soaps

[Guest guest]

Hi, that happened to me also and I went back to my notes and found that I

started cooking my soap at a heat level of 125 and then I wanted to get them

done faster so I turned up the heat to 150 and I stared to see the

difference. Also Reynolds Wrap is way better to wrap m & p soaps I learned that

too you don't need tape and they stay. Gladys

[Guest guest]

Lucie,

Sis you use 1 tablespoon per pound of fragrance? Often they are not scented

heavy enough. Takes a bit to fragrance them so it lasts.

HTH,

Jan S

www.sweetprairiesoap.com

Herb garden delights, Soap & Sundries made right.

Collapsible Soap Molds in 2 sizes.

jans@...

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[Guest guest]

Thanks Gladys, I will try that, Lucie

Re: soaps

> Hi, that happened to me also and I went back to my notes and found that I

> started cooking my soap at a heat level of 125 and then I wanted to get

them

> done faster so I turned up the heat to 150 and I stared to see the

> difference. Also Reynolds Wrap is way better to wrap m & p soaps I learned

that

> too you don't need tape and they stay. Gladys

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Hi Carol,

Thanks for answering me, about how many drops do you use is a guest bar

mold? Thank you, Lucie

soaps

> Lucie, from my experience with m & p you may have added the fragrance while

> the soap was too hot. Also, some fragrances are better than others in

> quality. You may try the cotton ball trick that someone passed on to me

> recently. I put several drops of fragrance on a cotton ball, put it in a

> plastic shoe box with my soaps and the soap picked up the fragrance. I

> don't know for how long the fragrance will last because I haven't used any

> yet. I also used this trick with some fizzies that had lost their

> fragrance and it worked with them too. Carol A2

>

>

[Guest guest]

Lucie, I don't make guest soaps. I merely put all the bars of soap into

the plastic box, put several drops of frag. on the cotton ball and put it

in the box. Several days later when I opened the box to check, everything

smelled great. As I said I don't know if the scent actually permeates the

bars or not because I haven't used any of them yet. Maybe someone else can

shed some light on this as this was the first time I tried it. Carol A2

[Guest guest]

Thanks Carol,

I appreciate your help,

Lucie

Re: soaps

> Lucie, I don't make guest soaps. I merely put all the bars of soap into

> the plastic box, put several drops of frag. on the cotton ball and put it

> in the box. Several days later when I opened the box to check,

everything

> smelled great. As I said I don't know if the scent actually permeates the

> bars or not because I haven't used any of them yet. Maybe someone else

can

> shed some light on this as this was the first time I tried it. Carol A2

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Hi F.B.,

I've tried it once when the scent did not anchor in my CP soaps. I even put

a little on the soap and put in plastic bag thinking it would permeate the

soap and than I could wash off the soap to discard the FO I placed on the

soap. I checked it about 1-2 days later (perhaps not long enough). But

anyways, it smelled good but once I used the soap, it did not do as I

wanted.

Hope this helps.

Kim S.

Re: soaps

> Lucie, I don't make guest soaps. I merely put all the bars of soap into

> the plastic box, put several drops of frag. on the cotton ball and put it

> in the box. Several days later when I opened the box to check,

everything

> smelled great. As I said I don't know if the scent actually permeates the

> bars or not because I haven't used any of them yet. Maybe someone else

can

> shed some light on this as this was the first time I tried it. Carol A2

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

this is the process I have used...( not my own) I do whip MP but not to add

it or to top Cp with it, I dont know how well that adheres and stays adhered..

I use a basic recipe like....

Palm Oil 17.5 ozs

Coconut Oil 3.5 ozs

Canola Oil 4 ozs

Castor Oil 1.5 ozs

Lye 3.8ozs

Water 10 ozs

1. Whip the solid oil until it is light and fluffy.

2. Add the softer oils and whip more.

3. Add the cold caustic/water mix in small quantities, whipping after each

addition. Slow the machine down for this addition.

So far none of the batches have 'gelled'. I don't think I want them to gel

either, I now place my mould box on a cake cooling rack to allow air to

circulate around the box just in case the temperature rises.

The set rule if your designing your own recipe is that the major part of the

oils must be a 'hard' oil or one that sets firm at room temperatures, you

need this firmness to allow the oil or fat to be whipped or creamed into a

light fluffy texture. I have found the best one to use is Palm Oil but I have

successfully used Tallow and a blend of half Coconut Oil and half Lard. Adding

the soft oils after the harder oils have been whipped light and fluffy. Just

make sure you put your new recipe through a soap calculator to check that the

caustic soda/Lye is balanced correctly.

Lining your mould is essential using this method, the soap tends to grip the

surface area of the mould box so you need to line the mould and leave it

alone to set till its firm enough to handle then peel away the liner. You will

work out which is the best technique to use as you go along. I remove the bars

from the dividers as soon as the soap is firm enough to push them out of the

cavities. Because this whipped soap tends to stick firmer to the dividers

you don't want to leave them until they are set hard, they will be difficult to

slide off the dividers, they come out with a rougher surface but it can

easily be smoothed and cleaned up with a ‘Nizzy Planer’ or the blade of

sharp a

knife.

You will find if you let the soap set too hard then by forcing the bars out

they will have a tendency to flake on the edges making them uneven and not

very attractive. Having said that I have not left these soaps in the mould box

or dividers longer than 24 hours so that will be something will need to

experiment with, if you leave them longer email me and let me know of your

achievements.

Whip up the harder oils till they are soft and fluffy, then add the softer

oils and whip it up again. The mix may look a little soft but lastly add the

caustic soda/water mix slowly and carefully. Slow the mixer down to add this

and add in small amounts. The soft mix will firm up again after adding the

caustic soda/water mix. I give it a good whipping again then its ready to

colour and fragrance.

Some fragrance oils (FO’s) will effect the softness of the mix after about

ten minutes, you can feel how it is getting thicker. While other FO’s will

have no reaction at all and you can take your time with your colouring and

decoration. Make a note of those FO’s that speed things up so you will know

which

ones you need to work faster with. I have had no speeding up at all using

essential oils (EO’s). I suppose you can compare the speeding up or the

thickening of the mix to that of cold process soap seizing but it is more

controllable using this method.

Colours will lighten quite a lot after drying so if your colours look a bit

bright or even garish, don’t worry, once the soap begins to dry out the

colour will fade.

I use a standard balanced Cold Process recipe which you can adapt to

whatever fats & oils you may have on hand but the larger portion of the recipe

will

need to be one of the harder oils as it will not whip up light and fluffy. I

think the percentage of softer oils i.e. Olive, Canola, Rice Bran, etc are

just right although you can use less if you wish, but adding any more will

interfere with the volume of the whipped soap, it will flatten the bulk of the

mix if you add too much soft oil.

This method can be used the ‘Nizzy’ Mould Boxes, but let me warn you, this

is a trade off. Get them out as soon as you can handle them. The sides will

not be smooth like you get from the Cold Process Method, but using the ‘Nizzy

Planer’ or a sharp blade you can gently scrape the sides of the bars of soap

to improve presentation, for example to enhance the different layers or

bring out the design when the colours have been swirled together.

This soap method is achieved by beating the hard oils with a cake beater or

electric mixer, the ones with beaters or whisks NOT a ‘Stick Blender’, we

are aiming to beat the hard oil or fat till it is light and fluffy and lump

free. The caustic soda (lye) and water mix is added in small amounts and care

taken so it doesn’t splash out of the bowl. It’s a good idea to keep the

children away from the mixer while beating.

When the mix is ready to colour and fragrance you can also use it as a soap

frosting to pipe on bars of soap, it will stick quite firmly when it is dry.

The mix was still soft after thirty minutes so that should give you plenty

of time to add colour, fragrance and get it into the mould. I place a folded

towel on top of the bench and after spooning the mix into the mould box I

give it a few good hard solid bangs on the towel sitting on the bench. The

towel should absorb the shock of the banging. This helps to alleviate any

pockets

of air trapped in the mix. But not all will be dislodged as this is a ‘

whipped’ method and its something you will have to live with. You can see in

the

photographs just how smooth and bubble free you can get the soap. I’m simply

explaining that sometimes bubbles will be there.

Because air is beaten into the mix it is much lighter than a normal bar of

soap. I have been running some tests these past weeks to find out the minimum

and maximum amount of water to use. This is a standard CP balanced recipe.

You can reduce the water if you like or if you want a really light soap you can

increase the water above that of the standard recipe, more about that later

but remember the more water you use to make it lighter the faster the soap

will disappear when using it. Yes! You certainly gain lots more volume but the

trade off is it goes faster in the shower. I have found a nice balance

between the two extremes and that balance just happens to be your standard

balanced Cold Process method.

Fragrant Oils and Essential Oils

I have been using Brambleberry’s fragrant oils (FO) with these early tests

and all of them so far have behaved admirably, no seizing of the mix, however

I should explain that its not the same sort of ‘seizing’ that happens with

CP soap. This aerated or creamed soap does get thicker and if you’re trying

to

pipe decorations with it. If you have used fragrant oils which seize, it

will be noticeably thicker, as time passes till it becomes impossible to

squeeze

it out of the bag and the mix can even separate, the clear caustic liquid

will start to leach out of the mix. This will all happen within about ten

minutes of mixing in the offending FO You can still get it into a mould and

press

it flat with a spatula or a gloved hand just the same as seized CP soap. It’s

still useable but doesn’t look as good. Not all is lost but seizing can

happen but it’s not the same seizing as you experience with normal Cold

Process

soap.

Vanilla Fragrant Oil Trial

Three days ago I made up a batch and left it white and used Brambleberry's

'Vanilla Select'. You all know how brown your soap turns when using most of

the vanilla fragrant oils on the market, even Brambleberry's but I am watching

this batch with particular interest, I wanted to see how dark the vanilla

fragrant oil will turn it. Well here it is at the start of day four and the

soap has turned from white to a light creamy fawn colour and holding so far.

Can Patterned Moulds be Used ?

I tried it in a patterned Milky Way plastic mould but it doesn’t hold the

design very well so I would say stick to using simple divider moulds. I have

used the silicone muffin moulds successfully and the silicone log mould. This

mix will not cut with a knife after setting either. It will be too brittle.

A wire cutter is good to use here. I’m happy using my own mould boxes at the

moment but any divider mould should be ok!

What Fats or Oils to use?

Here in Australia I am buying my Palm Oil and Coconut oil from our local

supermarkets. Both of these oils are in solid block form, you need the oils to

be solid for them to aerate while beating.

These early recipes I have been using Palm Oil as the hard base oil then

adding Olive Oil and Castor Oil to achieve a softer soap upon drying,

especially

when using this mix as a frosting to decorate bars of soap. My early soap

frosting recipe dried too hard and brittle so I have now changed it to this

recipe. I am using ‘Frymasta’ which is in the gold wrap and can be found in

most supermarkets here in Australia, I am going to test Tallow next as I know

this also beats to a nice white creamy consistency.

I have altered the recipe and used up to 100g of both ‘Lard’ and

‘Tallow’

in the mix. Both worked admirably, both kept the whipped volume up and both

maintained the whiteness of the mix. I am sure you could use all ‘Lard’

and ‘

Tallow’ and it would whip up nicely but I prefer using the ‘Palm’ because

it lathers better but a combination of both also makes a nice bar of soap.

It's amazing how that one day extra turns this whipped soap even harder.

Using my mould box is the best way to do this soap as cutting logs is more

difficult, it can be done using thin wire, using a knife will only make the

soap

break apart and crumble.

Curing time is another unknown. I believe the extra oxygen whipped into it

helps it cure faster. At this stage I would say 3 weeks but trial a piece in

two weeks to check for lather and creaminess. I have since observed that the

longer it is stored the better is lathers. The fragrance is still good and

strong.

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[Guest guest]

Hi, soaps are just basically OIL and LYE.

Some manufacturers add essential oils for the health benefits being derived from

them and for natural fragrance. LYE is commercially available and is also

called CAUSTIC SODA. Caustic Soda can be an irritant to the skin and this must

be the cause of your skin itchiness. Soaps have to be " cured " for a certain

period before they are used too.

Natural Lye is not readily commercially available in big volumes. This is why

we have to painstakingly process them for our needs, from ashes of coconut

leaves.

Coconut Oil has high saponification value and are ideal soap ingredients.

glycerine may or may not be infused as a soap ingredient. Coconut oil itself is

already a moisturizer that can make your skin soft, smooth and supple. And it is

always advised that when you use COLD PROCESSED VCO, soaps using this oil must

also be processed cold...to retain the natural Vitamin E content.

Tess

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[Guest guest]

Personal satisfaction and the ability to play mad chemist with safe

material (other than the lye).

>

> Im always curious as to what brings us on this track of wanting to

> make things from scratch ourselves.

> Gabby

>

>

[Guest guest]

Oh yeah the mad chemist... true!

> >

> > Im always curious as to what brings us on this track of wanting to

> > make things from scratch ourselves.

> > Gabby

> >

> >

>