ladysj Posted March 9, 2006 Share Posted March 9, 2006 What would you suggest for the best recipe for me to try beings this is going to be my first attempt at making real soap. I'm wanting something simple/inexpensive. I have jojoba oil, cocoa butter, sweet almond, macadamia. I'm so excited seeing all of the wonderful soaps that have been made and I really want to start doing soaps. TIA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bunny Posted March 9, 2006 Share Posted March 9, 2006 You're missing a few key elements there. I'd suggest you pick up some coconut, palm kernal, or babassu for cleansing and some olive or rice bran.Check out this link for an easy way to build your own recipe:http://www.candletech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3164 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soulshine Posted March 9, 2006 Share Posted March 9, 2006 Do you have any other oils, like olive? The oils you listed are normally more of an additive oil rather than a base, because (partially) they are more expensive. Someone else would be better at explaining why poeple use certain oils (like Olive, Palm, Coconut, Palm Kernal, Canola, Rice Bran, Soybean, ect.) as base oils. I don't have a good starter recipe for you, but there ARE tons of them in our recipe section. And I thinkin robin's CP tutorial there is a good one as well. And if you haven't seen her tutorial, Check it out, it's awesome! I kept going back to the computer and looking at it to make sure I was making my first batch right:D . Good Luck , and don't forget to post pics! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soulshine Posted March 9, 2006 Share Posted March 9, 2006 Guess I took too long to respond! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bunny Posted March 9, 2006 Share Posted March 9, 2006 No way! You went further in depth than I did! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ladysj Posted March 10, 2006 Author Share Posted March 10, 2006 I do have Olive Oil, Canola. I'm not very mathematically inclined so when I see recipes with percentages instead of ounces it really confuses me. I'll check out the tutorial and the link. Thank you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eugenia Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 I do have Olive Oil, Canola. I'm not very mathematically inclined so when I see recipes with percentages instead of ounces it really confuses me. I'll check out the tutorial and the link. Thank youDon't be afraid of math, LOL. I like this calc, http://soapcalc.com/calc/SoapCalc.aspIt uses percentages. Plug in your total oils for the batch size, percentages of each for the recipe and the soapcalc will return the amount you need of each, plus water and lye. Piece of cake! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crafty1_AJ Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 An easy beginner recipe that I just made up myself when I was getting started:50% olive oil25% coconut oil25% palm oilThis will give you a decent bar of soap, and the measurements are easy.One tip I would recommend: if you are making a small batch, switch your scale to grams and weigh your ingredients. Much more accurate than ounces.IMO, this is a good soap recipe because it balances hard and soft oils, and balances bar hardness with lathering and conditioning qualities as well. HTH! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobinInOR Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 Have you done your required reading? We always suggest that people read the Miller site http://millersoap.com thoroughly before they jump in to their first batch. If you have already, that's great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sherl Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 There are tons of recipies on the net. TO start, find a recipe with simple ingredients that interests you. My first one used coconut, olive and lard, easy to get from Walmart or other stores. Made 2 pounds and it fit in a silverware tray from Wal-Mart. I took one of the recipes from Millers site and put it into a calulator and, with a printed copy of how to use it from this site, learned how to use the calculator. Since every batch of soap you will make has to be run thru a calculator, it is a good idea to learn how to use one first thing, before any soap is made. I resized the basic recipe to the 2 pounds [32 oz] and printed that off to make. I did that with 2 other recipies from that site to get started, not adding fragrance, just making plain soap. Then, I started to get other oils and started doing my own thing, creating recipies. I had DH make me a mold and ordered a few others. I ordered colors and learned to swirl, started adding fragrance and dealing with the occaisional accelerated trace. After a few more bars of soap, I learned about water discounting. I'm now surrounded by women wanting to try out my latest project. Good luck... soap is a wonderful addiction. Now I'm off to learn how to make body butter and scrubs! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gloworm Posted March 12, 2006 Share Posted March 12, 2006 One thing that helps me as I can be mathmatically challanged also -I use 2 calculators. First I use MMS-calc to convert to percentages for me then I plug these percents into the SOOZ calc for the actual recipe amounts.HTH,GloPS, If your not adverse to using animal products, lard (from Walmart or grocery) makes a fabulous soap-one of the nicest in my opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crafty1_AJ Posted March 12, 2006 Share Posted March 12, 2006 One thing that helps me as I can be mathmatically challanged also -I use 2 calculators. First I use MMS-calc to convert to percentages for me then I plug these percents into the SOOZ calc for the actual recipe amounts.HTH,GloPS, If your not adverse to using animal products, lard (from Walmart or grocery) makes a fabulous soap-one of the nicest in my opinion.LOL -- I do that too! (With the 2 diff. calculators.)Yes, I agree with Glo. If you want, you could sub lard for the palm in my recipe. Plug that recipe into the calculator and see what kind of soap you get! You could also take out 5% of the olive oil and replace it with 5% castor oil. You can get all the ingredients at a Super Walmart that way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bunny Posted March 12, 2006 Share Posted March 12, 2006 Hey! That's cheating! (I do it too...lol)I also plug in lotions and other stuff on mms to get my percentages, just go straight down the first column in comparison to my recipe and viola! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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