Recent content by cjisler

I like the fatty acid numbers for a shave soap. Have you tried it yet? I do a hot start with stearic that high. When I say hot start, I mean lye and oils temperatures over 140F when mixed. Maybe even up to 160F. Let us know how it turns out.

On,no! Best wishes for a complete recovery.

1part lye, 2 parts water. a 33.3% solution

I need plain unscented soap, too. But I love designing the fancy stuff for my people who aren’t as sensitive.

Hi, I’ve taught soapmaking almost 30 years. The classes last 3 hours and the students take home a 2 pound batch in a deep dish plastic food container. They get a 20 page booklet that I update often and print out at Office Depot a few days before the class. Students measure out their fats at...

I wish I could use rosin. Allergic.

I live about 25 minutes from RE, but they don't allow warehouse pickup during COvid-19. So I have to have stuff shipped now:hairpulling:. I've been about to bust to order a couple of things, but I'm trying to hold out to avoid shipping. I think I may have a few 1 oz bottles of Barbershop. Let...

Call or email RE and ask Kathy. If she doesn’t know, she’ll ask in the warehouse. Carol

Yes. My mother said that was how her grandmother made soap, too. Carol

Glad that worked. Hand stirring is the trick. Carol in SC

I was at their open house on Friday. My job was to test a few new FOs in a pound of soap so they could have notes for the website. And I end up answering loads of questions for non-soapers or helping people trouble shoot. I was astonished at the number of people there who didn’t make soap at...

Thats what I do. 2:1 lye water. The only extra make is to multiply lye by 3 to get weigh of your solution.

Show us how it turns out. CPLS is my new favorite thing.

My homemade molds are probably 20 years old, all foot long logs. I used cut up plastic grocery bags for years. And several years ago I started using the very thin produce bags from the grocery. They stick to the wood after a light spritz of water. If I make a slab, then I’ll use a light weight...

I zap test a piece of paste then smear it in a white paper towel. I drop a few drops of phph on it and look for an immediate color change. If there is none, it’s not lye heavy. Soap is alkaline just by its nature. So if you let it sit a while, the phph will eventually turn pink around the edges...