my first soap lard

[gymstud]

I had my first attempt at makeing soup i went for the most basic
Firstly i had to strir for about 40min to get to trace is that normal?!
Seconldy it still pretty mutch smells like hard will this smell improve as it saponifies??

 

[Obsidian]

Yes, stirring by hand can take a long time to trace and lard is especially slow. This is why people use stick blenders, you can reach trace in just a few minutes. Most of the lard smell will go away but it might always smell a bit piggy.

 

[gymstud]

Thank you obsidian
Interesting name btw x

 

[Ruthie]

And congratulations on your first soap! !

 

[vidahlia]

My first batch was with lard. It makes a pretty white soap, which is excellent for coloring. Especially since it takes a while to set up.

 

[gymstud]

Yes it lovely and white
My plan is to let it cure as is but then remelt and add colour fragrance

 

[gymstud]

Thankyou ruthie

 

[Lin]

Why do you want to re-melt to add colour and fragrance? Thats much easier to add when you make the soap the first time, you won't be able to color as well with a rebatch. Rebatched soap never looks as good as the first time around. And if you're going to rebatch it would be easier to do it sooner than later so the soap melts easier and you don't have to add as much liquid.

 

[gymstud]

As its my first attempt i didnt bother adding anything as i didnt even know if it would work
But if soonef is better might try now

 

[seven]

congrats on your 1st batch of soap. i'm with Lin on this one, i think it's better for you to make another batch with fragrance in it. i don't rebatch unless the soap is really messed up.

you can leave this one as is, and use it for embeds for your next batch. chopped it to bits and make a nice confetti soap for example.

 

[soap_rat]

Congrats on your first batch! Yes, a stick blender is worth 5 times its price!

A lot of people like to keep the first batch plain, there are fewer things to keep up with while one does things for the first time. You can rebatch, and you can also cut the plain soap into cubes or interesting shapes to embed in the new, colored bars (just like with rebatching, doing it with fresher soap is better)