A glass artisan, aiming to make CP soap

[Babyshoes]

Hi folks,

I made a lot of melt and pour years ago, but fell out of it when I started melting glass( to make beads). (It's a wonderful medium to create in! But not great for my painful hands so I'm doing less of it at the moment...)

I've been watching cold process soaping videos recently, which made me ask for a beginner cp kit for my birthday, which is coming up this week. (If I don't get it, I'll be buying the bits myself anyway!) The kit contains the basics for a simple loaf of soap with lemongrass EO.

I'm very excited, and will be browsing the forums for hints and tips, and likely asking some total beginner questions as I go along!

 

[penelopejane]

Buying the ingredients yourself is a much more economical way to go.
do you have a recipe yet?

 

[glendam]

I almost got into lampowork beads a few years ago, joined a group, attended a demo class, but didn’t. welcome to the hobby! I would just suggest to skip the fragrance the first time around, maybe a smaller batch, so you know what the soap is doing on its own.

 

[lsg]

Welcome to the forum!

 

[Babyshoes]

Buying the ingredients yourself is a much more economical way to go.
do you have a recipe yet?

Thank you, I wanted to try a kit first to see how I get on with it, and I'm sure the non-consumable parts will be useful should I continue (which I expect I probably will). It comes with a recipe, correctly measured ingredients and full instructions, so hopefully fairly idiot proof! It's been put together by someone who usually does in-person CP lessons but can't currently because of lockdown. I'm happy to support small businesses to stay afloat in that way.
I can tell it would be cheaper to buy the ingredients separately, but it's not especially expensive in itself and was a nice easy thing to point my partner at when she asked what I wanted for my birthday. She's not always the best at finding presents that I'll actually use, without clear guidance. (To be fair, I've bought her my fair share of duds over the years too!)

I don't have a particular recipe yet, but I've been looking at loads of beginner recipes and videos to see which I'd like to try. I have dry skin in winter, and enjoy using pure olive oil soap, but I believe that's a bit slow for an impatient beginner as it needs a looong cure time... I'll probably wait to try that until I've made a few batches of other soaps. I will be looking for a beginner recipe that's suitable for dry skin. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd be happy to look at them.

 

[KimW]

Welcome!

 

[Zing]

Welcome, welcome! I love this forum and am still getting helpful tips and tricks so ask away! When I started, I was a bit naïve as to the community of soapers. I was months in to the hobby before discovering this forum and YouTube, LOL. While I love these platforms, I'm kinda glad I didn't know about it initially because I think I would have gotten stuck in learning mode and analysis paralysis -- that's just me, though.
You'll have to experiment with recipes. For dry skin, keep coconut oil low (less than 20%) and check out shea butter and cocoa butter. Keep us posted! Just my 2 cents but use just a few types of oils initially so you know what to tweak.

 

[GemstonePony]

Welcome!

 

[Sudds]

Welcome, Babyshoes! You will quite enjoy the folks on this forum, they are extremely helpful and encouraging in a huge way. You are smart to be browsing the different forums as you will learn a lot from them! Please post your first attempt. I had wanted to make my first batch but am still waiting for a package that has made 11 different trips through the USPS system! Hopefully, it will arrive soon!