First timer can’t wait!!

[SoapDaddy70]

Hello everyone! About to make my first batch of cold process soap. Spent about 500 dollars getting all the equipment. Now i am just waiting for my Nature’s Garden delivery and then I will have a go at this. My first try will be from Jan Berry’s book. I will be making Creamy Shea Butter Bastille Soap. I am going to color it with Lemon Peel powder and add Lavender and Litsea essential oil blend. Wish me luck!!

 

[msunnerstood]

That's pretty adventurous for your first soap but I do get the excitement. There's nothing quite like putting your first soap to bed. Hope you'll share your experience (and pictures)

 

[lenarenee]

Sounds good - good luck!

 

[GemstonePony]

Welcome! That's so exciting, I remember waiting for my soaping supplies to come... Come to think of it, you might want to get used to the waiting feeling, soap feels like it takes forever to cure when you're starting out and experimenting (I'm sure experienced people never ever struggle with this ) but success is so sweet! Or.. bubbly? Hmm... Anyways, as mentioned, we love pics!

 

[KiwiMoose]

Who's yer SoapDaddy? LOL
Waiting with bated breath here.

 

[shunt2011]

Good luck! Be sure to run the recipe through a soap calculator. Recipes in books have been known to be wrong. I would also recommend not making to large of a batch. Let us know how it goes.

 

[lsg]

Welcome to the forum.

 

[Zing]

Welcome to the forum and keep us posted -- we love pics! I recently used lavender and litsea and love that blend.

 

[SoapDaddy70]

Good luck! Be sure to run the recipe through a soap calculator. Recipes in books have been known to be wrong. I would also recommend not making to large of a batch. Let us know how it goes.

Yes. Double checked the numbers on SoapCalc and everything was pretty much exact to the numbers in the book recipe. Recipe fits into a Crafters Choice 1501 mold 3.5" x 8" x 2.5". I was actually expecting a bigger mold when I ordered it. Is that a pretty standard size for beginners?

 

[GemstonePony]

Yes. Double checked the numbers on SoapCalc and everything was pretty much exact to the numbers in the book recipe. Recipe fits into a Crafters Choice 1501 mold 3.5" x 8" x 2.5". I was actually expecting a bigger mold when I ordered it. Is that a pretty standard size for beginners?

I believe mine is 10", but 8" would have worked well for me. I also only fill mine 2/3rds of the way full for 2.5x2" bars. It's enough batter to let me try different techniques with, but it doesn't make the bars so big they're hard for me to hold. Added bonus, I don't go through my resources as quickly, and I don't have as many lbs of soap lying around as I otherwise would. I also go through bars a little faster, which allows me to try more of them.

 

[bookreader451]

Good luck and welcome to the obsession.

 

[Wooddy]

Hello everyone! About to make my first batch of cold process soap. Spent about 500 dollars getting all the equipment. Now i am just waiting for my Nature’s Garden delivery and then I will have a go at this. My first try will be from Jan Berry’s book. I will be making Creamy Shea Butter Bastille Soap. I am going to color it with Lemon Peel powder and add Lavender and Litsea essential oil blend. Wish me luck!!

Good luck, can’t wait to see your first batch.

 

[earlene]

Recipe fits into a Crafters Choice 1501 mold 3.5" x 8" x 2.5". I was actually expecting a bigger mold when I ordered it. Is that a pretty standard size for beginners?

I am willing to bet that there are as many mold sizes out there as there are soap makers. And the same probably goes for soap recipes.

Anyway, that mold should make about 6 to 8 bars of soap depending on how thick you cut your bars. That's not too much soap for a beginner. (8 - 1" bars, 6 - 1.5" bars) But it might be too much soap if you make soap every day while you are learning.

Personally, for new test recipes or to test a new fragrance or to learn a new technique, I prefer an even smaller mold, like one that makes 1 pound of soap, which the Crafter's Choice 1504 works out to be. From that, I can get 3 or 4 bars of soap, depending on how thick I choose to cut them. I also use other molds for practice or test recipes/technique/fragrances, etc. But they tend to be a size that will handle a small batch size. Unless the technique requires a slab mold, and then I have a mini-slab mold (re-purposed bamboo box) so I don't waste a lot of soap trying out something new.