soapybear

I am new to soaping as well and I have been reading the posts and information on the internet and all point to the soap calculators as key. There are a bazillion soap calculators out there - each a tab bit different. Is there one that y'all could suggest to start out with?

I actually have one more question..... someone asked earlier if I let the Lye mixture cool down before adding it to the oil.... no i did not.... what i did was nuke the oil for 1 min which brought it to 150f.... i then added the lye to the water and it also rose to at least 150f....after the lye water was clear i then added that mixture to the oil mix and started up my stick blender.... it too no time at all to trace. That is when i then added the EO, clay and honey..... should I have waited to a certain temp before combining the lye water mix with the oil? and if so what is suggested... also do you let the whole mixture (after trace) cool down before adding the additives or do you just add them and then place in molds.... thanks for all y'alls help thus far - everyone on this board is so helpful!

i wanted to thank everyone for all your great comments. I am going to let this one set and cure and since it will just be for me I dont care how it looks.... although if the smell stays the same I am going to get hungry for cookies every time i shower! :rolleyes2 everyone have a great thanksgiving!!!

Thanks everyone for the input!!!!! Here is the formula I used The % of each of the oils are unknown since it was in one bottle but it did weight 8oz it was 3/4 C of water 2.1 oz of lye 2.25tsp of essential oil blend (ginger, orange, ylang ylang and cassia) 2.5 Tbs of earth green clay 1/3 cup honey (yikes) The package told me what amounts of water and lye to add. I can touch the soap without any reaction on my skin. The soap is already hardening just a bit oily on the outside (especially the bottom where i poured into the mold) I know I screwed up with the honey but the scent is really crazy. The EO on it's own smelled very zesty with the ginger and orange being the primary emphasis. but honestly right now it really smells like a great oatmeal cookie - very pleasant smell and the color being dark brown even reminds me of a cookie - but I am not sure it is usable.....

Hi all – I made my very first batch of CP yesterday. Things did not turn out as planned and I want to know if I should scrap what I have or let it cure. Here is what happened… Used a pre-package oil blend of olive, coconut, palm and beeswax which was a total of 8oz. According to the directions I added the proper amount of lye (2.1 oz). I used 2.5 T of earth green clay for color and the essential oil was a blend of ginger, orange, ylang ylang and cassia (about 2.25T). OK so the error I know I made was in the honey…. I was looking at two different recipes and messed up the amount of honey. For 16 bars it suggested 1/3 c of honey so I used that much…. After the fact I remember I was making only 8 bars. OOPS! Anyways back to the story – I got to trace and stirred all the additives in. Very odd color green and it smelled really bad (phewww). I went ahead and added it to the molds. I looked at it today (set for 24 hrs) to unmold and set-up to cure. The color is now a chocolate brown and the smell (don’t know how this happened) smells like really good oatmeal cookies?!? AND even odder is that the soaps are very oily (but hard enough to unmold). I am not sure if I should wait the 3 weeks to cure or dump it now. Any help/suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated!!!