Teach Soap

Hi yall! I've read through a bunch of the posts on here and everyone is so educated on soapmaking. I graduated college last weekend and in my new found freedom I decided to pick up a new hobby. I'd always loved handmade soaps and decided I wanted to start making them on my own! After some research I figured that melt and pour would be the best for a beginner soapmaker like myself. I just put in my first order of very basic materials at brambleberry (bases, colorants, essential oils, fragrance) and I will soon be on my way to my first batch of soap.

I was hoping yall would be able to give me little tidbits of advice on soapmaking... things you WISH you knew when you were starting out! Any help would be greatly appreciated, the melt and pour method seems pretty straightforward from what I've read/watched online but I'm sure there's lots of great advice yall would have to give

Thanks so much!

Welcome! MP soap is forgiving. If you don't like it, you can remelt and try again. Watch your temps as you melt it so it doesn't overheat. Go easy on the color at first. You can always add a bit more, but you can't take away. Same thing for the fragrance. Have fun with it!

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

I chunk it and melt in a Pyrex cup in short bursts in the micro til almost melted. Then I stir the rest of the way til it melts. If the MP base boils that means it got too hot. I don't use a thermometer. I just keep an eye on it. Some people use a double boiler, but I don't have one.

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

Yeah, don't boil the soap. You can tell if you overheated the soap because it smells really bad and if you're melting, say 1 oz in the microwave it doesn't need the full 30 seconds micro burst But other than that, it's all about experimenting and having fun!

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

i bought a fairly cheap temp laser gun on amazon and love it! It's great for checking your temp to pour layers etc. I use it all the time. Have fun with your first batch!

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AubreyEApothecary.com
facebook.com/AubreyEApothecary

Thanks so much! I should be getting my materials in a couple days, so I'll let ya know how my first bars come out!

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Joey