Help me figure out Christmas gifts, please?

[CaraBou]

Susie today I got a gallon of Nutiva organic CO for $ 25.99 and just remember it must be in States like 20 dollars. The one on amazon seems high price

You have to watch the Snappy oil for sales. I bought a gal for $12, and it shipped free with Amazon Prime. It had beta carotene in it, which was fine by me; that's just one less colorant I need to mix up (it makes a beautiful yellow or orange, depending on % used). I also keep uncolored CO so I have a choice.

I think I've seen the uncolored Snappy for that price too, though I wouldn't swear on it. Suzie can say on that one.

 

[Catastrophe]

That recipe will be great! My go-to is very close to that.

I really like NG's OMH. I use it with actual oatmeal, milk and honey.

For some cheap molds that you don't have to order, you might want to look at dollar tree. I bought a few drawer organizers there a few months ago that hold about 3 lbs. They do have to be lined, but for $1 each I figured that wasn't too bad. They also are not quite vertical on the sides, but i just trim a tiny bit when I cut the bars.

Thanks for the heads-up about Dollar Tree. If I absolutely have to line, I guess I could go old-school and use Priority boxes LOL. I do have wood to make my own, but most of my tools are still packed away.

If you're undecided about ordering from Brambleberry, I would suggest checking out Nurture Soap. They have awesome molds with silicone liners that come in pretty much any size you could want. I love mine and wouldn't trade them for anything! Also love their micas and FOs . . . shipping is fast and customer service is top notch. Many of their FOs are Lush dupes and my latest fave is the Yuzu & Cocoa . . . it really smells edible and does not discolor your soap. They also have an OMH but I haven't tried it.

If you decide to go with BB, I love the Chipotle Caramel FO. If you're looking for a Lavender blend, their Lavender & Cedar is a really nice unisex scent and so is Tobacco & Bay Leaf. Neither of those will discolor and seem to stick well in CP soap. I'm also a huge lard fan so your proposed recipe gets a big thumbs up from me!

I don't have a problem ordering from BB, I used them many times when I was soaping before, I'm just not sure I'm in love with the kits. (Based on my guess of about 400 ounces of oils) I was looking at that Chipotle Caramel! Very tempted, will think on that a bit.

I look at mold size before oil weight for my bar size.

For example: I usually use an 8" long mold that holds 2# of batter. 1" bars fit nicely in my hands and I don't really care about all my bars looking "perfect." If you want "perfect" bars you might want to plan cutting off the ends for your use and get 7 pretty bars from a batch. Then mathing it out 2# = 32oz. 32/8 = 4oz bars before cure. Depending on lye concentration that can easily be 25oz of oils for me. I tend to overestimate my oils when I can and always have a spare cavity mold on hand for overflow.

I don't care if they're perfect, but I do want them to look nice. I'm good with using a veggie peeler to shape a bit if I need to.

Yes, I have 3 of those molds, box and silicone liner and I absolutely love them!!! Love the size of bar it makes too. Makes 9 1 to 1.25 is bars of soap after trimming the edges.

Thank you, I'm really leaning that way. Have you found a similarly priced slab mold?

Susie today I got a gallon of Nutiva organic CO for $ 25.99 and just remember it must be in States like 20 dollars. The one on amazon seems high price

Best for Sam's in my area seems to be two 54oz containers for $34USD but they get horrible reviews (rancid taste) so I'm not sure I'd want to soap with them.

 

[Susie]

My Sam's has Member's Mark Organic Coconut Oil, it tastes and soaps wonderfully.

 

[Dahila]

You have to watch the Snappy oil for sales. I bought a gal for $12, and it shipped free with Amazon Prime. It had beta carotene in it, which was fine by me; that's just one less colorant I need to mix up (it makes a beautiful yellow or orange, depending on % used). I also keep uncolored CO so I have a choice.

I think I've seen the uncolored Snappy for that price too, though I wouldn't swear on it. Suzie can say on that one.

I am in Canada, and everything is 1.5 time more expensive ( but that's ok , I love my new country

 

[Dahila]

The one Nutiva is organic too ) kind of the best in Canada, I did not get it for soaping rather for frying)

 

[dixiedragon]

Where are you located? I recommend Camden Grey for butters, oils and essential oils. They are in Florida, so if you are in the southeastern US, shipping isn't bad.

If you are an hour or two away from a place, it might be worth your time and $ to place a big order and drive to pick it up yourself.

Also see if you have a restaurant supply company. Monarch Foods is one in our area. They are good for bulk oils - I got lard, sunflower, olive and rice bran at mine.

Soap
Lard - Walmart
Coconut - Amazon
Avocado - SC (try Costco)
Almond - SC
Castor - Amazon (try Wal-Mart or Vitamin Shoppe)

Balm/lotion bar/lip scrub/salve
Cocoa Butter - SC (try Publix or Fred's Discount for 1 oz tubes. Not a great price, but if you just need a little bit.)
Shea Butter - SC
Beeswax - Amazon (try a farmer's market. Also, google bee keeping in your state and/or county.)
Sunflower - local, if I use it

 

[Catastrophe]

(Sadly, I have no Publix or Fred's Discount up here, and the closest Costco is 2 hours away, so I've let my membership lapse. I'm in NY near the Canadian border.)

I'm back with more questions!

I ordered everything last week, but my BB order won't be here until Monday. Oils I have or will have are:
Lard
Coconut
Avocado
Castor
Pumpkin seed (this is more for the salve or lotion bars, too expensive for soap)
Safflower
Sunflower
Grapeseed
Olive
Shea butter (unrefined)

I would like to do a few variations on this recipe, and I completely forgot sweet almond in my ordering, aack:
50% lard
20% coconut
15% avocado
10% almond
5% castor

Any suggestions for what would be good subs for the almond? I suspect my Walmart safflower and sunflower will spoil quickly? Does that mean my soap will spoil quickly? (I don't recall using them before when I was soaping)

FOs I ordered are:

NG's Merlot Wine - red wine
NG's Christmas Cabernet - red wine
BB's Lavender Green Tea -Green tea
BB's OMH - Goat milk, oatmeal, honey
NG's Island Fresh type - for salt bars

Some questions:

1. For the salt bar, I want to use 100% CO, probably 75% Himalayan salt, coconut milk, and I'd like to do a 13% superfat with ??? (shea butter?). If I use 16oz CO, 2.93oz lye...how much shea do I add? Or do I run the calculator with 87% CO and 13% shea?

2. If I use sodium lactate, 1tsp ppo, is there a reason to use sugar, too? Or does the SL replace the reason for adding sugar? (More bubbles, I think, I jotted a note to use sugar, but didn't note why)

3. Anyone with experience using wine instead of water? Somewhere I read about a lye volcano from wine, obviously I don't want that to happen! Any suggestions on how to replace all or some of my water with wine in the wine soaps?

4. I remember goat milk turning orange? when I soaped before...is there a way to avoid that?

Thanks for all the help so far, I'm so very excited to make soap again! (Oh and I bought lip balm base from NG, friend tried it and absolutely loves it. I hate lip balm, so I'm not a good judge lol)

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

A tip for oil comparisons- go to soapcalc (not sure how easy it is with the other calcs) and select the oil that you want to find a replacement for. Set it as 100% of the recipe and hit calculate. Close the recipe so you're back at the data entry page - now when you highlight any oil in their list you have a side-by-side comparison to the other oil. Just go through the list looking for something similar, or see which ingredients on hand could work. It's not totally accurate, as lard and Shea are similar in theory but not quite so in practice, but it gets you in the right direction

 

[Susie]

(Sadly, I have no Publix or Fred's Discount up here, and the closest Costco is 2 hours away, so I've let my membership lapse. I'm in NY near the Canadian border.)

I'm back with more questions!

I ordered everything last week, but my BB order won't be here until Monday. Oils I have or will have are:
Lard
Coconut
Avocado
Castor
Pumpkin seed (this is more for the salve or lotion bars, too expensive for soap)
Safflower
Sunflower
Grapeseed
Olive
Shea butter (unrefined)

I would like to do a few variations on this recipe, and I completely forgot sweet almond in my ordering, aack:
50% lard
20% coconut
15% avocado
10% almond
5% castor

Any suggestions for what would be good subs for the almond? I suspect my Walmart safflower and sunflower will spoil quickly? Does that mean my soap will spoil quickly? (I don't recall using them before when I was soaping)

Olive oil is a decent substitution for the almond. But run the recipe through a lye calculator to see the numbers for yourself, then you will know.

If the oils have a short shelf life, then yes your soap can develop DOS quickly. Store them in the freezer immediately, and use small amounts (under 15% IIRC) quickly.

FOs I ordered are:

NG's Merlot Wine - red wine
NG's Christmas Cabernet - red wine
BB's Lavender Green Tea -Green tea
BB's OMH - Goat milk, oatmeal, honey
NG's Island Fresh type - for salt bars

Some questions:

1. For the salt bar, I want to use 100% CO, probably 75% Himalayan salt, coconut milk, and I'd like to do a 13% superfat with ??? (shea butter?). If I use 16oz CO, 2.93oz lye...how much shea do I add? Or do I run the calculator with 87% CO and 13% shea?

You figure the superfat right in the recipe by just putting 13 in the superfat line. Don't get confused by the people who claim superfat can be added at trace to prevent the lye from eating it up. The saponification process can take days, and the lye takes what it wants.

2. If I use sodium lactate, 1tsp ppo, is there a reason to use sugar, too? Or does the SL replace the reason for adding sugar? (More bubbles, I think, I jotted a note to use sugar, but didn't note why)

SL substitutes for salt to harden your bar, which is completely unnecessary with the above recipe. Sugar adds bubbles. Not at all the same thing.

3. Anyone with experience using wine instead of water? Somewhere I read about a lye volcano from wine, obviously I don't want that to happen! Any suggestions on how to replace all or some of my water with wine in the wine soaps?

Boil the wine down to get rid of the alcohol. Then be prepared to freeze that soap immediately, and leave it in the freezer for 24 hours.

4. I remember goat milk turning orange? when I soaped before...is there a way to avoid that?

Thanks for all the help so far, I'm so very excited to make soap again! (Oh and I bought lip balm base from NG, friend tried it and absolutely loves it. I hate lip balm, so I'm not a good judge lol)

Freezing the milk is supposed to help. I have never had success in my milk not turning orange, but the good news is that it does not stay orange.

 

[dixiedragon]

Sorry, you said "I hate lip balm" and my brain broke. I have like 6 tubes in my purse now. Does not compute.

In body applications, I usually replace sweet almond with avocado and I really like it.

 

[Susie]

I had to stop using lip balm. My lips were cracking and peeling, even with my handmade lip balm. It took about a month of misery for them to heal up, but they are better now than when I started wearing lip balm at 12.

 

[dixiedragon]

Catastrophe, have you tried using canned milk?

I use the milk-in-oil method with canned milk.

In the lye calculator, I bump up "water as percent of oils" from 38% to 40%. I dissolve my lye in 1/2 of that water amount. So if my recipe calls for 10 ounces of water, I dissolve my lye in 5 ounces of water. When the oils are the correct temperature (I like to do about 90 for milk soaps) I pour 5 ounces of canned milk into the oils. While stickblending the oils, I pour the room-temp lye water into the oils.

 

[kchaystack]

I would add the milk to your oils and use a 50% lye solution.

 

[Catastrophe]

A tip for oil comparisons- go to soapcalc (not sure how easy it is with the other calcs) and select the oil that you want to find a replacement for. Set it as 100% of the recipe and hit calculate. Close the recipe so you're back at the data entry page - now when you highlight any oil in their list you have a side-by-side comparison to the other oil. Just go through the list looking for something similar, or see which ingredients on hand could work. It's not totally accurate, as lard and Shea are similar in theory but not quite so in practice, but it gets you in the right direction

I've been running a lot of stuff through soapcalc, and they're all pretty similar on the quality numbers. I didn't think to Google the oils' shelf life until a few minutes ago, but it looks like everything but sunflower should be fine.

Olive oil is a decent substitution for the almond. But run the recipe through a lye calculator to see the numbers for yourself, then you will know.

If the oils have a short shelf life, then yes your soap can develop DOS quickly. Store them in the freezer immediately, and use small amounts (under 15% IIRC) quickly.

Found BB's shelf life info...used to have all that in my head, but it's been too long to remember it now LOL. I actually never had DOS before, and I'd rather it not show up on Christmas presents, so I'll avoid the sunflower oil!

You figure the superfat right in the recipe by just putting 13 in the superfat line. Don't get confused by the people who claim superfat can be added at trace to prevent the lye from eating it up. The saponification process can take days, and the lye takes what it wants.

Thank you!!! I was totally going by my old memory, and further reading says that's wrong like you said. I did think adding at trace was the thing to do.

SL substitutes for salt to harden your bar, which is completely unnecessary with the above recipe. Sugar adds bubbles. Not at all the same thing.

BB's website says you should use SL with all recipes when using silicone molds. I did use SL before, can't remember if I used it in all my recipes or not. I was using silicone for about 80% of my bars. Would you use the SL in my recipe with silicone molds? Thank you for clarifying about the salt vs sugar, I added to my notes I wrote down LOL.

Boil the wine down to get rid of the alcohol. Then be prepared to freeze that soap immediately, and leave it in the freezer for 24 hours.

Should I add the wine after I've mixed the oils and lye?

Freezing the milk is supposed to help. I have never had success in my milk not turning orange, but the good news is that it does not stay orange.

Oh good! I think I only used liquid milk once or twice, after that I discovered coconut milk powder. I have some canned goat and coconut milks right now I'm planning to use. If I get back into soap, I'll order some powders eventually LOL.

Sorry, you said "I hate lip balm" and my brain broke. I have like 6 tubes in my purse now. Does not compute.

In body applications, I usually replace sweet almond with avocado and I really like it.

Haha, I don't do anything on my face, makeup or lip stuff.

I had to stop using lip balm. My lips were cracking and peeling, even with my handmade lip balm. It took about a month of misery for them to heal up, but they are better now than when I started wearing lip balm at 12.

I haven't had that problem, and I will use stuff in the winter, but I did notice when I used it as a teen that I tended to lick it constantly, so I just quit using it.

Catastrophe, have you tried using canned milk?

I use the milk-in-oil method with canned milk.

In the lye calculator, I bump up "water as percent of oils" from 38% to 40%. I dissolve my lye in 1/2 of that water amount. So if my recipe calls for 10 ounces of water, I dissolve my lye in 5 ounces of water. When the oils are the correct temperature (I like to do about 90 for milk soaps) I pour 5 ounces of canned milk into the oils. While stickblending the oils, I pour the room-temp lye water into the oils.

Awesome, thank you! I am planning to use canned milks.

 

[Catastrophe]

I would add the milk to your oils and use a 50% lye solution.

I know this is simple math, but I'm having trouble getting my head around it LOL. I read someone last night that mixes her lye water all in advance at 50% and stores it until needed. I think I would like to do that, because it's not very humid here and I'd like to eliminate messing with dry lye as much as possible, and also that would remove some of the risk of soaping around my 6 yr old.

If I were to take all my lye and make the lye water up (a pound of lye to a pound of water, I assume will be 50%), how do I figure out how much to use in a recipe?

For example, let's say I want to make a salt bar with 16oz of CO, 38% water. Superfat 20%, it calls for 2.35 ounces of lye, 6.08 ounces of water. Would I use 4.7 ounces of the premade lye water, and 1.38 ounces of coconut milk?

 

[kchaystack]

I know this is simple math, but I'm having trouble getting my head around it LOL. I read someone last night that mixes her lye water all in advance at 50% and stores it until needed. I think I would like to do that, because it's not very humid here and I'd like to eliminate messing with dry lye as much as possible, and also that would remove some of the risk of soaping around my 6 yr old.

If I were to take all my lye and make the lye water up (a pound of lye to a pound of water, I assume will be 50%), how do I figure out how much to use in a recipe?

For example, let's say I want to make a salt bar with 16oz of CO, 38% water. Superfat 20%, it calls for 2.35 ounces of lye, 6.08 ounces of water. Would I use 4.7 ounces of the premade lye water, and 1.38 ounces of coconut milk?

Exactly.

I also masterbatch my lye at 50%. But then I use my lye at 33%.

So I take 2x my NaOH amount in solutuon then add 1x my NaOH amount in aloe juice.

When I use milk, I use powdered goats milk. I add the powdered milk to my oils and stick blend it really well to put it in suspension, then add 2X my NaOH amount of my solution to the oil mix.

 

[Susie]

"Should I add the wine after I've mixed the oils and lye?"

I think so, I don't personally use alcohols in my soap, but there are threads on here that discuss it. Just use Google, or your favorite search engine, and do something like this: soapmakingforum site/wine soap, and it should pull them up.

 

[mx5inpenn]

I know this is simple math, but I'm having trouble getting my head around it LOL. I read someone last night that mixes her lye water all in advance at 50% and stores it until needed. I think I would like to do that, because it's not very humid here and I'd like to eliminate messing with dry lye as much as possible, and also that would remove some of the risk of soaping around my 6 yr old.

If I were to take all my lye and make the lye water up (a pound of lye to a pound of water, I assume will be 50%), how do I figure out how much to use in a recipe?

For example, let's say I want to make a salt bar with 16oz of CO, 38% water. Superfat 20%, it calls for 2.35 ounces of lye, 6.08 ounces of water. Would I use 4.7 ounces of the premade lye water, and 1.38 ounces of coconut milk?

You have the lye/water amount correct, but not the liquid. You need 6.08oz of water, you are getting 2.35 from the lye mixture, so you need an additional 3.73. The 4.7oz of 50% mixture is 2.35oz of each lye and water. So take the total water amount and subtract the amount of water (an amount equal to the lye amount in 50%) you are getting from the mixture to find your additional water amount. You can then use whatever liquid you like for the additional water.