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Have you ever noticed anything weird from using dry old scraps in New soap?

I’m curious—do you use only fresh soap for confetti, or do you think it’s ok to use 6 month old bars? Tree Marie says to use only fresh soap for confetti, but doesn’t explain why, and I’d love to know if there’s a problem using old soap

Sign up list: (Please copy & paste the list into a new post, then add your name along with the next appropriate number.) 1. AliOop - I love this technique! 2. Mx6inpenn - I haven't done this one in a looooong time! 3. Jersey Girl- Another one I haven’t tried. I hope my caterpillar gets here...

Really appreciate your insights, @cmzaha. Did my first markets selling soaps with those NFO's this week (two in one week!), and oh my goodness, it really is surprising what people do and don't buy sometimes. A few batches I expected to sell well did, but two batches I wasn't sure whether to sell...

I've never understood the appeal of masterbatching lye solns before, but this makes sense. It'd be easy to measure if it's 1:1 water:lye, and if I don't mix anything else into the lye water, that would make it faster. Does it ever start reacting with your glass or plastic container? How long can...

Is baking soda + citric acid = sodium citrate + CO2 + H2O reversible, since both reactants are weak?

😁 Bet we'll see more tilted mold soaps, then

Will sugar scorch if I add it before the lye? Looks like SMF folks really got detailed in this thread! It sounds like lye will theoretically be the last thing to precipitate out, since it's the most soluble, and things like salt/baking soda (for ZNC/soleseife) and citrate/citric acid will...

Two weeks later... turns out both of you are right, of course (experience!). @Zany_in_CO turns out I do need to repeat the testers. Just learned that light and heat can make fragrances fade (such a noob mistake), and I had left these testers near a closed heater vent over a month with lots of...

I know it's possible to get these to stick in CP, but so far I've only succeeded at getting bergamot EO to stick in HP; everything else faded in both CP and HP. Bergamot: This stuck beautifully in HP, still strong 4 months later (I know it's not that long, but really encouraging). I think the...

I see some soapmakers strain their lye water when they add it to soap oils on YouTube, just to make sure they don't accidentally add an undissolved grain of lye to their soap. I like to add citric acid (and 6.24g extra lye for each 10g citric acid) to my water, and now that I'm trying to make...

Hope you post if you get anything dryer than 2.5:1 water:lye to work! Maybe if I keep it sealed the whole time without checking it, and add yogurt after the cook (and warm up my molds/additives), and add a little extra liquid at the end? It was so uglydry that it's hard to imagine that being...

^^^What she said! That is nerdtastic. 🤯

Learned in our last chapter that soap salts are the weak conjugate base of a product-favored reaction (because the strong base+weak acid side is unfavorable, too high energy)! So here's the question that's been bothering me since learning that: if soapmaking is a product-favored reaction, why...

Thanks for being so gracious - book really does look helpful. You have at least one new customer out of this thread!

I tried 2:1 water:lye HP once on accident and it was SOOOO dry and lumpy when I packed it in, but I didn't mix anything in after the cook. It made incredibly dense, hard, solid, smooth bars, though, and It would be awesome to replicate that without making ugly soap

Oh my goodness, making him a scent tablet is a great solution! What kind of wax do you use? One of my friends has maybe a decade of collected soaps in her bathroom gathering dust and developing DOS, and she added the four bars I formulated for her Christmas gift to that collection. 😩😆 They...

Blorg. I've been learning how inexperienced I am at cold process last week (spring break! Finally, time to soap)! I'm so happy with my hot process recipes that I figured it would be an easy transition to cold process, but making a lot of noob mistakes: soap accelerating to very thick trace...

I'm curious--are you able to pack HP soap into a mold very well if you cook it with 1:1 water:lye?

Hello, just saw this beautiful video (Tellervo) so graciously done- thanks for sharing- have you tried her method? I'm hoping to try it this weekend! I'll let you know how it goes!