PattyZB

My oatmeal honey soap using the beginner recipe on here with a few added ingredients. The honey gave it a nice color and it smells yummy. Cut and curing I took the pumpkin spice out of the mold and cut it the other day . . .it's hardening and I'm hopeful. It smells really good so fingers crossed. I'm going to behave and use the beginner recipe with a few added goodies to 'cure' my need to try new things. I ordered M&P, molds and FO from Brambleberry so I have that to look forward to as well. I love soaping.

I'll have to move them to my 'craft room'/spare bedroom. So much to learn! lol

FUZZ! That's the perfect word to describe it! Thanks!!! But what did I do? Or is it just because I have it in the garage and should move my workshop into the basement.

My workshop's in the garage so maybe it is a humidity/moisture issue. Makes sense with the temperatures changing so much recently.

That looks amazing!

I made some M&P soap last week and have had it sitting in my work area. It (all the smaller ones from molds and bars from another batch) has this 'coating' on it. It brushes off but I'm not sure what it is. I read somewhere on here about something like this but thought it was for CP...now I can't find that thread.

No..i didn't reduce the water at all. Well, I'll just have to be patient and let it dry/cure. I'm glad it won't 'go bad'. It has a nice scent to it and did harden overnight for the most part. I can't find much online about using different ingredients in soap like the pumpkin and I've seen some soaps with sugar and such on top. So much to learn...but so much fun learning.

Oh no! It still works well though! That is one of my most favorite scents!

I actually didn't use an FO in it. Everytime I've made soap with the stuff i have it's turned out badly so I'm waiting until i get my new scents from Brambleberry. As for how much pumpkin I used...that's going to be a problem. I used 2 tsb ppo. Ugh. I suppose I'll be needing to use this soap up quickly. If I keep it in the fridge will that help keep it from turning?

I added some pumpkin puree to my soap after it reached the 'trace' stage and now it's like soup.... did I add too much? I'm not sure how to proceed other than let it sit on the stove and hope for the best (that it starts to trace again and I can pour it into a mold). UGH *UPDATE It sat a bit, I mixed here and there, the oils started to separate, I mixed here and there, it started to get thick again and I stick blended until it was all uniform and then poured it into the mold. Hopefully it's not ruined. Any ideas?

I LOVE IT!! That's an amazing pattern and the colors are awesome!

It's so tempting to just jump in and start getting crazy! I need to get the process down first and then I'll play. I'm still reading up on the best combinations of oils to use...now I'm off to the grocery store for dinner and soap supplies.

Okay, I have a loaf curing at the moment. I found a recipe on here - 25% lard, 25% coconut and 50% olive oil. I ran it through the calculator and followed directions on a different site - http://watersgulch.com/howtocp.shtml and it came out perfectly. Of course me being me...i couldn't leave it alone and added honey and oatmeal. I didn't get fancy with swirling colors and didn't even add any to be honest (the honey added some color). So we'll see. It poured nice and smooth, smelled nice and with a little oatmeal sprinkled on top it looked good! We shall see. I always use the calculator on SummerBeeMeadow's site to check stuff out. I was petrified of burning myself by not having the lye amount correct. Do many superfat? Is it really necessary? I'm very cautious about my measurements but still wonder if it's always necessary to do that (SF). I love making soap!

Thanks all!! I'll have to look into those books and check on here.

I actually don't have any books and have been relying completely on websites for information. I have no idea the difference between hot and cold process. . .I'll have to google that. AND look into some books when I have money...not sure if the library would have any of them.

Thank you all! I ended up scrapping the cotton candy. I wasn't sure what would happen with it so out it went. I did use a calculator from www.summerbeemeadow.com that the woman I bought my supplies recommended. The recipe for the exploding apple soap was/is: caster oil 10% coconut oil 20% lard 35% safflower oil 35% lye 4.56 oz water 10.64 oz 5% superfatted That soap is currently smelling rather nice even thought it's a bit crumbly on the top. My blueberry doesn't smelly very blueberry though it does smell like 'soap' according to my hubby. That recipe was/is: coconut oil 33.3% castor oil 5.6% shea butter 44.4% lard 16.7% lye 2.56 oz water 5.97 oz 5% superfatted I wanted to make a smaller 1 lb batch since that bubbling mess kinda scared me. I read up on the different oils/fats and such and try to mix it up a bit. Maybe a simple olive oil soap would be nice for my next try. I'm not giving up just yet even though I did order some melt and pour soap last week. I love the idea of making my own but last time I felt so confident and then it started to get too 'hard' to swirl in the mold and even pour in. I guess I fussed too much with it. I ordered my scents from CandlesandSupplies.com. I had some and checked which were okay for bath & body and went from there. Cotton Candy was a recent purchase and to be honest - just didn't smell like it from the start so no loss there. So I'll see what happens in another week of cure time but until then...I need a good beginner's recipe perhaps to boost my ego a bit.

I honestly have no clue since I just got into soapmaking but since M&P is ready to use once it's hard I'm wondering if you may have to wait until the CP is cured because if you pour M&P over it...it may not get enough air flow to cure properly. Good to know though. . .

Hi all! I've never made soap before and just recently got into it. I bought supplies from a woman on Craigslist. I then went to the store and got more oils and scents from a candle/soap supplier. My first batch was to be cotton candy scented. I got to the tracing stage and went to pour half of the 'soap' into a bowl so I could color it pink and color the rest blue (after having added scent). Well, the blue that was in the pot poured out nicely into the mold. The pink turned into an oily mess and as I poured it on top it just looked wrong. I swirled, hoped for the best and figure that when I poured some out in the beginning I should have mixed it better first. I left it anyway for 24 hours, unwrapped it and sure enough, the blue was nice and hard while the pink sludge was on top. My next attempt was apple. I got all the way to pouring it into the mold and after a few seconds it started bubbling....violently. It was scary. I carried it outside and left it. I then got a chopstick and tried mixing it a bit to see if it would settle down which it did but it then got chunky and just odd looking. I unwrapped it today and it's crumbly on top but smells nice so fingers crossed. Maybe I can just felt it - once I learn how to do that. My last attempt was blueberry. I separated some out to color it after adding the scent. I alternated pouring from the pot and the bowl but it started getting too stiff and ended up kinda chunky at the end. I laid a piece of wax paper down and mushed it together so it would be another crumbly mess. I unwrapped that one today as well and it's better looking BUT smells more like chemicals than blueberry. The scent said it was safe for soaps and candles. I used all new oils. I'm at a loss. Maybe after it cures a few more days? I've only been at it a week so I'm not giving up...I just can't wait to get a pretty bar of soap made that smells nice! lol Any ideas or suggestions?