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I haven't tried soaping with milk yet, so this is a total guess, but I wonder if it's some component of the milk, separated out? I like the look, actually, so if it passes the zap test, I think you have a winner there.

(laughing) I remember how the forum members reacted when I made a 12-pound batch a few weeks in! Thankfully that batch worked out great, but if it hadn't I'd have been crying into my cider at the lost materials. I've reluctantly joined the 500-grams-of-oils club for test batches, and I know some...

I have used similar things, and my first batches were done in quart milk and half-and-half boxes I'd used up! I love my fancy silicone molds, but you can grab a small cardboard box and line it with freezer paper (shiny-side in) and there you go. The benefit of the milk carton is that it has a...

I learned something today from this thread. I'd never thought of using the SoapCalc calculator to scale my recipe size, and had built an entire spreadsheet to do the work for me, then checked the new figures against SoapCalc. Now I can stop using my spreadsheet, without a tear lost... To add...

Great thread, which has my mind going like crazy. I know it's time to buckle down and start tracking stock and cost per raw material, not just scents, but I can't settle on a platform. I build SharePoint sites and lists at work and would love to use that for my soap but I can't afford a SP site...

Can you tell us how you prepped the lye? Did you stir it well as you mixed it into the milk? If the lye wasn't ancient, I doubt that this is un-dissolved lye, but I'll defer to those here with much (much!) more experience! I've started straining my lye water through a fine-mesh screen when...

I'm doing about 60% of the things recommended here, but as I'm starting to plan production for my first sales, it's clear that I need to take some additional steps. Please forgive me if I use this as a place to think this through... What I'm doing now I write out each batch's recipe in a Word...

I was fortunate to have been guided away from Pyrex early on, before I made my first batch. At first, I mixed my lye in an old stainless sauce pan I got at the charity store (Goodwill around here), but I realized that it wasn't as stable as I'd like it to be, in terms of being easy to carry...

I'm starting planning for my first table at a 'semi-public' event* in March or April, about one year after I started my soaping journey, and I hope I can get my labels looking as nice as yours do. -=- *meaning we probably know 3/4 of the people at the event; kind of a friends-n-family...

I'm giving a lot of thought to moving away from OO perm after I use up the gallons I have on hand now... I just went through this, and had six times the safe amount in my soap. I'm going to let it cure for six months, and if it's aggressive at that point i'll chop it into slivers and rebatch it.

I, as well!

I don't watch many YT videos (I probably should) about soap making, but I've enjoyed watching Uncle Jon, and my wife watches everything that Jerika does. Uncle Jon: https://www.youtube.com/@unclejonssoap Jerika Zimmerman: https://www.youtube.com/@JerikaZimmerman

I love this thread, though I've almost stopped using Comet-style cleaners in my shower after discovering that Dawn dishwashing liquid cleans the shower so well. I'm thinking that I have all of these ingredients between my laundry room and my soaping bench, so why not make some? I'll share what I...

On Thanksgiving morning I made a batch of blueberry muffins from a box mix, and my first pumpkin pie, ever. This is the first baking I've tried since I started making soap, and I believe that my soapmaking has made me a more confident follower of recipes. I churned right through both muffins and...

Welcome to the forum. I started only last April 1, April Fool's day and symbolically correct for my journey; I got several batches in before my first one went sideways, and those early successes led me to think I was a born natural soaper; it was sobering to come to my senses and back down to...

Welcome, Tyler. I once built houses, but now I build intranets... and make soap, and knit, and write a little....

Okay, batches 39 and 40 are in the record books. #39 was an attempt at a label-friendly pure white soap (with a pinch of titanium dioxide to help that along) and a bit of BB's Crisp Cotton FO for scent. Component % Lard 25 Rice Bran Oil 25 Coconut Oil 15 Shea Butter 15 Cocoa...

There are some great conversations on here about using oakmoss EO to lightly scent lard soap to cancel out that smell. I'm looking forward to trying it!

I've used up several pounds of tallow and found it very comparable to the lard I get from Walmart or online; the tallow is a bit pricier for me, but I've decided to order more, particularly if my most recent experiment with a 50/50 split of lard and tallow works out.

I have an unopened bottle of RBO, and now I have the prompt to get it open! Thanks, Zing!