My first (and now my second) ever CP soap -Lots of pictures!

Soapmaking Forum

Help Support Soapmaking Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

TJ

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 13, 2011
Messages
214
Reaction score
8
Location
Oklahoma
I just got done cutting my first CP soap! I am really happy so far with how it turned out.

I'm not sure if it gelled... I kept it in the mold for about 21 hours before I took it out and cut it. I just left it on my kitchen counter with some cling wrap/seran wrap placed on top lightly, not touching the actual soap. I didn't cover it, or do anything to insulate it. Will this affect the outcome of my soap in anyway?

It was only a 16 oz batch. I was able to get 5 bars out of it.

I scented it with all Wellington FO's. They held up nicely.

I handled it with bare hands as I cut and demold it. At first I didn't notice anything, but after a minute of holding the soap carrying them to a good spot to take photos, I felt a little bit of a burn on my finger. I washed my hands and put gloves on immediately. The gloves I have are very thick and hard to handle things with, so I thought I would give a go at handling the fresh soap bare handed. NEVER AGAIN! :shock:
Lol.
:)

As I handled the soap bare handed though it felt SO CREAMY. I love it. I hope it stays that creamy as it cures the 6 weeks.

Stickblending.jpg

This is me starting to stick blend. I was really happy to see it get opaque immediately. I know it's supposed to do that, but everytime I try to do something it never turns out right. Lol. So seeing it get milky right away after stick blending was a great sign.

SheaInbucket.jpg

Here is my Shea Butter. It was really crumbly and dry looking. I've never seen Shea Butter before. But as soon as I touched it, it melted just from my body heat and felt really creamy. I really like Shea, I think I will continue to use it.

MeasuringShea.jpg

All the oils I needed I carefully weighed one by one all together into the bowl.

Lyewater.jpg

My lye water after it cleared. I didn't smell any fumes at all I was surprised. I stirred them together in the sink in case of "volcanic eruption" :) Luckily I did not have to deal with that.

LyeMeasuring.jpg

Here is my lye I'm about to open and measure out. After I started pouring some of the beads jumped out on the counter, or maybe I was shaking just that much. :lol: I think it was from static. Well it scared me. I had no idea what to do. I just swiped them in the trash with some dry paper towels. I hope I got them all, they are so tiny!

Ingredients.jpg

Here is all my ingredients.
I used Wellington FO's in: White Tea, Egyptian Musk, All Spice, and Sandalwood (Don't worry this one didn't smell like dirt :lol: hehehe)
I used purple ultramarine, but I didn't know at the time I needed to disperse it in water, so they are just spotted throughout my soap. Oops lol. The black I used was just a powder pigment. So it mixed up well with the soap.

equipment.jpg

Here is my equipment. Stainless steel 16 qt. stockpot (way too big for my 16 oz of oils). Stainless steel and silicone spoon. And my really nice stick blender. I would recommend this stick blender to anybody. It was really reallllly nice for only $28 from Amazon. It didn't splatter at all and it seemed pretty quiet to me.

Water.jpg

I was really tempted to use a liquid other than water, but for my first batch I decided it would probably be better to start off slow with some regular distilled water.

FIRSTEVERCPSOAP008All.jpg

And here is the final result! I think they look really nice for my first time. :) I'm kinda nervous to use them at the end of the 6 week cure time because I don't have anything to test the PH and I didn't feel comfortable putting raw soap with lye on my tongue. :shock: So I guess I will just have to find out the hard way.

FIRSTEVERCPSOAPSmallCloseup.jpg

Close up. I like the texture. I also like the specks of ultramarine. Even though they didn't fully cover my soap like it should have I think it looks nice. :)

FIRSTEVERCPSOAP007Overhead.jpg

One of the things I was looking forward to getting away from melt and pour and switching to CP was I get to swirl the tops! I love the swirly bumpy tops. It really adds interest to me. :D

Thanks for looking at my first adventure into CP soap making! :) It was really scary, but I think I have a smidge more confidence now for next time.

Here is my second batch I made yesterday: :D I decided to try three colors. It didn't come out the way I thought it would because I pushed my spoon into the two bottom colors, so I was thinking it would drag the purpley color down into the pinky/orange color (Oh and the pinky/orange was supposed to be red and the purpley color was supposed to be pink lol) but it didn't. I forgot to disperse my ultramarines again lol. Which is why the purpley color is speckled throughout. I kinda like it though. Maybe I won't disperse them anyway, not that I could even remember to. :lol:
SecondSoapCP003all.jpg

SecondSoapCP006onesoap.jpg

SecondSoapCP011overveiw.jpg

SecondSoapCP019closeup2.jpg

SecondSoapCP013closeup.jpg
 
It looks like stracciatella ice cream with frozen chocolate. Yummy! Very nice job! :D

What was your recipe?
 
Finchen said:
It looks like stracciatella ice cream with frozen chocolate. Yummy! Very nice job! :D

What was your recipe?

Thanks!
I did
.80oz castor
4.80 oz palm
3.20 oz rice bran
4.80 oz shea
2.40 oz soybean

2.1 oz lye
5.28 oz water

:) Does that sound about right for a decent bar of soap?

Edit: I just googled that ice cream and it looks sooo good! My soap kinda does resemble it. :D
 
TJ - Looks great! I loved the pics and the soap looked wonderful!

I too was having trouble wrapping my head around using such a big pot on my first CP batch last week. I too have a 5 gallon pot which I used to use for brewing beer. I was talked into using a smaller plastic bowl which I used in the microwave to also heat up my oils and butter. Worked out great for the 16 ounce batch so that I didn't have to TILT the pot like you were doing in your picture.

I'm sure for larger batches, that 5 gallon pot is going to come more in handy!

I look forward to hearing how the soap is after the curing process!
 
Nice job! I love the textured look the ultramarine flecks give it. From the sounds of it, it didn't gel and so it was a bit caustic yet when you cut. You should try the zap test (it's not nearly as bad as it sounds) after a week or after it has cured. Just touch the tip of your tongue to the soap and if it feels tingly, it's still too alkaline. After a week, I doubt it will be, but it's way better to get a little tingle on your tongue than wash your hands or entire body in lye heavy soap!
 
wow :shock: :lol: , my first soap looked like an big block of crap, yours is fantastic!
 
Thank you so much everyone :) It's really encouraging to get such nice replies like this. I just made my second batch a couple minutes ago. I will do the tongue test like you suggested in a week or two if I can get the courage lol. Maybe I will make someone else do it... :lol: hehehe.
 
Finchen said:
You already made a second batch? Haha, thats cool! :lol:
You must be really addicted. :D

Lol. Yeah! I'm hoping I'll be able to make a batch everyday actually until I run out of oils :D
 

Latest posts

Back
Top