first batch of soap!

[neparose]

I finally made soap today! Well,... I hope it'll be soap.lol. Just got it wrapped up in towels and sitting downstairs. If it turns out, I'll handmill it and add some rosewood oil for scent. As soon as I get ahold of some coconut oil, theres a translucent soap I'd love to try to make... This could be addictive!

rose

[sissy]

Congrats, let us know how it goes. I've wanted to try but haven't found the time yet.
Sissy

[cartershan]

I've made lye soap a couple of times. Thats all you need. It lasts forever! Be careful not to use it within the first few months. Iusually let mine sit for at least a year. Maybe 9 months

[cartershan]

We also made some glycerin soaps at school this year adding in orange peels and lavendar. It turned out ok. A little soft though. I'm not sure where I went wrong with that. I teach k-3 and my kids and I made soap to give to their parents for Christmas along with loofah gourds that I grew at home.
No state funds this year. Man, I was struggling to come up with something that was really fun for my kids to do. That didn't cost me much out of pocket. They thought I was crazy. They peeled and dried their own loofah. It was so much fun. They really loved it. I need to post some pics sometime
I hope you enjoy it as much as I and my students have. Have fun!!!

[neparose]

Well, heres the update. I TRIED to remelt the grated up soap. Even added way more water than the directions called for. It just would not liquify. It got to the consistency of stiff, creamy mashed potatoes and that was it. Maybe it was the recipe I used. It was just tallow water and lye. Hmm... I was still able to add some EO and get it smoothed out into a mold. We'll just have to wait and see if it hardens back up. Worst case senario, I'll make liquid soap outta it. Oh, and it IS soap! The scrubbie pad was foaming when I cleaned up the pot!lol!
rose

[neparose]

Latest update on the first batch is yechhh!!! Adding more water was defininatly NOT the answer. The dried bars look like I-beams, and the color could not even be said to be "interesting".lol However, I'm going to attemp to make it into laundry soap. I was going to shoot for a translucent soap next, but I think I'll set my sights a bit lower till some good old fashioned experience catches up to me! Maybe an olive oil base soap....hmmm

[GoodDaughter]

If you used tallow instead of lard, it may have affected the saponification. Different fats require very slightly different amounts of lye, which I didn't know for a long time and had a few ruined batches of soap.

Coconut oil can be found at some Wal Mart stores. I found it with the shortening, it's I think LuAnna brand (however it's spelled) and it seems to me it was up on one of the higher shelves because I almost missed it.

http://www.thesage.com/calcs/lyecalc2.php

See if this link works, it was very helpful for me, I've had it in my 'favorites' list for a long time.

Good luck, and don't get discouraged! I once made some aloe vera soap that came out a very pretty pale pink and was wonderful, but I have no idea why it came out pink, because the aloe vera was from gel I scraped out of aloe leaves. During the chemical process, it turned pretty pink.

[mtwildflower]

NEPAROSE- What you tried to do was called rebatching and in your defense, it's hard to get it to take ;)

This is my favorite website for soapmaking.

http://www.millersoap.com/

She has lots of experience in soap making and she readily shares her knowledge.

Keep trying.

[neparose]

Hi wildflower! Your going to get a kick out of this, but apparently what I did was to rebatch a perfectly good batch! I had read that in order to add any EO's to soap, it had to be handmilled. Something about a chemical reaction between the lye and the fragrance. I had run the recipe thru a soap calc and it was ok. Before I grated it up it was a pure white, traced fast and set up beautifully. Sigh...Since I now have a five gallon pail full of the stuff, I'm going to go ahead and make liquid laundry soap. Our hard water here will not disolve even the finest grated soap. Cant wait to try another batch but I will check out the adding of EO's first. Thanks for the link! I'm definately going to do some reading there.
rose

[bookwormom]

so it does not look glamorous, notice how rich and soft the lather feels, once you start using it.

[MrsL]

My soap never looks glamorous! It works, though, which is the main thing. I add my essential oils immediately after it's traced. Stored in a warm place (airing cupboard) for 4 weeks, then into the soap drawer for using.
My recipe I use is just (bought) lye, water and fat of soem sort - lard, tallow, or vegetable fat.
You're right - it's addictive!

[neparose]

mtwildflower- can't thank you enough for sharing that link! Your right, thats a fantastic site! I went to the rebatching forum there, and feel SOOO vindicated. I have Norma Coneys book so that explains alot! I'm working in small batches trying to get it all reworked using individual molds. I used her Home steaders soap recipe and the original batch turned out beautiful. Her instructions on handmilling however.....I was so ready to throw in the proverbial towel till I checked out that site. Now I'm fired up again with six GOOD bars setting out to dry!
rose

[yotetrapper]

Making soap is going to be one of my projects this month. I have a question though, about tallow. Where does one get tallow? Will I have to render down beef suet to get tallow?

[Anon001]

You won't have to render it unless you want to. You can buy tallow, rendered or not, at any butcher or locker plant.

Paul

[yotetrapper]

Hmmm maybe but I went to several butchers and locker plants in search of pork fat and no one would save me any, ended up buying the fattiest roasts I could find and saving the fat in the freezer till I had enough to make sausage.....

[Anon001]

That's odd. Usually, if I need tallow or lard, I just go by the locker a day or two before the slaughter day and let them know what I want. They will provide it rendered or not, my option. The lockers always have it, but I guess maybe some won't sell it to the public. Around here, they do.

Paul

[neparose]

What I did was go to a couple of local grocery stores and asked the butcher about getting a bunch of suet. One outright laughed at me and the other said "no problem. I'll call you when I have that much in pounds saved up. Shouldnt be no more than 5 days." I now do all my grocery shopping at that store. I picked up 20 pounds of suet and cut out any meat pieces I could and put the rest thru the chopper. Then it went into the stock pot and got melted down. When it was all the way melted I brought it to a simmer to cook up any meat left and strained it out. After that I put in enough water to double the weight and simmered that. Took it out and put in the fridge overnight. Come morning, popped the solid part off the top and scraped the goo off the bottom and started the whole procedure again. I did this a total of 3 times. I was trying to get a super clean tallow with no smell to it. Dont know if ALL that was necessary but I'm just learning. And it turned out beautiful. All white with just a hint of fat smell. I got the instructions from ehow.com. I would highly recommend some looking thru that website mtwildflower mentioned. They have some great info and recipes. My soap is all tallow and it has a very low lather. Teeny tiny bubbles. Good luck on your fist batch! Looking forward to hearing about it! Just beware, it could be addictive.lol!
rose