Extreme Newbie amazed at the options for soap making

[myst25872002]

I make candles, mostly hurricanes but I have been spending hour after hour looking at pics and reading the soap posts on here amd have to say I am VERY impressed. The soaps I have seen on here are beautiful and very creative I can see that alot of thought and hard work is put into making soap. I have never tried a bar of home made soap but have heard that once you do you can never go back to otc soap. I am not ready to just start buying supplies to make soap. I feel that just like candles it deserves to be treated with respect and alot of research before attempting. As I said I am reading everything I can on here and everywhere else but would like to have some opinions on the best place to start as far as a good type of soap for an extreme newbie when I am ready to give it a try. And any sugestions on reading materials would be very welcome. TIA

Please understand I'm not asking for someone to just feed me all the info and trade secretes like a baby bird expects it's mom to care for it's every need. I actually enjoy the challenge of trial and error of the learning process. Just a little advice from the pro's on where to start when it comes to researching for this amazing craft.

P.S. thank you all so much for posting pics of your beautiful creations.

Donna

[Bunny]

Hi and welcome to the other side! Be sure to check out www.millersoap.com for the in's and out's of soapmaking.

[myst25872002]

Thank you for replying. I found this site from one of the other threads on here (been reading alot on here) and the soap calculator (really confusing lol) but I an getting it figured out. I was wondering if there is a book that takes you through the mixing process step by step and the do's and dont's so I don't hurt myself (I am a bit of a clutz). I know alot of people on here find it offensive and get very angry when we newbee's ask for help but as I said before I enjoy the research and trial and error of learning but funds are limited so if I could find a book that is a good resource so I don't end up buying a dozen that are just fluff if you know what I mean, to get a better idea of how to do this. I have been looking for a good one but since I know very little about it I'm not sure which ones are good and which ones are the over simplified junk that can get a person hurt. I have found lots of recipes and a wealth of tips on this site but I think maybe a good book would help and be a good place to start. If I have offender anyone by asking .... I do apologize but I would rather ask the question than take a chance on making a dangerous product. TIA

Donna

[Nicky]

Not to hijack the thread but I remember seeing a book that was recomended for soap making and I cant remember what it was. If anyone can suggest a good book I would appreciate it.

Again, sorry for hijacking this thread.

[mystical_angel1219]

Soapmaker's Companion- Susan Miller Cavitch.

I saw a new one out on Amazon, Smart Soapmaking- Anne L. Watson.

Here is her site:

http://www.annelwatson.com/soapmaking/

Might be worth a peek.

[myst25872002]

thank you so much I will check it out

Donna

[ladysj]

Hi and welcome to the board. After you make your first batch you will be a soap making fool lol. Try your local library. They should have books on soapmaking. HTH

[RobinInOR]

Welcome! Ask all your questions - we know it's hard to get started in CP because of the lye fear, so ask anything you want. It does seem confusing with all the different things we talk about, but if you keep reading for awhile the steps will fall into place, and once you do your first batch it will make much more sense.

Soapmakers Companion is a great book, but I'd be careful with her recipes. They make pretty large batches - 10#s, that's probably close to 70 bars, and the amount of lye she uses is pretty low compared to what "most" soapers do.

I just noticed that Brambleberry now has DVDs on cold process soaping as well as melt & pour - those might be interesting, and not a bad price. Brambleberry has a nice selection of books.

[myst25872002]

I will look at the dvd's, that would be really nice to be able to watch someone else going thru the steps hhhmmmmm really like that idea. On the book I was looking and she actually has some of her stuff online so I have been reading and it looks like all of hers are 10# batches way to much for me. I was reading some of the older posts on here last night a found a link someone had posted that was very helpful and went into detail on the soapmaking process. Thank you all so much for responding all help is greatly appreciated. I will read on, I think I'm about to go crosseyed lol but I am enjoying it.

Thanks Donna

[Crafty1_AJ]

I pretty much read these three books cover to cover before I attempted my first batch. LOL

Everything Soapmaking Book -- Alicia Grosso

the above-mentioned Cavitch book

and her other soapmaking book, which I think is called Natural Soapmaking or something like that

[doris]

There is a good book by Melinda Coss that would be excellent for a beginner, also beautiful photos. The books by Cavitch are a wealth of info, however her recipes are a bit on the soft and greasy side, and would need to be run through a calculator. There's a book from the soapnaturally.org people that's also quite amazing. Avoid the Norma Coney book.

Spend a few weeks reading, use the internet a lot as there is a ton of stuff on there, and then take the plunge. However, when you do start, do a simple recipe: don't start with something that uses 12 different oils. It's not hard to make soap, but keeping it simple at first is a good rule for most people.

Doris

[myst25872002]

You guys are great I really appreciate all the tips on books. I'm gonna check them out and try to pick one. I'm getting ansy and want to get started.

[sudsy]

Once you get into making your own recipe, http://www.soapcalc.com/calc/soapcalc18.asp is an invaluable tool in my opinion. You get a good idea of what your soap will be like before you make it.

If any soapers live near you ask if one will walk you through your first batch. That's how I made my first batch and it was great. Loretta from Nature's Wild Child taught a small group of us to do CPHP.

[myst25872002]

As far as I know there's no one around here making soap, to be honest I wish there was someone close I could buy a few bars from to see the difference between the mp, cp, and hp, like I said I've never used it but after all the reading I have done I am going to have to learn to make it just to try it. My daughters are really wanting me to learn, one has very sensitive dry skin and the other has some acne problems and hates the OTC washes and scrubs that dry her skin so bad and don't really help with the acne and has read online that there are some really good home made soaps and scrubs that would help her face. Got do do more homework.