Teach Soap

Hi! Name's Stag. I've been doing M&P for 4ish years now, and was never allowed to do CP thanks to my mother; I'm a college student who lives at home, and she didn't want the lye in the house. I'm going to give her a call later tonight and run her through the lowdown-- gloves, goggles, keep it sealed and away from the dog, will babygate the kitchen so the pets can't come in and get hurt, I'll even put the lye mixture in the open microwave if it'll make her feel better! Does anyone have any other tips for convincing her that no, lye is not as scary as it sounds? I know that M&P and CP are two very different things, so I'm even looking forward to the learning curve! Can I rebatch anything that comes out ugly (zappy is a different story, I know, but what if it just looks gross?)

Provided that all goes well, I'm going to be using the money that I wanted to spend on M&P stuff (250 pounds of base... eek) on oils and butters to start getting into CP. I'm a science nerd, so the chemistry fascinates me-- but more than anything it makes me much more comfortable to see exactly what I am putting into my soap as I have some severe chemical sensitivities. I love the artsy swirls, the incredible patterns and the freedom to use organic additives that won't go brown like in M&P. I do have a LOT of fragrances already, so that's not an issue-- a couple silicone molds here and there, also. I feel like my first batch of soap is going to be using my silicone mini brownie pan to test each fragrance I have to check for discoloration and to see how it morphs in soap, but...

If you, as a CP soapmaker, went back in time to the first time you made soap, what would you tell yourself? What would you suggest as basic barebones supplies (on my list is kitchen scale, thermometer, stick blender, at least one wooden loaf mold and a couple flexible cutting boards to hack up and make mold liners out of)? What are some big "NEVER DO THIS!" things or words of wisdom? Are CPOP and HP as hard as my brain is making them out to seem?

I'm excited to get started but right now I am reading, reading, reading-- stories from other soapers, trying not to browse Etsy and get too excited because I see beautiful things, recipes, cautions...

And thanks for having an awesome informative forum!

I'm really new to all this...I would say that I started bare bones! This is what I bought:

Stainless steel mixing bowl
biiiig pyrex measuring cup that I can make a batch of soap in
Stick blender
Spatulas
thermomete (digital)
digital scale
a few silicone loaf molds
cheap cutting board
sharp knife
lye
a few fragrances
olive oil
coconut oil
shea butter
a couple micas and jojoba beads just for fun!
measuring spoons
disposable gloves
safety goggles


I happened to have things like a stainless steel stockpot for big batches, crinkle cutter, plastic cups to measure lye in and then throw away (I'm still a little nervous about lye) and wooden skewers to mix the lye with and then throw away.

I bought some more butters and oils as I became more interested, as well as labcolors. I'm no good at using them, so I am switching to oxides and ultramarines. I think maybe you should get a couple colors in each and see what you like. I wish I had done that instead of just buying labcolors because I just can't manage to make them look right.

As far as convincing your mom...I don't know. My mom didn't even know that it was dangerous. As long as you are careful you have nothing to worry about. I still don't let my child or dog in the kitchen while I'm working...oh! And for easy cleanup I sometimes use newspaper on my counter. I can get pretty messy. I hope you have so much fun!

I'm brand new to CP myself (made my first batch only a couple months ago) and the hardest jump was to get over my fear of lye as I have a rambunctious puppy and 3 year old child to watch out for.
Let's see... my house isn't very well ventilated, even with the windows open, so I tend to mix my lye in a deep plastic container on a small table outside and don't bring it in until my oils are ready for the lye mixture. The deep container keeps me pretty safe from spills when I walk back inside. When I open and close my lye container, I open it over my sink with cold water running, just in case any of the crystals decide to jump out during that process.
Whenever I CP, my son is locked in his room- er- napping or sleeping (I prefer to soap at night after he's gone to bed) and my dog is placed in his crate.

Oh- and some great and cheap CP molds: Pringles cans! I've CPOP'd a couple of times, but I prefer to place my soaps in the refrigerator for a couple of days so that they don't gel. I haven't CPOP'd in a Pringles can, though... I don't know what the oven heat would do to the can itself... CPOP is really simple. Make your normal CP batch, throw in your mold and place mold in 175 F oven for two hours. Done. But you should be careful when CPOPing... if the soap gets too hot it can "volcano" all over your oven... it almost happened to me but if you keep an eye on it you shouldn't have any problems. Basically, check on it every 5-10 minutes, if it starts to rise and look like a balloon, turn the oven off and open the door to the oven and let the soap cool down.

What else... I like to use a large plastic spoon to mix my lye solution and oils together first before putting the stick blender in the mixture. When you stick blend make sure to "burp" the tool before you press the power button and alternate between blending and stirring (this will help keep you from getting a false trace). Oh- and paper plates are your friend! You can place your tools on the plates when you're not using them to keep the raw soap off of your counter! And they clean up so easily, too Just toss them in the garbage bag!

A double boiler is another good tool to have to melt your oils. Mine's pretty small so I can't go make any huge batches or anything... and since I'm relatively poor, I just got some plastic bowls to mix my soap together in... you shouldn't use glass to hold lye mixtures 'cause the lye can cause it to break.

Other than that... make sure to keep plenty of paper towels on hand to do quick wipe-ups if you accidentally spill or splatter the raw soap.

It may be a bit more beneficial to you to buy a few supplies at your local grocery store and do a basic batch before delving in and buying TONS of oils and butters. You can usually find olive oil, coconut oil, and shortening there (I've found other weird oils at my local walmart including Safflower and Sunflower and Hazelnut) and sometimes hardware stores carry lye (you have to ask the employees because they usually can't sell it on the shelves). I really like playing around with http://www.soapcalc.net/calc/soapcalcwp.asp to create virtual batches ^_~ It's fun seeing how all the different oils change the properties of a soap.

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Tamra
New to soaping, long time crafter and artisan, avid learner of new things!

Hi Stag! Have your mom watch the soapqueen video on using lye that Anne-Marie posted here:
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3502

It's a great video.

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Linda
I know the voices in my head aren't real, but they sure have some great ideas!

Welcome to the forum Stag!

Like tcmatteson I only started soaping a couple of months ago, but I got addicted FAST and have made a LOT of soap in a relatively short amount of time. From the sounds of it, you will quickly become addicted too

I was pretty freaked about the lye at first as well, but honestly, after you make a couple of batches following the recommended safety procedures, it's not a big deal. Like anything else in life (or your kitchen) that has the potential to cause harm, you just exercise presence of mind and caution. I still get in my car every day despite the fact that it can be used very dangerously! And if you love chemistry then you'll have a natural respect for what chemicals can and can't do.

Definitely watch AM's video. Super helpful and takes a lot of the mystery out of using lye.

I read a lot before I started making soap and that also boosted my confidence. The Everything Soapmaking Book (Grosso) and The Natural Soap Book (Cavitch) are good ones to start with (though some of Cavitch's info is outdated it's still a very informative read and she definitely loves her chemistry!!).

If I could go back in time I would definitely:

=> Make my first tiny little 1lb batch in WAY smaller container. LOL. Trying to stick blend that shallow mixture without splattering was a little daunting! That first batch was about 33% olive oil and was not going to trace for a looooong time unless I took some power to it. LOL. Actually, I'd probably instead make a 2-3 lb batch which is easier to work with and could probably be mixed up in a very large Pyrex type of container.

=> Woulda never bothered trying to make milk soap in a loaf mold. Ugh! Partial gel haunts me in my dreams!

=> Woulda bought a decent (but small) mold right away. I got some AWESOME ones right now from a woodworker on Ebay with a biz called DesignCraft. They're loaf molds with lids and I love, love, love them.

=> Woulda bought a silicone muffin mold for my extra soap so I had something to create nice small sample soaps with when there's leftover raw soap to pour.

=> Woulda tried to understand EO proportions better ... um, too much soap that has one EO overpowering all the others!

There are probably a zillion more things. But those are the ones that come to mind.

Welcome to the addiction. It's definitely worth convincing your mom for ...

Karri

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I soap therefore I am.

One tip I would like to give you is don't buy every oil or butter that you see and start simple and in small batches.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

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I soap therefore I am.

Buy a stick blender. Best thing ever. I actually trued to cheap out and use a sppon then a cheap mixer ugh sooo not fun. I love scale, thermometer too. I find start with easy oils you can find at store before you move onto other stuff. Look at any scents you use for side effects. Molds are great but you can use a well sealed box with wax paper or I even used an old wipe box and yes pringle can. But I love colors molds and scents but didnt buy until now and only a couple. It will get expensive if you just buy everything that looks cool plus you want get feel for making it how it should trace and cool and etc. Goodluck. This hobby really does rock.

Hi, Stag, welcome to the addiction! How did the conversation with mom about lye go?

A couple of things about lye. First, it will not jump out of the container and chase you around! Secondly (and I think most people who've never worked with lye don't understand this), lye won't burn you like an open flame. if you splash lye solution or dry lye on yourself, you have plenty of time to wash it off with cold water before any damage occurs.

I don't have a NEVER do, but I do have an ALWAYS do: always, always run any recipe you want to use, regardless of where you get it, through a lye calculator. I wasted 10 pounds of olive oil on a bad recipe many years ago now, before I was aware of lye calculators.

Hope you find this an enjoyable undertaking.

Anita

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Linda
I know the voices in my head aren't real, but they sure have some great ideas!