First batch ever! Thanks Hazel!

[lenarenee]

Luckily I had gotten a book that had every single step shown by pictures and explicit directions (better than soap making for dummies) and I left that sitting out for emergency reference. Otherwise I would have chickened out!

I made Hazel's lard/coconut/oo/sunflower/castor, 8% sf, one pound and everything seems to have gone off without a hitch! It turned a lovely light yellow....which inspired me to add some lemon EO at light trace.

It's sitting outside covered in towels. I hope it gels thoroughly, but I doubt it considering the temp is only 75, and will get to about 45 tonight. Oh well....that will give me a chance to see the difference between a gelled and ungelled soap would look like.

No wonder people get hooked!

I intended to turn right around and make an all vegetable with palm, oo, co, and some edible cocoa butter I'd like to use up. But didn't know
if everything had to cleaned - or if you could use the bowls over again with residue from the previous oils.

The next bath will have to wait til the weekend.

Hmm. There's two days to a weekend...so I'll need a third recipe!

I am grateful to everyone on this forum for all the advice given to me and others! And thanks Hazel for the recipe!!

 

[Hazel]

You're welcome! That's great that you've already made the batch and I hope you like it. Don't forget to take pictures. :grin:

I've never used a bowl with a previous batch's residue in it so I don't know how it would turn out. I scrape as much soap out as possible and then set the bowl and utensils into a cat litter bucket with a snap on lid. I don't know if you've seen them in the stores but they hold anywhere from 27 lbs up to 35 lbs of litter. I leave them in the container until the residue saponifies and then scrape it into a soapsaver bag. Then I wash them with dish detergent like Dawn. Several people have commented they use old wash clothes or dish clothes to thoroughly wipe the bowl and utensils before washing them. They set the clothes aside to saponify and toss them into their washers when they do a load.

 

[savonierre]

Congrats on your first batch, it sounds lovely.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Congratulations! Looking forward to pictures - we love pictures