Anyone here make soap?

[Kittish]

Got my second batch of soap curing now. I'm told by lots of people who've been making soap for years that the orange in my first batch probably will fade in 6-8 months. It'll still be good soap, just not all orangey.

The second batch was an attempt at a glycerin soap. I used shea butter in the soap, so getting it completely clear was a no-go right from the start. It did wind up being kind of translucent, and smells pretty good. Scented with lavender, cedarwood and ylang ylang essential oils. The color isn't anywhere near what I wanted, but kind of works with the fragrance.

[SongsOfDragons]

Aww, the soap looks awesome! I have a single book on how to make soap that I got to read through sheer interest alone; I don't currently have any space whatsoever to store a butt-ton of raw soap to cure.

[Kittish]

I was able to put some wire shelves up on the wall behind a door for curing my soap. I think I'm going to run out of room pretty quickly, though. I just made another batch of soap tonight. I hope it comes out as a green ombre with a vertical swirl running through the middle of the bars. Scented with fir needle, cedarwood and frankincense essential oils.

[jedimaster91]

Papa Jedi makes soap. And he's the sort that whatever hobby du jour he takes on, he researches until he knows everything there is to know before he starts. I don't think his are vegetarian, though.

[Food Lady]

I want that glycerin soap!

[Kittish]

Food Lady, if you're serious, PM me a mailing address and you'll get one of my Christmas boxes, which this year will be a selection of soaps I've made. So far there are two soaps, that glycerin and the batch I just cut that I posted a pic of just up-thread.

[Kittish]

Mantra swirl with ultramarine blue. Ylang ylang, cedarwood, frankincense and orange essential oils for scent.

[Food Lady]

Oooooh, pretty!

[Kittish]

Haven't posted to this thread in a while, since Photobucket changed their policy so I can't put pics up here any more. Boo. I've got pictures of most of my soaps on another forum I'm a member of, Soap Maker's Forum, if people really want to go have a look. I'm extremely pleased with how the Blue Lace Agate soap I made for their monthly challenge turned out.

The second batch of soap I made, the attempt at the glycerin soap, failed. I tried out a bar after they'd cured for over a month, and it just melted as soon as the water hit it. Think Wicked Witch melting...just not quite so green... Pretty sure I used too much glycerin when I made it. I've tried again, and the second attempt at a glycerin soap is much, much better. Not even remotely clear, but that's down to the cocoa butter I used. Holds up decently in use, and doesn't leave my hands feeling icky.

I'm closing in on a day to day recipe that I like as my 'go to' for making soap. My current favorite works pretty well even with our hard water (it'll probably make bubbles for days in soft water) and doesn't leave a lot of that 'squeaky clean' feeling on my hands. (That feeling is actually a thin layer of soap scum caused by hard water.)

[Kagato]

I used to be into making soaps, selling them at farmers markets and the like, but have not been able to make them since I arrived in the states. It's going to have to wait until I can find a place to settle down for a lengthy period of time, rather than just hopping from place to place every couple of months.

[FormerCallingCardRep]

My Honey and I are getting started with soap making soon

[Kittish]

You're right Kagato, do need some stability if for nothing else than to get soaps you make cured. A number of people on the soap making forum I joined travel extensively, and take soap making supplies on the road with them. But, they also have a base they go back to, which makes a huge difference.

It's a fascinating hobby. I've got a couple of books, including one that's going to be kind of slow going but is an in depth look at what's actually going ON in there when you make soap. That's Scientific Soapmaking, by Kevin Dunn.

FCCR, I hope you intend to start it off as a hobby, and aren't planning on trying to sell right off the bat. I bandied around thoughts of trying to sell at first, and once I got into actually making soap and found out how not as simple as it looks it is, I kind of shelved the notion indefinitely. It is a seriously addicting hobby, full of all kinds of odd little niches. Bath soaps, hand soaps, shaving soaps, salt bars, liquid soap, exfoliating soaps, castille soaps, laundry soaps...

[FormerCallingCardRep]

We are basically wanting to learn how and do soap making as a skill to learn. I have been gathering various recipes for different types of soaps to try to make

[Kittish]

FCCR: that's kind of why I got into doing it, too. Have you heard of lye calculators? You'll want to run any recipe you decide to try through one to make sure you're using the right amount of lye.

I got my latest soaps cut, and I'm really happy with them. First is my celebration soap, and it came out just beautiful. It's scented with champaca, amyris, patchouli, rose geranium and ylang ylang essential oils. Kind of smells like a garden in full bloom that runs heavy to roses.





Next is an experiment with using vanillin crystals to scent a soap. It started off uncolored. When I sliced it, it looked like poundcake to me, so now I call it the poundcake batch even though the faces of the bars are as dark as the sides by now.







Last up is my first foray into non-vegetarian soap. It's made with lard, and colored with indigo. I hope it stays the color it is now, but indigo is notoriously unpredictable.

[FormerCallingCardRep]

I have found me a our calculator and am going to start experimenting after the wedding. Right now with the last push of wedding planning and the multiple times a day updates on how his Dad who is in Hospice is doing we have not had time