Soap Making 101

[Bettacreek]

I think one of the most important things that I have discovered to make a soap trace nicely is to make SURE that the lye solution and the oils are the same temperature before combining them. Some people combine at over 100 degrees F and others at room temperature but just so both liquids are the same.

I disagree with this one. I don't pay any special attention to my temperatures. Sometimes my lye is hot while my oils are cool, sometimes they're both warm, sometimes both are cool and sometimes my lye is cool and my oils are hot. It hasn't made any difference in my soaps and I've made several batches each different way.

 

[hillfarm]

Some of my newest. The pink and white one is done with shortening. turned out pretty and smells great, IMO.

 

[savingdogs]

Hillfarm, that soap looks like an advanced class and not Soapmaking 101....

 

[krisac]

While I understand that concept....you're talking to a a nursing student who jumped into clinicals in the ER, which happened to be on the first day where a HS student walked in and shot22 students in the cafeteria. see one do one teach one I was doing og tubes, IV's NG's tubes catheterr's while my classmates were ready about the theories

What I want to learn is a goats milk soap, goats milk lotion, and expand from there. Why is that so hard?

 

[krisac]

is there any difference since no one seems to mention it in the type of goats milk used? evaporated, versus bought, vs powdered? and if it was powdered (i have evaporated) No goats yet til we find out if we get to keep our house) do you reconstitue then use? A really great place here in town is having a 6 hour class I am signing up for. The sell Everything you need to make anything. tiny Bee business grown into a big little natural supply store.

 

[savingdogs]

It is easier to add water. Goat milk discolors if you add it when it is too warm and can make your trace more difficult, the issue that you had with the batch you broke the mixer on.

I doubt you jumped into your clinicals without any background knowledge, it is the same with soap. Learning how to pour it into the molds, unmold it, recognizing trace, learning how to not burn out your mixer, etc., takes time and practice. It is easiest to start with easy simple soap and progress from there. You are asking for help but you are jumping into the hardest things first. I tried two batches before I tried goat milk soap. I didn't want to waste oils. After those turned out, I tried adding more ingredients to the soap. I still have not tried a different oil. I certainly have not made up my own recipe yet. So soap has been easy and fun for me.

We are trying to explain how to learn, by doing an easy and fun one first. You can certainly jump into more difficult ones first. But you might have more frustrations and have more that doesn't turn out.

Perhaps you feel you must try the hardest things right off the bat because doing anything less is a waste. I can assure you, my homemade non goat milk soap was much nicer than anything else I had ever used. It was well worth the trouble. I did add fragrance and it came out very nice, I used it as gifts.

But if you are willing to waste ingredients, you can start off doing the hard recipes. If you are willing to spend money that way, however, you might tray buying a couple basic soapmaking books. There is a lot of ideas and recipes of how to make soap, a good book will give you a better overview of the concepts we are trying to explain to you in quick blurbs. The recipes are just tried and true combinations that someone else ahead of you has created a nice soap balance. It is like making a cake, if you want certain qualities, you use a recipe that gives you those characteristics. The more you understand the recipes, the closer your final result will be to what you were working towards. Adding colors and swirls and scents and interesting molds are all things that make it harder, and using goat milk can make the soap discolor. So this is why you are getting suggestions for trying an easy recipe first.

 

[krisac]

I suppose my eagerness comes from an open door I don't want to miss. The ladt who made goats milk soap and lotion with VERY dedicated customers has moved out of our shop....Opening...but as fast as our shop fills up someone is going to come in with these products before I can get the jump on it. the customer's looking for goat's milk soap probably are not going to my homemade crisco, lye water, lavender soap. They look at ingredients and it has to at least sound more appealing than that. So yes I'm trying to learn and jumping hurdles at the same time. It's a simple matter of trying to find a way to survive.

 

[hillfarm]

Thanks SD. i'm pretty new to soaping. I read alot, I am testing and trialing constantly. The pink and white is a test with a neon bubblegum mica sample and a white mica. Threw in rose EO to add a smell and viola. I was trying to layer, but I have not been successful trying that yet, but I will. I want to try a batch using a black layer of activated charcoal I saw, so pretty.
Oh the round ones are Guiness beer soaps that I saw a recipe to online. They look really cool but about an inch of the soap on top had this thick weird goo. Thankfully i was able to cut it off and keep the rest. Took forever to cure. But its nice now 6 weeks later. But it was so soft I could barely handle it without leaving an imprint. Im gonna try a different recipe and run it threw the calc. Maybe it will do better. Thats half the fun is playing IMO. Never know what you'll get.

 

[hillfarm]

I suppose my eagerness comes from an open door I don't want to miss. The ladt who made goats milk soap and lotion with VERY dedicated customers has moved out of our shop....Opening...but as fast as our shop fills up someone is going to come in with these products before I can get the jump on it. the customer's looking for goat's milk soap probably are not going to my homemade crisco, lye water, lavender soap. They look at ingredients and it has to at least sound more appealing than that. So yes I'm trying to learn and jumping hurdles at the same time. It's a simple matter of trying to find a way to survive.

Now you can use an all vegtable shortening. Makes the soap vegan. A good selling point. You might also look to redefine vegtable shortening into another verbage.

 

[krisac]

i'm pretty new to soaping. I read alot, I am testing and trialing constantly. The pink and white is a test with a neon bubblegum mica sample and a white mica. Threw in rose EO to add a smell and viola. I was trying to layer, but I have not been successful trying that yet, but I will. I want to try a batch using a black layer of activated charcoal I saw, so pretty.
Oh the round ones are Guiness beer soaps that I saw a recipe to online. They look really cool but about an inch of the soap on top had this thick weird goo. Thankfully i was able to cut it off and keep the rest. Took forever to cure. But its nice now 6 weeks later. But it was so soft I could barely handle it without leaving an imprint. Im gonna try a different recipe and run it threw the calc. Maybe it will do better. Thats half the fun is playing IMO. Never know what you'll get.


Glad to know I'm not the only one jumping in with both feet. how come your's works and mine doesn't? you must just be more self sufficient than I am