My first soap - hot process and lessons learned.

[songwind]

This past weekend, I made my first soap! It was a lot of fun, and I got my wife involved as well.

I made a 50% olive oil, 25% coconut oil, 25% palm oil soap. The soap-making process itself went really well. I used hot process, just so I would have a testable end-product a bit early.

I molded it in old pill bottles because.. well, that's what I had. That was not such a great idea. As I'm sure you've guessed, the soap didn't come out. I ended up having to cut the bottoms off the bottles, then run a knife around the inside of the bottle to release the soap, THEN I could push it out.

I also ended up with a lump of soap that was too small to bother with an extra mold, so I let it dry out in a special shape I call a "pile." So I've been using it as my kitchen hand soap for several days, and it's very mild and feels good on the skin.

Now that the soaps have been rescued from their plastic prisons, I have cut them into little disks and set them on a cheap roasting rack to dry.

I'm pleased, and will definitely be doing this some more.

Pictures!

Olive, coconut & palm

The paint mixer worked pretty well.

Cooked, gelled and passed the zap-test

Drying

(The entire obsessively large album is online here)

 

[Badger]

Glad to hear of your success in making your first soap! I am sorry that you had a bit of a hiccup in trying to get it out of the mold, but I completely understand what that is like.. and I had access to both ends of my mold I love your picture album of the process

 

[misskat22]

Those look great! I have a pringles can that I really want to use, but I'm worried about how to get them out. I kinda like the pill bottle idea, now that you have the other end open, I wonder if there might be a way to cap it in order to use them again? Congrats on your success!

 

[lizflowers42]

Looks great songwind! I envisioned little orange pill bottles and wondered why you would need to cut them smaller!

Those look great! I have a pringles can that I really want to use, but I'm worried about how to get them out. I kinda like the pill bottle idea, now that you have the other end open, I wonder if there might be a way to cap it in order to use them again? Congrats on your success!

Cut the bottom off! Then keep the lid and tape it around. Line your mold with freezer paper! Then you can pop it out and use again!

 

[DeeAnna]

I love your sense of humor and deft hand at telling your story, Songwind! I predict you'll soon have quite the following on the forum. --DeeAnna

 

[songwind]

Those look great! I have a pringles can that I really want to use, but I'm worried about how to get them out. I kinda like the pill bottle idea, now that you have the other end open, I wonder if there might be a way to cap it in order to use them again? Congrats on your success!

I watched a video on Youtube where a soaper used a Pringles can, then just used kitchen shears to snip through the thicker band on top and peeled can away from the soap. Looked sort of like opening canned biscuits.

I was thinking of trying lining a straight sided pint Ball jar with freezer or waxed paper. Cylindrical shape, reusable, cheap. Plus we make pickles and preserves so I have approximately a metric ton of them.

 

[lsg]

You can also use those paper quart milk cartons, Velveeta-type cheese boxes, & shoe boxes. You can even make your own soap mold out of strong cardboard.

http://www.soapmakingschool.com/5355/images/recycled-soap-mold.pdf

 

[misskat22]

Ah, great ideas! Thanks for sharing!!

 

[marghewitt]

I don't know about getting the soap out of a Ball jar. . . I think you may end up spooning it out. You can get a couple of small flat rate boxes from the post office and line with freezer paper. They work very well for small batches. One of my first real wood molds was a small wooden tray, complete with handles, that I picked up at Michaels for about $3.
Pringles cans work very well if lined with freezer paper as do pvc pipes.

 

[lizflowers42]

You can also use those paper quart milk cartons, Velveeta-type cheese boxes, & shoe boxes. You can even make your own soap mold out of strong cardboard.

http://www.soapmakingschool.com/5355/images/recycled-soap-mold.pdf

This is great! Thanks for sharing!