Teach Soap

Youtube also has MANY wonderful videos about CP soaping, I've spent many an hour glued to the site studying techniques and getting ideas. Try searching their site for "cp soap tutorial" or "cp soap making"

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

Love those bowls!!

Question though - obviously you can't actually heat your oils in them, right? Or do people mostly heat their oils in the microwave? I do mine on a stove top...

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The Soapinatrix! *whip-crack*
- Posting the trials and tribulations of my Soaping Journey!

I have a gas stove which I don't like to heat oils on. So I use the microwave and a glass measuring cup. My solid fats (coconut and lard) take around 1.5 minutes to completely melt this way. I do it in 45 second intervals.

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

The reason I ask is I've been wanting to get another pot. I have ONE stainless steel pot that I feel comfortable doing soap in (one of those stock pot - really tall ones). I see a lot of people in the YouTube videos though, using like think white buckets. Ones I would expect to see painters and builders using. I've always wondered how they melted their oils lol.

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The Soapinatrix! *whip-crack*
- Posting the trials and tribulations of my Soaping Journey!

I started out heating my oils in a water bath on the stove... now I use the microwave. Saves me time. I melt the solid oils add to my sturdy plastic bowl and when the lye gets to my temp, I will give the bowl a short burst or two to get it to the same temp. I like doing it this way better, but then I do not do huge batches.

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

I wondered the same Coolah, how did they heat the oils. Is there any reason why you cant use a gas cooker to heat the oils and make soap? Better ask now as that's what I have - no microwave. I will only be doing wee batches, just for the two of us here.
Re fragrances changing, I'm beginning to get scared of the Big Girls playground and might sit in the corner drinking tea for another month and watch YouTube some more !

Our stove gets too hot and burns the oils even on a low setting. Its an old cranky stove that enjoys burning everything it can

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

Watching and listening. I am still in CP Orientation...collecting all my supplies......and have yet to jump in. Details...details...details...

I cant find a substitute for your Crisco. An American girl here says she cant find one either, so I will need to find a UK recipe. I will post it here when I get one

Products such as Trex are vegetable shortening and are available in the UK.

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

http://www.trex.co.uk/loved-for-generations/ Thats the stuff!

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

Does it matter if its hydrogenated fat or not? Trex is cheap

Vegetable shortening is all hydrogenated. This is how they make it a semi-solid from liquid

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

O god. ignore me, I'm mad. I dont know what I thought it meant sorry! After the expensive world of m&p, this stuff seems very very cheap to make. I am now trawling beginners recipes to find the one that jumps out at me and will get the ingreds next week.