lothrid Posted November 18, 2007 Share Posted November 18, 2007 I have all of my supplies...they are as follows: Olive OilCastor OilCoconut OilShea ButterLye2# Tog MoldGogglesGlovesWisk, pot, pitcher, scale, spoons, etc. I can pick up lard or Crisco if need be...now what I am looking for is help developing a 2# recipe...the soap calculator scares me :embarasse... I want a nice bar of soap...nice creamy lather...obviously non-drying. Something I will be proud of! Thanks so much! -Jamie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisR Posted November 19, 2007 Share Posted November 19, 2007 Do a search in the recipe section, there are plenty of soap recipes for you to use and adapt. You honestly need to do the legwork yourself....if you don't understand the WHOLE process from beginning to end, the dangers, etc. you will never learn to make a good bar of soap. Yes the soap calculators can be intimidating, but the more you play with it, the easier it will get. Do google searches on the different oil properties and understand exactly what they will bring to your soap. It's fun and fairly easy to make soap, but to make a GOOD soap you need to do your homework, searches and really understand the ins and outs of it. Good luck!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mostly Lurkin Posted November 19, 2007 Share Posted November 19, 2007 Have to agree with Chris here. I once started a thread *screaming* about my frustrations with the soap calculator. I got alot of encouragement, what I am now giving you ( Lothrid - you can do it!!) but you need to learn how to diddle around with the program yourself. (I'm still learning).... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CBE Posted November 19, 2007 Share Posted November 19, 2007 Me three! I agree! Play around with percentages for your oils until you get the kind of soap bar you are looking for. That's what I did. I played around for months on the soap calc before I even attempted to CP. Once you play around with it... you will get the hang of it... Like if adding more of this oil gives it a creamy lather....or using less of this oil gives it more bubbles....adding this butter to make the bar more harder...Just play. And have fun doing it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lothrid Posted November 19, 2007 Author Share Posted November 19, 2007 Do a search in the recipe section, there are plenty of soap recipes for you to use and adapt. You honestly need to do the legwork yourself....if you don't understand the WHOLE process from beginning to end, the dangers, etc. you will never learn to make a good bar of soap. Yes the soap calculators can be intimidating, but the more you play with it, the easier it will get. Do google searches on the different oil properties and understand exactly what they will bring to your soap. It's fun and fairly easy to make soap, but to make a GOOD soap you need to do your homework, searches and really understand the ins and outs of it. Good luck!!I have done my homework, I have read for almost a month, I have studied miller soap's website, watched and read online tutorials, etc. I guess I was just looking for some guidance with the soap calculator, recipe etc. Apparently I need to keep reading, thanks for your help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eugenia Posted November 19, 2007 Share Posted November 19, 2007 I have all of my supplies...they are as follows:Olive OilCastor OilCoconut OilShea ButterLye2# Tog MoldGogglesGlovesWisk, pot, pitcher, scale, spoons, etc.I can pick up lard or Crisco if need be...now what I am looking for is help developing a 2# recipe...the soap calculator scares me :embarasse...I want a nice bar of soap...nice creamy lather...obviously non-drying. Something I will be proud of! Thanks so much! -JamieJamie,I will help you. Basically, you need to get 50% hard oils into your recipe. Hard oils are those that are solid or semi-solid at room temp.Those would be your coconut and shea. You will need to get some lard.Coconut over 15% can be drying, so let's start with that15% coconut.Excess butters can cut lather, so start with 5% shea.We are up to 20% hard oils.We need more, so add lard at 30%.Castor helps with bubbles. Try it at 10%.There is 40% left. Go with olive.HTH,e Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lothrid Posted November 19, 2007 Author Share Posted November 19, 2007 Jamie,I will help you. Basically, you need to get 50% hard oils into your recipe. Hard oils are those that are solid or semi-solid at room temp.Those would be your coconut and shea. You will need to get some lard.Coconut over 15% can be drying, so let's start with that15% coconut.Excess butters can cut lather, so start with 5% shea.We are up to 20% hard oils.We need more, so add lard at 30%.Castor helps with bubbles. Try it at 10%.There is 40% left. Go with olive.HTH,eThanks, so now I just input those into the calculator? I get confused at this actual input process. I only want to make a 2# batch for my first time. Thanks again!-Jamie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scented Posted November 19, 2007 Share Posted November 19, 2007 Yep! Plug your percentages and oils into the soapcalc to get your lye and water. Don't forget to put in the No. of pounds. I always print mine out with 1 lb and using like a 4 lb mold so I start over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bravo5 Posted November 19, 2007 Share Posted November 19, 2007 I get confused with this- is the number of pounds you put into the calc the total pounds your mold can hold? Or is it just the pounds of the oils (minus the water/lye)?I have a new mold that is supposed to be 3 pounds- it's either not 3#, or I did the weight wrong in the calc, because I had too much soap for my mold. :embarasse Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carriegsxr6 Posted November 19, 2007 Share Posted November 19, 2007 I get confused with this- is the number of pounds you put into the calc the total pounds your mold can hold? Or is it just the pounds of the oils (minus the water/lye)?I have a new mold that is supposed to be 3 pounds- it's either not 3#, or I did the weight wrong in the calc, because I had too much soap for my mold. :embarasseAgreed, you can not fit 2lbs of oils plus water and lye in a 2lb mold. Here is a great one to try. It totals 23oz of oils, plus has room for 7oz of water to mix with 3.20oz of lye for around a 5% superfat. This will total right around 2lbs.Castor Oil 2oz = 8.70%Coconut Oil 6oz = 26.09%Olive Oil 7oz = 30.43%Shea Butter 2oz = 8.70%Lard 6oz = 26.09%You should be good with using 26% of coconut since you are using high amounts of shea and castor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CareBear Posted November 20, 2007 Share Posted November 20, 2007 Depends on the mold maker how the mold capacit is expressed. Sometimes it's total batch size (oils + water) other times it's the oils only. Always clarify with the vendor or measure for yourself (in inches: L x W x H x 0.4 = ounces of oils that will fit along with the appropriate water).When you use the calculator, you base on the amount of oils only. Confusing, non? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbren Posted November 20, 2007 Share Posted November 20, 2007 Yup...Carol is right. For example, Upland says of one of their molds Holds max of 4.5 pounds of WET soap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soapybear Posted November 20, 2007 Share Posted November 20, 2007 I am new to soaping as well and I have been reading the posts and information on the internet and all point to the soap calculators as key. There are a bazillion soap calculators out there - each a tab bit different. Is there one that y'all could suggest to start out with? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scented Posted November 21, 2007 Share Posted November 21, 2007 I've stayed with soapcalc. www.soapcalc.com I believe is the link. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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