New to soap making.

[Mae]

I wanted to "test" soap making with oils in my kitchen before I used the more expensive things I bought through a soap making supplier. So I used:

5oz water
1.89 oz 100% Lye
7.5 oz Olive Oil
7.5 oz Canola Oil
added a little pure vanilla to see how it smelled


I've been fighting my first batch of CP soap for 2 days now. I'm about ready to throw it out but decided to give the crock pot a go.

I originally was hand stirring. Stirred for over three hours and gave up after no trace. Thought of throwing it out but rummaged until I found an electric hand mixer and tried that for about 45-60 minutes. Looked like it had trace and poured back into my mold. Let it sit for 12 hours, the oil was separating again! So now it's in the crock and I'm not even sure that is going to save this batch. I don't know where I went wrong.

 

[lsg]

Don't give up until you have cooked the rebatch to Vaseline-type texture in the crockpot. When it reaches the Vaseline stage, glob it into the molds. You stated that pure vanilla was used, vanilla extract can cause problems as it contains alcohol.

 

[CaliChan]

I wanted to "test" soap making with oils in my kitchen before I used the more expensive things I bought through a soap making supplier. So I used:

5oz water
1.89 oz 100% Lye
7.5 oz Olive Oil
7.5 oz Canola Oil
added a little pure vanilla to see how it smelled


I've been fighting my first batch of CP soap for 2 days now. I'm about ready to throw it out but decided to give the crock pot a go.

I originally was hand stirring. Stirred for over three hours and gave up after no trace. Thought of throwing it out but rummaged until I found an electric hand mixer and tried that for about 45-60 minutes. Looked like it had trace and poured back into my mold. Let it sit for 12 hours, the oil was separating again! So now it's in the crock and I'm not even sure that is going to save this batch. I don't know where I went wrong.

the colder the batch is the harder it is to reach trace.

 

[Mae]

grrr. I'm assuming I follow suit to most things I do... Tried the hardest method first! lol. It did finally reach the gloppy goodness about an hour in the crock pot. I let it sit in the mold for a bit, cut the edges cut like and squished all the shaved pieces into a roundish bar of soap. I've been trying it out in my kitchen sink with hand washing for a few hours. Seems pretty good. I like how soft my hands feel. I'm gonna test it out on my husband when he gets home. Thanks for the replies!

My next batch will be canola and crisco. *fingers crossed*
I want to get a method of sorts down before I use my fancy cocnut oil and palm oil.