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I have been wondering this also because I've seen various recipes around, some which insist on 100% olive oil and others which also use castor and coconut which I just find confusing! I'll be interested to see what replies you get but might give it a go myself next week sometime as I've ran out...

My butter which is 80% butters and 20% oils is very greasy (I might drop it to 10% oil), so I added cornstarch today. I had no idea how much to use, so ended up adding 2 heaped teaspoons to a 100g batch but its still quite greasy. If you use cornstarch, would you add more than this or is it a...

I have just made 2 batches both with 15% shea and 15% cocoa butter. I have no idea what they are like yet though because one batch is only 3 weeks old and the other only 1 week, so not tried them but they look very creamy :) I can't say I've noticed any ash though.

I am planning on infusing natural herbs / spices etc to use as a colourant in my soaps but I don't know how much I should use. Is there a rule of thumb with these things like so much per pound of soap or so much per ml of oil? Because things like cloves, cinnamon, paprika etc can be irritants to...

Thank you for that zanderKoad, I didn't realise you needed to oil the stamp and I had soap stuck in all the crevices each time. Makes complete sense though! :)

They look great :) Can I just pick your brains about how to use the stamp? I got one with my logo on it but I've been unsuccessful with it so far, although I have only tried it twice. When do you think is the best time to do it? I've made the mistake of doing it when its been too soft so far...

Thanks Genny, so far I've only done unscented soaps but I'm planning on using essential oils in my next batch, so I'll soon find out for myself. I'm sticking with natural ingredients where possible, so it'd be nice if I could get some natural colour without even trying ;) Do you think its...

I made a lotion bar a while back and added some german chamomile which turned it greenish. I'm assuming the same could happen with Cp soap, would the colour make it through saponification? If so, are there any other essential oils which can influence the colour of the soap?

Here in the UK we have to have an MSDS (safety details) for all our ingredients and on the safety sheets for Lye it states to rinse with water, there is no mention of vinegar at all.

It had solidified so I whipped it up today and it turned out fine, except for the fact (as many of you predicted) it left an oil slick on the skin, way too oily! So I will attempt another batch, this time using 80% butter, 20% oil. Thanks for all the advice, much appreciated :)

There seems to be more discussion on this thread about using lye safely, than there does about the method of thermal transfer itself. Is that because this method is regarded as being less safe in some way than other methods of soaping?

I don't have access to either a fridge or a freezer in my soaping / cosmetic area though (I do it at work). So I just left the mixture to cool on the worktop. It had cooled after a few hours but I don't think it had cooled enough as it was still liquid form. I think I just need to leave it for...

I used this method for a batch yesterday, by slowly ;) adding the hot lye to the oils and butters and then gently mashing up the cocoa butter with a slatted spoon and I've got to say I love this method so much that I think I'm going to do all my soaping this way now. The whole process just...

After watching a video on youtube I'm starting to think it was because I tried to blend too soon. The woman on the vid waited till the butter had solidified before attempting but mine was still in liquid form, so I obviously hadn't let it cool enough. It should be more solid now though so I'll...

I had my first attempt at making a body butter today, using one third butter (mango and shea), one third coconut oil, one third avocado oil. However, I couldn't get the mixture to thicken (using a stick blender). Any ideas what I did wrong?

Thanks Vanessa thats a relief. As they are single soaps already the cutting isn't an issue for me, so I guess if they do turn out ok, then theres no real need for me to insulate in future, heres hoping :)

How important is insulation? All the recipes I have say to insulate and today I made my first batch and fully intended to insulate but due to distractions whilst soap making (next time I will switch off the phone and lock the door!) I completely forgot to insulate till about 2 hours after, at...

They do look amazing, almost good enough to eat ;) well done

muslin squares or teabags perhaps, that way they are already in individual sachets for each use.

I've had a read of those links and tbh it wasn't what I expected. I assumed that room temperature soaping would be a method that involves no altering of the temperatures of ingredients as explained on this website http://www.soap-making-essentials.com/how-to-make-soap-roomtemp.html but most of...