Have $400 To Start Soaping...

[seven]

http://www.cumberlandacoustic.com/id9.html

I have the divided mold and I love love love it.

A multi cutter is also a very nice tool. If you don't want to lay out that much on equipment, you could get a wire cheese slicer at Walmart or BB&B for less than $20. I personally do not like cutting soap with a knife. It really made my hands hurt and my bars looked pretty bad.

When you have found the website you intend to order from (assuming you go that route), you could post another thread here asking for advice on which FOs to get. (If you order from Brambleberry, I recommend getting Black Raspberry Vanilla! Gorgeous scent, very well behaved, still strong months later.)

dixie, with the divided mold, how many lbs are there in each room?

 

[GuarinoSoaps]

Thank you all for the wonderful suggestions! I have seen the soaping videos from soaping 101 (I've been watching soap **** for 5 years now.) I think my husband is excited I will finally be doing it instead of "telling him about it"

I have a really good stick blender already, as my mom got me two for my birthday this year. I have been thinking about going to dollarama and dollar tree to see what kind of objects I can find as molds, but for general bar, I am pretty set on straight line thick bars. I find they just look so gorgeous!

Currently as it stands, I have found I can't order from anywhere in the states. WSP's shipping prices to Canada (I got a quote) for 6 lbs melt and pour was 146.00. Brambleberry was about half that. I have found Saffire Blue, which is a godsend, because for my entire 400.00 order, shipping is 30.00. I couldn't ask for a better deal than that.

Oh wow, $8 a pound for lye, I think I am paying about 7.50 per kilo. Thank you for the wonderful compliment. I consider myself to be pretty frugal, but I also know how important good equipment is. No sense in rebuying every year or less!

 

[seven]

what about essential depot like a previous poster said? they are having quite a sale here and there. they do ship to canada, altho i dunno about the rates.

 

[GuarinoSoaps]

i have tried with essential depot to add items to my cart and calculate shipping - but it says they don't ship to Canada.

 

[dixiedragon]

dixie, with the divided mold, how many lbs are there in each room?

3 lbs. I recommend a thorough greasing with mineral oil!

 

[Lin]

at dollar tree they have some drawer dividers that will work as log molds. For molds I recommend checking out thrift stores, you can get some awesome finds. Just keep your mind open for what could become a mold I just picked up this small wood crate, its got solid short sides, and the long sides and bottom are made of 2 pieces each. I'm going to stick cardboard inside against those wood sides. Then line with freezer paper step up from just the plain cardboard box! No bowing sides. Plus I got a nice sized silicone loaf pan with lid. The little wood thing is perfect for small batches like 1-2lbs.

Dollartree has great soaping supplies when it comes to pitchers to mix in (I got the same ones in the soaping 101 dollar tree video), large measuring cups with pour spouts to use when measuring out oils or separating soap batter to color (we got 4), spatulas, spoons, vinyl tablecloth for easy cleanup, disposable paper cups for weighing out lye, parchment paper to line molds.. and more!

Oh if you go for the cheese slicer, be cautious about sizes especially when ordering online. Many of them are really small and it would be difficult or impossible to cut large loaves. I've also found sometimes they will not list the full dimensions, but the dimensions of the block not including the section on the other side of the wire. Its strange, but usually its the width you need to pay more attention to than length for making sure it will cut large enough loaves. I'm hunting for the right one and won't get one with that width (smaller number) smaller than 6 inches. And there are plenty of ones that are smaller than that.

For now I rigged up a ghetto slicer. Attached a guitar string to 2 sharpie markers lol (they were laying around!) With a guide, it makes awesome cuts. I use pringles cans for molds and took one of the pringles cans and split it down the long size (and bottom had been cut off) to place the column inside and move it around without damaging it. Then I used a ruler to measure the amount sticking out and used the slicer along the top of the can for a perfect clean cut. If it wasn't for joint problems and nerve damage in my arms I'd stick with it for saving money.

 

[Rayan]

I think $400 is enough to start soaping. Now a days quality good element is easy to get from ebay & local supplier too. Just take some time to find perfect deal. Buying bulk would be economical & it'll be wise decision to start with uncolored soap. Best of luck.

 

[CaraCara]

There is Saffire Blue and New Directions Aromatics in Mississauga. Both are great and have very reasonable shipping. Nature's Garden in the US is good too for scents (they are potent and last). Your recipe is a good one--try 50% OO, 20%CO,25%PO and 5% castor oil. Won't be drying, will be nice and hard. You will now look at every cereal/cake/cracker box, milk carton and chip/toilet paper/paper towel tube as a potential mold. :mrgreen:
Some notable items you may want to consider: Freezer paper, candy thermometer works well measuring temps, lots of measuring cups for when you start blending colours, and rosemary oleoresin to help stave off rancidity in your oils. Not sure what province you are in but don't splurge on evoo. Go with the cheapest stuff you can find, unless your product is all about organics.
Welcome to the forum! Did anyone mention that we love photos?

ETA: Separate silicone utensils for mixing, scraping and what-have-you. Dollarama has them. Don't use the plastic ones because the lye will eat right through them. Been there, done that.

 

[GuarinoSoaps]

I am using Saffire blue for the most part I was so happy to find them! Thank you CaraCara for the welcome, and yes, I love pictures just as much as everyone else. Specifically cutting pictures!! It's going to be a party in my pants when the day comes that I am actually cutting my soap!

I am from wonderful Winnipeg

 

[Ellacho]

Best luck to you!

 

[dixiedragon]

I second the silicone spatulas. If you read the packaging, it will tell you what temp they are good until. I got a bunch of plastic ones at dollar tree and those are all messed up now.

I keep meaning to separate my food spatulas from soap spatulas, but haven't yet! My one stick blender for food has FOOD written on it in hot pink paint pen.

 

[dixiedragon]

Do you have HomeGoods in your area? They are a good place for supplies. I have gotten some nice silicone baking molds and ice cube trays there. Also, if you want to make salt bars or salt scrubs, they have pink salt for $6 for 2 lbs. That's a better price than Brambleberry. I'm sure you can get a better price if you want to buy 10 or more lbs of salt, but 2 lbs is a good amount to start with!

 

[Lin]

Oh yea, def get the silicone spatulas! We ended up going to more than one dollartree, the first didn't have the silicone ones we wanted so we bought this pack of ones that probably are plastic. Later at the second dollartree we found the silicone ones we wanted (betty crocker brand, they're red.) On the first soap batch we ended up chucking the first spatulas without even using them, because they were more like a solid spoon than a spatula as they had absolutely no flexibility. I can't imagine anyone being able to use them as spatulas!

 

[CaraCara]

I am using Saffire blue for the most part I was so happy to find them! Thank you CaraCara for the welcome, and yes, I love pictures just as much as everyone else. Specifically cutting pictures!! It's going to be a party in my pants when the day comes that I am actually cutting my soap!

I am from wonderful Winnipeg

Ahh, Winterpeg. I used to live in Shilo as a base brat, waaaaayyyy back when. I don't miss sand storms or -50C winter days.

 

[kryse13]

I am using Saffire blue for the most part I was so happy to find them! Thank you CaraCara for the welcome, and yes, I love pictures just as much as everyone else. Specifically cutting pictures!! It's going to be a party in my pants when the day comes that I am actually cutting my soap!

I am from wonderful Winnipeg

ME TOO!

ok well outside of Winnipeg.

For lye I bought at Home Hardware because I could not find any in Winnipeg. I never looked in Selkirk though. I think I spend $28 on a 3 L jug. I guess kinda pricy but I wasn't ready for an online order at that time.

My mold is a puff pastry plastic container from Walmart's great value puff pastry's. It fits 2.5lbs of soap which worked wonderfully for my first so many batches until I built my own loaf mold out of wood.

I used Candora Soap for my supplies, I spent $100 on an order from them. Shipping was $20 but I found their prices more economical than Safire Blue. I bought EO's and FO's and cocoa, shea, mango butters. Everything came well packed. I was super happy with my order!

Costco has good prices on CO and OO. I also have a membership through my family. I think its $55 and if you won't use Costco for much just ask your family to grab you some and pay them in cash. Right now Coconut Oil is on for around $20 for a big container. Little bigger than a big Kraft Peanut Butter container (sorry I don't have sizes). OO is about $30 for about 3 L I think.

I can take pix once I get over to my supplies and post if you would like.

 

[soap_rat]

Individual silicone molds are great, the non-silicone ones are a pain. Although I did have to treat the thicker silicone ones--by Wilton--with mineral oil to get undamaged shapes. Individual molds are great for salt bars (yes you want to try those) and of course for fun shapes.

I agree with the recommendation to get an anti-oxidant for your oils, if you're going to buy in bulk. To me bulk is a 70-lb pail (app 30kilos) and I had some palm oil go rancid on me after a few years. If your bulk purchase is smaller then you may be fine without it. I went with Vitamin E rather than Rosemary Oleoresin because someone in my family is allergic to rosemary.

I love my laser thermometer. It's not perfectly accurate since it measures the surface temp, but it's close enough for soapmaking. I don't have to wait longer than a second to get the temp, and I don't have to wipe it off all the time to measure the other container or to set it down.

If you think you'd like to make liquid soap, get some potassium hydroxide and if you want to superfat it without it getting cloudy you need sulfated (sulfonated?) castor oil


I agree a million percent with getting a good digital scale ($20-$40 in US dollars). It's so important. No springs! Then you can start out with relatively small batches, maybe 500 grams.

I bought a piece of cheap vinyl flooring to protect my kitchen floor--accidents do happen. You may want some rubber mats or vinyl flooring too. Also, always mix your lye in the sink, or outdoors, so if there's a volcano it can't get on your floor!

A lye mixing container that is wide rather than tall also helps prevent volcanoes. And use some ice cubes as your water amount. You do not need distilled water for regular soap--depending on your home's water quality/hardness.

Oh yeah, a particle mask like you use for home projects does help keep the lye fumes away, not even a respirator. I always hold my head away while mixing but the fumes get me anyway, but with the mask they don't.

 

[GuarinoSoaps]

I would love that kryse! It's nice to see a fellow manitoban! I was wondering if there were any more of us on this forum I will have to check out candora! Thanks for the help

 

[GuarinoSoaps]

I'll be heading to dollarama and dollar tree tomorrow morning to see if I can find any good soap loaf molds!

 

[kryse13]

At home hardware I got 6.6lbs of lye, probably around $25 (I can't find the reciept).
Costco had coconut oil (organic virgin cold pressed) for 17.99 (I think its $22 now) for 54oz. Avocado oil 1 litre for 10.99. They also carry olive oil and grapeseed oil. I bought these at the st.james location. Regent has the coconut oil but not avocado oil.