Need some tried and true recipes

[Sanctuary]

Hi Everyone. I'm glad to be here and am really excited to have the opportunity to learn new things and meet new people. I have been doing MP for a while and am going to do my first attempt at CP soap. I had a friend make me 2 wooden soap molds which hold 5 pounds of soap each. Does anyone out there have any awesome recipes to make a 5 pound loaf of soap? It would be greatly appreciated if you could pass it along to me.
Thanks & Blessings,
Sanctuary

 

[Hazel]

Welcome to the forum. If you've never made a batch before, I highly recommend you start small and only make a 24 or 32 oz batch. I've heard too many stories about people who made a large first batch and then had to toss it. You don't need to start with the wooden molds. You can use a lined shoe box as a mold.

Many of the soapmakers on this forum have generously shared recipes. I'm sure you'll find one if you read through the CP forum. There is also a sticky thread in this section titled "Share your favorite soap recipe". You could also look through the Soap Making Recipes & Tutorials forum.

 

[judymoody]

Try www.millersoap.com

Her recipes are reliable but make a lot of soap so they'd need to be scaled down. As Genny suggested, I recommend starting out with a batch of 1.5 to 2 pounds - not so small that you get into measurement problems, not so large that if it doesn't turn out well you've wasted too many materials.

You can also find good basic recipes on the soapqueen blog hosted by Anne Marie of Brambleberry or our very own Amanda's Lovin' Soap blog.

Some basic advice:

Safety first - goggles, gloves, closed toe shoes, long pants, long sleeves.

Mix lye in stainless steel or HDPE pitcher. Glass can be damaged by lye and shatter unexpectedly, even Pyrex

Get a good digital scale and weigh your ingredients in grams if possible. If you have irregular amounts, round down for lye, round up for oil

No aluminum utensils, vessels or molds, it can cause a dangerous chemical reaction in contact with lye.

Run every recipe you attempt through a lye calculator to check for accuracy. www.soapcalc.net is a good one.

Finally, always unplug your stick blender before you clean it. Don't ask me how I know!

Hope I haven't scared you off or insulted you by telling you things you already know. It's great fun and very satisfying!