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I was just looking over some oil values and came across PKO and found that it is VERY similar to coconut in both makup, characteristics, price and availability. IMHO they are almost interchangeable in most recipes and if skin dryness is a problem with a CO recipe then switching to PKO may be...

I've read that some other people use PVC pipe as moulds and I was wondering what others use for the bottom end of the mould (to seal the bottom end)? Do you use a PVC cap or do you use something else? I haven't gotten any caps yet as I have always used whatever was adequate size and hot glued...

Greasing mould - necessary or not? I have always greased my moulds with lard, like I would when baking a cake or something - a very thin layer. I'm wondering if this is really necessary. I guess it depends on the mould material. I'm especially interested in PVC pipe. I also have MDF (kind...

I've been looking for ways to use various plants to color and I'm going to try parsley powder as that is the only thing available at the moment. Is the powder added directly to the batter or is it infused into the oil before adding the lye? Also could fresh parsley be used somehow?

What did you use for the green?

I remember a number of threads almost a year back where a number of people were making egg yolk soap. I'm curious if anyone has any results on the shelf life and how the soap aged. Any info on it is much appreciated!

I just realized that I have not needed to clean my shower anywhere near as often as I used to before I started using home-made soaps. I have significantly less soap scum and that flaky white "lime" (not from hard water though...) like build-up since switching. I used to have to clean every 2-3...

I wanted to order a total of 16 oz of EO's (4/4/8 oz) and it was going to be shipped ground. The total was almost 33% of the cost of the EO's - $20.96! I thought this was maybe unique to the supplier but I ordered from 2 other vendors and one billed me $6 for faster ground (it was 16 oz as...

I've used lavender FO's before but never got any EO's b/c I didn't know which to pick. It seems that there is also something called lavandin (grosso) (cross between regular lav and spike lav) and then there is regular lavender EO but there are different countries of origin like France...

Red oxide of what, Iron? Where did you get it?

I'm having a tough time finding a "fire engine" red or cherry red color for soaps. I would love something natural for this but will settle for synthetic coloring. What I need for my next batch is something to make pink (strawberry color) but I really need something that will make a solid red...

I'm wondering if anyone uses ziplock bags or something like a pastry bag (what they use for squeezing icing onto baked goods) to pour the "batter" into the moulds. I would think this would work well for tube/pipe moulds but also for loaf moulds if working with diff colors. To fill tube moulds...

II'm interested in this scent but I don't have any idea what it smells like and it is kind of expensive to buy. Can anyone compare it to something or maybe a mix of some things? Is it a sweet flower like rose or honeysuckle or is it a little sharper like orange/lemon (not the flowers, the...

I'd like to see if there is anyone interested in teaming up to write a soap/lye calculator. We can write it as a stand a lone program, web app or a spreadsheet. It's been awhile since I've written code, so I'll probably need help (which is why I'm posting). I know there are calculators...

single use bars and/or samples

I guess I should have made it clearer. I haven't found any cutters capable of thin slices other than a single wire cutter and wanted to know if any were made that allowed for this. I described the only process I could imagine that didn't use a close spaced multi-wire cutter.

Do you store your lye outside of a sealed container? I only ask b/c I have seen bags which look like they are a plastic fiber weave/mesh like that used in agriculture. I always thought that was asking for problems unless it was used quickly. Yes in an open room, there is the potential for a...

Yes in an open room, there is the potential for a lot of moisture (higher the temp, the more moisture can be held), but once in the sealed container, it would be only able to absorb as much water as was in the air (within the container). In a 5 gal bucket there probably can't be more than maybe...

Trying to see if it is possible to make 1/4 - 3/8" bars/rounds for small sizes. I can't seem to find any multiwire cutters that will cut that thin and some don't list that statistic. A long bar, with proper dimensions, could be shaved down on a "clothesline" wire cutter, with the distance...

yes, once the material is saturated. "at 90% relative humidity 1KG of CaCl2 is reported to absorb 5KG of water (5 liters) before leaking water. " Link to page: (Not positive - checked the source and seems possibly dubious or exagerated)