Recent content by bhelen

These seem to be kinda silly questions for someone who has been making soap for several years, but I have recently returned to it after a 4 year gap and I feel I have forgotten quite a bit. Firstly, is what you call rubbing alcohol the same as the alcohol spray we currently spray everywhere...

Thank you all for your comments and observations. Wow, could it really be a basic math problem 🤣 I kinda hope so, it will be less of a mystery. Gonna go back and check all the recipes that turned out did and see if my arithmetic checks out.

Almost all my soaps are milk soaps which I make using the split method. In this recipe I had 760g liquid, and had 360g distilled water, 280g milk and 20g water for mixing kaolin clay. It curdled before I added the essential oils. I usually hand stir all my soaps, but I tried stick blending it...

Does anyone have a failsafe alkanet infusion that gives a beautiful purple? How much alkanet to how much oil; which oil you use for infusion; what percentage of your soap oil you use infused; how long do you leave your infusion or do you do a hot infusion; what is your oil combo in your soap. I...

What is your lye concentration? I had this same issue for a while and came onto the forum asking for help. Eventually I remembered I had quite a water discount and tried increasing the water, and everything sorted itself out. Also a change in oil brand could make a difference. I found that...

I had the same thing happen with a honey soap and it was perfectly fine to use. So I'd say probably overheating .

Paprika added directly to the oils makes a beautiful speckly pink soap. Tomato paste is also nice, 1tblsp ppo. Red is going to be a push with natural colors, they are always going to be a bit muted. I feel with you on the alkanet. It's supposed to give purple not red...my first attempt was...

I literally just made a honey soap, used 50g honey dissolved in a little warm water for a 1kg batch. I stick blend the honey solution into the oils before adding the lye so that it disperses really well. Plus I use milk (I dissolve the lye in an equal amount of water and the remainder of my...

I have tried so many things to solve this issue, and here is what I have found: There is a fine balance between curing time and losing scent. I use a recipe where the soap is great after about 3 and a half weeks, and then I wrap each soap individually and store each batch in closed tupperware...

Thanks to all.

I'm not really a fan of castile but I need one for my range and am trying to get it looking as well as feeling as good as possible. I have seen some really pure white castiles, but mine always turns out a creamy yellow. I do split method milk soap, could the milk be the reason (although milk is...

I have got some white kaolin clay which I have been told may help to preserve the scent of my soap. Opinions on that also welcome! But my questions are, as I use individual moulds and pour quite thin, will the clay just sink to the bottom? And what is the best way to add the clay - mix it into a...

Thanks for the tips. I will definitely check out the Brambleberry fragrance calculator. I have used lavender, peppermint, spearmint, orange, cinnamon, eucalyptus, tea tree, neroli, lemon, and camphor EOs. Lavender seems to stick around longest and peppermint is perceptible, but everything else...

I started making soap in September 2014, and still have several bars of every batch I have ever made. I use EOs to scent the soap. Almost every single scent has completely disappeared. Even soaps I only made 2 months ago have pretty much lost their perfume. Lavender seems to stick around the...

Great idea!