Beginner recipe?
- Thread starter serie
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Well, what I did when I first started out, and I am still very much a newbie, I purchased some melt and pour, a couple of nice molds, a color pack and a couple of nice scents from hobby lobby and tried that first.
I am still making melt and pour and I bought a couple of soap making books.
I have made, so far, four batches of cold process lye soap, three really small, single oil bars and a simple one pound batch with three oils.
I have spent a lot of time reading on soap making before I even tried it, about a year, before I felt comfortable enough to attempt it.
Well, what I did when I first started out, and I am still very much a newbie, I purchased some melt and pour, a couple of nice molds, a color pack and a couple of nice scents from hobby lobby and tried that first.
I am still making melt and pour and I bought a couple of soap making books.
I have made, so far, four batches of cold process lye soap, three really small, single oil bars and a simple one pound batch with three oils.
I have spent a lot of time reading on soap making before I even tried it, about a year, before I felt comfortable enough to attempt it.
Becky
Well-Known Member
Hi Serie, welcome to both the forum and the addiction 
If you are wanting to start with Melt and Pour (M&P), I would suggest buying a kit that has some base, a mold or 2, some colors & fragrance oils (FO's). If you let us know where in the world you are, I'm sure one of us can recommend a supplier.
If it is cold process (CP) that you are wanting to try, I strongly recommend reading http://www.millersoap.com/ first to get an idea of the process, the safety precautions you should use when soaping with lye, stuff like that. They have a heap of recipes there, but a nice simple one will be something along the lines of 50% Olive Oil, 30% Palm Oil & 20% Coconut oil. Put that into the lye calculator of your choice - many here use http://www.soapcalc.com/calc/soapcalc.asp, but I prefer Soapmaker, a program that you can purchase from http://www.soapmaker.ca/ - this will give your lye and water measurements.
For either type of soaping, be sure to use an accurate scale, preferably digital, and make sure you use weight measurements for everything, not volume.
Most importantly of all, HAVE FUN
If you are wanting to start with Melt and Pour (M&P), I would suggest buying a kit that has some base, a mold or 2, some colors & fragrance oils (FO's). If you let us know where in the world you are, I'm sure one of us can recommend a supplier.
If it is cold process (CP) that you are wanting to try, I strongly recommend reading http://www.millersoap.com/ first to get an idea of the process, the safety precautions you should use when soaping with lye, stuff like that. They have a heap of recipes there, but a nice simple one will be something along the lines of 50% Olive Oil, 30% Palm Oil & 20% Coconut oil. Put that into the lye calculator of your choice - many here use http://www.soapcalc.com/calc/soapcalc.asp, but I prefer Soapmaker, a program that you can purchase from http://www.soapmaker.ca/ - this will give your lye and water measurements.
For either type of soaping, be sure to use an accurate scale, preferably digital, and make sure you use weight measurements for everything, not volume.
Most importantly of all, HAVE FUN
Soapmaker Man
Well-Known Member
I have put together a recipe I call "Paul's Wal-Mart Soap Recipe" because everything except the lye and scent can be bought from any Wal-Mart Super center. Here is the link in the recipes area;
http://www.soapmakingforum.com/forum/vi ... art+recipe
A lot of members have tried it and really like it! :wink:
Paul
http://www.soapmakingforum.com/forum/vi ... art+recipe
A lot of members have tried it and really like it! :wink:
Paul
ilovedoxies
Well-Known Member
Someone sent me this video when I first got started. It helped a lot!!
http://www.expertvillage.com/video-seri ... -video.htm
http://www.expertvillage.com/video-seri ... -video.htm
Hmmmm, that soapcalc site is pretty snazzy.
When I make the wal-mart soap, can I add scents or extra goodies to it?
I was thinking I could try a basic soap recipe and then later melt it down and make other types of bars (is that rebatching?). Is rebatching the same thing as M&P?
I did see the video and that's what made me decide to try soap.
When I make the wal-mart soap, can I add scents or extra goodies to it?
I was thinking I could try a basic soap recipe and then later melt it down and make other types of bars (is that rebatching?). Is rebatching the same thing as M&P?
I did see the video and that's what made me decide to try soap.
serie said:
No, rebatching isn't the same as m&p. M&P is a whole different beast than cp soap. Yes, you can rebatch your soap later.
Yes, you can add scent & color or other additives when you make the wal-mart soap. I'd advise you to keep it fairly simple for your first few batches, though. Maybe start with just one scent & no color for the first batch. Then, when you know how the process flows, play with scent & color.
When you choose a scent or color, do a bit of research so you'll know whether other soapers have experienced anything like fast traceing, color morphing, etc. It'll save you a headache or 2.
