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Forgot to mention, I do CP though, but that shouldn't really matter.

It depends on the scent. Let's say Patchouli lingers, like, forever, some FOs do to, some for a long time, but most just for a little while (strong enought for me to smell it).

Here is an idea. let's say you use TANK. you first split the log in half (lengthwise). Take one half of the log and put in the TANK, slice, then pick up all the bars at a time, move them half bar to the right, or half bar to the left left. Cut one more time. Voila, you have guest size bars. I don't have the TANK so I don't know 100% if that will work.

Tallow tastes a lot worse than coconut (in CP). lol I buy food grade from Essential Depot, for the same reason TallTayl does. Don't want any unidentified particles, plus I can advertize it as "made with food grade lye" !!!

why don't you just make a standard CP log, and slice off guest size bars? basically 1/4 of the bar will be your guest size.

Ah, cool! I was off the boards for a while, must have missed it. another "useful" oil that can be found locally

Where did you obtain this information? Does it say on the bottle?

It is possible that Agbanga Karite Shea produces a harder bar. I had experience with both, AK shea always appeared more dense. That's one of the reasons. I can't say anything about safflower from columbus foods (I only bought their sunflower), but just by simple logic I'd think that High Oleic safflower has totally different fatty acid profile than regular safflower from the store. yes, hardness in the same according to the calculator, but somehow in the recipe it perhaps reacts differently with other oils, thus producing softer bar in the end. So, my guess would be your problem is the combination of two (especially since you say the bar was still softer when you moved back to the store bought safflower). I'm not familiar with the Quiet Girl recipe, so I can't analyze it further I'm afraid.

Congrats on that! At least you tried! We all have our preferences, nothing wrong with that. If grape POP morphed on you, it will probably stay that way . POPs used to be so stable in soap, I made many batches with grape POP, always stayed true. But hey, black is good for Moonlit Path too!

I personally don't make them, but only because I don't do craft shows or farmer's markets. For people who do, soap cake is a great conversation starter (ar any type of food looking soap). People stop because they see something that looks like food, then find out it is not food, but they are interested enough to look around, and very often end up buying something. Otherwise they just hurry past the soap booth (oh, soap again!) and don't even give it a chance.

When you unmolded, was your soap still slightly warm? Also, were your blotches somewhat large, random, watercolor looking? First looked like water, but as the soap aired out, "wet" parts were a bit lighter in color, like have a film of something (zappy stuff?) If that's the case, overheating. It is "lye sweat". I have HDPE mold, and stick the soap in the oven to gel. Sometimes I get that lye sweat (usually if I'm impatient and overheat, then unmold too early). I've done two things, either wiped the lye off, and after cutting the bars beveled all the sides that have spots on them (it takes only one stroke and all the spots are gone), or gave the entire log a wash (weird, I know), set in on the shortest side to dry off, then cut. After either the bath or shave the bars were perfect, mild enough for washing the face.

I believe the model of kitchenaid on the picture is KBH100, black would be KBH100OB (Onyx black), red- KBH100ER (empire red). I have two of those, just checked my amazon receipt i don't know what 200 model would be, but KHB300 is the same thing but it comes with extra attachments (like a chopper cup, whisk, etc), and was sold for a double price.

Amber glass bottles can be used as many times as you'd like. Soak them for couple of hours, rinse out, stick in the dishwasher, and they will be ready for whatever. Caps should be new though for every scent since you can't air those out. Those fancy caps with the cone in the middle, for FOs are a bit pricey, but if you are not planning to ship the bottle (leaking issues), simple plastic cap 400 series will do (20/400, 24/400, etc). 410s fit too from what i can tell, but bottom lip of the bottle gets caught up, not sure how well it seals.

Thanks! That's also my opinion. Unfortunately people tend to buy mine for decorative purposes, which i have mixed feelings about

I'm with LovelyLathers and Scented, CP soap shouldn't be stored in bags (it is not MP that needs to be wrapped), cardboard box is your best bet, and store the box in a dry place as well. This will make your bars even more lasting, the drier the soap, longer it takes for it to "melt" in the bath. I use shrink bands to wrap my soap, sometimes i have to do it 2 months after the cure... in about a year soap shrinks 10-15% more, wrapped with the band, 2 sides open. I'm guessing the shrinkage is even greater if there is no wrap. I have lard containig bars that are 6 years old, and they are still fine. so are the olive oil ones. and the fragrance could devinitely be a problem as well.

Generally rebatched soap can be treated as HP soap, CAN be used right after it hardens up, although it is best to wait a bit and let it dry more, just to ensure that your bar isn't going to melt away too fast. If soap is "cooked", whether it is HP, or rebatch, saponification process is complete (assuming that your calculations are correct and no lye is present), and you can use the soap right away. With the CP, even if it is gelled, might still be loose lye present, and it definitely needs time.

Beautiful soap, and great video, thank you!

I'll second the microwave method (that's the fastest i think). Also, not boil in the bag, but bake in the bag is also an option. Do you have to rebatch because the soap quality is off, or the look is not what you wanted? If it is the look (like too much color or something like that), you can shred it and make a new batch with 1/3 new soap, 2/3 shredded soap (trace the new soap, dump the shreds in the batter, stir and plop in the mold). Not quite the embeds but can look really cute.

Babassu has a higher cleansing number than PKO, IMHO it is just a glorified coconut. To line them up from the most to least cleaning, it would be Babassu, Coconut, PKO. It also makes more translucent bar than PKO.

I'd keep the recipe just the way it is. 10% castor will not make soap stickier. On the contrary, it will cut down on slime and slip

wow, NICE! Beautiful effect, very clever (I'm pretty sure I know how it's done though )

lol. i see now what i was missing. it was way past my bedtime . it is hard to find the book that has all the info. plus things change, soapers constantly discover new information. i mentioned high oleic sunflower because you wanted a white bar. i can't tell you for sure, i simply forgot, but i think the oil is pretty light in color.

actually, i just have castor at up to 10% of the recipe, add it to the whole pot. it is CP, everything will get burned anyway. with HP, I choose my most expensive oil to do the superfatting. Do you know there is a thing called High Oleic Sunflower oil? I don't know how they process it, but it has very high oleic number, 89 i think. you'd have to order it online though I use this calculator to get the values http://www.soapcalc.net/calc/SoapCalcWP.asp i though that's what you used since you mentioned oleic number, and hardness in previous post. ah, i see now, i meant to write "palmitic", not palm. sorry for the confusion, i should be going to bed anyway. good luck with your next recipe!

Wow, great job! When i take a break from soaping, i always mess up a batch or two before i really remember how it's done. You did great, totally love the first one, nice color combo, and gorgeous ITP swirl! And the tree stamp is very cute too.

ah, the wonders of experimenting! your recipe looks fine, although VERY expensive. I guess you just have to get through this phase I generally try to keep my cleansing numbers a bit lower, around 18 or so, and see more conditioning. I also think that 40-41 is plenty hard for a bar. 44 costs you "too much". Suggested numbers in coapcalc are just that, suggested numbers. pure castile soap has cleansing "0", and oleic 69, and it is a good soap (after a long, long cure. lol). High oleic number is good, high stearic is fine, high palm - not so good, some people tolerate it well, some complain if it is higher than 18. High Lauric - a lot of bubbles but drying (but i'm sure there is plenty of info on properties of oils, so i won't go into that) Have you tried adding castor? It is a great if you need to add some bubbles to the recipe without making it harsh. I add it to every batch, can't formulate without (that's an idea for you since you will be shopping anyway)