Recent content by james_Duprie

its been a long time since I made this soap, but I figured I'd finally follow up.. It cured fine, and has been a great soap. I'm using up the last few bars, and I've had no problems with DOS, shelf life, or anything else. I think its a pretty nice soap, and guests have liked it as well. oils...

well, its been a month of curing now, so I figured I'd update. Nice firm soap, good lather. No DOS (yet), and not real color change from the initial de-molding color.. Other than the expensive ingredients, about the only thing I can say is that the super fast trace time is a bit disconcerting. I...

OK, 2 weeks into the cure, and this is looking like a great soap. Nice pale butter colored bars, hardening up nicely, no spotting yet. I couldn't resist, so I tried a bar. A little light on the lather, but feels nice. Rinses well, doesn't feel sticky. I think I like it, but I'll have to wait...

The whole Jewish/kosher thing....

What about goat tallow? I've been thinking about raising meat goats, and it seems ot me they SHOULD have some kidney (leaf) fat...... Anyone ever used it?

OK, I'll tallow to my list of things to play with. I tend to avoid pork products, so I'll probably still stay away from lard... Thanks again!

Susie, No objections to lard or tallow, just never used them. Haven't really looked into sources for them, and I'd rather avoid rendering my own (had to do that for some other things, and it stinks....). Someday I'll probably try, but right now, I'm trying to get familiar with a few more...

Actually, I've been soaping for about 20 years now. Just branching out into other oils. Being a scientist, I like to experiment..... Anyway, I had the peanut oil in for hardening (I like hard soap) - why do you think its too much? Will it make it too hard, or is there something else? I've...

OK, after my last experiment, I figure I'll bounce things here before I actually start cooking...So: Palm oil 15% Coconut oil 25% sweet almond oil 25% cocoa butter 15% peanut oil 20% Because this is an experiment, no additives or fragrance... If my guesses are right, this should be a fairly...

No, it was an experiment (and a use-it-up type thing) so I didn't. That was actually one of the things I was hoping to see - what it came out smelling like... Based on feedback, I was worried about how sticky it would be, so I took it out of the mold a bit early - about half as long in the...

it was given to me, and it was pretty old, so nothing to lose...

once again - had it around, figured I'd try. Once its cured, I'll post results

mostly I just had a lot of all three, and wanted to see what happened. I haven't used castor in soap before, so this was pure experiment. Other than "not being good soap" what exactly is it that makes soap with lots of castor "bad"? -Thanks

ONLY when I've got way to much of something, and want to use it up..... At least for testing. Once I've got a recipe I like, that is my normal batch.... Thanks for the idea though.. next time I'm playing, I'll post here first...

I kind of thought that was the case.... This is my default batch size, and I'm experimenting with different types of oil combinations. this was just a shot in the dark - I have a tone of all of them, and don't mind if it doesn't come out well, so I figured I;d give it a shot... I've done a...