New member from Illinois (nowhere near Chicago)

[Arthur Dent]

Thanks for all the tips.
I thought I had read that regular sunflower oil went off easily and encouraged DOS, maybe I mis-read something. Anyway, I did pick up a bottle at Walmart today, along with one of those little bottles of castor oil, a couple of Sterilite containers for molds, and a few other odds and ends. I checked the containers, and they are PP5, so that should be ok. I had read about the concern with glass/Pyrex and lye, so got some "dishwasher safe" containers for that. Even with all that I made out pretty cheaply, so I consider the day's shopping a success.
I still have to find a stainless steel pot for the main vessel, I didn't find a cheap one that I liked the looks of today.

 

[MooreThanBags]

Welcome to the soap forom. I use lard @approximately 35% of my total oils with great results. Using a soap calculator is essential to making a good bar of soap.

 

[Hazel]

I know some people have mentioned sunflower as causing DOS. But I've been using it for well over 2 years and haven't had any issues. I used regular sunflower at 10% or less, started using high oleic at 10 but have since increased it to 15+%. So perhaps it has something to do with the percentages. You might find this discussion about sunflower and safflower helpful. http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=29510

I don't know what you mean by stainless steel as the main vessel. Do you mean you need one because you'll be warming the oils on the stove to melt them? If so, then definitely you'll need a SS pan. You can use a hard plastic or silicone bowl if you just need something to melt oils in the microwave and then add lye into it.

eta: I just saw MooreThanBags comment. Good advice.

 

[Arthur Dent]

I have been looking at various soap calculators, haven't yet decided which one to use.
Oh, sorry, yes that's what I meant about the "main vessel".
And thanks for the link, I'll check that out.

 

[Arthur Dent]

Did some last minute Christmas shopping this morning and found a stainless steel pot so now I'm set. Thanks everyone for the tips and encouragement! We will be working on our first batch in the next few days, I'll report on how it goes.

 

[athallr]

Welcome! I'm a little farther north in the Peoria area good luck making your soap! It is very addicting
Amy

 

[Hazel]

We will be working on our first batch in the next few days, I'll report on how it goes.

I'll be looking forward to hearing how it turns out. Happy Holidays to you and your family!

 

[soap_rat]

If your batch is small, you may want to give the SS pot a little very low heat from time to time to push the reaction--while stirring. (small batches cool off quickly and trace takes forever). And if the batch is shallow in the pot, tip it to the side some and the stick blender will work better.

Good luck, take pictures for us!

 

[Arthur Dent]

My first batch of soap is in the mold as of about 15 minutes ago! Thanks everyone for the tips and encouragement!
I used the recipe Hazel very kindly provided, so I'm calling it Hazel's Basic Shower Bar.
Total oils were 1640 grams.
I lost track of the time while I was stirring it, so can't say exactly how long it took to reach trace, but I'm guessing it was somewhere around 10 minutes. There was no doubt about the trace though, it was very evident.
It's a little bit bigger batch than I had planned on starting with, but that's what my mold figured up to, so I figured what the heck. Yes, I realize that could have just not filled it as full. Actually though, this came out to very nicely fit all my measuring and mixing containers, so I might stick with this batch size for a while.
It's going to be very hard to let it sit in the mold for the next 24 hours.

 

[Hazel]

Great! I look forward to hearing about the soap and seeing pictures. Also, I feel ridiculously flattered to have a soap named after me. Thank you.


I didn't even think to mention that it is a fast tracing recipe and isn't good for swirling. However, you can get a nice marbled effect with it.

 

[Arthur Dent]

The soap came out of the mold pretty easily and seemed quite firm so I decided to go ahead and cut it. Please forgive my sloppy cutting.
Final weight was right at 5.25 pounds, I cut it up into 27 somewhat misshapen bars. It has a nice "neutral" smell. I handled it with gloves.

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5009&stc=1&d=1388007448
http://www.soapmakingforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5010&stc=1&d=1388007448

 

[Hazel]

It looks great! Now comes the waiting for it to cure. Actually, I tested this within a week when I first made it because I wanted to know how it turned out. I cut off a small piece to try even though I knew the lather and mildness would be better after several weeks.

Sometimes I just get impatient.

 

[ca_soap]

Welcome to the addiction!

 

[Skatergirl46]

30% lard
30% olive oil
25% coconut oil
10% sunflower oil (I use high oleic)
5% castor oil

This is very close to a recipe that I have been making lately and it's a really nice bar.

 

[Arthur Dent]

I had to try it out of course, so at about 1 week old I washed my hands and showered with a bar a few of times. Yes I know that was pretty young for the soap, but I just had to try it.
I was pleased with the lathering and overall "feel" of this soap, but did notice that my hands got pretty dried out after a few uses. So, I put the bar back on the shelf and am very impatiently waiting for it to age.
This Tuesday will be this batch's 3 week mark, so I might try it again sometime this week.
I have made another batch of a different recipe, but it has a higher percentage of OO in it, so it will take longer to cure I guess.
As with most things, the waiting is the worst part.

 

[Hazel]

It may need a slightly higher SF. We were discussing this recipe and I mentioned I didn't realize what a difference environmental conditions would make in this soap. I don't know if you saw the topic but here's the link if you haven't read it. http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=41495

 

[Arthur Dent]

I hadn't seen that thread Hazel, thanks!

 

[Arthur Dent]

I know it's time to let this thread die, I just wanted to say that now that the soap has had a chance to cure properly it's really good.

 

[Hazel]

I'm glad you like it. Now you have a base recipe to start tweaking percentages to see if you can make it better. You may find you'd prefer it to be less conditioning or even more conditioning. You could try different oils in place of the sunflower to see if any makes an appreciable difference. You also could eliminate the castor oil to see if it makes a difference.

The thread that wouldn't die...


I don't know. I think this thread is like a zombie. It keeps coming back to life.

 

[ca_soap]

I don't know. I think this thread is like a zombie. It keeps coming back to life.

It does seem to keep popping back to life doesn't it