hi all, new in here!

[marykj]

hi all.. i have soaping since 2010. it started with melt and pour, then to cold processed soaps, then when the cold processed soap went south, rebatched them using hot processed, then i got into hot processing soaps! its always a learning journey for me, i do every time record all my ingredients and methods ~ find this really helpful when you need to reassess your mistakes, also there is so much to learn because in this business, you need to read a lot, ask a lot, then make a lot of mistakes, get upset, stop making any soaps for awhile, then read again. then making them again. the problem is, there is no specific and exact way making soaps, if you are from a country hot and sunny like mine, then the question of gel phase, curing and all is a bit different. so thats my story. pretty excited to be part of this soapmaking forum!

 

[Babyshoes]

Hi and welcome!

 

[AliOop]

Welcome! We’d love to see some pictures of your soaps. Please put them in the Photo Gallery

 

[lsg]

Welcome to the forum.

 

[TheGecko]

the problem is, there is no specific and exact way making soaps, if you are from a country hot and sunny like mine, then the question of gel phase, curing and all is a bit different.

Welcome.

I disagree. Making [true] soap is very specific/exact: Fats + Lye = soap. And if you are in a controlled environment, you'll get the same results every time.

But we don't...we live in different parts of the world at different elevations with different climates that often change depending on where the planet is in its rotation. Our oils and butters are subject to the same changing conditions even if it comes from the same tree. And then there is the human factor...we have our good days and our bad days and on a 'good day'...everything is perfect and we make a perfect bar of soap; on a bad day, we stirred too much or we didn't stir enough or our oils and lye was too hot or too cold or that lovely scent turned what was supposed to be a delicate two-color swirl into an OMG plop and press and it looks like something our 2-year old grandson created with Play Dough.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

 

[gardengeek]

Welcome!

 

[marykj]

Welcome.

I disagree. Making [true] soap is very specific/exact: Fats + Lye = soap. And if you are in a controlled environment, you'll get the same results every time.

But we don't...we live in different parts of the world at different elevations with different climates that often change depending on where the planet is in its rotation. Our oils and butters are subject to the same changing conditions even if it comes from the same tree. And then there is the human factor...we have our good days and our bad days and on a 'good day'...everything is perfect and we make a perfect bar of soap; on a bad day, we stirred too much or we didn't stir enough or our oils and lye was too hot or too cold or that lovely scent turned what was supposed to be a delicate two-color swirl into an OMG plop and press and it looks like something our 2-year old grandson created with Play Dough.

Ahha. The where and when factor. I am quite lucky with that. Once i figured out the humidity factor then its just the same.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

Once i figured out the humidity factor then its just the same.

I for one would like to hear more about that. You might want to start a thread about "The Humidity Factor" or similar, to share what you've learned.

When the subject comes up, I'm no help at all because I live in Colorado's Alpine Dessert Climate where humidity is always low unless it's snowing or raining.

 

[TheGecko]

When the subject comes up, I'm no help at all because I live in Colorado's Alpine Dessert Climate where humidity is always low unless it's snowing or raining.

I'm in the Pacific Northwest...we have fairly moderate temperatures with maybe a month of highs and a month of lows, but a lot of times it's a crap shoot because of the rain.