Hey everyone! So glad I finally joined!

[valerieinthegallery]

I first found this place years ago when I did MP. I LOVED doing MP, but I REALLY, REALLY wanted to try CP soaping. I was too scared, for many reasons. Fear of lye, fear of the expense, fear of failing.. I had spent so many years buying CP soap, reading about it, looking at pictures of it - it was my fondest dream and if I were to fail, where would my dreams go then? I would lose one of my greatest sources of happiness - the dream that someday I would do it! It was better to just dream, or so I thought.

About a month ago, there was a bit of a catalyst in my life that made me get off my butt and DO IT and I made my first batch of CP soap, and... it was a failure. So was my second batch. Issues with partial gels, sponginess, not hardening up.. I was ready to give up. I went to bed saying "I'm done." Then I was reading on these forums and picked up some words of wisdom. I tweaked my recipe and did my third batch CPOP and it came out GREAT! Because of that, I decided that my next batch (using the same recipe) would be what I had always really wanted to do, which was HP. It came out AWESOME and now I am good and truly hooked!

I am so glad to be here officially now, to chat with all of you and learn from all of you. I can't believe that I make soap! I MAKE SOAP! All those years of dreaming and thinking and researching and obsessing and now, I make soap. It's awesome, and crazy!

Thank you all for having me - so glad to be here!

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Partial gel is a fail? Man alive, I have many failed batches

Glad you've joined us

 

[shunt2011]

Hello and welcome to the addiction. We've all had failed batches though partial gel to me isn't failed just cosmetic. Most batches can be saved with a little work.

 

[dixiedragon]

I agree. my standard for failure is "looks and/or smells like vomit". Other than that, it's all good!

 

[valerieinthegallery]

"Man Alive!" always makes me think of Chandler's crazy roommate Eddie on Friends. LOL. Thanks for the laugh!

I could have worded it differently, I suppose. I wasn't implying that partial gelling SPECIFICALLY was a "failure". I just meant that combined with the other issues I was having, all together, it drove me over the edge, that it was obvious I didn't know what I was doing, that I couldn't do this.. etc. etc.

Can you tell I'm a bit hard on myself? And I have a hard time getting out of my comfort zone, troubleshooting, etc. So this has been a good lesson for me, that I CAN figure it out, I CAN make it successful.

I was not implying that each thing taken on its own is a "failure". Absolutely not.

Thanks for the welcome!

 

[Cactuslily]

Welcome! From one perfectionist to another! If nothing else, soaping has helped me let go of some of my ideals. You may have a specific idea in your head, but your soap has another one altogether, so you just roll with it. Congrats on your success and sticking with it!

 

[valerieinthegallery]

You got that right, cactuslily! I am nothing if not a perfectionist, so when my first batch didn't come out the way I was hoping, I wanted to give up. Sad, really. Glad I didn't! But being perfectionists just makes us that much more determined, right?

Thanks for the welcome!

 

[not_ally]

So glad you took the plunge, Valerie! Soapmaking (and soapmakers) are pretty awesome. I liked your American Horror post too

 

[Susie]

Hey and welcome!

 

[IrishLass]

Welcome Valerie! :wave:

If it's any consolation, my first couple of batches were complete flops. The first one was very lye-heavy and broke apart in sharp, brittle shards when I went to cut it (followed an online recipe for that one- didn't know any better at the time), and the other was the complete opposite- it was high in canola oil and so highly super-fatted (accidentally, not intentionally) that it came down with a bad case of DOS and had to be tossed. It was all up-hill from there, though (at least for the most part)! lol

IrishLass

 

[jules92207]

Welcome Valerie! Glad you chose to join us. We have all had many flops, I'm sure, glad you found some support to keep pushing on.

 

[Jstar]

Missed this post..sorry 'bout dat

Welcome to the crazy addiction..glad you toughed it out My first was 100% coconut oil soap...lethal weapon is more like it..shattered when I attempted to cut it..18 hrs later hahahaha

I've just made a 70% tallow soap, and it only got partial gel..Im not worried about that tho..its only 3 days old and already bubbles like crazy and Im happy happy