About to make my first soap!

[AlabamaBelle]

As I said when I joined this site, I've been reading on soapmaking and collecting the equipment for about 2 yrs... tonight I'm finally going to bite the bullet and try it! I'm nervous and excited, hope it goes well and I don't get burned with the lye (I know y'all think I'm silly).

Wish me luck!

 

[pmqmama]

Good luck! But be warned - there's NO going back.


Sent from my iPhone using Soap Making

 

[DottieF.]

Good luck. Just a bit of advice. Don't use that Norma Coney book. It's full of misinformation and downright bad advice (adding water to lye, etc.) Any other book is better than that one.

 

[My Mountain Soaps]

yes, please dont add water to lye, do the reverse and be safe! Good luck!!! beautiful book stand by the way! is photography a hobby for you? it looks like it based on the pic.

 

[AlabamaBelle]

I did raise my brow when the book advised to add the water to the lye.... I paid enough attention in college chemistry lab that I remember you're supposed to add the caustic material to the non-caustic, because the bottom element is what tends to splash.

Luckily I have a few other soap books that I've also been consulting (love the two by Susan Miller Cavitch!)

 

[AlabamaBelle]

yes, please dont add water to lye, do the reverse and be safe! Good luck!!! beautiful book stand by the way! is photography a hobby for you? it looks like it based on the pic.

I do love photography, especially involving all of my hobbies. I do quilting, gardening, canning, and make natural body care products (hopefully now adding soap to that list)

 

[AlabamaBelle]

So.... I did my best to follow instructions. I got both lye/water and the fats/oils to 100F at the same time before mixing. I ended up stirring lightly for an hour, only to get a light trace. So I went ahead and poured it into the mold, here goes:

 

[renata]

AlabamaBelle good luck with soaping! It is such an addictive hobby, you'll see :razz:
I really like your photos so I can't wait to see some soap photos from you

 

[Obsidian]

Looks good. How is it this morning? I assume you stirred by hand? If you continue to make soap, it really is worth investing in a decent stick blender.

 

[lizflowers42]

Stick blenders are soapers best friends Congratulations, you will be buying 5 pound buckets of coconut oil in no time

 

[AlabamaBelle]

I did stir it by hand... the Norma Coney book said to stir it slowly and gently when you're trying to get trace (I'm guessing that was another bit of bad advice?) Checked it today after 12 hours and it was still creamy... in fact, I don't think the consistency changed at all since I poured it.

 

[lizflowers42]

Hmm, please don't take this the wrong way-but could your measurements be off? I noticed that you don't have a digital scale in your photo.

 

[AlabamaBelle]

Hmm, please don't take this the wrong way-but could your measurements be off? I noticed that you don't have a digital scale in your photo.

That's definitely possible. I don't have a digital scale but after last night I realized that I really want one to take away having to "eyeball" it, especially when the conversion from grams results in 8.672 oz or something like that.

Since everyone suggests a stick blender, does that mean that you want to stir the mixture somewhat vigorously, rather than "gently"?

 

[lizflowers42]

That's definitely possible. I don't have a digital scale but after last night I realized that I really want one to take away having to "eyeball" it, especially when the conversion from grams results in 8.672 oz or something like that.

Since everyone suggests a stick blender, does that mean that you want to stir the mixture somewhat vigorously, rather than "gently"?

I would certainly splurge and get a stick blender and a digital scale. I have switched to using grams for measuring to get a more accurate number. But give that a good strong stir, I don't think it will harm it

 

[AlabamaBelle]

Thanks y'all!!!

This is what I love about this forum... everyone so far has been helpful and kind (not judgmental and know-it-all like some other forums I'm on).

I'm surely going to try again... maybe tonight??

 

[lizflowers42]

I agree, this forum is really nice--we are all "newbies" at some point-and I still consider myself a newbie! Only 10 months into this addicting world of cold process soaping! Every batch you make you will learn something new Don't give up, you will get it! I was deathly afraid of handling lye for a long time, but it's no scarier than cooking over a flame. Just wear your gloves and goggles, and you will be just fine! The good thing is that if you get raw soap batter on your skin, you will feel it tingle pretty quickly and can get it off before any real harm is done. Just respect the lye and you will be ok!

 

[roseb]

I think we hooked another one :twisted: Congrats on your first batch! Can't wait to see the pictures of the final soap!

 

[AlabamaBelle]

Ok so here's what I did. I took the following recipe from this post:

Hello, I am new to soap making. I made a 100% olive oil batch with a spanish friend and now want to try lard and OO. I worked out this recipe from a calculator, if any kind experienced persons would like to comment that would be most appreciated:
250 g lard
225 g olive oil
25 g castor oil
65.8g lye
165g water.

I am also thinking of using about 50 g of lavender infused olive oil (homemade) ,as part of the olive oil fraction.
Is this likely to work?
Thanks for any comments/ advice.

She said in a later post that it turned out good. I don't have any castor oil yet so I substituted the 25g castor oil for equal weight coconut oil. I doubled the recipe and converted it to ounces and got this:

17.637 oz lard
15.873 oz olive oil
1.763 oz coconut oil
4.642 oz lye
11.640 oz water

And of course I just measured as close as I could, having only a dial-type scale. I'm sure I probably mis-measured something. One of my books by Susan Miller Cavitch says that the soap not setting up could be too much water or not enough lye.

 

[Pepsi Girl]

That recipe looks good on the soapcalc however it's really low on cleansing. The lye should be 4.715 oz. but since you were "eyeballing" that wouldn't have helped much. Don't give up on the batch let it sit awhile. And remember you can always rebatch if it comes to that! That book by Norma and the natural soapmaking book are both really nice to look at... but I would suggest you read and use your "Soapmaker's Companion" as your reference book. And yes, get that digital scale! Soap On Sister!

 

[AlabamaBelle]

I read almost all the way through "The Natural Soap Book" today and will start reading in "Soapmaker's Companion" tomorrow. It's not quite as liquidy as it was this morning, but still REALLY soft... I could easily dip it out with a spoon, about the consistency of well-set pudding. This is going on 24 hours.

Thanks again everyone for the encouragement- I'm not a quitter, especially with this just being the first try!!