Janis

Julie, That soap is gorgeous! :highfive:

Your soaps are always lovely.

The word that comes to mind is "inappropriate".

I just caught this thread and have to respond. You can try all of the above mentioned strategies, but if you are truly sensitive to coconut oil, you'll want to stop using it altogether. I can tell if there is 5% of co in my soap, because my skin raises hell with me. I sub co with pko at around 20%. If I use more than 20% pko, it starts to feel like co. If you want more bubbles than you can get with 20% pko, then add 10% castor oil, which also helps with moisturizing. I always add at least 10% of an oil with linoleic acid such as sunflower oil, grapeseed oil, or rice bran oil. Actually, I've discovered that rice bran oil is a good sub for olive oil as a base oil in that it seems gentler on my extremely sensitive skin. Hope this helps.

I have the Upland round mold. I don't use it often, but when I do, I like it. I have the one with the stand. It makes 15-one inch bars. I'm guessing that they are 3 inches in diameter. You will get a seam on one side from the liner--not a big deal to me. I love the stand, too! I agree, though, if you are minimally handy you can probably make it on your own. But if you don't want to hassle with it, this is a nice mold.

I have three Uplands and love them all. I could never cut a straight line, no matter what, so I ended up with a Delcie Soap Cutter, as well. Between the Uplands and the Delcie, I'm in soapie heaven, lol!

They turned out beautiful. And thanks for showing the other side. I think we all want that other side to look the same as the top, but really, it's not possible, lol. Love that color, btw.

Glad to see you soaping. That is just lovely.

Yeah, it must have been bad, because the memory hasn't faded, lol!

Okay, I'll be the odd man out here. I used canola and didn't like the consistency of my soap. I think I subbed it for my base oil, so used it at a fairly high percentage. I don't know about DOS cause I didn't keep it long (actually threw it out 'cause I didn't like it, yuk, lol). The other thing to consider about canola is that it is genetically modified, unless you get it from a non-gmo source. That may not matter to you, but if it does, beware.

Thanks, sweetie. I suppose I can filter it myself, right? Have you done that? Okay, I can see that this could be a new addiction, lol!

Wow, thanks for the info, Cetacea. I'm relieved to hear I don't have to buy plastic molds. Interesting about the different kinds of bees, etc. I would like to find a local supplier, but can't seem to so far. Still looking.

Just went back in the archives and noticed that lots of folks had soaped it way back when. The consenses was no d or a and nice smelling in cp. HTH

I soaped it eons ago. This is what I remember: It is one STRONG fo, so go light. At first, the smell was enough to gag a maggot, but in about a week the fragrance came out strong and true. If you love it in candles, you'll love it in soap. I can't remember about accelleration and I'm sure I wouldn't know about discolor because I used a ton of red clay on that one. My tester had a red bathtub, lol. That's when I had just started making soaps. Let us know how it turns out for you.

Thanks so much Janette. Yeah, and my next question was whether it releases from the mold, lol. Did you ever try putting it in the freezer?