Soap Makers Help!

[oberhaslikid]

Quote:
It was Gardinia.This recipe was from the Nancy today video.
What could I do with it now? rebatch and add what? Ideas?

 

[Morgaine]

Oh, please! Do not go by Nancy today. She is a hoot to watch, but I would not use any of her recipes. I would let the batch sit in the open to cure. This may take much longer than the normal 4 weeks. It could take 2 or 3 months.

You can shred it up and use the shreds in a new batch for a confetti soap, but I wouldn't rebatch the whole thing, just let it cure.

Gardenia(any floral really) are a PITA to soap and that could very well be what caused your soap to rice and start to seperate, but the softness is from the recipe. If after an 8 week cure, it is still really soft, shred it and put the shreds in another, more stable batch. I think I have only thrown out 5 batches in 4 years, you can save this batch, it just might not be what you first had in mind.

 

[oberhaslikid]

Thank you ! Hey it works for her I thought I would try it. She is a hoot.

 

[walkerkm]

Quote:
Morgaine-would you happen to have a photo that would go with this recipe? I'm looking for a everyday standard soap recipe and this one seems simple enough...

 

[Morgaine]

All the photos I have are of different recipes. This is a nice, creamy white bar though. If you use a dark EVOO, it can be slightly more yellowish.

This is a very nice soap, great for beginers since it doesn't trace fast and is resistant to DOS. It also doesn't break the bank since all the oils can be found at walmart. It's also a great starting point if you want to start playing around with others oils to see what they add to the soap. Take away 5% OO and add 5% Castor or Shea.

 

[walkerkm]

Thanks

 

[TammyTX]

Hey fellow soapers!

I've been away from the board for quite a while, but I'm back and I feel like soaping!

 

[OHhappychicks]

I'm getting ready to take the plunge and JUST DO IT!!

I have a couple of questions (with probably many more to come), How many lbs of soap are in "a batch? And Morgaine, the recipe you posted the other day, about how many bars do you get out of that? I was just wondering about what size mold I would use. And when I measure out my ingredients, I use the oz. setting on the scales, correct? Not the grams? It sets to "0" when you measure in a container to measure the ingredient and not the container. It is really late and I hope I am making sence!! Oh! and my soapmakers companion came yesterday!!!! Yeah!! Between reading this thread and that book I'm going to have to go get new glasses!!!

thanks for your time!

 

[Morgaine]

Your batch size can be any size. 1 pound or 100 pounds, it does not matter. Decide on what mold you are going to use and then size your recipe to the mold in soapcalc. That is the easy thing to do. Look on the reference thread, there is a link to a calculator that will tell you what size batch (oils only) will fit your mold.

The batch I posted was a 4 pound batch. How many bars you will get out of that will vary on how big you cut them. The most common size of soap is around 4 oz. That batch will give you a total of 97 oz so divide that by 4 and you will get around 24 bars. If you like big chunky bars, you will only get around 16. So that all varies on what size you want to cut them. You want be 10 oz bars, you are only going to get 9, lol.

If your scale will do grams, go with grams because they are more accurate. I always measure everything (but the fo) in grams. I can convert it if you want, or you can put the numbers into soap calc and they will tell you what it is in gr, oz and lb. Love soapcalc!

How high does your scale measure? For now untill you get pouring down, I would measure each oil individually. First you turn on your scale. Put your bowl on and it and tare it out to 0. Then you measure your Olive oil and after you get the right weight, pour it into your pot. Put the bowl back on the scale. It should read 0. If it does not, scrape more of the oil of the bowl until it reads 0. Do the same for the other oils. I'm good enough now where I can measure several oils into one bowl and then pour into the pot but it takes some practice to do that.

 

[MSDeb]

Ok, I made the lotion and I like it ok, the hubby really likes it! Thank you for the recipe Morgaine.

The only issue I have with it is the shea butter, yuck. I have used it in soap also and though it is good for the skin I just cannot stand the smell. With the lotion I added "cucumber melon" FO and it covered the smell pretty well. I did a portion of the lotion with Bergamot and white tea and as my dd said "it smells like poop".

Does anyone have any recommendations on FO's that cover the shea smell? After I use this batch up I will buy the deodorized stuff.