Rosies

Meridith Even if it's rustic maybe it will be useable. Right now it looks like chocolate chip cookie dough without the chocolate chips. LOL I plan to rebatch first thing tomorrow. I'll let ya'll know how it turns out.

katshe It doesn't just look bad. I think it's probably unusable as is. It looks kinda chunky! I think I should let it sit for at least 24 hours before rebatching. I'm getting some experience a little quicker than I'd like but I guess that's the best teacher. LOL

I'm still pretty much a newbie and need your help. I just made my first batch of goat milk soap and all was going well till I added Honey Almond FO and it traced so fast all I could do was plop it in the mold and pat it down a little. It wasn't even thick enough yet to hold the drop on top for a second when I added the FO so I thought I was okay but no-o-o! This in only my third batch of soap and it's now in the frig. How long should I wait to rebatch it? I'm thinking about using the boil-in-bag method. What do you think about that and what should I add to it? To give a few details I used CO-OO-caster oil & lard. I used canned goat milk which I added the concentrate to my oils and used the water to make the lye solution. I haven't used the FO before so I didn't know it would speed the trace the way it did. Your help will be greatly appreciated. Experience is a hard teacher. She gives the test then the lessons!

Thanks everyone for your inpit and help. Now I have another question about rebatching but I'm going to start a new thread for this one.

Carebear Can you help me formulate a recipe for 50% coconut oil that won't be drying? Other oils I have are OO jojoba lard shea butter castor canola AO I'm not sure I understand superfatting. Can you explain that to me? This is for personal use and gifts. Thanks, Rosie

Meridith Thanks for your reply. I'd forgotten about the goat milk heating up the soap. I will put it in the frig. Thanks for that tip too. I plan to make it today so it will be close on the cure. I checked with the seller for my mold and it doesn't have glue so I can use it for the oven method for other soaps it I decided to try it. Kidsngarden I don't like the rustic look so I won't do hot pour

I have several questions here. Has anyone tried the in the mold hot process soap method? (In the mold hot process soap or ITMHP is soap that is cooked (baked) in a mold in the oven.) I just read about this. If so will there be a problem with goats milk soap? Would I still line the wooden mold with freezer paper? Would I put the lid on the mold while in the oven? I just bought this mold on ebay so I need to ask the seller if it has any glue in it. Haven't gotten it yet. I want to give some soap as gifts for Christmas but time has slipped up on me and I don't have time for regular CP to cure so if I can use this method I can maybe still do it. Please say you've done this and it works great! BTW I don't want to do the hot pour soap.

Thanks for your replies ladies. Now I have to wait till tomorrow to get some goats milk. It sounds great and I can hardly wait.

This is probably a dumb question for you experienced soapers but what are the benefits of making goats milk soap? What makes it special? Happy Thanksgiving

Carrie and Carebear- Thank you both for your replies.

Everybody says do not use too much coconut oil in soap because it's drying but in doing a search on cooking with coconut oil I ran across several articles where it says it's a good moisturizer and skin softner. Does the soaping process change it so that it's drying? I purchased my coconut oil from Brushy Mountain Bee Supplies before I knew about all the other places to get it and it doesn't say whether it's 76 or 92 degrees. It does say it has a NaOH SAP value of 178. Do you think this would be good for cooking? The more I learn the more I realize I need to learn more!

Thanks Spacegirl. I think you pretty much answered my question. I really didn't think it would work but didn't think of all the reasons you gave but they make sense. I'll just keep trying for that prefect lotion.

I have my lotion in a zippered bag and want to know if I can add another oil to it and mix it in the bag just as you would add fragrance to a base. If I add another oil will it seperate? If that won't work would it work to put it in another container, add the oil and stick blend? The lotion isn't bad but it still needs a little something. I'm still new to lotionmaking. Only made two batches which wasn't bad but not quite what I'm looking for yet. Oh, I forgot about the very first batch I made before I found this site and did a lot of reading. That stuff was awful!! I found the recipe on the net and it was mostly oils. Talk about greasy and no wonder! I now know what the percentages should be (thanks to someone on this site) but I'm still trying to find the perfect oil blend for my skin. I know I can just do this on my own but thought I might save the lotion by someone elses experience.

Carrie, you've been the most helpful with your opinion but I thank everyone. Opinions are what I ask for and I got several. Carrie, you described what I'm looking for in this soap with the very moisturizing, fluffy lather and a very hard bar. Actually this soap is for my husband who is a diabetic and has very dry skin. I want to make the perfect soap for him. I started out with percentages on the oils but converted to ozs. before I made this post. I got different numbers on the lye on each lye calculator I used so I was uncertain about how much I should actually use. I know lye is very serious and I didn't want to go wrong. The numbers I put in my original post on the water and lye came from a lye calculator but I wasn't sure I was reading it right since I don't have any experience. Thanks again to everyone for your opinions. After I make the soap I'll let you know how it turns out. One other question, how long should I let this cure?

I started out with percentages and converted it to ozs.. I wanted to make 20 ozs. but when I ran it through the lye calc it gave me a total weight of 21 ozs. that's why I said it was 21 ozs. Telling me the lye is off isn't much help. How much should I be using? Scented, what do you do with all the soap you don't like?

Newbie here wanting to make a very small batch of soap (21 oz.) and would like your opinions on it. I don't have the confidence I need in myself on reading the lye calc yet plus I haven't made any soap yet and that's why I want your opinions, Here's my recipe; 10 oz. Olive 4 oz. coconut 2 oz. castor 1 oz. stearic acid 2 oz. sweet almond 1 oz. shea butter Water 5 to 8 oz. Lye 2.80 oz. I'm trying for a mild, bubbly, hard and moisturizing bar. What if any changes do you suggest? BTW, I love this site!