Sally

I've never seen a soap like that, it's gorgeous. Sally.

Awesome!!!!!!!!! & I love BRV. Sally.

MMMMMMMM I love the scent of alyssum, my granny always had lots growing in her garden & now I like to. Your soap looks lovely btw. Sally.

Yvette do you have any Asian or West Indian grocers near you, you should be able to get cornmeal in one of them. Sally.

Michi I don't have a glass pot/bowl thats big enough either so it'll be the crock pot for a while longer. I could make a different recipe every night & I'm loving blending the e.o's & smelling the way they evolve as the days pass. The ylang ylang is all spoken for ( except the biggest slice which I'm keeping for myself) but next time I make some I'd be happy to send you a sample, it would be really good to get feedback from a more experienced soaper. Jooniper.........I think I can happily live with this addiction..lol. Sally.

Thank you all for your nice comments....did I mention I'm hooked...lol Thanks for the tip Louise I'll give it a go. GrandmaArial, I started out with HP cos I don't have a stainless steel pan....or the funds to buy one just now, but I have my old, rather small crock pot. I can only make small batches but I also get to try out lots more recipes as my oils last a bit longer. Sally.x

Thats so cool, I just posted my first CPHP efforts & one of them is patchouli coloured with cocoa, they go together so well. Soon I'm going to try a swirl for real, mine came out marbelled by accident. Congrats on a beautiful first swirl. Sally.

I haven't tried CP yet but if it's anything like as cool as HP that I've just started with it will most definately be addictive. Your bars & babies look fab!! Sally.

I like the look of the coat hanger swirls Vio, next thing on my list is some colourants for the hp I'm playing with. Have you cut it yet? Sally.

I don't have any soap moulds yet so I'm using an ice cream tub & playing with small batches of CPHP. Here's my first 3 all scented with e.o's & the last coloured with cocoa powder, all different recipes cos I'm having fun playing with all the different oils I got from my supermarket. petitgrain & lavender (most of the flowers came off !) ylang ylang & blue poppy seeds patchouli coloured with cocoa, I wasn't trying for a swirl but I like the dark marbelled effect. Hope the pics come out. Sally.

I'm sure I'll get to feel that zap sometime soon but my god does my soap taste disgusting. I taste mine before superfatting so at least I'm not tasting the e.o's too. Make sure you can spit somewhere & rinse your mouth straight after cos its nasty!!!!!! Thanks everyone for making me feel so welcome over here, I'm still looking for my cable so I can post pics of batch 1....& 2! Yup I'm hooked. Sally.

I haven't tested it in soap but once I finally got it in my wax I was very impressed. I've only just started soaping & if I eventually want to sell my soaps all the ingredients need to be EU approved so I'm avoiding using any of my lovely imported oils just now. Once I get more confident with the soaping tho I'll be making bits & bobs from my favourites. Sally.

I just read this thread with a giggle, bearing in mind I only made my first soap yesterday & the second is under way I can see me having to clear the top shelf in my wardrobe. And as for the fabric.......... I have a large flight trunk in my sitting room filled with fabrics & yarns for those projects I really am going to do, including a sack of old silk shirts etc which were going to become a patchwork bedspread. I think I may have found another use for them now...gift wrapping my soaps when I get confident enough to give them away or even sell them. Sally.

Cut my soap this morning & lost lots of the lavender flowers...ooops, I think I should have pressed them on even harder than I did. The soap was firm like hard butter & it felt really nice when I washed my hands after handling it. I'll leave it for a week before I try using any as it's still so soft it will melt away too quickly. It smells gorgeous but then petitgrain & lavender is one of my favourite EO blends. I used 1/2 0z ppo & it's fine, will see if it holds the fragrance as it dries. Photo's have been taken & I'll post them when I can find the cable. Wednesday is a busy day for me so I may not be able to play again tonight, such a bummer when life gets in the way of my creations. Thanks for your encouraging words folks, while I'm doing everything else today I'll be dreaming of my next batch. Sally. BTW that soaping baby needs an IPod....if I keep up with the soap making I just might lose some weight dancing around the kitchen.

Woohoo!!!!!!! I just spent the last 2 hours making my first HP soap, even did the tongue test & ugh it was disgusting....but no zap! I used Darwins basic recipe but subbed veg shortening for the pko & OO for the grapeseed, superfatted at 6%,fragranced it with petitgrain & lavender e.o's & pressed dried lavender flowers onto the top. Now I want to make some more, it was fun!! & contrary to what my 14 yr old son thought no-one was poisoned throughout the whole process. I can't wait to unmould it & cut it tomorrow morning but there will be a couple of odd shapes cos I made it in an oval ice cream tub. Next time it will be the shortening & shea recipe & whatever other e.o's I fancy adding. thats me in my kitchen Sally :D :D :D

LOL thanks Sandra, I wish I could get it at Wally World....but I'm in Scotland. Am busily pricing things up just now to get an order in this w.e so when I do get it I'll be good to go. I'll just have to get on with some candles in the meantime... the wax fairies have finally moved out & i got things working right again :D Sally.

Good work Sabrina, I may not be able to speak Italian but I get the gist,( I took Latin at school a very long time ago.) It's easy to navigate, doesn't seem over done & looks pretty to my eyes. Wish you lots of success with it!! Sally.

Thanks Carrie, thats all very helpful. I have RBO & I'm trying to find some coconut oil locally which isn't proving very easy. However I can order some & just have to do something else til it arrives. Now I have more of an understanding about the qualities of the oils I'll play with soapcalc & see what I come up with. Lots to learn but I'm loving the challenge. Sally.

Hi all, I'm about to take some very small steps over to the dark side!!! I'd like to start off with this recipe but I want to do it as HP in my crock pot, so can you please advise me....will it be ok to do this? I can't get hold of PKO & I'm not sure I want to use palm oil at all in my soaps so what can I sub for it? I don't have GM so I'll use water, if I HP this recipe do I need to add more water to make up for any evaporation in the cooking? I want to scent it with E.O's, are there any to absolutely avoid? I'm thinking of using lavender & petitgrain or patchouli to start off with. I'm not bothered if the e.o causes ash. I've got so many gorgeous F.O's from U.S but it's difficult to use them in soap over here. Everything has to be safety assessed which costs a fair amount so I have to use E.U approved F.O or E.O if I want to sell the soap at some point. I can still use skin safe f.o for me tho! I can't tell you how excited I am to be giving this a go, my heads buzzing with ideas & I can't wait til the kids get off the puter so I can read up some more! Thanks for your help. Sally. :D

I've got some Sasol 1735 paraffin wax ( melt point 57-59 degrees) which I'm adding to my ecosoya pb for my blend. I don't usually use this wax but it's all I have just now so i need to use it. The problem is it's causing irregular patches of mottling in my undyed pillars & votives which I don't like. I've not had this problem before with the beaded p.w I had & I have no idea if I can do anything to stop it from happening. Do I need to add a little something, e.g stearin or vybar? will it help? Could it be particular f.o's reacting badly with this p.w? I have several testers curing so when I burn them this week I'll find out if the burn is affected. Any ideas anyone? A very bemused Sally. :undecided

The only way you are going to get truly unique fragrances is to blend them yourself, remembering to keep detailed notes of exactly how much of what has been used so you can duplicate it. There are so many suppliers out there you are sure to find something different if you don't want to blend your own. Sally.

Ring binders here, a seperate binder for whatever I'm needing to keep a record of. Say 1 for tried & tested recipes another for f.o's & suppliers, another for fragrances under testing, etc. I currently have 8 binders all kept in a basket in my work area which get updated as I go otherwise I tend to lose track of all my notes. I'm finding it so much easier to refer to things this way. Sally.

Patchouli from TC in the sitting room, disappointing ht @8% in my soy/para blend, in a 3" pillar. Sweet Pea from Bert's in my downstairs bathroom, only a votive as it's a small room but doing well so far, better than I thought it would. Black Vetyver Cafe from Daystar, in my bedroom, very disappointing ht with this one, again a 3" pillar. Apple Cinnamon from Bert's in my upstairs bathroom, again a disappointing ht @8% & a 3" pillar. Looks like most of these will end up as clamshells & melts just to use them up. Sally.

Especially those with a fairly high vanilla content, & even those with a low vanilla content.....& sometimes with a f.o that you are convinced will not cause the tin to rust! Sally.

I love the Peaks Blackberry Sage, also tried TSW version, it's good but slightly less blackberry than peaks. Sally.