Use up this pound of lard!

[goodjoan]

Hi all! I read the forum all the time but rarely post. Tonight, I'd love your help!

I have a pound of lard sitting on my counter. My kitchen is clean and so are all my soaping supplies. I got a 6 foot tall rolling bun rack for Christmas that has lots of empty racks begging for more soap. However, I am flat out of ideas.

In addition to the single pound of lard, I have a lot of sunflower oil I'd kind of like to use up, a small jar of rice bran oil, pounds of olive and coconut, plenty of castor and a little bit of avocado left. I also have a few ounces of tallow and some hemp in the fridge. No soy, no palm, oh but I do have some crisco.

For colors/textures, I mostly have botanicals, walnut hulls, yellow dock root (which turns red/brown) charcoal, green, white and purple clay, spirulina, ground lemon peels, calendula flowers, lavender flowers, poppy seeds, oatmeal, and a few sparkly micas.

What should I make?

 

[Obsidian]

I can't help with design/color but here is my favorite recipe.

lard 50%
Olive oil (or any other liquid oil you want) 25%
coconut oil 20%
castor 5%

 

[goodjoan]

Thanks! I use tallow a fair bit but haven't done much with lard. I'm never too sure what to put with it!

 

[Seawolfe]

Try the recipe above, and do a gradient with the charcoal like in this tutorial:
http://thesoapbar.blogspot.com/2012/07/gradient-soap-tutorial-emily-shieh.html

Or sub in some hemp oil and try the spirulina and maybe a pencil line with some mica

 

[goodjoan]

That is brilliant! And pretty! Spirulina might work really well for this, it's such a dark color. Does this recipe stay workable long enough to do that many layers?

 

[Susie]

High lard soaps give lots of play time!

I would do more like this:

Lard 65%
OO 15%
Coconut Oil 15%
Castor Oil 5%
Superfat 5-8%

 

[Seawolfe]

^^ that's the recipe I use for just about everything at 5%, gives me tons of time to do things. Sub in hemp for olive if you want, it will add to the green.

Unfortunately spirulina does fade to tannish, but the green from the hemp might help.

 

[Steve85569]

What Obsidian said and split the Olive with the rice bran oil.
Low water helps the soap not go to heavy trace very quickly. I like a water:Lye around 1.6 : 1 for swirls and the like.

Keep posting!
I want you to get to 50 in time for March!

 

[goodjoan]

that ombré technique says it works better thick, but I'll remember this for future swirly things. I stink at swirling! I started out making soap for hubby and then got busy making soap for a friend with a skin condition. In those case, they wanted functional and "natural" and not so worried about pretty. Of course, over time my hobby has filled the house with more soap than my family can wash with in a year and my friend passed away so now my little etsy shop moves the surplus. Now, I'm finding people that want to buy it want it to be pretty and smell strongly, so I've started branching out into fragrance oils and non botanical colorants. I still keep some of my "old standby" natural soaps on hand but I'm excited to try some things that aren't purely functional!

I also make and sell a ton of a hand balm made with tallow, and a killer shaving soap with tallow, I know lard has a bad rep but it's so pretty and white in soap! I want to use it more. Does using Lard make me part of a super special club in here?

 

[Seawolfe]

I also make and sell a ton of a hand balm made with tallow, and a killer shaving soap with tallow, I know lard has a bad rep but it's so pretty and white in soap! I want to use it more. Does using Lard make me part of a super special club in here?

It does! Talk to Susie and she will teach you the seekrit handshake

That tallow balm sounds intriguing! Its weird - Im in love with lard for soap, can't wait to try tallow. But the idea of using either in a lotion makes me pause - which is silly. Of course I'm also trying to get over my fear of lanolin too...

lanolin is sheep sweat...

 

[dixiedragon]

Replace 5% of the olive or lard with sunflower. It supposedly works with olive to improve lather. I can't swear to it, but people like my soap! Maybe use the purple clay and the calendula petals for an EAster/spring soap?

 

[Steve85569]

I also make and sell a ton of a hand balm made with tallow, and a killer shaving soap with tallow, I know lard has a bad rep but it's so pretty and white in soap! I want to use it more. Does using Lard make me part of a super special club in here?

Just the lardinators.

 

[Arimara]

Just the lardinators.

Lol, basically that.

 

[goodjoan]

My dermatologist told me to avoid lanolin after I broke out in a horrible rash all over my face. Turned out it was windburn (hi, I'm allergic to air!) but the moisturizer I was using to treat it made it worse. Since a lot of people seen to be sensitive to it, I avoid it, at least in my face. When he told me to avoid lanolin, my mother laughed because I owned sheep!

The tallow balm I make was an attempt to help my food service friends with cracked, bleeding skin from constant hand/dish washing. I got the idea from a blog post by humble bee and me. (http://www.humblebeeandme.com/tallow-balm-for-mature-skin/) in hers, tallow is a vehicle for some EOs. In mine, the tallow is the work horse and EOs are just for scent. I use it frequently as lip balm and occasionally on my face when I have dry patches but using it on my face frequently does make me break out...but then, so does air so perhaps others wouldn't have the same issue,

On, and per your recommendations, last night I made a 3 1/4lb loaf of charcoal ombré soap. I didn't have enough lard for the mold I wanted to use so I went to the store and got more. Then I realized I had overestimated the capacity of my mold and now I have a pound and 6 oz of lard left over! I'm right back where I was last night, only with soap in the mold! Pictures when I pop it out.

 

[goodjoan]

Success!

(I hope I attached that properly!)

 

[Steve85569]

Success indeed!
Looking good.

 

[Seawolfe]

Wow that looks nice! Isn't that technique fun? What's the smell?

 

[shunt2011]

That turned out nicely. It's almost the same as one of mine. I call it Fifty Shades.

 

[goodjoan]

Wow that looks nice! Isn't that technique fun? What's the smell?

BB Energy. I had a small jar left over from a kit I got a while ago and figured I'd use it up. I wish I had something on hand that smelled "colder." It looks like it should smell like rain or fog or something outdoorsy. Or possibly more masculine, but I have a couple of soaps with "tobacco and bayleaf" and bb "made to measure" on the shelf and didn't want to Use those again so soon.

 

[Susie]

There is no such thing as too much lard on hand! Just accept that you are a member of Lardinators already.

Go forth and saponify!