Tips and tricks, post yours?

[moonbeam]

I always enjoy learning from others what things they do to make life easier! I know I have seen so many threads on this through the years, I was thinking it would be nice to start one for the folks that are newer to our addiction.

Heres one to start us off: When I'm am separating my solid oils into batch sized increments, I use a small handheld garden shovel, it works really well and easily gets into the box!

I also use disposable gloves that I get at the local Cash and Carry, then I can toss them after I'm done. I also wear an oil cloth apron that I had made, I have enough spotted clothes!

Add yours

 

[MOGal70]

I have enough spotted clothes!

Really... I didn't realize that you can have enough spotted clothes. :razz:

 

[MaitriBB]

I just got this and love it!

OXO Good Grips 2-Cup Adjustable Measuring Cup, Clear

Before I was having to scrape out my oil measuring beaker every time I measured a new oil, but with this one I just push it up and scrape off the bottom, then I'm good to go again.

My main tip is to use the Thermal Transfer Method, but I wouldn't recommend that to anyone who hasn't mastered the standard way of doing it using thermometers, etc. In the TTM, you use the hot lye solution to melt your hard oils. I just pour it over the oils, walk away - I usually go clean the litter box, wash hands, come back and it's ready LOL. There's usually 1 or 2 smaller lumps still to stick blend, but if I let it steep in the lye solution long enough, that's not a problem. And all of my soaps are goat milk; I just add powdered GM at trace.

 

[Sanguine]

If you want to stamp your soap but the stamp pulls your soap out, place some saran wrap/plastic wrap tight around your soap and stamp on that. Good imprint without the flaws.

 

[moonbeam]

Great tip about the stamping, I'll try that!

 

[sistrum]

I've said this on another post but will repeat here so they are all together. I put my FO in my mold so I don't forget to add it to my soap. I have more but my "show" is on. Sissy

 

[PinkCupcake]

I'm a professional pastry chef, and here's the way I make sure I get all my ingredients in when I'm baking (and now when I'm making soap.) I line up my ingredients in the order in which I will use them. Then, when I am done with an ingredient, I put the container in the sink (or back in its cupboard.) When I'm done, there's nothing left on the counter. It works really well for me.

 

[bodhi]

Some not so soap related soaping tips:

put the dog out or in- before you start soaping
make sure the phone is in the same room or off
have extra spatulas, lots of paper towels and a trash bin handy
line your mold first
invert your oils a couple times before pouring
always test a new lye pitcher in the sink
wear good shoes, not sandals, flip flops etc, your feet are just as important as your hands and face

 

[Pepsi Girl]

I'm a professional pastry chef, and here's the way I make sure I get all my ingredients in when I'm baking (and now when I'm making soap.) I line up my ingredients in the order in which I will use them. Then, when I am done with an ingredient, I put the container in the sink (or back in its cupboard.) When I'm done, there's nothing left on the counter. It works really well for me.

My mom taught me to do the same thing years ago, because I'm not any kind of chef and or cook, and 50 plus years later its working for soaping!

 

[cerelife]

I buy a few picnic tablecloths ($4) at Wal-Mart every spring and cut them to fit my work area. The cloth backing protects my stove/countertops and the plastic makes clean-up simple.
I wear my old scrubs that are too worn out to be presentable at the hospital anymore for soapmaking; super comfortable and no worries about stains/spots
I don't use the TTM, so my infrared thermometer is my BFF! I keep my Bose iphone dock in the kitchen and a set of dumbells under the sink, so soapmaking time = happy exercise time while my lyewater cools down! What could be better than doing something you love (making soap) while getting a good workout from dancing your a** off at the same time??

 

[jenneelk]

If you have kids.. I have 4 ages 3 to 10.. soap at night or when you know they will be gone. Cause just when you think they are occupied and you can work, things fall apart and they are causing drama all over the place. Nothing worse than rushing things because the baby put the puppy in the kiddie pool and he is all muddy. Yup.. this am it happened as he (the puppy) ran in and got mud all over while my soap was seizing on me and couldn't stop. My mom was to be there by then (she babysits while I work) and I expected her any moment so went ahead and mixed.. she was late and I had a mess!

For me and possibly others... take out extra shades of the colors you're working with cause sometimes you need more than one to get what you're achieving. In the middle of mixing it not fun to dig through the color drawer to find what you need to get the right shade.

Hanger swirl - the hanger does nothing much for me, not sure why... I use a nice thick rod I stole from my kids' lemonade stand windmill and hot glued chopstick so it. It pays to look around the house and make stuff for soaping. I cut two rods for 2 molds and they work fabulous to pull enough soap around to always give me a nice hanger swirl.

 

[Moody Glenn]

When dealing with large batches I don't want to second guess myself if I actually added an ingredient. Don't trust your memory! I use one of those erasable white boards with different colors of markers. I make a list with one color of marker of all the ingredients (everything in grams.) As I am working I will check off each ingredient with a different contrasting color so as to immediately notice if I have used that ingredient. It's your basic check list without paper. After soaping, I will record that batch in a soaping notebook (with observation notes), record the batch in the computer and then erase the checks or the entire board.

 

[DeeAnna]

Always write down the tare weight of the container. If your scale shuts off in mid weigh or whatever, you can subtract out the tare from the total weight to get the weight of the ingredients in the container.

 

[PinkCupcake]

DeeAnna, that's an excellent tip! Thanks!

 

[Bayougirl]

DH bought me a Brother's P-touch label printer. I printed out the weight and put it on the bottom of my buckets, measuring cups and anything I use to measure out ingredients. I, also, used these labels for my Rubbermaid/sterlite boxes with my packaging inside. I label one side so I can tell by just looking where something is.

 

[LovelyMalia]

since I tend to make so many different batches, I label all of them while curing with sticky notes. I include what's in them and what EOs, colorants, etc, I used and stick the note right in front of the soap...makes label making easier when I package them.

 

[JennH]

I use alcohol to spray the tops of my soap to prevent ash.

When I clean up I give my scale and body of my stick blender a spritz and I wipe them off with paper towel. It helps get the oil off of them since I don't want to submerge them in water or anything.

 

[cerelife]

Great tip, Bayougirl...I'm gonna label the weight of all the stuff I measure in first thing tomorrow! I have a Brother label maker as well, and I print out my name for each batch and tape it to curing rack beside the soap. When the soap is cured, I just take it off and put it on the Sterlite box.
I print out all my recipes from SoapCalc and keep them beside me in those plastic sleeves...makes life easier when I spill stuff After soaping, I take the page out for that recipe and add my notes (date, name of batch, FO/EO used, additives, temps, etc.) and put it back in my soaping binder.

 

[PinkCupcake]

Something I did after my last batch of soap was to weigh out the oils I had left and write the weight on the container in Sharpie. So now, if I'm wondering if I have enough of something for a soap recipe, it's easy to find out. Also, I have all my tools and supplies stored in opaque totes, so I tape index cards on the outsides. It's quick to add something or cross something out.

 

[Birdie Wife]

I buy a few picnic tablecloths ($4) at Wal-Mart every spring and cut them to fit my work area. The cloth backing protects my stove/countertops and the plastic makes clean-up simple.

I get rolls of vinyl wallpaper from my local charity shop for 50p a roll. I clip it to the table with those easy grip things you get from DIY shops. It's hard wearing and I can scrape or wipe spills from it really easily. When it wears out, I unclip, chuck it in the bin and roll out another section. Hey Presto! New table :grin: