Recent content by fiddletree

I really love making homemade tortellini stuffed with homemade ricotta and agretti. I learned how to make them from a Michelin star chef who has an amazing restaurant up the mountain from us! Last night I went out to what I think is the best 'traditional' restaurant in our mountainous region...

please be very careful with essential oils and pets.... many essential oils that are fine for people can quickly kill a pet, even in miniscule amounts. Not to say you should never use them, but do solid research first!

First of all, it is always best to measure in weight, not in spoons! But yeah, for most essential oils you won't really smell them much at all unless you use 0.5 oz PPO, which is about 3% of the oil weight. Some are stronger, more long lasting, or best used in low quantities for safety...

Actually, that won't work, not at all. Not a bit. But it's your own health you are risking, so do what you want.

I find they are perfectly usable after 4 weeks, but like any soap, longer is better

Welcome! Without being there, I think you are cutting it too soon. Unless it is a 100% CO bar, I wait at least 18 hours to cut. If you did it room temperature, it would be less likely to gel, as well, which means that it is good to leave it even longer for it to set up. You might also want...

In theory it does something nice to the lather, but I can't really tell the difference. However, for a soapmaker, I am dreadful at telling the difference between most soaps in terms of lather! Castile is pretty obvious with it's snot-lather, and goats milk is pretty obvious with what it adds...

The colors stay pretty true to how they started, unless they have something in them that is not CP stable. I add 1 tsp PPO, to the lye water if I am making a one color soap, or make a slurry with a little bit of water and add to lightly traced soap if I want to swirl or layer.

goats milk is awesome! But I don't think that it matters if you use powdered or fresh, in the finished product. It's certainly more fun to go get fresh goats milk, and use it, but I don't think it is necessary unless you have easy access to gm.

Well, Dove is made, in part, of the sodium salts of tallow, palm, and/or coconut oils, which you could do. I'm pretty sure what they do is separate out the glycerin (which is good for your skin), and add in only the sodium salts, together with surfactants and preservatives. The surfactants...

First, why are you oiling anything you are putting soap into? A liner works better! You can make your own using freezer paper (or if you live in a country where that doesn't exist, like me, parchment paper). If you grease a mould with anything but mineral oil it will saponify along with your...

No, ROE is an antioxidant, which is very different from a preservative, although many people get them confused. An antioxidant retards oxidation of oils, which makes them go rancid. A preservative keeps away bacteria, fungi, and mold that can grow in your product. Vitamin E and grapefruit...

No, coffee filter isn't the same thing. Water filters, like those Brita makes, can filter out a lot more than a coffee filter, which just separates out big stuff from the water, small icky stuff can still get through. if I remember correctly from the 25 years or so that I lived in NC, there...

As a general rule, true soap (whether made with KOH OR NOH) isn't great for hair. The pH is too high and it can damage the hair. That said, my hair isn't horrible with a CP 'shampoo' bar that I make, although I prefer to use my liquid surf based shampoo. Some people have hair/scalp that does...

bah, it appears to have disappeared with a bunch of other topics. Here is a link to it (and only use it as a guideline, it's possible that there are mistakes in there I haven't caught): http://dl.dropbox.com/u/43263619/EO%20IFRA%20Calculator%20%281%29.xlsx