Rebecca_IA

I'm by far a new soaper and I rarely allow my lye/water mixture or oils to cool all the way to room temp. It's been awhile since I took the temp of either before mixing together, but I bet it's never lower than 90-95 degrees (farenheit). I would never suggest you go below 90 degrees for a regular normal CP batch, unless you know what you are doing.

Upland slab, martha molds, half rounds (from Tony's???), milky way molds (many various ones), some silicone molds, one log mold.

I've ordered raw materials (just about all but FO's or flavor oils) from them many times over the past 6 years. The time it takes to get to you is a bit longer than other companies on the Eastern area of the US, but they have always packed and shipped in the time frame they list on their website. When I order from them, it's usually a pretty big order (once a year rather than 4-6 times a year) and the shipping has never been extraordinarily high. Maybe I don't notice it on a bigger order. The only EO I ever got from them that I was not satisfied with was a peppermint. My naturopathic doctor now orders some of her EO's from CG, after learning about them from me. She's been more than satisfied with what she gets, and she uses them theraputically, not for soap or candles.

Yes, that is the amount of water (or liquid) you use). Because you are just starting out, I would recommend using the higher amount of water (liquid) that the MMS lye calculator is recommending (12 oz for the size you posted). And for the lye discount, I would go no lower than 5 and no higher than 7 (for now). 5% lye discount is 4.51 oz of lye and 7 is 4.42. Make sure you take notes and good luck. Regarding how much of a lye discount to take (and how do you know), that depends upon what you end up being most comfortable with. If you use a zero discount, the soap will be harsh, too harsh to use on skin IMO (but it makes a good laundry soap). The higher the lye discount, the more "free" oils there are (unsaponified oils). You don't want to go too high, because then you increase the chances of your finished soap getting DOS (dreaded orange spots). I would say most soapers use a lye discount of 4-7% range. Experiment on your own and see what you are most comfortable with (just don't go too low).

Be careful with this, very careful. It can (and does) still seperate. And if it does seperate, it throws your batch off. The smaller the batch the easier it is for this to throw it off.

I prefer to do it after the bar has cured also. I find the soap crumbs stick to a fresher bar than a cured bar. On a cured bar, I can brush it off, on a fresh bar, it wants to stick to it. Take a batch you have now, do half and save half to do later and see how this compares for you and what your preferences are. This is one thing with soap making that there is no right or wrong answer.

Camden Grey sells benzoin resin. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosin Rosin is a solid form of resin. In a book that I have, rosin is mentioned and later on in the book, it discusses using benzoin resin if the rosin is unavailable to the soapmaker.

They still make and sell Pears soap. Here are the ingredients: Sodium Palmitate, Natural Rosin, Glycerine, Water, Sodium Cocoate, Rosemary Extract, Thyme Extract, Pears Fragrance Essence My previous next door neighbor is now 79 years old. For the first 2 years I made soap, she'd talk and talk and talk to me about this soap. I finally searched it out on the internet and bought some for her. Not saying it's any better than my soap, but for her, nostalgia means more than my soap ever will. Bought her 6 bars, wrapped them up and had her son seek them under her Christmas tree signed by Santa. I don't think the soap was very expensive at all, under 20 for the soap and shipping to me. I don't think they are MP bars. I think they are the kind of soap that has alcohol added to it and it makes it translucent. I believe the alcohol is not in the final bar, therefore not listed as an ingredient. Brambleberry use to sell a book on making transparent soaps, not sure if they still do.

How are you allowing it to harden? If you are leaving it sitting out, try putting them into the freezer to harden faster. If that doesn't help, try turning your oven on to heat it up, then put it in there and turn the oven off and allow them to harden up more slowly. If possible, cover the molds too to add extra insulation so they harden even slower. If that doesn't work, maybe add just a smidge of oil, like for 16 oz add 1/2 of some liquid oil. I used this mixed with a small amount of another liquid oil and EO, poured into small silicone molds and left it do harden in my kitchen. It was December and it would have been about 60-62 degrees inside at the time and I had no problems at all, but my kitchen then was on the cooler side. HTH.

Since you are going after an everyday bar, I wouldn't go to high on the cleansing oils. Have you read this page at the soapcalc.com site? http://www.soapcalc.com/soapqualities.asp Maybe this will help you a bit too.

The pink bar looks like a bar from a batch I did a long time ago. It was CPOP and it was in the oven too long (same time as I had always used before, but for this FO, it was too long) and it sort of bubbled/discolored on the edges. Is the mold growing on the bar with the additives on top? I've seen that before with herbs or oats on top of the bar. I think it happens when the bar is not cured in low humidity. I do use a few oats on top of my OMH bar, but that's maybe 10 oats per bar and I've never had this problem. Another one of the bars looks like it might have been a partial gel or ash. Regardless, if you don't have a good feeling about the soap, pitch and eat the loss of $4.00.

What kind of bar are you going after? A strong cleansing bar, like a mechanics bar? Or just an everyday kind of bar? If you are creating a strong cleansing bar, like a mechanics bar, you can use whatever percentage of the "cleansing" oils you want to (CO, PKO or babassu), even up to 100% (but I'd make it very clear the bar is for scrubbing hands only). If this is an everyday bar, I wouldn't use a combined percentage higher than 30% of the "cleansing" oils.

If the soap is not dried between uses or if it's kept in a damp environment, that will help it to go faster. And as other's have said, it also depends upon how the soap is used and how frequently it is used. My kitchen & bathroom sink soaps last so long I get bored with them and pitch them so I can use something different. Our shower soaps last anywhere from a week to 2 weeks if everyone is using them, but there are at least 7 of us bathing here, some days more. If I am the only one using one of my bars, it'll last at least a month, if not more. For Christmas, I give my brother 6 bars and that lasts him an entire year.

Ummm, yeah, those professional soap makers never made a mistake in any of their books. When you run across the one that tells you to add the water to the lye, make sure to follow our instructions on how to do it, not hers. If she's going to take the time to develop a bar that will help/sooth the itching, all I suggested was to research the herb more. I really hate to see people spend time and money hoping to achieve something specific and it doesn't even come close to what they expected.

I've never had OO discolor a batch in my life. I use the EVOO. I'm thinking the only OO that will discolor is pomace, it's got a hint of green to it. Even in batches that I've left uncolored and has 75% OO, they are snow white. If you have time later next week, I can work with you on coloring. About this time next week. Or, if you have those spoons that measure small amounts, you can make a batch of soap, get it to thin trace, pull out a cup and mix in one tiny scoop, pour into mold and move on to the next colorant. If you want to make sure the soap gels, insulate heavily with a heating pad under neath. You will sometimes get different colors using the same colorants from gel to ungelled soap. MMS sells the small measuring spoons I am referring too. PM me if you need me to go into further detail. (This is how I figured out how much of the aussie clays I needed to add to get colors I desired, used all the soap in a chunck batch after I was done with my experiment).

I'd do some more research into that plant. All that I have read states you need fresh jewelweed. I have read on forums about using it in CP and each time, I go back to my books and internet sources and I do not find anything that leads me to believe it would work. I would personally use a castille recipe with oatmeal once the rash has broken out.

If you are going to sell them, don't use vodka, it's not legal to do so.

If you have a good scale, this would be very easy to find out on your own by making two 1 lb batches of soap, 1 with Olive Oil only and the other with RBO only. Let them cure and try them out so you can see what the differences are between those 2 oils. If you use a lye calculator that has the fatty acid profiles for these 2 oils, you can compare the 2 of them that way also. soapcalc.com has them and they also give additional info on other pages of that site.

The next time you make it, if you want it to gel, make sure to insulate it and insulate it well as soon as you fill the mold and cover it. I use at least 1 folded towel under the mold, and 2 on top and then old sleeping bags on top of that. If you do add an additional heat source, just make sure it's consistant heat. The heat vent in your bathroom won't work (very well), because it comes on and off and once it's hit gel, you don't want anymore heat. A heating pad on for 30-60 minutes under the mold will work. If you are sure of your measurments and FO, just set it aside and let it sit for a day or two. I find no difference in hardness between ungelled and gelled batches, so just give it a bit more time and then check on it again.

Yuzo Japanese Grapefruit from SW. Mixed it 50/50. Used .5 oz pp of oils and it's strong at that, but it does fade some after time but when you use it, it does come back to life again and is still strong. These 2 are my favorite FO's to blend together. Also with BB's Amber. 3/4 of the neroli and 1/4 BB's Amber. Held about 3 cups of soap out (so it didn't get the FO in it, total batch size was 3 lbs) and did a swirl with a purple mica and rose clay and it turned out beautiful. This batch went so fast I really can only say the scent lasted 5 months without fading or morphing. That's all I can think of right now.

I don't think I've ever soaped this one straight up, I could have and just don't remember it. I use this one in blends a lot, that I do know, and don't remember every having issues with it at all. Love this FO.

This is from a previous response (in this thread) regarding OO. What you are experiencing is typical of OO, as I stated with a good cure, it will harden up nicely. I never said it stays soft forever, it just simply takes longer than CO or PKO or Babassu.

The soap balls are one of those things that practice makes perfect. When doing the final "rolling" in your hands, use the inner most part of your palm, where it's sorta rounded and take advantage of the roundness there, be careful to keep it there. And when done, carefully drop it onto wax paper and let it dry well.

Julie, just make sure when you drop the water amt to use an FO that works with no to little acceleration. If you're not sure, go to this site and see if there is a review for the FO you want to use. The less water/liquid you use, the faster the process goes and until you get experience under your belt, I wouldn't advise using much of a water discount when using an FO that accelerates. http://scentreviewboard.obisoap.ca/ You'll need to sign up. If you have any trouble navigating the site, let me know. Try the water discount first and see how hard the soap is after 2-4 weeks, esp if you like the recipe (except for the hardness). If that's not enough and you don't want to consider using the salt, then change your recipe. I'd personally try PKO or babassu (say 15% CO, 15% PKO, 5% CB, 15% lard as hard oils or 15% CO, 5-10% babassu, 5-10% CB and 15% lard as hard oils) before resorting to palm, but that's just me. I subbed out my lard for palm for a short time and did not like it at all, but like I said, that's me, not everyone else. Babassu tends to be more expensive than CO or PKO, but Columbus Oils sells it in bulk and it's less expensive from there. Or tallow, if you can get your hands on local tallow, throw some of that in the batch and cut out some of the canola. BTW, using the 11 oz of water, you have a 35% lye/water solution, which is mostly what I use and regardless of what recipe I use, it's pretty hard after a 2 week cure and really hard after a 4 week cure. I think you'll be fine.

I still tweak and still create new ones. I have way too much fun experimenting and playing around. I do have recipes that are tried and true for me that I do use more often than others, but I still play a lot. I'm fortunate, because I don't do this as a business I don't have to worry about customer approval when using different recipes or tweeking a standard one, only mine.