funnygirl

Thanks! It does look "berry" in the pic doesnt it. :undecided It's really not at all. It is a deep rust brown red. I thought that would look nice because according to BB this will discolor to a medium brown. I thought the rust red swirls in the medium brown base would be a good combo for the Arabian spice. I guess we will see if it turns out like I saw it in my brain, LOL!

Here it is! The 3 dark red ones in the back were excess.

I peeked lots! LOL! It did go through a complete gel, starting in the middle and going until it reached the edges. Then it went backwards, starting at the edges and working toward the middle, ungelling? LOL! When I woke up this morning it was almost done. By noon (13 hrs. total) it was ready. It popped right out of what I used as a mold. I cut it. The sizes shapes arent the exact same, but it will work until I get a better mold anyway. It doesnt look to bad. It's white on the bottom w/the attemp of a dark rusty red swirl on top, hehehe. Im still waiting for it to discolor to medium brown, according to BB. Im so thrilled! Gonna try the GM tonight and gonna do a swirl in the bowl to see if I can get some color all the way through. This is super fun, and I am officially hooked. Cant wait until I can try it! Soo how long is that anyway? 4 weeks? Will take a pic and post back.

Well, the first experiance was nice. Im not as freaky about the lye now. I didnt have any problems with acceleration, I poured most in the mold, then kept a little out to add color to. Poured that in to attemp a swirl, LOL! Looks like I kept too much out, cause we got a whole lot of color and not much swirl. Oh well, it was a fun first try. I did miscalculate what the mold I used could hold, cause I ended up with a bunch left. You should have seen me racing around trying to find something to pour the rest in. My husband said "just throw it away". I was like, "Are you crazy!". Found a mold I used for some M&P, so it's all just chillin in my oven for now, since I dont have anything to cover it with. I have the light on so I can see it, I hope that doesnt hurt anything. :undecided ????? It's a little warm in there. So, how long before I can see these "stages" start to happen?

Ok, I will try w/water tonight. Even though my kiddos are gonna be in bed, Im a little nervouse w/the Lye. I am taking my pitcher of water and lye out to my carport to mix, and will leave it there until it cools and I am ready to use it. How long does it usually take to cool down? 10 minutes, 1 hour? At least if I had an idea I wont be checking every couple of minutes. TIA!

Like Grumpy says, J&J is the tearless I used too. I can tell you one thing though, baby (tearless) shampoo is just about the harshest stuff out there as far as your hair is concered. My mom ( a barber for 30 yrs) recommended I use it on my oldest daughters hair once a week. She has very oily hair, and that stuff will strip all the natural oils right out. Great for someone like my daughter to use 4x a month, but not so great for all these kids that are getting bathed nightly with it. :undecided

So it's best to actually watch the stages?, LOL! I was just gonna throw it in the oven (unheated w/ the light on) and leave it alone until tomorrow. Im so nervouse/excited. I keep piddleing, but I just want to make sure I have everything just right before I actually start. Were yall like this too?

Well, Im no expert, as I just ordered some supplies and am gonna try my hand at my first batch of CP tonight. But, I did grab some stuff from Bramble Berry for soap making. They do have a CP kit. I have used them before for my candle making, and really love their oils.

OK, Im gonna try to make some soap tonight. I found this recipe, and it looks like something I would like, but I need advice from the experts. Being my first batch, I definatly dont want it to seize or trace too quickly. Im going to use BB Arabian Spice (says it discolores to medium brown, but thats fine by me.) Not sure what % of FO I should use. I believe I have read between 1 & 2 oz. pp of oils. ??? Im gonna use a plastic tray I have for my mold. It is 6 X 9.5 and I want my bars to be about 1.5" thick, so it looks like it will hold about 34 oz. Wanted to start out fairly small. I will be useing the following recipe. I picked up some cans of evaporated goats milk, and wanted to use that instead of water. Crisco 50% Coconut (76 degree) 25% Olive Oil 25% How does this combination sound to all of you? After plugging it in to soapcalc I get the following qualities: Hardness 37 Cleansing 17 Condition 58 Bubbly lath. 17 Creamy lath. 20 Iodine 70 INS 149 Water as % of oils was already set to 38%, and I didnt change it. Didnt know if I should?????? It is telling me for my 34 oz. batch to use 12.92 oz. water (Im gonna use GM) and 4.78 oz. lye. I weigh everything except water (GM), which I will measure. What do you think? Anything JUMPING out at anyone? Any suggestions/comment will be very much apprieciated.

Im excited! My local Ace Hardware sells the small cans of LYE! Looks like I will be able to get all my supplies right in town.

What would the other 5% be? 90% OO + 5% Castor Oil, or did you mean 10% Castor Oil?

Thanks Jen! I was just of a mind set that I wouldnt notice differences between water and milk if I never used water, and that it wouldnt trip me up when I tried something new, LOL! I will probably try both, I just had my heart set on more GM soap, as I only have 3 bars left and know I will be out about the time and I would have some cured soap, LOL!

Well, I thought I was a bubbly gal, but after using some GM soap I got from another soaper, I am definatly a creamy gal, LOL! I like a very dense, bubbly cream, which is concidered creamy, right?! The creamy seems to really moisturize my skin, where some of the very bubbly soaps i have tried in the past seem to strip all the oils from my skin.

Yep, got a great digital scale that I use for candle making. I was gonna try GM CP first. I already know that is what I want to make/use, so I figured it would be what I would learn. Bad idea? I read about some of the problems others have had, and intended on freezing it to help avoid some of those things. So you all think I should start with water only at first?

Another question. What kind of gloves do I need? Those big rubber yellow ones? Also, were can I get goats milk???? Seems like it would be easy enough to locate, but as I have never bought it, I have no idea where to find it, LOL!

Wow! Thanks so much everyone for all the great info! I cant wait to get started. Yall can all just enable away. I am a willing victim, er, I mean participant, ROFL!

I dont make soap, yet! Im getting ready to try it out in the next couple of days. I just wanted to put in my 2 cents worth though. I LOVE my GM soaps I have bought/been given by other soap makers. I enjoy them so much more than the M&P, and out of all the CP soaps I have tries, the GM soaps are my favorite. Very creamy lather, makes my skin grin. I have very crappy skin, and always had some kinda itchy rash going on, but the GM soaps seem to give me the right kind of moisture that keeps my skin clear. It's very mild and gentle, all my kids use it and my youngest has since he was a baby. It's A LOT less irritating than any store brand, that is foe'sho!

That would be great Meridith! I will gladly take it off your hands for ya, LOL! I just gotta get out tomorrow and start browsing for ingrediants. Im just gonna start with what I can get at the grocery store instead of buying lots of oils online.....olive oil, castor oil, crisco, etc. Gotta get a pitcher for lye water. Will those rubber maid plastic pitchers that we all buy for tea/Kool aid work? They are very heavy duty and come with the good sealable lids. Also, do you always line your molds with freezer paper, or is this just for wood molds? On Bramble Berry it looks like they are lining their mold with siran wrap? Is that acceptable? Sorry for all the questions, there are just these little details that Im not sure about that keep creeping in my mind, LOL! Oh yeah, when I mix up my soap, should I use a glass bowl? Also, what are those little mixer things called? They are little hand held things. For small batches of CP do I really need one to start out, or are those one of those "cant live without it" type tools?

I am fixing to order a couple of things so I can begin the learning process for CP soap. I found an inexpensive slab mold at Brambleberry, but Im not sure if this is suitable for CP. I really didnt want to buy an expensive Birch mold right now, but wanted to make some decent looking bars. The one I am looking at it the 8 bar triangle, that makes 4 oz. bars. It's located toward the bottom of the page at http://www.brambleberry.com/slabs.html Any help will be much apprieciated. ETA: Do I need special B&B dyes for CP, or can I use the liquid dyes I use for my candles?

I have been toying with the soap calc at soapcalc.com and have a question. After you plug in your recipe, it tells you the soap qualities. I am not sure what numbers I should be looking for. Is 50 like middle of the line? I want a nice firm soap, not hard as a rock, but not too soft. I want a great lather. I just need a little help knowing what the numbers mean so I can get an actual bar of soap, LOL! For example, I put in 100% coconut (not that I would want to use all coconut, but Im just trying to learn here) and these are the qualities I get: Hardness 79 Cleansing 67 Condition 10 Bubbly lath. 67 Creamy lath. 12 Iodine 10 INS 258 Looks like it would be fairly hard. Cleansing looks good and bubbles look good. I dont know what condition means. Doesnt look very creamy, and I dont know what values I should look for on Iodine. I also dont know what the INS value is. Blah! I just cant make since of this stuff. :undecided Can anyone explain it to me? I will be very grateful!

So, if you go with GM powder, do you mix the powder and water together and add to the lye, or do you mix the water and lye, let cool and then add the powder directly? Sorry if this is a dumb question, Im such a newb, LOL!

How exciting! I cant wait to get my goodies and try my first batch. It looks great!

So the lid or insulating is only needed until the soap has gelled all the way, right? After that it can be just set out in the open to finish up?

Okay, Im looking at some molds while I wait on some CP supplies. Im looking at the Misty Creek 16 bar basic mold, which comes with the mold, the cutter and 1 divider. Seems pretty good, except it doesnt come with a lid. Hmmm....I dont know if I need a lid or not, LOL! Can some of you experts let me know? Thanks!

Well, I have been testing lots of new oils for Valentines Day and seasonal stuff for a PL customer. I had a heck of a time wicking one FO they requested. Arabian Spice from BB. My lord, I have never had to double wick with such large wicks! Im totally in love with Pink Sugar. Such a great scent and super thrower. I got my Sweet Orange and Chili Pepper from MC, and it is sooooo yummy! Got all those wick tested as well as Tropical Vacation (BB), Warm Baked Bread (MC), Love Spell (GL), Nuts & Pine Cones (GL), Berry Wine (BB), Ancient Sedona (BB), Strawberry Musk (GL), Pomegranite (GL), Tart Green Apple (NG), and Bay Rum (NG). Ive been a testing fool! LOL!