SoapEh
Well-Known Member
Hi everyone 
I've been lurking for a bit, time to introduce myself. I'm a brand new soaper; I just started at the beginning of August, after doing lots of reading and watching endless tutorials. Now I'm hopelessly addicted!
I started soaping because I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, and my doctor suggested finding a hobby or hobbies to keep myself busy, moving, and improve my mood. I initially took up knitting, loved it (still do), but found it can hurt if I do too much. I'm finding that lot of soaping is preparation work that can be stopped and started, and I can save the actual soap-making for a really 'good' day when my hands are at their best. The worst days, when I'm grumpy and sore, I can read my head off and dream up new soaps to make (I have so many notes!)
I'm a very hands-on learner -- with any hobby or task I tend to read/watch lots, and then dive in and try a few things, before finding a way that works best for me. I knew right off hot process wasn't for me; I don't think I have the strength to stir cooking soap, nor mash the soap into molds once it's done in the crock pot. It's also several hours of consecutive work and can't be paused, which is a problem if my pain really kicks up. HP soap is beautiful, but I'll leave it to those with strong hands and arms!
So I'm a CP soaper, but I haven't yet discovered an 'it' recipe. I've been... dabbling... playing with oils and butters, making recipes, learning soapy chemistry. Soapcalc has been endlessly helpful, and I would be lost without YouTube. Now that I've found you guys, I feel fully prepared -- here are real, actual people who can answer questions, people who make soap, people I can learn from. Lucky me, a whole room full of soapy nerds who all want to talk about bubbles and oils and additives and molds and chemistry. *bliss*
I've made a few batches of soap so far. First I tried Brambleberry's 'lots of lather' recipe (I read it's best to start with someone's else's tried and true recipe), scented with oatmeal, milk & honey. I tried a drop-swirl in a couple of brownish colours and wasn't thrilled. But... after about six weeks I noticed that the colours are changing as the soap fully hardens; initially, two colours were almost the same. Now one is lightening up and I can see the swirl more. Neat!
I made a recipe that had too much shea butter in it, and further mucked things up by adding way too much extra oil accidentally -- I had little bottles of mica colorants suspended in sweet almond oil, and didn't stop to think about how much OIL I was adding as I coloured the soap. Ended up with a loaf of beautifully swirled, gorgeously coloured mush. Oh, and it stank because of the shea butter (it was unscented otherwise). Tossed it in the back of the cupboard for a week. Brought it down, it was hard enough to slice up... I thought. Nope. So I gave it up for a loss, made soap balls out of half of it, left the rest because I got tired. Forgot about it. Two weeks later... it's hardening up, and the stink is mellowing out. It's probably always going to lather up grey, but I'm keeping the bars that are left to see what happens over time. It might turn out to be very skin-friendly soap!
I made a bar that smells divine, but could strip the paint off a car. Waaaay too cleansing. Add peppermint EO to a harshly cleansing recipe and you get a bath that smells like toothpaste and feels like burning. I'm a put that in my sock drawer and call it a scent infuser or something.
The latest loaf was much mellower; I tried lard for the first time, which was a very interesting experience. Everything before that was vegan/vegetarian, I didn't even include things like beeswax. I keep reading what great soap animal fats make, so I thought okay... suck it up and try it. Sorry piggies, you make a great soap. French green clay is beautiful as an accent against the white of a lard-based soap, too.
I'll eventually learn how to put up pictures, and show you guys my erm... creations. Meanwhile, thanks for reading, this place is awesome
I've been lurking for a bit, time to introduce myself. I'm a brand new soaper; I just started at the beginning of August, after doing lots of reading and watching endless tutorials. Now I'm hopelessly addicted!
I started soaping because I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, and my doctor suggested finding a hobby or hobbies to keep myself busy, moving, and improve my mood. I initially took up knitting, loved it (still do), but found it can hurt if I do too much. I'm finding that lot of soaping is preparation work that can be stopped and started, and I can save the actual soap-making for a really 'good' day when my hands are at their best. The worst days, when I'm grumpy and sore, I can read my head off and dream up new soaps to make (I have so many notes!)
I'm a very hands-on learner -- with any hobby or task I tend to read/watch lots, and then dive in and try a few things, before finding a way that works best for me. I knew right off hot process wasn't for me; I don't think I have the strength to stir cooking soap, nor mash the soap into molds once it's done in the crock pot. It's also several hours of consecutive work and can't be paused, which is a problem if my pain really kicks up. HP soap is beautiful, but I'll leave it to those with strong hands and arms!
So I'm a CP soaper, but I haven't yet discovered an 'it' recipe. I've been... dabbling... playing with oils and butters, making recipes, learning soapy chemistry. Soapcalc has been endlessly helpful, and I would be lost without YouTube. Now that I've found you guys, I feel fully prepared -- here are real, actual people who can answer questions, people who make soap, people I can learn from. Lucky me, a whole room full of soapy nerds who all want to talk about bubbles and oils and additives and molds and chemistry. *bliss*
I've made a few batches of soap so far. First I tried Brambleberry's 'lots of lather' recipe (I read it's best to start with someone's else's tried and true recipe), scented with oatmeal, milk & honey. I tried a drop-swirl in a couple of brownish colours and wasn't thrilled. But... after about six weeks I noticed that the colours are changing as the soap fully hardens; initially, two colours were almost the same. Now one is lightening up and I can see the swirl more. Neat!
I made a recipe that had too much shea butter in it, and further mucked things up by adding way too much extra oil accidentally -- I had little bottles of mica colorants suspended in sweet almond oil, and didn't stop to think about how much OIL I was adding as I coloured the soap. Ended up with a loaf of beautifully swirled, gorgeously coloured mush. Oh, and it stank because of the shea butter (it was unscented otherwise). Tossed it in the back of the cupboard for a week. Brought it down, it was hard enough to slice up... I thought. Nope. So I gave it up for a loss, made soap balls out of half of it, left the rest because I got tired. Forgot about it. Two weeks later... it's hardening up, and the stink is mellowing out. It's probably always going to lather up grey, but I'm keeping the bars that are left to see what happens over time. It might turn out to be very skin-friendly soap!
I made a bar that smells divine, but could strip the paint off a car. Waaaay too cleansing. Add peppermint EO to a harshly cleansing recipe and you get a bath that smells like toothpaste and feels like burning. I'm a put that in my sock drawer and call it a scent infuser or something.
The latest loaf was much mellower; I tried lard for the first time, which was a very interesting experience. Everything before that was vegan/vegetarian, I didn't even include things like beeswax. I keep reading what great soap animal fats make, so I thought okay... suck it up and try it. Sorry piggies, you make a great soap. French green clay is beautiful as an accent against the white of a lard-based soap, too.
I'll eventually learn how to put up pictures, and show you guys my erm... creations. Meanwhile, thanks for reading, this place is awesome
