Hi! Im new And I made my first Bar!

[WonderfulSoaps]

Hello everyone! My name is Felicity and I just got into the soap making hobby. Like many other people I found Royalty Soaps on YouTube and loved it! I quickly wanted to try my hand at it. To be honest the lye part of cold process soap really scares me but I was able to make my first soap!
I used Nature`s garden fragrance oil Down Home Country, and did a drop swirl of 3 colors. I also did a pinecone embed for the top and stamped it with a bigfoot stamp!

What do you guys think? I was really happy about it for it being my first soap but I would love to get some advice <3 To be honest I had alot more problems occur when I was making it. For one my lye mixture was way to cold and needed to be heated and the only way I could figure out how to fix that was to hold the lye solution container (the container was closed) in warm water. That seemed to do the trick. My other issue I had was my soap hardened so quickly! I wanted to add texture to the soap but when I went to do go do it my soap was already to set! I keep my apartment pretty cold so I know that could be reason for it. Anyways, thanks for reading and hope you are doing well!

 

[GemstonePony]

Welcome! That looks beautiful! It does appear that the fragrance you have chosen thickens batter faster (accelerates), and that also means it sets up faster once you're no longer working with it.

 

[shunt2011]

Welcome and congratulations on your first soap.

 

[lsg]

Welcome to the forum. I was fearful of lye when I first started soaping. I found if you use the appropriate protective gear, there is no reason to be afraid. But, it does pay to always be careful. Your soap looks great for a first try. My first soaps were just one color.

 

[KimW]

Welcome! Love the bigfoot stamp.

 

[earlene]

Lovely Sasquatch (if that can be said about a Sasquatch).

Welcome, Kim. As you make more soap, you'll find you get into a rhythm and can move along at a more even pace, no as slow and hesitant as when you first start out. So that's part of it when it comes to not having enough time to do what you planned. That just takes time and practice.

Researching the fragrances and other additives before you start & choose which ones to use based on your goals with the soap, is also something you learn along the way. For example, if you want to do intricate designs, you find a slow-moving (non-accelerating) formula and ingredients. If you plan a simple, very plain soap, you may be fine with a faster moving formula and additives that accelerate trace.

 

[WonderfulSoaps]

Welcome! That looks beautiful! It does appear that the fragrance you have chosen thickens batter faster (accelerates), and that also means it sets up faster once you're no longer working with it.

Thank you so much! I didnt even notice but that makes so much more sense XD

Welcome! Love the bigfoot stamp.

Thank you so much! I had alot of fun trying to put some flare in it.

Welcome to the forum. I was fearful of lye when I first started soaping. I found if you use the appropriate protective gear, there is no reason to be afraid. But, it does pay to always be careful. Your soap looks great for a first try. My first soaps were just one color.

Thank you so much! Yeah I was a little ambitious for my first soap lol and I appreciate the advice. I do not know if ill ever be comfortable with lye but I look forward to not being so nervous.

Lovely Sasquatch (if that can be said about a Sasquatch).

Welcome, Kim. As you make more soap, you'll find you get into a rhythm and can move along at a more even pace, no as slow and hesitant as when you first start out. So that's part of it when it comes to not having enough time to do what you planned. That just takes time and practice.

Researching the fragrances and other additives before you start & choose which ones to use based on your goals with the soap, is also something you learn along the way. For example, if you want to do intricate designs, you find a slow-moving (non-accelerating) formula and ingredients. If you plan a simple, very plain soap, you may be fine with a faster moving formula and additives that accelerate trace.

Thank you so much! I will definitely take that information into account more when I make my next batch of soap!

 

[cmzaha]

Welcome to the forum Felicity and soapmaking. Your first soap really looks very pretty and I agree it was your fragrance that accelerated your trace. I noticed no one mentioned anything about you warming your lye back up, one it not necessary, many of us soap with room temp lye, and 2 it is not a very safe procedure to re-warm lye especially in a closed container which could build up fumes while warming, not sure but I would not trust it. If I remember correctly lye only becomes too cold at 60º or less. DeeAnna might jump in and correct me on the actual too cold temp. If you are afraid your lye is too cool you can always up your oil temp a titch.

 

[GemstonePony]

Thank you so much! Yeah I was a little ambitious for my first soap lol and I appreciate the advice. I do not know if ill ever be comfortable with lye but I look forward to not being so nervous.

I would say respect it, but don't fear it; it's a little like driving a car: you should feel confident but alert, follow safety precautions, minimize distractions, and keep children, pets, and clueless people away from influential items.

 

[WonderfulSoaps]

Welcome to the forum Felicity and soapmaking. Your first soap really looks very pretty and I agree it was your fragrance that accelerated your trace. I noticed no one mentioned anything about you warming your lye back up, one it not necessary, many of us soap with room temp lye, and 2 it is not a very safe procedure to re-warm lye especially in a closed container which could build up fumes while warming, not sure but I would not trust it. If I remember correctly lye only becomes too cold at 60º or less. DeeAnna might jump in and correct me on the actual too cold temp. If you are afraid your lye is too cool you can always up your oil temp a titch.

Oh ok, from what ive learned from Royalty Soaps is that she says the lye mixture should be at least within 10 degrees of each other (preferability 5 degrees) and that the both need to be within in the range of 75 degrees to 90 degrees, is that correct? Thank you for pointing at to me as I want to be as safe as possible!

 

[SPowers]

Hi and welcome Felicity. I started last May and thought the same thing about temps but you'll find, different people have had entirely different experiences. I've heard one say that the temp differences doesn't matter at all. You'll find your way - trial & error and experience are great teachers. Good luck going forward.

 

[Jay Tom]

Hello everyone! My name is Felicity and I just got into the soap making hobby. Like many other people I found Royalty Soaps on YouTube and loved it! I quickly wanted to try my hand at it. To be honest the lye part of cold process soap really scares me but I was able to make my first soap!
I used Nature`s garden fragrance oil Down Home Country, and did a drop swirl of 3 colors. I also did a pinecone embed for the top and stamped it with a bigfoot stamp!

What do you guys think? I was really happy about it for it being my first soap but I would love to get some advice <3 To be honest I had alot more problems occur when I was making it. For one my lye mixture was way to cold and needed to be heated and the only way I could figure out how to fix that was to hold the lye solution container (the container was closed) in warm water. That seemed to do the trick. My other issue I had was my soap hardened so quickly! I wanted to add texture to the soap but when I went to do go do it my soap was already to set! I keep my apartment pretty cold so I know that could be reason for it. Anyways, thanks for reading and hope you are doing well!
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Very lovely!! Great job!

 

[missone]

Congratulations! Enjoy your soap journey!

 

[Cosmo71]

I see someone already mentioned but your lye does not need to be warm. I often make my lye water in the morning or the night before I soap. I mix my oils too...then when its time to soap its just the fun part left. You did so much for your first soap, embed and a stamp. I don't know how to stamp yet. Very nice soap and WELCOME

 

[WonderfulSoaps]

I see someone already mentioned but your lye does not need to be warm. I often make my lye water in the morning or the night before I soap. I mix my oils too...then when its time to soap its just the fun part left. You did so much for your first soap, embed and a stamp. I don't know how to stamp yet. Very nice soap and WELCOME

Yeah I think Im going to try to figure out more about the temperature thing and Thank you! Doing the stamp is actually super easy, I just use a normal rubber stamp you can use for scrap booking and dip it in mica powder then gently push it on the soap! I try to find rubber stamps that have a little bit of thickness to them just to try to get the to show up ore but Im pretty happy with the results!

 

[WonderfulSoaps]

Hi and welcome Felicity. I started last May and thought the same thing about temps but you'll find, different people have had entirely different experiences. I've heard one say that the temp differences doesn't matter at all. You'll find your way - trial & error and experience are great teachers. Good luck going forward.

Thank you so much! That is really good to know, hopefully I can find some more info on the topic.

 

[AliOop]

Welcome, and great job on your first soap!

I will chime in on the lye issue and agree that it usually does not need to be close in temp to your oils. You might right into an issue if you are using a lot of hard oils that need to stay above a certain temp to avoid false trace. Other than that, you really don't need to worry about it. I master-batch my lye now, so it is always room temperature (70-80, depending on the weather and season) when I add it to my oils, which are anywhere from 90-120. Even with my favorite high-lard recipe, it's not an issue. Enjoy soaping!