Teach Soap

Hi Happy CP Soapers,

I just posted a Lye Safety Video. If you're new to making CP soap, this is a definite Must-Watch before starting to make soap. =)

http://soap-queen.blogspot.com/2010/04/ ... -soap.html

Or the YouTube link is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yR6ttCSrLJI

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Happy Soaping!

Anne-Marie
blog: www.soap-queen.blogspot.com
supplies: www.brambleberry.com

Good idea! Let's hope any soap newbies will see this. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Anne-Marie, for the video. Well done! I remember keeping the lye I'd ordered locked up for over a year before I worked up the nerve to make soap. A video emphasizing and demonstrating safety while showing the how-to of using lye to make soap is a real help. Looking forward to your other videos. It's always great to see how seasoned soapers go about soaping, and a refresher on techniques is welcome no matter how much soap we've made.

As alway such a good tip. May I add, you and your co. are doing such a good job. This is the only forum I belong to or read.

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"Maintaining Balance Between People and Nature"

Thanks Anne-Marie, that video was great. i had no idea caustic could do that to raw chicken!

Am looking forward to the next video's.

-Stacey.

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Stacey - Victoria,Australia.
Photo stream - http://www.flickr.com/photos/msjuiicix/
Facebook Page:http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Body-Dessert/122830561107347

...it is a great safety reminder for us 'old' soapers too!! Thank you!!
Susan

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www.foresthillsoaps.com
www.adonaiequestrian.com

Great video. I did not know about the soap calc app until I saw it on the video, I am so excited!!!!

Hello!

I'm new to soap making and have read and watched lye safety over and over but always feel "scared" about it every time I make soap.

I know a lot of lye safety steps don't include a face mask. I always have the window that is in front of the counter open and the oven fan that is over the pot on but I always cough a little with the fumes. I'm thinking I should start wearing a mask? Are the few fumes that make me cough terrible for my lungs? I'm just really health conscious and don't want to damage my lungs.

Thanks!!

Lindsey

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

Along these lines, I have a question. This weekend, my daughter and I made our 3rd ever batch of soap. We always measure our lye into a disposable plastic cup on the scale so that we can throw away the cup and not have to worry about a contaminated vessel. Thank god we had our protective gear on, as when we started pouring the lye into the cup, it started popping out of the cup onto the counter and my arms--like it was statically charged or something! A couple of grains got on my wrist and I was able to wash them off with vinegar, and we cleaned up the whole area thoroughly, but what a scary thing! Especially since we were aftraid to use water to clean up, we finally soaked papertowels in vinegar to clean up the counters and the floor--this stuff was really popping!!!

Has anyone ever experienced anything like this before? It was terrifying!

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Laura
4-H Rules!

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

If I don't use that dryer sheet this will happen to me everytime. I wipe down the inside and outside of the measure cup... the outside of the lye container and the inside of the rim of the lye container! I'm just alittle paranoid!

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Susie
Sometimes A Mistake is so much fun, You just have to do it again!

I'm so glad I'm reading all this info before I try making my first batch of CP soap! I've been wanting to try making soap from scratch for a long time, and have done melt & pour and rebatch soap. I really like the tip about the fabric softener sheet - I haven't seen that mentioned anywhere before. Seeing the video on mixing the lye water was a big help, too. Thanks! I will be mixing my lye water outside because I have parrots and don't want to harm them with the fumes. Can't wait to get started next week!

Thanks for the video it helps alot, you make it seem not so scary. I haven't even tried making my own soap yet because I am a little scared of the lye. So I am trying to learn everything I can before I attemt to make soap from scratch. I think MP is a great way for begginers to get started, and so far this is all I have done. Fourtunately I found a local shop that teaches a soap making class for only $15.00 what a great thing for someone who has never made soap from scratch before. I never knew lye could be electrically charged, I have never even heard it mentioned before now. Thanks for the warning and tip to help prevent that from happening. So vinegar is a good way to clean up lye, also a great thing to know. Thanks everyone!

Oh, wow... I didn't know that the lye could act like that when being poured into the measuring vessel I just started getting into MP but am very interested in CP and even HP soaping, but I'm unsure of actually doing it because I have a puppy and 2.5 year old boy living with me. I thought of handling the lye outside, but Oklahoma is incredibly windy pretty much all the time and there's a lot of "stuff" in the air which may add a little bit too much of "extra" unwanted stuff into my lye mixture if I let it sit outside.
If/when I eventually do get a chance to try out CP, I was wondering how to actually store the lye. Definitely need to keep it up and out of reach of any little grasping hands and away from food products/utensils, but are there any other storage problems I need to stay away from? Thanks!

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