I did it!

[Noreen Moore]

Well I had a lot of fun yesterday playing in the kitchen making soap!
I took a community ed class and we did hot process. Everyone's soap crumbled. I ran into a gal I took the class with and she just rebatched it. Of course lost all her essential oil scent.
Yesterday I tried cold process. 2 batches. 2 different recipes.
Unmolded from my bread and brownie pan with parchment paper. Tomorrow I will slice it.
I tried different colored mica's and watched colors morph! Wow!
This is an exciting and fun hobby! It is going to become an addiction! I found myself mesmerized at the grocery store in the oil section! HA! I was actually there for olives but...
Then I found this site! Perfect!

 

[Arimara]

Congrats on starting. HP soap was my first soap. I suspect you may have used too little water for it to have crumbled. Usually a ratio of 3:1 water to lye is used for HP. Slightly less can be used. Do you remember how much of each ingredient was used? Also, congrats on two CP batches as well.

 

[Michele50]

Hello @Noreen Moore, I can attest to the fact that soap making is quite addictive (lol). Enjoy, and you'll learn a lot in this forum.....so many helpful souls here.

@TheGecko, great advice! "....Some advice: Set a budget and take your time. It's real easy to see all those lovely color and scents and molds OH MY and want it all! Buy small quantities of ingredients to start out. It's a little more spendy. but less wasteful in the long run if you end up with something you don't like. ......"

 

[TheGecko]

Well I had a lot of fun yesterday playing in the kitchen making soap!
I took a community ed class and we did hot process. Everyone's soap crumbled. I ran into a gal I took the class with and she just rebatched it. Of course lost all her essential oil scent.
Yesterday I tried cold process. 2 batches. 2 different recipes.
Unmolded from my bread and brownie pan with parchment paper. Tomorrow I will slice it.
I tried different colored mica's and watched colors morph! Wow!
This is an exciting and fun hobby! It is going to become an addiction! I found myself mesmerized at the grocery store in the oil section! HA! I was actually there for olives but...
Then I found this site! Perfect!

Welcome. Yes, soap making is VERY addicting. Some advice: Set a budget and take your time. It's real easy to see all those lovely color and scents and molds OH MY and want it all! Buy small quantities of ingredients to start out. It's a little more spendy. but less wasteful in the long run if you end up with something you don't like. Even after a year, I still only buy small amounts of color and scent the first time round.

 

[Relle]

Welcome Noreen . What is your bread and brownie pan made from ? It's best not to use metal for moulds, use wood, silicon or a lined paper box if you have nothing else.
As you are new, would you also like to Introduce yourself on your own thread in the Introduction Forum and tell us a bit about yourself.

 

[Noreen Moore]

Welcome Noreen . What is your bread and brownie pan made from ? It's best not to use metal for moulds, use wood, silicon or a lined paper box if you have nothing else.
As you are new, would you also like to Introduce yourself on your own thread in the Introduction Forum and tell us a bit about yourself.

Sure but I am trying to figure out the web site. I am not as computer savvy as I used to be? Or maybe I am just getting older? LOL!
Yes it was glass. I will make the plunge here now that I have had success and purchase some molds and I have watched so many YouTube videos! So I used a glass bread and a brownie pan lined in parchment paper!
Thank you for the advice! I am full of questions and will keep reading and figuring this site out! I also love to repurpose... Reduce reuse recycle kinda person so the tall half and half cartons would be a great size to use for making perfect square soap bars!
This is a lot of fun!!!

Welcome. Yes, soap making is VERY addicting. Some advice: Set a budget and take your time. It's real easy to see all those lovely color and scents and molds OH MY and want it all! Buy small quantities of ingredients to start out. It's a little more spendy. but less wasteful in the long run if you end up with something you don't like. Even after a year, I still only buy small amounts of color and scent the first time round.

Yes a budget! And my 1st recipe may need to cure longer? Feels a bit "greasy" to the touch. 2nd recipe I omitted Avocado oil and used castor oil and that I think will be far superior to my 1st recipe.
Not greasy feeling, firm, cut beautifully. Got some gelling I noted on my first recipe.
Now I want to infuse olive oil naturally for colors. Watched some videos on that. And to try to intentionally gel some soap for the looks. Oh boy... Yeah... I like this hobby! Quite the learning process involved!
So grateful for this site!!! Nice to meet you all!

Congrats on starting. HP soap was my first soap. I suspect you may have used too little water for it to have crumbled. Usually a ratio of 3:1 water to lye is used for HP. Slightly less can be used. Do you remember how much of each ingredient was used? Also, congrats on two CP batches as well.

Well I think it cooled too much? I have the recipe somewhere. Instructor insisted we let it cool down a LOT before we added the essential oils. And she had us use crayon to color it. The class was a bit too big for 1 instructor so it was a bit unorganized. And every crock pot was different too. I think I had the hottest one! So it is a bit difficult to say what happened. The pieces that held up are beautiful! Nice soap!
Thanks! This cp is fun!!!

 

[Marilyn Norgart]

Well I think it cooled too much? I have the recipe somewhere. Instructor insisted we let it cool down a LOT before we added the essential oils. And she had us use crayon to color it. The class was a bit too big for 1 instructor so it was a bit unorganized. And every crock pot was different too. I think I had the hottest one! So it is a bit difficult to say what happened. The pieces that held up are beautiful! Nice soap!
Thanks! This cp is fun!!!

check out the soap calculators before changing up your oils also--I think there is one on here or you can google to find different ones. it doesn't sound like you had a very good recipe in class if everybodies was dry. and I would get an infa-red gun they aren't very spendy and in my mind they are great (I don't trust myself with guessing the heat ) with essential oils and FOs I don't think you want to add above 180 and the infs red gun will help with that. I took a stained glass that was like that and it was pretty bad--I need to take a different class. anyway welcome to the forum

 

[Noreen Moore]

Yes no thermometers at all were used in class. I have 2 glass "candy" thermometers I am using. Disappointed my scale has no decimals. I played for days on the soapcalc site creating recipes! Really proud of my 2nd batch recipe! I should look into an infrared thermometer.
Stained glass!!! That is something else I have always wanted to do!!! Don't think I can afford another hobby! This was a blast trying cp soap making! Now I want to try to infuse oils naturally for color or scent.
I was given a tub of 100% shea butter and I wanted to make lip balms. I put it in my soap! Can't' wait for these 2 batches to cure!

 

[SoapySuds]

I stares at icing tips today, looked for some couplers, bought stuff

 

[Marilyn Norgart]

I stares at icing tips today, looked for some couplers, bought stuff

always buying stuff here too

 

[TheGecko]

Yes a budget! And my 1st recipe may need to cure longer?

Cold Process should cure a minimum of four weeks, six is better, I prefer eight.

Feels a bit "greasy" to the touch. 2nd recipe I omitted Avocado oil and used castor oil and that I think will be far superior to my 1st recipe.

If you’re talking about your soap when you unfolded it, it could be some oil separation. Just leave and it should reabsorb.

If you tried washing with it and feel that something wasn’t completely rinsed, what you are feeling is the natural oils being left on your skin instead of stripped off with commercial soaps.

I only made three soaps today...a Black Raspberry Vanilla Goat Milk, Princess Soap and Lil Boy Blue Soap. I had picked up some smaller ‘cavity’ molds to make soap for children after my granddaughter requested that I make her some soap. I even ordered glitter.

 

[Arimara]

Well I think it cooled too much? I have the recipe somewhere. Instructor insisted we let it cool down a LOT before we added the essential oils. And she had us use crayon to color it. The class was a bit too big for 1 instructor so it was a bit unorganized. And every crock pot was different too. I think I had the hottest one! So it is a bit difficult to say what happened. The pieces that held up are beautiful! Nice soap!
Thanks! This cp is fun!!!

Crayon for color? For me, that is a little suspect (are those things guaranteed safe for bathing?). I agree with others- invest in a thermometer (I second the infrared type). I bought this scale a few months back on Amazon. So far, I LOVE IT! grams are whole numbers but ounces have decimals. Since we are suggesting small batches, I suggest a 1(ish) qt crockpot, which can yield 2 lbs of soap (if you use Crockpot). I also suggest patience with HP and using the low setting for your oils. This will minimize the chances you have of encountering a problem with oils.

 

[TheGecko]

Crayon for color? For me, that is a little suspect (are those things guaranteed safe for bathing?).

Yep...you can even eat them though they aren't that tasty (I was a kid once). Crayons are made Wax (paraffin, microcrystalline, polyethylene, beeswax, ozokerite, japan, carnauba), colorant (pigment or dye), stearic acid (palmitic acid), tallow (beef), filler (kaolin, talc).

 

[Arimara]

Yep...you can even eat them though they aren't that tasty (I was a kid once). Crayons are made Wax (paraffin, microcrystalline, polyethylene, beeswax, ozokerite, japan, carnauba), colorant (pigment or dye), stearic acid (palmitic acid), tallow (beef), filler (kaolin, talc).

Yuck and I can't handle most of the colorants used in soaps. I would never use a crayon to color that (it would make Black Crayon too happy). I also don't like the idea of wax of any kind in my soap being there on purpose. I don't even use jojoba oil in soap. But if it floats other people's boats, that's fine.