 years. Just found this site. Looking forward to sharing and seeing what others do.

I too use cocoa powder with great results