Very new at this - adding to a basic recipe and more...

Once I find a basic soap recipe, can I just add to it? Basically, I think I want a recipe with a higher amount of olive oil (don't know enough about oils to know what else to look for), and I want to add honey, colloidal oatmeal, and maybe some dairy (milk/buttermilk/cream?).

I don't want to make my own recipe for my first batch. I'm terrible at math and reading all the equations and mathematical stuff is making my head hurt lol

So when I get the basic recipe made and when it starts to trace, I just add the honey and oatmeal? Would I use the dairy in place/addition to the lye water? How much honey and oatmeal to add, I keep seeing 1Tbsp PPO, is that good?

Will this give me a pleasant scented bar? And how long would this take to cure/be usable?

Last question - At what point does the big log/brick of soap get cut into bars?

Thank you! I'm so excited to make soap (as I mentioned in my intro post, I'm trying to do this for my wedding favors)!

Hi again Amy.

I think I answered most of your questions in the Introduction forum. But to reiterate - go to millersoap.com Lots of easy reliable recipes there. Run any recipe through a lye calculator like www.soapcalc.net to check for accuracy.

Honey - I add to lye water AFTER it has cooled. It will make the lye water heat up again and make it turn orange. It will revert to tan/brown after you mix your soap. Use anywhere from 1 t to 1 T PPO (per pound of oils). More than this and you will get sticky soap.

Ground oatmeal - 1 T PPO max. Grind it very fine. Large chunks of anything organic in soap can get moldy/funky. Although you could sprinkle a very few oat flakes on top for decoration.

It won't smell like much without adding a fragrance. You'll get a very faint whiff of honey at best.

After you pour your soap, you should be able to cut within 24 hours. If you want straight cuts, try a cheap miter box from Home Depot. Then in four weeks you can use your soap.

Also honey will make your soap mixture heat so don't insulate your soap after you pour it or it might overheat.

Amy I recommend you spend as many hours/weeks/months as you have spare to read this forum and information on the websites of many of the people who post here.

Google soap suppliers and read the advice they give.

Go to You Tube and check out many of the soap making examples on there.

At some point you have to make a huge decision ... what type of soap to make ... eg CP, HP, MP, CPHP, CPOP, MWHP etc? I recommend, from my own limited experience, that to begin with, you pick something with only a few ingredients so that you learn about using lye, trace, moulding, waiting, cutting, curing etc. Then after you've tried a few soaps, it's time to have fun experiencing the more complicated things and having fun with a variety of looks, like mixing colours, making patterns in your soap, decorating the top etc.

I also found that making small batches in the beginning was easier ... as even the 'long time' soap makers can have a batch sieze and need to be thrown out. At some point a batch will not work properly ... and this forum is a great place to ask about that.

Use the Search icon on this forum. It's on every page, top right ... click on it and type in what you're searching for, so that you can get information quickly.

Most important ... learn about the lye monster and how important it is to test and trial your soap over a long period, so that you don't risk anybody getting hurt by a soap that's got problems with it!

An example ... my first batch of CP was lye discounted ... although I didn't know what that meant when I made it. After six weeks curing, the soap looked and smelled great. It's ph was 8, which is good and I was happy to use it. The soap lathered beautifully, but felt oily ... which the 'wise folk' on here explained was due to the lye discount. I could have easily given it to friends to trial ... but due to it being oily, the risk was, that a person could use it in the shower and slip over and hurt themselves badly and/or permanently. I did give some to closed friends to trial ... but with a warning that it was to only be used at the sink!

I have been using the search engine so much I'm surprised it didn't crash the server lol, great information. I think I'll be ready next week:

FO ordered from a local place http://www.oregontrailsoaps.com
I have the huge regular olive oil from Costco, and ordered coconut and palm oil from Cibaria.
Other stuff ordered from Amazon and bought local, got lye from Ace Hardware.

Going to start with the "Favorite Castile II" recipe and add just oatmeal (bought oat flour instead of the other) to the first batch and if I don't foul that up, will try the second with honey and/or dairy.

Soooo excited!

I was really lucky to hit on this thread. I'm getting nutty about how to add honey, milk and oatmeal to my basic recipe... so many sets of instructions and my head is hurting from the math, also...ha... so am glad to get the lowdown on honey and oatmeal adding. Thanks Dragonkaz.

I have a couple of questions about the milk part. Snowdrift Farm suggests adding milk at trace? But wouldn't that still burn the milk? And would I subtract the amount of milk liquid used at trace from the water used for mixing lye? (Are milk liquid or buttermilk or goat milk liquids equal to water in soapmaking recipes? ) I'm also reeeeely confused about temperature. If I make the goat milk soap at lower temperatures, like around 90, could I add the goat milk to the lye without first freezing it?

Whew. That's enough for my brain for now...I think my forehead is getting hot.

I just got set up to try my first milk soap and realized my Slater scale was broken. Which brands and types of scales do you recommend?

Thank you everyone and good luck to Amy. Keep us posted!

Babette, you'll get a bunch of different answers on this. I use 100% GM for my water and freeze the GM. Some mix the lye with 1/2 water then add 1/2 milk at emulsion. Yes, you would subtract what you add in milk from your total water quantity. IMO, any milk added at trace will do nothing.

If I am adding oatmeal and honey, I do so at a light trace. 1 T ground oatmeal PPO. Honey I just squeeze a bunch in - maybe 1/2 T ppo.

A scale that calculates to fraction of ounces is good. I like ones that have grams, too.