question on soap making

[nachoqtpie]

So, I want to start making soap and cly masks to add to our candle company.... but I've never made soap before. From what all of you guys say, its a fairly straight forward process and seems tobe fairly easy, even if some of the recipes are complex. So,I got a couple books from the libraryand I've ordered some more. I've read through most of the soapmaing101 thread too.

Anyways.... my question!

In this one book I picked up, The Complete Soapmaker by Nora Coney, almost all of th recipes call for tallow. Since I'm not into cooking meat just to have the fat, what else can I use? Is it like lard? Can I use something else instead?

 

[me&thegals]

First of all, can I gently suggest getting a LOT of batches of soap under your belt before selling? Even after 2 years I still have batches that go wonky, but without the experience to know that I could have been selling lye-heavy soap to people.

And, you can buy tallow online if you don't want to process it. Or use any combination of oils, fats, butters you would like to use. Run them through a lye calculator, though, as every oil/fat requires a different amount of lye to saponify into soap. Here's my favorite one: http://www.soapcalc.net/calc/SoapCalcWP.asp

Good luck!

 

[nachoqtpie]

Don't they sell things to test the soap to make sure its not lye heavy?I know about the calculators and such. What about hot process vrs cold process? Can you use the same recipes or do you need to have hot process specific recipes? (Forgive any spelling erros please... I'm usin my phone today and sometimes it has a spelling mind of its own... lol)
I do want to make quite a few batches before I decide to make some for sale tho. I'm hoping to be able to offer bath salts, clay masks, and soaps in addition to our candles. Of course.... with the addition of all these produts.. I think a company name change might be in order.....

 

[me&thegals]

You can buy pH strips. I just superfat everything and do a tongue test on the scrap ends. I CP my soap but occasionally shred and re-batch it, cooking it. I have never done HP soap, so I don't know about how that works. I've never read anything to make me think the recipes would be different, just less fragrance or EO at the end of the cooking process than would be required for CP soap.

Good luck!

 

[nachoqtpie]

Ihanks! I'm really excited to get started!

I can't wait to add the clay mask to the store!

 

[taoist]

I've been making soap for about 20 years....almost 50 if you count the years my grandmother taught me in making "lye" soap LOL. Best advice to do a lot of research online and decide which methods for making soap is good for you. I have a few books that I read, the one you mentioned too, and they gave me some info that grandma didn't pass down, mostly about how to do veggie soaps and get away from trying to render my own lard/tallow or track it down.

Also, I don't have the patience for cold process soap anymore so I only do hot process soap, which is an art in itself. Cold process produces prettier and harder bars of soap though. If you are going to do CP, definitely get the pH strips...I don't think I would brave the tongue test on CP like I do with HP.

There used to be a good website called The Dish were a lot of soapmakers from across the country hung out and posted recipes but hardly anyone posts recipes there anymore I think because there was some "stealing" going on and Americans are so competitive, etc.

There is also a nice software that you can download that helps with all the calculations and tracks your inventory, recipes, etc. Its called Soapmaker and I've been using it for quite a while now.

 

[peteyfoozer]

You can use lard, or tallow, or crisco as a base for your soaps and add other oils which will bring different qualities to it. I recommend always using a soapcalc to make sure your lye ratios are safe and correct, and it will also tell you how your soap will perform with the amounts and choices of oils you want to use so you can tweak your recipe before you make it.

I agree its good to make soap for a year or so before trying to sell it, so you can get consistent and see how it performs, and how well it ages.

This is the soapcalc I use...http://www.soapcalc.net/calc/SoapCalcWP.asp

and here is a forum that might help answer your questions. There are also some excellent tutorial links on the site.
http://soapmakingforum.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=1

 

[Chefmom]

I am a hot process soap maker, about 10 years now and it uses the same recipes as cold process, but you don't have the 8 week curing/waiting period before you can use the soap. It is soft in the beginning, and a 2 week cure helps make a hard bar and I have had long term storage hit and misses. If a soap has a high discount, over 10% it will have a shorter shelf life.

And yes, you use less essential oils in the batch. My 8 pound batch uses 2 to 3 ounces of essential oils.

Tami