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New to soap making. Could use help.


Courtney89

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Hi everyone. I'm new to CP soapmaking. So far I've only made one batch and it was out if a kit from Brambleberry. It head their quick mix in it. I've found a few recipes I'd like to try. I've been educating myself since January on the subject. I'd like my soap on the harder side and I'm having trouble figuring out what would be the best temperature to work with a certain recipe. I've heard that it depends on the recipe. Could you please tell me what you think about these recipes. I did not come up with these. They're just some beginner ones I found.

 

Recipe #1

25% palm oil

25% coconut oil

25% olive oil

10% canola oil

10% sunflower oil

5% castor oil

 

Recipe #2

40% olive oil

30% coconut oil

20% Palm oil

5% sweet almond oil

5% castor oil

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A saponification calculator, like soapcalc.net will become your best friend. Each oil has its own set of properties (fatty acid profiles) which bring something to the party. Each oil has a “Saponification value”, which tells you how. Much lye is needed to turn that pot of oils into soap.

 

When starting out, one of the best things I learned from was single oil batches.  I’d make 1 lb batches of common oils, like olive, coconut, lard, etc. to understand how each one behaves on its own. I could later grate and mash up different proportions of those individual soap into a new bar and see how they behave together. This works really well for liquid soap, too, by the way.

 

Then I moved on to simple, but oh so excellent basic recipes, like  trinity of 50% olive, 25% palm and 25% coconut. This basic set of oils is so easy to modify to really learn. Once you master it, exchanging liquids for milks, for instance, gives entirely new soap, using very simple and affordable, long life oils.  I used this formula in my somewhat soap-world famous Lather Lovers Swaps which have made the rounds on Facebook groups. 

 

Once you take a little time to read and understand something like soapcalc.net, If you’re interested I/we can write up a little bit about how to calculate SAP manually, so you can double check the results on the calculator you select to work with. 

 

Soap making is addictive. It’s a gateway craft to candles. Go lock up your wallet an credit cards now before it’s too late. 🤣

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Anything that Barbara suggests should be taken as gospel........I have 4 bars of Barbara's beautiful soaps sitting on my bathroom sink...........if you follow Barbara and her soap making adventures, you cannot go wrong....JIMHO

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On 10/4/2018 at 8:37 AM, Barbara AL said:

Awe Thank You Pam, I hope you use those pretty soaps and not use them for display!

 

They're REALLY AWESOME... 

@Courtney89 Everything TallTayl and Barbara said. I'll reiterate Barbara's suggestion to lose the Canola, like forever... Every time I've ever used canola in any amount I've gotten Dreaded Orange Spots (DOS) aka: rancid soap. I also add that using a SAP calculator is an absolute must. Trust NO formulation from NO ONE EVER until you personally have run it through your SAP calculator. I'm not saying anyone of us would ever steer you wrong, but a lye heavy soap is a dangerous thing and just double checking the numbers is an easy and solid method of due diligence for your own peace of mind.  Soapcalc is my personal favorite SAP calculator. 

If you bought a kit from BB I take it you have a good scale? 

Good luck! 

Sponiebr
The Executor of Bad Ideas and Sundry Services 



 

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On 10/4/2018 at 5:37 AM, Barbara AL said:

Awe Thank You Pam, I hope you use those pretty soaps and not use them for display!

 

Ya know its funny that you mention that:  I've had people say that my candles were too pretty to burn and yes I did take that as a compliment but on the other hand, a candle maker is only truly complimented when the recipient actually burns the candle......like that was what it was made for. ............burn that baby........there are more where that came from..............and it is a compliment to the ''maker'' when their creations are actually USED....kwim?

Barb: I am happily using your wonderful soaps...add a little water and those wonderful bubbles appear,  rub that bar a bit more and the most impressive rich lather appears........and I can not find the words to appropriately pat you on the back for your beautiful creations.  Please keep amazing us with your beautiful works of art.

 

 

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Honestly I would look for beginner recipes with fewer oils to start out with. My first beginner's recipe had only 4 oils in it; olive, lard, coconut, and castor. Or just olive, palm and coconut make a great soap. Later as you get more experienced you can start trying out more or different oils. One of the things you want to learn is how each oil contributes to your soap and what properties it adds so using fewer oils helps with that and will make you a more knowledgeable soaper much quicker.

 

BTW the 'holy trinity' of soaping oils is olive, palm, and coconut. Just these 3 alone make a great soap.

 

 

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I agree with Candybee, starting with basic recipes and getting to know them first, then you can switch things up, I recommend 1 change at a time to see what it brings to the party and if you like it or not. 

 

I tried all the fancy stuff when I first started but ended up back at a pretty basic recipe with a few tweaks.   Lard or Palm,  CO, Olive or HO Sunflower or HO Safflower and Castor makes a nice soap.  I know of a few soapers that us HO Canola and love it with no DOS. 

 

 I see people using Argan, Meadowfoam, Jojoba and other pricey ingredients that you can't even be sure they survive the lye monster.  So, I use those type in leave on products.

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I like soapcalc best, too.  And I'd keep it simple, just as the others suggested.  As Candy says, Olive, Coconut, and Palm (or Lard) make an awesome, well-balanced bar of soap if you use the right proportions.  I'd go for 60-40 solid fats to liquids.  Or 50-50 ratio.  Somewhere along those lines.  And I'd agree with eliminating less stable oils such as canola, especially if you live somewhere warm and humid.

 

I posted a simple, tried & true beginner's recipe here somewhere.  I'll see if I can dig it up.

 

ETA:  Here you go.  https://www.craftserver.com/topic/23067-simple-beginner-soap-recipe/

Edited by Crafty1_AJ
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