Another newbie *waves hello*

So, as the title says I'm a newbie to making soap. I just made my very first ever batch tonight, in fact. It's in the oven doing its thing til tomorrow sometime.

I kinda jumped right into it with both feet. I have to use real EOs for scent, since I'm allergic to artificial fragrances. Starting out with six bottles- 10x orange, cedarwood, frankincense, ylang ylang, fir needle, and lavender. I really wanted to get some rose absolute, but just can't justify spending $50 on a bottle that will probably only make one batch of soap. I also have a selection of colorants, both botanical and mineral pigments.

This first batch is scented with 10x orange EO, and also has some dried orange peel powder. When it went into the mold it was a pretty orange color, and it should get even brighter. I think every soap making book and blog I've come across so far has a recipe for some version of it.

I built my recipe using SoapCalc to get some idea about the properties I hope to get out of this batch, in addition to figuring just how much lye I should use. I'll check if it's ready to be unmolded tomorrow, and hopefully be able to cut it and start it curing. I nailed my batch size, it fit perfectly into a 4 pound loaf mold.

My plan at the moment is to make probably six or eight batches of soap over the next month-ish, experimenting with different processes and materials (and hopefully have some great Christmas presents when I'm done). I'm just about chomping at the bit to try a clear soap, and wondering if indigo would survive the cooking and solvent stages. I have this mental image of a clear sky blue soap, with fluffy white clouds with silver linings floating in the center.

Welcome to the forum. You might try rose geranium or rosewood essential oil as a substitute for rose absolute. They might not smell as good as the absolute, but they are a whole lot cheaper.

That's probably not a bad idea. I could maybe do a blend, and include some actual rose but not have to use the whole bottle for one batch.

Welcome to the forum and the addiction. :bunny: I would recommend sticking with 1-2 lb batches in the beginning. You are going to have a mountain of soap and if you do not like your first few recipes, after playing with other formulations you have a lot of rebatch or waste. I will mention, the first batch always feels wonderful compared to store bought syndet but in six months to a year you should notice a big difference between #1 batch and #20 batch. Save the 4lb batches until you nail down the formula. Sadly even 10x orange does not have sticking power in soap over several months. So after your soap is cured I would use it up while it still smell remotely orange. Rose Germanium does smell quite rosy, but make sure you are getting 100% EO, some are blends and not 100%. Also most Rose Germanium accelerates like many florals.

Brambleberry suggest 1.3-2.4 oz Rose Absolute for a batch your size, which calculates to $177.45 - $327.60 per batch + shipping. Not worth it to run it down the drain. Use it in a lotion or balm where you would use drops and it is a leave on. This calculation is assuming you are using approx 48 oz oils for your mold. Price is based on B&B's Rose Absolute @ $136.50 per oz, most are almost double that price for an ounce.

As for transparent it is much less costly to buy a good m&p base rather than try to make it. It will save you money in the long run. Unlike what some say, glycerin only is not a good solvent for making transparent soap, it will drip and sweat like it is sitting in a rain forest.

Hey and welcome!

Citrus EOs are notorious for fading quickly. Also, your orange peel may not look very nice after exposure to the lye. Mine was not horrible, but was not a good addition to soap.

I strongly suggest you read 5-10 pages of threads from the beginner forum, then repeat with the lye based soap forum. Loads of info that you don't have to learn the hard way.

Welcome to the addiction..

Welcome to the forum! We'd love to see pictures of your soap

Hi Kittish and welcome! :bunny:

So my first batch is out of the mold and cut. It looks ok, but not nearly as pretty as I expect to be able to get with practice.

Here's a pic:



It was still just a little soft and sticky on the inside, but not so much that I wasn't able to get reasonably clean cuts. You'll also notice the white bits. The soap went to thick trace a lot faster than I expected, so wound up with a few bits inside with no essential oil mixed in. Looks like I did get a good full gel, though.

If the scent doesn't stick after a few months, I'll turn it into laundry soap. At the moment it smells really good. We'll see how it does.

Looks aren't everything!

To note, if it is a well formulated body bar then you really don't want to use it for laundry. Better to grate it as confetti in a other soap rather than causing damage to your clothes

Kittish said:

So my first batch is out of the mold and cut. It looks ok, but not nearly as pretty as I expect to be able to get with practice.

Here's a pic:

It was still just a little soft and sticky on the inside, but not so much that I wasn't able to get reasonably clean cuts. You'll also notice the white bits. The soap went to thick trace a lot faster than I expected, so wound up with a few bits inside with no essential oil mixed in. Looks like I did get a good full gel, though.

If the scent doesn't stick after a few months, I'll turn it into laundry soap. At the moment it smells really good. We'll see how it does.

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It really will not make good laundry soap. 100% Coconut Oil, 100% Lard or a combo of the two make better laundry soap. The point of hot process is bringing the soap to gel. When it goes to transparent looking it is gelled. Usually white blotches are dried hp soap from the pan edges. It really is easier to hp in a crock pot which can usually be purchased under $10 at a Goodwill, etc.

:bunny:

cmzaha said:

It really will not make good laundry soap. 100% Coconut Oil, 100% Lard or a combo of the two make better laundry soap. The point of hot process is bringing the soap to gel. When it goes to transparent looking it is gelled. Usually white blotches are dried hp soap from the pan edges. It really is easier to hp in a crock pot which can usually be purchased under $10 at a Goodwill, etc.

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Noted that it won't make good laundry soap, if I wind up having to rebatch. Even if it does lose all the scent, it'll still be decent soap, it just might take a while to use it all.

This batch was CPOP. I am going to do a full hot process soap, just not quite yet. I've got an older crock pot that's been tagged for soap making, problem I might run into with it is that it's kind of big. This four pound batch just barely filled it enough to let me get my stick blender fully immersed. Ah well, I've got whisks other suitable stirring implements, and the patience to stir by hand if I wind up needing to. I also have smaller soap-safe containers that can be rigged as a double boiler to use on the stove top.

Welcome to the forum... and congratulations on your first attempt gone right

Hi Kittish,

Congratulations on your first batch of soap. I'm relatively new to the forums as well, but I've been making CP and CPOP soaps for awhile.

Not long after I started soapmaking I had a milk soap turn out with white spots. I had used lye from a different source, and it hadn't entirely dissolved in the milk. I never figured out why, since I leave my water and oils until they are cool. Now if I can't see that the lye is dissolved, I strain it when I add it to the oils, although I haven't had the problem since. Better safe than sorry. So make sure those spots are indeed soap and not undissolved lye.

Yep, Jena, I'm certain it's soap, not undissolved lye. My lye dissolved straight away in the water, there were no bits still in my lye pot when I went to add it to the oils. It just thickened up faster than I expected, skipped right over thin trace and was at thick trace by the time I got my essential oil added, so there were a few globs that didn't get the scent mixed into them. They're the original color of the soap before I added the EO.

Thanks for all the warm welcomes. I'm glad to find a community I can share ideas with.

ETA: I've done the zap test on my loaf end, and there's not even any hint of a tingle, much less a zap (blech! soap does not taste yummy).

Hello and Welcome! Congratulations on your first of what will be many batches of soap. I also recommend you post your recipe so that others can review it for any possible issues. Formulating is the hardes part sometimes.

shunt2011 said:

Hello and Welcome! Congratulations on your first of what will be many batches of soap. I also recommend you post your recipe so that others can review it for any possible issues. Formulating is the hardes part sometimes.

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Sure thing. My recipe:

2:1 water to lye ratio (so no water discount if I've understood that concept correctly), distilled water
351 grams water, 175 grams NaOH
4% superfat

Canola oil 33% 413 grams
Olive oil 33% 413 grams
Coconut oil 24% 300 grams
Stearic acid 7% 88 grams
Castor oil 3% 38 grams

At trace (thick trace, as I mentioned, thus the unscented globs) I added my EO, at a rate of .5 oz PPO (total of 1.4 ounces). I added two tablespoons of dried ground orange peel, dispersed in 1 oz avocado oil (not included in the formulation calculation) and 1/2 oz vitamin E oil (not included in the formulation calculation).

My actual superfat is probably closer to 5%, since I started with and plan to continue a policy of getting as close to my target weights as possible, but letting the oils go a few grams over while keeping the lye maybe a gram or two short.

It may also make a difference that I live in a desert, our ambient humidity is normally in low single digits. Seriously, people start complaining about how 'muggy' it is when the humidity tops 10%.

Jena said:

Hi Kittish,

Congratulations on your first batch of soap. I'm relatively new to the forums as well, but I've been making CP and CPOP soaps for awhile.

Not long after I started soapmaking I had a milk soap turn out with white spots. I had used lye from a different source, and it hadn't entirely dissolved in the milk. I never figured out why, since I leave my water and oils until they are cool. Now if I can't see that the lye is dissolved, I strain it when I add it to the oils, although I haven't had the problem since. Better safe than sorry. So make sure those spots are indeed soap and not undissolved lye.

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Undissolved lye would not make spots that large. Bummer I had a long answer typed and I guess I did not save it. Anyway I see what probably caused the white spots it is the stearic acid. Stearic acid is not necessary or even advisable in a cp soap. You mentioned you cpop your soap which means it was mixed as a cp soap and poured in the mold then brought to gel in the oven. Also it is not necessary to "cook" the soap in the mold and really not the best way to do this. To force gel heat your oven to 170º -190º turn off your oven and put in your mold. Leave overnight, but do check that is does not overheat. I do 190º because my oven door will not completely close with my mold. Stearic acid is usually used in shave soaps and cream soaps but not in cp. It reacts immediately to lye and lumps up. Also supperfatting your cpop after mixing is useless, you soap will not have truly started the saponification at this point so the lye will take what it wants. If you want to control superfat you have to hp your soap and add in the superfat after it has reached gel and is zap free. So nix the stearic acid and add some tallow, lard or both. Also the coconut oil would be very drying to my skin at 24%. Hp is normally done to work with a naughty fragrance that will not cp and/or to control superfat.

Welcome to the forum and congratulations on your first soaping adventure!