Soap Makers Help!

[valmom]

Anyone have any ideas where to store the soap to cure in the summer. I am suffering soap withdrawal! It is too hot and humid to cure upstairs where I usually do it, and I moved the last two batches down to the basement with a dehumidifier and mice (a constant ongoing probem) nibbled it! I guess they thought that vanilla cream batch and coffee batch smelled good enough to eat, too

So, do I just have to wait out the summer? Ideas? I have thought of buying a mouse cage and putting the soap in that to cure. If it keeps pet mice in, it should keep wild mice out, right?

 

[Morgaine]

Sooner- I just threw the chunks in a trace and then poured into the mold. I did have a batch where I put the chunks in the mold and then poured the soap over it but the pieces were not even dispersed and I didn't like the way it looked. Let me look and see if I have a picture of it.

Valmom- I see you are in Vermont. Do you have an AC? I am in Texas, it's hot (100+) and humid here and I have no problem with soaps sweating in the house. They do sweat when I have them outside at the market. The soaps in muslin bags do not sweat like the naked bars to. Maybe you put the bars in some cloth? What kind of problems are you having? It is just sweating or something else? Do you use a high OO? High OO soaps always seem to sweat a lot more than others.

 

[Sooner]

I wish I had an idea for you but I can't come up with anything. I have a storage problem myself, not enough room!!!

 

[suzyq53511]

How do i start soap making on the cheap?

 

[Morgaine]

I would check out www.millersoap.com for the basics. You can use Lard or tallow for your oil for pretty cheap.

 

[Bettacreek]

Yup. I started out with buying my lye only. I used whatever I had around the house, cooking oils and tallow. We hunt a lot, so there was plenty of tallow to make a few small test batches. Once I realised that I LIKED making soap, I started getting into spending money on oils just for soap making, plus the fragrances and finally a real mold. You can start slowly and build up, just like with most other hobbies.

 

[Sooner]

I have to agree, I don't use tallows but do use Lard. I haven't paid for a mold yet, we had some 3" PVC that was gotten for something else. The first "mold" I used was a metal baking pan that I lined with wax paper (I would use two layers if I use it again). My stick blender came from the goodwill for 3.50. I already had the rubber gloves & I use a platic bucket from walmater (1.97) & a heavy plastic pitcher for mixing lye. I already had my cutter, it had been hanging on the wall as deco. LOL.

 

[valmom]

I live in Vermont- we don't have air conditioning! (actually, I do have a window one but only in the bedroom and it only runs a few days a year- it gets humid and high 80's but not enough to justify AC running more than ocasionally).

I do use at least 20-25% OO in my soaps. The main problem I had was while curing them upstairs in the humidity and heat they stayed soft and didn't dry at all. Along with puddles forming underneath the grate I cure them on. But, the weather is changing- it is almost fall feeling this week and I made another batch Monday just because I felt I had to!

Morgaine- where do you buy your muslin bags? Or do you make them? I am trying to think of cute ways to package my bars for the December Christmas employee fair at work.

edited to add to Suzyq- the only thing I bought at first was the lye, too. I used Crisco (it is listed on soapcalc!), canola oil, olive oil- all things I had in my cabinet. I used little custard dishes for my first molds. You can also use a quart milk carton to make a brick and slice bars from it. Oh, I did have to buy a stick blender because I didn't have one and I didn't want to stir by hand, having heard stories about how much time that can take. But it was fairly cheap at Walmart.

 

[Morgaine]

Valmom, they sweat so much they have puddles under them?! Can you put a fan on the curing soap so it has moving air around them? That might help.

Do you think your scale could be off? Would you mind sharing your recipe (pm if you don't want it public) because it could be staying soft because of the recipe. I always use a water discount so that helps them firm up fast. But at only 25% OO you shouldn't have that much of a problem. Mine was 60% OO and it did sweat a lot more than my normal recipe when they were side by side.

I get the bags from San Francisco Herb Company.

 

[valmom]

I use 25% each of Crisco, canola, olive oil and coconut oil with the water suggested by soapcalc. I like the way the bars set up and cure nice and hard - usually. But the weather this summer and the humidity was killing the two batches I did. Yes, they did actually drip! I am 90% sure it was weather related- it was awfully sticky and warmer than normal for around here. We had over two weeks over 90 and humid.