How to come up with a really good recipe

[Hausfrau007]

You see, you wake up at 4:00am on a Sunday thinking about soaping, experimenting with your alkanet infusion and finally give in to the craving at 4:45am.

You make the batch to relieve the craving, then, at 7:00am with the first load of laundry almost done, a frozen apple pie in the oven and the Mister starting to get hungry for breakfast, start thinking about your next batch and its ingredients.

I'm starting to get a little sleepy, now at 7:10am, but what do you think?

50% lard
20% coconut oil
20% palm oil
10% castor oil
Superfatted at 5%, water at 38%

Running it through soapcalc, it seems nicely balanced. What do you think?

 

[2lilboots]

Sounds like a good one to me......so take a nap and get up and make your soap!!!!!

 

[Hausfrau007]

Ah! Someone else is awake.

Unfortunately, we have a family Christmas thing to go to; otherwise, there would have been a BIG possibility of making this batch. You see, I'm using this for my ball soap, the one that went sideways on you.

 

[2lilboots]

Ah! Someone else is awake.

Unfortunately, we have a family Christmas thing to go to; otherwise, there would have been a BIG possibility of making this batch. You see, I'm using this for my ball soap, the one that went sideways on you.

Oh bummer on the Christmas thingy. Yeh I have been awake and have been trying to figure out what soap recipe I want to use to make my piped butterflies for my next round of cupcake soaps. It has to be a little batch because this is going to be tedious work and I don't want it to seize in the bowl. I don't plan on putting any FO's in it, but I do need to have several colors. Not to happy with the colorants that I have on hand right now, but I don't want to wait for my colorants to be shipped to start working on this idea I have. And........I don't have balls that go sideways :shock:

 

[Hausfrau007]

Lol.

Butterflies sound hard to make! Have you ever seen a peacock swirl? That would be amazing for butterfly wings, but I think that would be almost impossible to make.

 

[2lilboots]

Lol.

Butterflies sound hard to make! Have you ever seen a peacock swirl? That would be amazing for butterfly wings, but I think that would be almost impossible to make.

I will look it up and see if I can do it...lol! I drew up little templates and I plan on putting them underneath my cellophane so I can trace around them with my decorating tips. They have to be small so they aren't bigger than the top of a cupcake. The antenna will be the most difficult thing to make. I just looked at a tutorial on the peacock swirl and it doesn't even seem that soap mixture reached trace and they were pouring it into the mold. It is a neat process, but i don't think I can work with soap that thin. If they turn out I will post them, if they don't I will rebatch them.

I notice you use castor oil at 10% is that because of your lard content? I just started using castor oil in my last couple of batches. At first I used 5% but I didn't like how long it took for the soap to set up, so I cut back to 2.5%. So my OO is 47.5%, CO 30%, and PO 20%. I was doing 7% superfat, but cut back to 5% since I have been adding milk at trace. I haven't made soap with lard yet, but am tempted to try it.

 

[Hausfrau007]

I think if you peacock swirled your butterfly soaps, you'd need a cookie cutter for the wings. Pour it as a single layer on some freezer paper or something? You can't pipe a peacock design, that's for sure....

Regarding the recipe above, I really like working with lard; it makes a very nice bar. Castor at 10% isn't too outrageously high, I don't think. It adds nice, stable bubbles and some much needed conditioning to balance out the other hard oils. I'm on my iPad so let me see if i can intelligently paste the soap properties.

Hardness 29 - 54 - 47
Cleansing 12 - 22 - 14
Conditioning 44 - 69 - 48
Bubbly 14 - 46 - 23
Creamy 16 - 48 - 42
Iodine 41 - 70 - 50
INS 136 - 165 - 160

 

[Ruthie]

You are not the only one up soaping on a Sunday morning! I just finished my "batch of the day" (HP). Started getting stuff ready earlier, but did not turn on the stick blender til 6:30. It is in the mold now. Stick blender overheated, so I ended up stirring by hand. But I think it will be OK.

 

[Hausfrau007]

Oh my gosh, Ruthie, I'm just waiting for the day my stick blender overheats. I soap at cooler temperatures as it is, and sometimes, the poor thing is working for 30 minutes straight...

 

[2lilboots]

Bummer on the stick blender overheating. I notice that mine gets warm, and I really don't run it alot. I didn't get an expensive one, so I guess I got what I paid for.

Hausfrau...do you use FO or EO's? I haven't experimented with any EO's and after reading Lindy's statement that some can be harmful, I am a bit fearful of using them nowl

 

[2lilboots]

I notice that lard really reduces the iodine content of the bars...yes I was playing on soapcalc.

I was also reading up on rosemary oleoresin. Have you used that? I read it helps to reduce DOS and extend the shelf life of soaping oils as well as cured soap bars.

 

[Hausfrau007]

Hm. The reason I got into soaping was because the Mister is allergic to sodium laurel sulfates, so I'm trying to use as many natural ingredients as I can while still having fun. The Mister is also allergic to a lot of fragrances, and although he's okay with peppermint eo which I once cautiously added to one of my early batches, he really doesn't enjoy "smelly" things.

So ya. I haven't used fragrances extensively for that reason (and probably won't), and even with my colours, I'm trying to stay natural -- unfortunately, because just playing this morning with my alkanet (pictures are coming!), really got my creative juices flowing.

Oh yes, regarding the iodine, the lard makes a nice hard bar without adding too much harshness.

 

[2lilboots]

Alkanet is a natural colorant so you are sticking with a natural bar. I cannot wait to see how purple your bars turn out.

I notice that I really cannot smell the floral and fruity soap bars as much as I can smell the ones that have spice FO's in them. Probably because they smell like food.

I will never use silk fibers in my soap again. It said to melt the fiber in my lye/water solution. My lye/water solution did get really hot and I stirred like a nut, but when I poured the lye/water solution into my oils, I noticed that some of the fibers didn't melt so that soap has funky lines in it. Lesson learned.

I used to be allergic to aloe products, but I have made soap with aloe juice and I haven't had any adverse reactions to it.

 

[Ruthie]

Esther, that was the "problem" this time, I'm sure. My lye was much cooler since it was my first milk recipe. I had hopes the poor thing had just gotten too hot and shut itself off, but its been an hour and a half and it still is silent. So I guess it bit the dust.

I'm wanting to know how your recipe goes. I LOVE castor oil! But I have heard it should be limited to like 5% due to DOS. So please keep us posted on how this goes for you. (Have you used this much castor in a recipe before?)

 

[Hausfrau007]

You know, I'm not sure if I've used 10% castor before... I might have.

2lilboots, I love love love experimenting, and particularly when it DOESN'T work out, I'm all the more inspired. So, good for you with your failed silk fibre things. Actually, I can read about stuff and take advice into consideration (like, don't lick your soaps until 48 hours have passed, lol), but I tend to stray off on my own. Unless I've tried it myself, I won't know FOR SURE, you know?

 

[Hausfrau007]

Now you're making me all antsy about the 10% castor. I've gone back to my recipes, and I've indeed had a couple that had that much castor, but I've never used more than 10%.

 

[2lilboots]

Now you're making me all antsy about the 10% castor. I've gone back to my recipes, and I've indeed had a couple that had that much castor, but I've never used more than 10%.

You are not supposed to second guess or doubt your recipe!!!!!! You are Hausfrau soaper extraordinaire....with a stick blender in one hand.....and your soap mold in the other.

 

[AlchemyandAshes]

I use Castor anywhere from 5-10% and have yet to experience DOS. Some shampoo bars use up to 30% Castor, so you have to consider the rest if the recipe and curing conditions and whatever before blaming the Castor for DOS. It will render a softer bar at a higher percentage.

 

[2lilboots]

I use Castor anywhere from 5-10% and have yet to experience DOS. Some shampoo bars use up to 30% Castor, so you have to consider the rest if the recipe and curing conditions and whatever before blaming the Castor for DOS. It will render a softer bar at a higher percentage.[/quot

I read that castor oil will add more suds, but does make a softer bar. That is why I cut back on what I was using for fear that I would end up with a pile of goop the first time I washed my hands with it.

 

[Hausfrau007]

I think because I'm using all hard oils (lard, cc and po) the castor at 10% brings just the right music to the party. On paper at least, the recipe looks good to me. Having said that, I'd like to hear opinions...