Can you help me understand the conversion?

[Juba]

OK...
since I have no palm oil, I have decided to try this recipe...

seems like alot of shortening....
Can someone help me grasp the concept of conversion to percentages to plug into the soap calculator?

I feel very stupid ...and getting frustrated..I really want to make soap!



16 ounces cold water
6 ounces lye
16 ounces olive oil
8 ounces coconut oil
17½ ounces shortening

I got the recipe here:

Read more: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/how-to ... z12cw9gA7D

 

[Sunny]

sure!

Look for the big blue numbers on the page:

so on the right side where you'd plug in your percentages (number 7), there is a button next to that that says "Lb" ... on the upper left side (number 2), you can switch that to "ounces" and then the "Lb" will change to ounces, and you can just plug your oil percentages in... don't bother with the water or lye. it will calculate that for you after you push "view or print recipe"

this way you won't have to do the percentages. I hope this helps... let me know if you have questions still.

Or you can just try an easy recipe, I haven't used shortening before but if I were just starting I might try:

50% olive oil
25% shortening
25% coconut oil

and then use that to calculate how much lye and water you need.

 

[DottieF.]

Not a good recipe--too much water, too much shortening & too much lye. I'd try the recipe Tasha posted and run it through the calculator.

dottie

 

[Deda]

I think the amount of shortening is OK. Balanced against 38% OO it'll make decent soap, especially to learn on. I often use 100% shortening to test fragrances and colorants. It's easy and inexpensive.

Using the same base oils the recipe should call for 159g or 5.6 oz and full water at 13 oz.

I don't use soapcalc so I don't know what they list as the SAP for shortening, I'm using .132.

Good luck and have fun!