Recent content by Ives

I should have mentioned, the lady on youtube only gave her fat amounts and the 31% thing, so I put that into soapcalc and that's where this is from. I'm not sure now about using the lard, it has BHA and propyl gallate, so it's not as pure as I thought. Maybe I should just use something in its...

I found this recipe on youtube but it didn't say how much lye or water. It said 31% lye concentration. Is this right? Pounds Ounces Grams Water 0.487 7.78 220.70 Lye - NaOH 0.219 3.50 99.15 Oils 1.543 24.69 700.00 Fragrance 0.000 0.00 0.00 Soap weight before CP cure or HP cook...

Can I use regular olive oil and coconut oil from the grocery store? Can I use Crystal Lye Drain Opener 100% lye from Walmart?

Looking through my old posts, I noticed that I made soap in 2011 and then again for the last time in 2013. I want to make it again and see that I used coconut oil, olive pomace oil and castor oil the other times. I was trying to make shampoo bars, but this time I just need it to be soap. I've...

Phew, thanks!

I just made cold process soap for the second time, and the last time I made it was 2.5 years ago, so I don't really remember much! I just realised that I weighed the lye on the scale, and then I think all the oils in a Pyrex measuring jug on the scale as well, and I think I paid more attention...

Thanks for all this and for the photos!

Is that just brown packaging paper?

I was going to ask this too. I've just taken mine off the wire rack after 3.5 months and wrapped them loosely in cotton fabric. Is that ok?

I'm giving some of my soap as gifts and wondered how to wrap them. Greaseproof baking paper? Or would cloth be best to absorb moisture? Some of them will be sent in September or October by surface mail to the US from here in the UK, it takes 8 weeks to ship and then will have to wait till...

The reason I wanted to make shampoo bars is someone recommended the ones from Chagrin Valley to me. https://www.chagrinvalleysoapandcraft.com/shambar.htm I thought, hey, I bet I can make that myself! So what's the difference between them and what I made? People obviously buy them and like...

Here's the recipe. I'll leave it till November though. Darn, I wanted to take it to NY in a few weeks to leave hiding away as Christmas presents for my family, because it's heavy to ship. Should I still do that and keep some for myself and if it's not nice, send different present? What would...

We just tried it for the first time by washing our hands, it didn't zap my tongue, it's been curing 25 days. My husband and I both feel like our hands have been either extremely cleansed and stripped, or there's a residue left, we can't tell! Maybe it's not ready and that's something to do...

I got so much help from people here and someone asked me to post photos, so here they are right out of the mold. I don't know why there is white stuff on the top of it. It's been 3 weeks now, can I use it?? My tongue doesn't get zapped when I touch it to the soap and it tastes like soap...

It's been over 48 hours. I got the one out of the silicone bread mold because I could just pull the silicone away from the soap and pop it out, but the ones in the tupperware containers are stuck in there! What do I do?