Soap Makers Help!

[redhead83402]

Quote:
It was actually one of your pictures of a tangerine (?) soap that definately made my mind up to try this!! I had been hemhawing all along but after that I went hunting for books on soap making and listing out my supplies!! You and Poodles are to blame! lol!!!!

ROFLLL!!! heheheh, another one bites the dust, & another one down, & another one down ~ another one bites the dust!.....;-D (or should that be ... another one makes the soap, & another one smells, & another one sells, another one makes the soap.)

uh oh ~ I tell you, it IS as bad as chickens!
AND it's just as fun! You can do so many types, scents, looks, cuts
, etc... just like collecting chickens. ;-D I hope you make some, and do the swap, I would love to send some of that soap out!

I ended up giving away 13 baskets of soap, plus a WHOLE LOT went to this little health food store. In fact, that's one of the reasons I am not able to be on here quite as much as I was ~ I have been making soap!
~Red

 

[Scrambled Egg]

Welcome Scrambled Egg! You're in for some fun. I can't wait to see your soaps as you make them. Be sure to share!

Question . . . .

Are we still planning to do the soap exchange? The sooner I know, the better the chance that I can participate. Since I don't actually own my supply, I need to reserve some before they're sold.

Thank you!!! I am such a multitasked crafter already (in to EVERYTHING!!) , hey what's one more!! I looked for lye at walmart last night and none, I'll try to get to Lowes this week and get some, did find two nice heavy christmas looking spatulas on sale though and got those, have my big pot, need thermometers and rubber gloves, probably next weekend. Finished all my books on soapmaking so probably will be meekly showing you all my efforts in the next few weeks. I think I will get some plastic storage boxes to use as molds, I have tons of the nice silicine molds for the melt and pour but I want big fat bars cut out of a solid chunk soap for this! I saw one of you using the plastic boxes so I'll get some onf those. Looking forward to your help and I thank you already for sharing all your great efforts here and ENABLING the weak folks like me!!!

Scrambled Egg wrote:
redhead83402 wrote:
LOL! unfortunately, while you won't have to order glycerin, you might just find yourself ordering about a bazillion OTHER things for the CP soap...it's... ahem.. a touch addicting. lol ~ esPECIALLY the many awesome SCENTS & essential oils. ;-D
~Red

It was actually one of your pictures of a tangerine (?) soap that definately made my mind up to try this!! I had been hemhawing all along but after that I went hunting for books on soap making and listing out my supplies!! You and Poodles are to blame! lol!!!!

ROFLLL!!! heheheh, another one bites the dust, & another one down, & another one down ~ another one bites the dust!.....;-D (or should that be ... another one makes the soap, & another one smells, & another one sells, another one makes the soap.)

Just wait until I start my pottery class and make something presentable..I am soooo gonna share those pictures and tempt you all with that, lol!!!!! Course the key word there is "presentable" lol!!! I looked for a soapmakers class and there wasn't one...you all could make some extra cash in your areas teaching the continuing ed. classes at the tech colleges about soap making..I bet the class would fill up quick!!​

 

[MullersLaneFarm]

Quote:
There are no secrets in making soap, just knowledge. When I started soaping 10 years ago, the lady that mentored me told me she was more than willing to help IF I would continue to 'pay forward'. In other words, help anyone that asked for help. That is all I ask from anyone I help.

27.5 % each of the palm and coconut, 35.83% Olive Oil, 6.67% Castor, and 2.5% Avocado. The liquid was primarily goats milk with some distilled water added to have enough for the liquid requirement. I superfatted this batch at about 6.5%, not accounting for any fat in the goats milk since the calculator didn't ask for that.[/b]

Thanks, that helps. See below

I think I need to do some reading on the fatty acid profiles. Can you recommend a good source that'll teach me exactly what I'm working with? I was intrigued when you wrote earlier about how men and women tend to prefer different profiles in their soaps.

You can check out the fatty acid profile on Kathy Miller's site and if you go the the FILE section of my Yahoo Group, Tallow_Soapers, there are a few Excel worksheets that are helpful. In 1 Tallow_Soapers LYE Calc.xls is my lye calculator. The tab marked Properties gives an extensive summary of various oils, what they're good for and their FA properties. In 5_FA.xls you can see at a glance which oils top the scales for each of the fatty acids.

How would I know whether one of these purchased at the store was or was not High Oleic?

The only place I can find high linoleic sunflower and safflower is at Golden Barrel web site. Most suppliers (like Mike Lawson at Soaper's Choice) will tell you it is high oleic oil. The oils you buy at the market are also high oleic.

Incorporate at least 15% of one of these oils into your recipe and feel free to up your coconut and/or palm kernel oil percentage.

Thanks, I can try that. But, with the recipe I posted, what would I decrease by 15%?

Not the 15%, but totally revamped

I'm not a fan of palm oil. for my skin, the high palmitic FA leaves my skin dry. it may not affect you. with that in mind:

30% each: Olive, Coconut, Vegetable Shortening
5% each: Avocado & Castor

From your original recipe, this significantly lowers your Palmitic FA, and significantly raises your Linoleic FA. It bumps up your Lauric FA (lathering) & Stearic FA (creates stable lather). Yes, the substitution of the veg shortening for the palm makes all the difference. If you were to use the palm oil, your palmitic fa goes way up and the linoleic goes way down.

It can change the feel of the lather, but it doesn't boost or create more lather.

I wondered about that. TSC's oil properties chart does NOT show Castor to be a high lathering oil, but many of the recipes out there DO tout it for those qualities.​

I remember when the 'buzz' started about castor oil increasing the lathering ... if you look far enough back on the Tallow_Soapers messages, you'll find it. I felt then and still feel that it was the combination of oils used that changed the feel of the lather.​

 

[MullersLaneFarm]

Quote:
The Man Bar is one of the recipes that Dirk & Tina (of MMS) have on their site

My hubby is bugging me to make him a shaving soap.

Besides adding clay for a bit of slip, boost the Stearic FA in your shaving soap by adding about 3-5% Stearic Acid. Caution though, it will move your soap very, very Quickly!! (expect and plan on 'soap on a stick'). Use full water in your recipe, especially if you're adding clay (what type of clay?)

The reason for the additional stearic fa is to stabilize the lather, meaning the bubbles don't break down quickly.​

 

[MullersLaneFarm]

Quote:
Just keep reading and get up the courage to make that first batch. You'll have a lot more questions then! Ask them!!

 

[MullersLaneFarm]

Quote:

plus a WHOLE LOT went to this little health food store. In fact, that's one of the reasons I am not able to be on here quite as much as I was ~ I have been making soap!
~Red

Congrats Red!!! WOOOT!​

 

[MullersLaneFarm]

Quote:
ooooo, I can see it now ... custom, drainable soap dishes .... shaving mugs ...

can't wait!

 

[smom1976]

OH OH OH ... I have said it before and I will say it again..


Thanks for comming here mullerlane!!!

your a wonderful book of info..

 

[Backyard Buddies]

Quote:
As a part of my venture, I was teaching others how to do this on my third batch.

Actually, since ours is a part of a fundraising effort to support the church garden, I NEED to recruit others so that they can be a part of this. I'm starting to fall behind on my gardening duties!

As for the pottery, I can already see it now - - - Soap crocks for shaving soap! Now wouldn't THAT be cool?!!!

 

[Backyard Buddies]

Quote:
ooooo, I can see it now ... custom, drainable soap dishes .... shaving mugs ...

can't wait!

That's funny! I hadn't even read your post when I said the same thing. But, you went one further with the drainable soap dishes.

Love it! Ok, it's quite possible that Scrambled is going to recruit us for another craft.