Hi! I'm new here! Need some advice

[mightykg15]

Hello everyone... My name is Keith... And I want to start making soap any advice for me out there? Thanks in advance!...

 

[coffeetime]

Read the stickies, then start searching through old threads for things that seem confusing. If there are still questions, come on back and ask.

 

[LuckyStar]

As a visual learner i would recommend taking a look at all the videos on youtube. I'm a big fan of soap queens four part introduction to cold process soap making. A nice balance of teaching the safety, some technical terms and then some more artsy stuff

 

[judymoody]

All the info you need is here. But if you want a book to pull it altogether, I recommend Alicia Grosso's Everything Soap Book. And welcome to the forum!

 

[Donna]

Read, read, read. In addition to the book recommendations and tutorials on this forum, you will find great info. on Soaping 101 on Youtube,
and Soap Queen on Bramble Berry's web site, just to name a few. Start out simple and safe. Any questions along the way, feel free to post.
Someone is always happy to share info. or suggestions.

 

[IrishLass]

Welcome to the forum!

Ditto what everyone else has said. Pull up a chair, make yourself comfortable, and read, read, read. To help get you started, I dug up some threads addressing beginner-type questions for you that I thought would be helpful:

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=26052&highlight=aluminum

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=46303&highlight=aluminum

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=41799&highlight=aluminum

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=24670&highlight=newbie

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=43980&highlight=checklist

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=35627&highlight=aluminum

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=34799&highlight=aluminum

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=34843&highlight=aluminum

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=31000&highlight=aluminum

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=29633&highlight=aluminum

A couple of good words to use as your search criteria are:

1) "aluminum"- because many of the threads addressing beginner questions have warnings about using aluminum utensils with lye.
2) "+ new +questions" - under 'title only' content
3) "newbie"- under title only content

Also- a really good site that was very helpful to me when I first started out is David Fisher's site: http://candleandsoap.about.com/od/soapmakingbasics/a/How-To-Make-Soap.htm

And as Coffeetime and Donna said- feel free to post any questions along the way.


IrishLass

 

[SparksnFlash]

Hello Keith! Since you appear ready to take on this addiction, I will offer the following: Read as much as you can, in particular please pay attention to safety procedures until the first thing you think when you see a soap-maker on UTube without gloves and with short sleeves is: OMG! She/he should be wearing gloves/long sleeves, etc. Think of lye as one of the only caustic, nasty, dangerous, harmful and potentially injurious things that you can turn into something wonderful and beautiful, if you give it due respect. (Not many other things you can do that with.)

You will find terrific advice and assistance here, as is already posted. You will find mountains of advice and instruction on the internet, in the library, in bookstores, etc. There is already a lot of info for you to check as posted, and much more to come. Among the most important (other than safety already stated) is measure accurately, know your oils and what they do or do not do.

Learn to laugh when things go wrong, because they will. Be grateful when things go right. Enjoy yourself and your creations.

There will be many more pieces of excellent advice for you, far loftier than mine.

Best of Luck :grin:

 

[Jerry S]

I think one of the most important things to remember and this isn't just for the beginning soap maker is to keep a container of vinegar near by when making soap just in case you have an accident with the lye or splash lye water on your work area. Its a great neutralizer....

not recommended

 

[judymoody]

Actually, the best thing you can do if you spill lye solution on yourself is to rinse with copious amounts of plain water. Don't put vinegar directly on your skin in the case of a lye burn.

 

[Bex1982]

Why not? Doesnt the lower ph neutralize the lye? I must be dummy.

Edit: I just read the thread from 2009 where you guys talked about this. So water is better. My buddy was talking to me not long ago (science geek) and he said to make sure I the vinegar handy. I guess it really is a widespread myth. I've been using it but I only ever get small burns on my wrists or hands.

 

[navigator9]

In addition to all the good advice you've already received here, I would strongly advise that in the beginning you should do yourself a huge favor by keeping it simple. When you're first starting to make soap, the process itself can be very intimidating and confusing, so don't make it any more so. Go easy on yourself. Here's how you might do it.

Choose a simple recipe. Few ingredients. The "holy trinity" is the holy trinity for a reason. Olive oil, palm oil and coconut oil are the basis of most handmade soaps and a good place to start. Equal parts of each, or 50% olive and 25% of coconut and palm are some good starter recipes. Three ingredients, no fragrance, no color, additives, swirling, etc. Get comfortable with setting out all your supplies, checking the batteries in your scale, making sure your lye solution and oils are at the right temp, double checking your ingredients and their weights, make sure you have gloves and goggles on. Get used to the process, combining the lye solution and the oils, what does emulsion look like, how long does it take to trace, light trace, heavy trace, oops, too far gone, have to shove it in the mold! Make a few batches like this, they can be small, practice batches, so you don't have to use too much of your supplies, but enough batches so that you feel comfortable with this process. IMHO, you should be able to duplicate a successful batch of simple soap over and over before you move on to more complicated recipes.

Then you can add one variable, either color or fragrance. By adding one variable at a time, it makes it much easier to troubleshoot if you have a problem. When I read a newbie's post saying, "I made my first batch, with a three color swirl, with a floral FO, a mica line, goat's milk, pureed avocado, honey, and these ten ingredients, I don't know how to use Soap Calc, so I kinda winged it, and it didn't work out........can you tell me what went wrong? " Whaaaaaat!!! If you are capable of producing a simple soap successfully over and over, and then you add a FO and it goes wrong, chances are pretty good that it's the FO that caused the problem, and you can start there.....was it a FO that typically accelerates trace, or causes ricing? Or if you use mica for color and it morphs into some weird shade of yuck you never anticipated, or you used an oxide, and now you have undisolved lumps of color, or you used a lot of honey and your batch overheated.....these are easy problems to figure out. Know the complications that various ingredients can produce, and it's easier to troubleshoot, or avoid them altogether.

Perfect your recipes and techniques as you go along.....don't throw too many challenges at yourself all at once. It's very tempting when you first start out to want to try every technique and ingredient, believe me, I've been there. I can't tell you how much money I've spent on ingredients I used once and decided never to use again. If you make things too difficult for yourself in the very beginning, and you have too many failed batches, you may get so discouraged that you quit trying altogether. I think that by going a little slower, so that you can understand all the steps along the way, makes you a better soapmaker in the long run.

To sum it up, go slow, go simple. And be prepared for some incredible showers!!! :-D

 

[Obsidian]

I recommend learning how to use a online lye calculator and always run your recipes through it. Doesn't matter if the recipe comes from here, a book or another web site. Typos happen and you want to make sure you are using a proper amount of lye for the oils you are using.
Many people, myself included use this one http://www.soapcalc.net/calc/soapcalcwp.asp

Ask questions, lots and lots of questions. We've all been there and understand how nerve wracking soaping can be in the beginning.

 

[Seawolfe]

Keep it simple, learn to use a soap calculator, always add the lye to the water, yes you do need a digital scale and a stick blender
I highly recommend the soaping 101 videos, and soap queen videos and tutorial, they both have reliable information and are easy to understand.

 

[Susie]

Hi, and Welcome!

^ What everyone else said.

Do learn the lingo first. Go read that abbreviations and acronyms sticky first.

Start practicing using SoapCalc now. Run a bunch of recipes through it. Look for the instructions for use. Having a printer saves a lot of writing. Plan to print and use the recipes. Go get a binder, dividers, and a three hole punch now. If you organize on the front end, you will save time and aggravation later.

Absolutely do print out and make great notes on the first recipe page. This is the soap you are never going to recreate correctly if you are like 90% of us that failed to make good notes on the first batch, and now we can't recreate the best soap we ever made.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

I'd also add - have fun! Soap making is strangely addictive and theraputic.

 

[AKjulz]

Welcome! In addition to all the other wonderful advice already given, I would add that if you think you've messed up a batch DONT throw it away! Many issues fix themselves if you just give it a little time and if not bad batches can ALMOST always be rebatched.

 

[robosqu1d]

Find a bit of space in your house where you can safely leave your soaps to cure undisturbed. You'll probably find that soap-making soon becomes something of an addiction and you will have trays or boxes full of unready soap.

 

[shunt2011]

You've received a lot of really great advice. Reading as much as you can is the best way to go. Also, do not use vinegar on a lye burn...it hurts. Just rinse really really well. Once you've read until your eyes seem like they are crossing then ask questions if you can find the answer or need clarification. There are a lot of very knowledgeable smart nice folks here.

Welcome to the addiction!

 

[mightykg15]

Hello! Sorry for the very late reply.... I've been busy for the past week... I'm very thankful to everybody who shared in here. Thank you very much

 

[Susie]

I forgot some things:

Safety glasses/goggles are a must. Regular glasses will NOT work.

Gloves are a must.

Good ventilation is a must when mixing lye and water.

Do start out with an empty sink so you don't mix your soap items with your food items. Add implements as they are used and run LOTS of water over them. Plan to have designated soaping items. Don't use food items on anything but plain oils(not FOs or EOs, and definitely not lye).