Looking for a good recipe for...

[pixie1115]

making some good basic bars for Christmas. I want to make a lot, but I wnt something simple yet good and hard.

Any good recipes anyone can share? I have coconut oil, olive oil, lye and such on hand. No palm oil. I don't want to order anything and can't get it locally. I remember once seeing a grocery store recipe I think?! How is that one?

Thanks!
Oh and any ideas for some Christmas soap ideas? Shapes? Packaging? These are just for my family but I want them to be pretty.

I haven't done soap since last spring so I am trying to remember everything I know but it just isn't coming back very easily lol.

 

[Bubbles Galore]

If you can buy some lard at the grocery store, you can make a lovely soap with lard and coconut, or lard, olive & coconut. You can add a bit of castor oil if you can get it. You'll get a nice, hard, white bar. :wink:

 

[lsg]

I like a combination of lard, coconut oil, olive oil and castor oil.

 

[BakingNana]

Me, too. Lard or tallow, coconut oil, olive oil, castor at trace. Love the lather on this blend. Big bubbles at first, then creamy. Nice and hard and a light creamy white color.

 

[artisan soaps]

..

 

[SilverMaple]

70% olive, 20% coconut, 5% castor. Will be nice and hard by Christmas, mild, conditioning, and bubbly.

 

[pixie1115]

Perfect! Thank you all so much!

Can I do a pumpkin soap with this mixture? How much pumpkin would I add? I woud love to try some but don't have all the ingredients for the recipes I ahve seen (no palm oil)..could I just sub the lard for the palm oil?

 

[honor435]

do you know how to use soap calc? then you could play around with your oils and see what kind of bubbles and creamy you get? i was always asking for recipes when i first started, but then figured out the soap calc, it is great.

 

[BakingNana]

Lard is a good sub for PO, and Honor is absolutely right--get to be friends with Soap Calc or some other good lye calculator. You can fiddle around with the oils you have until you get the hardness, etc., you want. Terrific tool! Be aware, though, that some of the numbers can be off, especially the 'cleanliness' number. I had one recipe that I just love come up a 0 for cleanliness, which of course is ridiculous. But in general, it is a good tool.