Soap Makers Help!

[MullersLaneFarm]

Quote:
What type of vegetable oil?? Soy? Cottonseed? Sunflower? Safflower? Corn?

It is always best when making oil substitutions to run the new recipe through a good lye calculator such as SoapCalc .

 

[RockyToggRanch]

All of my soaps with mica for color have faded

I just bought a "boat load" of oxides....I hope they hold better.

Peak had a sale on holiday scents, so I stocked up on those while I was at it.

Now if I could only step away from the cheesemaking long enough to do soap...lol

also added my newest soaps to my website www.rockytoggsoapco.com


edited for spelling:/

 

[MSDeb]

Nice looking soaps!

 

[RockyToggRanch]

Thank you! I'm still learning.. it's only been a yr.

 

[equine chick]

I haven't made soap for about 2 years and been reading the thread. I wanted to try a lavender rosemary soap, do you reccomend whole rosemary or crushed or both?

 

[MSDeb]

Quote:
I made another batch of Lemon EO soap with Lemon Ginger FO and Patchouli Oil, smells great.

I'd like to get more into scenting soaps and lotions. Do you know of any on-line educational resources or a good book you would recommend?

 

[Bettacreek]

Some people use cornstarch to anchor the citrus scents. I *think* it's something like 1tsp ppo but don't quote me.

 

[Sooner]

I notice that alot of you mix your EO, how did you learn to do this & is there an easy way to test a mixture without wasting alot of EO.

 

[equine chick]

Natures garden has some nice tutorials on eo and learning about fragrances and they are free! It under their fragrance classes.
Here's one link for you on eo's
http://www.naturesgardencandles.com/mas_assets/pdf/essential.pdf

 

[MSDeb]

Quote:
I have been reading a lot about making perfume to get an idea about layering and anchoring scents. Then I sat down and started mixing and smelling. When testing new scent mixtures I first try it with drops of EO (let it sit a week or so) and when I get something I like I'll make a larger batch. Once I get the scent where I like it then I make a batch of soap and try it out.

It would be great if someone knowledgeable would give some first hand lessons learned, specifically items to have on hand and what works best with cp. For example adding patchouli oil to citrus cents anchors them so you can smell them in cp and they don't fade as fast.

Soap making is a fascinating hobby on so many levels; from choosing your base oils, to scenting the soap, and coloring is a whole other topic. I love it.