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Here are some of my first soap experiments: The brown cupcake base is 75% lard, 25% coconut oil, 5% SF and some cocoa powder. I did CPOP and managed to overheat it and had to scrape the top off. Better luck next time. The cupcake topping is whipped soap: 70% coconut oil, 30% olive oil...

I don't know about your customs regulations in the US, but if I order stuff from outside the EU, I will have to pay customs (about 15%), VAT (25%) and a horrendous fee (about $25), so make sure to check your local regulations before ordering! It can become very expensive, very quickly!!! Not...

When I did an experiment with lard as the main ingredient, the part I put cocoa powder in was 'sweating' and had small puddles of fat on top when I took it out of the oven, whereas the uncoloured part was fine. Today I tried with olive oil as the main ingredient and added cocoa powder for...

Sorry if this question has been answered already somewhere. I was wondering what happens to all the wonderful (but expensive) conditioning oils such as shea and cocoa when you use them in soap. They saponify, obviously, but does this soapmolecule have conditioning properties in itself or...

I have just started out, and my test batches are 500g.

OK, OK, I'll start saving! :-) Thanks!

I thought 90% of the lye had reacted once trace had been reached. But if most of it is still around at trace, I see your point. The reason I thought the citric acid was counteracting the lye was that it took long to trace and my soap looked greasy. But I now learned that lard does take long...

I put it in the oven, and the part I tried to colour with cocoa powder is oozing lard. For some reason the uncoloured part doesn't. But putting it in the oven made the soap slightly translucent, which is quite cool. I am glad to know that store bought lard works for you. This means that it...

Thanks a lot everybody. I didn't know Kevin Dunn's book. I will have at look at that one. And thanks for your offer, Pentazole :-) Comments on the other two books are still welcome. They are cheaper and I might start out with one of them.

I wanted a white soap and decided to use lard. My recipe was as follows: 375g lard 125 g coconut oil 190 g water 72g NaOH The lye calculator says that that would give me 5% superfat (I held back 25g CO and added it at trace, so my superfat would be CO and not lard). I mixed the...

After my first soap making attempt I realized that this would be highly addictive and I am now trying to find out which books to buy. I am the nerdy kind of person who wants the scientific explanation, so the books should provide that. Judging from the reviews on Amazon I have come up with...

Thanks a lot guys, it is all very helpful! So thick or thin trace is a matter of preference and/or technique. It all makes a successful bar of soap in the end - even pouring at the emulsion phase. I used the figures straight from the lye calculator: 500g OO, 190g water and 64g NaOH and I...

Dear all I have been browsing this forum and other internet resources and I have a couple of questions regarding trace. My first experiment was with avocado oil and melted butter (without the precipitate). Maybe an unconventional combination, but those were the ingredients I had at hand, and...