Teach Soap

I posted this on another forum so please forgive me if its a duplicate to some of you, but I really would like your thoughts as well.

I want to do a VERY small cphp batch of (per soapcalc)

castor - .03 oz
lard - 3.86
water - 1.48
lye - .52

I'm ok with the amounts (percentages are tried and true), I've just never done a batch THAT small and am unsure if I can do that in the crockpot. certainally won't have to worry about it volcanoing out of the crockpot, will I, lol .

Thought process: I want (not sure if I can or if it will work) to take a 12" - 2" pvc and filling it with one color and letting it solidify and putting the cylinder inside a 3" and filling it with this batch.

Any thoughts if this will work?

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Sunkawakan
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Finally open!
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Since this is such a small batch, I would do grams instead of ozs. It will be more accurate. It might be easier if you put the 2" pipe into the freezer to get it out easier. What type of support will you do to hold this 2" soap inside the 3" pipe?

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

Soapbuddy - the intent is to make the first 2" batch first in the morning and let it cool in the freezer until late in the day, at least 4 or 5 hours - I agree with your thought process (if I'm following you correctly) that it will have to be solid enough not to break when I put it in the 3" mold. The intent is to drill a hole in the top and bottom caps and inserting a 10 penny nail. The pipe is only 12" long, so with a nail in both ends, as long as the core is solid though not cured, there should be enough support to hold it somewhat straight. I don't really expect it to be perfect but don't want the core to crack either. Yes, there will be a hole in the middle of the first and last pieces, but I'll write those off as "interesting" effects.

My BF, who is obviously MUCH brighter than I am , came up with the obvious solution. We were discussing it (he's out of the country, US Marine - sorry, had to brag for just a moment), suggested that I uhhh, do a regular size batch which would allow me enough soap left over to do some of the experiments I've been wanting to try and thereby alleviating the small batch problem. Geeze! I feel so stupid sometimes, lol. He kindly jumped on me for being too analytical and reminded me that my best "pieces" - weather its soap or any of the other multitude of things I create - are artistry with just enough chemistry thrown in to make it all work.

So, on that note, tomorrow after I finish making the shampoo bars that I've started (currently infusing co & joboba with chamomile, peppermint & rosemary in the cp and will let them on warm for a few hours tonight and a few more in the morning), I'll get going on this project. Tomorrow is going to be a full day of soaping but its supposed to be cold here so I'm looking forward to the fun.

Thanks again, I was really wierded out by the really small batch and the simple solution was right in front of my eyes.

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Sunkawakan
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Finally open!
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Glad you got it figured out. When I did a butterfly inside the 3" pipe as an overpour, I had a heck of a time for the butterfly to stay exactly in the middle. The nail on each end sounds like the way to go. In my case I could put the nail in after it's poured, since I only use duct tape. The smallest batch I do is 1 lb. I can always pour out a little bit into a cup with a different color or scent. I did this with dixie cups once when I was testing blends.

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

Soap buddy,

I have on hand extra virgin olive oil, peanut oil, castor oil , palm and coconut oils. I also have the proper lye a few FO's and one EO, just a few colors!

So I'm ready pretty much but afraid of making too much and not knowing what to do with it all!

Once I have a smaller recipe, then I'll start dreaming of color and such.

Thank you for your help!

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~bytheSEAsoap~ Mella bythesea, bythesea, bythebeautiful sea

海の皂

According to Soapmaker this should be a nice hard bar with small stable bubbles. Give it some time to harden up. If you want lots of fluffy bubbles, I would suggest adding some avocado oil and recalculate the recipe.

7 ozs. Olive
3 oz. Coconut
1 oz. Castor
5 ozs. Palm

For that size recipe, you will need 4 to 6 fluid ounces of water and 2.2 ozs. of lye for a 6% superfat.

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

Thank you so much, I will post when I do the batch to let you know what color and such!

Is soap maker a computer program that one can purchase? If I were to join a guild would they give me access to such a program?

This is a dainty little recipe soapbuddy thank you so much! I think it will produce a 2 lb batch, is that about right?

Your moving avatar is smoochy and so cute, I love the animation!

Ok I did get the scale today via UPS and safety glasses at HD reasonable too! Yes bit by bit and found a nice glass measuring cup at the second hand store!

What a cool forum thank you everyone!

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~bytheSEAsoap~ Mella bythesea, bythesea, bythebeautiful sea

海の皂

You can purchase Soapmaker software here: http://www.soapmaker.ca/
It's well worth it. It does so much more than calculate recipes.
It will make a little larger than a 1 lb. batch. About 1 lb. 4 ozs.

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

So I did this batch in the crock pot and posted it on a new subject. I just wanted to bring this forward as the recipe is good. Doing a search for small recipe has too many hits to show. Interesting.

Just did my soap at too high a temp 137 degrees with lye too cool and it curdled the batch. So I've been doing M&P for a while until I get up the nerve to do another batch of CP! LOL
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Recipe shared by Soapbuddy! TU
According to Soapmaker this should be a nice hard bar with small stable bubbles. Give it some time to harden up. If you want lots of fluffy bubbles, I would suggest adding some avocado oil and recalculate the recipe.

7 ozs. Olive
3 oz. Coconut
1 oz. Castor
5 ozs. Palm

For that size recipe, you will need 4 to 6 fluid ounces of water and 2.2 ozs. of lye for a 6% superfat.
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I did run this for lye to get it into grams so the measurement would be the best possible.

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~bytheSEAsoap~ Mella bythesea, bythesea, bythebeautiful sea

海の皂

Your oils were too high in temp. If you can get both oils and lye to around 110 degrees, you should get a better result.
Good luck on your next batch.

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

Thanks Soapbuddy,

I know my oils were too high but the lye was falling in temp so quickly due to small volumn I panicked! I didn't want to have to reheat the lye! LOL

I've done quite a bit of reading since then and I have the impression if the lye goes to room temp it wouldnot be a problem. Is this correct?

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~bytheSEAsoap~ Mella bythesea, bythesea, bythebeautiful sea

海の皂

Yes, please don't reheat the lye. It's easier if you melt your oils first, then put them aside to cool. Now measure your water and your lye. Add the lye to the water. Mix well. Your oils should be cooling off already, so put your hand around the oil pot to see if it's just warn enough. Check the temp of you lye water on the outseide of the plastic container with your hands. If need be, it's easier to warm your oils up a little to somewhat match the temp of the lye.

Some people have good luck with mixing room temp oils with hot lye; some people have both oils and lye at room temp. I wouldn't recommend this unless you are experienced. I use beeswax in every batch, so I can't do the room temp method. There's not enough heat there to melt the beeswax. Also, there is a chance with the room temp method that you could end up with undissolved staric acid as white spots in your soap from one of your base oils.

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

You are the greatest Soapbuddy. Thanks so much.

Yes I know it is optimum to keep the oil and the lye at apx the same temp, a good goal would be 110 to 120 I think. It is like baking you need to know the notes and the rhythm! It is all in the coordination and that takes practice!

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~bytheSEAsoap~ Mella bythesea, bythesea, bythebeautiful sea

海の皂

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