Teach Soap

Hey everyone! I'm new to soaping and just did a few recipes. First, a peppermint/teatree oil soap with poppyseeds, then a lavender/honey soap with an oatmeal layer, a salt soap, and just today, a triple layer chocolate peppermint soap. Each one had its unique lessons (like...don't use a non-stick loaf pan for CP soap, the teflon sticks to the soap, goatsmilk can go really gross, really fast, and fragrance oils can make soap get really hard, really fast, lol) but I'm really enjoying it. I just have a couple questions I haven't seen asked yet.

I'm running out of room on my drying rack, is it ok to shrink-wrap package soaps that aren't fully cured? Or do they need to dry out? What about the salt soap, that is already tending to pull moisture from the air?

My friend, who's already going to be in some craft shows this summer selling quilts, has asked if she could sell some of my soaps at her table. Will I need to get any special license or anything to sell the soaps? What about on Etsy?

I've been thinking that for some basic soaps, it'd be good to have a standard base for them. Does anything in the following recipe stand out as a bad idea? Coconut Oil=30% Palm Oil=20% Olive Oil=45% Shea Butter=5%

I thiiiink that's it for now. I've already gotten my first soap challenge from a friend, quoting a silly internet meme. She's suggested, mudkip soap. Can't wait for my larger mold to arrive so I can try it!

Welcome!
You're right about the teflon. It will interact with lye and start to flake off. Fragrances can accelerate trace. Just make sure they are safe for soap, and not for candles only. Our web hosts at BrambleBerry http://www.brambleberry.com/ have many fragrance oils that are safe for cold process soaps.

Don't shrink wrap your CP soaps til they are fully cured. They need to breathe and more water needs to evaporate. I would get a few batches under your belt before you start to sell. I don't know where you live, but you might need a business license and definitely a liability insurance. It doesn't matter whether you sell at markets or online. 30% cocnut in your recipe will be pretty drying. Go to Miller soap http://www.millersoap.com/#Soap%20Contents and take a look at some of the recipes there. I would start w ith small batches, so you don't waste your oils or butters.

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

Welcome to the Forum!

Thank you to you both!

Paper wrapped my first bar for a gift to my friend today, and found out that neither tape nor labels stick too well to parchment paper. Pondering shrink wrap, or even just bands instead. Though I did manage really cute labels!

As for my base, I toned down the coconut oil and palm to 20%, olive to 40%, shea to 10% and added 10% castor to get some bubbles going. Looks like a hardness of 37, conditioning of 60, and bubbles of 23. The hardness seems...not that hard to me. Is there a range I should be aiming for? The salt bars look like a 60 hardness (not figuring in the salt, just the oils), and the others I've made seemed to settle into the low 40s. But I've looked at some of the other recipes on the board that seem closer to the high 30s. I'm just asking about the range because I don't want the soaps to melt away in the shower.

Thank you again for the help!

Edited to add:That's superfatting at 6%

I would up the olive and lower your castor.

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

Thank you again! Olive oil is certainly easier to get so that suits me just fine, lol. Can't wait for my new supplies to come in so I can get making again!