Grannyscandles

Thanks I pm'd her again also.

Can someone link me to this recipe? The one link I saw didn't work for me

That link does not work for me. Can someone post this recipe here?

Hi Kathy!

Anyone have any extra palm kernel flakes?

Does anyone know of one? I know Rustic Escentuals does NOT have it. I asked.

Another oil that makes a really white bar is Sunflower. I use the high Oleic. Great soap.

Gorgeous! Is there a trick to doing layers?

Gorgeous soaps!

Waiting on some cocoa butter to get some more batches going!

Some melt and pour scents are fine for CP..others are not so great. I don't think vanilla will hold up to the chemical process of CP very well.

If I were you I would run to your local health food store or even Wal Mart and look for some essential oils. Lavender is one of my very favorites and I always have a good supply of it on hand. Another good all purpose EO is Tea Tree.

Thanks Steve!

Thanks again top!

Top...thanks for your view on this. THis is the kiond of info I was looking for and just didn't know it.

Thanks for your input ladies!

This sounds really bad but could you have fleas in your bed? If you sleep with pets it is totally possible.

Lots of rashes are irritated by heat and maybe that is why you start itching in the middle of the night when you are all snuggled in and warm.

I don't it's your soap. It sounds like something else is going on.

It is a very satisfying craft/hobby/obsession!

I don't know about the best thing but I have a couple of backing racks I use.

I bought this one on Etsy:

http://www.etsy.com/transaction/30925589

I cancelled my order for this one. The guy was a real jerk. Would not answer my emails etc.

My Kelsei arrived in 3 days.

I created a recipe today and the numbers look like this:

Hardness 45

Cleansing 15

Conditioning 51

Bubbly 24

Creamy 38

Iodine 51

INS 143

My first question is :

How reliably do these numbers translate to a real bar of soap?

My second question is about the range of number provided for each category.

For example: Hardness is 29-54 and harder is better right? But not at the expense of other properties right?

As a soaper, where do you aim for in each range for the different kinds of soaps you make(facial soap, body soap, hand soap, shampoo bars etc).

I aimed for the middle range on all the properties (cleansing, conditioning, bubbly and creamy) while trying for the hardest bar possible (Iodine, Hardness and INS). I have yet to try this recipe.

Any thoughts on the property values in general?

I did spray it with cooking spray and used SL and it was ready to unmold and came right out after 16 hours. No problem. Whew..(and I overfilled the silly thing too...lol)

I use more than 3 all the time. I must have coconut, palm and olive but I usually add castor too because it helps with lather. I ADORE macadamia, cocoa butter and shea. SO most of my soaps have 4 at least.

I did use cooking spray today because that's what I had but I also used SL so here's to hoping!

I bought the mini mold and it is perfect for my needs but my first batch in it stuck like super glue. I waited 24 hours. No chance it was coming out. Put it in the freezer. NO GO. Finally did get the dividers out and waited awhile longer. NOPE...Ended up scraping it off the bottom piece. My soap looks kinda blech as a result.

So do I need to spray the mold with something? I did order some sodium lactate as I know that aids in mold release but til then...or if I don't want to use the sodium lactate...then what?

I have been making soap since 2003 but have been in hiatus since my son was born in 2007. Pre-Isaac I used Summer Bee Meadow's lye calculator. I noticed that it is never mentioned here and others seem to reign as the GO TO calcs.

I put a recipe in both this morning and got quite different water amounts. One was 17.6 ounces. The other was 20 ounces. Any idea why this is?

I love Longwycks (Aroma Haven now)