1st time making soap

[scrummysuds]

hi I'm new, I love handmade soap and bath products, so I am determined to make some myself. I have experience making bath bombs and bath melts but not soap.

For my first soap I have a wonderful CP soap recipe for a coconut soap from a book I bought (one of my faves)

I am looking for any helpful tips and advice on where to buy my ingedients from. I also want to make the soap as a loaf and slice it, what type of loaf mould would you reccommend and where?

Thanks

 

[BeltlineYYC]

Which book do you have? There's one out there (Norma Coney's "The Complete Soapmaker" published by Sterling) that has a potentially dangerous misprint in the lye mixing instructions. Anyone who hadn't made soap before or read other books could hurt themselves quite badly if that book was the only thing they had as a guide.

 

[scrummysuds]

gosh thanks for the heads up. the book I have is called the handmade soap book by melinda cross

 

[scrummysuds]

also if I use cocout milk in the recipe, do I replace the whole amount of water for milk.....so instead of using 16oz of water I'd use 16 oz of coconut milk? And am I right in thinking the coconut milk has to be semi-frozen when added o the lye? how long would this take to semi freeze?

 

[Elly]

Please do not rely on formulas given on books or on the net some of them are not properly formulated and since you'll be using highly abrasive caustic soda for a product that will be applied to the skin you must make sure the formula is a correct one. When you find a formula you'd like to use always put it through a soap making calculator such as SoapCalc which will give you the correct amounts of lye and water to be used, here is the link http://www.soapcalc.net/ you can play around with it and create your own formula.

Also I would urge you to read a bit more about soap making here is a link to a very good site full of useful information
http://www.millersoap.com/

Here is another link that has videos showing you how to proceed
http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body- ... cp-soap-2/

Regarding your question about coconut milk just place in the freezer until it gets to a slushy texture almost like crushed ice then you add the lye to the slushy milk slowly to avoid overheating of the milk. Hope this helps :wink:

 

[ilove2soap]

When I add lye to the slushy or frozen coconut milk, mine usually turns bright yellow/orange and gets really thick almost gooey. This has been the norm for me and I just scrape all the lye/coconut/goo into the oils (when cooled off) and start blending. My soaps have turned out great and the finished soap does not take on the funky yellow color of the coconut lye mix. You can also consider using water for part of the liquid and adding coconut milk at trace-if that is easier for ya!

 

[panzerakc]

Post your recipe

And we can eyeball it for you.

Anita

 

[panpaste]

mold

I found a cheap mold on ebay. It says its linerless plastic. It is NOT linerless but for the price I am happy with it. Everyone on here has given good pics or homemade wooden molds. They look pretty easy to make. I have absolutely no powertools or saws so I didn't even give it a thought. I just started a month ago and I've already made 5 four pound CP soap loaves and some HP heart shaped loaves. I found heart tube molds originally for bread at a thrift store. Also circle soaps from PVC pipe I found in the woods. (also of weird stuff in the woods where I live) I love it! Also check out craigslist.org for local deals.

 

[scrummysuds]

Thank you everyone for your advice.
I will definately take a look at those websites Elly thanks, watched a few videos but think I do need to read a bit more a watch a few more demonstrations.
Thanks for the soap calc info, didn't know such a thing existed, so glad I posted here before attempting to make anything

 

[jennikate]

Always run recipe thru a calc is really good advice thesage.com also has a easy use free lyecalc . I if using milk split my liq amount in 1/2 add lye to water let cool than add milk helps keep sugar in milk from burning.Good luck and welcome.

 

[scrummysuds]

I have also booked myself onto a beginners class in CP soap making today to give me more info and techniques