GrandmaArial

To get strong color in white M&P I use half white and half clear M&P. if used untinted it looks like watery milk but when you add color it helps the color show brighter.

Bath bombs are FUN! oh... I bet I know what happened, you forgot the most important ingrediant... before you start gather up a few kids... 6 to 8 year olds work best but 3 to 83 will work... Nice looking bombs! Now toss a couple in the tub and relax.

Ok… I was foolish and assumed that everyone who publishes a book calling themselves and expert is one. I should know better. But now I’ll have to find scientific papers on saturation points for NaOH… what a drag. I don’t know why I accepted this “information” on face value, I so seldom do that. This reminds me of when I got my iguana. I went and bought a half dozen books on iguanas and read them all… then a month later threw them out as wasted money. Just because someone calls themselves an expert doesn’t make them one. Ok… after a nice hot bath and a couple cups of coffee I finally found the info I was looking for. And I was a fool for accepting what I should have known better… saturation rates of most crystals vary by temperature (NaCl is one of the few exceptions to this). I know this, it’s basic. The saturation point of NaOH at 0C is about 32%. (0C=32F, Freezing point of water). However at 20C (68F) it is about 50% and at 40C (107F) the solubility level is 70%. As we all know the reaction is exothermic and the solution temperature is going to get much higher than that. So anything about going over saturation rates is a crock (unless you plan on soaping in a deep freeze). I would, however, still be concerned about using to high a concentration, especially for a beginner. The higher the concentration the faster the exothermic reaction will run, the hotter it will get, and the faster it will trace leaving the possibility you could not have time to get it completely homogonous before it becomes unworkable. Granted I have grown old and slow but I like to water discount that gives me about 20 to 30 minutes between pouring the lye water in the oils and pouring the soap into the mold. If I’m making a Castile with 70% or more olive oil I will discount water to 30% but most of my recipes I prefer 33%. That 4 to 5 minutes and I wouldn’t have had time to finish stirring it, much less get it into a mold! And forget swirling, scenting or coloring. And thank you euginia for waking me up and making me find the facts.

Hmmm… lime with honeysuckle… may have something there… I’ll have to check and see if I have any lime rind left… I think I used it up on the last batch of jade soap and haven’t dried any more yet (sorry, I’ve been lazy). If not lemon should work, maybe even a combo of lemon and sweet orange. Still need the rosemary and basil though. That should give it a nice balance of layers… the top will be sharp and fresh… the middle sweet and inviting, the basil and rosemary will give the bottom notes warmth. It will smell like meeting up with an old friend feels. And every item on the list is good for the skin! Double bonus!

I greatly doubt the tomato will leave any scent in the tomato, just some color (peach but the pictures I've looked at) so I dont think its going to conflict with floral. But as I sit here and think about it... my honeysuckle bushes are next to my husbands tomato patch and summer days... it's a wonderful place to just sit and breath...

The raspberry with tomato sounds good, my grandmother made a raspberry tomato relish that was wonderful but I’m shy of using fruit FOs as I tend to react badly to them. I did try some cherry FO to make cherry cordial soap… gave me an awful migraine (no, I do not use that soap, LOL). Also the tomato leaf… I may have to order some and give it a try. That would be a great marketing thing… but I think the rosemary and lemongrass is what I’m looking for. I use very very little FO in my soaps, and then only a few drops to accent the herbs I use and mostly florals so I have few FOs on hand. I am thinking maybe rosemary with a little honeysuckl... but my mind still wants to go to basil… there’s something about tomato and basil… LOL. Maybe just a tiny pinch… we will see what my impulses do when I go to start the oil… Phone rang and I come back and Meredith has the same basic idea. What do you think… will some honeysuckle oil finish it? Or will it be overdoing it?

I want to make tomato soap. I think the lycopene will be a great addition to the soap but I’m coming up blank on what herbs to scent it with. I don’t want it coming out smelling like marinara sauce but all I keep coming up with is basil and oregano. And no, I am not going to add garlic to my soap either (although it might be a good anti fungal soap worthy of consideration in the future). Any suggestions will be appreciated.

A tad more????????? Yeah… right… we know you Donna… its not sometimes and it’s not a “tad” (or tad has suddenly been redefined). You love your strong scents! I swear I can smell it all the way here when you add a “tad” of scent! It’s wonderful! You set your crock pot to high and the soap doesn’t scorch on you? I (being the impatient person I am) started with the pot set on high and it wasn’t pretty. Low works for me. Takes all day but I get the best results (which isn’t that good for me). I will have to try euginia’s recommendation.

You can try cutting them up and pour fresh cp over, lots of nice examples of that in the gallery. I just grate my scraps, dampen them and make balls.

I haven’t bought a mold for cp yet. I want to but always wind up spending my money on oils and herbs and such! I started out using loaf pans and boxes while I waited for hubby to make me one. I finally realized I’d be waiting forever and made my own. I used 3 inch x ½ inch molding wood (some really nice maple we had left over from having our kitchen expanded last year) and cut 4 17 inch pieces and two 4 inch pieces and assembling them into a loaf mold and top. I don’t think you have to use expensive wood… but you would want nice knot free wood I think. Something fairly smooth.

I could fill my extra deep tub all the way up for one of those! They look great.

Thank you both. I will learn. I may look the yahoo group up when/if I actually give into demands and try cream soap. Thank you.

I seldom rebatch but when I do I stick it straight in the crock pot, low setting. I have, however, seen articles recommending rebatching in boil bags. That would probably be easiest as it would prevent the soap from coming in contact with hot walls of the crock pot, especially if your pot doesn’t have a low setting. In the articles they say to simmer the bag them knead until consistent and smooth. Do a search, you can probably find something on it. The positive would be a lot less clean up and less likely to scorch. The only drawback to using the bags I can see is it will be HOT to handle. Good luck.

I let my M&P simmer in the double boiler for awhile before I pour to drive out any alcohol and/or water that wasn’t processed out during manufacturing to avoid shrinkage. It also makes it less drying (which I have seen a lot of people complain about with M&P) which I assume is from the alcohol. At any rate it works for me. I guess I’m always assuming everyone does it like I do, sorry, so letting it sit awhile should accomplish the same thing.

Not that I know of. She is one of my testers because she has no health concerns I would have to calculate for. She is addicted to the soap I make with the same balance of oils. She is in my age group (entering senior citizens category) and has recently retired from housekeeping where she was exposed to drying chemical cleaners. She has been coming over and filching my personal lotion for ages to help her dry cracked skin but now suddenly the driest lotion I have ever made won’t absorb into her skin. Thinking about it quitting the housekeeping has to be alleviating a lot of her dry skin problems but her age should be making up for it somewhat. It looked like she had used a whole jar, not the tiny dab I put on her hand. She kept rubbing and rubbing and all the happened it her hands looked glossy and greasy.

Yes, the KOH is so much easier to deal with! The larger heavier flakes make a huge difference in dealing with the lye. One thing is no powder like the NaOH has to fly around when I poured it. Granted it isn't very much dust but it bothers me to think of it floating around. That is where the static comes in helpful. I use a 2000 ml plastic beaker to measure my lye with. It is very tall and as I pour the NaOH in the static pulls the dust and errant particles to the walls of the beaker. To get all the Lye out I invert it over the mixing pitcher (the handle makes it fit perfectly so it doesn't drop into the pitcher) and tap the bottom a couple times. This works better for me than any other method I've tried. It doesn't eliminate all the dust but I think it does drastically cut it down. I think at least part of the reason the KOH doesn't get as hot is we use so much more water to dissolve it in. With bar soap we use between 30% to 40% water to oils (between 1.96/1 to 2.6/1 water to lye) while we use 50% to 70% water to oil ratio (2.3/1 to 3.27/1) for KOH. This by no means makes it safe… but a lost less concentrated that we use with NaOH. I have been thinking about this… I can’t find anything on saturation points on KOH, will it all dissolve in a 40% solution? If so can it be used for bar soap? I may have to waste some ingredients and try. Cream soap will, no doubt, be next on my list when I get this done. Anyone have any guide lines on how to calculate a recipe for it? What water to lye ratio to start out with? I have looked at a number of recipes; KOH to NaOH seems to vary between 1/9 to 1/4 parts. It’s all very confusing when I can’t find anything about why the disparity.

Those are adorable, very classy!

Someone's going to be SO happy!

If it were me I would set it aside a few days and see how it does. I always check ph using ph strips, but most here just check for zap. Up to you. If it didn’t burn your hands it’s probably ok, but check anyway. You don’t want the PH higher than 9.5. That’s as high as most skin can take. My concern is the lack of lather. It could just be your oils, its low on bubbly lather oils but should have good creamy lather. But let it sit a few days and see it it firms up… then test it. If its good- the great! If not then you learned a lesson and you’ll never make that mistake again.

It’s too much like work to me! LOL. I admit it’s taking a toll on my patience waiting for the CPLS but stirring the HPLS all day was to distracting for me. Every time the phone rang I cringed scared it was going to be some reason I would have to turn it off and leave the house. The CP method is right for me. I do have some questions about dilution. I keep reading and reading but how do you know you have the right amount of water when you’re diluting? I can’t find any formula, just guile lines on guessing. Soft oils like to gel so need more water than hard… not real specific. Also, I tested the HP batch tonight and it was 9.5 PH. I wanted something neutral so I added citric acid (in solution) and it foamed up. I wasn’t expecting that! I took the PH down to 7.0 and have it put back again hoping it will settle out again. The cream I skimmed off before I added the citric is… nice. I played with it… it’s almost like a cream soap, and very soft to the skin where the clear was a bit drying. And it lathers very nicely. That surprised me. I expected the oils in it to kill the lather. Oh, and Lurkin, go ahead and tell my hubby I’m trying to poison him… I had the first batch in a 5 gallon bucked left over from dry wall mud last year, all scrubbed out of course. He saw it and thought it was just left over drywall mud and took it out with the trash this morning. The trucks had already run when I realized it. So yeah, I just might have to poison him!

And another addict is born!

A 33% lye concentration is a bit low, works out to a water discount of slightly less than 29% which is just slightly lower than the 30% lowest safe recommended water discount. It explains why it traced so fast. It may also have not dissolved all the lye in that amount of water. Lye needs the water to react with the fatty acids, in its crystalline form it is not an ionic substance and it is the ionic reaction that makes soap. Like mixing baking soda and citric acid in oil for bath bombs. It will be relatively stable. Enough heat will cause some reaction but it will be incomplete. So be careful with it. Your first recipe would be soft with all the OO and safflower oils, and leaving it in the mold an extra day probably would have helped, though with that water discount I would have expected it to be pretty firm with in 24 hours. You didn’t give proportions for the second so I don’t know. Good luck with them, and if they don’t work out remember we all have failed experiments. But do be more careful with lye discounts, they are not the same as water discounts.

I never use palm oil and I like my soap. Some people use lard as it is similar in characteristics as palm oil. I personally don’t like it. Just work out a balance of oils for the characteristics you want. Be sure to run it through a reliable lye calculator. You can use http://www.soapcalc.com/ and it will give an estimation of what your combination of oils will give you.

You are right; M&P is already cured, before I started playing with it I was buying it and just cutting chunks off to use (it isn’t as good as my hand made CP but much better than any other type of commercial soap I’ve found). I do like to let mine set for a day or so in a dry area to let any excess moisture it might have absorbed from my famously humid kitchen work its way out but that’s it. I don't think there is any reason you can't trim as soon as it's completely cool.