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Thanks. I will look for some new moulds. It's probably worth it. I'll let you know if it works.

Yes, I had a blissfully happy time from the moment I started soapmaking till about two years ago when nothing ever went wrong. Now I almost never get a completely perfect batch. I am using the same moulds so one at least is about 5 or 6 years old. It probably isn't spectacularly good quality...

Mmmm. You are doing a combination of both the before method and the after method! I really don't know if that's ok or not. Personally, I kind of feel that you should still identify the sodium hydroxide in english if you are doing the rest in english. I feel you are being a bit disenguous if...

Yes, they were in individual silicon cavity moulds. I could try making the odd one or two in plastic as an experiment but I need to make some for sale (hoping they turn out all right) so I need to use my silicon moulds. I also have moulds of different ages so I could try seeing if that makes...

There are different ways of listing ingredients. If you are using the method listing what the soap is made of after it is made, you are correct, you label the finished soap, which should be described as I stated above - sodium cocoate, sodium olivate, sodium tallowate etc. The words sodium...

Yes, definitely in the fridge. It washes off to some extent when the soaps aren't so bad but on the worst ones it does actually penetrate the soap with the very edges being crumbly and a kind of bleached look on the bottom corners -yes the bit that doesn't actually get exposed to the oxygen...

Hi. I recently (a couple of years ago) went on the portal. It looks horrendous, is very time consuming but isn't as bad as it seems once you get started. Once you have done one soap, the others are just the same process over again. My advice, get all the bits and pieces, the attachments and...

Well the crumbly edges on my soap weren't to do with overheating because up till this problem began to occur I have always soaped cool and put the mould in the fridge! I was very anti gelling. I consulted the forum before and most people seemed to agree the only thing it could be was a type of...

I've been having this problem. After about four or five years of refrigerating my soaps and NEVER ONCE getting soda ash, I have suddenly started to get it. I am not using goats milk so much so I thought that might be a reason. I came on the forum begging for help a while ago. I too was...

Just for info, under European rules, you can only use cinnamom leaf oil in cosmetic products like soap. You won't get certified if you use bark oil. Or at least the usage rates are much, much lower for bark oil. Even cinnamon leaf is only recommended at about 1% (though that blows my socks...

I've made soaps with near identical recipes with and without 5% castor oil and blind tested it with other people and nobody could tell the difference so I've always been a bit dubious about this claim about longer lasting lather. Honey should work in a similar way to sugar for a few more bubbles.

Yes, I will try and drill down to a seamless easy way of doing things. 80degrees c is the lowest my oven will go but It wasn't on for long and I switched off before I put the soap in. Maybe ash free is a bit hopeful but I've been there before so I hope to visit that planet again.

Hi, back again. I decide to stop being obstinate and try cpoping or at least raising my soaping temperature. I made half a batch (four and a bit soaps) and sort of cpoped two and sort of insulated two and a bit. I read a bit on the internet first luckliy, and found an article by a nice lady...

Thanks all. I am pretty sure its not gelled in the middle. And PJ is right, this wont just wash off. But the explanations make sense. What I cant get my head round is why only some of the soaps behave this way and why the same ones each time. I guess I will just have to stop being pigheaded...

Hi, I recently posted a thread about soaping in a heatwave and before that "cocoa butter bloom" in soap. In both threads we got talking about soda ash and whether that was the strange thing that was happening to my soap. I said I would try making without deionised water, as that was the only...

Deionised water is used for something car related - topping up batteries or radiators I think. It's usually for sale alongside the little perfumed tree shaped air fresheners!

Irish Lass I'm not sure we can easily get steam distilled water over here. It's not readily available in supermarkets like deionised water is except for use in irons when they perfume it! soapmaker - oh yes I remember when I used to do exactly the same thing only about a year ago and NEVER...

That's Interesting LilyJo. I live just North of London (Epping, Essex) and our water tends to be hard though not as hard as London where I used to live. I'll probably start making in the next week so, so I'll post again if my deionised water free soap is any less prone to soda ash. It has to...

I use cavity moulds. I usually use tap water. I only recently started using deionised water because of a couple of dos experiences. Before this I never got soda ash. There may not be a connection but I think I must at least try. As I only seem to get dos on one particular soap variety I am...

Ha - yes I did mean 120 degrees f! I am without a/c or an ice maker -we are a primitive people in the old country. I appreciate my heatwave is some peoples cold snap. I hadn't really thought about that . Perhaps I am overworrying. I already soap with a 2 to 1 water/lye ratio, which if my...