BlackCrow

You dont have to get your supplies imported from across the border if you are in Canada. I dont know where in Canada you are..I'm on Ontario...you can check out www.canwax.com and www.villagecraftandcandle.com I get all my supplies from there. The only time I go across the border for supplies is if I see a fragrance oil I want that neither of my suppliers carry. BTW, Canwax owner, sara jane, is amazing and even if you dont see something on her website you can email her and see if she wil get it for you. she is wonderful to work with and you can ask questions. I do candles and soon hope to make my first CP soap...so I can't say which is easier...yet.

hmmmmm.I need to double check the ingredients it says about olive oil. I do keep it on a soap dish...but this gets slimy right away while you are using it. Just to even wash my hands when the soap starts off bone dry, soon as it gets wet its slimes up. feels icky. LOL!

no it doesnt say anything about there being castile in it. Its got your basic simple soap ingredients in it....its actually a rather short ingredient list.

I am totally new to making bath and body recipes from scratch. My supplier does not carry the perservative that has been mentioned to use for this recipe...do you think rosemary oil extract is ok to use instead. Also, if I dont want it to be greasy how much corn starch should I put in this recipe and does something else have to be subtracted to do so? also, I dont want to make such a large batch right away but I dont know how to break this down to a smaller amount...would someone mind doing this for me?? I am aching to give this one a try since I am reading so many raves about it. Thank you so much for help and sharing this recipe

I bought a bar of handmade soap recently. When I wet it the bar gets this slimy coating all over it. Is that normal?? why would it do that? The slimy feeling goes away when it dries but each time I get it again the slime comes back. It is really thick and pulls away with your fingers when you lift your fingers off the bar.

That looks amazing!!!! Another name could be Autumn Moon, Eclips...did I spell that right?? Moonstruck or On Hallows Eve

Carnival! that is the name that popped into my head when I saw it cut up. You did a great job with the colours

You hit it right on the nose...I am trying to jump right in too fast with creating my own soap recipe. I was thinking about it all last night and decided too that I need to start off with the simple recipe. it will be a 3lb recipe...that is the size of the mold I have. I wont start playing with the recipe until after I get a "feel" for the basics first. My problem is that I see all the wonderful soaps on here and i just want to do one right away. But, can't do that. KISS is the perfect thing for me to have to do. My main concern should be...and is going to be,in just getting the hang of acutally making the soap for the first time. Getting it to trace, putting it to bed, curring, the whole thing. I really want to thank you all for your input and kind words on here. I have made me stop and think and SLOW down and not jump in with two feet first. Its my impatient nature coming through. I will defiently post pics when I make my first batch. Thank you!:highfive:

Hi! Thank you so much for this new recipe and for answering my question about superfatting. So with the above recipes you did for me yesterday, so long as I stick to the way you have the recipe written with the changes in it I should be fine. (BIG SIGH) Thank you so much.

ok, I have another question! LOL!! I have been reading about superfatting soap....with the above recipes in this post...will my soap go rancid fast because of the extra fats in the soap that dont get saponified (sp?) with the lye??? TIA!

OMG! thank you so much everyone!!!! This has all been a great help. Soapcalc confuses me. I have to go back and slow down and read it more carefully to understand what it is that it is trying to tell me. Single Yellow Rose, thank you so much for figuring it out for me. I really really appreciate it. Barbara Al and Miss Mary, thank you so much. Everyone has been a great help on this. I have been getting so overwhelmed by this whole thing. I think I am expecting too much of myself. I just have to remember to have patience during this whole learning process. April, thank you for the offer of help. I dont doubt I will be back on here begging for more advice! LOL!! Thank you again! :D

Your kidding!! OMG! Good thing I put it on here and asked. I was using a recipe I got online and just wanted to add SAO to it...but those WERE the numbers I got so that is weird. No, I obviously dont understand the numbers I am reading, I am new to this whole thing and have only just started doing research on it all and reading and reading and reading on it all. I have read that when you change a recipe that you need to run it through the calculator...so i did...but I didnt know what it was telling me...which is why I posted it on here. Thank goodness I did! I dont need a GLOB from all my work! ok......going back to my searching again. UGH! I read somewhere that this was easier then candlemaking...ummm, dont think so! LOL! Thank you so much for your help and checking this out for me. I would have had a big mess on my hands! This is the original recipe I have 3 lb Batch 6.82oz Lye 15oz of Water - - - 10 oz Crisco 16 oz Olive Oil (Pomace Grade - green in colour) 8 oz Coconut Oil 6 oz Palm Kernal Oil 4 oz Cocoa Butter 4 oz Shea Butter - - - 1.5 oz of fragrance oil I am going to use mango butter instead of the cocoa butter and replace the 16oz of Olive oil for Rice Bran Oil. I was told I can do this sort of substitution but just check with the lye calculator to make sure. Thank you again! REALLY REALLY appreciate it!

I am using soapcal9. I have to be sure to check out the one your using. I have been wanting to do this for some time too. I have done M and P soap but for me its not a challenge anymore and I feel like I am cheating when it comes to soap making. But it was great to start out with and wet my feet so to speak. I am hoping to buy my supplies in a couple of weeks. I have to drive over an hour just to get my hands on some lye around here. LOL!! Be sure to post how your first attempt goes along with pictures. would love to see it!

I am in the same position! Just gathering and gathering and copy/pasting everything but I am on information overload. LOL!!

Is this what you are talking about??? http://www.craftserver.com/forums/showthread.php?t=769 scroll down and it has a whole list of oils etc.

Ok, so I ran my recipe through a calculator and was wondering if you could take a look at it and tell me if this looks good?? I added 2oz(4%) of Sweet Almond Oil to this recipe too. Hope that was ok. I am reading the results on this thing...but I am not sure if this is ok or if this calculator would tell me if its ok or not?? oh shoot...not sure how to put it on here. hmmmm...... drat! ok, will break it down myself to show you my results, I did 4% SAO 16% CO 8% mango butter 8% Shea butter 12% Palm Kernal Oil 32% Rice Bran Oil 20% Crisco My results gave me 19oz water and 7.27oz of Lye. this is a 3lb batch. Now, I also got on my results: 7% hardness 89% conditioning 7% creamy lather 99 % iodine 97% INS Should I increase the SWO??? its only 2oz being put in. I didnt realise that converting my oz's to %'s it just doubles the number....I found that out in one of the lye calculators I used online.

Hi Meridith, Thank you so much! I will be sure to run it through the lye calculator to see what it gives me and what changes it does. I have read that rice bran oil has alot of benefits so I thought it might be bette to use then the olive oil. Thank you again!

Hi! Ok, here is a recipe I am going to use for my very first batch of CP soap. My supplier provided this recipe. This is good for a 3lb batch which is good cause my Mr.Doright mold is 3lb. 6.82oz Lye 15oz of Water - - - 10 oz Crisco 16 oz Olive Oil (Pomace Grade - green in colour) 8 oz Coconut Oil 6 oz Palm Kernal Oil 4 oz Cocoa Butter 4 oz Shea Butter - - - 1.5 oz of fragrance oil What i want to do is replace one of the ingredients and use Rice Bran oil instead. Which ingredient would I replace. I was reading Bunnys old post on how to create a soap recipe and reading about hard oils vs soft oils. Am I right in thinking that I can replace the 16oz of olive oil with 16oz of rice bran oil??? Also, I plan on replacing the 4oz of cocoa butter with 4oz of mango butter. If someone could look at this and tell me I am right about the replacement ingredients I would greatly appreciate it. I am afraid to make a mistake here and want to make sure i have it all right before i go and buy supplies. T.I.A!!! You all have been very helpful!

Great! Thank you for your help!

I just had a quick question when making CP soap. I want to add canned pumpkin to my CP soap and I was wondering when, in the making of the soap, do I add the pumpkin and do I have to adjust the recipe itself when I add things like pumpkin to the recipe like you do with butters and oils?? T.I.A~!

Thank you so much for your help!!! Its nice to know there are so many colouring options I can use for CP soap!

Hi! I am wanting to get into making CP soap. Have always done M&P soap and now want to try something more challenging. At the moment I have been just gathering all the information I can get about the whole process. I have read on here many times that you can use real food in your CP soap like pumpkin and carrot???? I was wondering two things on this, first, when you use something like carrot or cucumber do you shred it to a pulp?? The pumpkin I am assuming i can use the canned stuff. My second question how long of a shelf life would your soap have if you are using real food in it??? Does it not rot? Also....is there a perservative I should be putting in the CP soap so that it has a long shelf life??? Thank you so much for your help!

that's a good question. I personally would feel more inclined to ship it to them simply because I dont want to start something I may not want to keep doing. This person may become a repeat customer...may pass your name onto others who live close by...do you want to keep delivering to this person or others they tell about you as well an they will expect you to deliver or be able to pick up. I also would not want strangers coming to my door to pick up a package like that.That's JMO.

I hope she doesnt hold it against you. You didnt tell her she would make tons of money. Even here in Canada the craft shows I have taken part in or attended have way too many jewlery booths....and they all looked cheaply made. I think too that she should have at least gone up to you at the end of the day when she was leaving and say good bye...that was rude and immature on her part.

Mine does not leak thank goodness. I had heard of alot of others leaking and was worried about this problem. I have been ordering from across the border for years and this holding my parcel for a month was the first time it has ever happend to me. I had heard from alot of people where he was slow to ship.....so I'm not sure if he was just overly busy or just bad with shipping items out???? who knows. Anyway, my soap was a huge hassel to get out...I had to get hubby to help me get it out as I could not do it. Putting it back together is a pain for me. My soap came out uneven. What I mean is that one side was higher up then the other side....like it was on an unlevel surface but my table is level....I checked...so somehow, someway the mold itself is not level and so when I pop out the soap it coms out where one side is high and the other end is lower. Hope I'm exmplaing it right. Mine is supposed to be 3lbs too but it isnt...no way I can fit 3 lbs in there. Yes, it was nice of him to offer a refund on my mold....but truth be known...i would rather my item have been shipped ontime and that it was a good mold...one that didnt give me crooked soap. I don't think there is any excuse to overcharge on shipping like that...though I know alot do it.:undecided Well.....live and learn. I had hoped for a good experience and I got mixed feelings on it all. I think he is a nice guy...I was very glad and pleased that he responded to all my emails quickly because others left ebay feedback that he didnt respond at all....so I was pleased with that and when he realised that he was "dropping the ball" with me he made up for it with by refunding me the cost of the mold......but being that I am here in Canada and shipping costs enough as it is to come across the border...along with custom fees adde to it....I dont like being way overcharged on shipping. I'm glad that others are pleased with his molds....but I cant use mine unless its soap just for personal use.