Teach Soap

Hello, first off, i am a brand new soaper i just got started last night, and i was wondering if anyone could help me? So please excuse any dumb questions.
1) I bought a soap making kit from Michaels ( i know its poor quality but i want to see what M&P is like) so last night i made a bar of soap. So i took the M&P base and cut it up, but i noticed it felt sticky/ oily? do all of the soap bases feel like that? or just the one i bought there?
2) When i melted it in the microwave and pulled it out it seemed to be hardening already so i quickly added a color and fragrence and poured it in my mould. After i finished pouring i let it sit. I then looked at my glass measuring cup, but it had soap stuck to it. I had to scrub it off for 2-3 mins. Would all M&P bases make such a mess to my measuring cup or would it all pour out nice and even?
3) The kit that i have purchased came with some colorants. They were liquid, but the box never said if they were oxides, diluted labcolor, or mica and water, maybe even food coloring?? The box did not say what kind of color it just said "Red Color" i looked online for the product online hoping to see a feedback page, but could not. Is there a way to tell what kind of colorant it is?

(I bought the kit from Michaels and the brand name is `Life of the Party`)

Thank you so much for the feedback! It really helps me. If i have any other questions i will be sure to post them on this forum.
Soralight

Let's see if I can answer some of your questions. Veteran soapers please correct me where I misstep!

Soap bases are a bit sticky - just like soap is. Perhaps it's stickier in higher humidity? I live in the dry desert climate, so I'm not sure.

You may have overheated it and it "cooked" a bit onto your glass. I did that the first time I used M&P. I heat at 50% power. It's still messy, but nothing terrible to clean up. Soapmaking is kinda a messy deal anyway...but that's half the fun! Once you get the hang of it, you find easier ways to clean up. I usually melt what's leftover a little more, wipe it out with paper towel then rinse the rest out with hot water. That usually does the trick. Just be careful not to heat too high and burn yourself. Eeeek!

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Rachel
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Hi there, I have used the glycerine soap from Micheals and do not like it. It doesn't melt very well and it gets clumpy. I like to do layered soaps and this soap would start getting hard at about 140 degrees and I like to pour my layers at about 120 to 125. I have used afew different brand and found that
Brambleberry glycerine soap was the easiest to work with. Even with the shipping you will pay about the same price. Good luck

Craft store brand MP is very sticky and hardens up way too fast. BrambleBerry MP base is much easier to work with, takes color and fragrance better and gives you more playing time after it's melted. The color in the craft store brand kit is most likely food color, which will bleed over time.

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

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

Yes I do think BB is less sticky and it cleans up fast.

Soralight,you don't have to waste any soap at all that's stuck on the measuring cup. Just let it cool off a little and then get an end of the soap and pull it all off slowly.

Hi, soralight!

When I first started M&P soaping, I also bought a kit from the craft store, just to see if I liked it. The quality of the base was not great, in my opinion - I found that it did not lather well. Bramble Berry's bases are of much higher quality and I think you will notice a huge difference when you use a good base.

M&P base is a bit slick to the touch, and in high humidity it can "sweat." As far as the mess in the measuring glass, I wonder if you didn't heat it enough? If the bottom felt cool to the touch, it could be that the soap was starting to set up in the glass before you got a chance to pour. I melt in the microwave in 30-second bursts and pause to stir to help it along and also to feel for any unmelted clumps. (Don't overheat the soap - boiling can make the soap cloudy.) It seems like the craft store base sets up faster, too. If you do have leftover soap in the glass, you can save it. With a little practice, you can even pull it all away in one piece after it has hardened a bit, like wildchild says!

If memory serves, the colorants were FD&C dyes and they do eventually bleed. It seems like the colorants were basically food coloring.

Hope that helps! Have fun soaping!

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- Jenny -
My soapy blog:
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If you have any dollar stores in your town, they usually have candy thermometers or something similar for really cheap. A lot of times they also have some cute shaped rubber ice cube trays or even some cute rubber mini cake molds that you can use to make some cute molds without spending a fortune.

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Boy do I know what you mean ....same life of the party brand ,bought for my granddaughter ,very hard awful stuff ,I tosed it and we made soap out of BB base it's the best I have ever used.