And...another questions

[BlackCrow]

Ok, so I ran my recipe through a calculator and was wondering if you could take a look at it and tell me if this looks good?? I added 2oz(4%) of Sweet Almond Oil to this recipe too. Hope that was ok. I am reading the results on this thing...but I am not sure if this is ok or if this calculator would tell me if its ok or not??

oh shoot...not sure how to put it on here. hmmmm...... drat!

ok, will break it down myself to show you my results,

I did

4% SAO

16% CO

8% mango butter

8% Shea butter

12% Palm Kernal Oil

32% Rice Bran Oil

20% Crisco

My results gave me 19oz water and 7.27oz of Lye. this is a 3lb batch.

Now, I also got on my results:

7% hardness

89% conditioning

7% creamy lather

99 % iodine

97% INS

Should I increase the SWO??? its only 2oz being put in.

I didnt realise that converting my oz's to %'s it just doubles the number....I found that out in one of the lye calculators I used online.

[MissMary]

Converting ounces to percent you only double the number?

On soapcalc.com there is a great explanation of numbers (though I am not sure where you get that it's percent from), and where they SHOULD be. IIRC, that recipe is way off.

Hardness 36 to 50 Cleansing 14 to 22 Condition 45 to 80 Bubbly lather 14 to 33 Creamy lather 16 to 35That's a copy of the numbers you want.

Your INS they recommend 145 - 165. If I were to guess - this recipe would come out a giant glop.

I would suggest reading some more before trying out. You seem to have a loose grasp of these numbers and how oils work, so maybe a bit of research into them might help you decide better percentages.

ETA: Actually, I plugged those numbers in cause it didn't look right after reading over the oils again, in soap calc that's not even close to what you've reported. I don't know where you got the numbers for hardness, etc. but WAY WAY off.

ETAA: And for that recipe, that's too much lye.

[BlackCrow]

Your kidding!! OMG! Good thing I put it on here and asked. I was using a recipe I got online and just wanted to add SAO to it...but those WERE the numbers I got so that is weird. No, I obviously dont understand the numbers I am reading, I am new to this whole thing and have only just started doing research on it all and reading and reading and reading on it all. I have read that when you change a recipe that you need to run it through the calculator...so i did...but I didnt know what it was telling me...which is why I posted it on here. Thank goodness I did! I dont need a GLOB from all my work! ok......going back to my searching again. UGH! I read somewhere that this was easier then candlemaking...ummm, dont think so! LOL!

Thank you so much for your help and checking this out for me. I would have had a big mess on my hands!

This is the original recipe I have

3 lb Batch

6.82oz Lye

15oz of Water

- - -

10 oz Crisco

16 oz Olive Oil (Pomace Grade - green in colour)

8 oz Coconut Oil

6 oz Palm Kernal Oil

4 oz Cocoa Butter

4 oz Shea Butter

- - -

1.5 oz of fragrance oil

I am going to use mango butter instead of the cocoa butter and replace the 16oz of Olive oil for Rice Bran Oil. I was told I can do this sort of substitution but just check with the lye calculator to make sure.

Thank you again! REALLY REALLY appreciate it!

[Barbara AL]

This is a 48 ounce recipe you are using so if you want to get the percentages of each oil you would divide the ounces of each one by 48 for example 10 divided by 48 equals 21 percent for the Crisco.

That way when you go back to soapcalc you will have the percentages to put in.

Here are some guidelines

Cleansing between 14-22

Conditioning between 47-50

Bubbly between 14-25

Creamy between 16-35

Iodine try to get 64 and below

Oleic 37- try to get higher but I like mine around 40

Palmitic try to stay below 16

HTH

Barbara

[singleyellowrose]

This is the original recipe I have

3 lb Batch

6.82oz Lye

15oz of Water

- - -

10 oz Crisco

16 oz Olive Oil (Pomace Grade - green in colour)

8 oz Coconut Oil

6 oz Palm Kernal Oil

4 oz Cocoa Butter

4 oz Shea Butter

- - -

1.5 oz of fragrance oil

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

With this recipe on Soapmaker, I came up with

5% Lye Discount (Super Fat)

14.9oz water

6.77oz lye

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

With changes:

This is the original recipe I have

3 lb Batch

6.82oz Lye

15oz of Water

- - -

10 oz Crisco

16 oz RBO

8 oz Coconut Oil

6 oz Palm Kernal Oil

4 oz Mango Butter

4 oz Shea Butter

You would have:

5% Lye Discount (Super Fat)

14.66oz water

6.64oz lye

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Add in 2oz of SAO and you would need:

5% Lye Discount (Super Fat)

15.23oz water

6.9oz lye.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The above water amounts are taking a 10% discount.

ETA: For that size batch, I would use a minimum of 2.1 oz of FO unless it is EXTREMELY strong. According to the recipe you are using about .5oz of Fragrance per pound.

[IndulgentCreations]

BlackCrow,

Are you or have you used SoapCalc? It's one of the best soaping calculators out there. I always recommend it to new soaper, it'll really help you start to understand the breakdowns. Takes a but to get use to it, but it's great! Let us know if you need any help with it!

[MissMary]

Your kidding!! OMG! Good thing I put it on here and asked. I was using a recipe I got online and just wanted to add SAO to it...but those WERE the numbers I got so that is weird. No, I obviously dont understand the numbers I am reading, I am new to this whole thing and have only just started doing research on it all and reading and reading and reading on it all. I have read that when you change a recipe that you need to run it through the calculator...so i did...but I didnt know what it was telling me...which is why I posted it on here. Thank goodness I did! I dont need a GLOB from all my work! ok......going back to my searching again. UGH! I read somewhere that this was easier then candlemaking...ummm, dont think so! LOL!

Thank you so much for your help and checking this out for me. I would have had a big mess on my hands!

I didn't much understand them either until I read soapcalc's info on it.

I think that the recipe might be okay, because when I ran it through, though you have numbers that were off - the numbers I got at soapcalc don't look to bad... maybe a tweak here and there for your liking.

[BlackCrow]

OMG! thank you so much everyone!!!! This has all been a great help. Soapcalc confuses me. I have to go back and slow down and read it more carefully to understand what it is that it is trying to tell me.

Single Yellow Rose, thank you so much for figuring it out for me. I really really appreciate it.

Barbara Al and Miss Mary, thank you so much. Everyone has been a great help on this. I have been getting so overwhelmed by this whole thing. I think I am expecting too much of myself. I just have to remember to have patience during this whole learning process.

April, thank you for the offer of help. I dont doubt I will be back on here begging for more advice! LOL!!

Thank you again! :D

[BlackCrow]

ok, I have another question! LOL!! I have been reading about superfatting soap....with the above recipes in this post...will my soap go rancid fast because of the extra fats in the soap that dont get saponified (sp?) with the lye???

TIA!

[singleyellowrose]

As long as you keep it at a low percentage, you should be fine. Most do a 5% superfat.

Here's an easy recipe for a first timer.

25% Lard (or Palm or split it between the 2)

25% PKO (or Coconut or split it between the 2)

25% Olive (or Rice Bran or split it between the 2)

25% Sunflower (or Safflower or split it between the 2)

Superfat (lye discount)at 5%.

You MUST put it through a calculator.

Use either no fragrance or something that isn't floral and behaves well.

This will give you a basic bar that you can then tinker with til you get the hang of what you are doing.

Then you can switch out one item for something else and see what effect it has on your soap.

[BlackCrow]

Hi!

Thank you so much for this new recipe and for answering my question about superfatting. So with the above recipes you did for me yesterday, so long as I stick to the way you have the recipe written with the changes in it I should be fine.

(BIG SIGH) Thank you so much.

[singleyellowrose]

Yes you should be fine. However, I strongly recommend starting with the recipe I posted or something VERY similar.

Being a newbie soaper, you need to KISS. (No offense here)

Keep It Simple, Stupid.

I was like you once too.. so where most of the rest of us. Not that butters aren't great, but in reality you can make a nice bar of soap and learn from it.

Then try subbing' or adding another ingredient. If you try it all at once, you won't know what is making it feel good or not so good.

You're best bet is to try a 2-3# batch. Don't make anything smaller, til you get the hang of things.

While I have made 8oz batches, trust me when I say don't go there!

If you need any other help, let us know. There are quite a few good soapers here and just about any of them will be willing to help you.

[CareBear]

SYR is absolutely right. We HAVE all been there and most of us have either backed off toward simple or have quit in despair or destitution from all the complicated and expensive things we've tried!

A 2# batch (or so) is a great - smaller and the result of any mis-measuring will be amplified, bigger and you are sinking a lot of cashola in.

Start with one, tweak to see what happens, and so on. Learn.

Oh and post - cause then we ALL learn...

[BlackCrow]

You hit it right on the nose...I am trying to jump right in too fast with creating my own soap recipe. I was thinking about it all last night and decided too that I need to start off with the simple recipe. it will be a 3lb recipe...that is the size of the mold I have. I wont start playing with the recipe until after I get a "feel" for the basics first. My problem is that I see all the wonderful soaps on here and i just want to do one right away.

But, can't do that. KISS is the perfect thing for me to have to do. My main concern should be...and is going to be,in just getting the hang of acutally making the soap for the first time. Getting it to trace, putting it to bed, curring, the whole thing.

I really want to thank you all for your input and kind words on here. I have made me stop and think and SLOW down and not jump in with two feet first. Its my impatient nature coming through.

I will defiently post pics when I make my first batch.

Thank you!:highfive:

[singleyellowrose]

My problem is that I see all the wonderful soaps on here and i just want to do one right away.

Yes they are pretty but you can do that without all the fancy schmancy butters and oils.

Try a plain ole batch to begin with. When you learn how that one behaves, then play with some cocoa powder. You can do an awesome swirl with it. As long as the FO you choose doesn't discolor.