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10:53 pm
March 26, 2010
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I made soap this weekend! Thanks Suzanne for the encouragement and helping me to not fear but respect lye. I could not find 100% lye anywhere near me so I had to order on the internet and ended up getting a food grade lye. It worked perfectly. The thought of someone using lye in food boggles my mind however.
It looks so pretty in its all natural color of creamy white and is just barely scented. The ph level came out between 8 and 9 (leaning toward the 8 more) so I cut it into slices today and have it on a rack to dry.
12:00 am
December 28, 2008
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Some folks still use lye to make hominy, JoJo! 
6:18 am
October 17, 2008
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Great job, JoJo! 
Try the hot process next! So much easier, and not so much waiting to use it!
7:49 am
May 14, 2005
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Yay! I'm so happy for you! Yes, try hot process next and you'll never want to go back to cold.
12:38 pm
March 26, 2010
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Thanks Cindy and Suzanne. I wasn't brave enough to try the hot process first but will now that I have your instructions to follow.
Hey Cindy — are you the Cindy from Chippewa Creek? Cause if you are, I must tell you that my dear hubby stole my bar of soap that I bought from you. He loves the smell and the oatmeal scrub in it. I have to get another bar from you because that one is way too complicated for this beginner to tackle. I even cut it in two so I could have a half of a piece but yesterday my half disappeared! Jeez!
1:11 pm
May 14, 2005
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It is SO easy in a crock pot! You will love it. (And yes, Cindy is Cindy from Chippewa Creek.)
2:37 pm
October 17, 2008
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Yes, JoJo, I'm Cindy from Chippewa Creek! I'm sooo glad your hubby loves the soap! And yes, you can make it!! When you are ready to do the hot process in the crockpot, let me know, I can help you through it……and make yourself a whole batch of Nana's House!
6:53 pm
March 26, 2010
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Wow — Thanks Cindy! I would love to make your yummy Nana's House soap. The smell alone is simply heavenly. I only have a 6 quart crock pot. Will that work size wise or is it too big? I have coconut oil, olive oil and a little bit of shea butter left. I have no official soap scents though. Do I need anything else?
7:28 pm
October 17, 2008
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JoJo, I sent you an email! Everyone should have the opportunity to learn the HP method in the crockpot!!!
2:30 pm
Hi! I have had good luck with Wholesale Supplies Plus they have lots of soap and candle making supplies. I have ordered fragrances from them for potpourri pies that I used to make for gifts. The left over fragrances I have are four years old, and I just recently used them for repurposing my old candles, they turned out great! I think their prices are pretty good as well, I will be ordering from them again soon, when I start making soap.
12:45 pm
Hi, I made soap, it turned out just ok, I bought a scale at walmart, used Suzanne's recipe, did not have a stick blender, so I used the kitchen aid, not sure if that was the problem, I beat it for 30 MINUTES, until I thought it was the trace, put it into the crockpot, cooked it, until it looked done, followed all directions, it is a little soft, I am able to slice it into bar's, feel's a little greasy, I will try another batch today and see if it turns out any better. It could be the scale, who knows? but I am excited to be making soap, I have read up on it, I have a book by Susan Miller, and yesterday I did buy a stick blender. If anyone has any tip's I would really appreciate it!
12:58 pm
October 17, 2008
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Did you do a test at all of the doneness? PH strip or the tongue method? With the crockpot method, it will have a waxy mashed potato look to it….sorta like lumpy vaseline.
The trace will look like a thick pudding. If you run a spoon through the top of it, it won't go back together.
There is a high amount of olive oil in there, but it should be hard by today, more hard than soft anyways. When you look at the oils you're using — hard & liquid — if the ratio is more liquid than hard, the more soft your end product will be.
I made a batch of 100% olive oil about 6 weeks ago and it's still a
little soft, it will never get HARD, because there is not hard oil in
it. I also made a batch that was 100% beef tallow and coconut oil (both hard oils at room temp) and it was HARD in just a few hours.
1:02 pm
October 17, 2008
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But YOU MADE SOAP!!! FEEL PROUD!!!
2:01 pm
Thank's CINDY!!! I do feel proud that I did it, and the LYE was not so scary! My 13 year old son told me the kitchen looked like a chemistry lab! I think I will try using coconut oil next time, I did use the lard and olive oil this time, it just took so long to trace, and I did cook it untill it looked like mashed potatoes. My husband keeps telling me it look's like brownie slices because of the cinnamon in it, smells nice, it does suds up, but not much, is this normal? You really have to work up a lather. This is all new to me, my thought is that I really want to make homemade bar soap for the laundry since I make our own laundry soap now, just thought it would be fun, and great to know what's in it. Also I have lot's of ideas about gifts for the holidays. Thank you so much for your feedback.
2:11 pm
October 17, 2008
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Have you visited the SoapCalc site? You can make up your own recipes and when you view/print the recipe it will give you the characteristics of what that soap actually will be.
That recipe that you made is not real sudsy, it will have smaller, smoother bubbles……that's the olive oil. Remember, you don't need suds to clean!!!!!
You can definitely make your own bars of soap for laundry! I used a recipe that's like Zote…..coconut oil and tallow. That's the super hard bar..makes grating it for the laundry soap NICE!
10:18 pm
Hi Cindy,
I made more soap today, I found the recipe on (pureandnaturalsoaps.com) here is the recipe
20oz Palm oil, I used Spectrum organic all vegtable shortening non hydrogenated
17oz Coconut oil
16oz safflower oil
8oz olive oil
3oz sweet almond oil
9oz sodium hydroxide, and 24oz of Distilled Water, I used tap water
The vegtable oil was palm oil, the soap traced very fast, and cooked up fast in the crockpot, the lye amount seemed like a lot, I was even afraid to test it when it was done, I don't have the p h strips, but I did and it seem's to be a very nice soap. I was not burned!
It's now in the molds. I would like to find a soap that has less oil's as this was kind of expensive to make. I won't be using it for the laundry. I was wondering about the essential oils, I used about 7 tsp, the soap has a very light fragrance and I added them at the end. Soap making is lots of fun, and the possibilities are endless.
10:46 pm
October 17, 2008
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You've got to be careful when adding essential oil to the hot soap. The heat will dissipate the essential oils. When I use them, I let it cool, not until it's setting up, but where I can touch it easier without it burning my hands from the heat. I usually use fragrance oils, they don't "cook" out, but they're synthetic not natural.
The rule of thumb is 1/2 oz per pound for fragrance. For that 4# batch, I would have used 2 fluid ounces of oil…..so that's 1/4 cup, which is 4 Tbsp, so 12 tsp. So what you used was just a little over 1/2 of what you should have, so it will be a lighter scent….which isn't bad!
The coconut oil is what will give you the cleaning, sudsing, and hardening qualities. But you need to watch of using too much or it will start to take on drying qualities. The guide I think is from 20-25%, I usually use 18%, enough to give it good suds, a hardening quality and cleaning. This recipe is almost 27, which is still good.
The lye is determined by which oils are used……..each one takes a different amount of lye to trace. That's why it's soooo important to use a lye calculator and not just switch out oils without running it through a lye calculator again.
Hope this helps some!! :)
11:54 pm
Hi Cindy,
THANK YOU!!! I just got done cutting my soap and it look's really pretty, I did add half a cup of ground oatmeal to it. Now just one more question, should I let this soap air dry? or wrap it up, I am just not sure how to store it, the same goes for the recipe I made on Mother's day, it was the one that Suzanne had posted. Thank YOU!!!!! It is so wonderful to have such great support.
6:58 am
October 17, 2008
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You are sooo welcome, Gma22! This is such a wonderful craft…..whether you're using it for gifts, for yourself, or to sell. I love to share what I've learned. I'm not an expert by any means, but have spent A LOT of time researching soap making (mainly the HP), and will happily share with everyone here that wants to learn
You do not want to wrap up (seal) hp or cp soap to store, only melt & pour. The longer it sits, the harder it will become so it lasts longer once it's used. I leave it sit out to air dry just standing up for a couple days, the sides will get a good hard coating. Then I use a shallow cardboard box or box top (from the big boxes of paper) lay out one layer so it's not touching, then stagger until the whole batch is in, leaving spaces for air flow. I do have this cool new wire rack where the shelves are wire also, leaving lots of airflow.
I'm not sure what you're planning for all of this soap….but if you're going to give it away soon, you can wrap stuff around it, like homemade paper, raffia, etc. If you want to wrap with something like this, but aren't giving it away until say Christmas, don't wrap it yet. The soap will shrink, then this will be too big. Soap shrinks as it dries thoroughly.
4:54 pm
March 26, 2010
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I wasn't sure where to post this since it is a combination of soap and beauty (relaxation) product.
Since Suzanne and Cindy got me hooked on making soap, I have been experimenting with making homemade bubble bath with my leftover bits and pieces from making soap as well as the too small to use but I just can't make myself throw it away one precious piece of glorious soap. 
My first few tries were okay but not what I would call bubble bath. Now, I've learned that homemade bubble bath will never be exactly like the store bought because mine is all natural and the store bought has well — who knows what in it.
Today, was the best batch I've made and thought I would do a shout out to see if others have maybe perfected it better than I. If you haven't tried it yet — maybe my attempts and ongoing recipe will encourage you to do so too. The more minds we have working together, the better — right!
Okay, here goes. I can't give you exacts — only approximates since today I became the Mad Scientist and started studying chemistry! I knew I should have listened better in school and quit staring at that cute boy!
Ingredients:
* Leftover slivers of soap: (about a cup's worth) I grated mine with a hand grater (hard to do). Now I know that any size piece will eventually melt. You just have to be very patient if you put in big chunks.
* Hot Distilled water: (about a quart) I tried my own water and guess what — I was not successful. I have well water and too many minerals that interfered.
* Vegetable glycerin: (about 2 ozs) This made a big difference in texture and bigger bubbles.
* Castor Oil: (about a glug's worth) Seriously, I just poured in some — but probably about a cup — maybe a little less. This made better bubbles.
* Fragrance: (more than you think) I used Tangerine and everything that I studied said to add a couple drops. Please…this did nothing for me. I must have the worst nose or this is just too skimpy. I used about 6 dropper fulls (maybe .25 oz). My recommendation is to put a little in, stir, wait a while, and then go back and smell it. You will know when you hit the percent of scent that you like.
I put mine in a Quart jar and put a Ball plastic lid on it. The tangerine oil turned the color to a pretty orange, which I think is pretty. The texture of the bubble bath is good and thick but not too thick. Before you use it, turn the jar upside down a few times to reincorporate everything before putting some into the tub with running water.
Light candle and then enjoy the calming scent while your body soaks in the moisturizing oil. Guaranteed to remove stress from a long day's work.
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