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I'm making my first batch of soap in my Minnesota home today! I laughed when I had to practically chisel my coconut oil out of its bucket. I used to just pour it when we lived in Florida. So far, everything else is working out beautifully. I used brewed coffee in place of water for today's...

Hi long lost friends! I am almost embarrassed to post again, it has been so long since I've logged on. We had a big year last year - my husband finished up graduate school in FL in October, and we have relocated to St. Paul, MN, where he landed a post-doctoral position at The U. of MN on the...

I'm so excited! I finally make my test batch "Osiris" soap. Like Osiris, the Egyptian god who dies and is reborn again, I wanted the soap to have regenerative qualities for the skin. I got sunburned when we went camping this past weekend, which played into my ingredient choices :wink: . I...

Hi everyone! Lindy's crocheted washcloths and poufs inspired me to post pics of some of my knitted creations. I've only been knitting a couple of months, and washcloths are the PERFECT small project for a beginner (and for a soapmaker!). Here's a cloth made with organic cotton yarn my...

I've tried natural sponges, terrycloth washcloths, hand-knit cotton washcloths, and just a naked bar. I think the hand-knit washcloths are probably my favorite. The natural sponge absorbed WAY too much of the soap and it seemed like a bar of soap might only last a week if I kept using the...

Hi everyone! I'm embarrassed to say, but I don't usually make a small test batch when I try a new formula. I do my full 4.5 lbs and just hope for the best. I've got a million new ideas I want to try, though, and I can't afford to make such large batches to test them all. I have made a...

Hey y'all, I have a random question for you. Has anyone here found any good fiction, especially novels, that have soapers or soaping in them? When I quilted, I loved reading the Elm Creek Quilters novels by Jennifer Chiaverini. I recently picked up knitting as well, and really enjoyed "The...

Hey y'all, I recently made an HP soap where I added oats before the cook, and it stank up the whole house because the oats cooked in the soap. At least I'm guessing that's why it stank. Anyway, I was wondering if its okay to rebatch soaps that have oats or dried herbs in them. Does the...

After the kids went to bed last night, I ran to my kitchen and started working on the hot process milk & honey bar that I had been waiting ALL DAY to make. I've made the same recipe a dozen times as cold process (only with buttermilk instead of goat milk) and wanted to see how it would work hot...

Hi everyone, I'm psyching myself up to try my liquid-milk-in-HP soaping tonight, so I'm doing all sorts of stuff to keep my restless self busy until the kids go to bed and I can really concentrate. I'm cutting soaps, and while I love my soap cutter (lovingly made by my husband), I'm curious...

Hi y'all! Here's another of my coloring experiments. I got a bottle of DeSouza's chlorophyll capsules from my local health food store, hoping I could use them as a natural green colorant. They're awesome! Here are a couple of pictures of the results. These may be a problem, though, for...

Hey y'all, I was messing around with turmeric the other day to see how it looked in hot process soap to create a golden yellow color. It worked pretty well! I suspended 1 tsp turmeric in 2 tsp avocado oil for a 4.5 lb batch, added after the cook (and after turning the crock pot off), and...

Hi everyone! Wow, I have been away too long! I got slammed over the holidays and was so busy making soap (YAY!) and writing a business plan (yuck!) that I wasn't on the forum at all for months. I'm trying to make it more a part of my regular routine to get on here, though, because I have...

This forum is just awesome. I had about ten different questions today regarding display stands, vending, ash, ummm, I can't remember what else... But anyway, I found answers to every single one of my questions by searching this forum. I found extremely useful links, I saw lots of great...

Hi everyone, I've gone bananas! I was doing strictly CP as a soaper, but once I did a rebatch, I decided to try HP. Now I'm hooked on both :D Anyway, I recently did a HP batch, and the scent didn't quite come out the way I wanted it to. So my questions are: 1) Can you rebatch HP...

Hi everyone! I did my first hot process soap yesterday, and I'm totally psyched! I could not believe how easy it was. I love the rustic look of it, and I like the more gelled feel than the cold process version of the same recipe. The only problem is that after reading some posts on here...

Hey y'all, I finally got a stick blender after reading how great they are on here. It only took me about a year. But since I succeeded at rebatching, I figured what the heck! I've branched out without catastrophe. I'm gonna try a stick blender. I bought one this week, and it's been...

Hi everyone, I know, I know, it's only July. But I'm getting excited about making holiday soaps, and I wanted to pick your brains for scenting ideas. I've got a great pumpkin spice recipe for the fall, so that's taken care of. But I'm looking to also make a Dionysos soap for the fall (my...

Hi everyone, I had my first successful rebatch yesterday. Woohoo!!! I had a soap that was giving me problems, and I tried a rebatch with the boil in bag method. The problem was that I actually *boiled* the water instead of keeping it just under a boil, and my bags melted. What a pain! If...

Hi everyone, I've tried three different types/brands of olive oil and have gotten noticeably different results with each of them. I was wondering what kinds of olive oil others use, and where you get it. Here's what I've used and how it has behaved, for those of you who may also still be...