Howdy all y'all.
I'm brand new to this forum and hopefully I'm in the right place. I make CP soap, just functional stuff for me, and well those around me tend to guilt me out of some of my stock as well. (Who am I kidding?) I totally let them "guilt me" into pilfering my stock, 'cause I like making soap, and I like that they like my soap. Right now I'm fixing to get myself psyched up to make a batch of pine tar and peppermint soap for myself. I probably should double that batch this time, because that's the ONE soap that I don't have a lot of fun making, (can you say soap on a SB?).
Past: I grew up on a farm in the middle of nowhere it was an abandoned orange grove that froze to the ground. We made soap from lard, and free/almost free mixed fat scraps from the butchers that I would wet render in the Florida summer heat out by the chicken coops... I'll say this: I don't use lard for soap anymore. The soap I made when I was growing up, it wasn't "nice" soap, it was just very functional soap that was used for cleaning and laundry and was most likely lye heavy. The stuff I make now is MUCH nicer soap. I haven't really every played with mica or oxides, but I'm hoping that is going to change soon.
We also made candles growing up, but that was really more my sister's thing. I've done that as well. Just hand dipped candles (paraffin and stearic acid), maybe colored with a few left over crayons from those silly 3 packs of crayons that were given out at Halloween. I also did an ice cube hot cast candle once. The candle turned out fine, but it's a stupid and long story, and I didn't make any more.
Oooh, Bagpipes... I play those, kinda and a few other musical instruments, (I play at them anyway). I made my best friend an uilleann practice set for his birthday (those are those bellows blown beautiful sounding Irish bag pipes). I'm a craftsman so I also make other stuff, just all kinds of stuff.
I'm 41 divorced, currently married, and unfortunately, about to be divorced again very soon, much to my chagrin. I do have a child from my first marriage. I have to work for a living and I have to do that work at night.
You'll probably pick up on this pretty soon, but in case I have fooled you thus far, I should probably let you know I can be, ever so sightly, (not that it's always a bad thing), long winded...
I am NOT an expert on soap or basically anything on this forum and that is why I'm here, to learn.
So just like in the beginning of Moby Dick, "Call me Ishmael", only it's, it's spelled "Sponie", (not Moby Dick... Ishmael...)
Slainte,
Sponie