Dorymae - that would be awesome! I apologize, but I don't know who Cindy is. Would it be strange for me to contact her asking her for mica samples considering I am not sure who she is?
Gearing up for batch #1!
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Dorymae - that would be awesome! I apologize, but I don't know who Cindy is. Would it be strange for me to contact her asking her for mica samples considering I am not sure who she is?
You guys are awesome! So....impatient me wants to make soap right now and not wait for my mold that is coming Tuesday. I bought the rest of my supplies so I'm ready to rock! I think I'm going to head out to the hardware store and get some 3" PVC pipe, line it with parchment paper and try making my batch in there. I've done a ton of online research about it. The only think I didn't see was the question I need to ask.
When using a PVC mold, do you have to insulate this with towels for 24-48 hours just like a normal mold?
When using a PVC mold, do you have to insulate this with towels for 24-48 hours just like a normal mold?
Dorymae
Well-Known Member
Here is her postings the first:
http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=52544
and the second:
http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=52545
Well - it's DONE! I made my 1st batch of soap! It's in a PVC pipe that I converted into a soap mold. Here's a picture of it along with a picture of my 9 year old 
He was ridiculously excited about making soap. He even began to make up songs about it - lol.
Here are all my supplies:
I can't wait to see what it is going to look like unmolded! I covered the PVC pipe with a towel and I'm letting it sit until Sunday night. The hardest part is going to be leaving it alone
He was ridiculously excited about making soap. He even began to make up songs about it - lol.
Here are all my supplies:
I can't wait to see what it is going to look like unmolded! I covered the PVC pipe with a towel and I'm letting it sit until Sunday night. The hardest part is going to be leaving it alone
Cindy2428
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Please see my post about free mica samples in the ad forum. 1 tsp of the dark colors will give you a nice color for a small batch - 1 to 1-1/2 lbs. The lighter colors, i.e. Lemon Chiffon will give you a more muted pastel in my experience.
Cactuslily
Well-Known Member
Congratulations! See? You did it! You're going to have so much fun! The hardest part for me is waiting to cut and see what you've got. Welcome to the club!
Unmold at 18-24 hours. Not days. You don't want to wait too long before cutting. Soap gets brittle and does not cut well if you wait too long.
Thanks to all! I thought I'd share my observations with you guys about soaping for the first time.
First of all, lye fumes are nasty! I now completely understand why you should wear safety goggles. I tried to mix this as far away from myself as possible and I still got 1 or 2 whiffs that caused me to choke a little. My lye temperature got to a maximum of about 190 degrees. That's when I let it sit and moved on to my oils.
I put the hard oils into an old, stainless steel pot and put them on the stove on medium heat to melt. Once melted, I removed them from the heat and added my soft oils. I then transferred all the oils to my mixing container to let it cool. Here's a picture of both the lye mixture & oils mixtures.
I must have done something right because my oils and my lye mixture remained within 5-10 degrees of each other the entire cooling down period (which took about 45 minutes).
I'll be honest with you...this was the longest wait of all!!! Maybe next time I'll try giving both an ice bath to move the cooling process along a little faster. Anyways...once both got to about 119 degrees F, I decided it was time to start mixing and making soap! I won't lie, I was nervous and called my husband to come up and watch to make sure I didn't do anything silly
I noticed that the oils and lye came together quickly - about 1-2 minutes of short bursted mixing with my stick blender. Then, thin trace came at about the 3 minute mark. I kept mixing for another 2 minutes until I started to get that beautiful pudding like consistency. This is what I considered to be the beginnings of medium trace.
I will tell you it felt like I was mixing FOREVER! I wondered for a minute what was wrong with my soap until I remembered that most of the soap videos I've seen speed up the mixing process because it takes awhile. Felt better after remembering that.
My husband held the PVC pipe as I poured my mixture into it's mold. Then I covered it with a towel and it's now sitting on my kitchen counter - resting. Sorry I couldn't get pics of the mixing process or filling the mold. To tell the truth, I got really excited and forgot all about my camera sitting right next to me.
I started the whole process about 7:30 and ended at about 9:00 pm. I think that speeding up the cooling of the ingredients will help shorten this time.
I'm really excited about unmolding this! Susie, I'll probably unmold this around 4pm today (19 hours) and see what I get. I'll make sure to take tons of photos!!!!
First of all, lye fumes are nasty! I now completely understand why you should wear safety goggles. I tried to mix this as far away from myself as possible and I still got 1 or 2 whiffs that caused me to choke a little. My lye temperature got to a maximum of about 190 degrees. That's when I let it sit and moved on to my oils.
I put the hard oils into an old, stainless steel pot and put them on the stove on medium heat to melt. Once melted, I removed them from the heat and added my soft oils. I then transferred all the oils to my mixing container to let it cool. Here's a picture of both the lye mixture & oils mixtures.
I must have done something right because my oils and my lye mixture remained within 5-10 degrees of each other the entire cooling down period (which took about 45 minutes).
I'll be honest with you...this was the longest wait of all!!! Maybe next time I'll try giving both an ice bath to move the cooling process along a little faster. Anyways...once both got to about 119 degrees F, I decided it was time to start mixing and making soap! I won't lie, I was nervous and called my husband to come up and watch to make sure I didn't do anything silly
I noticed that the oils and lye came together quickly - about 1-2 minutes of short bursted mixing with my stick blender. Then, thin trace came at about the 3 minute mark. I kept mixing for another 2 minutes until I started to get that beautiful pudding like consistency. This is what I considered to be the beginnings of medium trace.
I will tell you it felt like I was mixing FOREVER! I wondered for a minute what was wrong with my soap until I remembered that most of the soap videos I've seen speed up the mixing process because it takes awhile.
Felt better after remembering that.My husband held the PVC pipe as I poured my mixture into it's mold. Then I covered it with a towel and it's now sitting on my kitchen counter - resting. Sorry I couldn't get pics of the mixing process or filling the mold. To tell the truth, I got really excited and forgot all about my camera sitting right next to me.
I started the whole process about 7:30 and ended at about 9:00 pm. I think that speeding up the cooling of the ingredients will help shorten this time.
I'm really excited about unmolding this! Susie, I'll probably unmold this around 4pm today (19 hours) and see what I get. I'll make sure to take tons of photos!!!!
Dorymae
Well-Known Member
Ah, the addiction is now complete, there is no going back now. Hold onto your hat, it can be a wild but very fun ride!
FlybyStardancer
Well-Known Member
Good job!
And as an interesting note, it looks like you and I have the same stick blender!
And as an interesting note, it looks like you and I have the same stick blender!
15 hour after pouring the soap - I decided to unmold it. It ws good timing for this recipe. Here are some photos. My husband had a brand with a "B" on it (our last name begins with a B). He thought it would be fun to brand them. lol
Here is the soap straight out of the PVC pipe before unwrapping it
My hubby was complaining about how crooked I cut the soap, so he decided to take over. LOL - think I may have a helper in the future!!
I put them on a baking rack after he cut them. In some of these, you can actually see that the soap went through gel!
Now it's time to let them cure for a few weeks. I couldn't help trying a small piece and it really lathered amazingly! Hands are dry feeling afterwards though. I'm sure that will change with age. Thanks to all who helped me with this! Can't wait to make more!
Here is the soap straight out of the PVC pipe before unwrapping it
My hubby was complaining about how crooked I cut the soap, so he decided to take over. LOL - think I may have a helper in the future!!
I put them on a baking rack after he cut them. In some of these, you can actually see that the soap went through gel!
Now it's time to let them cure for a few weeks. I couldn't help trying a small piece and it really lathered amazingly! Hands are dry feeling afterwards though. I'm sure that will change with age. Thanks to all who helped me with this! Can't wait to make more!
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Yay! They look great. Nice job.
Congratulations on the first batch! It's looking really good, seems like your husband might be bitten a little by the soapmakingbug :wink:
Mine are cut terribly crooked aswell, but atleast they're all evenly cut terribly crooked
Mine are cut terribly crooked aswell, but atleast they're all evenly cut terribly crooked
Congratulations! The soaping addiction is wonderful, clean addiction!
Tell hubby that he needs to press straight down, rather than saw, with that blade. Keeps you from having "saw marks" on the side. And I would suggest a stainless steel knife, as you don't know what that saw blade is made of. Getting black marks on your soap from a reaction between aluminum and the lye would be sad. If he is handy, ask him nicely if he could make you a miter box with only the 90 degree angle(or go get a cheapo one from the local hardware store). The plastic ones from the hardware store can be marked with a marker at one inch(or whatever you like), and tossed in the dishwasher when done.
Tell hubby that he needs to press straight down, rather than saw, with that blade. Keeps you from having "saw marks" on the side. And I would suggest a stainless steel knife, as you don't know what that saw blade is made of. Getting black marks on your soap from a reaction between aluminum and the lye would be sad. If he is handy, ask him nicely if he could make you a miter box with only the 90 degree angle(or go get a cheapo one from the local hardware store). The plastic ones from the hardware store can be marked with a marker at one inch(or whatever you like), and tossed in the dishwasher when done.
Thanks guys So I got up the nerve to stick my tongue to one of my soaps and prepared for the worst. Nothing happened...no zap...no taste...nothing! Now it's time to let them dry out and see what happens.
I have a question about superfatting because I think I'm a little confused on the subject. If I go into soapcalc and enter my recipe and say I want to superfat at 8%, does that mean that the calculator automatically adds in the correct amount of oils to my recipe to make it 8% more than it was? Or...am I doing it wrong?
I added no additional fats to my soap above and beyond what the soapcalc told me to. I superfatted the recipe to 8%. Am I missing something or did I do things right?
So I got up the nerve to stick my tongue to one of my soaps and prepared for the worst. Nothing happened...no zap...no taste...nothing! Now it's time to let them dry out and see what happens.I have a question about superfatting because I think I'm a little confused on the subject. If I go into soapcalc and enter my recipe and say I want to superfat at 8%, does that mean that the calculator automatically adds in the correct amount of oils to my recipe to make it 8% more than it was? Or...am I doing it wrong?
I added no additional fats to my soap above and beyond what the soapcalc told me to. I superfatted the recipe to 8%. Am I missing something or did I do things right?
kchaystack
Supporting Member
Actually what it does is reduce the amount of lye you use to prevent that % of your total oils from saponifying. If you go back into the calc and change the sf amount to 0, you should see that the NaOH amount go up.
You did exactly right. And kchaystack is correct. What soapcalc gives you is a lye discount, which we refer(wrongly) to as superfat. I know it is confusing, but if you follow exactly what you put into the calculator, then you get out safe soap.
FlybyStardancer
Well-Known Member
Congrats! They look wonderfully creamy!
Cactuslily
Well-Known Member
They look great! I love the branded "B"
And so it begins...
And so it begins...
