# Easy recipe with farm ingredients



## tatumhills (Jun 10, 2015)

I have made a few batches of soap so far and loving it. Now I have agreed to do a demo at a small community event and would like to show a recipe that can be made from mostly ingredients one may already have or can find locally. I tried olive oil, honey, beeswax, milk, coconut oil castor oil. Went to hard trace really fast... We'll see how it is when I use it. Any other ideas? Thanks!


----------



## girlishcharm2004 (Jun 10, 2015)

What percentage of beeswax did you use?  It sounds like a disaster if you used too much.  I would stick to something simple and "tried and true" for a demonstration.  You will want to be able to answer the questions your audience will have.


----------



## Obsidian (Jun 10, 2015)

Here is a nice basic slow tracing recipe. 

50% lard
25% olive oil
20% coconut
5% castor


----------



## dixiedragon (Jun 10, 2015)

I wouldn't consider beeswax a "farm ingredient" unless you are demonstrating for a lot of beekeepers. The easy farm ingredients I can think of are milk, honey, lard and tallow.


----------



## tatumhills (Jun 10, 2015)

Well maybe I should have said garden ingredients rather than farm as many farms and gardens have bees around here, few have pigs. Pls I am vegetarian so would rather not use lard. The beeswax experiment wasn't a disaster as I was able to still pour it, I just won't mix it as much next time  I used 8% which i know is quite high. 

Any other recipes without lard would be greatly appreciated, thanks


----------



## Susie (Jun 10, 2015)

Overlooking the fact that you agreed to do a demonstration without having a good, reliable recipe first, you can substitute palm oil for lard or tallow.   Palm needs to have the entire container completely melted and stirred thoroughly before any is measured out as it can have settling during hardening.  My strong suggestion if you do this is to pour pre-weighed amounts into smaller containers once you have it melted and stirred to avoid having to do it again each time.  

I am not saying that you have to jump on the lard bandwagon, but other people who will not eat meat do use lard and tallow in soap because no animal is being killed to provide the fats.  The lard and tallow are by-products of the meat industry, and would otherwise be discarded into a landfill.  You have to decide what your conscience can live with, though.


----------



## Dahila (Jun 10, 2015)

Have you checked the commercial soaps for lard or tallow?  A lot of them are containing it.


----------



## tatumhills (Jun 10, 2015)

Overlooking the fact that the demo is in September and I have plenty of time to find a suitable recipe AND that sadly this does not seem as friendly an online community are most others are, I am just looking for a lard/tallow-free recipe which features easy to find ingredients. I realise lard is a byproduct, I still choose not to use it. Thank you!

So if there is anyone friendly on here who would like to provide such a recipe, I'd like to hear from you please. Everyone else, please abstain.


----------



## kchaystack (Jun 10, 2015)

tatumhills said:


> So if there is anyone friendly on here who would like to provide such a recipe, I'd like to hear from you please. Everyone else, please abstain.


 
Try this:

Avocado Oil Soap - Palm Free

Another basic soap recipe that is palm free. This one contains Avocado oil and Shea Butter instead of Palm oil. I've also put in a bit of Castor oil for those bubble again...can you tell that I like bubbly soap?

Base Ingredients    Grams    Ounces    Percentage
Avocado Oil     180 gr.    6.35 oz.    20%
Coconut Oil270 gr.    9.524 oz.    30%
Shea Butter    135 gr.    4.76 oz.    15%
Olive Oil    270 gr.    9.524 oz.    30%
Castor Oil    45 gr.    1.59 oz.    5%
Distilled Water    326.07 gr.    11.502 oz.     
Lye    126.28 gr.    4.5 oz.     
Water as % of Oils = 36.23; Super Fat/Discount = 5%



tatumhills said:


> So if there is anyone friendly on here who would like to provide such a recipe, I'd like to hear from you please. Everyone else, please abstain.


 
Try this:

Avocado Oil Soap - Palm Free

Base Ingredients    Grams    Ounces    Percentage
Avocado Oil     180 gr.    6.35 oz.    20%
Coconut Oil 270 gr.    9.524 oz.    30%
Shea Butter     135 gr.    4.76 oz.    15%
Olive Oil     270 gr.    9.524 oz.    30%
Castor Oil     45 gr.    1.59 oz.    5%


It is from this site. http://www.soap-making-essentials.com/basic-soap-recipe.html#.VXi_fPlVhBc

I would ignore the lye and water amounts and run them thru Soapcalc yourself.

If you can't find avocado oil, just increase your olive. That will increase the cure time more than likely, but I have used this recipe before and it is nice.


----------



## tatumhills (Jun 10, 2015)

Thank you! That's lovely. I will try it out ahead of time to see how it works for me


----------



## lsg (Jun 10, 2015)

If you are claiming the use of farm products, lard, milk, beeswax and sunflower oil come to my mind.


----------



## tatumhills (Jun 10, 2015)

Yes, that's a good list, but I am not claiming anything. The audience are home gardeners and farmers market costumers so I was just thinking of recipes that they can make with what's on hand either in their backyard or at the local market.


----------



## shunt2011 (Jun 10, 2015)

Also, beeswax at that percentage will likely affect lather greatly and not feel that great on the skin. Will feel waxy. As others have suggested you can replace lard with palm. 

People here are extremely helpful. Unfortunately, most are very protective of their recipes as we have spent a lot of hours and materials to create our recipes. And for someone to come into the forum and ask for a recipe they get their hackles up a bit. 

Now, if you have a recipe and would like help tweaking it, post it and many will help out. 

Also, if you do a search there are quite a few recipes that have been shared by the wonderful folks here. 

Welcome to the forum. Getting an attitude off the bat isn't a good first impression nor does it make people want to help.


----------



## tatumhills (Jun 10, 2015)

Right, not sure who's attitude we are talking about here. Anyway, I didn't realise people were protective of their recipes... Thanks for clarifying. Maybe they should have just said 
I added castor oil to improve the bubbles but we'll see how it comes out.
All the recipes I have used so far are with my own goat's milk but I'd like to try other liquids such as maybe camomile tea. I'm also keen to add eggs from my birds as you can see below.
This is the recipe I tried the other day.
Beeswax 100g
Castor oil 200g
Coconut oil 900g
Olive oil 800g
Goat's milk 760g
Lye 290.39g
2 duck eggs
1 TBS honey
I only added the eggs to a small portion for color. That portion didn't trace quite so quickly, which was nice. It is curing well but still a while to go before I can try it. Thoughts? Thanks!


----------



## The Efficacious Gentleman (Jun 11, 2015)

She was referring to your attitude, in relation to Susie's comment. Which, seeing as you are demonstrating to farmers and you want them to use things that they have on hand, animal fats are perfect and Susie (a fan of lard soaps) would of course mention it. YOU are vegetarian - are THEY? You are demonstrating a recipe for THEM to use, not YOU. I would think that a group of farmers would have fairly easy access to animal fats - easier access than to palm oil and avocado oil. 

People here are friendly, but are also direct. It might not be "wrap you up in a cuddle blanket", but do you want good soaping advice or a pat on the head and a kind word?

My favourite example is this - I ask on mums net for advice on which brand of chewing tobacco to give to my newborn boy. I would not actually get an answer I was looking for, but I would get very good advice - it's not what I want to hear, but people will give it regardless. Case in point:

You are still learning how to soap. If you were still learning how to drive, would you agree to teach other people how to drive, even if that course was in a few months? There will be a lot of things that you just can't answer yet, such as why certain oils work together or not in order to formulate a recipe. If someone on the course gets in to a situation that you haven't seen, can you explain what happened and how to fix it? For an instructor, a very good knowledge of the subject is vital, otherwise they are better off watching a few YouTube videos on a big screen together.


----------



## Logansama (Jun 11, 2015)

Remember, if you're doing a demo, you want to keep it simple, not only for yourself, but for those watching. So I'd stick with a basic 4 ingredient like the one that was posted earlier.

I used to make beeswax soap all the time, the wax melts at a VERY high temperature and really amps up trace. Anything with sugars will heat your batter. Like many soapmakers, I've gone the environmental route and switched from palm to tallow and lard, I'm a farm girl and grew up that way, but I understand your avoidance of animal products. You can find palm that is supposedly ethical, just do a google search. (Brambleberry is a good source) 

The Modern Soapmaking blog has quiet a few vegetarian and vegan recipes, so head over there and see if you find anything you like.  

Have fun! I don't know if I'd be so brave; the last time I tried to teach someone I got so nervous I dumped the whole batch on the counter. LOL!

http://www.modernsoapmaking.com/in-the-workshop/


----------



## tatumhills (Jun 11, 2015)

First of all, I never said I was demonstrating to farmers and in fact I am demonstrating to a group of city people with an interest in sustainability, who would likely be vegetarian or inclined that way anyway. I am actually the farmer here and I don't believe I started the attitude but I am certainly building one up now... Let's see how this goes. Don't want your blankets, thanks, just polite respectful comments.

Thank you Logansmana, for your support and kind words 

[For an instructor, a very good knowledge of the subject is vital, otherwise they are better off watching a few YouTube videos on a big screen together.[/QUOTE]


I am not sure why you are so threatened by me doing a demo. I don't present myself as a soaping guru but I offer a few tips for people to get started. Then we can learn together. Also all I was hoping for was for people to respect my choice about avoiding lard, don't have to agree, just respect it. Was also hoping for respect of my choice to run a demo. I am in Australia so no completion to any of you ladies, just helping out a community centre put up an event!

Not sure why some are finding it so threatening that I have agreed to run a demo. I have just agreed to do it to help a community centre run a fun event. I am not the TEACHER, just someone to get people started then we can learn together. I was just hoping for polite responses which would respect (not agree with!) my views, being it not to use lard or to run a demo. I think I best take Loagansmama's advice and find a friendlier forum and leave you guys to your DIRECT opinion and ATTiTUDE. Thanks to the kind ones amonst you!


----------



## Relle (Jun 11, 2015)

I don't think anyone is threatened by you for doing a demo, they have been polite, given of their time and have been helping you whether you realise it or not. You can take their valuable knowledge and use what they have given you or not - your choice. That simple. Stay and get advice or go. It would also have been nice for you to have introduced yourself when joining, instead of starting a thread straight off asking for ideas.

I'm an Australian and there are lots here, I certainly don't feel any competition from you. If you feel uncomfortable being here just go, you don't have to post you are going.

Message board Rule NO.10 that you agreed to when you signed up to be a member.

10 - "I'm leaving" posts are not allowed. Should you wish to leave the forum simply go. Go now. Leave already... just leave and don't look back.


----------



## dillsandwitch (Jun 11, 2015)

Hi Relle   Great to see another Aussie here also   Where about are you located just for curiosity sakes? I'm in Newcastle 

Anyway to Op if you are still here. I think the main point the others were trying to get across to you was that without a whole lot of experience in soapmaking things can go wrong and we have all seen so many inexperienced soapers jump on the bandwagon and want to make a quick buck. Now I'm not saying you fit this category at all. We have just seen people asking for recipes to whiten skin, soap that burns people being sold and just some other crazy stuff going on. Its more of a lookout for you than anyone trying to tell you off. 

A good recipe to begin with is the basic 3/4 oil one:
Palm/tallow/lard (whichever you want)
Olive oil
Coconut oil
Castor (again if you want)


----------



## kisha (Jun 11, 2015)

The Internet is a funny thing, you really can't tell the tone of the conversation until something goes south. For the record, there was nothing offensive in any of the beginning posts offering help and knowledge gathered over YEARS of experience. Yes, introducing yourself would help, but this forum is such a wealth of information that there was nothing in your question that a thorough search couldn't have answered. Also, the protectiveness of the recipes is understandable, given the time and effort of researching and experimenting that takes years to attain, and giving it away willy nilly would be a waste of that time and effort. Stating that you've chosen to host a demo at such an early stage of soap making would, undoubtedly, sound the alarms to an experienced soap maker. All it takes is one bar of poorly made soap to ruin ones perception of what real homemade soap should be, and that can damage business owners in the area. Being in Australia does not negate that effect, this is an international forum. I do applaud your desire to want a good recipe and your willingness to explore the knowledge soaping forums can give. With enough experimentation and research, you should be alright by the time you do your demo. Not nearly ready enough to teach it, IMHO, but certainly knowledgable enough to guide through the beginning stages of soap making. Good luck! 
(None of this post should be taken as snark, merely information that I have garnered over the past couple of years of creating awesome shtuff!)


----------



## not_ally (Jun 11, 2015)

What kisha said.  Also, it is kind of funny that she thinks *this* board is unfriendly, the Dishers would eat her alive.  I actually like Dish and the Dishers, they have been very kind to me, but there is no question that they do not suffer ungrateful newbies kindly.  And this and the Dish are definitely the most active, useful, informative soap boards on the net.


----------



## Dorymae (Jun 11, 2015)

Perception it is all perception.

 What some view as rude others view as good advice. To be fair, I'm sure the OP didn't realize that asking a bunch of long time soapers to give up the recipes they use to make their living is considered rude. I'm sure she just thought she was asking for a little help. 

From the perspective of a soaper who makes her living from it, I will tell you that the idea of someone just starting out doing a demonstration is shocking. Not because we fear competion, but because we fear your lack of knowledge influencing other people. I'm not trying to be rude, just trying to explain why people reacted to your post. 

You see we have seen many newer soapers with ideas they think are correct but can actually be harmful. ( An example of this would be flushing a lye spill on your arm with vinegar - don't ever do it!) So we fear you may unintentionally give out harmful advice because you don't know better. Remember we don't know you, and we can only go by the one fact we have-that you are a newer soaper.  So we err on the side of caution and give you the best advice we can based on what we know. 

I can tell you that I don't know of anyone here that is truly rude or intends to chase off new soapers. I myself was called to task for a statement I made which offended others. I didn't blame anyone or get defensive, I simply didn't realize that what I wrote did not reflect what I had meant. When I had explained and  apologized for my statement I believe people understood my intention.  

Perception is everything.


----------



## Seawolfe (Jun 11, 2015)

Expressing concerns about a lack of knowledge about soap when you plan to teach a soap making demonstration is not rude - its a very valid concern.

Insisting that people give you recipes and recipe ideas and not voice any opinions in the thread IS actually pretty rude IMHO.


----------



## not_ally (Jun 11, 2015)

I guess I think it is a wise idea to take time, lurk a while, read posts, and tread gently when you post on a new board. I have belonged to a number of them, focused on different stuff/subject matter. The tone/approach/feel/personality of all of them is so different. What works on one does not work on another. 

If your first post is something where *you* are asking long-time posters for something - and you have not otherwise let people know who you are/added value, and then take offense at something that is said, you should consider stepping back, thinking about the content, figure out if the board is nonetheless somewhere you want to stay, and maybe disregard your first instinct and not be testy. 

The OP said that she is a new soaper. This board is really invaluable to those of us who are starting out, it has been to me and - at six months out - still is, almost every day. I think it probably always will be.


----------



## lsg (Jun 11, 2015)

not_ally said:


> What kisha said.  Also, it is kind of funny that she thinks *this* board is unfriendly, the Dishers would eat her alive.  I actually like Dish and the Dishers, they have been very kind to me, but there is no question that they do not suffer ungrateful newbies kindly.  And this and the Dish are definitely the most active, useful, informative soap boards on the net.



I think some of us have had experience with Dish Forum flaming and let me say thank goodness that type of activity is not tolerated here.  We try to be a newby friendly forum also.


----------



## tatumhills (Jun 11, 2015)

Thank you to those who took the time to explain. As I have said earlier I had NO IDEA that people would be protective of their recipes. On all the other online forum I am a member of people share their knowledge freely so I had no idea my request would be so shocking to you all. 
What got me annoyed in the above posts is how quickly negative assumptions were made about me and how quickly the conversation moved away from actual soap making and became more about what a farm ingredient was and why I should use lard. Sure, if I had introduced myself, I could have stopped some of these negative assumptions, but I was quite sad to find that people just thought I was in it for a quick buck and would scare people away from handmade soap due to my lack of knowledge. If they feared that, they could have just asked me a few questions and they would have got an answer.
So here are a few facts:
First of all, the long overdue introduction, apologies for not posting this sooner. I live near Canberra, Australia with my partner and 5 yr old daughter, I have a day job as a science communicator but my passion is my educational farm where city families can visit to learn about animals in a fun and relaxed way. My focus in on teaching people how to interact with animals safely and respectfully. About 1 year ago a fulfilled a life-long dream of getting a dairy animal that could provide cruelty-free dairy to my family. We bought our goat Tag and started sharing the milk with her baby until she weaned him. He is still a valued pet on our farm. With all the milk I started making cheese and also decided to start making soap. I did quite a lot of research and watched many videos to prepare myself for soaping. This included lye safety and calculators and curing times and oil choices, so I have a basic understanding of these topics. I have been soaping for nearly a year and I have been using my own products as well as sharing them with families and friends, seeking their feedback to make sure they were of high quality. Everybody loves my soap. Recently, I was approached by a community centre who found out about my soap and they asked me if I could run this demo as they had been searching high and low for someone without success. I agreed, not for the $$ which is minuscule anyway, but because I like what this centre does and wanted to support them. 
For those who thought I agreed without having a recipe, again wrong assumption, I do have a few that would work well, but since I have a few months, before the workshop, I thought I could come up with some better ideas. Nobody on here thought that the fact that I was here asking questions was a good thing, showing that I wanted to be as prepared as possible for the workshop to make sure people left happy.
If you are so worried about people turning others off handmade soap, then providing an environment where people feel comfortable to ask questions so that they don’t make big mistakes is essential, I think. The way I was received here, did the opposite for me. Now I am not sure I want to ask anything else for fear of being misunderstood, so how was all this helpful to me and to what you are trying to achieve?


----------



## shunt2011 (Jun 11, 2015)

In your original post you stated you had only made a few batches. Now you say you have been soaping for a year. You are certainly free to do as you choose. You have received a lot of suggestions. Now, you need to play with some recipes until you find something you are happy with. I certainly couldn't have given a demonstration so early in my soaping adventure. Especially when you think you can provide enough information in one demonstration for anyone to just go home and make soap. Good luck to you and I hope you find a recipe or recipes that work for you.  I too belo g to several forums and have never found one as helpful as here.


----------



## soapmage (Jun 11, 2015)

Like someone posted earlier, perception is everything. To be quite honest, you're OP made it sound like you were REALLY new to soap making which raised alarms when you mentioned doing a demo. So, yes, an introduction would have been really good so we know how much experience you actually have and that you indeed have your own recipes that you use and test yourself. I'm as friendly as they come and try to get more info before "casting judgement" and opening my big mouth. You just have to realize that so many of us soapmakers have been burned by new people coming into groups, never introducing themselves, and just cutting right to the chase on asking for recipes... we then give freely of our hard work only to find said person selling their soaps online or at markets without any experience, or able to answer customer questions, not even understanding the properties of the oils, or making inferior and sometimes lye heavy soap. Not to mention having our recipes copied exactly with no credit given, or even our soap photos stolen and used as their own. So that is why we may come off as guarded. It's no offense to you at all. Yes it's crappy, but it DOES happen, and more often than you think. 

Now for your recipe query... keep it simple for demo purposes, like keeping to a simple 3-4 oil recipe that is easily obtainable like olive, coconut, Crisco (either all soy or the palm/soy combo), sunflower, etc... and don't forget canola.

Here's a simple "grocery store" recipe I found and experimented with when I first started:

olive 50%
coconut 26.7%
castor 8.3%
sunflower 15%
superfat 6% (lye 117 gr) and water 30%

The lather is good on fluffy and stable lather, good moisturizing even with the amount of coconut, but feel free to tweak the numbers in a lye calc to suit better what you'd like.


----------



## tatumhills (Jun 11, 2015)

Thank you. Well here we have proven once again that it is all about perception. After a year I still consider myself a beginner as I understand there is still a lot I can learn but to you a beginner seems to mean one who's only made 1 or 2 batches. Oh well, glad we've clarified that. I guess I also made an assumption at the beginning and it was that people would figured I had SOME understanding of soap making if I was doing a demo. Guess I was wrong too.
Sorry to hear about the stolen recipes. I see how you would all get guarded but still sad that things are like that 
Thanks for the recipe above. It is similar to one I have so I will test it out.


----------



## kumudini (Jun 11, 2015)

To the OP, just wanted to point out that no one actually said you HAVE to use lard. It was just suggested as an option as you mentioned your preference for farm ingredients. How is anyone to know that you are a vegetarian or your attendees are going to be vegetarians. Have been here on the forum close to three months, I am a vegan, well almost. And no one said I have to use lard/ tallow. We had some great discussions on the choices we make and the thought processes behind those decisions. This is a very helpful forum, very accommodating to newbies. It would indeed be your loss if you decide to leave.


----------



## Logansama (Jun 12, 2015)

tatumhills said:


> After a year I still consider myself a beginner as I understand there is still a lot I can learn but to you a beginner seems to mean one who's only made 1 or 2 batches.




LOL! I've been soaping for over 15 years and I'm still a beginner. There are always pioneers out there developing new recipes and new designs. I always come here and to some of the other forums when I have a question...generally someone knows. 

Have you used SoapCalc yet? That's a great resource for building recipes.


----------



## dillsandwitch (Jun 12, 2015)

Logansama said:


> LOL! I've been soaping for over 15 years and I'm still a beginner. There are always pioneers out there developing new recipes and new designs. I always come here and to some of the other forums when I have a question...generally someone knows.
> 
> Have you used SoapCalc yet? That's a great resource for building recipes.




Oh god help me. In this case I think even 20 years down the track I will still consider myself as a beginner. Especially with some of the silly questions I ask. Like my latest one of cling wrap in the oven. Silly me didn't realise that it would be at such a low temp that I wouldn't have to worry about it melting but of course I didn't think of that now did I? hahahaha


----------



## Dahila (Jun 12, 2015)

In my city someone is teaching class and telling people to use vinegar on splashed lye, splashed on skin.  I started to talk to the person, being pumped with the soaping knowledge here and I was terrified.  She knows **** about soaping but she is selling and teaching..


----------

