# I'm almost ready to make my first batch! Eeeee!



## gigisiguenza (Jul 16, 2015)

I'm so exicted, I'm *this* close to making my first batch 

I've been researching for months, learning as much as I can, and slowly accumulating the tools and supplies from thrift stores, garage sales, donations from friends, the dollar store lol. I even splurged and bought some things online that were on sale for very inexpensive, even though I know I won't be using them for a bit. I figured if I grab them when they're on sale, I'll have them when I'm ready and won't have to hunt them down (plus it just felt good to order supplies lol). I feel so fortunate that my friends are excited with me about this new adventure, some donating odds and ends, others being willing to go thrift store hopping with me for goodies. 

The only thing missing at this point, I think, is lye (which I have to call Ace hardware tomorrow to see if they have) and a reliable recipe. I've done a ton of research on the oils etc and played with the lye calc, but I don't feel comfy using my own recipe yet, I'm gonna use an established recipe to learn the process and get comfy with it first.

Here's what I have so far. Please feel free to point out any holes in my supplies. I value all the input and feedback I can get from more experienced diapers and I want to be well prepared before I begin 

Oils: Olive, Avacado, Grapeseed 
Clays: White Kaolin, Green Zeolite
Some small FO samples that were described as non discoloring
Scales: 2 -11lb. scales that do metric, one with a basin and one flat top (both donated! yay!)
A stick blender
Rubber gloves, various plastic pitchers in various sizes, silicone spatulas
Various plastic containers to use for molds (don't wanna get fancy til I get more experienced)

Like I said, I know I need lye and am on the hunt for it, and I'm undecided on the Coconut and Palm oil, mostly because I don't have a basic recipe yet lol.

Please - Feel free to point out my errors and and anything I've overlooked. I'm eager to start but I'm also surprisingly nervous. Geez. You would think I was building a rocket, not preparing to make soap hahahaha.


----------



## Susie (Jul 16, 2015)

You need some sort of safety goggles to protect your eyes.  Regular glasses will not suffice.  Also some sort of long sleeved shirt will be useful until you get the hang of keeping the stick blender in the liquid and debubbling it correctly.

You will definitely need lye, but Essential Depot or the lye guy are much cheaper, and you can buy in 2 lb quantities.  

http://www.essentialdepot.com/product/NAOH-4-FOOD_GRADE.html

http://www.thelyeguy.com/store.php?crn=211

Be sure to find out shipping costs, then compare total price to local hardware store.  I get my emergency lye at Lowe's, so if you have one, check there also.

You will also need coconut oil and either lard, tallow, or palm oil.  Sam's is carrying coconut oil again, and it is a better price/oz than Walmart.

You will probably find that nitrile gloves are easier to work in than the "dishwashing" gloves.  They are too bulky for most of what you will be doing.  But YMMV.

Please be sure to let us know what recipe you are thinking of trying and any particulars like vegan/eczema/skin type/etc before you make a recipe, we will be happy to look it over and help you.


----------



## gigisiguenza (Jul 16, 2015)

Susie - I totally forgot goggles! I wear glasses, so it never occured to me. And a long sleeves shirt for sure (adding both to the list). And I grabbed 4 different types of gloves so I can see which type I prefer. I figure the rest won't go to waste because I'll use em for other things.

Thanks for the link, I will check their prices, and my cousin has a Sam's club membership, so I'll ask her to take me.

As to the recipe, I prefer vegan, and want something mild, conditioning, with rich lather (I don't care about big pretty bubbles), and gentle cleansing.

I have played for many hours on soapcalc with ingredients and came up.with a preliminary recipe, but since I've never made soap, I'm still not sure lol. I'll post the recipe and the soap calc screenshot in a few to.get feedback from the pros 

Thanks heaps for the input and feedback!


----------



## not_ally (Jul 16, 2015)

You *are* ready! You poor thing, you will never see the top of your dining room table again.  I lost mine months ago   I am tired so am just going to brainstorm here, sorry if it is higgledy-piggledy.

Couple of things.  Re oils, you need at least one hard oil, I would suggest coconut.  Sure you already know this, but don't use fractionated, use the CO that gets solid at lower temps.  

You can make a fine soap w/olive, coconut and palm/lard/tallow.  The olive and avocado are sort of interchangeable, for now save the avocado since it is more expensive and you don't want to waste it on the first few attempts if you don't have lots of it.  Grapeseed: fine for now, but not a v. long shelf life, said to be a DOS  candidate (I've never used it b/c of the foregoing) replace w/lard if  you are OK using it, ie, not vegan/vegetarian/otherwise averse.  Lard is  awesome and cheap and you can get it at most grocery stores.  Sometimes called Manteca.  

Once you have the coconut and lard/palm on hand, Susie will suggest a beautiful beginner's recipe for you, or I - as her loyal lard disciple - will do so if she doesn't see this.  Just use a really simple recipe at first, don't use the clay.  Just three or four oils in a slow trace recipe, use full water and (some people will even advise against this) an FO you are sure will not accelerate trace.  If you are unsure, ask here, someone is bound to if it is relatively commonly used, or one of us can try and look it up for you.

Also, for the future, I would add castor, you will start wanting to add it for stabilizing lather.  When you make an order on line get a couple of bottles.  It is much cheaper that way, really expensive in the drugstore, as I found out when I ran out. 

Also 91% alcohol in a spray bottle for ash prevention.

Thinner/latrile gloves are easier to use, essential if you are a klutz like me, I would be spilling left and right with those rubber ones.  

Good luck and have fun!

ETA:  crossposted w/susie, take her advice over mine if any conflicts 

ETA again:  Get the goggles at the dollar store.  I bought a fancy pair of onion goggles starting out and always use my dollar store ones instead.


----------



## Susie (Jul 16, 2015)

This recipe is all over this forum, but if something goes wrong, enough of us can help you troubleshoot:

Lard/palm/tallow 55%
Olive Oil 20%
Coconut Oil 20%
Castor Oil 5%
Superfat 5%

This is not going to be the most spectacular soap, but it is a great starter recipe because it is well behaved and slow trace.  

I am going to second what not_ally said about the additives-save them for later.  Also she is right on target about the oils.


----------



## gigisiguenza (Jul 16, 2015)

Ally - I know! My table has been hijacked for weeks lol. Tonight I gutted my coat closet and put a book case in it so I now have storage for supplies and equipment. 

As to ingredients, I thought the grapeseed would be ok in small amounts and was good for leaving you with soft skin. But if it's gonna gimme DOS, then that bad boy can wait til I've had a few batches under my belt before I give it a try lol.

Now, lard. Lard could be any lard yes? What's the difference between Crisco and Manteca? I don't use either, except when baking I use Crisco, so I'm curious. 

As to full water, I had planned on sticking to the 3:1 ratio. Even though it would be nice to have it cure faster, I'm worried it will come to trace too quick, freak me out, and I'll mess it up lol. So I'm all good with the full water policy for now 

Castor oil... ugh why does it have to be so expensive locally? I avoid online ordering because it's a pain getting my packages from my cousin (all my online orders are shipped to her house). But if it's needed, I'll add it to the list 

Is drugstore alcohol ok?

Susie - tyvm for the recipe! What oil do you suggest for the superfat?

Susie - also, not_ally mentioned FO... I got several that I will list in a minute. When I bought them, I specifically looked for ones that did not accelerate trace or discolor, and I bought them from BB. They smell divine, by w lol.

The FOs I got from BB -


Pure Honey
http://www.brambleberry.com/Pure-Honey-Fragrance-Oil-P6218.aspx

Milk & Honey
http://www.brambleberry.com/Milk-Honey-Candle-Soap-Fragrance-P2985.aspx

Cherry Blossom
http://www.brambleberry.com/Cherry-Blossom-Fragrance-Oil-P4986.aspx

Ginger Patchouli - this one was a bonus that they put into my order, I didn't order it, but it's lovely. It does accelerate slightly, according to the description, but doesn't discolor.
http://www.brambleberry.com/Ginger-Patchouli-Fragrance-Oil-P6125.aspx


----------



## spenny92 (Jul 16, 2015)

gigisiguenza said:


> Susie - tyvm for the recipe! What oil do you suggest for the superfat?


 
I'm sure Susie will be along to tell you in a mo, but I learnt this by posting on this forum before I made my first soap! You can't choose your superfat in cold process soap - I'm assuming that's the method you're using, correct me if I'm wrong. The lye will choose what it wants to saponify and which oils it wants to leave.

I'm also a new soaper, but have been playing around with vegan recipes. I did use palm and lard to start with, but am no longer able to source lard locally and don't want to use palm for environmental reasons. You can still make soap without palm/lard/tallow, but it's a good place to start. 

If you can source some cheap silicone baking moulds, they're really great for soap. Mine pop out so easy using those, but they can bow slightly so you won't have perfectly straight edges but they're good to start with. You can also chuck soap in the freezer so it's easier to unmould.

Can't wait to see your first soap - keep us updated!


----------



## gigisiguenza (Jul 16, 2015)

Spenny - thanks for the info, especially about the lard, because I really don't want to use it. I'm going to use it anyway because I've got to learn someplace, and it's affordable. Once I get comfy and more experienced, I'll move away from lard.


----------



## not_ally (Jul 16, 2015)

Gigi, lard is pig fat, to put it bluntly.  I've never used or soaped w/Crisco, but I believe it might be vegetable shortening?  A different beast altogether, pun intended 

Of those FO's, the only one I wouldn't use is the Milk and Honey.  Just b/c it contains enough vanilla (4 or 5%?) that the bar will darken/discolor, and  you want your first batch to stay the color you intended.  I found reviews for the Ginger Patch on the FO chart here (review by Snappy Llama, she says no A/D) and for the Cherry Blossom on the Soap Scent Review Board, where one person did say that she experienced some A/ricing with it, the other two reviewers had none.  

If you are not swirling (and I wouldn't on the first few batches), I would think any of them would be OK.  You might want to start out w/a whisk and then switch over to the SB on low when you get bored of whisking


----------



## gigisiguenza (Jul 16, 2015)

spenny92 said:


> If you can source some cheap silicone baking moulds, they're really great for soap. Mine pop out so easy using those, but they can bow slightly so you won't have perfectly straight edges but they're good to start with. You can also chuck soap in the freezer so it's easier to unmould.
> 
> Can't wait to see your first soap - keep us updated!



I've been on the lookout for some, but haven't seen any affordable enough yet.  And don't worry, I'll be so excited about my first batch, that I'll be fighting the urge to buy a billboard, so / photos will surely be posted LOL


----------



## Relle (Jul 16, 2015)

Scales: 2 -11lb. scales that do metric, one with a basin and one flat top (both donated! yay!)

You will need scales that start weighing from under the 2lb. Mine are metric because that's what we use here and they start at 1gram and go up in one gram increments. I'm not sure what quantities you are going to start making your soap in. Oils like castor I don't think you will be using 2lb in a recipe to start off with unless you are doing large batches.


----------



## not_ally (Jul 16, 2015)

Relle, from the pics I got the impression that Gigi meant two scales that measured up to eleven lbs, but probably also in grams.  That was what I was assuming, at least.  

Those bunnies on the bench are cute on the xmas thread.  Bunny love galore.  For some reason they reminded me of my puppies, which makes no sense, maybe it was the love part and the food/greedy anticipation part!


----------



## gigisiguenza (Jul 16, 2015)

Relle said:


> Scales: 2 -11lb. scales that do metric, one with a basin and one flat top (both donated! yay!)
> 
> You will need scales that start weighing from under the 2lb. Mine are metric because that's what we use here and they start at 1gram and go up in one gram increments. I'm not sure what quantities you are going to start making your soap in. Oils like castor I don't think you will be using 2lb in a recipe to start off with unless you are doing large batches.



Relle - they're food scales and if I read the instructions correctly, will go below a gram. I'll experiment with them tomorrow and make sure. One came from a friend who used hers for dieting, the from a friend who used it for baking and other things, so I assume they both can measure a tenth of a gram. But I'll check n play to be sure. 

Thanks for the heads up, I hadn't considered that when I received them


----------



## Relle (Jul 16, 2015)

not_ally said:


> Relle, from the pics I got the impression that Gigi meant two scales that measured up to eleven lbs, but probably also in grams. That was what I was assuming, at least.
> 
> Those bunnies on the bench are cute on the xmas thread. Bunny love galore. For some reason they reminded me of my puppies, which makes no sense, maybe it was the love part and the food/greedy anticipation part!


 

Must have read it wrong :crazy:.

Found the bunny pic the other day. I would love to eat my lunch in the park and feed the bunnies. That's what Pandora does when I toast raisin bread - gimme, gimme, gimme.


----------



## Relle (Jul 16, 2015)

gigisiguenza said:


> Relle - they're food scales and if I read the instructions correctly, will go below a gram. I'll experiment with them tomorrow and make sure. One came from a friend who used hers for dieting, the from a friend who used it for baking and other things, so I assume they both can measure a tenth of a gram. But I'll check n play to be sure.
> 
> Thanks for the heads up, I hadn't considered that when I received them


 

If they go below a gram they will be ok Gigi, I read your sentence wrong.:silent:


----------



## gigisiguenza (Jul 16, 2015)

Relle said:


> If they go below a gram they will be ok Gigi, I read your sentence wrong.:silent:



Cool, then I should be fine. And I figured you might have, but not until after I had already replied LOL


----------



## umeali (Jul 16, 2015)

gigi I envy you ,I made my first soap few days back and bought only one or things and made it .You bought every thing like a professional .


----------



## Susie (Jul 16, 2015)

Use the water amount specified on the lye calculator.  Just stick with that for the first few batches to avoid mistakes.  

Yes, lard is cheap, and makes the most marvelous soap.  Crisco is hydrogenated soybean oil.  It will do nothing for your soap.

Print your recipes out, and make notes right on that page.  Save those, even the failures!  You will thank yourself later!


----------



## gigisiguenza (Jul 16, 2015)

not_ally said:


> Gigi, lard is pig fat, to put it bluntly.  I've never used or soaped w/Crisco, but I believe it might be vegetable shortening?  A different beast altogether, pun intended



Ick - precisely why I didn't wanna use it lol. I guess I'll be taking my behind to Sam's or somewhere to find palm. I didn't want to use that either for environmental reasons as well,  but I guess it's gonna have to be one or the other for now. 



> Of those FO's, the only one I wouldn't use is the Milk and Honey.  Just b/c it contains enough vanilla (4 or 5%?) that the bar will darken/discolor, and  you want your first batch to stay the color you intended.  I found reviews for the Ginger Patch on the FO chart here (review by Snappy Llama, she says no A/D) and for the Cherry Blossom on the Soap Scent Review Board, where one person did say that she experienced some A/ricing with it, the other two reviewers had none.



Thanks for checking those. The description for the milk and honey said no a/d, but if people are experiencing it, then I'll stay away from it until down the road. So it's gonna be Honey or Ginger Patchouli. Good thing they both smell awesome 

[/QUOTE] If you are not swirling (and I wouldn't on the first few batches), I would think any of them would be OK.  You might want to start out w/a whisk and then switch over to the SB on low when you get bored of whisking [/QUOTE]

Oh you have no idea how much I want to swirl! But I'm gonna wait til I've practiced on some cake batter first hehehe. And I will likely whisk until my arm dies cuz I'm gonna be nervous about messing up the batter by over blending with the SB LOL.

Thanks for all the help and feedback


----------



## The Efficacious Gentleman (Jul 16, 2015)

If castor is too expensive for now, leave it out and put the difference in to the hard oil, or split it 1% in the co and the other 4 split evenly between the other two oils.

Also, water amount doesn't really impact cure time, but trace and unmoulding times, certainly. It will need a 4 week cure regardless


----------



## gigisiguenza (Jul 16, 2015)

umeali said:


> gigi I envy you ,I made my first soap few days back and bought only one or things and made it .You bought every thing like a professional .


 
umeali - did did your soap come out nice? What recipe did you use? Share a pic  I'm eager to get to it so I'm jealous LOL. 

As to supplies, thanks for not laughing at my over prepping and ocd planning LOL. I've been researching for months, filling pages with notes, planning and plotting, and grabbing supplies and tools as I come across them super cheap - thrift stores, garage sales, friends tossing things, and super duper sales, like the olive oil on mega sale w a coupon 

Do what I did - tell your friends what you need and ask them to keep their eyes open for freebies. A part of my stash is donated by friends who saw someone tossing out this or that and grabbed it, or stuff they didn't need anymore (like my scales). They're all bugging me to hurry up and make soap so they can try some LOL. They all feel like they have a vested interest in my adventure now and are eager to be my test dummies hehehe 

Susie - I didn't realize there would be such a big difference between using lard vs shortening. I've seen so many beginners tutorials saying use Crisco that I assumed it was interchangeable. Good to know. As to water, the soapcalc defaults to 38% - I'll leave it set that way instead of changing it to the water ratio settings and manually entering a 3:1 ratio.

TEG - That's an excellent suggestion and I will do that until I can get the castor oil. As to the water discount/cure time... I've read a bunch of posts all over the net in my research, referring to using the water discount as a way of curing faster, that's where I came by the assumption. I obviously misunderstood what I was reading (which doesn't surprise me as it's not the first misunderstanding I've had corrected in the past couple days lol) If it doesn't impact cure times, what does it impact? 

Thanks so much for all the time and info you all are giving. It's helping tremendously in converting all the research from abstract concepts in my head into practical, concrete visuals that make more sense and relate to each other.


----------



## The Efficacious Gentleman (Jul 16, 2015)

You probably read it right, but the internet says many things!


----------



## Obsidian (Jul 16, 2015)

Check walmart pharmacy for castor. Its reasonable enough to buy a bottle or two until you can get some online. Many recipes you find online aren't very good or are aimed at being very cheap to make so you find a lot of crisco in use. I've used it and it really doesn't make very good soap.

You can get great value shortening at walmart which in a mix of palm and tallow but tallow is beef fat so you probably won't want to use that either. You can also get coconut at walmart, it really is a necessary oil for a nice balanced soap.

May I ask why you want vegan soap? Is it because you are vegan or because the idea of using animal fat in soap is just icky to you?


----------



## gigisiguenza (Jul 16, 2015)

Obsidian said:


> Check walmart pharmacy for castor. Its reasonable enough to buy a bottle or two until you can get some online. Many recipes you find online aren't very good or are aimed at being very cheap to make so you find a lot of crisco in use. I've used it and it really doesn't make very good soap.
> 
> You can get great value shortening at walmart which in a mix of palm and tallow but tallow is beef fat so you probably won't want to use that either. You can also get coconut at walmart, it really is a necessary oil for a nice balanced soap.
> 
> May I ask why you want vegan soap? Is it because you are vegan or because the idea of using animal fat in soap is just icky to you?



Obsidian - I'll check WallyWorld for the castor. And I didn't know their Palm shortening had tallow in it, sheesh. As to the why, it's several things. No, I'm not a vegan, I like my steak too much to go vegan lol. But I also don't know if I want to use animal fats on my skin. My skin is so sensitive I'm not sure if it will cause an issue. Another reason is, some of my test dummies (friends hehehe) are indeed vegan and would not be comfy with using a soap with animal products in it. And.... it sounds so ick! LOL. Silly, I know, but it does. 

Now, all that being said, I'm game to try it because if I'll eat it, I'll wear it etc. And I want to try em all and see what I like, both in the soap itself, and in the making of it. I like having options.  So, I will go find me some lard and Palm and whatever else is suggested and play with soap  

My long term end goal down the road is to eventually be good enough and make good enough soap to sell it, and I don't intend to pidgeon hole myself into just one kind of soap. I want anything I make to be quality and as natural as possible, but beyond that, I'm only limited by my skill and my imagination. And, when I get to that point, good labelling, distinctive soap type packaging, and proper branding will make sure people know what they're getting when they buy it.

All that light years away, so right now I'm just saying kick! Pig fat! Hahahahaha.


----------



## The Efficacious Gentleman (Jul 16, 2015)

Then I would go with lard for now. If you like steak, you get more fat on your skin from cooking and eating it than you would from using the soap - the fats in soap are no longer fats, they are saponified in to salts (sodium lardate, for example). 

Then there is the 5% sf. Not all fats saponify in the same way, so your superfat is not a straight mix of your oils in the same ratio. So let's take it that ALL of your superfat is lard. So 5% of a bar of your soap is still lard. How much soap is used per use? I'm a heavy user and my soaps last a good month and are 100g. So I use about 3.6g of soap per use, on the outside of the margin for error. So with this extreme allowances, I am putting 0.18g of lard on my skin per use. Now I've just had lunch and most likely have much more than that on me right now!

If you would be happy with animal fats, make it. There will be time enough when you come to start looking at selling for going in other directions, such as vegan, when you also know a lot more about what would work and why.


----------



## umeali (Jul 16, 2015)

gigisiguenza said:


> umeali - did did your soap come out nice? What recipe did you use? Share a pic  I'm eager to get to it so I'm jealous LOL.
> 
> As to supplies, thanks for not laughing at my over prepping and ocd planning LOL. I've been researching for months, filling pages with notes, planning and plotting, and grabbing supplies and tools as I come across them super cheap - thrift stores, garage sales, friends tossing things, and super duper sales, like the olive oil on mega sale w a coupon
> 
> Do what I did - tell your friends what you need and ask them to keep their eyes open for freebies. A part of my stash is donated by friends who saw someone tossing out this or that and grabbed it, or stuff they didn't need anymore (like my scales). They're all bugging me to hurry up and make soap so they can try some LOL. They all feel like they have a vested interest in my adventure now and are eager to be my test dummies hehehe



My first soup was not as bad but it was a bit soft but today when I used it ,it gave me a nice result .I am happy but the finishing is not good ,I mean not even and smooth .I used coconut ,almond oil and Naoh for lye .used a local scrubber granules to make it a scrubbing bar . I used a soap calc to measure every ingredient .
I wish I could have such a nice tools like yours .This is my first soap .


----------



## Susie (Jul 16, 2015)

I can't find straight palm oil anywhere local.  You will need to find some on the internet.  You can buy the Walmart shortening with Palm and Tallow, though.  

Lard makes marvelous conditioning soap, rich and luxurious lather, but small bubbles.  Tallow makes good big bubbles.  Lard is a LOT cheaper here, and MUCH easier to source.


----------



## Obsidian (Jul 16, 2015)

I too have sensitive and dry skin, lard has been wonderful for it. Palm is gentle too but lard makes a better feeling bar of soap. If you ever used dial or ivory, you used beef tallow. Using too much coconut is what can irritate your sensitive skin. Do you have a recipe you are planning on making?

Look for spectrum brand shortening, its 100% palm. I found it at target but I think its at whole sale foods too.


----------



## not_ally (Jul 16, 2015)

I totally agree w/Obsidian (and everyone else), lard feels great on your skin.  In soap   It is a very conditioning oil, one of the least likely to irritate.  I think people think "bacon fat, gross", but as EG pointed out, the saponification process changes all that.  If you are not vegan/veg, the biggest problem for most folks is the notion of it, and the smell.  I do not find it a big deal, but it does have a fatty odor while warm, that goes away once you add FO/EO (the next day for me, once it has been poured and hardens.)  Some people with super sensitive sniffers, a v. few, can smell it afterwards.  But I think that is pretty rare.

Umeali, you don't *need* many things to make really good soap, you probably already have them since you have made a batch!  Are you using soap calc?  If you copy/cut-and-paste the recipe from there we can take a look at your recipe and see if we have any input on getting it smoother/more even/nicer.  Where do you live?  Can you get palm oil or lard there?

ETA:  Gigi, don't know if someone has already noted this, but discounted water doesn't speed the cure per se, it just makes the bar harder faster.  The other elements of cure - lathering, mildness - still require the same amount of time.  Also, yes, you can get alcohol at the drug store.   Just make sure it is the 91% kind if you are using it to spray the soap.


----------



## gigisiguenza (Jul 17, 2015)

TEG - lard it will be for now. Thanks for all the info! 
Umeali - nothing wrong with the soap if it does its job. It might not be pretty, but I doubt mine will win any contests either when I mAke my first batch lol. Chin up, fellow newbie, and try again 
Obsidian - I will look for that brand and start reading labels 
not_ally - I hadn'tt thought of the potential smell ugh. But if a little FO will fix that, I'm all good.  As to alcohol, I didn't know there were different kinds lol.


----------



## FlybyStardancer (Jul 18, 2015)

Obsidian said:


> Look for spectrum brand shortening, its 100% palm. I found it at target but I think its at whole sale foods too.



I've also purchased it at Sprouts and Smart & Final.


----------



## gigisiguenza (Jul 18, 2015)

FlybyStardancer said:


> I've also purchased it at Sprouts and Smart & Final.



I'm checking to see if any of the stores close to me have it. Thanks!


----------



## TheDragonGirl (Jul 18, 2015)

I've seen 100% palm shortening at Ingles!


----------



## Deedles (Jul 19, 2015)

not_ally said:


> <snip>
> 
> ETA:  Gigi, don't know if someone has already noted this, but *discounted water* doesn't speed the cure per se, it just makes the bar harder faster.  The other elements of cure - lathering, mildness - still require the same amount of time.  Also, yes, you can get alcohol at the drug store.   Just make sure it is the 91% kind if you are using it to spray the soap.



First I want to thank everyone for such great info! I'm also a beginner and am soaking up everything! As with any new venture, the terms and acronyms are like learning a new language! 

I do have one question.....what is discounted water? I doubt it means a sale on bottled water at HEB!  I've seen reference to it several times for making the bars harden faster, but other than that I have no clue.

TIA
Dee
http://www.soapmakingforum.com//www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/


----------



## The Efficacious Gentleman (Jul 19, 2015)

Deedles said:


> ..................what is discounted water? I doubt it means a sale on bottled water at HEB!  I've seen reference to it several times for making the bars harden faster, but other than that I have no clue.
> .................



It's where you adjust the amount of water used from the standard amount to a lower amount - it uses the same terminology as lye discount, that is using less of something than is standard.

Anything less than full water (25% lye solution) would be a water discount.


----------



## Deedles (Jul 19, 2015)

Thanks, Craig...so much to learn!


----------



## OliveOil2 (Jul 19, 2015)

If you end up using the Spectrum Palm Oil they always have good coupons on the Spectrum site, usually $2.00 off, and sometimes Whole Foods has it on sale, or an additional store coupon. It comes in a blue tub and not a bottle, so it won't look like you expect it to.


----------



## cmzaha (Jul 19, 2015)

I know I am a little late reading this thread, but please be careful with those dollar store mixing bowls / pitchers you have.  In my humble opinion they are okay for smallish batches but to flimsy for larger batches. I purchased one once in a soap meet I attended because I needed to remeasure my oils. No way under the sun would I use it for my raw soap batter that contained 63 oz oils. Nice 1 gallon hdpe buckets are much sturdier and can be used for yrs. A few in here will know where I obtained that measuring bowl/ pitcher and probably disagree with me but I do not find them worth the risk of spilling raw batter. KitchenAid and Giada de Laurenties have a 3 set of nice #5 mixing bowl sets with a pour spout. I found my Giada set at  goodwill, and the KitchenAid at costco a couple of yrs ago.
I simply do not waste my money on dollar mixing utensils or containers. They will not hold up well enough and you will be re-purchasing soon. 
Lard make wonderful gentle soap, although not to bubbly but a creamy lather. Lard mixed with tallow lathers with more bubbles


----------



## OliveOil2 (Jul 19, 2015)

I agree with Carolyn, for larger size batches the $1 pouring bowls are not stable enough for me. I threw mine out after making one large batch and almost spilling it. Plus I am a clutz, and punched a whole in one using the ice pick on frozen goat milk. I know many here use them, but you can get inexpensive or free hdpe buckets. I have saved all of my coconut oil buckets from WSP and have received a few deli containers for free. Thrift shops, Amazon, Ross etc. have nice batter bowl sets with pouring spouts that are very inexpensive.


----------



## cmzaha (Jul 19, 2015)

OliveOil2 said:


> I agree with Carolyn, for larger size batches the $1 pouring bowls are not stable enough for me. I threw mine out after making one large batch and almost spilling it. Plus I am a clutz, and punched a whole in one using the ice pick on frozen goat milk. I know many here use them, but you can get inexpensive or free hdpe buckets. I have saved all of my coconut oil buckets from WSP and have received a few deli containers for free. Thrift shops, Amazon, Ross etc. have nice batter bowl sets with pouring spouts that are very inexpensive.


I am also a bucket horder! I mostly use 1-2 gallon buckets for mixing batter. One gallon will hold my 63 oz of oils with plenty of room for additives and lye solution. Don't feel bad OliveOil, I am also a klutz due to old age and arthritic fingers, so I take as little risk as possible. The only time I spilled lye was when using heavier gloves. I use nitrile gloves from Costco. Cheapest place I can find the. Tight fitting heavier gloves are also problematic.


----------



## gigisiguenza (Jul 19, 2015)

OliveOil2 said:


> If you end up using the Spectrum Palm Oil they always have good coupons on the Spectrum site, usually $2.00 off, and sometimes Whole Foods has it on sale, or an additional store coupon. It comes in a blue tub and not a bottle, so it won't look like you expect it to.



I'll look for it OliveOil2 ... Thanks!


----------



## gigisiguenza (Jul 19, 2015)

cmzaha and OliveOil2 - I wondered that myself when I purchased them, but figured 1)I only plan on using the dollar store ones for small batches or mixing colors anyway, so they should be fine, and 2) they will do well for learning, since my beginner batches will be small anyway, while I save up for better. Plus, the taller pitchers I got at the thrift store are where I plan on mixing primarily, and those are thicker, sturdier plastic. I don't want accidents either lol. Thanks for the heads up on how easy they are to pierce. I hadn't considered that at all.


----------

