Soap Making 101

[savingdogs]

Sigh.....

Now we see the work of a master soap maker!

I'll get there someday, but heh, at this point I'm still really excited to make soap my family likes so much. Even before adding the goat milk, they "never want to go back" to store soap.

But yours, glenolam............

 

[Farmfresh]

Agreed! Beautiful job.

 

[LovinLife]

Very nice glenolam!!

 

[glenolam]

Awwww, shucks! Thanks!

I'm no master, that's for sure. I've had my share of messups and errors. I'm actually having a problem with most of my batches where they don't want to come out of the mold. I can't figure out why. Freezing them for about an hour did help with the silicone molds, but these plastic log molds I have (which you only need to coat with some oil and they're supposed to just fall out) aren't releasing the logs as they used to.

I'll have to take pictures of the cucumber melon bars I did the other week. I think they look really cool and hope people like them.

 

[savingdogs]

My last ones came out of the mold easier (I have several molds, but the ones I had trouble with were the plastic trays). This time I coated the trays in Crisco and they came out great.

Crisco is the oil I'm using so I don't know if that matters. But when I did a thin coat of spray-on cooking oil it didn't help much.

I've read getting them out of the molds can be one of the biggest challenges for everyone.

 

[glenolam]

The spray on oils definitely won't work as they create air bubbles as you spray them on. This allows for the soap to stick to the mold when the bubbles burst.

Usually, any type of oil can be used to coat the mold. I've used the hot oils from the batter (right before I pour the lye/milk mix in is when I'd coat the mold) and I've used a little OO right from the bottle.

If the mold is newer it's also a little more difficult to get the soap out, but after a few uses it should work.

I think part of my problem is that I'm leaving the soap on the counter right after pouring. I was putting the molds directly in the fridge to speed up cooling and the soap was coming out great the next day. Guess I'll stick to that and see what happens.

 

[LovinLife]

Awwww, shucks! Thanks!

I'm no master, that's for sure. I've had my share of messups and errors. I'm actually having a problem with most of my batches where they don't want to come out of the mold. I can't figure out why. Freezing them for about an hour did help with the silicone molds, but these plastic log molds I have (which you only need to coat with some oil and they're supposed to just fall out) aren't releasing the logs as they used to.

I'll have to take pictures of the cucumber melon bars I did the other week. I think they look really cool and hope people like them.

Where do you get your recipies from?

 

[Rhettsgreygal]

I saw that someone used old-fashioned milk/cream cartons for soap molds. Would plastic grated cheese containers (cut to the thickness of the soap) work as molds?

I made basic lye soap with pork lard and beef suet and used an unused litterbox (don't know why we have an extra one lying around?). The soap turned out fine, I just am no good at cutting straight lines.

I think I am going to use coconut oil in the next batch, in addition to the leftover lard and suet that I still have. Would this make a softer bar soap?

Thanks

 

[Farmfresh]

I am the same way. I can't even cut the pieces of a cake straight. :/

That is why my favorite mold is a PVC pipe with bottom ends that open. I grease them up a bit with Vaseline before pouring and then open the bottom and push the soap out the top when it is done. I use a hunk of plastic coated wire (like they use for jewelry) tied between two sticks (like a weird cheese cutter of some sort) to cut the bars with and they turn out pretty good like that.

 

[savingdogs]

I keep a pringles can handy when I'm pouring the soap into molds in case I have extra and pour the last of it in there. When it hardens you can just cut right through the pringles can and pop the soap out. It is a good way to use up any leftover, but the circles are a little small. makes a great tester bar to see if your soap is ready.