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And thank you for the wisdom on zap testing. I will happily stop licking soap!

It was a cold process soap. I started with the buttermilk in small frozen cubes. I've actually made this recipe before and it turned out fabulous. Not sure what I did different, but I do think my lye has taken on moisture. 27 oz. Olive Oil 5 oz. Coconut Oil 8 oz. Buttermilk 2.5 oz. Carrot Puree...

I made a batch of soap that ended up with small white spots. After reading a lot of posts about this, I decided I should probably zap test it with my tongue to make sure it wasn't undissolved lye. I gave it a pretty respectable test in an area with 3 of the little spots, but nothing happened...

My son-in-law really, really wants me to make him grape scented soap. I bought a grape fragrance oil, and my house already smells like a grape jelly factory, and I haven't even opened the bottle! This is my first batch of soap with a fragrance oil. Do they always smell pretty intense? I plan on...

So I'll just gain some color from it?

I boiled a pan of water with cinnamon sticks in it to give the house a cozy, fall smell. Now I have a nice sized batch of cinnamon-infused water left over, and I wondered if there's any reason I couldn't add that to my NaOH to make soap?

I just make soap to share with my family and for gift-giving. I like to add a nice scent to them, but so far I have used EO's that really jack up the cost of my soaps. I would love any suggestions for some more frugal scenting?

I can see that my post must have been unclear, because I was talking about putting the container of lye inside the bucket, not just dumping lye straight in. In my mind, it made sense that no one would do that, but I guess that wasn't an assumption I should have made. So, sealed container of...

I don't understand. I thought the whole point of a silica packet was to collect moisture from the surrounding environment, thus keeping the moisture out of whatever product you want kept dry. How is lye attracting moisture from the silica?

There are a lot of videos on YouTube for making your own silica packets. It is cheap and easy to do. It would be pretty inexpensive to put together one of the dry buckets and put your homemade silica packets in it, then you wouldn't have to worry about moisture getting to your lye.

I think I lucked out because it appears to be completely fine. I kept an eye on it and it never got too hot, so evidently the Gods of soap were shining on me today. :thumbup:

So if I was making a batch of soap and accidentally put in 2 tsp. of honey rather than the 1tsp. that the recipe called for, what is likely to be the result? Anything bad? This is the recipe, from Soaping 101: 2 oz. cocoa butter 16 oz. soybean oil 1 oz. olive oil 4.7 oz. water 2.4 oz lye 1...

I am in the market for an immersion blender. I did a search of older posts, but the most recent I can find on the subject is 2013, so there are probably many new options. Would anyone want to share if they have a particular favorite, and maybe how long it has been working for you? Thanks!

I'm Jeannie; mom to 6, grandma to 4, part-time librarian, and full-time home schooler. I'm new to making soap. I made one batch each of HP and CP from a recipe I worked out on a soap calculator. They both worked awesome and I thought I was a soap making genius, THEN I had a batch that failed...

Very good to know! So what type of containers do you like for measuring the lye into and making the lye/water mixture in?

I've mixed lye in glass several times. I'm curious why it is a bad idea?

I would appreciate recommendations for any really good basic soap-making videos online. Especially with good tips on oil temps. Thanks!

Newbie, that video was super helpful. I had watched another video where they just blended like mad until the batter was thick like pudding, so I was under the impression that was the goal. Now I understand why I was burning up my equipment. Also, after watching your video, I realize my trace was...

I'm using Red Crown NaOH. I started out making hot process soap, so maybe I overestimated how easily you could transition into cold soap. I probably should do a little more research before my next batch. Funny that the last one turned out just fine, though, while I burned through another stick...

So "Trace or die!" is not a good motto?? :-D