# 1st soap I've made in a long time!



## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

Well... here it is! First soap I've made since the 90's! I think this is my 7th soap I've ever made :scratch: I soaped it at 30% water/oil so I could unmold it faster because I'm really impatient :lol:
Darn thing, didn't cool down fast enough In the freezer and the middle started gelling :GAAH: This one is oatmeal milk & honey, oatmeal layer is on the bottom (could have added more oatmeal) and the honey layer is on the top, I just made another batch this morning and reversed the order  I'll unmold that one tonight and cut it, and show you guys 
But overall, no too shabby. The scent I bought is from Bulk Apothecary, and it takes about 0.25oz to scent a 10 bar batch.


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## CritterCarnival (Sep 18, 2013)

Very nice! We need to make a "Post your soap pics" thread, since so many folks are getting into making their own. :grin:


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Looks like cake! Nice!


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

Thanks  I can't wait for my colors to get here! The wait is torture :lol: I have a melon scent I really want to try out


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

I just cut a tiny piece off of the end slice, oh my, it already has a creamy, bubbly lather! It's only 17hrs old! :wahoo:


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## J.O.Y. Farm (Jan 10, 2012)

Oh that looks like it smells lovely!!  
I want to get some loaf molds so I can make some pretty ones


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## CritterCarnival (Sep 18, 2013)

Little-Bits-N-Pieces said:


> Thanks  I can't wait for my colors to get here! The wait is torture :lol: I have a melon scent I really want to try out


Why not get creative with some natural colorants?? Got any Turmeric? Infuse in a bit of olive or sunflower oil and you get a beautiful deep yellow-y color. Paprika infused in oil gives a deeper red/gold color.

Check out this site: http://www.diynatural.com/natural-soap-colorants/ Lots of options!!


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

Hmm, I think I'll do a coffee one for my sister.  just need more oil :lol:

How long does it usually take to be able to unmold your soaps? Mine were ready 3-4 hours after I poured them. They seem to set really fast. And they trace in less than a minute :chin:


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## CritterCarnival (Sep 18, 2013)

Mine always trace pretty quickly as well, it's from the sugars and fats in the goat milk. If you were to make the same recipe with water, you would have tons of time to swirl and stuff...but then you would lose the benefits of the milk. 

I usually have about 2 or 3 minutes to try anything fancy, then my batter is too thick for anything more than just glopping it into the mold. If you do the partial water/partial milk method I think you would have longer to play around, but I just like as much milk as I can get in there...it's "goat milk soap" after all! :grin:

ETA: I use thick wooden molds and let them gel, so I unmold about 12-16 hours after pour.


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

I'm using all water right now though :lol: maybe it's just me  and I don't add the oatmeal, honey, or fragrance until it reaches trace :chin:


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## J.O.Y. Farm (Jan 10, 2012)

Your guys sets quick! 
I put mine in the molds and move them into a draft free spot (I put it in an unused freezer) and let it sit for two/three days and then pop it out of the molds and let it set on shelves for three weeks before I use it..

And I add my honey and oatmeal just before trace..


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

If your recipe is high in liquid oils, do a water discount and your soap should unmold quicker, Skyla. 

Just made an unscented coffee soap... :slapfloor: . That makes 12lbs of soap since yesterday evening! :ROFL: :slapfloor: Im all out of oil and lye now, I'll have to get more when my colors and other fragrance comes, then I can make another 12lbs of soap :lol:


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## CritterCarnival (Sep 18, 2013)

Hmmm...interesting. I keep watching youtube videos and those people seem to have forever to swirl and tilt and do all kinds of things. I thought it was taking so long to trace because of the water, I just assumed mine was moving so fast because of the milk. 

:chin: Dang it, now I feel an "experiment itch" coming on...:ROFL:


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

Maybe it's because they're soaping hotter? I've heard when your batter starts getting too thick for the swirls, to pop it in the microwave for a little bit.
I've been soaping at about 95 degrees, and other people who do the swirls seem to soap at about 120.


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## J.O.Y. Farm (Jan 10, 2012)

Little-Bits-N-Pieces said:


> If your recipe is high in liquid oils, do a water discount and your soap should unmold quicker, Skyla.


?? So take out some water/milk? I melt my oils though.. 
I don't really mind waiting the few days.. I have more then enough molds.. Lol! I was just amazed at how quickly you guys take yours out!


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

Yep, so say your recipe says to use 4oz of lye and 12oz of water, it's perfectly fine to use 8oz of water/liquid, or 6oz instead. You never want to discount so much that you lye and water are at a 1:1 ratio though, 1:1.5 is fine, 1:2 is fine too.


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

Here is the 2nd oatmeal soap, I will definitely be doing it the way I did the first time from now. I got a crisper line that way, and I might experiment and see if I like the whole loaf to go through gel or try and not gel it, but I like the bolder color on the first one that went through partial gel. This one has 6x the oatmeal than the first one :lol: I was afraid of putting too much in the first one and having it turn out brittle :lol: Excuse the bad mandarin in the back.... I was going to throw it out, but decided to do the soap thing first 








And then here is the coffee one, LOVE how white the white stayed without any colorant, it's unscented, but you can faintly smell the coffee in there, which is great if you want to wash with it and not smell like coffee :lol: I forgot to spray the top with alcohol before I let it set :|








AND, no pics yet, but I have a drop swirl melt and pour wisteria and lilac one setting up as we speak, I'll cut that one later today and show you guys


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## GoatieGranny (Jul 26, 2013)

Wow, you make gorgeous soaps!! Are you comfortable sharing your recipes? I've made soap a couple times, but am getting in the mood to try it again....your way!  I especially love the first batch.


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## kccjer (Jan 27, 2012)

Mine traces faster when it's warmer? 

Gorgeous soaps Little Bits


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

I have two different recipes going on here, the first 3 batches I made are the ones I planned on doing for a while, after I really thought about what I wanted for a while, the coffee soap is going to be a surprize though since I used what teeny bit of olive oil I had left, and almost equal parts of coconut oil and sunflower oil, superfatted at a higher level because of the amount of coconut oil in it. So I'll hold off on sharing that one until I see how it does, it should be a good soap though, if I superfatted it high enough


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## J.O.Y. Farm (Jan 10, 2012)

Ooohh! I like the coffee one! I've been wanting to do a coffee soap. I need to buy a loaf mold too! Y'all make such pretty soaps in them!


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

Here is the recipe I made for the first three soaps I did. Super simple and easy to resize  If you add oatmeal, mine did perfect with that water amount, the one I didn't add anything to, I soaped it at 8oz, but you could do less, like 6oz if you want.


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## J.O.Y. Farm (Jan 10, 2012)

How do you get it to swirl like that Lacie? Just pour some in, and then some of the other?


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

Eh, for the heck of it, this is my Macgyver soap for the coffee soap :lol:


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

J.O.Y. Farm said:


> How do you get it to swirl like that Lacie? Just pour some in, and then some of the other?


I poured a thin-ish layer of the white for the bottom, then the coffee was poured in a "S" pattern, lengthwise, so up one side, down the middle and up the other side in a continuous pour, then the white in the same pattern, then the coffee again, and th white, then the top I put the coffee on the side and the white down the middle, and did a little swirl. Do spray the top with alcohol though, because this one does get a little ashy.

And if you to the oatmeal one like the 2nd one I did, spray that top too, because the oatmeal later will ash.


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## J.O.Y. Farm (Jan 10, 2012)

Ok thanks!

Like with rubbing alcohol? 
My soaps get a tad ashy.. But, it's the bottom of the bar once i pop them out of the molds so I don't worry much lol


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

Yep, rubbing alcohol. 

Well darn! My pink must have been cooler than the purple, because the swirl did not show in the middle, just the ugly ends :lol: the top is pretty though


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

And this is just the plain Mountain Rain I made the other day. It started to gel in the middle of the loaf, as you can see.


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## J.O.Y. Farm (Jan 10, 2012)

Good to know! Thanks! 

I think the purple is pretty


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## happybleats (Sep 12, 2010)

nice job : )


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## GoatieGranny (Jul 26, 2013)

Beautiful! Thank you so much for sharing these with us. Time to play!!


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## sassykat6181 (Nov 28, 2012)

Looking good. Mine are just plain Jane


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## happybleats (Sep 12, 2010)

> Mine are just plain Jane


Mine too....my kids are always trying to get me to do fancy with color...but im not that artistic lol


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## sassykat6181 (Nov 28, 2012)

Mine are happy with scents! They have "chocolate" in the shower now and it cured a dark chocolate color too


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## happybleats (Sep 12, 2010)

Oh yes..love the chocolate...


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## PowerPuffMama (Jan 8, 2013)

Beautiful! I hope someday mine are as lovely as yours...How do you cut such gorgeous bars? 


Sent from my iPhone using Goat Forum


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

I use my dairy goat weight tape to measure out 1" bars, and make a little nic on the edge of the soap loaf, at each 1" mark, then after I have them all marked, I use a non-serrated kitchen knife and cut straight down, or as close to it as possible 
They all weigh around 5oz each some a tad heavier and some a tad lighter, but they come out even enough 

My colors will be here in two days, I hope I get some money by then to buy more oils and lye! I really want to make more! :lol:


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

I think for my next soap, I'm going to add shea butter, and see how well colostrum behaves in it... :chin:


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## happybleats (Sep 12, 2010)

> I hope I get some money by then to buy more oils and lye! I really want to make more!


you are sooooo hooked lol


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

Lol! Well I STILL haven't gotten to make mine yet! :lol: I made everyone else's first :lol:


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

Well I'm happy to report back on the improvised coffee soap, while it is REALLY scrubby (probably best for mechanics or people who like really scrubby bars), the lather is really creamy and bubbly, and not drying, so the 12% superfat seems to have been the right number 
All the rest are really nice too 

I thought about using one of those powdered colostrum buckets, its 4" tall, by 9" long, and 6" wide. That would hold 9 pounds of soap, but they'd be huge! The bars would be a pound each if I cut them to be 1" thick :lol: Maybe I'll just do it and gift people some super-sized bars :lol:


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## sassykat6181 (Nov 28, 2012)

Could you cut them in half?


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

I guess I could, they'd be 4" long, 3" tall and 1" thick then.. :chin:


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## sassykat6181 (Nov 28, 2012)

That's about what my loaf mold makes


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## goathiker (Apr 14, 2011)

If you could separate green outside and red in the middle you could make them look like slices of watermelon.


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## J.O.Y. Farm (Jan 10, 2012)

^ I bought some watermelon scented soap last year, it was reddish pink and had a small portion of green, and black 'seeds' in the red! It was so cool!


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

Ok, got the lilac and wisteria done, and the celestial waters, smells SO good! I'm most excited to see the lilac one, I have a feeling it's going to be prettier :chin: :lol: It's white, baby pink and a dark lavender color with jojoba beads in the lavender color, with a white and pink gradient on top  
The celestial waters is blue, black and white, with a grey swirl on top, it riced on me a little bit as soon as I added the FO, so it was a little bit too thick to do any swirling with it by the time I got the chunks beat down, darn it! 
And I was bad, not wearing gloves, and touching the batter  But I wanted to make some soap sooooo badly, I didn't want to go get any gloves :lol: 
But right now those to are chillin' in the deep freeze  Might play with some melt and pour in a bit, try and accomplish a swirl! I didn't have my temps close enough last time, and that flipping soap from soaping 101 or wherever the heck that MP was from DOES NOT have any lather at all, I was so PO'd! No bubbles, not creamy, it does nothing. Might as well be a glorified paper weight or door stop! :hair: That was the one my sister complained about not lathering, so I tried it the other day and found out for myself. 

I'll probably make the melon one in a few days, I want to test if I like my new recipe or not.


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

Viola! And also, I mastered the MP swirl! It came out nicely swirled on the three batches I made  
Those little streaked white specks are the titianium dioxide that would not flipping mix with the oil, so a few chunks got in there. And it was very soft still when I cut it, so the colors are streaked on the blue one too.


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## sassykat6181 (Nov 28, 2012)

Looks nice!


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## CritterCarnival (Sep 18, 2013)

Beautiful! Question about the TD streaks; are you mixing the TD powder with a small amount of light oil and blending it smooth before putting it in your batter? That usually stops the streaking.


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

I mixed it with sunflower oil, but it wouldn't blend very well for some reason. It kept lumping and settling at the bottom, so I pressed on the lumps with my finger and scrubbed them on the bottom of the little dish and it still wouldn't go smooth, like it just kept settling in clumps again. Really quite odd.
And the fragrance also only riced in the blue batter, I found that odd too.


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## CritterCarnival (Sep 18, 2013)

Do you use one of those "mini frother" thingies. Like this: http://www.brambleberry.com/Mini-White-Plastic-Mixer-P4721.aspx

I was having lots of issues until I started using one to _really_ blend in all the little bits.


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

No I don't have one, I should have gotten on for the price though! The other colors mixed just fine though, so maybe it's just the TD that has that issue? For the blue soap, I used avocado oil to mix it in and didn't have the same issue.


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## CritterCarnival (Sep 18, 2013)

Yeah, something about TD, it doesn't play nice sometimes. It can also give you "glycerin rivers" in your soap from weird reactions to heat.


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## dnchck (Mar 24, 2014)

Little-Bits-N-Pieces said:


> Viola! And also, I mastered the MP swirl! It came out nicely swirled on the three batches I made
> Those little streaked white specks are the titianium dioxide that would not flipping mix with the oil, so a few chunks got in there. And it was very soft still when I cut it, so the colors are streaked on the blue one too.


that looks awesome. bet it smells so goodddd!!!


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

Just unmolded and cut my first castile soap today! Made it 1pm and just unmolded and cut it at 9pm, I gelled it in the oven so it would set faster. It is 100% OO, no colorants, no fragrance or essential oils, plain as it gets. Now the waiting game... :lol:
Also have a melon scented one sitting in the mold, I'll see if I can unmold it tomorrow night, don't want to risk messing it up, I used more water with it so I could pour it this time :lol: The last two had to be spooned into the molds it got so thick so fast! But it smells so good, I think it's my favorite scent so far, will definitely be using it again!


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

Here's the melon one! It almost smells like juicy fruit!


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

This one smells like soda :lol: had a thickening issue with this one, got so thick it snapped the spatula handle while I was trying to stir it :lol: it also heated up too fast before I got it in the freezer, oh well, I honestly didn't think 5 degrees would make that much of a difference :lol:


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## sassykat6181 (Nov 28, 2012)

I'll have to check my notes from the class I took last fall......certain scents Will accelerate your trace. I think she talked about ways to slow it down......hmm...might also have been certain oils too


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

It might have just been because I soaped a bit hotter than usual.


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## dollface72 (Jan 5, 2014)

Can you post some recipes for me . Today is gonna be the day I try to make soap a little nervous though heard a lot of bad stuff about the lye


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## goathiker (Apr 14, 2011)

Don't worry too much about the lye, don't get it in eyes and wash your hands well after mixing. I'm learning to make my own lye, that's kind of fun because it comes out all different strengths depending on the ash you use. Soap is a by product of cooking over a fire pit constantly. The fat, mixed with the ashes, being rained on, would sometimes produce soap. Our forerunners accepted it as a gift from god. 

Um, you still haven't sent me soap Lacie :lol:


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

I still haven't gotten Dee's soap to her either, I was ransacked of all the pretty soap :lol: I need to make more, and then get the money to send it to you.

Other poster, my recipes are kind of tailored to my liking, so you'd either love or hate how I make them, or might be sensitive to high amounts of certain oils, like coconut. What are you looking for in soap?


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## CritterCarnival (Sep 18, 2013)

dollface72 said:


> Can you post some recipes for me . Today is gonna be the day I try to make soap a little nervous though heard a lot of bad stuff about the lye


http://www.soapmakingforum.com/forum.php

Read, read, read...and read some more!


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## AncientBlue (Dec 21, 2014)

When using soapCalc how do I know when I have enough ingredients to make a 5 lb batch? Or how do I know how much soap the recipe will make?


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## AncientBlue (Dec 21, 2014)

Oops, found it. Sorry for being stupid.


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## LuvMyNigies (Sep 14, 2013)

Sorry, but I keep using the recipe and info from this thread, and I keep having to search for it, so I figured I'd post on it so that it will go into the "My Replies" box.


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