Hello From Arkansas

[Krickett]

Hello Everyone, I have decided to try my had at the art of soap making. Right now I am just doing the melt and pour thing to see if I am going to like it. I live in Arkansas with my fiancee', his 3 daughters age 11yrs., and soon to be 8yr. twins, all girls. I have a grown daughter who will be 24 on Mother's Day and a son who will be 21 in April. Three wonderful grandsons. The oldest will be 4 in July, the middle one will be 2 on April Fool's Day and the youngest was just born in January.
I am an animal lover and have a little dog--Peanut--2 inside cats the momma--Rascal--and her daughter--Sally Sue--as well as 3 outside cats, 2 of Rascal's babies and the daddy.
I enjoy all sorts of things. My fiancee' and me as well as the girls and his mom are members of the SCA--Society for Creative Anacronisms. We go to the events that we are able to, mostly the ones closest to home. I crochet some, am learning to sew, would love to learn to quilt. I have my grandmother's old quilting frame, one of the ones that drops down from the ceiling, wish someone could teach me to use it.
We--my fiance and me--play an online role play game called Ever Quest. I really enjoy it. I have just recently started to play games on Pogo. Think I am hooked.
I am 45yrs. old and want to learn so many more crafts. Sorry this is so long. Did I mention that I love to chat. Read romance novels, fantasy, science fiction and watch CSI as well as Walker Texas Ranger. Well that about sums it up.

 

[Guest]

Hello its very nice to meet you!

 

[sarahjane]

Welcome!!!

 

[Tabitha]

Welcome!

 

[Krickett]

Hello and Nice to meet you all right back at ya'! And Thanks for the welcome.

 

[Becky]

Welcome

 

[Soapmaker Man]

Welcome to the forum. :wink:

 

[Mandy]

Welcome! Glad you found us here.

 

[pepperi27]

Welcome to the forum!

 

[Chay]

Welcome

 

[IanT]

welcome to the forum!! I think youll find youll be thoroughly addicted after the first batch...its so interesting and rewarding once you take your first shower or bath with your OWN soap...and think to yourself...WOW i made this...I know exactly what went IN to it!

 

[Krickett]

Thanks for the warm welcome. So far all I have done is the melt and pour soap and some bath salts. Thought I would try it like this first to see if I was going to like it. I liked it so I may decide to try my had at a little harder to make soaps. I will have to do lots of reading and research as I am soap making illerate--a real newbie!

 

[IanT]

Krickett,

Here is a quite helpful post that may help you get started in a general direction for research...

http://soapmakingforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3371

How did your soaps and bath salts come out??? I havent tried MP or bath salts yet as i am still trying to perfect CP soaps, but I would love to start making bathsalts (I love taking baths!)

 

[Krickett]

Well I am not too sure about the soaps as of yet. I havent tried them. I did give some to my fiancee's mother and she tried it but said that there didnt seem to be enough peppermint in them and for some reason they didnt lather. The salts on the other hand look and smell fantastic and I did try one of them and it seemed to be ok.
I recently bought a book Natural Soapmaking by Marie Browning and I saw in it that the soap needs to cure for 3 weeks--I think anyway as I cant seem to find that part at the moment. And me being soap making illerate I just did the melt, color, and scent, then pour. Waited a day or so and gave it to her not knowing it needed to be cured. Now I am wondering--thinking--that since I didnt cure it, is that the reason it didnt lather?
I will do some more research and find out. I was thinking about doing some of the soap you have to cook--heat this summer. Though I am not sure how big of a pan or pot I will be needing. I have a cast iron dutch oven that I never use and am wondering if I will be able to use it. Thinking about just building me a fire in the yard and making it there.
We do however have a hay barn that we no longer use for hay. I was thinking about cleaning it out and building me some shelves and benches and using a camp stove to cook the soap on in there. Just ideas at this time. With only one income I have to buy a piece here and a piece there till I get all the pieces together then go from there.

 

[dragonfly princess]

Welcome Krickett, I do both types of soap. I started with MP soap and I love it, so easy and instant gratification. Now as far as curing an MP bar, there is not really a need for that. There are a couple of MP'rs on here and they may do it different. That is the great thing about MP, you don't have to cure it, take it out of your mold and use it if ya want. The curing process is more for CP, HP, RTCP and the like. I am working on my second batch of CP soap and it is on the rack curing for 3 more weeks, because the longer you let it cure, the harder the bar and the less chance you have of ripping your skin apart with the lye if it is too heavy.

So now that you are thoroughly confused! Welcome! I think we all are a little loopy around here so you should fit in just fine!!

 

[Krickett]

Many Thx. I used a pure glycerine soap base bought from Hobby Lobby. Now I am wondering why it didnt lather, any ideas or comments or help in any shape form or fashion?

 

[dragonfly princess]

I have noticed that a lot of MP bases don't lather all that much. I have heard of a few different ways of making it lather but none of them have worked for me. When I remelt my MP, it seems to lather a lot better but that is just me. Why not try to add coconut oil to your base, that might help. Don't quote me tho

 

[Krickett]

Coconut oil to help lather? Any reason for that, I mean is it a quality of that specific oil? Just trying to learn what I can. And I will try that next time. One more question on this subject here for now, about how much oil should I use? With the MP stuff I have not measured or weighed things other than to count drops of coloring and EOs. I am going to hunt for me a scale soon. And go from there. Thx for the help.

 

[IanT]

Krickett, Yes lathering is a property of coconut oil, I am not sure about how to use it in MP because I have only ventured into CP thus far...

One thing i found useful is look up oil properties, soap making on a google search...will turn up LOADS of useful info!


EDIT:here is the link I found on another thread posted by one of our members...it is an invaluable resource, print it!
http://www.soapnuts.com/indexoils.html


IanT

 

[Krickett]

Ok many Thx for the link. I have looked at so many links from these forums in the past couple of days and added most of them to my favs list for safe keeping. I have read so many things from several different sites in the past couple of days that my eyes are sore and burning!