Finished my first batch

[Dr Ted]

Hi all!

My parents named me Greg but all my friends call me Ted. I'm not a real doctor, but I play one on the internet

I've been reading w/o registering for a few months now, while I studied the process and assembled my equipment, and today I finally made my first batch. It's small - but it's a start!

Part of my education was "The Everything Soapmaking Book", and I used a 1lb recipe that was in there. If anyone can suggest any other books, I'd be greatly appreciative.

I was stunned at how smoothly it all happened. I've been making my own beer for years, this was much easier! I look forward to making more. I was hoping I'd enjoy the process and it was better than anticipated.

Anyway I look forward to making your virtual acquaintance, and if you are in York Region north of Toronto, perhaps we could swap soap someday.

Oh yeah! Here is a photo of my meager first batch, taken moments after I poured it into the molds

Colophon: This soap made while listening to Oh, Inverted World by The Shins

It contains:
9 oz coconut oil
4 oz olive oli
0.5 oz eucalyptus oil
5 oz water
1.9 oz lye

It was supposed to be 4.5 oz each coconut and palm oil, but I forgot to write palm oil on my shopping list today and not having it was not going to stop me. I wanted to make soap today, dammit, and my book has said that experimentation is a great thing. Please, let me know if you think this soap will be dangerous - and why, I need to learn these things.

Cheers!


ps: if you are going out tonight to look at the larger than usual full moon, watch out for larger than usual werewolves

 

[Hazel]

Hi Dr. Ted,

Welcome to the forum!

Your soap looks great - very creamy in appearance. Good job!

I think your recipe looks fine other than it might be a little drying with such a high % of CO but it does depend on the person. My skin is dry and with this amount of CO, I need closer to 20% SF. It could be just right for someone who has oily skin.You'll have to let us know how it feels after it cures.

I loved your ps. It made me laugh. We were out earlier looking at the moon and the only larger than usual hairy beast running around was my sister's dog. He's so goofy.

eta: You asked about books. I like Anne Watson's Smart Soapmaking. She also has a book on making soaps with milk but I haven't read it.

 

[Microdot]

Hi Dr. Ted,
Welcome to the forum!

I would also suggest that when soaping batches that small you convert your recipe to grams instead of ounces, there is less room for mistakes. The smaller the batch, the less forgiving of errors as in relation to lye heaviness. As long as the soap doesn't zap it should be fine, if after curing you find it too drying (some find high levels of coconut to be so), just let it continue to cure. I have often heard that soap that seemed less than stellar upon first testing can become really fantastic with an extended curing period (six months to a year).

I really can't suggest a great book. The ones I read years ago when I was first introduced to making soap were alright, but to be honest I've learned more from soaping forums and Miller's Soap Page than from any of the books I've read. I'm enclosing a link to Miller's in case you aren't familiar with them. HTH

Dotty

http://www.millersoap.com/

 

[Dr Ted]

Hi Hazel and Dotty! I appreciate your welcomes and your kudos

Thank you for pointing me back at the Miller Soap Pages, Dotty. I found their site while looking for anyone saying that the Home Hardware brand lye was pure enough for making soap (it is). I hadn't realized that site is a treasure of saponification intelligentsia! It has been added to my collection of resources.

The warning about my soap drying skin out is duely noted. This kind of worries me, as I have fairly dry skin as it is. Whatever, I will try it out anyway. If it is too drying, I'll leave it be for a while. I'm a fan of vintages. Experimentation is great!

Thanks again for the welcomes. I look forward to peppering this forum with my thoughts and observations from time to time

Caio!

ps: Hazel, I'm glad you avoided the werewolves of unusual size and had a good dog walk

 

[BakingNana]

Congrats, Doc! Since you like experimenting, familiarize yourself with one of the soap calculators on the net. You'll go MAAAADDDDD with the possibilities! Also helps keep you from wasting ingredients while conducting mad science. Bwuaaaaaaahhhhhhh.

 

[serfmunke]

First batch is "cooking"

I too just finished my batch and am very excited to take a shower!!!

 

[Dr Ted]

Hey all, I know it's been a while but I've finally bathed with my first soap. As I'm sure you have all experienced, it was the most liberating and fantastic shower I've ever had in my life.

The eucalyptus oil probably helped a lot; opening up my sinuses wide during a lovely hot shower... but yeah, excellent soap. I don't think it's even dried my skin out.

I've been experimenting a bit more, apologies for not providing all the details. I managed to pick up a bunch of oils really cheap, so I've been dabbling quite a bit.

My experimentation went a bit wild once I found the lye calculator spreadsheet. I have several batches curing around my house at the moment. That being said, my house, it smells wonderful!

Next on my agenda is to try to make 1 bar/1 oil batches with each of the many oils I've picked up; flax, sunflower, hemp, coconut, almond, olive, grape seed, etc, etc... I've been reading about all these oils and their properties and it was suggested that I make small, single oil batches to see what the saponofied oils do. I've been enjoying my guesswork experimenting, but yeah, I should try to see what oil properties I'm actually working with.

Hope all is well!

 

[Hazel]

Dr Ted -

You might want to check out this site where they did one oil soaps. It's interesting.

http://www.zensoaps.com/singleoil.htm

 

[Dr Ted]

Dr Ted -

You might want to check out this site where they did one oil soaps. It's interesting.

http://www.zensoaps.com/singleoil.htm

Thank you very much! I'll still do my own experiments, but it's good to have other peoples opinions on such things. I'm only one opinion, so others experiences are invaluable to hear about.