Just waiting on lye to drop for my first soap. ** PIC ADD**

[desert_gold_hound]

Hurry up and wait. Man that lye mixed in water really does heat up fast. I have my oils being maintained at 110 right now and just waiting for lye/water to match. I am going to go ahead and add a little peppermint in at trace. Wish me luck.

My niece is helping me out with my first batch its really fun working with her.

 

[unmouton]

Good luck! I love peppermint in soap. I'm sure it will be lovely.

 

[desert_gold_hound]

Good luck! I love peppermint in soap. I'm sure it will be lovely.

How much EO did you use I am making a 3lb batch.

I am going to add it tell its just a little stronger then my liking and then stop. I figure it will lose some and I will be happy. If this doesn't work OH WELL I will know to add more or less next time.

I wont be able to check for your answer much longer as I am at 123 with the lye.

 

[Lindy]

Soooo???????? How did it turn out?

 

[desert_gold_hound]

Well I had to finish getting to trace..... I only ran the blender on pulse so it took a while. It looks like it will turn out very well and I really like the off white color to it. I don't think I really added enough EO but that is ok as I don't wont but a trace in the test batch.

I have it covered now and will see how it looks tomorrow. I will take photo when complete.

I did use the wax paper. It lined my cutting board I used to poor on and also as a base for my spoons and what forth to make clean up easier. I love wax paper for this purpose.


EDIT: Before I made my first batch I understood some of the soap makers pour at light trace, and some at hard. Now I have read two articals on here where you don't wont to over trace!!

How do I know if I over traced my soap?!?!?! I am now realy realy worried and wondering what the outcome of over tracing is?

 

[unmouton]

The first few times I made soap I was scared I would false trace and seperate, so mine was at a very thick trace before pouring. The end project didn't look as perfectly smooth as some soap (because I poured it when it was thicker than pudding!) But it was perfectly good soap. I'm sure your soap will be just fine.

As for the peppermint, it is good that you didn't add a ton. It can be a skin irritant if the person using your soap is a bit sensitive to begin with. So you probably inadvertently did the right thing. Let us know when you cut it! I love cutting soap, its my fav part.

 

[desert_gold_hound]

I will be cutting at around 9 tonight. That will give it just short of 24 hours. I think that should be fine. I peeked in just a little bit ago and it was soft sold. It was warm to the touch and burned the tip of my finger off (ok my finer never burned). So I do think it turned out fine. It didn't seem to have any separation. I really like the color

 

[desert_gold_hound]

Learned allot and will do some things different.

First off I will never use the disposable plastic things for molds again. I sprayed them first and it still stuck. I had to cut out my soap and that was a pain in the but. The shape wasn't what I was hoping for and its just a pain.

If you smell the soap while cooking and adding essential oils, and the smell starts to mellow DONT ADD MORE EO. It is a little stronger then I thought it would be. I do think that its fine though as it should mellow down and you do have to actually smell it to get a whiff. We will see how it mellows. I did do a big NO NO and tried a little scrap out to see if it suds well and it doesn't have a whole lot of suds. It didn't burn or dry my skin at all. Yea probably a stupid thing to do.

I am not too disappointed and think it came out OK for my first bars. It made a whole lot more then I thought it would and will have soap for a life time. Here is a pic of a couple of pieces it looks really good. I didn't porn the pictures up.

Sorry about the low quality I didn’t use my photo tent.

I will defiantly make more and think that I will defiantly go into business as I know I can perfect the soap thing really quickly.

 

[topcat]

Lovely colour, very nice soap....congratulations! Isn't it amazing how quickly we learn what to do next time? You will learn so much with each batch and it won't be long before you turn around and realise you are an expert!

Tanya

 

[desert_gold_hound]

TY and yes I really really like the color of it. All natural and no colorant. I think it has a better look then store brands and even though its fresh I think its still less harsh. I will not use any for about 4 weeks and even then I will run a ph test on it first. If its ok then I will use some for myself and wait another 2 or 4 weeks to give some away as a test.

 

[unmouton]

Looks great!