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Awaiting soap bases!


birdcharm

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I'm going to try out the SFIC low-sweat "LCP" white and the regular SFIC white soap bases.  I just finished placing my order, so I'll get my thoughts around this new project!  I've got a few pounds of the low-sweat and one of the white on order.

 

I've been reading many of the wonderful pointers here and they're quite helpful.  I'm probably going to have some questions regarding additives, however. 

 

It's often humid where I live and I have made melt and pour before, but did sometimes have an issue, so I'm excited to try this out.  I have some simple bar molds that I'll use.  I read that the low-sweat base can possibly have a "dry" feeling, so I'm wondering about adding a bit of oil.  I've also read some tips about using a little stearic acid for hardening, but I'm not sure about that -- I guess I'll be testing some things!

 

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I've promised myself that one day I will make either HP or CP soap once I get better organized.  In the meantime, for now, I'll be happy to do this. 

 

In the past, I mostly made decorative hand soaps, so bars are going to be new to me.  Now, I'm wondering, in order to possibly not do this on a stove top (would like to work in an area where I have my candle supplies), could I use a hot plate? (Like a single one, I think they're 1000 watts and have a very low setting, typically used for keeping coffee warm.)  Maybe I could use a glass coffee pot?  (I have several available from making gel candles.)  Or, a Pyrex on a hot plate?  Is this something that would work?

 

I've read that rice cookers are used with success, so I may do that, but either way, I'd like to either get a rice cooker (or a hot plate) so I can set this up somewhere other than the kitchen.  I prefer to be able to use a pot with a spout, which is why I'm wondering about the hot plate.  I think it would work ... any thoughts?

 

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Congrats on your purchase of some M&P bases! I think you are going to see it can be fun to make soap with them.

 

I used a 10 cup rice cooker I bought at Walmart to heat my bases with. I just cut off chunks and dropped them into the cooker until it was full. I think it took about 10-15 minutes to melt the base. Then I put in my additives.

 

I have also used a microwave heating chunks of base in a hard plastic micro safe bowl. Once the base is melted I add my colorants, scent, additives, etc. I used a plastic pitcher type bowl so it was easy to pour soap into a mold because it had a spout. I would not advise using a glass container to heat in the micro. Use plastic. Much safer. I had a pyrex cup shatter and break on me. Definitely do not use a pyrex on a hot plate.

 

You can also use a presto pot.

 

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Thanks for the tips!  I've been enjoying some of your older posts!  :) 

 

The other pot I used before that has a spout is a Corningware (I think that's what it is!) tea pot type of thing that I placed in a small pan of water and heated on the stove.  I wonder if this might work on a hot plate ... that may be a consideration.  I'd just like to have this project working somewhere other than my small kitchen.  With the microwave, I used to do it in about 7-second sessions, but I still worry that the heat is not uniform and it may have been part of the sweating problem with the finished products.

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I don't know what the pot is you're talking about so don't know if safe using on a hot plate.

 

If you are planning to start making soaps to sell you may want to look into purchasing a good melter like a rice cooker or presto pot. Its a good investment and perfect appliance for a workroom away from your kitchen. All you need is a worktable and an electric plug.

 

Re the microwave or any other heat source, they do not produce the 'sweating' you see on M&P soaps. A finished soap sitting in a humid or moist environment will attract the moisture out of the air. M&P are glycerine soaps and it is the glycerine in the soap that attracts the moisture. Glycerine is a natural humectant that attracts moisture. This moisture clings to the soap and is what is called the sweating. The moisture drawn from the air collects on the surface of the soap and starts to crystalize forming what looks like fuzz or mold. It doesn't hurt the soap itself and the soap can still be safely used. Its a cosmetic issue that hurts the sale-ability of the soap being that it looks icky!

 

To keep your M&P soaps from sweating is an easy fix. Once they have hardened and cooled in the mold, pop them out and wrap them. I used to wrap mine in wax paper and put them in a large plastic container or shoebox until I was ready to package them. That way I kept them dry until they were packaged and ready for sale.

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Well, my package arrived ... things need to dry out!  I think the soap blocks will be okay, but I wrote the supplier to let them know what happened so they can maybe think about what can happen so they might consider packaging a little differently. 

 

The bottom of the box was wet -- I let the driver know it was wet so he could check the other packages and told him that it shouldn't have hurt anything in my box.  It didn't really (two of the soap blocks were "dinged" in the corner, with plastic torn and corners of soaps damp, but I unwrapped those blocks and set them all in a dry box to air out.)  It looks as though they set the soap blocks in the bottom of the box, with other items on top, and then filled the rest of the box with packing peanuts ... that really doesn't offer much protection at the bottom of the box! 

 

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I doubt it was the suppliers fault. They have no control over what happens to the box once its in transit. They certainly would not package wet or damaged goods. This is what insurance is for. I always insure my packages. You can always send it back.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 4/7/2017 at 8:17 PM, birdcharm said:

Thanks for the tips!  I've been enjoying some of your older posts!  :) 

 

The other pot I used before that has a spout is a Corningware (I think that's what it is!) tea pot type of thing that I placed in a small pan of water and heated on the stove.  I wonder if this might work on a hot plate ... that may be a consideration.  I'd just like to have this project working somewhere other than my small kitchen.  With the microwave, I used to do it in about 7-second sessions, but I still worry that the heat is not uniform and it may have been part of the sweating problem with the finished products.

Sounds like an old Corning Ware coffee pot.  Corning ware cannot be put directly on a burner, but if you use it like a double boiler, a hot plate is the same as the stove.

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Thanks for asking, sorry I've been busy and didn't check back in yet.  So far, I've just dabbled a bit to test things out. 

 

I've made three different pieces ... a bath bar and a little round complexion soap using the no sweat; a little round hand soap with the regular white base.

 

All three have had a small amount of stearic acid added.  The one for bath sits on shower rack and dries out very well, as does the complexion round, which sits in a soap dish.

The white hand soap is in a soap dish also, but always seems moist, and wet on the underside.  It only had scent added  The complexion soap got the addition of a bit of green tea extract, palmarosa essential oil, and a small amount of sunflower oil.

 

There is a difference between the no sweat and the regular, so I'm going to make some more soon, use up the white regular base and then see about ordering some more of the no sweat.  Also, I ordered a little silicone mold for a deeper and more square-shaped bath bar.  I'm moving along!  :)

 

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On 4/23/2017 at 7:56 AM, coconut said:

Sounds like an old Corning Ware coffee pot.  Corning ware cannot be put directly on a burner, but if you use it like a double boiler, a hot plate is the same as the stove.

 

Yes ... it's a vintage pot ... I recently uncovered it from storage and it was my grandmother's ... I think circa 1975 possibly.  It works great for this!  I place it in a small pot that has a small amount of water and turn the burner on low.  I haven't decided on a hot plate yet, so for now, I am doing this in the kitchen.

 

Okay, I've got an experiment in a mold of sorts, as I wanted to send a man's bar soap to my dad.  I tried for some kind of marble effect with shades of brown and we'll see how it goes.  You'll laugh when you hear about this "mold," but I'll have to show you later if my idea works out.  If it doesn't work out & I only feel like being laughed at, I'll post anyway. :)

 

 

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15 hours ago, birdcharm said:

 

Yes ... it's a vintage pot ... I recently uncovered it from storage and it was my grandmother's ... I think circa 1975 possibly.  It works great for this!  I place it in a small pot that has a small amount of water and turn the burner on low.  I haven't decided on a hot plate yet, so for now, I am doing this in the kitchen.

 

Okay, I've got an experiment in a mold of sorts, as I wanted to send a man's bar soap to my dad.  I tried for some kind of marble effect with shades of brown and we'll see how it goes.  You'll laugh when you hear about this "mold," but I'll have to show you later if my idea works out.  If it doesn't work out & I only feel like being laughed at, I'll post anyway. :)

 

 

I remember those. Does your pot have a metal or ceramic pour spout? I googled this to see if these are safe on a burner (some were) and found a bunch of recalls on the pots with metal spouts. Seems the epoxy fails and the spout is not safe. ?

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On 4/26/2017 at 3:54 AM, coconut said:

I remember those. Does your pot have a metal or ceramic pour spout? I googled this to see if these are safe on a burner (some were) and found a bunch of recalls on the pots with metal spouts. Seems the epoxy fails and the spout is not safe. ?

 

The entire pot is ceramic, interesting about the recall! 

 

Okay, well my creative process went a bit sideways, but I think I got it to turn out for this purpose anyway.  I was trying for a marbled type of effect of some sort.  I'm going to get an infrared thermometer so I can do this with success (I couldn't get it).  I was trying to get shades of tan & brown, which I did end up with, using a combination of some liquid colorant (remnants of old stock, I need to buy some).  To darken it, I used a little black walnut powder & calendula powder -- the powders seemed to sink a bit and created a speckled look.  I scented it with Drakkar Noir-type.  I told you I was dabbling!  Here's a pic ... now you can laugh!

 

tan-brn-mp.jpg.573ea41a1cba4b9f643d91a00febc56b.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

I don't think I'll be doing many more purposeful browns, but I'm going to order some herbal powders for colorants.  The little rectangle silicone mold I ordered got here yesterday, so now I can fool with it, rather than the other mold I ordered sometime ago.  In the meantime, I was stuck with that particular mold and thought I'd at least try to experiment a little more; trying to see if I can get a marbling type of effect without having a thermometer -- I'm not awfully impressed with my result, but I know I've got to do such things before I can come up with something better or more professional looking.  I think the soap itself isn't too bad for m/p, however, so I'm going to keep playing with it.  I know that experienced m/p-ers are amused, so I'll try to keep posting. :)

 

 

mppractice.JPG.7173fe14368b4f6841ef3d1fdb7269c9.JPG

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As a follow up in my m/p experiments - I've been mixing the white with the no sweat at close to 50/50.  Our weather is humid just now, and I'm not seeing any sweating.  I like it because they come out a little more white.  I'm starting to use the rectangle mold I just received ... I've got a few bubbles in there, but for now, I wasn't concerned with them, as a matter of fact, I'm wondering if I actually like them.

 

I used Bartlett Pear f/o mixed with some lavender e/o.

 

Anyway, this is what I've got now ...

 

ns-whitebar1.JPG.c4a4a2b62407c1e845c6e2eb593fc865.JPGns-whitebar-clam1.JPG.3224be1ac60c46336260fe085d18567f.JPG

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