Recent content by Todd Ziegler

Thanks. I try to check in but I'm pretty busy. I'm supplying 5 stores now with my lip balm. I'm making about 200 tubes a week. I have a new summer formula lip balm that I have been sending out for testing at the stores and individuals. It has Blueberry and red raspberry oil in it with 96°...

Yes I use CP method and 60% lard. I was also surprised by the amount of FO that was in the bar. I'm glad that I used high quality FO's from the start.

I used my oldest soap that have today. It is 2 years old and worked great. In fact it worked better according to the notes that I took when I first used it at 90 days old. I was completely surprised how quickly it lathered up and I was overwhelmed by the amount of bubbly lather that I got. I'm...

Just a heads up. If you do a search for the homemade VCS, use ZCS in the search engine because that's what the permanent thread is titled. It will make it easier. I'm talking to everyone in general but I hit reply to you instead of a general reply.

As @Misschief says, your recipe will be helpful because you could be dealing with 1 or more problems. Sometimes a single problem has multiple origins of the cause. It could be your FO but the brown spots doesn't necessarily align with the FO being the problem. There are other things that could...

That's great!

FO's can very widely between all the retailers. One companies watermelon may smell completely different from another company. Plus a lot of people suffer from headaches and other problems with FO's so, you are not alone. When I first started making soap, spending the least amount of money on...

I have never used molasses in soap making before but the high sugar content could cause some problems. However I'm sure someone else will be able to help you more than I am.

I'm really glad to hear that it's working for you. My goal was to develop something that the whole community could make and use that, was low cost, high quality and just as effective as the commercial variety. I have to be honest and say that when I read about people successfully using the...

I think 1:1 is a safe way to use it and it guarantees that you want have any issues with discoloring. Most of the FO that I use have a very small percentage of vanillin and usually it only causes a slight discoloration of the soap, which enables you to use less ZCS. However I do recommend 1:1...

I do not. The amount of water in the ZCS is not enough to effect the outcome of your soap.

Thanks for the wishes. I would like to know if anyone else has any older than a year with the ZCS?

I poured this on 10-25-2020. I'm having trouble finding the original picture that I took when I cut it but the FO had 15% vanillin and untreated would discolor to a dark coffee brown. I said that there was no color change but after I put it under some LED lighting, I could see a slight tanning...

When I made some without the thiosulfate, I substituted the missing thiosulfate with 3/4 of it with water and a 1/4 metabisulfate by weight. I don't use a strict 1:1 with the FO. I base it on the amount of vanillin in the FO. If the FO has 9% vanillin and I'm using 2 ounce of the FO. I then add...

I apologize for being absent on this topic for so long. I have not abandoned the forum but I have been dealing with post knee surgery problems. As soon as I get a chance I will post pictures of the first batch of soap that I used the final ZCS formula in.. I think it has been around 8 months...