BubbleBath - Congratulations! It's just too much fun, isn't it?!
Stoked - I made my first few batches with lye from Ace Hardware and it works just fine. I've also tried the BB flaked lye, which is wonderful, but with WA state tax and shipping, it's a lot cheaper to just pick it up at Ace. The only difference is the Ace lye is the little round balls that can get a static charge. I took Irena's advice and wipe down the container, my gloves and anything else that might come into contact with the granules with a new dryer sheet. No static charge, the lye goes where I want it to go and it stays there.
I know what you mean about start-up equipment being a bit daunting. I wanted to run right out buy everything all at once and that certainly wasn't in my budget. Think sample packs of colorants and locally source as much as you can as far as oils go. I even rendered down my own beef tallow - which makes a fabulous bar of soap by the way. In fact, I'm all for lard and tallow vs. palm at this point just because palm is a royal PITA having to melt the whole container down all the time. Lard and tallow also seems to allow a lot more time to play with designs. And don't forget that plain, uncolored, unscented soap is still soap, and many people prefer it. Some of my favorite molds are the little round plastic yogurt containers that our local grocery store carries. A quick spray with Pam and maybe a bit of time in the freezer and the soaps pop right out. Perfect for sample and guest-sized soaps. Now go and git 'er done!
