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Thanks Zany! I do already have some FCO from making deoderant a month or so ago so it should be an easy make. It can be pretty hard to get her to try anything new but I think I will make up a batch. If it works for her, I think she'll be happier that she doesn't have to go hunting for...

So I was reading around about PS 80 as I have a lot of oil stained clothes and wanted to try it out and somehow got linked here. My mother has been frustrated because her facial cleansing lotion had been discontinued and she has been paying exorbitant prices to pick up a few remaining bottles...

Wanted to try out some new techniques and new ways to add colorant today. I think I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Sandalwood Rose fragrance. Hot processed, as usual.

This is a great post Dawni! It is definitely hard to find information on the subject. Do you use sodium lactate? I use it to harden my bars a bit. But I was also lead to believe that it has a tendency to hold on to water and can help in fluid recipes by helping to prevent evaporation during the...

Very nice!!

Very cool. I started off doing general blacksmith stuff and quickly transitioned to knives. Few years later that forged in fire TV show started airing and now there are a lot of people interested. Good for the suppliers of knifemaking equipment! Nothing quite like beating on a piece of hot steel...

I'm new to soap-making, but I bought the SoapMaker 3 program before I made my first batch. Punched in every single ingredient. Did not factor in labor/gas for stove, etc. Also not including any labeling/packaging. My first batch with castor, coconut, olive, palm, shea butter including cost of...

I am. It's been a hobby of mine for about 8 years now. I've not made a straight razor. I've thought of it a few times but always seem to have things I'm more interested in making going. That said, I know blade geometry is pretty important on them (especially since they use the spine as a guide...

Well.... I had to try out my new swirl tool that I made yesterday. Unfortunately, I didn't get my colorants dispersed very well. That's one thing I've been struggling with, with my HP. I can't really stick blend it because it's too thick when I go to add the colorants. I've been using oxides...

Welcome! I made a shave soap based on the original recipe in the first link Irish Lass posted and it is fantastic. I like it better than the $60/jar stuff I was buying and I can pick the scent! Full disclosure, I have a full beard but I still shave my neck... I gave some tins of it out and...

Very true! I just know when I started it seemed like almost everything was talking about cooking for 1-2 hours. It seems challenging at times to find information about HP.

Im pretty new myself to soapmaking. I'm a HP maker. I will just say that if you end up liking HP way of doing it, just know that you don't have to slow cook it for hours. More heat and more stirring means faster saponification. I soap between 200F and 215F and stir a lot. Also add some things...

I guess this is a soapy thing... Made a hanger swirl tool. Made it out of 1/4" stainless rod and welded on the upright ends. Also made some little handles for grip on the ends out of some garolite. Not much to it but I've got some different size rods and may experiment with sizes to find what...

Well, I wasn't planning on making any soap today. But I was out in my shop and noticed some tubing I could probably slip over my coat hangar. The tubing was probably 3/8" or so outside diameter so it's a bit bigger than I would have liked but wanted to try it out before I made my new swirl tool...

I've read somewhere that by switching out 5% of your NaOH for KOH, you can cut down the slime on Castille soap. I've never even made Castile soap but something I've thought of making. Has anyone tried this?

Thanks guys! It's okay just not what I was hoping for. In addition to the hanger being way too thin, I also realized afterwards that I was moving it in there likely way too fast. Sorta like pulling the tablecloth out from under a set table quickly, leaving most of the dishes undisturbed vs...

Oof. That's a lot of lard. One thing I thought about later is that I have some family in the restaurant business. If their distributor carried it, might could get by without having to pay shipping. I'll have to ask for next time.

Just for future reference, for those that may search for this. I soaped with the lard today. It basically had no odor at all. Even when soaping at 200F+, I just smelled the normal oil smells. With the store bought stuff, the odor got pretty strong once it got up to 150F+. This stuff is truly...

Gear tie is a good idea! Though, my other hobby is metalworking/knifemaking so I feel like I need to make something for my soap hobby :D. Finally got a wide mold that is more the size of soap I was wanting to make. And it's the size batch that I want to make. So, hopefully I won't be using...

And my second attempt at swirling... Today I learned that my makeshift swirler from a coat hanger isn't thick enough. Going to probably make one out of stainless. What diameter rod do people recommend? I'm thinking 1/4" or maybe 5/16" This is hot processed. Not a lot of "swirl"