Soap Makers Help!

[kat e wampus]

are you experiencing high humidity? it is the moisture being drawn by the natural glycerin in your soap. it's harmless, but it is a little freaky at first touch! some soapers will dry them out with a dehumidifier or fan, but i let mine sweat!

 

[itsy]

Thanks for the reply! Yes it has been very humid here and we don't have AC downstairs where I keep the soap. I am finding that it's my older bars and not the newer ones. I don't mind it and am still using the soap, but I certainly don't want to give these away or sell them. People may be put off.

I'm also wondering if I should put a label on them when going to other people that they should be used before some sort of expiration date......

 

[alabama49]

Garbielle1976--Hi--do you have any lavender left? I would like some if you do!
Thanks!

 

[Dipsy Doodle Doo]

Latest 'soapy' efforts, all are goat milk with oats:
2.5 oz 'soap eggs'

Oats and Honey

Citrus

Green Apple

Lavender

Chamomile

1.5 oz 'soap eggs'

 

[Dipsy Doodle Doo]

Ack! The ground chamomile turned the gm oats and chamomile from this.

to this.

Now it is 'Camouflage Chamomile'.

 

[3goodeggs]

Army soap. I like it. I would think there are few little boys who might wash better with camo soap. market it with a little army soldier tied onto it with raffia. Stocking stuffer.

 

[Dipsy Doodle Doo]

Neat idea! I had thought of something like a tiny duck decoy.

 

[new2ducks]

I would LOVE to make homemade soaps! I saw something about a teacher who bought goats and made goatmilk soap...amazing!
I need to check into good recipies and try for myself. There is a gentleman who has goats across the road from us and maybe I can get some milk from him.

 

[rtpaik]

I am so surprised by how inventive everything in this thread is. I actually stumbled here by way of google while looking for some soap making tips(don't tell anyone I don't have chickens!).

long story short, I'm a cook at a hotel in hawaii and because of my own frugality(I hate seeing waste) I ended up with some of my hotels excess bacon fat. 2 gallons to be precise! the way I collected it, there is no particles of meat or excess liquid. it is by all accounts 100% bacon-y tallow goodness. so I thought I'd make soap with it

I'm doing everything cold process and my 3 basic recipes are:
bacon fat
water
NaOH

bacon fat
avocado oil
strong black tea(or earl grey)
honey
NaOH

bacon fat
avocado oil
water(brewed with cracked black peppercorns)
NaOH
lavender buds(I know they're going to be brown)

I just had a few questions that I couldn't seem to find anywhere that I was hoping someone could help me with? I did a ton of research and read numerous threads about soap but I couldn't seem to find answers to all my questions. :\ so I'm building my own soap mold from wood. I have the dimensions all worked out fine but I seem to find varying opinions on if I need a lid. I'm not using any essential oils or fragrances(the big issue with a lid and the heat?) so what other purpose does a lid have? does it speed up or is it required in the saponification process?

one recipe is just bacon fat for the novelty of "pure bacon fat soap" but the other two recipes I have will have about 2 ounces each of avocado oil to help balance the tallow from being too hard/not lathering/not being so benficial for the skin. will that work okay or should I really be mixing in other oils like castor, olive, or coconut?

I'm using honey in one recipe as I'm assuming the extra sugar will help the overall feel of the soap(sugar helps soap bubbles keep their shape). for each ounce of honey I'm removing a 1/2 ounce of liquid because of honeys moisture content. has anyone else found this adjustment to be correct?

honey and tea are going into one recipe, I know the tea will darken the bar of soap slightly(no actual leaves are going in), but does anyone know how well natural smells like tea might last in a bar of soap?

superfatting. my understanding was that the more superfatting, the softer and less harsh the bar will be. so I should superfat the all tallow recipe to 8% to create a softer bar? and because I've adjusted to a softer oil, I can keep the other two recipes with avocado oil to a standard 4-5%? or should I adjust it higher?

on most pages I see it seems that most CP soap is molded and set to harden for around 36-48 hours or until it cools down from the process. I did see someone mention on this thread that they actually freeze it? does that help? I also see everyone cutting it then letting it cure the necessary time period. would it help to keep it in one block to cure? or is there a reason to cut it after it sets as opposed to trying let it cure(and I assume harden).

and I didn't see too many people posting their soap with their own stamp on it but I was planning to stamp mine with an image of a butchers diagram of a pig and all the main primal cuts. does anyone have experience doing this? I wasn't sure if I should stamp after I unmold and cut or if I should wait for the soap to completely cure before stamping?

any help is super appreciated!

 

[rtpaik]

so after getting to page 100(yes, I am reading as much of the back post knowledge as I can absorb

) I've figured out the lid and insulation issue. I believe I understand that the saponification process is exothermic just like the lye and water so there is a certain amount of heat generated and sometimes with certain ingredients(primarily carbohydrates and sugars) this can actually get far far far too hot and the resulting heat causes the emulsion originally created during the trace to break and stratify the oils and other liquids.

I also understand better that after trace the next stage is a gelling stage where the bars start to solidify. when they've just set, the soap isn't quite as hard so it can cut easier then be allowed to finish curing and shrinking. certain solid items like oats or lavender or flowers may actually get caught on a knife or cutter and leave streaks as they drag through the soap. so ideally the knife is very sharp or the bars can be cut with a hot knife after the whole loaf has completely cured.

has anyone tried using wine? I would love to try a port reduction with thyme, brown butter and bacon fat....