laurie hamar said
Hi Ladies, I need help please.  Just made a batch of hot process soap using milk instead of water.  I've made this soap before and never had a problem (checked the soap calc and am using regular oils, nothing fancy).  I froze my milk until slushy before combining with the lye and as far as I know did everything right, however; after cooking in the crock for about 45 mins I notice that the oils separate.  I had the same thing happen last week.  I cooled it some and then re-blended with the stick blender.  After a few minutes everything seemed to combine and get that glossy color.  So, I tested it and it was done without having to cook any more.  Last week I thought maybe I didn't bring it to a strong enough trace so this time I made sure I had a good trace.  Any ideas what may be going on?  It is an old crockpot so maybe it's cooking too hot all of a sudden (I've been making soap for a couple of years and never had a problem with it before).  Help, please!

Hi Laurie,

It is most likely you are soaping too hot. I find that mostly my crockpot is too hot, so I end up soaping at warm or low occasionally. I have some hot spots in my crock and sometimes I get separation if I forget to turn down the pot after melting my oils. The good thing is that you can usually just stir everything back together. Also remember that adding things like milk will cause your soap to get hotter than usually due to the sugar content so you should soap even cooler than you usually do. You might need as long a cook as well. It helps making milk soaps in the crock to melt all your oils together and just let it cool down to room temperature and then to add your lye/milk (that is also cool/cold) mix to trace and then turn on the crock to low/warm. I hope that helps a little.

Carol

moximom1964 said
I just used your crockpot soap making OMG this is awesome..now i want to get everything back out and make another batch and may do so tomarrow ..i need more esential oils tho ..a friend told me the ones at the michaels in the craft section arnt as good for scent as buying at like a co-op or natural foods store what is your feelings on that.

I know you posted this a while ago, but I thought I would let you know some places that I go to for my essential oils and some that I had heard good things about. I usually get mine from Brambleberry.com, Camdengrey.com and thesage.com. All have been good quality. I have heard a good deal about Essential Depot and Texas Natural Supply for essential oils as well. I find that buying online I can get a larger quantity for the price.

54R4H said 
 

I have some questions of my own, too.  I had been doing hot process exclusively (and got an AWESOME recipe suggestion from Nana Sandi!), but I am wanting to try cold process because you can get a little more decorative with it.  Does anyone use any cool ways to decorate their soap (HP or CP?), I'd prefer not to use any dyes.  Most recently I made a Cinnamon Oatmeal bar (CP) and pressed oatmeal in it and it has a cinnamon swirl.  I am just so addicted to soaping, I want to hear anyone's suggestions or things they like that work for them!

I love both Hot Process and Cold Process. If you don't want to use dyes, oxides or micas there is still a good range of colorants you can use. I like to use clays myself. I love the soft green of the French Green Clay and pink of Rose Kaolin Clay. Browns have a good range using Cocoa Powder and Rhassoul Clay. Red from using Madder root or Moroccan Red clay. Orange from Paprika and turmeric.  Yellows from annatto seed and calendula. Purple can be had by using Alkanet root although watching some videos on YouTube, it seems it turns blue in hot process. I plan to experiment. There is probably a lot more out there, so you need to do research. The best part is just experimenting to see what floats your boat.

moximom1964 said
i need more esential oils tho ..a friend told me the ones at the michaels in the craft section arnt as good for scent as buying at like a co-op or natural foods store what is your feelings on that.

I would have to say that I agree.  Make sure they are 100% pure essential oil.

laurie hamar said
Any ideas what may be going on?  It is an old crockpot so maybe it's cooking too hot all of a sudden (I've been making soap for a couple of years and never had a problem with it before).  Help, please!

I have never make soap using milk, so I don't know for sure, but I have been reading a lot about it and watching youtube videos because I would like to do this some day.  I would say perhaps your crockpot is cooking too hot and even if your milk is slushy when you add the lye, to keep the mixture cooled you could always mix it in a container that is sitting in an ice water bath.  Hope this helps!

I have some questions of my own, too.  I had been doing hot process exclusively (and got an AWESOME recipe suggestion from Nana Sandi!), but I am wanting to try cold process because you can get a little more decorative with it.  Does anyone use any cool ways to decorate their soap (HP or CP?), I'd prefer not to use any dyes.  Most recently I made a Cinnamon Oatmeal bar (CP) and pressed oatmeal in it and it has a cinnamon swirl.  I am just so addicted to soaping, I want to hear anyone's suggestions or things they like that work for them!

Jan

My Dad made it for me, so I wrote his name, the date, and what it is on the bottom with "Thanks DAD!!" in big letters.

The tops of the bars are a bit bumpy looking on top, but I don't mind, and neither does my family/friends who use the soap.  They look a little like Suzanne's laundry bars.

I hope this helps!

lovemypets00 said
 It fit in my handmade wooden soap mold perfectly.

What is your mold like/do you have plans or pics for it?  We need to get one (or build one) but aren't sure of the kind we want or shape.  My husband is worried that our soap will stick to the mold so the outside of the bar will be ugly.  (We sell our soap, so appearance matters).  We currently use washed out Silk soy milk containers and washed out Pringles cans... but we'd like to get (or build?) a proper mold.  Any ideas?

I hope that it wasn't dropped in the whole batch of soap. I have some from AAA chemicals. I hope that helps.