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So, I heard that 38% water to oil ratio was good for soapmaking. And then, I heard that 2:1 water to lye ratio was a good lye concentration. So I had a lye and water mixture that was 2:1 (222 g water, 113g lye (not exactly 2:1 but pretty close). 222/.38 = 584g (38% of 584g oil = 222g water). So...

A friend of mine cooked a few pounds of bacon and saved me the grease. "Cleaned" it once, hope it doesn't smell too much like bacon when it is done. Man, you can get a lot of grease out of bacon! 1 pound of bacon might be close to 1/2 cup "lard" which seems like a lot! Anyway, fun soaping today...

Hello there. Does anyone know what these things are? They are kinda waxy and oily. No smell really, but does smell a little like maybe palm oil. My mom had them in her soap making supplies, but they could be from my aunt, who made lotions... thank you in advance .

Hello, I try to be as zero-waste as possible. One thing I don't love about soap making is the containers that the fats/oils come in. If I was a hunter, I think I'd be set on lard, as we are literally paid to hunt wild hogs here in Texas. But I've never hunted. I'd be interested in contacting...

I tried a few new things with this recipe: I masterbatched the lye (well, just enough for this one recipe) and when I needed to add more liquid, I added boiling water to some titanium dioxide to see if it helped get rid of any clumps. I'm pretty new to TD, but it worked pretty good. Also I used...

My knife kinda made drag marks, and I just dumped the titanium dioxide into the batter instead of trying to get rid of lumps, because I'm new to TD and just wanted to get a baseline for worst possible outcome haha. I did a in-the-pot drop-swirl (first time for that design). So three new things-...

I just changed my transmission fluid on my sealed transmission (no dipstick). I’m not too mechanically apt, at all, but I like saving time and money, and I like knowing how my car works so I’m not not totally at the mercy of a stranger who is working on my car. I still need to change the...

Hi everyone, I’ve never had this happen on my cold process soap. I have seen it on my melt and pour, I believe. I hope this is just water drawn to my CP because it is humectant, I believe. It has been in the mold for about 36 hours. Still too soft unmold. Poured at very light trace. I’ll post...

Made a chocolate cake the other day- it was okay- especially the frosting (butter + sugar basically). The recipe said add boiling water to the batter- I’ve heard it “blooms” the cocoa powder to make it taste better. But I was worried that high heat would scramble the eggs in there (2 eggs, at...

Hi all, just thought I’d share my experience of my latest batch of soap, and a few insights I had. Here’s the recipe: Beef tallow- 226g 50% Olive oil- 113g 25% Coconut oil- 95g 21% Castor oil- 18g 4% Distilled water- 130g Lye- NaOH- 64g (Lye concentration 33%) Took forever to trace- I...

I’m sure this is a basic inquiry, but I’m wondering why it is advisable to wrap cold process soap in a towel after you’ve poured it into your mold? When with some recipes, it’s advisable you put it into the fridge right after pouring. For example when I made cows milk soap, I put it right in the...

Hi all, I’ve been making small batches recently. Until I get a recipe I really like and also it’s just fun to make small batches. I like the anticipation that comes with waiting for 4-6 weeks to be up (so the soap can cure awhile). This is my first time using cows milk in soap. I like that the...

Hi all- I’ve been making soap a couple of years. I’m not sure what started the hobby- my mom makes soap too but I’m surpassing her in experience (not quality though, necessarily lol) even though she claims it was her hobby first! I’m very passionate about soap making so I’m thrilled to have a...