# Share your 2016 Soap plans!



## mandy318 (Dec 26, 2015)

I started soaping in 2015 and I've settled on some basic base recipes that I like and people to whom I've gifted soap tell me they like. 

When I was just beginning I discovered that if really helps me to have a plan--without one I started trying no less than 4 new ingredients/techniques with each soap and I was getting carried away. 

So I'm planning on 2016 being a real break-out experimental year. Here are my soap goals:

* Reproduce a couple of batches that friends and family liked the most. This sounds boring, but I think taking good notes and reproducing a recipe is probably a good skill to master--I haven't yet repeated any particular soap. 
*  Make a nice vegan soap. I seem to be accumulating more and more vegan friends, and I want something to gift to them. 
* Try my hand at milk soaps--I'd like to try a coconut milk and a goat's milk soap
* Make a coffee soap. I like coffee. I like soap. This is a no-brainer.  
* Make a gardener's soap. I like soap. I like gardening. Also a no-brainer. 
*Make a pumice and charcoal man soap and come up with a nice man scent. 
* Make a charcoal face soap

For each of these bullet points I'll develop a recipe or two and start gathering supplies. This should keep me busy well into 2016.  

What are your plans for 2016??


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## Judiraz (Dec 26, 2015)

I plan to start using more essential oils. I'm researching blends and deciding what I like. 

I also want to come up with 3-4 reproducible designs so I can have a set inventory as well as some unique or rotating designs depending on the season/ holiday/ my mood.


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## Misschief (Dec 26, 2015)

mandy318 said:


> What are your plans for 2016??




I intend to teach my husband how to make soap. It's my hope that he'll become more and more interested in the science behind it rather than just wanting to follow a recipe.

I want to learn to make a "real" shave soap (KOH is waiting to be delivered).

I want to learn to make liquid soap.

I intend to propose a business relationship with my local brewery (they supply me with flat beer; I provide them with beer soap).


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## snappyllama (Dec 26, 2015)

For soap:
Develop a palm-free vegetarian recipe I'm really happy with
Learn to sculpt embeds
Work on alcohol soaps (again, I've never really been happy with the ones I've made)
Try out a ton of techniques in my CP lard recipe
Continue to tweak my shaving recipe
Try out HP more often
Make liquid soap 

I really want to concentrate on B&B this year... 
Balms
Groovy bath bombs (spinners and color changers and fun shapes)
Tweak my bubble bar recipe and learn to jelly roll those without making a complete mess
Work on lotions and settle on a a few basic recipes for face, thick, foot, and light 
Tweak my lotion bars 
Work on a silicone pre-makeup blender
Develop a after-sun care formula

Other things:
Make more bread and come up with a few no-fail at altitude ones... especially a nice, white, crusty loaf
Make sourdough bread
Learn to make cheese 
Learn to can and make jellies/jams
Work on piping skills

Plant and take care of the new beds we built a little too late in the season last year. I need mythic-hero plants that are deer/bunny/elk resistant that can handle intense UV, dry conditions, early and late frost but also produce flowers and hold back soil. Bonus points for foliage that changes in the season and have a woodland forest/English cottage feel. Also, they need to be easy growers since I'm not that great at plants (what was I thinking?!?!).

I want to get back into kayaking and hiking.

I want to make at least one new recipe a week - especially vegetable recipes and try out more of the unfamiliar ones in the grocery store and farmers market I always wonder about but never try.

It's going to be a fun year!


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## mandy318 (Dec 26, 2015)

snappyllama said:


> Plant and take care of the new beds we built a little too late in the season last year. I need mythic-hero plants that are deer/bunny/elk resistant that can handle intense UV, dry conditions, early and late frost but also produce flowers and hold back soil. Bonus points for foliage that changes in the season and have a woodland forest/English cottage feel. Also, they need to be easy growers since I'm not that great at plants (what was I thinking?!?!).



Haha! I've been on a quest for mythic hero plants since two summers ago when my husband and I moved into the house we live in now and I discovered how **** HUNGRY the deer around here are! I only planted flowers according to how much I liked them and I ended up planting a lovely deer salad bar. 

Summer 2015 I limited myself to only natives and it went MUCH better. When you plant natives amazing things happen--my yard was full of bees and butterflies and the deer generally stayed away. 

I live in central Ohio and we have a few native-only nuseries. It's not always easy to find them--many conventional nurseries consider them "weeds".


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## houseofwool (Dec 26, 2015)

This spring I want to develop a palm free and vegetarian recipe that I love. I did one that has a similar FA profile that I like, but I keep wondering if it could be better.


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## doriettefarm (Dec 26, 2015)

snappyllama said:


> For soap:
> Develop a palm-free vegetarian recipe I'm really happy with
> Learn to sculpt embeds
> Work on alcohol soaps (again, I've never really been happy with the ones I've made)
> ...



snappy - I could pretty much say 'ditto' to your entire list!  I've been wanting to try sculpted embeds Sorcery Soap style but it will be a true test of patience if I ever give it a shot.  Shave soap is also on my to-do list so maybe I will have time over Christmas vacation to make a batch with some recipe tweaks.  Homemade M&P is also on my list but need to order some PG if I can't find it at the local Tractor Supply.  

I've also been dying to make IL's liquid soap with the meadowfoam seed oil & PS80 but need to order the PS80 from Soaper's Choice along with some IPM.  I would also love to perfect a recipe for bath bombs & bubble bars . . . those are 2 Lush products that hooked me but I can't seem to re-create!  My lotion & body butter experiments have been pretty successful but I want to play around with different liquids/hydrosols as well as more exotic oils/butters.

I'm also into baking and fascinated by cheese making so can relate to those goals as well.  My hubby has been cultivating a sourdough culture made from organic grapes for over 15 yrs . . . it makes the best waffles I've ever tasted!  I'd love to figure out a good soft pretzel recipe using this sourdough starter in a real lye bath.  So far the only bread I've mastered is a buttermilk sandwich bread that makes outta this world grilled cheeses and/or french toast.  Lemme know if you want the recipe . . . you can also slightly tweak the recipe to make a cinnamon-swirl loaf.


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## jules92207 (Dec 27, 2015)

I definitely want to expand my repertoire by trying laundry soap, liquid soap, and start exploring B&B finally - lotions, lip balms, bath bombs/melts, lotion bars and body butter.

I also bought Scientific Soapmaking by Kevin Dunn, looking forward to reading that.

So much to learn.


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## The Efficacious Gentleman (Dec 27, 2015)

I'm going to start knuckling down to read the Austrian regulations so I can get my business license sorted out. In the meantime, trying different scents so I would know which ones are going to be sent for approval for sale. That, plus sourcing packaging that works well for me.


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## MrBubble (Dec 27, 2015)

For 2016:

- I finally want to make my first batch of soap
-master 3-4 reproducible recipes
-become more active in the forums!


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## snappyllama (Dec 27, 2015)

doriettefarm said:


> I'm also into baking and fascinated by cheese making so can relate to those goals as well.  My hubby has been cultivating a sourdough culture made from organic grapes for over 15 yrs . . . it makes the best waffles I've ever tasted!  I'd love to figure out a good soft pretzel recipe using this sourdough starter in a real lye bath.  So far the only bread I've mastered is a buttermilk sandwich bread that makes outta this world grilled cheeses and/or french toast.  Lemme know if you want the recipe . . . you can also slightly tweak the recipe to make a cinnamon-swirl loaf.



I'd love the recipe!


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## TheDragonGirl (Dec 27, 2015)

hm

Get my business licence and insurance
line up conventions and shows for next year
scope out the summer farmer's market
Make my own melt and pour
Make translucent soap
Try out salting out
Try rimmed soaps
Experiment more with the liquid soap

Figure out what I'm doing wrong with my bathbombs that they refuse to be spheres, experiment from there
learn to make bubblebars
experiment with jelly soaps using carageenan

other:
Take another glass blowing class
glass beads
finally get that potter's wheel I'm longing for (stretch goal)
Learning to make cheese (I got a kit for Christmas!)
Learn to make sausages
lose weight


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## SplendorSoaps (Dec 27, 2015)

This year I have several goals, both creatively and in business. 

For soapmaking:

Create a liquid soap that I'm happy with (this one has been elusive for me)
Try making soap with wine
Experiment with coconut milk soap and other new alternate liquids
Continue to learn about lotion making and create my own hand/body lotion recipes
Experiment with salt bars
Formulate a really great facial bar (I just made this one yesterday using Kenna of Modern Soapmaking's and can't wait to try it out! http://www.modernsoapmaking.com/tutorial-argan-avocado-soap/)

For my business:

Firm up my GMP. I have all of my SOP procedures in place and feel like I have a good handle on the regs, but I ordered Marie Gale's book just to make sure that I have all of my t's crossed and i's dotted.
I'm working with a graphic designer to rework my logo to make it more consistent across platforms.
Revamp my website.
Be more selective about which markets I attend this year. This one's a biggie! I had some great markets this last year that I would do again in a heartbeat, and had several others that I would NOT.


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## Steve85569 (Dec 27, 2015)

Keep learning to make soap. Better.
Develop a couple more recipe's that are kid friendly.
Try and use every mould that Santa brought.

Make less bread. :?
Make less sausage.
Dang doc is after me to lose some weight and the home made bread and sausage really don't help.

Find a few more victim er volunteers to use soaps so I can soap more.


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## DeeAnna (Dec 27, 2015)

Soap --
Develop one or two go-to bath soap recipes that include tallow
Continue to learn how to use color in soap and get more experience with decorative techniques
Continue tweaking my shave soap recipe
Try a liquid soap recipe that contains lard or tallow

Gardens, yard, herbs --
Learn more about the uses and benefits of local wild fruits and herbs
Third year of growing and harvesting sweetgrass -- need to develop a market
Second year of my latest veggie garden -- stake the tomatoes properly, enlarge the beds, keep mulching heavily
Mulch my flower beds again with bark chips
Take better care of the apple trees

Crafts --
Do more wet felting; would love to make a pair of slippers
Go to a wet felting seminar this summer?
Make another series of leather purses with interesting details, including wet felted pieces

Personal --
Maintain or improve my flexibility, balance, and overall strength
Do more with the horses, if only to hang out with them in the pasture
Go fishing more


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## Susie (Dec 27, 2015)

Not going to have much time to soap, or garden, or much of anything the early part of the year, but hopefully by fall life will calm down a bit (going to take RN refresher course to get my license again).  I need to make 3-4 batches between now and the end of January to help with that.


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## dixiedragon (Dec 27, 2015)

- Get soap area organized. 
- Have a booth at some craft shows
- Make shave soap
- Make whipped butter (successfully)


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## cmzaha (Dec 27, 2015)

My biggest goal is to make a line of Solid Shampoo bars. Surfactant based
Also add in a line of solid hair conditioner
Refine down my emulsified body butters, by playing with different emulsifiers


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## TBandCW (Dec 27, 2015)

First off, get thru the next few lean months till show season starts again.  Will be working on improving our online sales.  Soap sales almost doubled over 2014, would like to accomplish that again in 2016!


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## Soapsense (Dec 27, 2015)

I've been making soap for about 5 years, started selling in the gift shop at the hotel I work at about 2 years ago, and got their contract for repeat guest gifts this year,
my goals this year:
Start my own website
Learn to make a good Liquid soap
and most important:
GET organized, lol


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## MrsSpaceship (Dec 27, 2015)

As far as my soaping, I want to work on my formulations to improve my recipes so I can get a few more tried and trues.   
Work with milk. 
Improve my color work. 
Improve pour techniques. 
Try cream and liquid soaps
I also want to get more into bath & body.

Outside of the soap room, the biggest thing is to try and manage my health.  I have fibromyalgia, but it's pretty well managed as long as I don't push it too hard.  I get to start physical therapy in January, so I'm hoping that will help immensely.  
I want to get a garden in once it warms up again, my wonderful hubby built me a garden box a couple of years ago, and I wasn't up for gardening last year. 
I want to get my craft room organized. That will play a huge part in how well I'm able to work on projects.  I hope to work on Copic coloring for my card making, and my drawing as well.  I've a few unfinished knitting projects as well as some batts that need to finish being spun, and I know I have more than a handful of sewing/quilting projects that need to be finished.  

As I think about this, I am realizing how many unfinished projects I have and it's rather sad.  I just need to set a goal of one finished project a month and see how far I get.

Edited for words.


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## BlackDog (Dec 27, 2015)

Great thread topic!  

I've only been soaping since summer, so my soapy goals for the upcoming year are:

settle on a go-to recipe for my lard bars and salt bars, now that I've tried umpteen different concoctions

try my hand at liquid soap

get my wrapping and labeling process streamlined so I can spend less time fiddling with kraft paper and and more time soaping!


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## LoveOscar (Dec 27, 2015)

For 2016 in soaps:

I want to discover my mistakes. I'm 3 batches in, and so far so good. But if it can happen, it will happen, and I'd rather it happen sooner. And I'd like to STOP making the mistake of over estimating my amounts and assuming I have enough oils, knowing the place I got it from doesn't weigh their oils, just fills pre determined sized jars by eye. roblem:

I'm into the natural soap trend. I'd like to develop my repertoire with natural colorants and tea and oil infusions. :razz:

I just made my first milk recipe, and if it goes well, I'd like to make more! So many milk options! :mrgreen:

I would like to make a trip to the butchers at some point in the first half of this year so I can get my hands on some suet to render, and make some tallow soaps. :-D

There are other things; shampoo bars, pet friendly bars, etc, but those are side projects, not necessarily goals right now.

For the rest of 2016:

Go outside! Hiking, riding, yoga, working on my motorcycle! I need the balance because I was inside working to much in 2015!

Be more present. I've wished for 2015 to fly by because it was so full of disappointment. I will make this year better.


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## amd (Dec 27, 2015)

Masterbatching for more consistent soap schedule. Continue exploring color and fragrances. Growing my business.


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## Arimara (Dec 27, 2015)

I want to do the following:

-Send my soap up to a friend
-Finally make a lard soap (I've been having back pains and I'm not an old woman yet)
-Test my 75+% OO bastile
-Use up the CO that I bought from BA

Not a long list but I never had too many long term goals in life.


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## doriettefarm (Dec 27, 2015)

snappyllama said:


> I'd love the recipe!



Adding a link to the recipe forum
http://www.soapmakingforum.com/newthread.php?do=postthread&f=36


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## traderbren (Dec 29, 2015)

I want to make a New Year's castile soap.
I plan to continue making my Dad a monthly shaving soap.
I want to try my hand at liquid soap, although I hope to start that today or tomorrow.
I want to perfect a body lotion for me, since this year has already been rough on my skin, and it's not even cold yet.

Non-soapy goals:
Run 2 10K's and hope for PRs. Run a few 5Ks with the 8yo daughter.
Finish knitting my first sweater.
Spin and knit my first handspun sweater.


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## cinnamaldehyde (Dec 29, 2015)

Ahhhh goals...

- play around more with oil infusions
- experiment more with essential oils that bring out the original notes and aromas of the beers that I use in my beer soaps
- grow my business
- develop some new swirling skills.  I'm a hardcore ITP swirler


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## Deedles (Dec 30, 2015)

Soapy goals.....

1. I want to lesarn to be more careful about the FO's I buy, specifically checking reviews for acceleration. I think that's been my biggest problem with getting thin batter in order to work with colors.

2. Once I do that I want to learn more about using colors.

3. I have a good GM recipe so I want to branch out and try lard and salt soaps.

Other goals....

1. Plan a couple of long motorcycle trips to areas I haven't been to yet.

2. Downsize my sewing/craft room and organize my knitting stuff so I can find it when I need it!

3. Lose 20 lbs by June so my wetsuit fits better for our annual Honduras dive trip.


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## CTAnton (Dec 30, 2015)

I want to 
1. embrace my one pound mold for my research and development soaps.
2. Take better notes. There was a soap I made this past February that one fussy tester loved  with a clove orange fragrance. 10 months later the clove scent is still real nice and the soap quite nice, my grandmother would say "Grand!" It took me an hour but I found the recipe only because it was the only batch with that scent. I smiled and thought of so many of you when the recipe contained 40% lard.
3. Knuckle down and do a thorough cost analysis of what these soaps cost me to make , not forgetting to pay myself.


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## gigisiguenza (Dec 30, 2015)

Hmmmm my soapy goals....

- settle on 3 reliable recipes that I like (one for super sensitive skin, one for more normal skin, and one for oily skin)

- learn to better control colors in my soaps

- experiment with design ideas I have in my head but haven't had skill and/or time to try yet

- start master batching my oils so I can more easily soap when I do have time and energy

- learn to make bath bombs 

Non soapy goals...

- go to see my mom and my kids

- Build or acquire a loom large enough to do bigger pieces

- finish at least one of the ufo quilts

- conquer the fear and put my various art pieces on display and/or for sale


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