Recent content by WillZ

I recently bought some soft silicone oval molds, and so yesterday I decided the day had come to use them. I did a CP batch with loads of tallow, so the soap hardened a wee bit quicker than I anticipated. The end result is that because the molds were so soft and my soap pretty hard, my soap bars...

Thanks Shut, I'll get Amazon to send me some Borax. Muchly appreciated!

Yo Shunt, I looked at WSP.ORG but couldn't find anything relating to dishwasher tabs. Can you send a URL, please.

I wanted to make my own tabs for dishwashing, so I scanned the net and found a fairly simple one. Baking soda with a bit of dish washing liquid. It worked fine BUT did not remove tea stains from tea cups. Then I found another using washing soda, baking soda, salt, vinegar and citric acid. Same...

I'll do it your way.

jcandleattic are you saying that I should cool the oils? What about the lye? Room temperature or hot?

Hi Roque-Soaper I guess that's exactly what happened. I'll have to try to rebatch.

It's supposed to be 80% for whipped soap (or at least that's what I've been told) Steve85569. Thanks for the info, it seems that most of what I thought was right - wasn't! I'm going to try again with less hard oils, no cooling or freezing prior to whipping.

Lard 25% Coconut oil 30% Palm oil 25% Olive oil 15% Castor oil 5% Water % 38% Lye concentration 27.6% SF 5% All went well to start with. I whipped the hard oils - just fine. I added the soft oils together with the colouring and 2 tbsp of fragrance - and whipped, which again turned out all...

I believe I soaped at about 100F, but it could have been lower, I had a hectic day. Why do stearic spots appear and what are they?

Thanks guys. After shredding - what do you do? Add a bit of water and melt it or what?

I was all bog standard - no false trace. I had added honey to the tea, and it jelled very quickly + the mold got very hot. I froze it for an hour. Can I shred it and rebatch? I'd hate to write it off as a learning experience.

OK, that would be it. Yes, I waited several days before taking it out of the mold and cutting. Is there anything I can do to make amends?

Today I unmolded a batch with Matcha. I had substituted ½ the water with Matcha tea and added a small amount of green soap colouring. When I cut it, it crumbled like some dry Cheddar cheeses sometimes do. And I am wondering WHY? Coconut oil: 25% Hemp oil: 10% Olive oil: 50% Shea...