Fire and Ice

I, earlier this evening, made a 4# batch of Goat Milk soap scented Sandalwood/Balsam Fir. I smells GREAT. It was quit the experience too since I could find no information from the Scent Review, I wing it. I also subbed out Palm for the lard in the origional recipe. The soap didn't seize but it came to a thick trace quickly enough! Whoa! I didn't do any sort of a water discount either. I had enough new things going on in the recipe that I didn't think this was the recipe to try my first WD. Anyways, though it was faster than I was expecting, I was prepaired and glopped it into my mold. I poppped it into the fridge but twenty minutes later I peeked and it had started gelling so I pulled it out and just set it on the counter to finish gelling. I certainly didn't want partial gel so I'm hoping it will be okay.:tiptoe: Fire

Yup, that's where I pick up 5 bottles at a time. Fire

Well I soaped the plain GM soap. Everything was great. Put in the fridge and in a few hours it started to gell so I pulled it out and left it ont the counter to finish gelling. It went through full gel but diddn't over heat or anything. I didn't insurate it because I didn't want it to over heat but wanted the gel to finish. There wasn't any scent or colored added. It's very pretty and it's curing. Fire

It's a sign of two things: with lots of air bubbles in the melt pool The person pouring the candles is either pour too cool and the wax is setting up before the air can escape. The person is pouring in a very cold room and the wax is setting up too quickly for the air bubbles to escape. this only happens when I pour in a very cold basement. That why I do a two pour system. Fire

Did you melt all of the hard oils completely? I always do but sometimes they will go to a slurry when the other oils are added and really cool them down. Everything is fine when I add the lye water but I make sure to incorporate all of the oils together before adding lye water. I did have that happen once on my third batch and it was actually very tiny pieces of the lard that that resolidified too fast when oils can together. I soap too cool and the lye water didn't remelt the slurry fully. The specs were tiny and there were only one or two of them. It wasn't lye, it was lard. Fire

I have a plain unscented GM soap to make and then, a 4# batch of LoveSpell. Sunday, after church, I have to go to a friends house to help split wood to bring home to cure up for next year. It's about 2 pickup truck loads that I have to split and it's semi fresh and it's oak so that will definately be a chore! My friend's husband is laughing as are the neighbors because I'm small and thin and they don't think I will have the strength to do it!:undecided They all plan to stand around and watch me attack the wood with a splitting axe and a sedge hammer! Fire

Your soap is absolutely BEAUTIFUL as always E! When I grow up as a soaper, I wanna be just like you, MA, And Soapfreak! That will be in about 8 years but I look forward to all the wonderful, and NOT so wonderful soaps in my furture. Gran, it looks like you will have great fun soaping that! I look forward to the pictures of your special soaps! Fire

Thank you for the links! The discount is not something I plan to jump into immediately. I research, research, research. Then, when the oppertunity presents itself, I will know when and how to do it small stages. Thank you again, Fire

That's interesting. I do 4# batches of GM soap. fridge it for 15-18 hours and cut them immediately. I've done three batches and have never had a problem with cuttting them. They never gellled either. They may darken to a tan or a light brown though. One of mine went to a very dark brown but that was the F/O I used. OMH. The other two are much, much lighter. Fire

I smelled it today and it IS coming back to center and more fruity scent. I'm wondering if the GM might have caused it to morph. Fire

I agree with you but I've already soaped a dozen batch and several of those were 4# batches.

Do I manually change it at the soap calc? Yes I know not to do any discounts on floral or spicy scents. I also do not plan to discount my GM recipes either. The WD will harden up the bars faster. I've never made castile. I used one that was over a year old and the third time I used it~ Slime city! YUCK. I would never give anything away before 6 weeks for testing but I'm using bars that are four weeks cured and they're fine on my skin. Still, I would never give them out. Thanks for all advice. Fire

Well last night I did a Eucalyptus/Peppermint soap! Unfortunately, it didn't gel. I kept it wrapped in two blankets and a towel and it still didn't gel. It the very same recipe I did the night before for the Lav/Pep soap too. That soap fully gelled in four hours It doesn't really matter because it's still soap. I gave it 16 hours and it didn't gel. Don't know why it didn't gel but it didn't.:undecided But the soap smells great! I cut it and it's curing now. Fire

Okay, thus far I haven't done a water discount. I know at the soap calc it's always set at 38% What would be a good gradual discount? 33% or 35%? I'm wanting my soap to cure faster. But I wouldn't take a water discount with Goat's Milk. I only do 2# and 4# batches. Thanks Fire

I use JS for two of my candle scents and Peaks for several as well~ about 18 of them. I will try some of them in soap too. I love the scent I got from SW as well, Want to try a few of the others too. Fire

I just soap Lavender/Peppermint last night and it smells great! Fire

You do what you want but you might also check with you insurance. They seem to from on unpaturized Goats Milk in soap. If you can't find the thread at the dish, then post the question and see how they reply. As I have been reading from back to front in the Soap Talk over there, I ran into the question TWICE and several agreed that their insurance company wanted to know it as well. All of the fresh goat milk I use IS pasturized by man I get it from. I even passed up free goats milk in order to have what I needed in my soap. I will not use unpasturized goats milk in my soap. Fire

:o :o YUP! LOL! :o :o

I've made several GM soaps and I add the goats milk after I make sure the lye water portion of my recipe is fully incorporated into the oils. Keep the GM cold but not frozen and add it when all else is incorporated. I stuck mine in the frindge for 14 hours and NO GEL! But I didn't add any color either. AJ's recipe is AWESOME! I'm using a bar of it my shower now and I LOVE IT! Fire:cheesy2:

Be sure to homoginize it first. Never soap with raw Goats milk! In some statates that totally against insurance policies. You can read more about it on the Dish. I have a friend with dairly goats and I buy milk from him and he homogizes it for me before selling! Fire

Thurday night I soap Grapfruit/Watermelon in a GM soap and the scent morphed to a rose scent! YUCK I am violently allergic to roses and their scent. 4# batch and it turned out fine. I didn't color it because it's goats milk. The scent is sticking like crazy! I CP it and stuck it right in my fridge and there was no gel! PHEW! But it is curing to a dark tan, which is fine with me because it's a milk soap. Tonight~ I plan to soap Lavender/Peppermint and I will be using Select Shades for the color and I don't know if I want to do just a lavender color ITPS or if I want to do both purple and red and do both colors as ITP swirls. There will be no milk in this recipe. There will be some Pomace OO but only 15%. I did this recipe in a smaller batch and it turned out nice. I plan to do 4# and use a great wooden log mold.:tiptoe: Fire

Tradewinds has Select Shades. Fire

Go with Peaks! I worked with all of the M&P soap bases from WSP and they are slightly better than a craft store soaps but not bt much! You get what you pay so pay for the best~ PEAKS! Fire

Those look awesome and YUMMY! I'll bet they smell wonderful! Fire

I wouldn't use it! Go to Walmart and look in their pots and pans. They have a nesting, 3 stainless steel stock pot set for just over twenty dollars. Keep in mind that you get what you pay for and you can't use anything aluminum.. Cheap stock pots have a VERY thin skin of SS so the lye could eat through and hit the cheap metals quick. Then you have to buy again! Invest right the first time. Fire