candlemama

I personally do not like salt bars made with anything other than 90% coconut oil and 10% castor. I tried one with cocoa butter and it dragged across my skin. Oh and I make goat milk salt bars.

GM salt bars sound really interesting. Do you find the GM adds to the creamy lather, versus one without GM?

This looks like fun! I'm gonna have to try it this weekend. My three year old would love it! Thanks for posting the link.

I use TKB Trading liquid pop colors, which are just micas suspended in glycerin, to color my emulsified sugar/salt scrubs. They work great. Don't need that much. You can create your own liquid mica colors by mixing them with some glycerin. There are also other ways to mix your colors, such as with distilled water, to make it easier to disperse them. Here's a recent discussion in the M&P section. HTH.

http://www.craftserver.com/forums/showthread.php?t=91578

I've been trying to come up with a shaving soap recipe that produces super creamy, dense lather. I keep coming back to a really high cocoa butter percentage with some Castor and Walmart GV shortening (which is mostly beef and pig tallow). I checked out the single oil soap characteristics of cocoa butter, and it seems it makes a good bar:

http://www.zensoaps.com/singleoil.htm

But because it's so expensive, I don't want to leave too much to chance and thought I would run my tentative recipe by all the experts here. This would just be for personal use and for gifts so I don't mind using a higher cost recipe as long as it works.

Castor Oil 12%

Cocoa Butter 40%

Walmart GV Shortening 48%

Bentonite Clay (not sure on amt -- 1 TBS ppo?)

SoapCalc Results:

Hardness 50

Cleansing 2

Conditioning 48

Bubbly 13

Creamy 59

Iodine 49

INS 147

Lauric 0

Myristic 2

Palmitic 28

Stearic 20

Ricinoleic 11

Oleic 32

Linoleic 5

Linolenic 0

TIA.

Ah, man, I thought I was close to figuring out my wick size, but now reading these replies, I'm not so sure! I was using CS Cinnamon Buns and ME Candle Supply Sugar Cookie FOs when testing. I was very close on the last go around. One needs to be wicked up and one wicked down, which actually brings them both to the exact same size (HTP93). So, I thought I had finally found THE wick for most FOs!

Haha, figures I was testing FOs that tend to be heavier or more difficult. Back to the drawing board...

Thanks for the info. Very helpful!

I think I am finally close to figuring out the wicking for my wax (comfort blend) and containers. I know every FO is different and may require wicking up or down. My question is, how do you determine before pouring if you should wick up, down or stay the same when trying a new FO? I keep reading in the forums that some FOs are heavier, lighter, more viscous, etc. But, to be honest, I cannot figure out for the life of me how you know that just by looking at the FO! Can you tell just by looking at an FO if it is heavy or light, or do you have to pour it and see how your standard wick handles it to get an idea if you need to wick up or down?

I got a sample of the natural white base from EBC a while back and finally tried it out. I didn't add anything other than a little FO because I wanted to see what the base is like and, plus, the sample was only 6.4 oz and I didn't feel like doing the math to convert my M&P recipes!

First impression, the natural white base is quite a bit harder than the regular white base from EBC. The color is a nice white, maybe just a touch less white than the regular base. It has a bit of a soapy odor which the regular white base doesn't have, but it seemed to cover up nicely once I added FO. It doesn't bubble up as much as the white base, but it does have a nice creamier lather. I think the creaminess is closer in feel to a CP soap than the regular white base is; it's just not as abundant as CP soap. I'm not sure how well the lather and bubbles would hold up if I were to add all my goodies (similar to PA's recipe with a few tweaks from Candybee's recipes). I've only used it once in the shower, and it does seem to be pretty moisturizing so far. The natural white base has lots of nice oils in it and seems to be more moisturizing than the regular white base.

I just wanted to give a quick review because I know people were wondering about this base.

Those look great! Have you had a chance to try the other ones you made yet? I can't wait to hear how the recipe turns out. I tried it, too, about a week ago but am waiting for the loooong CP cure before I get to see how nice the recipe is! I'm chompin at the bit to get those bars in the shower, but I want to give them a proper cure first.

For me, the recipe was super easy to use. No problems with acceleration at all. Since I'm new to CP, I purposefully chose an FO that everyone says is super easy to work with -- Sea Glass from WSP. Didn't have any problems and was even able to attempt a three color swirl, although it looks more like a marble . Even so, I can't wait to try these bars out!

I'll post pics of mine later.

Thanks. I'll give those books and websites a try. I appreciate the info!

Wow, great suggestions! Now I'm more overwhelmed than I was to begin with...haha.

Based on Scented's advice and great reviews, I just placed an order with Moonworks. Here's what I got:

Celestial Sea

Fairy Garden

Harvest Moon

Patchouli Raspberry

Can't wait to get them. I'm excited because their descriptions seem different and more complex than other FOs. Shipping is reasonable -- only $6.00. I'll let you know what I think!

Just beautiful! Very summery!

Great packaging! Love it!!

I'm becoming an FO ho. I want to order more FOs but am overwhelmed with the number of suppliers and choices out there. I've only tried a few oils from CS, Peaks, WSP, and ME candle supply. I want to try another supplier for FOs that can be used in CP soap, B&B, and candles (paraffin). Who should I place my next order with?!?

I admit I'm a vanilla lover (except French -- bleh) and am after a nice Tahitian vanilla. Also want to try sandalwood and patch because I'm not quite sure what they smell like! I've been on a tropical fruit kick lately (summertime!), love bakery scents, lust after anything Asian (used to live in Japan), and would like to get a couple FOs for the men in my life (just to be nice)...

Any one-stop shops you suggest for a great variety? Who is your go-to supplier for FOs?

I would really like to learn more about the soap making process, specifically the function of fatty acids and what happens to those acids during saponification. I feel like I am spinning my wheels trying to figure out what oils may or may not make a good bar of soap by using SoapCalc and reading others' recipes (which is helpful, but I want more info!). I've seen only a few recommendations for books and websites that get more into the nuts and bolts of soapmaking. When you first started to learn, where did you go?

That is so cute! I can't even begin to imagine how difficult they are to make. No wonder your customers want unscented. I wouldn't burn those either if I had them! Great job.

It looks beautiful! I wish I could smell it, too, because I bet it's fantastic with that FO combo.

I love them! They look perfect and make me want to go bake some cupcakes!

Those look so cool! Reminds me of giant jawbreakers. Love them!

Great job! I work quickly after I take it out of the oven and add my FO, then put it in the mold as fast as possible. My first batch was pretty rough, but my next couple batches have been smoother. Looks great! So what do you think about HP?

That's great! Very useful info. Thanks for posting.

Make sure and check that your fo or eo does not cause acceleration. Some recipes are perfect for swirling and some are terrible for swirling, due to the combinations of oils and or additives that may increase the saponification process. I would watch your thermometer and when your temp rises a degree, take some out for your swirls and continue until your temp rises another degree. Depending on whether you are doing in the pot swirls or layered or funneling will dictate whether you need to be at light or medium trace. IMHO.

Steve

Thanks, Steve. I used WSP's Sea Glass because I read that it is very forgiving and doesn't speed trace. And it was easy to work with. I think I probably should have used a whisk and not my sb as Top mentioned. I cut the soap yesterday, and it appears to be doing okay. Didn't see any chunks! And all the sweat on the top is gone. No zap. So now just waiting for the cure.

I'm just wondering if adding milk or beer after the cook would be worthwhile since it wouldn't really be saponified with the oils at all?

Now that I'm rereading this... I don't think beer would get saponified anyway since it has no fats... but I still don't know what the point would be in adding beer after the cook.

Good tips

Yep I've been considering doing more HP for the holiday season because I can use those fast tracing FO's without worry and it only needs 2-4 weeks before I can shrink wrap versus 6... thats a huge diff during the holiday rush!! I love my CP swirls but... HP has alot to be said for it.

Maybe if I could figure out how to swirl CP, I'd like it better, too!! But my one attempt so far just looks like my HP marble... Pretty pathetic swirl. Maybe I'll post a pic in the gallery so everyone can get a good laugh

I forgot to mention I found this site that has some tutorials for making prettier, smoother looking HP bars (it's where I got the tip for overfilling the mold). I can't remember if I found this site on the forums here or somewhere else -- WAY too much time online lately!

http://www.lovenaonline.com/soapmaking/OHPswirl1.html

I'm curious how many people have tried using other liquids in place of water when making HP. Some I would like to try at some point: coffee, beer, tea, and of course goat's milk or coconut milk. Can the other liquids be used to dissolve the lye, like with CP, or do you typically add them after the cook? I've seen a couple tutorials online for HP beer and coffee soap where these other liquids were used in place of water before the cook. The only tutorials I've found for HP milk soap say to add it after the cook, I'm guessing because the heat would do something nasty to the milk.

What has been your experience? I'm just wondering if adding milk or beer after the cook would be worthwhile since it wouldn't really be saponified with the oils at all?

All soap contains lye. even MP. Its just that by the time you buy it, it has been processed.

Lye is mixed with fats and water just the same as HP or CP soap and in the case of melt & pour, other clarifying ingredients such as sugar, alcohol, propylene glycol and sorbitol are added. Its a bit of an industry secret how its made so that it can melt again and again, but believe me. There is lye in your soap. You just dont have to personally deal with it, because by the time you buy it it has been processed, aka gone through saponification.

I've actually seen quite a few M&P bases that list sodium hydroxide in their ingredients. My base from EBC does not, but I believe the SFIC bases do. I guess it's that old debate over whether lye needs to be on the ingredient list since, theoretically (and hopefully), it is no longer present in the final product.