Soap Makers Help!

[MullersLaneFarm]

Here is my Lily of the Wood Fresh out of the mold

 

[valmom]

You guys are the best!

I started to weigh the lye and water, and it looked like an awful lot of lye so I thought I'd ask!

Off to make my first batch of soap- I'm trying to keep it simple to see if I can do it first of all. Olive oil and crisco. No scents, no colors. I will figure out how to do those after I learn the first steps


edited to add: all your soaps look so gorgeous! I so want to do that!

 

[ametauss]

Cyndi -- love the Lily of the Wood swirl.... so elegant looking.... My ITP swirls never come out... I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong but the just sort of meld together and become a blended color....

maybe too much ITP blending is doing it.... my next batch I'm gonna try just a little swirl and see if it comes out better....

Found a nice flower silicon mold for brownies to make flower pops out of that I'm gonna use for my lotion bars... DH said he had to make brownies in it first before I ruin it with my soaping stuff....

He just doesn't understand the pull of silicon....

Valmom -- let us know how it turns out....

 

[valmom]

I have soap! Well, I have a thick slurry that is poured into molds. Of course, I forgot to spray with Pam first- I had to forget something, right? Now I have ordered a sample pack of FO online- SO thinks Dragonblood sounds cool

It went really fast- I was prepared to stir for hours, but it got down to 105 degrees while I was helping put the snow plow on the truck (why don't we ever put the plow on when it is NOT snowing??) and trace happened just about while I dribbled in the lye. I stirred it for about 10 minutes to see if it changed, and it didn't. So, I poured it, and it is slowly solidifying.

Any hints on how to unmold them from the little plastic molds I bought since I forgot to grease them?

 

[rabbithaus]

Valmom-do you mean Milky Way type plastic molds? I don't usually have a problem popping them out after a couple days of letting the soap harden and evaporate some water. For the stubborn ones, a trip to the freezer does the trick. The really stubborn ones get dunked in hot water after coming out of the freezer.

 

[valmom]

That's a relief! I had visions of having to chip out the bars in a few days. Another question- how long do you insulate them? They must cool down eventually, even insulated- should I be keeping them in a warm spot in front of a heater? Why do you insulate?

 

[Morgaine]

Generally speaking, the chemical reaction between the lye and oils (saponification) generates heat and the soap will go through what is called "gel phase" which is what happens when it heats up and turns into a vasaline like texture. People insulate so that the gel reaches all the way to the corner.

Millersoaps.com has a lot of great information you should check out. I also really like the book, Soap Makers Companion.

ETA: if you are using the milky way molds, they can be a PITA to get out sometimes. I second sicking it the freezer. Let it freeze all the way, then take it out and let it start sweating and it should pop out.

And congrats on your first batch of soap!!! It is so exciting isn't it! Where did you order you fo samples from? I'm nosey, lol. I get my dragon's blood from Southern Garden Scents.

 

[valmom]

I read about Southern Scents a few pages back, and the sample pack sounds just right! There was also mention of a BYC discount which they accepted.

 

[Morgaine]

You will like their Dragon's Blood. Just know that your soap will start out as a weird tan color and by the end of the week will be very dark reddish brown.

I just ordered from them today too

I got Chamomile, Island Kiss, Pink Sugar, Cucumber Melon (I hope their's is as good as BB's!) and 2 flavor oils for my sil to use in her lipsticks.

 

[valmom]

OK, my soap has been sitting in the molds since Wednesday, and I keep compulsively checking it

There seems to be a layer of fat on top of each bar. Did I not use enough lye? Did I not insulate well? (well, I probably didn't- how much difference does it make?) I can't tell if the bars are hard enough to try to unmold since I only stick my finger in and leave fingerprints in the top bit. What should I try? Just let them sit longer? Freeze and unmold and see what happened?

(also, besides making the nice wooden bar mold, where can I get a mold for making logs and cutting them apart? Does the PVC pipe really work? How the heck would I get it out??)