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Author Topic: Soap Making  (Read 7836 times)

Offline marlena

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Re: Soap Making
« Reply #40 on: August 01, 2008, 01:06:36 am »
What would make the soap a lighter color, maybe a lighter milk? or?

I used coconut milk powder in soap years back and it turned only a slight cream color. To get a white bar you would have to forget the milk and use water......no honey or beeswax, as it is also known to cause some discoloration in soap. Some fragrances (especially those containing vanilla) cause discoloration.

Should have been using something to mix it with instead of my hand, but oh well.

:shock: Ummm.......a cheap plastic spoon works very well.  :) 
Once you added the lye solution to your oils and stirred......and stirred....and stirred. It should have looked like pudding when you poured it into your molds. It really shouldn't look like cooking oil. I sure hope it sets up for you, SgtMaj.

~Marlena

Offline SgtMaj

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Re: Soap Making
« Reply #41 on: August 01, 2008, 07:13:32 am »
Well, the molds I poured first didn't really set up at all... they are still oil... kinda a solid oil, but I have to admit, I skimped on the oil and subbed in used fryer oil we had laying around after i realized just how much 42oz was and that I didn't have nearly enough olive oil... the fryer oil was crisco shortening.  Anyway, the leftover bit that had the lye crystals still in it, did KINDA set up... it has the basic consistency of brown sugar, and smells like it too.  Looking back, and having done a bit more reading up on it, I think I messed the whole thing up by not completely dissolving the lye in water first.  I added it to the water, but when I saw the crystals go straight to bottom and they didn't seem to do anything when I stirred them, I assumed it wasn't going to, and so added it straight to the oil before it had a chance to react with the water.  I'm going to try "fixing" it by melting everything and adding more water and lye and this time allowing the lye to fully react with the water before adding it to the oil.  Some other site recommended doing that if you somehow screwed it up, but that it would take much longer to fully cure since I'm effectively doubling the water content.

Offline greenismycolor

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Re: Soap Making
« Reply #42 on: August 01, 2008, 08:24:31 pm »
Marlena,

Although I really like beautiful dark honey color and the smell from the other one, my daughter said yuckkky to the smell. So I think I am going to try a batch with water, leave out the honey and beeswax, and add a scent she likes, maybe this will encourage her to use it.  Where in the world do you get coconut milk powder? would it be close to the same to use coconut oil? what kind of other scents compliment the coconut?

SgtMaj.

I admire your determination...that's it with anything, someone once said........if at first you don't suceed try, try again. I think that is good advice...Good luck and keep us posted.
Believe!

Offline rdy-b

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Re: Soap Making
« Reply #43 on: August 01, 2008, 11:44:54 pm »
Well, the molds I poured first didn't really set up at all... they are still oil... kinda a solid oil, but I have to admit, I skimped on the oil and subbed in used fryer oil we had laying around after i realized just how much 42oz was and that I didn't have nearly enough olive oil... the fryer oil was crisco shortening.  Anyway, the leftover bit that had the lye crystals still in it, did KINDA set up... it has the basic consistency of brown sugar, and smells like it too.  Looking back, and having done a bit more reading up on it, I think I messed the whole thing up by not completely dissolving the lye in water first.  I added it to the water, but when I saw the crystals go straight to bottom and they didn't seem to do anything when I stirred them, I assumed it wasn't going to, and so added it straight to the oil before it had a chance to react with the water.  I'm going to try "fixing" it by melting everything and adding more water and lye and this time allowing the lye to fully react with the water before adding it to the oil.  Some other site recommended doing that if you somehow screwed it up, but that it would take much longer to fully cure since I'm effectively doubling the water content.
            UNBELIEVABLE  :? RDY-B

Offline SgtMaj

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Re: Soap Making
« Reply #44 on: August 02, 2008, 12:49:03 am »
what kind of other scents compliment the coconut?

Umm... lime.  But you have to put D lime in D coconut...

Sorry for that.  It's out of my system now.

Seriously, Vanilla compliments coconut.

Offline blckoakbees

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Re: Soap Making
« Reply #45 on: August 02, 2008, 01:55:07 am »
I am really glad I asked the question about soap.  I am ordering the lye.  I have not had a chance to make soap yet and I am really excited.  You know work really gets in the way of life.

Thanks Marlene

I will report back when I get a batch made.

Offline SgtMaj

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Re: Soap Making
« Reply #46 on: August 02, 2008, 11:00:58 am »
            UNBELIEVABLE  :? RDY-B

Which part?

Offline rdy-b

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Re: Soap Making
« Reply #47 on: August 02, 2008, 06:44:02 pm »
            UNBELIEVABLE  :? RDY-B

Which part?
  to start with used fryer oil instead of olive oil - I hope you didnt fry fish -my god its soap not axel grease - :) dont think you can wing it when it comes to soap -ingredients need to be pure and exact-dont give up-you will get the right combination after you spend several hundred dollars for ingredients and finaly get $2.00 worth of soap :-D RDY-B

Offline SgtMaj

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Re: Soap Making
« Reply #48 on: August 02, 2008, 09:07:17 pm »
to start with used fryer oil instead of olive oil - I hope you didnt fry fish -my god its soap not axel grease - :) dont think you can wing it when it comes to soap -ingredients need to be pure and exact-dont give up-you will get the right combination after you spend several hundred dollars for ingredients and finaly get $2.00 worth of soap :-D RDY-B

Well, for my first batch, I didn't want to really spend that much on olive oil for something I knew I would likely screw up... plus, I'm not going to sell this batch or anything, even if I did get it right.  Remember, I'm still in the experimentation phase here... and it pays to use cheap materials to experiment with... it doesn't get any cheaper than using up some of the old fryer grease we keep saving because we don't want to throw it down the drain or out in the trash... and the grease doesn't smell bad or anything.  'Sides, we have a vacation comming up in the next few weeks, so I'm all about saving money right now.

Offline rdy-b

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Re: Soap Making
« Reply #49 on: August 03, 2008, 01:46:18 am »
Have it your way -this will help you -the word for the day is SAPONIFICATION- :lol:                                                              http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Make-Bacon-Soap/
« Last Edit: August 04, 2008, 12:58:24 am by rdy-b »

Offline SgtMaj

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Re: Soap Making
« Reply #50 on: August 03, 2008, 02:15:44 am »
SAPHONICATION is not in the dictionary so it doesn't count... no tripple word score for you!

No, seriously, I went to look it up, it wasn't listed in dictionary.com

Offline rdy-b

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Re: Soap Making
« Reply #51 on: August 03, 2008, 03:01:37 am »
SAPHONICATION is not in the dictionary so it doesn't count... no tripple word score for you!

No, seriously, I went to look it up, it wasn't listed in dictionary.com
       saponify        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saponification      8-) KEEP trying RDY-B

Offline SgtMaj

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Re: Soap Making
« Reply #52 on: August 03, 2008, 03:32:55 am »
wikipedia is an encyclopedia, not a dictionary... doesn't count in scrabble.

Offline rdy-b

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Re: Soap Making
« Reply #53 on: August 03, 2008, 03:53:07 am »
wikipedia is an encyclopedia, not a dictionary... doesn't count in scrabble.
   THOGHT you might of thought i meant SPAWNifacation  :lol: ;) 8-)  http://ia300134.us.archive.org/1/items/0375mov/0375.mov         RDY-B

Offline SgtMaj

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Re: Soap Making
« Reply #54 on: August 04, 2008, 12:19:47 pm »
Ok, well I did what I said I was going to, and it looks and smells MUCH better.  First I melted it in the microwave as best I could... that didn't really work too well as the vessel it was in overflowed a bit when it started boiling... so then I took it out, and put about half an ounce of lye in about an ounce of water and let that react pretty well.  Not fully, but it was fully dissolved and no longer burning hot, so I figure it was close enough... added that to the mix and stirred... that didn't do much for me, so I added about the same portions of lye and water again... and it started looking a bit better, so I moved it over to the stove and put the heat to it to boil it, and found out rather quickly that it doesn't take much heat to boil the heck out of it... so I boiled and stirred it until it got so thick I almost didn't think I could get it into the mold.  I dumped it into the mold, and it solidified in mere minutes.  The best part is, when I began washing the old pot I had boiled it in... there was some soap bubbles... so I know it worked out a lot better this time.  Now I can't hardly wait for it to fully cure to try it out.  If it really comes out to be soap like it should, then I'll use the good ingredients next time.

Offline marlena

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Re: Soap Making
« Reply #55 on: August 04, 2008, 02:21:04 pm »
Although I really like beautiful dark honey color and the smell from the other one, my daughter said yuckkky to the smell. So I think I am going to try a batch with water, leave out the honey and beeswax, and add a scent she likes, maybe this will encourage her to use it.  Where in the world do you get coconut milk powder? would it be close to the same to use coconut oil? what kind of other scents compliment the coconut?

Coconut oil is used in soap to increase the bubbly lather and should have no scent unless your using virgin coconut oil (which I would save for a sugar scrub). I get my coconut milk powder from Kangaroo Blue because they are close to me and have unbelievably fast service. But From Nature With Love also carries it. The coconut milk powder doesn't add any scent to your soap either so your free to use any fragrance oil or essential oil you want.



SgtMaj, use caution when you first try that soap as it could be lye heavy. Great for cleaning streaks out of underwear   :-D     but not so great for your hide.  There is a science to proper soapmaking. That is why soapmakers use what is known as a lye calculator. Each oil that you use in soap has a differant SAP number. That number determines how much lye you need to mix with your water in order to cause the chemical reaction that will turn the oils into soap. Too little lye and you will have too much excess oil left which may cause your soap to go rancid. Too much lye and you'll end up with soap that will burn the hide right off of ya! There is nothing wrong with using used oils. My Grandma did that back years ago. It would just be wise to run the oil you are using thru a lye calc and see how much lye you will need to have a good successful soap. Majestic Mountain Sage (MMS) has a lye calculator on their page or weight your oil and I would be happy to run it thru my soapmakers program. I think you'll be much happier with your ending product.

What was the oil in your fryer? Hope it wasn't vegetable oil.....(aka soybean oil)?


Anyone know when your allowed to post link to websites? I would love to post the link to the lye calc and a website that gives a tutorial on soapmaking.

~Marlena


Offline SgtMaj

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Re: Soap Making
« Reply #56 on: August 04, 2008, 02:44:15 pm »
Marlena,
     Yeah, that's why I used the hot method... it's supposed to be a little more forgiving with the lye ratio.  I'll try the next batch with pure coconut oil.  I think I went wrong in my original recipe by not reducing the amount of oil to compensate for the amount of buttermilk I added.

SgtMaj

Offline rdy-b

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Offline SgtMaj

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Re: Soap Making
« Reply #58 on: August 05, 2008, 12:54:57 am »
Thanks Rdy.  I'm officially going to call it a success now.  I just couldn't keep my hands off it, so I got some on my fingers, and it felt just like regular store-bought bath soap... and when I rinsed my hand, it rinsed clean rather quickly.

PS - it smells terrible by the way... but of course, that's my fault for using the free ingrediants and doing quite a bit of experimenting with this batch.  But now that I have a better grasp on what I'm doing... I can make good stuff later.  I should find a good soap mold first though.  I'm thinking, something in silicone, so I can pop it out easy, and it won't melt or anything.

Offline utahbeekeeper

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Re: Soap Making
« Reply #59 on: August 05, 2008, 11:43:35 pm »
I'll try the next batch with pure coconut oil. 
SgtMaj

Sgt   you will find that coconut oil alone will be very drying to the skin.  Work with the numbers at SoapCalc and find a happy medium for bubbly, hardness, conditioning.

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