Recent content by SchenckOrchard

SO AWESOME! Thank you for sharing!!!

4 oz castor oil 4 oz canola oil 4 oz coconut oil 15 oz olive oil 10 oz palm oil 12 oz water 4.8 oz lye 0.3 oz EOs I think I just over did the EO for the amount of castor oil I used. It was my first time using it. Im in La Mesa, how about you?

My soap is basically the consistency of of dough. Anyone know if I can just melt it down and add more palm oil or something? How can I rebatch it to make it hard when it cures?

This was my first time using castor oil, so maybe in larger amounts it does take longer to harden. I guess I am playing the waiting game now. Thanks for the input.

I made two different scents with the same recipe, so I know the oil and lye was fine because the second soap came out perfectly. I used about .1 oz eo in the other scent. I didnt measure the amount of "base" batch (before adding the EOs) but it was about 60% went to the patchouli and 40% to...

I made a patchouli sweet orange batch yesterday and today it is still not hard, its past the gelling phase, but just soft, like when I touch it I can push through it. Any suggestions on what to do with it now? If I rebatch, what do I add to harden it? Options other than rebatching with it...

Thanks for posting that link. I think I am going to give it a try without insulating it too much. Maybe I'll just try a half batch to see what happens since it seems like some have trouble with the Pringles can and others do not.

I have been soaping since June and have been giving it away to friends and family until I can nail my recipes and refine my scents / nutrient ingredients. Thats a great idea to make a list about their reactions. Mostly everyone loves it except for a few that were too drying...which were my...

Awesome! Thank you so much for posting a reply! I will be making my soap tonight with my pringles can! Wish me luck!

I think by squeak, I mean that it is drying out the skin so much that it squeaks. Its not zapping. I used a lye calculator that may have made my soap lye heavy and I did not superfat it. My more recent batches I have superfatted at 5 % and started using a different lye calculator. I used...

Maybe my soap was lye heavy in that first batches I made because they are still making people squeak and drys out their skin. Whats the best superfatting for getting rid of the squeak? I guess I'm afraid that if I use too little lye it wont turn in to soap correctly, but I certainly am not...

So I am on the hunt for a cylindrical mold other than PVC pipe and I have been eyeballing my empty Pringles tube. Has anyone used this before? Does the fact that its cardboard make it a bad idea (in case it gets too moist and falls apart). Any advice is helpful!

Thank you for posting this question and pictures as I have been getting crumbly batches too. Be careful with the colorants that seemed to be my issue, as soon as I omitted that, no more crumbly soap.

When do you add the sweet potato? I want to try this with baby food.

Okay, just checked the batch I made yesterday using the MMS lye calculator and no colorant (other than comfrey leaf). Whaddaya know?! No crumbles!!! I'm sticking to that calculator in case the issue was heavy lye. Thanks for the input on the colorant issue, I'll make a tiny batch with...