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Hi AliOop, Do you edit the lye concentration based on %age of lard in the recipe? Do you find 45% still gives you time to swirl/ layer, and enough wiggle room for misbehaving essential oils? Would maybe 40% be an easier water reduction for me to start with to get a feel? With my first few lard...

Taking a flyer on a response here, but I just made these bars and am wondering how long you cure yours for? Thanks!!

Those embeds are TOO cute! I have been buying 1 lb blocks of lard since I'm still experimenting, but will have to keep an eye out for larger buckets. Canadian here, I've never seen 8 lb buckets at my grocery stores!

Dear piggy fat soap makers! 🐷 I've got three or four 1 lb batches of lard soaps at different percentages curing up. And it made me curious. What properties do you like about lard? How do you find the performance, skin-friendliness, hardness, scent retention, etc.? Have you landed on your...

This is so inspiring. I also grew up without much, but my parents saw to it that we never went without the important things. A lot of the lack built character - like how to develop a sense of humour and self-confidence when it's painfully obvious you're the only one in the class not wearing name...

@dibbles @KiwiMoose @AliOop Can I just take a moment to say how amazing it is to see people - especially in online communities! - building one another up and giving one another their snaps and props? Just love it. 🥰 There's more than enough sparkle to go around! Spread positivity! I will...

This is SO genius! It makes so much sense and is probably way less messy. Bookmarking for my next foray lol

I sew, but quilters get my mad respect. And their work is worth every penny! All so amazing. I often wonder if creative types really are created different. I just love learning new skills, ways to do things, etc. 😅 If only "professional tinkerer" was a real job.. I can see how a cake leveler...

Thank you for the suggestion re EO calc usage rates, very helpful! Thanks I will check it out! As a new soap maker, I thought I would start with the EOs I see discussed the most often, and made sure to get in some of those middle and base notes to anchor. Really do feel like a (rather fragrant)...

I accept the piggy props with pride! 🐖 😊 I took your suggestion to keep some thinner off cut samples by the sink to experiment with "for science." What a difference a week or two makes already! It is really neat to monitor and test a bar through its cure. Fangirl moment right here!! THE...

Let me just start by just saying how proud I am of this little test bar! There were a lot of things I was trying at once: using an accelerating essential oil blend I made myself (rose geranium with orange and patchouli), pouring layers at trace thick enough to hold a layer but thin enough for...

Hello lovely soap makers! I got my delivery of beautiful essential oils from New Directions Aromatics, and am at a bit of a loss where to start! I've done the preliminary research into EO Calc and some of the suggested blends, as well as top/middle/base note blending, but I would LOVE to pick...

Amazing, thank you! And thanks for the vote of confidence that they are just ugly ducklings for now that will hopefully become beautiful confetti one day!

Here is the rescued ugly soap. Given the EO of white thyme was about 1% of total oils in the batch, I hesitate to hot process without diluting given the skin irritating potential. If I made up another batch of unscented soap to "dilute" this one by half, would I first melt the ugly soap in the...

Thank you for all these tips! You and @AliOop are like my fairy soapmothers lol. I licked my wounds by giving your no slime castile a whirl! My confidence was shaky at this point, so minimal edits except I used your 85%EVOO/10%CocoOil/5%CastOil and added some French green clay to the oils. No...

SO GLAD to know I'm not alone! Thanks for the tips on what to do next time. I had the thyme oil lying around from my diffuser stash, it really is not my jam as aromatherapy lol. Good to know that it isn't great in soap either, might just need to give it away! Do you find eucalyptus and...

Hi experienced soapers! Well, my beginner's luck had to run out at some point. I made a Franken soap tonight. 😭😭😭 Recipe and photo attached. All was going swimmingly until I added the essential oils (equal parts peppermint, white thyme, and eucalyptus at 3% weight of oils). As soon as the oils...

Since I'm not so patiently waiting for my bars to cure, I would love to know your thoughts on lard bars: How long do you cure for? This bar was at 60% lard, so I am thinking it'll be a similar length of time to cure. What do you superfat to when using your lard recipe? How do you find your skin...

I am very new to soap making (two loaves in!), and was not impressed with the generic soap cutter I got off Amazon that came with pastry-cutter knives. I found they totally mashed up the soap, and there was so much play in the slots that it was hard to achieve a solid straight cut. Introductory...

I made my second ever soap! This was a lard heavy loaf at 60%. So much fun cutting it into bars, that may be my favourite part of soap making so far! I am enjoying the 1 lb/ 500 g blocks to experiment with, especially since I need to impatiently wait 4 - 6 weeks to know how they really perform!