GailC

Thanks to all of you. You've given me some ideas. I like those racks from mission peak soap. I'm not getting into soap making big time. So I'll figure out some place to cure it. I may have to try to clean out a closet shelf. I would have room in the kitchen if I didn't have so many cups and saucers for making candles, plus lots and lots of fragrance oil, plus all the other candle making paraphernalia, and now soap molds and soap base.

I suddenly realized that when I start making soap, I'm going to have to figure out a place to let it set and cure for 6 weeks! I don't have a lot of room...my son told me yesterday if he wins the lottery, he will build me a house with a craft room. :smiley2: I've been reading here and there about how and where soapers cure their soap. One site said a cool, dark place; another said an room where air circulates. Should I cure the soap on a rack, or will a wax paper lined cookie sheet do? Stand it on end? I know to turn it every day, or every few days....I've read both. Boy, the more research you do, the more different answers you get!

I finally found the Roebic lye at Lowes yesterday. I had to ask a few times to find it; got a blank look when I asked where the Lye was. I had forgotten the name "Roebic." Someone said to check the plumbing department when I said it was drain cleaner. It was there; not in the cleaning supplies section where I checked first. Got a wide putty knife at Lowes too, as I have read several different places that soapers use a putty knife to slice their soap logs. I'm sure learning a lot! Just waiting for my oils from Bramble Berry to take the plunge into CP soap making.

I'm glad you all enjoyed the story. My mother became very sick in March of 2011; she was in the hospital several weeks, then a rehab hospital, then a nursing home. During that time, I joined ancestry.com and connected with some distant relatives I never knew I had through that site and facebook. When Mom was able to talk again, I started asking her about her relatives from her youth, and I would sit beside her bed in the dimly lit room while she would relate stories to me about relatives I had never heard of, as well as her grandmothers, both of whom I remember a little. Mom's mother died of TB when Mom was 5, so her grandmas were a big part of her life. I found out yesterday she even stayed with her great grandma some, she called her 'Mammy.' My mother remembers someone who was born in 1848! Sometimes Mom doesn't know or remember specific things about her aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc., and she says, "There's no one left to ask." That's why I decided to start writing it all down, before there is no one left to ask. I feel like our family has been given a gift of more time with my mother, and I want to hear all she remembers about my grandparents and great grandparents and her childhood, etc. I only wish I had cared more about my family's past when my grandparents were still living. What stories they could have shared!

I'm glad you all enjoyed the story. My mother became very sick in March of 2011; she was in the hospital several weeks, then a rehab hospital, then a nursing home. During that time, I joined ancestry.com and connected with some distant relatives I never knew I had through that site and facebook. When Mom was able to talk again, I started asking her about her relatives from her youth, and I would sit beside her bed in the dimly lit room while she would relate stories to me about relatives I had never heard of, as well as her grandmothers, both of whom I remember a little. Mom's mother died of TB when Mom was 5, so her grandmas were a big part of her life. I found out yesterday she even stayed with her great grandma some, she called her 'Mammy.' My mother remembers someone who was born in 1848! Sometimes Mom doesn't know or remember specific things about her aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc., and she says, "There's no one left to ask." That's why I decided to start writing it all down, before there is no one left to ask. I feel like our family has been given a gift of more time with my mother, and I want to hear all she remembers about my grandparents and great grandparents and her childhood, etc. I only wish I had cared more about my family's past when my grandparents were still living. What stories they could have shared!

Thanks for the encouragement, Eileen. I believe I am going to do it! It's fascinating to me that you can make a caustic substance, add it to oils and voila!, soap. I don't understand how you have to be so careful of lye, but once you blend it in a bunch of oil, you can wash with it! And I never, ever in my life wondered how soap lathered until I started making soap. I'll have to find eugenia's tutorial. But now I'm thinking I'll have to buy a log loaf and a soap cutter and on and on. But I can't cut straight worth a hoot. I may stick to the molds I have for a while.

My mother is 85 years old. Yesterday I took my laptop to her house and started writing stories about her growing up days. Nowadays, we make soap as a hobby or craft or maybe even a business, but back in the 1930's in the hills of Southeastern Kentucky, women made soap out of necessity. Here is a story that my mother told me about her grandmother: "Grandma had a spring that ran under a hill. There were slate rocks there and they hewed out a place to get water. Grandma had an old blue granite dipper and a gourd that she kept at the spring for us to drink out of. She told us kids to not drink from the granite dipper because Pent McDonald had TB and he drank from it. So we used the gourd; I remember the water tasting so fresh and cold. (Note: "Pent" Jesse James McDonald was my great grandmother's neighbor, and my dad's grandpa. He died in 1931 from TB.)Grandma washed clothes out at the spring. She would build a fire, stack rocks around it and set a wash boiler on them. She scrubbed the clothes on a wash board with lye soap. She sure got the clothes white with the lye soap. I don’t remember her having a clothes line. She may have hung the clothes on a fence. One day Thelma (Mom's sister) and I went to Grandma's and she was on her way to the creek to wash clothes. (Mom didn't say why she went to the creek instead of the spring.) Grandma carried everything she needed down to the creek; the boiler, the washboard, the dirty clothes and the lye soap. Except when she got down to the creek, Grandma realized she had forgotten one thing; a knife to shave the soap into the water. So Grandma scraped the soap against the top edge of the wash boiler. She said "Where there's a will, there's a way." I remember her saying that a lot." I was telling my mom and my sister yesterday about some of what I have been learning about soap making, about how dangerous lye is and all. I asked my mom if her grandma used goggles and gloves when she made lye soap; she laughed and said no. Mom's stepmother also made lye soap when mom was growing up, out of ashes, but Mom doesn't remember the whole process of her soap making.

I have recently ventured into soap making, so far using the M&P bases. After spending the morning reading on the web about the ingredients in a M&P base I bought, I started considering the possibility of making soap "from scratch." My first question has already been answered by opening this thread....where to buy lye! We have a Lowes right here in town.

If you look through the M&P recipes thread, Candybee does a wonderful job explaining which added oils/butters are moisturizing. Per her recommendations, I add castor oil for lather, and glycerin and coconut oil for moisture. She also says that olive oil and shea butter are moisturizing. I just started making soap myself. I bought Peak's goat's milk soap, which already has several moisturizing ingredients. I just sampled the lavender goat's milk soap I made tonight. I added 2 tsp castor oil, 2 tsp coconut oil, and 1 tsp glycerin to 2 pounds of the goat's milk base. My hands feel really soft, so I think it's a success. I'm definitely not an expert though, just trying different additives as I go. Before I bought the coconut oil and glycerin, I used 2 tsp olive oil and 2 tsp castor oil in 2 pounds of base. I'm afraid to add too many oils at once; don't want to diminish the lather. I like lots of lather. I think this last batch with the added coconut oil and glycerin make my hands feel softer than the earlier batches without them.

Where do you buy vegetable glycerin? I bought castor oil, which Candybee recommended, at the grocery store. Saw that Brambleberry carries coconut oil at a good price, but they don't have vegetable glycerin. I just made my second batch of soap. I've been searching and reading lots of posts to get all your tips and advice on M&P soap making. Ground up my dried chamomile in the blender, per someone's tip. Made some lavender chamomile soap, and added 2 tsp of castor oil to 2 lb of Peak's Goat's Milk base. Now I want to try adding the vegetable glycerin and coconut oil, and I don't know what all else. So many additives to choose from! One more question....do you use the olive oil from the grocery store as an additive to m&p bases? Thanks in advance. I love this forum for all the helpful advice and to see your creations you've made.

Very cute! Bet that all took a while.

Thanks for the compliments, ladies. I crochet a chain with the ladder yarn. easy peasy. Usually, I crochet two chains, unless the pendant is small. Ladder yarn looks nothing like yarn. But that's what it is called. I have bought a few pendants from Hobby Lobby, when they're half price, I've made a few out of buttons, but the vast majority I buy off ebay. Some of the same stuff the craft stores sell, but a much cheaper price. That's how I am able to sell the pendants so cheaply. Beth, I have recycled a few pendants, making them from old vintage earrings, or necklaces with broken chains, etc. The brown one below is a button, believe it or not, and the blue one was an earring I got from my Mom's large stash of stuff. (I glued the bail to the button to make a pendant. I learned that new word, bail, when I started all this. I'm learning even more new words now that I've ventured into a little soap making, like Saponification. :smiley2:)

Very nice! What a keepsake! I like the popcorn stitches....if that's what those are.

Just one more picture. This is the pendant my lovely granddaughter chose...it looks even prettier on her!

Oh I like this one! Did you design it too? Just lovely!

A couple more pictures. I did a couple of craft shows this year. The pendants sure outsold the candles. But I still like making candles too. And I just started making soap! :smiley2:

I've made a few button rings. My granddaughter liked them, as well as a shop owner in Somerset Ky, and a few other people. I mostly concentrate on the necklaces though.

Someone asked me to post a picture of the necklaces I make. These have been very popular. They're lightweight and just slip over your head. The pictures don't really do them justice, because ladder yarn is just gorgeous. Here are just a few of the scads I've made.

Thanks for the advice. I think I got in too big of a hurry the first time. The second batch came out much more easily. I used a silicone cupcake mold I found at the Goodwill, and those bars really came right out! The only thing different is the bottoms weren't shiny like the bars that came from the plastic mold I bought at Hobby Lobby. I liked the shiny look. I have 14 bars wrapped and labeled with the scripture and ready for my Christmas Party. They're in a bag, and boy that bag smells wonderful!

Oh No!! I was also inspired to start making jewelry back in the summer, then this hyssop soap idea hit me, so now I have three crafts going at once. How many addictions can one person have, I wonder? I just placed my first order yesterday with Wholesale Supplies Plus. I finally figured out that must be what WSP meant, after I found that supplier. Now I want to buy some dried lemongrass and make some soap for Christmas presents. So here we go again! (Not related at all to this forum, but I think the crocheted ladder yarn pendants have been the most successful money wise....but I'm perpetually in the hole as far as my outgo and income is concerned. That's why it's called an addiction I guess. I keep having to buy more pendants and more colors of yarn!)

Yay!! The soap came loose from the molds! Ok, now I want to make more kinds. Oh dear, here I go again. You ought to see how many bottle of fragrance oils I have from my candle making endeavors. I need to build a room onto my house for all my craft stuff!

Thanks for the reply Kitn. Yes, I decided I'd just use saran wrap, and I just got finished making a page of labels with the verse. I was all excited about how good the soap looked and smelled....until I couldn't "pop" the soap out of the molds. But I just read somewhere to wait 12 hours before trying to release the soap. Other instructions said 30 minutes to an hour. Guess I'll try again in the morning. I didn't use any non-stick spray or anything. Maybe I should have??

Hi! I have been making candles for over 2 years, but never dreamed about making soap. That is until I got this bright idea for a devotional I'm doing at our church Christmas party. I needed some Hyssop soap, and didn't want to pay 5 or 6 dollars a bar. So I did some research, looked on this forum, did some more research, bought some melt and pour goat's milk base off ebay, bought an ounce of dried hyssop, realized I had a bunch of candle fragrance oils that are also skin safe (!), and I was on my way. Then I started looking for molds, and lastly, today I bought some alcohol and a spray bottle. I used 1/4 ounce of Cool Citrus Basil oil and 1 teaspoon of hyssop in 1 pound of soap. I think it smells just right, thank goodness!! I'm using the soap to go with the verse, "Purge me with hyssop" in Psalms. Now I have to make some labels with the verse on them, and wrap the soap somehow. Maybe I should have just paid the 5 or 6 bucks a piece for the ready made stuff. :smiley2:

Oh, I forgot to ask you, Candybee, how do you know??? :smiley2:

Ok I like "Fun in the Sun" better, thanks! And the names for Buttermint are very good, Candybee. I actually only made 3 of those candles and two are going to relatives, so I will tell them the real name too. :smiley2: The reason I bought the buttermint anyway was because I bought a sample of "Snow Cream" from the Candlemaker's Store, and to me it smelled like buttermint candy, so guess I should have named the candles "Snow Cream!" I really liked that Snow Cream but hesitate to order anything else from the Candlemaker's store, because there are no scent descriptions. Of course, some are pretty self explanatory, like "Apple Pie." Also I don't know whether to order the grade A or grade B...so since I get my wax locally now, I just don't order anything from there.