# My first Loaf



## sudsly (Mar 2, 2016)

Hello all and glad to make my first post.  Ive known a couple people over the course of a few years that have tried their hand at making soap.  Most recently my neighbor.  He gave me a couple bars to try and they were way better than store bought soap.  So now I have the itch to make my own soap being the diy crafty person I am.  I talked to my neighbor and he told be he used melt and pour soap and where he got it from.  So I jumped right in and started reading articles and watching youtube videos on the MP process.  I ordered my supplies and and currently waiting for them to arrive along with molds.  

I am a person that doesnt like to wait on stuff, and since you cant get quality melt and pour from craft stores, I decided to give cold process a try while I wait.  I didnt add any color, fragrance or essential oils for the sole purpose of keeping it simple to learn the process.  I bought a cheapy mold from michaels to use. I made a gentle soap using Coconut oil, Lard, Olive oil, Distilled water and Lye.


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## TeresaT (Mar 2, 2016)

Congratulations!  Welcome and nice job.  That looks lovely, nice and creamy.  

Did you run your recipe through a soap calculator before you made it? 

Did you use weights and not volume? 

Did you line or use mineral oil or Vaseline on that mold before you poured?   If not, don't be surprised if it sticks.  You can put it in the freezer to help with that. 

I'm sure others with far more experience will chime in, but those came to mind when I read your post.  Don't forget to post the cut photos.  And your M&P creations.  I'm pretty envious of the talented people on this forum with both lye & M&P soaps.  You'll learn a lot from them.


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## snappyllama (Mar 2, 2016)

Congratulations on your first soap! Now the waiting really begins...  it's totally worth it. Handmade soap is so much better than store bought. 

Like Teresa said, don't be surprised if it sticks in that mold. Next time (I know there will be a next time!), you might want to line it with freezer paper - shiny side touching the soap.


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## Misschief (Mar 2, 2016)

I have two of the same molds and I always line them with freezer paper. Your loaf looks great, by the way. Congrats on your first loaf of soap!


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## soaring1 (Mar 2, 2016)

You did a wonderful job on your first soap.  You will be hit by the soap bug.  Trying new and different combinations out.  I know I was.


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## galaxyMLP (Mar 2, 2016)

That is a beautiful soap! First or not. I'm really digging it!

I second the freezer trick if your soap wont come out easily. I have that exact mold and I dont always line the short sides. A good trick with it is to slide the ends off instead of just pulling them off. You can lift them a little on then ends and then work to slide them off the loaf instead of pulling them off. This limits the chances of the soap coming off with the mold in chunks.


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## sudsly (Mar 2, 2016)

Thank you for the kind words and tips. I used the basic formula from the everything soap making book. I measured everything in ounces.  I forgot about the freezer paper I wasn't sure it was needed in a non wood mold. But if I have an issue I'll use the freezer. How long do you leave it in the freezer for usually if it's sticky?

Next batch I'll try some essential oils and basic coloring.


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## CaraBou (Mar 3, 2016)

Way to go sudsly, and welcome to the forum!  An hour or two in the freezer should do; just check again and put it back in if it's still not ready.  

That's a great book but always run recipes through a soap calculator if you haven't previously verified it.  I use soapcalc.com (check out the tutorial for it in the beginner's forum), but there are many others too.  It's just good practice as there can be misprints and other errors in other people's recipes.


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## dibbles (Mar 3, 2016)

Your soap looks so nice and I'm sure you can't wait to use it! It's almost as much fun to use your own soap as it is to make it. Congratulations on your first batch.


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## Soapsavvy (Mar 3, 2016)

Sudsly, you did a stellar job for that being your first soap making project. It looks like a tasty Lemon meringue pie. Yummy!!!!! I'd rather eat it than bathe in it LOL!!! Great job!!!  :clap::clap::clap:


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## navigator9 (Mar 3, 2016)

Congratulations on your first batch, and congratulations on your decision to hold off on color or fragrance. I'm sure you discovered that you had plenty to keep you busy with "plain" soap for your first attempt. And believe me, "plain" handmade soap beats the very best commercial soap by a mile! You won't be disappointed. Do you know if your soap gelled? If it did, you can try to unmold it the day after making it. If not, the process of saponification will take longer, and it may take days before it's ready. You can do a tongue test to be sure. If it's still zappy...wait. Waiting will be hard, but if it's still zappy, it's probably not going to come out of the mold cleanly. Please let us know how it turns out, more pictures, too. And be sure to save a piece of your first batch. I never did, and I regret it. Again, congrats on your beautiful, creamy looking soap!


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## shunt2011 (Mar 3, 2016)

Congratulations on your first batch.  It looks nice and creamy.  Well done!   As others have stated, it's important to run any recipe through a soap calculator for the most accurate measuring.  I also highly recommend measuring in grams.  Much less room for error.   I'm sure there will be more batches soon.


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## Susie (Mar 3, 2016)

Congratulations!

You need to WEIGH the ounces out not MEASURE them. (grams are MUCH more accurate!)  It may not make much of a difference on the water, but oils are lighter than water and will not yield the same results.  Also, you need to definitely weigh out the NaOH.  A good digital scale is a necessary piece of soaping equipment.


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## sudsly (Mar 3, 2016)

Thanks all. 

I did weight everything Susie. 

And navigator once I was finished I tried to gel it by putting a cardboard teepee over it. I just put my tongue on it and it's not zappy at all so I'm guessing it gelled. 

I will remember to run every recipie through soap calc. I have to be honest soap calc is a bit intimidating because I'm not really sure what I'm going for using it. 

And thank you everyone for the kind words and encouragement. I was only going to be doing mp but I'm really rethinking everything now. I really liked the workability of the CP.


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## sudsly (Mar 3, 2016)

ok so the freezer trick worked to get the loaf out of the mold nicely.  So here are the cuts, nothing special, but we will see how it does after curing.


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## Seawolfe (Mar 3, 2016)

Nice! I do love a plain white chunky bar.


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## Marshall (Mar 3, 2016)

Very nice! Now the hard part starts, at least for me it is. That 4 week wait!


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## navigator9 (Mar 3, 2016)

sudsly said:


> ok so the freezer trick worked to get the loaf out of the mold nicely.  So here are the cuts, nothing special, but we will see how it does after curing.



Nothing special! Are you kidding? You have no idea how many people fail on their first attempt at making cold process soap. I always feel badly when people are too ambitious and try to use too many ingredients, colors, fragrance or techniques, fail, and then are discouraged. You did it, you made beautiful, handmade soap. You should be very proud. :clap:


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## penelopejane (Mar 4, 2016)

^^^and their second, third and fourth tries! Really lovely soap. [emoji322][emoji2]


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## Steve85569 (Mar 4, 2016)

Nice job!
Be prepared for future batches not coming out as well ( just a word of caution). 
Sometimes the soaping gremlins just appear and I find myself asking "what did I do?".
Move on to colors and smells slowly and be careful of where you get them. Colors and fragrances from craft stores may change dramatically when used in hand made soap.


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## TeresaT (Mar 4, 2016)

NOTHING SPECIAL???  You silly goose, that is seriously gorgeous soap!! So white and creamy looking.  Simply magnificent.  Please do make sure to keep a bar (or two) for a keepsake.  You will be able to look back fondly on "the beginning" and have something to compare your subsequent batches to.  I regret not having any of my very first ever soap.  However, I do have at least one bar of every one I've made since then.  

Another thing, I started out keeping handwritten notes and promptly lost interest in that.  Notes are a must!!  Someone posted instructions for "Evernote" on this forum.  I now keep meticulous notes on every batch with that and am able to go in and update them as time passes.   I'm a typer not not a writer.  (I've got my original handwritten notes that I need to transcribe into Evernote.) I use screen shots of SoapCalc for my recipe instead of typing it out and I upload photos of the soap, too.  It's a useful tool.  I'm sure there are other ways of note taking (I know lots of members use binders), but this is great and convenient for me.  It is also cloud based so it's always available as long as I've got an Internet connection.


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## sudsly (Mar 4, 2016)

Thank you Teresa I have a notepad I've been keeping notes on. One thing I did with my second loaf was input it into soapcalc and add my notes to that then printed.


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## KristaY (Mar 4, 2016)

That is absolutely gorgeous soap, Sudsly! My first was definitely not great so you should be very proud of yourself. When I make "naked" soap these days I strive for that look. Very well done! :clap:


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## Summi (Mar 9, 2016)

Hey Sudsly, your soap looks great. White and creamy!!


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## Susie (Mar 9, 2016)

Beautiful soap!  Perfect in every way!  I hope you saved that recipe, as every other soap you make will be compared to that.

What I did during the interminable wait for cure is to run every recipe I found through here or in books through a lye calculator and compared the "qualities" of each to start wrapping my head around what makes each recipe different.  If I saw a recipe (or a close recipe) on here more than once, I really looked at those the most.  I already trusted these folks and started trying to figure out what makes that recipe better than some other recipe.  

Then I tried a non-lard recipe, and I figured out something super important...Soapcalc does not know everything.  The "numbers/qualities" of lard, tallow, and palm are similar, but in soap they are worlds apart.  

So, while it is important to get comfortable with a lye calculator, it is not the be-all, end-all of expert info on how the soap will turn out.  You can always post here to ask our opinion on any recipe you want to try.


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## Soapsavvy (Mar 9, 2016)

Very nice!!!


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## kumudini (Mar 9, 2016)

Congratulations on your first CP soap. Looks pretty.
Also, I own several of those molds. If you didn't line or coat them, the best way to release the soap would be to introduce a knife edge between the mold and the soap and gently pulling the mold away, on all four sides. Trust me, no length of time in the freezer is going to help. 
Best way to line them is parchment paper along the length of the mold, really no need to line the short sides. I still have to learn how to line with the freezer paper as it doesn't stay creased in the corners for me. Ends up giving a round bottomed soap.

ETA: oops! My bad! Didn't see you got it out already and posted cut pics. Those bars look awesome. Really makes me want to make a simple batch.


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## Susie (Mar 10, 2016)

kumudini said:


> I still have to learn how to line with the freezer paper as it doesn't stay creased in the corners for me. Ends up giving a round bottomed soap.



If you crease the paper outside of the mold using the back edge of a butter knife, it should stay creased. (Measure the bottom of the mold, then fold and crease the paper appropriately.)  I also have put a drop of water in all 4 corners to help the paper stay in place while pouring.  But these are the reasons I use a silicone mold to avoid all the fuss.


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## kumudini (Mar 10, 2016)

Thanks Susie! I got used to using parchment paper, it's fairly easy and cheap. I just have to lay a length of it in the mold and pour carefully so the paper is still centered when I'm done. when I bought the molds, the maker advised to use parchment, I already had 2 big roles of it from Costco so I just used that.
I'm still using the first one.
May be when I graduate to wooden molds, I will start using the freezer paper. I'll be sure to remember your tip and may be also check out a video on the tube.


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