Teach Soap

Hello,
I have tried making transparent soaps a few times but I failed everytime. I used the recipee below but somehow it has never worked.
Could you please tell me where I am making a mistake or give me another recipee for making transparent soaps?

My receipe is:
1 pound 7 ounces water
11 ounces caustic soda
1 pound 9 ounces palm oil
1 pound 9 ounces coconut oil
13 ounces castor oil
8 ounces stearic acid
1 pound 13 ounces ethanol
1 pound glycerin
12 ounces water
1 pound 1 ounce sugar

I melt the fats and add castor oil in them, and I put steraic acid in this hot mix ( i could not dissolve steraic acid, how you do that) but steraic acid did not dissolved. . then i add caustice and then I added immediately alcohol and glycerin. I put this pot in another pot filled with water and cooked, boiled 3 hours. After that i wait for this mixture resting for a while, and added cold sugar solution. But result : weired thing 

That's a huge recipe! Have you made cold process soap before? I would start with the basics and a small recipe like 1 lb. til you get at least a couple of good batches under your belt. Take a look at Kathy Miller soap online for regular CP soap recipes.
If you are looking for MP soap base, I would take a look at BrambleBerry web site. You can purchase MP base already made. www.brambleberry.com

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

I have tried cold process soapmaking many times before. I can produce opaque soaps easily and successfully. However, I cannot achieve transparent soaps and I am trying to figure out how to do it. If you have ever done it, please help me.

I found this tutorial, if it helps any? http://crafty.dyskolus.com/cosmetics/cl ... etics.html

It looks like you have to make sure your pot is covered after you add the alcohol so that it doesn't evaporate away? I dunno... I just started in CP and this is way over my head at the moment ^_^

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

Kathy Miller Soap has a recipe and instructions for translucent soaps on her web site. There is also a book by Catherine Failor that's called Transparent Soapmaking: A Complete Guide to Making Natural See-Through Soap. Where did you recipe originally came from?

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

I have already given the recipee in that book. If you have ever tried transparent soapmaking, could ypu please give me your own successful recipee?

For anyone that's looking to make transparent soap from scratch, Kayla Fioravanti just put out a new book called: How to Make Melt & Pour Soap Base from Scratch: A Beginner's Guide to Melt & Pour Soap Base Manufacturing. You can get the book at Amazon.

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

Soapbuddy, are you saying that all transparent soap is MP?

The link I posted a couple of posts above is to a tutorial on making one-time pour transparent soap. The person who wrote it mentions that her transparent soap recipe is NOT melt and pour...

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

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

thank you

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

This may not have anything to do with CP transparent soap, but I had a question regarding MP clear soap base. I made some soaps over the weekend and I embedded some really cute soap bunnies, bears etc. they were really cute, but the "clear" part came out a little cloudy. I added a tiny bit of blue just like I saw on Soap Queen but they still did not come out too clear. Also is there a way to give them a bit of a shine? I've seen some glycerine soaps at craft fairs etc and they look so bright and clear but mine don't come out that way. What am I doing wrong?

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

You are always so helpful soapbudy I will try that. I used silicone molds, so I don't know if maybe I should use the plastic ones better. Does BB carry the ultra clear MP?