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Yes Suzie. That is what I did and the amts I used... and I added cold glycerin to my heating oils. Once I made the lye solution up and KOH was fully dissolved I added asap to my oils/glycerin and started to SB away to flying bubbles stage. You read it right.

It is easy and I am glad I tried it. I do have a question about the glycerin. When you use water for your KOH and the full amount of glycerin... do you heat the glycerin and add it to the lye solution or add the lye solution to the glycerin? Honestly I did not want to heat the glycerin at...

I think, hope, I am getting a better handle on this. I will just heat the oils til warm. Then add my lye solution with the crockpot turned off... and quit overthinking the heat. I thought that was what I was doing but in writing this all out I see more clearly that it was not. So before I start...

@Suzie - For the 2nd batch I used equal ratio of water to KOH 1:1 and the full amount of liquid for the glycerin. For the 1 lb batch Summerbee gave me 10.19oz water and 3.4oz KOH. I used 3.4oz water with the KOH, and 10.19oz glycerin. I was trying to follow IL revised instructions for using...

LOL It just reminded me of old dried out gummy bears! Save

Just wanted to add I used 3% SL in the dillution so that helped. My goal at this point is to learn to manage my liquids and get a better more workable paste. That gummy bear paste is hard to scrape out of the pot and even thou I am new to this I am sure it is much harder to dillute than a...

Thank you Irishlass. That helps. I let the paste sit overnight and diluted it the next day. It made lovely ls... even though I was impatient and didn't let the paste 'cure'.... or does it need to? Also, I was only using the crockpot heat to keep the oils hot. I actually did turn it off just...

I just started making LS. I have made 2 batches so far using Irishlass's recipe and technique. Everything is fine up to the point I get the "flying bubbles" after SBing my lye solution and oils together. But instead of it getting to the 'thick molasses' stage I get a sudden and thick hard gummy...

Don't know if this helps but I make a shampoo soap and had to reconfigure my recipe due to it being high in linoleic from using grapeseed and soybean oils I did some more research and decided to sub the soybean for avocado and keep the grapeseed but only at 5-10%. The avocado I use at 20-25%...

Great post! Very helpful.

I also do a puree with fresh avocado and cucumber for a facial bar I make. For a 10 lb recipe I use one full avocado and 2 large cucumbers. Once I have pureed them I run them through a sieve for any leftover bits of skin or clumps. I find it makes the soap extra rich and creamy feeling and I...

I also joined in during the New Year's Eve castile making. So now my batch is going on 9 months old. I put the castile soaps on my top curing shelf and well, just left them alone. I have only pulled one bar to date at about 5 months. Funny, but the longer I wait the more I tend to quit thinking...

Thanks for this thread. I have been using honey in my soapmaking a long time and never gave much thought to adding it to my lye solution. I just assumed it would overheat and ruin the solution. Thanks for the pics too. I am excited to try this and see if it really effects the color in my...

For a 4 lb batch I would use some about the size of a small cottonball. I also spread it out by pulling it apart and snip off pieces until its all cut up. I found this really helps it dissolve much better in the lye solution.

Essential Depot. I love the packaging and good prices. I love that they have free lye specials when I buy certain oils. I also sometimes get free cocoa butter too. Most of all I love the 2lb containers they come in and how carefully they package them. Very professional.

I do the same as dixiedragon.

Not sure I am understanding your question. Do you want to use your FO/EOs in a Scentsy warmer using stearic as a base to blend them in? Stearic can be hard to melt. Wax meltors were made specifically for melting low MP wax. I may be wrong but from what I have heard Scentsy meltors can be finicky...

I have to go with others here and say don't worry too much what the numbers are in soapcalc. Soapcalc I use to get my lye and liquid amounts and an indicator of the soap's conditioning qualities. After making soap for a few years I have started going more and more into revising my recipes into...

After reading through this I got to gets me some red palm oil. I love a good yellow and orange color. Once for an egyptian amber theme soap I used turmeric for golden yellow and indigo for lapis lazuli or cobalt blue. Well I didn't quite get cobalt but the colors were awesome! Unfortunately it...

The recipe is for 61 drops of EOs. Not 240. I do agree with the dillution factor and use of irratant EOs like clove and cinnamon. Ever drop one drop of cinnamon oil on your finger and acccidentally rub an eye? Yowzer! I will never forget the pain and how long it took before the sting stopped.