Teach Soap

Hi everyone,

I tried my hand at CP soap this weekend. I've been reading for a few years now and have even gone to a cold process soap class in my city, but finally worked up the nerve to try it. I love soaping. It's going to be addictive. I have been making melt and pour soaps as gifts for several years and wanted to try something more advanced.

My first batch seems to have soda ash. I'm not sure why, as I insulated my mold as instructed. What are some ways I can prevent this in the future? And, does this damage the integrity of the soap?

My second batch had a small crack. I used honey in the soap and it overheated. I expected that it might after reading about it, but the smell is heavenly. I love it. It's such a rich amber color. I was able to remove the small crack on the very top of the bar and so it is quite a lovely soap now. In the future, how could I prevent overheating when using honey?

I'm so excited to have found this place. While I've been awaiting activation, I have browsed the forum and read about different topics on the forum. Such a helpful place.

Welcome & congrats on your batch! Ash is just esthetic; it doesn't hurt the soap or the person using it. When using honey, don't insulate (or only lightly), so the soap doesn't overheat.

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

Yayyyyyyyyyy I figured it was just esthetics and wouldn't hurt the soap, but wanted to double check.

So when I make the honey soap next time, don't cover the mold? Sounds like an easy solution.

What do you do with scraps left over? You probably don't have any, but I do. I'm not too good with a cake blade. I have lots of little bits and pieces that are too thin or really crooked. Could I rebatch them and pour them into individual molds for use as gifts come Christmas time?

I should have made my soap 6 weeks ago so I could enjoy it tonight. Wahaha. Waiting is the hardest part. Oh well, I'll have plenty of school work to keep me busy over the next 6 weeks.

Depending how much honey you use per lb. of soap, either cover it lightly, or don't cover at all. You can make soap balls with the scraps.

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

Peanut,

My first batch has ash on it too, until I did some research and I read somewhere on the forum soapbuddy said to add beeswax to reduce ash. I have done this with every other batch and haven't had any with ash since. I use beeswax at about 3-5%, depending on the other oils I use.

As far as cracks go, I can't seem to not get cracks. I use small 1 lb molds, and the crack is usually small and in the middle (therefore only on one bar) but from what I can tell other than aesthetics there's no harm from them. Maybe I'm weird but I kinda like the cracks and usually just take that bar for myself (btw... anyone else have 10 bars of soap in the shower? I do... )

Good luck soaping! I'm still new and learning but reading through this forum can be extremely helpful in anticipating problems and solving them as well. We have a lot of good people with great knowledge. I've tried other soap forums but this is by far the best IMO.

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ween rules

Only 10? Just joking. I have four - shampoo bar, face bar, body bar, and coffee scrubby bar for my feet. Lots is never enough. There are also 3 bars in my hubby's soap tray, but he just uses them willy-nilly (don't all men?)

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Suzanne
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid= ... 1135479737
http://stuffandnonsense-essebee.blogspot.com/

How much honey are you useing per pound of oils? I think the average is 1 to 2 teaspoons per lb.
of oils. That might be your cracking problem. ( the soap getting way too hot. I've never had that happen yet.
I grate up my scraps of soap and add them to other ( similar batches.
As far as ash goes I found that if I cover my soap for the first 5 days of its life with plastic ( tight but not touching ) meaning cover the mold . I get almost no ash at all.
Good luck with your soap

Ok.....I had to go count the soap in our shower after reading this. There were 7. I use a different one each time and sometimes half a body gets one thing, the other half gets a different bar. My wife will use 1 bar until it's gone but she's odd that way.

I use 1 tbs of warmed honey PPO usually added at trace then pop it into a warm oven which is my standard procedure to force a gel. I think the cracks are due to the style of mold you're using. I use a Kelsei mold of 12 or 16 bars typically and never experience cracks. When I use a log mold I get cracks semi-frequently if it really heats up.

Has anybody ever added honey to the water before adding the lye? Awesome effects. I do it this way once in a while to create a neat pink tint to the otherwise white bar of soap. If you sup watermelon drippings instead of water you end up with a very unique orange bar. Coolness (my word of the day).

wat is watermelon drippings ?

Wow, look at all these replies

I used 1 tsp per lb of soap, as my recipe suggested.

Thanks for the tip about beeswax. I'll have to try that some time and see if it makes a difference.

I'm really pretty pleased with the results of the first two, but I'm a perfectionist and so I had to know how to fix these two issues. Haha.

Thanks for all the wonderful advice

As a former MP soaper... CP is my new lover (laughing)... I have 7 bars of soap on a rack in my shower. My husband consistently uses 3 of them. The other four are mine I can't wait to get some CP soap in my shower.