Making M&P base?

[KimHartley24]

This is probably a question someone has already asked and had answered but after a couple of searches and not finding the thread I thought I'd ask

After nearly a year now of HP I'm FINALLY ordering a (hopefully) leak-free mold to start experimenting with CP. I'm so excited to swirl and make such clean looking bars!

I was hoping that I could make my own M&P base to swirl in with the CP (I kinda feel like I would be failing myself as a creator to buy premade soap base... plus I'd like to control the ingredients) I've seen online tuts about making clear soap using alcohol and sugar, but they say that it can't be melted down like M&P. What's the delightful meltable secret? <3

If someone could rec a good website... every time I've Googled I've only gotten recipes for soaps using pre-bought. Thanks so much for helping <3

 

[calico21]

I've read that you can melt the clear, alcohol and sugar base soap 1 time but that the soap is usually more amber not crystal clear like store bought. Also I searched til I was exhausted on a way to make it with no luck.

I think it is a trade secret and anyone who may have info is missing never to be seen again.

 

[KimHartley24]

Hmm.. :/ That's kinda discouraging! :O Thanks for responding <3

 

[Kleine Teufel]

No help to you, but now you guys have me curious about sugar and alcohol soap...

 

[Guest]

I didn't have success yet with transparent soap, but all receipes I have seen said that you must melt it at least once (other said that you can remelt 2-3 times).

The only thing that can happen through melting is that water and alcohol evaporate. Theoretically, if you compensate this (more with alcohol, because they say water isn't good in transparent soap), you should be able to melt indefinitively.

On the other hand, isn't enough for you to melt it a single time ?

And here's some information I just googled:

The higher price transparent soaps do not use a simplealcohol to bring about the transparent solution of soap. These soaps havea complex alcohol called sorbitol. Sorbitol, originally obtained from amountain ash, is produced from hydrogenated glucose The soaps thatemploy sorbitol are usually not natural soaps but are made fromcomponents of isolated fatty acids. Basically to answer the originalquestion a soap to be transparent must be suspended in an alcoholsolution or be a composition bar of fatty acids in a sorbitol solution.

http://www.ecomall.com/greenshopping/soapfactory.htm

 

[KimHartley24]

HEY LOOK AT WHAT I FOUND: http://www.amazon.com/Make-Melt-Pour-So ... 0615481116

 

[KimHartley24]

I dunno if this is true but apparently it's the first and only book on the market with actual M&P recipes and the page with the publishing info said it was published in 2011 so it can't've been too long ago that it was put on the market... how exciting! I'm going to request that my local library stock it. It's so exciting DD

 

[calico21]

Wow! I'd like a copy of that too! May have to fork out the $20. What a demand she'll have for that.

 

[soapbuddy]

If anyone wants to buy this book let me know. I'll sell it. I have it, but I don't care for the ingredient lists used in the recipes.

 

[KimHartley24]

just curious, what's in the ingredient list that you don't like and why? :O I haven't read a single page yet so I dunnno what's in there

 

[carebear]

I didn't have success yet with transparent soap, but all receipes I have seen said that you must melt it at least once (other said that you can remelt 2-3 times).

The only thing that can happen through melting is that water and alcohol evaporate. Theoretically, if you compensate this (more with alcohol, because they say water isn't good in transparent soap), you should be able to melt indefinitively.

On the other hand, isn't enough for you to melt it a single time ?

And here's some information I just googled:

The higher price transparent soaps do not use a simplealcohol to bring about the transparent solution of soap. These soaps havea complex alcohol called sorbitol. Sorbitol, originally obtained from amountain ash, is produced from hydrogenated glucose The soaps thatemploy sorbitol are usually not natural soaps but are made fromcomponents of isolated fatty acids. Basically to answer the originalquestion a soap to be transparent must be suspended in an alcoholsolution or be a composition bar of fatty acids in a sorbitol solution.

http://www.ecomall.com/greenshopping/soapfactory.htm

odd. MP soap bases that are SOAPS are made from sodium salts of fatty acids (sodium tallowate, for example), actually. as are most commercial soaps, clear or not. but those isolated salts of fatty acids are produced by... saponification (as in oils + lye). so I don't see them as being questionable. they are the same in our soaps, just that in commercial soaps they are isolated and then combined whereas ours are produced alongside each other. other MP soaps are detergent based, and some are a combination of soap and detergent. all seem to have sorbitol which helps make it meltable & pourable.

further, the alcohol is part of the processing but is not present in the finished soap. that web site is wrong on several levels.

 

[MeadowHillFarmCT]

some links I found.

http://www.bearchele.com/soap/Tutorial.html

http://www.millersoap.com/glycerinsoap.html

 

[agriffin]

If anyone wants to buy this book let me know. I'll sell it. I have it, but I don't care for the ingredient lists used in the recipes.

Yeah, I'm with you. And it just seems like alot of work not worth it.

 

[soapbuddy]

just curious, what's in the ingredient list that you don't like and why? :O I haven't read a single page yet so I dunnno what's in there

Here is the ingredient list. I prefer using oils and butters instead.

Propylene Glycol
Vegetable Glycerin
70% Sorbitol Solution
Bio-Terge 804
Stearic Acid
Myristic Acid
Triethanolamine (TEA)

 

[carebear]

just curious, what's in the ingredient list that you don't like and why? :O I haven't read a single page yet so I dunnno what's in there

Here is the ingredient list. I prefer using oils and butters instead.

Propylene Glycol
Vegetable Glycerin
70% Sorbitol Solution
Bio-Terge 804
Stearic Acid
Myristic Acid
Triethanolamine (TEA)

For anyone who is wondering, the Bio-Terge 804 is a detergent. The stearic acid is for hardening the soap. I don't know the reason for the myristic acid - maybe as a lube?

 

[mariflo]

I made transparent soap about a year ago (just as an experiment) and it does take a little longer with all the sugar/glycerin additions and testing for clarity but it wasn't really difficult. I could've gone for better clarity but it was pretty late at night and I needed sleep.

Here is a picture of it

I used the instructions from here http://www.bearchele.com/soap/Tutorial.html

I melted part of it to see how that goes and added alcohol to help it melt uniformely. The only difference was that it came out a bit more sticky than the other one (the first pour). It needed a bit more time to set up and to dry.

After a couple of months the soap started shrinking though. It shrank a lot more than the other soap (HP or CP).

HTH
mari