Teach Soap

I made my first batch of soap today...Yay how exciting. There were a few things that went wrong though, but nothing vital. I think part of it is that I was nervous. When I was measuring out my FO I tried just poring it out of the bottle into the small container I was measuring it in, and my FO ran down the side of my bottle all over my scale, because I was pouring it so slow. I think next time I better use a dropper or something. Then I used the wrong color than I wanted. It took so long to mix the colors in that I forgot to add the FO all together, and by the time I realized it I already had the soap in the molds, but I did add some rose petals so maybe that might give it a bit of scent. Lastly I didn't read the section in my book about clean up until after I cleaned up. Apparently you are not suppose to put the raw soap down your drain

Yay how exciteing , Cant wait to see pictures.

Congrats on your first batch. If you put cheap, store bought liquid soap in your pot along with lots of hot water, you can rinse it down the drain. Or if you can wait til the next day; it's soap and you can just wash it off in the sink.

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

Yay for you, Amy!
I have my scale in a large ziplock bag to keep it clean. If something spills, it can easily be wiped off.

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

Can I use dish soap then? The bag over the scale sounds like a good idea! I got some base oils on my scale too. Somehow the FO on my scale got gooey and sticky on my scale, and I couldn't hardly get it to come off. You want to see pictures!?! What if it turns out bad I might be embarrassed, lol. I did try to do some swirls though. Geeze now I have to wait forever until they get done curing to try them out.

Yes you can use dish soap to clean the raw soap from your pot or utensils. Inexpensive works as well the pricey version of dish soap. Please wear gloves if you are doing this the same day. I would wear goggles too, just in case.

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

Ok I know I wore my gloves and goggles today when I cleaned everything up. This waiting is going to drive me crazy I already peeked at my soap twice since I made it.

Only twice? I peek non stop and consider that completely normal Congrats on your first soap. The best cure for the long wait is to make another batch....yeah I;m an enabler.

I think I added too much colorant too. When I was mixing it in it looked fine, but I think as it has cured it got darker. Plus the rose petals I put in it already turned brown and black. My soap doesn't smell good or look good. I am still going to let it finish curing and try it out and see if at least it works good when I wash with it.

Rose petals don't stay pink (or red) in soap. Neither do lavender buds. Those turn brown as well.

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

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

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

Oh well that's ok, but I have a bunch of rose petals that I don't know what to do with now. Maybe I can make some potpourri or something

Maybe I can make some of those bath teas.....

Congratulations on your first batch of soap and welcome to the addiction!

Only use the rose petals/buds for a bath product if you purchased them from a bath/soap supplier that states they are safe for such use, or you grew them organically yourself. Otherwise you are likely to be using chemical laden petals, as most growers use pesticides and chemicals to enhance fragrance and/or prolong life.
You can use a few on the very top of a soap loaf for decoration. The part that is not pushed down into the soap will stay looking pretty, assuming they are dehydrated well and pretty to begin with. Still, what is down in the lye will end up looking up yucky, so mixing them into a bath blend sounds like a better alternative (if they are of good quality).

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Remember, it's not just that we weather the storm, but how we dance in the rain.

Tammy