cold process

It’s been a crazy busy season for me, and I haven’t made soap in a while. I’m getting married this year, and boy, is it stressful! I took some time out of my day to get back into soapmaking. This was the result! It’s scented with lavender, tea tree, bergamot, and geranium.

Hi there! I've been making cold process soap for over 8 years and I've been using the same recipes for a while BUT, yesterday, I was making soap and using the weight of the lye instead of the weight for the fragrance oil to measure my fragrance oil (don't ask me how I did that, only when I was...

I've done quite a bit of research on pine tar soap and plan to make my first batch soon but am still a bit nervous! Will this recipe work? I plan on using my recipe with the technique/method Elly's Everyday Soap Making pine tar video shows. I read through a bunch of threads on here and one...

Hi! This is my first time posting here and I was hoping that I could get some help. It has been 6 weeks since I've made my first CP soap and when zap testing I get a little bit of a tingle. When I made the soap it took a bit to get to trace ( I assumed it was due to a higher percentage of...

Hi, I recently picked up Dunn's Scientific Soapmaking and he recommended mixing soap in polypropylene (PP) plastic bottles for small batches instead of going at it with a stick blender in a bowl or crockpot. The good news is that it worked! I made several different single oil soaps this way, 1...

URGENT!! SOS I made my very first batch of 100% coconut oil soap (in loaf mould). An hour after putting the batter in the mould, the soap solidified BUT the middle portion of the top part sunk a bit ... Is there any solution or a way to prevent this?? COLD PROCESS 100% Coconut Oil 28% of Oil...

Hi guys, I know that a common method to check whether a CP soap is done curing is by weighing it - once it stops losing weight, aka the water stops evaporating, you're good to go. Now, I'm having a pretty unusual issue, at least I haven't heard of it before. My soap was made with 1.1 : 1...

I’ve been making and selling soap for two years and now and all of a sudden I’m having issues with unincorporated lye. The bars as a whole feel great and normal so I know it’s not a problem with my recipe (it’s been my tried and true for over a year) but I get unincorporated lye all of a sudden...

Hello! How do I go about making cold processed yogurt soap? When do I add it? How much do I add (PPO)? What does it do to the soap? Anything I should know before making yogurt soap to anyone who has already made yogurt soap? Thanks!

More pale yellow spots

These behaved better than any beer soaps I’ve ever made before. I’m just a little excited at how these turned out. This one is made with truck stop honey ale, scented in Kentucky bourbon, and colored with mad micas. This one is made with angry orchard hard cider, scented in an Aqua di gio...

A collage of some of the soaps from recently departed brother soap project. These cuts are among the ones that speak to me.

2 square bars from the Spin Swirl -> Spoon Swirl - Brother soap

Sample of bars after bevel from the Spin Swirl -> Spoon Swirl - Brother soap

Multiple Bars from Spin Swirl -> Spoon Swirl soap representing my recently deceased brother, The disorganized method of cutting - multiple sizes & shapes, as well as designs within the swirls represent his nature so well, its uncanny.

After Spoon Swirl which followed a Spin Swirl, starting the cut

Spin Swirl before Spoon Swirl

Hi, I have the following steps in mind: 1. Prepare the soap base without perfume or color. 2. Allow the saponification to complete and lose a certain amount of water. 3.Add color and perfume. 4. Use an extrusion machine or some type of meat grinder to refine the soap. 5.Press soap. The...

Did anyone run that recipe through a calculator? If it’s not a safe recipe to start with, rebatching won’t help. (I’ll see if I have time tonight to do that)

Hi everyone! I am a cp soap maker in Virginia and have been lurking here for a few months. The info here is so good so thank you! My family is thinking of moving to Florida from Virginia (we used to live there but had to move due to work). I am concerned about how the change of weather will...