7 Pawz

Beautiful job!!

Thank you 

Thank you guys for your help, if I do decide to try the stearic, I'll update you.   It sounds a little risky for me to try at the stage of soaping that I am at, I'm not very advanced, still trying a lot of basics

Unique & OG, thank you for your kind replies.  I enjoy playing with my wax to.   Its a hobby, just as the soaps are, but I am having fun.

Made this one out of recycled Pillar waxes, beeswax blend.  I'm given old altar candles burned down and I melt and strain the wax and add scent.  These are personal use only. 

Thanks for sharing OG,  I like your pillar.  I have some wood wicks i wanted to use in mason jars, but never thought about pillars. will add that to my to do list    

I'd like to try using some stearic acid I have laying around, I understand that it can contribute to the hardness of the bar, if I don't have any coconut oil, would that be a feasible substitute in a recipe with olive and canola or sunflower oils?  Guess it would depend upon their SAP values?

Thank you all for your kind replies,I scented this batch with NG Christmas Wreath, hope the scent holds.   This level will be where I'm at for awhile, I'd like to try other recipe blends as well.  Just finished looking up cp soap layering, don't think I'm ready for that yet

I think it's pretty!  Good job!

Thank you 

I just unmolded a small batch, 1lb recipe, using sunflower oil, castor oil, coconut and olive oil and 1 oz of FO.   It felt very silk like coming out of the mold and wasn't as soft as I thought it would be. I'm just using trial and error for the recipes, I haven't attempted to make one of my own yet, but I do run everything through a lye calc before hand.

Hopefully I can improve, but for now, I was very pleased and a little surprised that I managed to do this

Love them

Just Beautiful

Very pretty,wish I could do that:)

I find my all CO recipe traces faster than my regular recipe. A nice slow to trace recipe might be a 100% OO or 100% lard. The two (and only two) times I made 100% lard soap it took FOREVER to trace - so that might be a good one depending on if you have qualms about using lard.

I've made a 75/25 oo/co soap and I had plenty of time to swirl with that recipe also. 

(I've made 100% OO but it's been a very long time since and I don't really remember how it went as far as speed, but I"m sure I had a lot of time to play)

 

Also this is from my experience soaping at RT. 

I like using lard once in awhile, but have not poured a solid lard soap, that might be next,  I'm having fun just experimenting, since I'm just a hobbyist, I'll have to give some of away, you should see how much soap I have on hand these days I poured a 100% OO some years ago, don't remember the results from using, but the mold time was long, the oil came to the surface, I stirred it back in, it eventually hardened. Then, Ididn't soap at RT, but I sure do now

Scented; Jcandleattic:

I read that article also, I am encouraged to think that this will work out.   Do you feel that the recipe would be a good one to try swirling for the first time, I didn't find that I had problems with it tracing, the fo I added didn't affect it other than turn it yellow at first.

I love my Mariners soap! (100% CO) but, just like a Castile (100% OO) the longer the cure, the better the bar. I won't use mine before they have cured for at least 4 months, most of the time, 6-8. (just like with Castile)

And they will last FOREVER... I make mine in individual molds because to get a clean cut I have to cut while still warm or else they will be too hard to cut.

And harsh really is debatable and subjective. I have incredibly oily skin (always have) so a nice cleansing bar works wonders for my skin.

Also, when cured long enough with a 20% SF - IMO they are just as mild as any 6-8% SF mixed oil soap.  

 

Good luck and let us know what you think.

Oh great, this is good to know, I added Tree fo by Lebermuth, if this works like I hope it does, I think I've found a keeper:) will keep you all updated

Many soapers successfully make coconut oil soap with a high super fat. I tried it once and did not like it for my skin, but I have made it for laundry soap - but used a very low sf. I think one of the exciting things about soaping is the experimenting. I love trying things that are not "suppose" to work or not commonly used... I guess I am a " have to see for myself" type person. I tend to learn the most from that.

Keep us updated. I would love to hear how it turns out and if you like it.

I agree with you, I like to experiment as well, I did try a little sliver after the 24 hour time period, and it felt creamy, but my skin felt a little tight, but maybe after curing 30 days , there maybe a big difference

Against all odds, I decided to try a recipe using 100 % coconut oil with 20% superfat, the only additive was fo.

The lye water was cooled to 100 degrees with the oil melted about 20 seconds in the microwave.

Doing a lot research told me that using all coconut oil was harsh, that it was best used as a cleaner, until I found info on another site ( I always viewed this as a reliable source), that suggested the oil itself wasn't harsh, but extra cleansing, that it may or may strip skin oils, and in their case, using the above recipe, got an hard, yet creamy bar of soap, not a big amount of bubbles, small, creamy lather.

So last night, I unmolded  the soap. Its curing now.  So far, it has cured to a pretty cream color, the soap was unmoled and cut within a 24 hour time period.   So, guess the next thing to do is wait and see, I can always do something else with it if I have to.

Send me a PM with your mailing address and I'll mail you a slice (bar) from a five pound block I bought from Candlewic. The Hemp Oil base makes great lather, too. The Goat's Milk is a best seller. There is a market actually for all of their bases, I've found.

Dave

I guess PM isn't working, I've had difficulty with sending -----Thank you for your offer and all of the great information that you've provided.

Dave- thank you for all of the information!  I have not yet tried the bases from Candlewic, have tried many others but mainly the goal milk.  I will have to try the coconut oil one now, didn't even think of considering this one!  So many options out there too   7Pawz- your soap is so pretty with the imbeds, love the pink color!- I tried doing imbeds once and they all melted together when I did the overpour, so I obviously need to practice this more!

7Pawz- your soap is so pretty with the imbeds, love the pink color!- I tried doing imbeds once and they all melted together when I did the overpour, so I obviously need to practice this more!

thank you, it was just luck that it worked   

7Pawz-- I'm sorry about hijacking your thread. I really do like your chunk soap. It reminds me about the first time I ever saw it. It was at a craft show and they made theirs in a white base instead of the clear. The chunks were pink colored and look wonderful in the soap. Made the soap look so creamy like yogurt with fruit in it. I like chunky soap both ways in clear and in an opaque base.

Not a problelm:   glad that my little soap got a good discussion going,  picked up some great information thats going to help out a little bit. I really didn't know if the cp chunks would embed the way I wanted, I actually saw the soap made like you mentioned as all M& P, I just decided to mix the two.  The dye I used was neon red from tkb, so I didn't have to add much for the color I wanted.  The over pour was a scrap piece left over.   I just unmolded some cp and colored it neon green, the top of the bar turned a little tan, but the body seems to be curing out a green color, not neon, but enough green, like a lime.

Candlewic, for sure, and Natures Garden, I'm fairly sure, sell the same Canadian M&P bases that Candles & Supplies sell. As Candy mentions C&S have a real issue with inventory. The last time I checked C&S had a 20% out-of-stock rate on M&P bases. That is unacceptable to me.

I'm unaware of any M&P soap bases that I did not test while looking for bases for our business. I have tested dozens of brands and styles. The Canadian bases excelled over all of the ones I tested for producing a rich and creamy lather. All of me testers agreed. The Coconut Oil type produced the best lather, but nearly all of the styles performed well. I agree with Candy that these bases are very adaptable and additive friendly.

Dave @ Charlotte Hall Country Candles & Soaps

Thank you, I'm going to check the Coconut Oil type out, I love lather

There are a few so called 'natural' bases because they don't use sls or sles. SFIC is the best known but others like Brambleberry and Essentials by Catalina carries their own brand of natural bases.

 

Personally, my favorite bases of all are the Canadian ones sold at C&S. They are super sudsy and you can throw anything and everything in them and they still lather like a champ. Now that is my kind of M&P base where I can add oils, milks, butters, herbs, etc. to it in substantial amounts. Problem though is they always tend to be out of the base I need so I switched to the Chemistry Store bases as my backup. They carry the Stephensons bases which are very nice. Neither the Canadian or the Stephenson are sls free thou if that bothers you. But thats why they lather so wonderfully!!

The sls doesnt really bother me, I love lather and suds, but I haven't as of yet found a M&P base that I'd reorder yet. I've read about Stephensons bases, that maybe a starting point, although I don't do much M&P, it is nice to use with my CP recipes sometimes.

I just can't physically use it. Even the very good brands such as the sfic ones, leave me dry, itchy, and flaky. 

I will put in CP as embed toppers, and can use those once in a while. I think the CP combats a lot of it, but sometimes not. 

Is M & P actually a detergent?  I've read about formulas for them, sure is a lot of chemicals.  I've not had a skin reaction from them, but I don't use much of them as I'd rather do CP, its a little cheaper for me anyway

I love the look of chunky M&P. That is pretty!

Its a first, but I hope to get to the point I can make some pretty cp with bits and pieces. I like the swirls you guys do, but I'm not brave enough yet

That's cool. I love M&P over pours. I just wish I could use M&P more regularly. 

 I don't use it a lot, but just feeling my way through trying to use up those soap batches that didn't work out so well. I haven't tried useing up in cp itself yet, I figure I 'm bound to do it wrong---