Recent content by McBaffie

Thanks Earlene. Is there no residue from the releasing agent? I've heard of doing this, but don't want to contaminate my soap with anything that's not in it. How do you go about removing the releasing agent? I'm thinking maybe a greaseproof paper lining will do the trick.

The bottles can look really good, especially if they are ridged or have any patterns embossed on them as that comes through on the soap. Square bottles can be nice too. I use olive oil that comes in square profile bottles so it's a good second use for them. I've had some nice bars doing it. But...

Thanks pal. I thought about pvc pipe but had assumed it would stick too. Will deffo give it a go now. I'm off out to the hardware store :)

Hi Folks. Hope all is fine and dandy in Soap World. I've been trying to make round bars by re-using old plastic bottles for moulds. The results are inconsistent. Some come out fine, but there's a lot of sticking going on and unmoulding them is wasteful and very unsatisfying. I've tried...

I don't think so. More likely just down to poor technique. As I say, this one came out better and I'm pretty confident that the next one will be better too. Just need a bit more practice at it. I'm thinking if I mill the soap to a powder rather than grate it it will be better too.

Nice one. That's great info. I have had trouble with loose cubed embeds before so will give this method a try in the future. Thanks very much. :)

Hi all. I've recently had a wee side project where for every loaf of soap I made I poured a little layer of that mix into another mould. Over the course of around 6 batches this built up into a layered loaf which I was quite excited about. This morning I sliced it up and nearly all of the...

Some feedback for you. The rebatch seems fine. Got it curing upstairs. The weather is very humid right now so it might take a while to cure properly. But I'm happy with the oil/lye ratios now. Thanks. This is not the first rebatch I've done and I got that grainy texture with it again. I wonder...

Thanks so much. The bar was solid and very brittle. It's now ground down and in an airtight box. I'll rebatch it tomorrow morning, having quickly run it through the calculator again ;-) Will let you know how it goes.

That's fantastic! Thanks so much for your quick response. Really appreciate it. I'll try rebatching this over the weekend. Will the excess lye that is in the soap saponify the oils when I add them? Or will I need to do a crock pot rebatch?

Hi all. Happy new year to everyone. I recently made a batch of soap that was too brittle to cut properly. When I went back over my recipe I immediately spotted that I had mis-written the amount of lye required. So not only do I have a lye heavy soap; I know exactly how lye heavy it is. My base...

Thanks for the quick response. I intuitively feel that it is because of the high humidity. Was just wondering if there were any known problems involving the soap becoming wet? I have a fan and a dehumidifier on them, let's hope it helps. Am going to stack them up in the living room until the...

Hi all. I have a few batches curing in a cupboard. They have been there for a couple of months and would normally be ready. When I have gone to wrap them I found a few of them are wet/oily. It's bars from a few different batches, and from recipes that have been a success before so I don't think...

Hi all. I'm sure this subject has probably been covered here, but I can't find it anywhere. I have a few people telling me they are allergic to coconut oil. What would make a good replacement for it? I have read about Babassu oil but it is pretty expensive. Is there a more affordable option...

Hi Guys. Just to let you all know. The rebatch ended up quite spongey. I've cut it and put it at the back of the rack to cure off. Will check it in a week or so. Thanks again for all our help.