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afbrat

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I started making soap using my crock pot because I KNOW I'm impatient. Trying CP Now. How do you guys keep from taking sneak peeks? It's driving me crazy!
 
I do understand that they both need to cure, but if I may ask, what are you testing them for/with? I have so much to learn! I guess I'm just impatient to see what my CP soap looks like once I can unmold it.. You'd think that I would have more patience seeing as how I have 4 kids, but there you have it..
 
Ah now, cutting to see what it looks like is a very different matter - that is something I love doing, even though I don't colour often and swirl even less.

I generally look at the basic qualities and how they develop, if I am trying something new. How does it lather? What sort of lather? How does it feel? This last one I don't worry about too much until after it is cured as planned, but also over time you can start to gauge how a soap might be from how it is, based on experience, unless the recipe is totally alien to you.

If it is a well known recipe to me, I leave it alone until it is cured as I know how it will be from using the recipe before. I am not a wild soaper, making every variation and using every oil in as little time as possible, gorging myself on soaping like some kind of SoapyRoman at a BubbleOrgy - I come at it more slowly and change as few things as possible, ideally just 1, to allow for a good comparison. For example, I recently wanted to try both milk of the goat and lanolin in a shaving soap, so I made 4 small batches to allow me to test each ingredient alone and combined, with a control batch with neither of them
 
"I am not a wild soaper, making every variation and using every oil in as little time as possible, gorging myself on soaping like some kind of SoapyRoman at a BubbleOrgy"

You say it like its a bad thing...

I found the best thing for me personally is to soap in the afternoon or evening, put my mold into a preheated (170 F) oven, turn the oven off, and try to forget it. I usually get busy doing chores or getting kids to bed so it's not hard. By the time I get up in the morning, 99% of the time I can unmold.
 
I see. I am very new to soap making so I appreciate your time in explaining that to me. There are lots of websites out there on soap making that it gets very confusing! I think I have found a recipe that I'm going to stick with. My hubby is very particular about soap products and he seems to like the one we're using now. Got a good supply from my first couple of HP batches (the ones that turned out decent) which are continuing to cure, so I figured I could experiment and have fun now. I'm only doing small batches for comparison purposes so I am learning that way too.

"I am not a wild soaper, making every variation and using every oil in as little time as possible, gorging myself on soaping like some kind of SoapyRoman at a BubbleOrgy"

You say it like its a bad thing...

I found the best thing for me personally is to soap in the afternoon or evening, put my mold into a preheated (170 F) oven, turn the oven off, and try to forget it. I usually get busy doing chores or getting kids to bed so it's not hard. By the time I get up in the morning, 99% of the time I can unmold.


Thanks for the tip. I'll have to try that tactic. I've been doing my soaping in the morning, since I typically have my ideas at night when I'm too tired to safely handle lye
 
For me cutting a soap is like opening up a Christmas Present or cutting a Geode in half, you just do not know what is inside. I usually make soaps towards evening so in the morning when I get up I can cut. Of course some will be make you wait longer and it drives me nuts even after hundreds and hundreds of batches.
 
You really are not the only one. I have to soap later at night due to work and young kids, but have developed a recipe which can usually be unmoulded (if that's a word!) and cut within 8 hours. I can't wait to see what's inside. It's like Christmas and birthday all rolled into one. I wake really early, sneek downstairs and cut it before doing anything else. The excitement has never gone for me, even after 2 years!
 
Well then now I can tell my hubby that I am not completely crazy! I always get excited over this kind of thing. One time he came home and I had bought a new floor cleaner and I was so happy with it that I made him watch me clean the kitchen floor so he could see how easy it was. He thought I was nuts!
 
You really are not the only one. I have to soap later at night due to work and young kids, but have developed a recipe which can usually be unmoulded (if that's a word!) and cut within 8 hours. I can't wait to see what's inside. It's like Christmas and birthday all rolled into one. I wake really early, sneek downstairs and cut it before doing anything else. The excitement has never gone for me, even after 2 years!
I am at 6+ yrs and still cannot wait to cut. I also have some recipes I can cut in approx 8 hrs. As soon as my feet hit the floor early in the morning I hurry to get my soaps unmolded and hopefully get to cut
 
cmzaha;545236[B said:
]For me cutting a soap is like opening up a Christmas Present[/B] or cutting a Geode in half, you just do not know what is inside.

TOTALLY.


I also soap in the afternoon/evening so that I can cut in the AM with my morning coffee.
 
I do understand that they both need to cure, but if I may ask, what are you testing them for/with? I have so much to learn! I guess I'm just impatient to see what my CP soap looks like once I can unmold it.. You'd think that I would have more patience seeing as how I have 4 kids, but there you have it..
I cut the ends off and use them for testers, then I cut those in quarters...the pic below shows the ends on the bottom...

001.jpg
 
That is some beautiful soap! I'll have to do that with my ends too! I have found that with my (5) batches so far that I want to try them all to compare. Do you cut those ends into quarters to test at different stages of cure?
 
"I am not a wild soaper, making every variation and using every oil in as little time as possible, gorging myself on soaping like some kind of SoapyRoman at a BubbleOrgy"

You say it like its a bad thing....


In many cases it can be. Some people go totally wild and end up wasting a great deal of money only to then turn around and say that they have to sell as their hobby is costing them too much money.

Or they just simply make one batch with a fundamentally bad recipe and make variations of it before the first one is cured and then they have 5 or 6 batches of a fundamentally bad soap.

Or for a very beginner there is something wrong that they are doing which gives them a large number of totally unusable batches.

I'm not saying that experimenting is a bad thing, but it can be in certain conditions.

Plus, I was actually just saying that I am not one of those people who HAS to make soap for the sake of it - is that a bad thing?
 
I see. I am very new to soap making so I appreciate your time in explaining that to me. There are lots of websites out there on soap making that it gets very confusing! I think I have found a recipe that I'm going to stick with. My hubby is very particular about soap products and he seems to like the one we're using now. Got a good supply from my first couple of HP batches (the ones that turned out decent) which are continuing to cure, so I figured I could experiment and have fun now. I'm only doing small batches for comparison purposes so I am learning that way too.

Thanks for the tip. I'll have to try that tactic. I've been doing my soaping in the morning, since I typically have my ideas at night when I'm too tired to safely handle lye

If you are very new to soapmaking, you are doing yourself a disservice by not trying new recipes. Not saying you have to go crazy. But taking that "good" recipe and tweaking it by 5% more of this and less of that systematically, you can find an "awesome" recipe. Your hubby does not necessarily have to be the guinea pig.

Small batches are good, but be sure you have at least 1 lb/500 gm of oil per recipe to minimize the effects of small errors in weighing.
 
Thank you for the advice! I love tweaking! So far I have only tweaked by playing with soap calc though. The batches I have made so far have between 1 and 2 pounds of base oils. Just in case I really don't like a recipe, then I don't have as much of it to find another use for :) I haven't made a batch that was not suitable for personal use yet, but I know it's only a matter of time
 
In many cases it can be. Some people go totally wild and end up wasting a great deal of money only to then turn around and say that they have to sell as their hobby is costing them too much money.

Or they just simply make one batch with a fundamentally bad recipe and make variations of it before the first one is cured and then they have 5 or 6 batches of a fundamentally bad soap.

Or for a very beginner there is something wrong that they are doing which gives them a large number of totally unusable batches.

I'm not saying that experimenting is a bad thing, but it can be in certain conditions.

Plus, I was actually just saying that I am not one of those people who HAS to make soap for the sake of it - is that a bad thing?

This is such great advice. It's so hard to wait 6 weeks to test a bar before diving into the next. Maybe especially for a newbie for whom all things soap are new and enthralling!

I feel like I have an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other--the devil wants me to swirl, add exfoliants, try new oils and buy 7,000 FOs. The angel tells me to perfect a base recipe first. She's a very reasonable angel, but that devil is hard to resist!!
 
I feel like I have an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other--the devil wants me to swirl, add exfoliants, try new oils and buy 7,000 FOs. The angel tells me to perfect a base recipe first. She's a very reasonable angel, but that devil is hard to resist!![/QUOTE]


Devils usually are! Especially if you're one of those people (me) who can't even wait for actual birthdays, holidays, etc. to give out presents! Much less have to wait to try new soaps!
 
That is some beautiful soap! I'll have to do that with my ends too! I have found that with my (5) batches so far that I want to try them all to compare. Do you cut those ends into quarters to test at different stages of cure?
Yes, one piece I use each week to see where the soap is and learn how it develops...kinda like starting with a baby and watching it grow up...
Oh and thank you for the compliment :smile:
 

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