Making some soap, and guess what? Pics...

[sumi]

@Mini Horses tell us more, please? I would love to make soap, but I am so nervous about using chemicals. (I have 10 thumbs and are ridiculously accident prone!)

 

[Mini Horses]

You just have to take care when handling the lye. Like, no toddlers around, a dog that won't move, etc. Good ventilation where you are mixing, rubber gloves. But, it's only about 30 min you mix. The oils are mostly ones you use to cook with. The lye can be caustic and you don't want to get chemical burns, splash it in your eyes, etc. Use safety glasses and keep a vinegar damp paper towel at hand....in case. Never add oil to lye water, always lye water into oils. My daughter and I do it and have never had an issue. Few "rules" for safe handling.

Really, it's easy after the first batch. Too late to look for it tonight but, I'll give you a couple sites I used that have tutorials, when I started. You do need a kitchen scale, glass or stainless pots, few other such things. All ingredients are by weight. We do NOT use our pots for anything else. It's fun and good soap. You do not have to use goat milk, you can use water.

Mountain Pioneer has a lot of the "fancy" colors, swirls, etc. They are great for sales as people do gravitate to them. Now that's an area I haven't gotten into, so maybe some tutorial from him would work for us both. I've looked at sites with some instruction, just not worked at it. KISS was my goal to start. But would love to give it a try.

 

[sumi]

@modern_pioneer's soaps are But right now I'm interested in dipping my toe and seeing how it goes! Any tips/tutorials you can share would be awesome.

 

[Denim Deb]

I've never made soap. It's on my bucket list. And I'd like to try to make my own lye from ashes. I know it won't work quite the same as what you buy, but I'd still like to try.