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It appears they are no longer selling EOs on their site. Does anyone know if/where they have a retail site? Anyone know what happened?

It depends on the side of your batches. Small... microwave. Anything larger... use a hot plate. I have a double hot plate that I got years ago on the cheap. I use it when I'm making large batches outside.

What's your water to NaOH ratio? I've had this happen when I greatly reduced the amount of water I was using to dissolve the NaOH.

I do, but not always. I do it more in the winter to insure a gel all the way to the corners of the mold. The soap still needs a 4 week cure. I have had mine over heat... when I didn't check the temp of the oven prior to putting the soap in. Minor over heat leads to a volcano in the...

Not at all. Many soapers make soap in their garages. If there is no heat or AC, there may be issues. If it gets really hot, the garage would not be the place to store your oils, eos or fos. If you are trying to get your soap to gel and it is very cold in the winter, you may have to give it...

Biggest bone head move... deciding I didn't need to wear gloves while making soap the day after eating crab. My hands had little cuts and scratches from the crab shell... OUCH!!!

As for percentages... experiment and find what works for you. At the bare minimum, if you have a trustworthy scale and have a little experience making soap, go as low as 3%. The soap will likely be harsh. Then experiment at the other end of the spectrum and go for 18%, I'm not talking about...

I've seen those molds for sale, but can't remember where. The liner looks like it could be silicone, but I can't get a close enough look at it to be sure. I'm wondering why she weighs it down after pouring. To make it flat? Prevent volcano?

Superfatting and lye discount are the same thing. The superfat is the fat or oil that has not been saponified, because there was not enough sodium hydroxide available to saponify all the oils/fats. Lye discount is another term for it. You discount (reduce) the amount of sodium hydroxide...

The plantain and calendula can be used as is for color. If it is too scratchy, you can try infusing in oil and straining before adding to your other oils. If you grind the burdock root and infuse in oil, you can use that as color as well. Not sure on the marshmallow root.

Wire cutter. Watch this video... not only beautiful column swirl, but she cuts the soap with a wire cutter. First into uniform chunks, then into bars and finally you see a shot of a bar with the top 1/8" trimmed off. After curing, the bars can be buffed a bit to take off any stray bits of...

How much water did you use? That is, what was the strength of your lye solution, water to lye ratio?

I melt my oils in the microwave in a 250 ml polypropylene measuring cup. My lye solution goes in a stainless steel measuring cup. Lye solution is poured into the PP cup for mixing the soap. I pour the traced soap into one cavity of a silicone mold. I often test several things at...

I've been making soap for about 12 years. I LOVE the colors and newest fragrances. I'm always trying more, more, more. However, after all this time, I know what I don't like, so wasting money on stinking (to me) fragrances is a thing of the past. As for the fixed oils, I'm much more basic...

I like the part about there being no soap making secrets, here... http://www.thesoapguy.com/soapmakingsecrets.htm and on another page, he claims to have developed a recipe and process for a bar of soap that is un-copyable... http://www.thesoapguy.com/ So, is there one secret and this guy has...

Alien brains! 170F is probably just a bit too warm. If you oven allows, next time go with 150F. Otherwise, preheat oven and turn off when you put the soap in. Or you can keep an eye on it and turn the oven off when you have gel to the corners. Since you use a silicone mold, keep it in...

Yes it works. I use anywhere from 2% to 5%. I throw it in with my other oils and melt all together. As the oils cool, you will get a film on top. Mix back in. It is the top cooling faster than the rest of the oils.

Could the sticky be caused by glycerin attracting water? A well made bar of soap will last on the shelf many many years. I have soap I made 6 years ago. The fragrance has faded a bit, color isn't as vibrant, but it is hard without any stickiness or dos.

Titanium dioxide. Happens sometimes. I've had it happen, hasn't effected the soap's performance and did not make it dangerous to use.

I have this happen when I soap too hot, soap heats up in the mold, or don't bring my soap to a stable trace before pouring into the mold.