1st timer with 30 days to make soap presents..need a recipe!

[cheesenoodle]

Here are the constraints:

I'm a first time soap maker
Appx 30 days as of today before finished masterpieces are needed
Going to use a crockpot, hot method
No animal product
No palm oil (environmental issues in the tropics)
Mint essential oil is needed!

Other than that, I'm just looking for something pretty basic and dependable that we'll all like using given the constraints!

Something on the softer side wouldn't be all that terrible either, but hard would be cool too! Lather isn't really an issue either way either.

Any ideas? All of these recipes are overwhelming.

Thank you!!!!!!


Edit: Oh wow - http://www.millersoap.com/soapallveg.html

 

[dagmar88]

I personally wouldn't feel comfortable giving away soap without any experience of the product and I'd go for a melt and pour base this time.

If you want to go on with it anyway, you can figure out something at http://www.soapcalc.net/

 

[cheesenoodle]

I personally wouldn't feel comfortable giving away soap without any experience of the product and I'd go for a melt and pour base this time.

If you want to go on with it anyway, you can figure out something at http://www.soapcalc.net/

Thanks, I'd like to make it from scratch though. Im pretty sure i can pull this off if i do a relatively basic recipe. At least i hope considering i do chemistry at work every day!

I'm going to cure it for 2-4 weeks and test it, if it's not good enough it won't be gifted though.

I found this recipe: oats and honey
4.5 Oz coconut oil
2.5 Oz palm oil
9.0 Oz olive oil
2.3 Oz lye
6.4 Oz water

At trace add:
1tsp almond oil
1/8 cup fine ground oatmeal
1tsp warm honey


I was putting this into soapcalc to check but didn't get a lye number, it was 0 after hitting calculate so I need to figure that out but-

I was thinking of replacing or taking out the palm oil with another oil. Also, I want to add mint essential oil to this at trace too.

What do you think? I feel like minty honey oat bars would be pretty cool!

 

[judymoody]

I did not run this through soap calc but if you switch out any oils, PLEASE use a lye calculator as it can affect the amount of lye you will need. With soap calc, when you hit the calculate recipe button, the soap recipe will come up in a second window.

Lard is a good sub for palm but you don't want animal fats.

You could go with 30% coconut and 70% olive oil if you want simple.

There are lots of recipes as www.millersoap.com, many of which don't involve palm oil. Her recipes would have to be sized down though as they make many lbs of soap.

For your first outing, I would avoid the honey. It can be tricky to work with, can cause your soap to overheat, and sometimes doesn't incorporate fully. An oatmeal/mint soap would be very nice though.

Mint EO, I'd limit to no more than 3% of your oil weight.

Have fun and enjoy!

 

[agriffin]

I agree with reading through millersoap.com

Good luck!

 

[Bergamia2504]

I personally wouldn't feel comfortable giving away soap without any experience of the product and I'd go for a melt and pour base this time.

If you want to go on with it anyway, you can figure out something at http://www.soapcalc.net/

Thanks, I'd like to make it from scratch though. Im pretty sure i can pull this off if i do a relatively basic recipe. At least i hope considering i do chemistry at work every day!

I'm going to cure it for 2-4 weeks and test it, if it's not good enough it won't be gifted though.

I found this recipe: oats and honey
4.5 Oz coconut oil
2.5 Oz palm oil
9.0 Oz olive oil
2.3 Oz lye
6.4 Oz water

At trace add:
1tsp almond oil
1/8 cup fine ground oatmeal
1tsp warm honey


I was putting this into soapcalc to check but didn't get a lye number, it was 0 after hitting calculate so I need to figure that out but-

I was thinking of replacing or taking out the palm oil with another oil. Also, I want to add mint essential oil to this at trace too.

What do you think? I feel like minty honey oat bars would be pretty cool!

You must press view/print recipe after calculating, this gives your lye

 

[soapbuddy]

I'm sorry, but 30 days to a "masterpiece" will not happen. How will you know how the soap behaves after 30 days? Will the scent morph? Will it get DOS? CP soap normally needs a good 4 to 6 weeks of cure time.

 

[cheesenoodle]

I'm sorry, but 30 days to a "masterpiece" will not happen. How will you know how the soap behaves after 30 days? Will the scent morph? Will it get DOS? CP soap normally needs a good 4 to 6 weeks of cure time.

I was planning on hot process soap, which gives 2-4 weeks minimum cure time, I thought. I know it wont be a masterpiece, I was joking

Im going to hold off posting in this thread and continue in this one:
http://soapmakingforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=28921

thanks for the help everyone !

 

[PrairieCraft]

If you do add the honey it will give you less trouble if you put it in the water and blend it before adding your lye to the water. Put directly into the soap batter it tends to bead up and then weep out. I second the recommendation to go with OO and CO only to keep it simple and those two oils are my favorites. If you know anyone who has nut allergies they may be turned off by the almond oil. Good luck! It may not be a masterpiece but it will be fun.

 

[cheesenoodle]

Didn't add honey in the end, but the soap came out really well.
It's bubbly, lathery, cleans well, and doesn't seem to dry the hands.
Added 2x the oatmeal that the recipe called for.

I'm deeming it a masterpiece until further notice =P
Smells nice and pepperminty at 3% of oils of peppermint EO added.
Made a cutter out of a soup can for the wavy cut.

Thanks for all of the help, it's much appreciated

 

[cheesenoodle]

A little more than a month ago I came here knowing nothing about the
wonders of soap making. In that time 6 batches of soap were born into the
world.

Now they are all ready for their destination of giftdom, soon.
Thanks for all of the help!

Magnificent chronicling of the batches:
http://soapmakingforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=28921

 

[keriw]

Cool! You did some good work!!! Do tell...how did you make the soup can cutter? Love it!!!!