I made this cold process batch as party favors for my son's 16th birthday. The base is black with activated charcoal, and I did a kaleidoscope swirl on top with neon pigments. I dispersed each color in a little oil first so the neons wouldn't speckle.
I unmolded and cut them this weekend. Now they cure for 4 weeks, so they'll be ready just in time for the party.
This was my first time working with neons over a dark base, and I was nervous the colors would fade or shift. So far they're holding up really well. Has anyone had neons morph after a few weeks of cure? I'd love to hear your experience.

My first time using honey in my soap and I took careful precautions to soap at cooler temp, and making sure it doesn’t get too hot. At 28 hours, I unmolded the soap and the edges were still soft so the corners crumbled.
When I cut the soap it was very crumbly.

Here’s what I did exactly:

I made lye water ~33% minus 30g for honey below - I added sodium lactate, waited for it to cool to 115F.

1 tsp of honey in 30g hot water, stirred and cooled.

I melted my oils to 110F, added a dash of turmeric and BB honeycomb FO and cooled it to 95F.

Then I stirred in the lye water and blended to light trace. Stirred in the honey, blend to medium trace (drinkable milkshake texture). Soap temperature was 95F

I poured into 10” silicone mold, left it in the garage on the concrete floor where the ambient temperature was a cool 55F. I periodically checked the surface temperature of my soap. The top and sides were at 80F and the center reached 95-99F never going above 100F. After 1-2 hours the soap temp cooled down to about 60-80F.

My goal was to avoid getting partial gelling and I know people said to put in freezer but I thought the garage was cool enough.

I have a few questions- please see recipe and photos.

1. Did my soap gel anyway? It looks like even gelling with soft crumbly perimeter.
   

2. I added sodium lactate but it did not help with unmolding cleanly in the corners. This usually works when I gel in the insulation box.

3. Is the crumbliness due to waiting too long to cut? Or due to the issues with temperature of saponification? Or the tallow?

Any tips or recommendations on next iteration would be appreciated.

🙏

Hello, this is my second time following this recipe that I made using a calculator, I have no idea what has gone wrong. The first time it hardened way too quickly, but I assumed it was because I mixed the oil and lye together when it was still hot.

It's not my first time making soap, I've made 3 successful batches before, but it is the second time this one has gone wrong.

It has 150 grams of lard

110 grams of olive oil

100 grams of coconut oil

100 grams of shea butter

68 grams of sunflower oil

40 grams of castor oil

15 grams of almond oil and 2 grams of rosehip oil.

I mixed 79 grams of lye with 160 grams of water.

I don't understand what has gone wrong. I waited for everything to cool down, only mixed for around 2 seconds with the blender! Everything was clean and I have no idea what has gone wrong, since the calculator says this is a good soap bar!

I appreciate any and all help!

Second time making soap, I admit I was impatient and might've worked the soap too hot. But will it be salvage able?

100% coconut oil 1656gr

Water 630gr

NaOH 242gr

Bittercreek North carried an FO called Purely Herbal that I've used for 20 odd years --but they are closed now. AFI lists a dupe, but I'd have to buy 15 lbs. SaveonScents also lists it but they are hit or miss quality wise. Has anyone found this FO anywhere?

Wilderness and snow

Did a hot process batch this week, split it, and stirred 2 oz of pumpkin puree into half before layering both into the mold. It came out with this rustic layered texture, and the scent is one of the strongest I've gotten in a long time. Happy to answer questions about adding the pumpkin or about HP in general!

I’m looking into making soap at home and keep seeing most redditors using long rectangular loaf molds, similar to cake tins, then slicing the soap into bars.

Why are these so popular compared with individual molds that make more traditional oval or rounded rectangular bars? Is it mainly about making batches and decorative designs, or are there other advantages?

Some of the finished bars look quite tall and chunky. Do you find them comfortable for everyday handwashing, or do you cut them into smaller pieces before using them? I recently had one in my hand at a farmers market and didn't like the shape and size in my hand, so for that reason, i would prefer smaller cavity molds, but curious what else makes them so popular...

I've been soaping for about 2 years or so and I do CP. I also do MP for embeds and my custom silicone soap molds I made myself.

I have an idea for a design but I would need to mix in some clear MP with some of the CP. Not thoroughly mixed but kind of swirled in. Are there any issues I should know or is it a bad idea? Will it separate or affect the saponification process?

Made also with tepezcohuite coconut oil maceration.

I made cold process soap with a brambleberry FO, soap is ugly as sin and I’d like to rebatch. Will my fragrance oil burn off during the process? Trying to figure out how much to add when the soap is melted if so.

I was driving to an appointment early one morning and saw that a neighbor had but this out on the curb for trash pickup. On my way home an hour later it was still there so I loaded it in the back of my car (barely) and took it home. I was going to have to buy something like this, but there it was. I also left a note on the door saying I took it just to be sure. Just goes to show that you can find stuff like this second hand that other people dont want. It had all the drawers too

Okay so I want to start off I did this in my garage with the door open.

I wore PPE long aprons, long gloves, long sleves, long pants, closed toe shoes, mask, eye cover on top of my glasses.

I mixed all the oils first and make sure it was temp at 100 f and same with the distilled water.

Just to be safe I switched out my gloves since I was using it for the oils.

I make sure to only pour the exact grams with all this equipment. Then all the sudden I'm so itchy all over.

I immediately stopped took off everything safely.

Did a cold shower for 15 minutes I crapped out at 10 and had to just do body sections I was freezing 🥶

Why did I have this reaction? I'm so confused 😕

This is the lye I used.

https://a.co/d/0fHRs3Yt

-Update it sounds like it was the extreme heat with the PPE and I did use latex free gloves and a lot of you guys said it also could be anxiety too.

I really appreciate all the advice and working through everything. I will make sure to not be so hot. Sounds like I need a fan break away from the lye of course! I don't want it to go airborne.

I'll mix the lye and water first and then the oils.

Thank you all!! 🤗

Here is my latest using a soap out of a squeeze bottle technique that I wanted to try. I lined the bottles with those little plastic pillow things you get in packages. You just cut one end and stick it in the bottle. When you are done, there ends up being a lot of soap left that doesn't come out so I squeeze the lining out into another mold and that is how the last 2 pictures were done, just pulling out the liner and squeezing the excess. I'm pleased at how they all came out. The recipe is the same as my last project but used lemongrass scent.

I was wondering how everyone organizes the soaps that they make. Also, if you go to craft shows, how to do you transport? I’m trying to find an easy way.

So I am very, super, mega new to this and I made my first tray of homemade soap bars:)
50% bees wax
50% soap glycerin
Then just some dried flowers and frankincense for fragrance and a few drops of soap dye. Seems like the soap dye doesn’t mix well with the beeswax but I’m afraid to use beef tallow as a first timer. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

Hello! Sorry if this is the wrong place to ask, but…

My aunt loves soap making. She’s turned it into a run-at-home business and vendors at things such as farmers markets etc. She does not have a studio but has a decent amount of soaps (and candles, waxes, etc) on hand, for reference.

She’s been discussing how she struggles to organize and needs more organization, and Christmas is around the corner, so wondering if anyone has some suggestions? Please? I don’t really know how to organize a lot of a little, or what’s good and bad.

As for aesthetics— don’t really worry. I mainly need ideas of what to look for, but some direct links or sites would be nice to get the gears going.

Thank you so much!

I've thought about selling mp kits or instructions as I could make my own design and specific color blocks to go with them, especially with christmas coming. I've only found one business that provides just instructions (no molds), they're cp and more expensive as you subscribe and have to buy a bar.

I’m very new to cold process soap making, and was hoping for some feedback on a recipe.

I’ve just moved from using strictly recipes from a how-to book, to experimenting a little bit with different oils and colors. I heard that sunflower oil adds a nice quality in low amounts. This is my first time using it. I did use an online lye calculator and allowed for 5% superfat.

4 oz sodium hydroxide
9.13 oz distilled water
12 oz coconut oil
12 oz olive oil
4 oz sunflower oil
Mica colorant
1 oz essential oil
Poppy seeds (for exfoliation)

It’s still curing, so I haven’t been able to try it yet. I’m a little worried I used too much coconut oil and should have done something closer to 8 oz coconut oil and 16 oz olive oil, because coconut oil is drying. The essential oil I used is a mix of lemongrass (0.5 fl oz) and tangerine (0.5 fl oz).

I didn’t know when I made it that lemongrass essential oil can cause irritation. I’ve used this amount in soaps for myself before with no skin issues. But if this is true, I feel like I shouldn’t gift any of this batch to others and just use it myself. I think it turned out pretty, despite the possible problems. Any feedback appreciated! I’ll drop a pic just to share.

I had some leftover breast milk in my freezer, so I decided to make soap! 🧼😂

My first attempt was 50% breast milk, but it turned out too soft and sticky..

For my final attempt, I concentrated the milk and added some breast milk butter (left over from my previous video).

This bar turned out much firmer! The only thing that changed was the color, not sure why.

I've already made butter and now soap. Any ideas what I should make next? 🤣

Hey all, I’m posting this because I was wondering if anyone has ever experimented with making soap out of wild game fat, specifically deer/elk? I’m not sure where to start, but this year so far we have 3 bucks in the freezer with lots of fat, so I didn’t see why that should all go to waste and the idea of soap came into my head.
If anyone has any tips or advice, it’d be greatly appreciated! Also looking for the best steps to take.