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I think you have to be careful about the amount you use and not exceed the recommended levels. I generally use the levels recommended by Jan Berry. At the level I have used, I haven’t noticed any irritation. You can’t use a lot of clove oil anyways. It accelerates trace faster than any other EO...

It has a faint banana scent right now, but I have heard that will fade with the cure.

I made banana soap last weekend with no EOs or colorants. I used 10% of the oil weight in ripe banana purée and a 1.5:1 water to lye ratio. I just love the speckles.

I didn’t use enough beer in this one for it to smell. I did a full beer-for-water earlier this year. It had a bad smell originally, but the smell has since went away. It was Fat Tire beer.

I used Zany’s faux seawater to make a Bastile Soap with 75% Olive Oil yesterday. It unmolded easily at about 15 hours. It’s unscented and uncolored with kaolin clay mixed in a little beer and a scoop of goat milk powder.

I just wanted to say I’m excited to see someone fr9m Rapid City onthis forum. I am from Custer.

I received my little soap mold with a flower mat on Friday and had to try it out on Saturday. I struggled with how to cut the bars. I think next time I will only pour the loaf to about 1 1/2” depth and cut wide bars next time. Scented with Lavendar, Cedarwood, Patchouli, and a touch of Litsea...

I didn't mind if it gelled. I am planning to felt the oval shaped bars. I just wanted to observe the process. I do have some goat milk soaps I made back in December that I prevented from gelling, and they stayed nice and creamy looking.

I really like it, and it came through. I’m not sure how long it will last. Crossing my fingers it stays around.

Plant Therapy makes great essential oils. They are my favorite brand, but as mentioned they are expensive to use in soap. You could use them in lotion bars and whipped body butter.

This is a soap I made right after Christmas. The light orange color is the result of 15% of the soap formula being olive oil infused with annatto seeds. The darker part is from added French Red Clay. It’s scented with Orange 10x, Cedarwood, Cinnamon, and a bit of cloves, nutmeg, and ginger.

I used Jan Berry’s Creamy Avocado Soap recipe for a New Year’s batch of soap. I allowed the oval soap to ho through gel, but prevented it with the others.

These are pictures of my latest soap. It’s a goat milk soap poured into individual molds. I think the pictures of the color change as it goes through gel phase are interesting. I have made soap before with this same recipe and water. It turned out very white without the goat milk. These are...

Nice to meet someone from East River on here. Pictures of myy soaps would not be that impressive. I’m on some beginner soap making Facebook pages. They post pictures of their first batches that look like cupcakes and hot cocoa and stuff that makes you hungry. Mine are not impressive. They look...

Right back at ya. Nice to meet you. Wouldn’t it be nice to have someone in your own community to talk Soap with? My family just doesn’t show the interest I’d like for them to show.

My favorite book is Simple and Natural Soapmaking by Jan Berry. After checking out the library’s copy, I bought my own Kindle version. I also bought the Kindle version of Smart Soapmaking by Anne L. Watson and Making Soap from Scratch by Gregory Lee White. The last two are reasonably priced in...

I know I’m late to answering this question, but I wanted to add my opinion. I really found Jan Berry’s book, Simple & Natural Soapmaking, to be the most helpful. I just loved it and bought my own copy after using the library’s copy. If you are interested in natural cola rants, she has a great...

Hello, my name is Doris Ann, and I now live in the Black Hills of South Dakota. I have been lurking for a while and have learned a lot. I’ve made eight batches of soap so far, but basically only used two recipes. I just tried different additives or coloring techniques with different batches...