Search results

I have a second stainless steel pot and jug for my oils and lye.

'soap Naturally' by Patrizia garzena and marina tadiello was and still is invaluable to me in learning to soap. It has never occurred to me to look into buying another book on the subject. It is so comprehensive and is not a coffee table pretty picture book but a book loaded with kindly shared...

i had a similar experience with rice. the recipe called for the rice to be simmered for 40 minutes and the rice water to be used instead of regular water with the lye. It turned to a solid gloopy substance in seconds after mixing in the lye. I dumped it and haven't tried it since. I figured it...

I use 1.5% beeswax in my bars for a harder bar. There's no smell from it and I melt it with my hard oils.

i've done bergamot, cedarwood, rosewood and pine in ratios:2:2:2:1 it's still curing but smells pretty good.

I weighed out my lye a few evenings ago getting ready to make a batch. I changed my mind and decided to wait until the next morning to make the soap. I left the weighed lye out uncovered and the next morning it had formed a solid layer on top and bottom and the middle part was still powder...

hi there, yes it is normal. I find the best way to deal with it is to turn the loaf upside down and then slice. The buds that are doing the dragging are mostly the ones on the top so this eliminates most of the dragging. :)

Hi turnedlight, www.soapbasics.com do palm oil. They are UK based. Have you checked out the soap kitchen? I think they may also do palm oil but I can't be sure. I live in Ireland and to my knowledge there is no soap making supply company here so I get most of my ingredients in bulk from the UK...

i have been thinking about using charcoal for some time now, purely as a colourant. I thought men might like a black coloured soap. I have recently made a guinness shampoo soap and I thought i might colour the next one black. People's comments here about charcoal being good for oily skin got...

I add my honey to the lye water when it cools down. i find this stops the honey coming through the finished soap in spots.

I buy mine from www.soapbasics.com

Hi Suzanne, I use paprika mixed with turmeric to achieve an orange colour. I have added at trace like you but I prefer to infuse in the castor oil I use in my recipe and then strain it out as it makes the soap less gritty. It also ensures a uniform colour throughout the soap if you are trying...

I use alkanet for purple, turmeric for yellow, sweet paprika for red as well as rosehips and madder root and I never smell them in my soap.

take the money. sounds like you make great soap which people are very willing to pay for.

I always use pomace olive oil for my soaping and it traces super quick. I can't explain the water on top though. Maybe you didn't get a chance to mix in the lye properly because of it tracing so fast and this is the water you are seeing.

Hi Jody63, I get my supplies from a uk company since I live in Ireland so it may be no good to you, but here it is anyway; www.soapbasics.com

hi Fiona b, I'm in the Irish Republic so I'd imagine that the same regulations apply throughout the EU. I will be joining some markets for the first time this summer. One of the first questions they asked when I sent in my application was if I had indemnity insurance. Basically, I won't be...

I know! I was abroad for 5 weeks. I came back last week and I don't recognize many of the names. has there been some sort of invasion???!!! :twisted:

Hi ToniD, i live in Ireland so I order my materials from the uk. The site I use is www.soapbasics.com . I'm new to FOs as I've used EOs until now and in my experience the citrus ones just don't want to stay around. The orange spice I think is overshadowed a bit in my chocolate orange...

I made my first chocolate soap last week and it is to die for. It's taking all my will not to bite into a bar. I used 30g of bournville dark chololate melted and added at trace to 1kg oils. I used half chocolate FO and half orange spice FO (15g of each) to fragrance. I'm calling it chocolate...