Soap Making 101

[Britesea]

 

[krisac]

:bun thanks

 

[big brown horse]

We all get frustrated from time to time. Glad the ladies like your soap, I like my soap fragrence free. My personal goat soap maker (thankyou Merle) puts herbs like plantain in it for me...well he does that for everyone, but I like to think it is just for me.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

I tried a new FO tonight (Berry Vanilla) and trace was WAY faster than with the other FOs. Smells good though, I hope it turns out nicely!

 

[krisac]

Berry vanilla? where did you find that? sounds great!

 

[valmom]

Question for you frugal soapers out there- what do you use for your cheap "filler" type of oil. I use canola oil to take up some space, and I'm wondering if there are any other cheap oils that might make the soap harder (I think canola softens the final bar) to fill in the recipe. I use olive oil, shea, coconut, Crisco- also as a filler, but it is palm oil based, and canola. I am finding that my bars are nice and moisturizing, but they come out soft, even after curing. (and my SO is someone who washes the soap and leaves it wet to melt on the soap tray :/ ). I need something that sudses up like this one, but doesn't melt as easily.

Edited to add- I unmolded the honey scented soap and it smells just like the beehive! I really hope the scent doesn't dissipate as it ages out! It makes my mouth water. I also find I like the vanilla scents, but they do turn the soap dark brown and accelerate trace.

Krisac- glad things are looking up! I still haven't ventured into lotion after my first lumpy oily attempt.

 

[Farmfresh]

I personally use lard and tallow.

I can get lard ready to use from my butcher shop cheap and/or get the lard from hogs we buy or hogs friends buy (ground like hamburger for easy processing) free. I can also get suet from the butcher for free and they grind it for me for just a small fee. Then I render my own tallow and lard. Not much cheaper that that.

I know some folks are against animal fats in their soaps, but both produce a nice hard useful bar. My laundry bars are only made from this free fat and work great.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Berry vanilla? where did you find that? sounds great!

I ordered my scents from wholesalesuppliesplus.com. I got about 10 different trial-sized scents so I could play around and see which ones I liked best. So far I like all of them!

I personally use lard and tallow.

I can get lard ready to use from my butcher shop cheap and/or get the lard from hogs we buy or hogs friends buy (ground like hamburger for easy processing) free. I can also get suet from the butcher for free and they grind it for me for just a small fee. Then I render my own tallow and lard. Not much cheaper that that.

I know some folks are against animal fats in their soaps, but both produce a nice hard useful bar. My laundry bars are only made from this free fat and work great.

Do you ever get a porky (or beefy) smell in the bars? I render lard, but then sometimes it still smells pretty porky.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

I also find I like the vanilla scents, but they do turn the soap dark brown and accelerate trace.

I'm curious to see how the berry vanilla soap looks when I cut it tonight. This will be my second batch in my wood mold, and the first one didn't get any discoloration but I'm curious to see how it does w/ the vanilla.

 

[valmom]

I considered tallow or lard, but unfortunately SO is trying to be vegetarian. I'm sure she would smell the rendering process. Plus the only source around here would be the local supermarket- no real butchers that I know of. So it certainly wouldn't be free