SimplyBea

Hi Care Bear Yes - that is a site I refer to often and have saved lots of information on to my computer for reference. My main problem seems to be lac of recipes which do not have palm oil or lard.....

My 1st batch is still stuck in the mold!!! It has had more than 36 hours and looks solid enough but I can still 'depress' my finger into it..... so I guess I will have to wait some more...... I even tried 20minutes in the freezer with one of the tubs - didn't want to come out........ I am too chicken to test for 'zap'............ My formula Olive 450gm Coconut 350gm Castor 94gm (should have been 100gm but the 100ml bottle only gave out 94gm..... grrrrrr) Rice Bran 106gm (maybe I should not have adjusted from 100gm to compensate for the Castor???) Water 380gm Lye 143gm I mixed this by hand for about 40minutes and it came to full trace (I am pretty sure). I know this was always going to be a 'softer' soap and have read that it could take a while for it to harden....... just trying to be patient.... or have I done something wrong??? It looked really nice and creamy when I finished it.... I did try a little bit of the 'soap' which broke off and it did lather - but I was still using gloves handling it this morning (Monday) at 9am. The batch was completed on Saturday at 4pm.

Thanks - I already have that site as one of my main references but it still doesn't answer my question as there are recipes which have BOTH Palm and Coconut and THAT is my quandary. In my searches - I have found references which state that CO and PO are interchangeable as they both have same/similar enough qualities - but surely I can't just add the PO qty to the CO qty especially when it might take it over the 30% volume??? My questions are when both PO and CO are in the formula - what is the best course of action to replace PO if PO is the sub for Lard and vice versa - how do I get around replacing either in a formula which already has CO?Am I making sense???? :confused:

Jeanna I LURV you already!!!!! Thank you for that - none of my online searches turned THAT up for me!!! We are going to the mainland for a couple of days next week so I will be checking out the supermarkets and asian grocers in Adelaide to see what I can find!!! I don't even know what copha is...... Time to read some labels methinks!!! hugs b

So much info - so much o learn!!! :rolleyes2:rolleyes2 Okay - I NEED to know this??? What is the difference between gell and no no-gell for CP soaps???? TIA

Thanks! I won't really be able to make sense I guess until I get to the supermarket. They have a very limited supply of oils but at least I can get Olive Oil, Canola, Sunflower and 'mixed vegetable oil' (which I wouldn't even bother with.........) in 2L cans and they do have some smaller bottles of Macadamia, Grapeseed oil......... They don't carry palm, coconut and soybean oil here........ so I will have to try and get that on the mainland.....

*bump* Only JUST made my first batch yesterday and already looking fr more recipe ideas.......... BUT I keep coming up with lard or palm - what can I use to sub either/both of them??? :confused: tia b

Hi Jeanna & Smitten Sorry - my internet was up & down yesterday and I had actually replied but see that my reply didn't get thru!!! My confusion is what is actually being referred to when a recipe calls for just CRISCO - is it an oil or is it the vegetable shortening? When I first saw it in the recipes - I thought it was a specific oil branded CRISCO (I didn't realise they had a huge range of different oils until I started looking out for it in the supermarket)When I started googling to see what it might have been referring to - I couldn't find any clear definitions - they were just recipes with CRISCO then someone explained it is "vegetable shortening" - and can you believe I really don't know what that is? I do not believe that our local supermarket carries CRISCO shortening although they carry a few oils from CRISCO - so I wondered if I might be able to try to find an alternative to CRISCO here or sub it with something else that is notanimal fat OR Palm Oil One of my friends who I am making these soaps for is very much against Palm Oil and wants a soap which does not contain animal fats..... So maybe I just won't be able to use any recipe which has Palm Oil, CRISCO or Lard ??? :confused:

...... all by hand - didn't use the brand new stick blender coz I came across a thread here somewhere suggesting that the first time I should 'watch and feel' so I did - it was interesting and I could see the light trace and then feel it getting more resistant....... I put the mixture away in the plastic takeaway tubs I used this time in an esky and resisted temptation to take a peek ..... that was at 4pm yesterday........ THIS MORNING!!!!! OK - I couldn't wait until 4pm....... but I waited until I had my 1st coffee this morning...... At least they look HARD though there are still a few bits that look darker in colour.... the tubs do feel warm so I am guessing something is happening..... the overall colour is nice, creamy off white..... I am sooooooo excited !!!!! Now to be patient until 4pm - it's going to be a loooooong day!!!!!

SYR - thanks. Will keep this for next trial...... ;0

Is there a vegetable sub for Palm????? ;0

I am wondering what I can use to substitute Palm Oil and Lard? I would have thought that I could sub Coconut Oil for Palm Oil but it is already in the recipe....... What is a good safe sub for Lard?

I don't have Cocoa Butter & Lard - can I substitue with Coconut Oil & Shea Butter? ;0

I will have to wait until the next trip in to town (45km from me) which will not be until early May........ am so confused about vegetable 'shortening' and oils - am going to 'google' and see what it comes up with........ :confused:

Well - as luck woud have had it, we have had heavy rain and strong winds here since Thursday- the internet was down this morning just when I wanted to have a last 'look around' here for more hints/tips..... so I just had to take the plunge this afternoon and hope fr the best....... I had a couple of hiccups.... my formula asked for 100gm of castor oil - my bottle of 100ml only rendered 94gm!!...... so I topped up my Rice Bran Oil from 100ml to 106gm I 'overpoured' my Olive Oil - instead of 450gm - I got 453gm !! I did my lye solution AFTER I did the oils...... now I know why I should do it FIRST!! ...... I was just leaving the 'scariest part' for the last... it wasn't that scary in the end !! I decided to use a metal whisk instead of the stick blender - good experience, I could feel the mixture at every stage...... but I will use the stick blender the next time....... it took me 40 minutes to reach trace the mixture is now in plastic takeaway tubs with lids on and in the esky to 'keep them insulated and warmer'.... so I have the next 24 anxious hours to wait and see what will be the result....I decided to keep it simple and plain without any fragrance or colour, just to see what this 1st batch will turn out to be.... uckily I managed to load soapcalc in safari today and put in a few combinations to see what would 'look' better and I think (hope) I made a good batch........ *phew* my tummy and heart were all in the same place all through the 2 hours I as making this batch !!!!! But....... I have made ONE batch now........ and am impatient to open up the esky tomorrow at 4pm (24 hrs from when I put it in)......... :)

Far out !!!!!! Those soaps are just absolutely gorgeous!!!! I think I will be getting some as gifts for family back home when I go back later in the year. Very inspiring - I just want to make a few plain bars for the satisfaction of making my own soap - but sure love all the variety there is and love the talent everyone out there has!!!! So excited I can't get offline to sleep so I can get up and have my FIRST go !!!! :cheesy2:

Hmmmmm - it does confuse me........ I know lard - that is pretty easy (I think) and well labelled. I actually do not know of a vegetable shortening here in Australia. Would a solid 'oil' like supafry (I think it is all vegetable - must check next time I am in town) be a vegetable shortening? It is used for deep frying..... For tomorrow's batch - I am going to try something really simple - not sure what yet, but mainly Olive Oil, coconut oil and castor oil - will be running some figures through soapcalc before I even put my gloves on!!!! :rolleyes2:rolleyes2

I keep seeing references to Crisco but what oil is it? I did a search on google and on their website they have all sorts of different oils!!! Does it mean that when a recipe says Crisco - it can be an of the oils branded by them? That doesn't make much sense to me so I am really missing something here. I had not even paid any attention or noticed that brand before until starting on my soap research...... and now I see it on the shelves in the supermarket but there is a HUGE range of different ones with their labels???? :confused::confused:

YES - I certainly did and there were LOTS of great hints there.... !! Got all of those on my last trip into town on Wednesday (that was just supposed to have been a 'look see what I can find trip!!!.......' ) I have tried to download soapcalc but can't open it up in any browser (FF/Camino/Safari....I am on a mac) so I will have to try working on it online...... Yes -will definitely try for a SMALL BATCH first time round, plain - no fragrance added...... Got the scales - not what I was hoping to get but they seem okay, not cheapos - and they measure imperial and metric with 1gm increments up to 5kg........ ! Yes - Millers soap site is great for recipes and lots of good hints (saved and printed off for tonight's reading and another squiz before I start tomorrow......)~~~~~ very nervous and excited.......... ~~~~

Hi everyone I have thoroughly enjoyed my first few nights of reading the forum posts - there are lots of talented people on this forum!! I have been reading (here and elsewhere) .... and reading some more....... and I think I am almost ready to try my first batch of CP soap. I finally managed to get in to town today and got myself a whole lot of oils (whatever I could find basically) and now I need to find the courage to put the first batch together (probably on Saturday). I prefer not to include Palm Oil in my batches (and it is not available locally) so I have looked all over and it seems that Coconut Oil can be used as a substitute? I was lucky enough to find ONE tub (440ml) and I do not know how much THAT will render in weight??? so hopefully I won't come unstuck when I finally get all the stuff out to start. I plan to make a simple soap with Olive Oil and Coconut Oil as the main onesI also have small quantities of Rice Bran Jojoba Apricot Kernel Avocado MacadamiaI have looked at LOTS of recipes and don't know which ones I should include in my FIRST soap and not sure how to work out the quantities for a smallish batch!!!! I tried to find some way of estimating - but I must have missed it..... BTW - I am also having problems trying to edit my profile and preferences - I didn't do it the night I subscribed because it was so late and my eyes were waaay too tired to stay up the extra few minutes.... Any ideas from you would be very much appreciated!!! Thanks b