New to soap making and so far...UGH!

[PattyZB]

Hi all! I've never made soap before and just recently got into it. I bought supplies from a woman on Craigslist. I then went to the store and got more oils and scents from a candle/soap supplier.

My first batch was to be cotton candy scented. I got to the tracing stage and went to pour half of the 'soap' into a bowl so I could color it pink and color the rest blue (after having added scent). Well, the blue that was in the pot poured out nicely into the mold. The pink turned into an oily mess and as I poured it on top it just looked wrong. I swirled, hoped for the best and figure that when I poured some out in the beginning I should have mixed it better first. I left it anyway for 24 hours, unwrapped it and sure enough, the blue was nice and hard while the pink sludge was on top.

My next attempt was apple. I got all the way to pouring it into the mold and after a few seconds it started bubbling....violently. It was scary. I carried it outside and left it. I then got a chopstick and tried mixing it a bit to see if it would settle down which it did but it then got chunky and just odd looking. I unwrapped it today and it's crumbly on top but smells nice so fingers crossed. Maybe I can just felt it - once I learn how to do that.

My last attempt was blueberry. I separated some out to color it after adding the scent. I alternated pouring from the pot and the bowl but it started getting too stiff and ended up kinda chunky at the end. I laid a piece of wax paper down and mushed it together so it would be another crumbly mess. I unwrapped that one today as well and it's better looking BUT smells more like chemicals than blueberry. The scent said it was safe for soaps and candles. I used all new oils. I'm at a loss. Maybe after it cures a few more days?

I've only been at it a week so I'm not giving up...I just can't wait to get a pretty bar of soap made that smells nice! lol

Any ideas or suggestions?

[CareBear]

well my first suggestion is that you back off on the pretty swirly stuff. it is lovely, but it sounds like you could use some practice on a simpler level - one color or even no color. when you have a few successful batches that way, THEN step it up.

don't sweat the cotton candy one - that fragrance oil will turn your soap dark brown anyway

and sometimes fragrances "morph" and you are stuck with them that way, but sometimes they come back during the cure period - so don't give up on your blueberry quite yet.

the apple volcano worries me a bit - it does happen, but wondering why it did. do you care to share your full formula in actual amounts - including the lye and water, and the name and supplier of the fragrance oil?

[Platypus Moon]

The cotton candy you might be able to save if you rebatch it.

I agree with Carebear my first batch was a 100% olive oil with a smidge of colour, it's so tempting to do swirls and pretty things when you first start soaping especially after looking through the gallery and seeing all the gorgeous soaps but it really does pay to start with the basics.

Also be aware that just because a FO says it can be used in CP soap doesn't mean it will behave for you, some will slow down trace some speed it up and others will just give you a headache going lumpy lol best to test every new FO in a small batch first.

Do you use soap calculators? there's some really good ones on the net to run your numbers through to double check everything. HTH :smiley2:

[dogmom1]

i totally agree with CareBear and Platypus!

i joined this forum early last year to learn about soy candle making. the soap section finally drew me in.

i made my first batch of CP on June 3rd of this year. i had done some reading on the forum and also bought two books, and knew i it would be a long time and a lot more reading before i really understood the intricacies of making soap.

but i really wanted to make soap, so i did what turned out to be a really smart thing. i read and followed eugenia's tutorial on RTCP on the forum. i checked with eugenia first and asked her if the fragrance oil i wanted to use would be ok. she said yes.

actually, i didn't even do the color part, i just made soap..... simple white soap with lard and olive, coconut and castor oils, and it was wonderful! i used a whisk and did it by hand and poured it in a shoebox. the soap was/is great. no problems. slow to trace. perfect for a newbie like me, not to mention it's a really nice soap!

i've made some more batches, still not a lot. different recipes, different fragrances, and i continue to read and search for answers and ask for help. and i've just ventured into CPHP - fun and fast - thanks to Barbara AL for her help!

just my , for what it's worth!

ei

Edited September 6, 2009 by dogmom1
add something and correct a typo

[JacquiO]

If you want to get some good usable soap without wasting your oils and lye with morphing colors and fragrances then try hot process. You won't get those picture perfect swirls but you can get a pretty marble swirl throughout your loaf very easily.

I'm going to try CP very soon but starting simple as Carebear advises. It's good to check with experienced soapers to know which recipes, colors and fragrances work best with CP.

But to get started and get some good smelling results with the FOs you already have try HP. You can do it in a crockpot, doubler boiler or right in your oven. You add the fragrance and color after the cook - therefore no morphing ever. I haven't gotten a bad batch yet.

Edited September 6, 2009 by JacquiO

[PattyZB]

Thank you all! I ended up scrapping the cotton candy. I wasn't sure what would happen with it so out it went.

I did use a calculator from www.summerbeemeadow.com that the woman I bought my supplies recommended.

The recipe for the exploding apple soap was/is:

caster oil 10%

coconut oil 20%

lard 35%

safflower oil 35%

lye 4.56 oz

water 10.64 oz

5% superfatted

That soap is currently smelling rather nice even thought it's a bit crumbly on the top.

My blueberry doesn't smelly very blueberry though it does smell like 'soap' according to my hubby.

That recipe was/is:

coconut oil 33.3%

castor oil 5.6%

shea butter 44.4%

lard 16.7%

lye 2.56 oz

water 5.97 oz

5% superfatted

I wanted to make a smaller 1 lb batch since that bubbling mess kinda scared me.

I read up on the different oils/fats and such and try to mix it up a bit. Maybe a simple olive oil soap would be nice for my next try. I'm not giving up just yet even though I did order some melt and pour soap last week. I love the idea of making my own but last time I felt so confident and then it started to get too 'hard' to swirl in the mold and even pour in. I guess I fussed too much with it.

I ordered my scents from CandlesandSupplies.com. I had some and checked which were okay for bath & body and went from there. Cotton Candy was a recent purchase and to be honest - just didn't smell like it from the start so no loss there.

So I'll see what happens in another week of cure time but until then...I need a good beginner's recipe perhaps to boost my ego a bit.

[Faerywren]

You didn't mention which books you had, but some that I highly recommend would be Simple Soapmaking by Anne Watson, The Soapmakers Companion by Susan Miller Cavitch (although these are medium to large batch recipes) and The Everything Soapmaking Book by Alicia Grosso any of Sandy Maine's books would be great too.

Like the others have mentioned, in the beginning, simplicity is best. Simple recipe, color and fragrance. My first soap had no fragrance...(my first soapmaking book was all about hand milling and adding fragrance then) Ugh, I won't be doing that again!

The idea about hot process is excellent too! If you can find it, Delores Boone's book on the subject is invaluable! I do almost all hot process now, just because I don't have the time to wait for CP to cure out.

Take your time, learn and play, and have fun!

~Julia

[PattyZB]

I actually don't have any books and have been relying completely on websites for information. I have no idea the difference between hot and cold process. . .I'll have to google that. AND look into some books when I have money...not sure if the library would have any of them.

[quietgirl2004]

Patty, do as Carebear suggested. Pick a simple CP recipe. Try no or just one color and fragrance. Then step it up from there as you get it down. Good Luck

[PattyZB]

Thanks all!! I'll have to look into those books and check on here.

[Faerywren]

Patty, just remember, ALWAYS run your recipe through a lye calculator. There is some pretty sketchy information floating around the internet. Mistakes/typos happen. You don't want to make something that could harm you or your family, not to mention the $ wasted on ingredients!

~Julia

[PattyZB]

Okay, I have a loaf curing at the moment. I found a recipe on here - 25% lard, 25% coconut and 50% olive oil. I ran it through the calculator and followed directions on a different site - http://watersgulch.com/howtocp.shtml and it came out perfectly. Of course me being me...i couldn't leave it alone and added honey and oatmeal. I didn't get fancy with swirling colors and didn't even add any to be honest (the honey added some color). So we'll see. It poured nice and smooth, smelled nice and with a little oatmeal sprinkled on top it looked good!

We shall see. I always use the calculator on SummerBeeMeadow's site to check stuff out. I was petrified of burning myself by not having the lye amount correct. Do many superfat? Is it really necessary? I'm very cautious about my measurements but still wonder if it's always necessary to do that (SF). I love making soap!

[CibariaSoapSupply]

I've seen so many people try the swirly stuff on their first soap, and I can say that I won't be doing that. I'm sure you'll have much better luck on your second batch. There are so many awesome soap makers out there willing to give advice based on their experience... much better than a book.

[PattyZB]

It's so tempting to just jump in and start getting crazy! I need to get the process down first and then I'll play. I'm still reading up on the best combinations of oils to use...now I'm off to the grocery store for dinner and soap supplies.

[JacquiO]

There's some good soap making tutorials right here on CT.

Hot Process Method go here: http://www.candletech.com/soap-making/hot-process-soap-instructions/

Cold Process here: http://www.candletech.com/soap-making/cold-process-soap-making/

[topofmurrayhill]

Do many superfat? Is it really necessary? I'm very cautious about my measurements but still wonder if it's always necessary to do that (SF). I love making soap!

Superfatting is the common name for it, but the better name is lye discounting. It's normal and generally necessary. The main reason for it is uncertainty in measuring and lack of information about the exact composition of the oils. The purpose of it is to ensure that there isn't accidentally any free caustic left in the finished product.

The reason I lean away from calling it superfatting is that people often feel like they know the amount of residual oil that will be left in the soap based on the number they put into the calculator. However, the main reason for doing it is that you can't know stuff like that with accuracy unless you perform some chemical analysis on your materials and use very careful weighing techniques. We just add that discount to hedge against the uncertainty by making the calculations more conservative.

Having said that, it's fair to think in terms of superfatting when you use large lye discounts (over 5%, sometimes up to 10 or 20%), because in that case you can be pretty confident that there's a generous amount of residual oil in the soap. You still won't know exactly how much.

I'm not sure why you had problems, but you didn't mention the oil weights, so make sure you're doing that percentage arithmetic correctly, do all the measurements by weight on a scale, and make sure you tare the scale before adding ingredients to be weighed.

Good luck and have fun. I wish I knew how to make soap that bubbles violently in the mold. That would be cool.

Edited September 12, 2009 by topofmurrayhill

[CareBear]

The recipe for the exploding apple soap was/is:

caster oil 10%

coconut oil 20%

lard 35%

safflower oil 35%

lye 4.56 oz

water 10.64 oz

5% superfatted

That soap is currently smelling rather nice even thought it's a bit crumbly on the top.

My blueberry doesn't smelly very blueberry though it does smell like 'soap' according to my hubby.

That recipe was/is:

coconut oil 33.3%

castor oil 5.6%

shea butter 44.4%

lard 16.7%

lye 2.56 oz

water 5.97 oz

5% superfatted

Your first recipe looks a bit iffy - that's a lot of castor oil, and a lot of safflower. Your second recipe is only 5.6% soft oils, and while I myself soap often with NO soft oils, it's really no something I'd recommend for a beginner. As a rule of thumb, you might want to start with about half soft (liquid at room temp) oils and half hard (solid at room temp).

Also, unless your scale is very accurate, I always recommend at 2# (weight of oils) batch tho I know some do 1# batches.

There are a couple of really nice recipes in the Recipes section here - even a thread called something about soap recipe for a beginner and I'd recommend starting there!

[Platypus Moon]

Hows it looking Patty have you let it out of the mold yet?

[PattyZB]

My oatmeal honey soap using the beginner recipe on here with a few added ingredients. The honey gave it a nice color and it smells yummy.

Cut and curing

I took the pumpkin spice out of the mold and cut it the other day . . .it's hardening and I'm hopeful. It smells really good so fingers crossed.

I'm going to behave and use the beginner recipe with a few added goodies to 'cure' my need to try new things. I ordered M&P, molds and FO from Brambleberry so I have that to look forward to as well. I love soaping.