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Well, I unmolded the re-batched soap and cut it into bars. Unfortunately, there was a huge air pocket right up the middle of the loaf. Just finished re-batching it a second time. Argh! No luck with this soap at all.

I usually unmold after 24hrs, and can cut right away or up to 24hrs after unmolding. Depends on the recipe.

The FO is from Sapphire Blue in Tillsonburg, Ontario, Canada. I switched to them last year after NDA instituted their small order fee (i.e., orders less than $100 have an additional $20 fee). I like Sapphire Blue, but obviously need to experiment with their oils a bit more to see how they...

Well, yesterday I decided to make my final soap for Christmas. It was a new Sandalwood FO that I've never used before. Everything went well enough; however, after about 10min in the mold, I noticed that the soap had risen by about 1.5" and was extremely hot to the touch. I typically insulate...

I measure everything by weight in grams. No exceptions! And, yes, I have been known to make a mess doing it!!! :lol:

By carefully following a recipe that's been verified in SoapCalc, with a moderate lye discount (~5 to 8%), there should be very little chance of the soap being lye heavy to begin with. I cut and "zap test" my soaps after 24hrs, and I've never once felt a tingle, zap, or burn. I also find...

I quite like it. It's smell of sweet currant berries with a touch of thyme (barely noticeable). I find it to be quite subtle, so have stared using 1oz ppo; otherwise, the scent seems to fade rather quickly.

Today I made some Lavender Mint soap, some Vanilla soap, and some Red Currant & Thyme soap. Just need to make some Sandalwood soap and I'll be all set for Christmas... finally!

Super! Thanks! This is exactly what I do as well. :thumbup: I only reuse the stainless steel pot in the kitchen. The rest of my "gear" remains dedicated to soaping and is not used for cooking. Mostly because, even after washing, plastic & silicon items still retain a very faint residual...

I have a large pot that I use exclusively for soap making. However, for very small batches (i.e., 2lbs) I use a small pot from my kitchen. After I use it, I wash it by hand and then run it through my dishwasher a second time to ensure it's sparkly clean. I've seen some posts were people state...

So busy trying to complete my soaps for Christmas... ... This evening I made: - Tee Tree Oil & Lemongrass Soap - Lavender & Jasmine Soap - Ruby Grapefruit Soap only three more soaps to go -- but that's for tomorrow! :)

My "go to" soap recipe uses 36.5% Lard. My family, friends, and co-workers LOVE the soap and swear they'll never use store bought again. However, several people requested a vegan soap due to religious restrictions, dietary choices, etc. so I make that as well. I live in a very multicultural...

That is so awesome! I have no other words to describe this. So very cool. Wish I could see the show in person.

I use no more than 20% coconut oil; otherwise, I find it too drying on my skin. Dang Canadian winters!!

Thanks, shunt2011. I'll definitely try increasing to 1oz ppo to see if that helps. It's just surprising, as I've never had to use that amount before. All of my oils are stored in my cold cellar in their original containers (i.e., dark brown glass bottles). Oh well,... live and learn.

I cure at least 6wks and then wrap my soaps using basket style coffee filters (my soaps are round, so fit perfect in these). As the coffee filters are just heavy duty kleenex's, they let the soap continue to "breath" and cure as usual.

The FO's that seem to have faded the most are Ruby Grapefruit and Red Currant & Thyme. My Vanilla FO also seems to be effected, just not quite as much. The oils still smell just as strong in the bottle, but lose most of their scent within days of cutting the bars. I typically use .5oz ppo and...

I purchased a number of fragrant oils from NDA last December, which I used in January and February without any issues. However, I recently made a few batches of soap using the same fragrances, but the smell now seems to fade within a few days of curing. This has never happened to me before...

Three recipes - that's all I need. My standard recipe, a vegan alternative, and a true Castile. Other than that, I just play with scents. Fun, effective, reproducible results without the fuss of reformulating.

I've not used the product. Their website states that it is suitable for bar soaps and to use between 2 - 5%, so I tend to agree with the post above. Try 1% to start, but I'd likely not use more than 2% at most. Please let us know how it works out. Very interesting indeed.