Teach Soap

Greetings my fellow soap makers.

My name is Brion from Charlottesville, Virginia. It's probably really weird for a guy who wants to make soap. But I am a very creative person and like to make unique things. I am the owner of a sign company and looking to do this on the side. I am just getting started into making soap, lotions and possibility other things. I've searched far and wide into a beginner tutorial and couldn't find any. I need soap making for dummies or something.

I hear cold process is better and preferred but it takes 4 - 6 weeks to make a bar of soap? when melt and pour is 5 hours? is there a big difference between the two?

Also how would I go about getting custom molds? Such as a dogwood tree, a cross, etc.

Thank you all.

Welcome to the forum

It's not that CP soap takes 4-6 weeks to make, it just needs to cure and age, like a fine wine. Where as MP is technically already made, but then you get to add things to make it yours.

It's really hard to compare CP soap & MP soap. If you're really into wanting to get to decide what goes into your soaps, then CP may be for you. If you're impatient & want your soap now and you'll explode if you have to wait, then MP is probably better for you. If you want to do soaps using molds that have a lot of details, then MP may be better for you.

As far as the molds go, there are tons of businesses that sell great soap molds. Starting with Brambleberry http://www.brambleberry.com , Milky Way Molds htp://www.milkywaymoldscom & Flexible Molds http://www.flexiblemolds.com are just a few of thousands out there.

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Genny

Welcome!
BrambleBerry (who are the forum owners) have a blog called Teach Soap. They have instructions for cold process soaps. I would take a look there. http://www.soapqueen.com/category/bath- ... cess-soap/

You can start with MP soap base since it's already saponified, then try cold process soaps. Take a look at some of my posts at the cold process section of this forum. Yes, cold process soap (aka CP soap) will take 4 to 6 weeks before it's cured.

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

Hmmmmm.... A guy making soap, ..... who would have thought?

Welcome to the forum Brion.

Thank you all for the warm welcomes to the community. I will review those pages. Perhaps in a one week or so I will be able to start making my first soap.

Also this website used to have a link about business insurance. While I am knowledgeable about it, I was curious about what kind is needed to sell soap. Does anyone have a link to that page?

Hi, Brion, and welcome to the forum!

There are many threads about liability insurance here on the forum. Just search for them and you will find plenty of info. Here is one thread that may be helpful: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5976&hilit=insurance

Here's a thread about favorite soapmaking books: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=6306&hilit=soap+books

Anne-Marie's SoapQueen TV series on soapmaking is also a great place to start: http://www.youtube.com/user/soapqueentv. Just type "cold process" or "melt and pour" or whatever in the "Search Channel" box.

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- Jenny -
My soapy blog:
Follow me on my

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The Soapinatrix! *whip-crack*
- Posting the trials and tribulations of my Soaping Journey!

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

Welcome, Brion!

I found Soap Queen TV on YouTube to be incredibly helpful! Also, check out your local library. When I first started I checked out every book in the library on soap making (there were about 25, plus a few DVD's). I looked through all of them (some for a few minutes, some for days/weeks) and then went from there. There were some books that just didn't "work" for me, and by looking at that many I had a great overview of the different techniques and developed a better idea of what I wanted to do with my soap. I found that I ended up taking bits and pieces from all the things I learned and smooshed them together to develop my own ideas.

And nope, I don't think a guy who wants to make soap is odd at all! I think it's a great creative outlet!