Good luck SgtMaj. I hope your soap turns out great. I am thinking to try buttermilk the next time, so keep me posted on your batch. :-D
Yeah, I was wondering, what did your batch look/feel like after you had finished mixing it? Was it still just like oil? I'm just not sure I got the recipe right... I might have put too much or too little lye in. I wasn't sure exactly how much to add, so I just kept adding it to the overall mix until it would no longer dissolve into it, then I let the particles settle out that wouldn't dissolve into it, poured three molds, and the leftover is separate and contains all that extra lye, but all four batches still look, smell, and feel like cooking oil.
[/quote]
SgtMaj.
I am posting the recipe that Marlena posted, below, the one with the goats milk is what I used. It was a really nice dark honey color, but it seems to becoming lighter with age. After I first mixed it didn't look just like oil, but you could tell it contained oil. Within 2 hours you could tell it was going to be a soild, and after 24 hours it was a soft solid, but was firm enough to take out of the mold and cut it. The texture was the same all over, it didn't have any soft spots or spots of liquid. This was my first batch ever so I don't know how much help I can be. I used a diet scale, like you get at walmart for about 3-4 dollars, to measure my ingredients.
This is Marlena's recipe, where u use water:
For the beginner....I would suggest the following recipe:
42 oz Olive oil
2.5 TBS honey (optional)
2 oz fragrance or essential oil (optional)
5.3 oz lye
5.7 oz water (use distilled)
That recipe makes what is known as a castile soap. Many believe it to be the gentlest soap you can make. And I tend to agree. If you want to include beeswax in this recipe, just sub 2 ozs beeswax for 2 ozs of the olive oil. You will have to heat the olive oil in order to blend the beeswax into it. Just allow to cool down before adding lye solution.
And PLEASE.....don't forget to wear safety gear when messing with lye.
This is the one I used, from Marlena as well:
Olive oil - 41 oz
Beeswax - 1 oz
Fragrance oil - 2 oz (optional)
Honey - 2.5 Tbs
Ground oatmeal - 2.5 Tbs (I grind in coffee grinder)
Goat's milk - 12 oz
Lye - 5.3 oz
Due to the chance of overheating the milk with the lye, I freeze the milk before adding the lye. Allow the lye solution to cool. Add the beeswax to the olive oil and warm the oil till beeswax is melted. If using fragrance, add to olive & beeswax. Allow olive & beeswax mixture to cool. I usually wait for everything to reach room temp or at least pretty close to that. Once all is cool, add lye solution to oils. Hand stir only. Do not use a stickblender. Stir till soap begins to lightly thicken then add ground oatmeal. Stir till soap reaches trace (pudding consistancy). Pour into mold. Unmold and cut after about 24 hrs.
What kind of oil did you use?.....hope this helps
green[/b][/i][/i][/b]