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On the subject of vanilla, I made my own for baking. Buy some vanilla beans and some cheap vodka. You cut the beans up into small pieces and let them soak in a jar with the vodka for a period of time. Much cheaper than store-bought and you know what's in it. I made a quart of vanilla and have...

Such beautiful soaps for a beginner! Like dixiedragon said, make more soap! Oh and buy more soap dishes. You will soon have 8+ bars of soap in your shower :)

I'm a bubble addict too, so now there's something new to try! Thanks!

I've been seeing a lot of people using dual lye in their soaps. What is the reasoning behind doing this? I'm curious as all get-out.

Today I made my 2nd goats milk soap, fragranced with Gardenia. I worked fast and was able to do a 2-color ITP swirl of yellow and green. Can't wait to cut that puppy tomorrow! The worry is that the batter started to become lumpy at the bottom of the pot, but it poured okay. Photos tomorrow!

Andrew welcome! I can't believe how beautiful your first soap came out! I was so nervous with my first one that I forgot an oil and had to rebatch it. I messed that up too but it was still usable lol. Glad you found us and found another obsession. You will need to build an addition to your...

I don't know why, but that alone stopped me from soaping for a while. I finally tried the flake variety and have no issues what-so-ever. In fact I don't think it gets as hot as the bead lye, however to me, it seems to give off more fumes. I mix with a respirator on and it works for me. I...

I didn't soap for five years and then began again. I had Shea butter, Grapeseed Oil, Castor Oil, and a few others that were five years old. They all smelled okay so I used them with no adverse effect. I figure if it smells good, it's still good. And they were stored in a cool place inside a...

Add me as another fan of this shampoo bar recipe! Honestly, I was very skeptical and didn't think it was possible that a hand made shampoo would be good to wash my hair with. I've had chronic itching of my scalp for decades, and I do mean decades. I've used this bar only three times and my...

So I'm stuck on how or what criteria I should look at in naming my recipes. Do you use the FO or EO from your recipe and name it after the scent? Do you look at the oils and their characteristics and name it using that? Or do you go by the colors and name them with something relative to the...

Yeah, I didn't see where anyone else had done it, but had to ask the "pros" :) Thanks for all your input.

OH thank you! I'm not all alone. :eek:

I made my first goat milk a couple days ago and am anxious to make another. I just read about master batching your lye and wondered if it could be done with goat milk. Does the lye chemically change the milk so that it wouldn't sour or curdle? I would love to master batch but not sure if this...

I made my first goat milk soap. Can't wait to try this one. I really researched the oils thoroughly and came up with a pretty good recipe I think. Next one will have oatmeal in it and just got some sodium lactate to try out. My neighbors probably think I have something going on with the UPS man!

But be aware that Brambleberry is S L O W at getting orders out to you. So if you're in a hurry for something you may want to try elsewhere.

Yeah, I wouldn't mind having a copy of this list (with the additions). Maybe a new post?

Just dug around in my trash and the 3rd FO was Asian Sandlewood. I can barely smell anything in the soap because I only put the three one-ounce bottles in the 8.5 lb. batch.

Okay, sorry I should have included more. Water 38% of oil, 5% superfat, and lye at 27.487% concentration. All were the standard given in SoapCalc. Coconut Oil 1361 gm. Olive Oil 1166 gm. Castor Oil 777 gm. Lard 583 gm. I used 1 tsp/pound Titanium Dioxide or 8 1/2 tsp. Also used one ounce each...

I tried piping some simple designs on my soap today, but not matter how I tried, I couldn't get the soap to pull off the tip. It was thick enough to form well and sit on top of the soap, but it would stick to the tip and not come off. Frustrating to say the least! So any tips/tricks on...

Every recipe I make seems to trace too quickly, no matter what I do. Here's the one that I made today: 35% Coconut Oil 76 degree 30% Olive Oil 20% Castor Oil 15% Lard I tried to keep the stick blending to a minimum so I could keep it thin enough to do swirls, but it still traced too fast for...