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Post by Deleted on Mar 31, 2015 15:30:40 GMT
I got a few things for Christmas to start soap making. I have digial scales and a wooden soap mold someone gave me. I'm excitied to start but spring chores seem to have moved up the priorty list now!! I will ne lurking to see what I can learn.
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Post by Muller's Lane Farm on Mar 31, 2015 21:18:47 GMT
I'll be glad to help any way I can, @tambo. I've been making soap since 1999 Some folks have found my soapmaking web page helpful
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Post by Deleted on Apr 1, 2015 0:45:56 GMT
Thanks Muller
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Post by farmchix on Apr 1, 2015 10:19:36 GMT
Cyndi is a great resource tambo! I've been making soap for a long time, but I didn't start trying with the "pretty soaps" until the last 7 years or so. I make cold process only. My grandmother taught me how to make "lye soap" when I was young. I transitioned over to what I am doing now about 15 years ago. Then.....I started learning how to color and make them pretty. LOL
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Post by Deleted on Apr 1, 2015 11:39:49 GMT
So is the cold press soap easier to make than lye soap?
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Post by Deleted on Apr 1, 2015 12:22:24 GMT
Cold press soap is lye soap. So I think there is cold press soap, hot precess soap and melt and pour. Hot precess you cook everything in a crockpot for a while then mold it. I think it turns out milder and can be used sooner. CP soap has to age for a number of weeks after you mold it. Melt and pour is the easiest as it just uses glycerin. I've only done cold precess soaps.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 1, 2015 13:48:13 GMT
I'll be glad to help any way I can, @tambo. I've been making soap since 1999 Some folks have found my soapmaking web page helpful Thank you for this link I pinned it
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Post by Muller's Lane Farm on Apr 1, 2015 17:52:31 GMT
farmchix, you're so sweet! When I learned how to make soap, I asked one of my mentors how I could repay her for the knowledge she imparted and was told to always pay it forward ... so I do. All soap is made using lye ... no lye, no soap ... no lie (thank you Chris McClusky) Cold Processed (CP) Soap is when you take your oils & lye solution, mix them into trace, put them into a mold and wait about 24 hours during which time they saponify (turn into soap) and then unmold. Hot Processed (HP) soap is when you take your oils & lye solution, apply heat, mix them into trace and beyond! The applied heat speeds up the saponification so you are putting soap into the molds instead of a soap 'batter'. The vast majority of Melt & Pour (MP) is not soap at all but synthetic detergents (syndets) and alcohol. Beautiful creations can be made using MP, but it isn't soap so I will not include it in this description. They only difference between CP & HP is how long it takes to go from oils & lye solution to soap, everything else is the same including the 'curing'. The chemical transformation (saponification) is exothermic ... meaning it creates heat. A couple thing to note about using the CP method. If you insulate the soap batter in the molds (by covering them with blankets, keeping them in a warm place, etc) you will be working with the exothermic reaction. Your soap batter will get hot and become translucent as it goes into a 'gel stage'. Once the soap cools down, you have soap! If you retard the exothermic reaction by putting the soap batter into the refrigerator or freezer, it will take longer for the soap batter to become soap ... from a few days to a week. Once you unmold your soap, you will want to let it 'cure'. This includes both CP & HP. The 'curing' time is to allow the excess liquid that you used for your lye solution to evaporate. So you may be asking yourself, if it is soap once you unmold, why can't I just use it? Well, you can. However, the longer you let it 'cure' the harder the soap becomes, the more lather you'll get and it lasts so much longer! Even though I no longer market my soaps, I still have a pretty good customer base. The reasons they have stuck with me are because they like how my soap treats their skin and they like how long it lasts.
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Post by Muller's Lane Farm on Apr 1, 2015 18:02:36 GMT
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Post by Maura on Apr 2, 2015 21:49:48 GMT
One year I decided to sell soap at the Christmas fairs. By July I had it all made, wrapped, and in a piece of luggage, some in a box. Then it got real hot and rained. It rained for eight days. The soap became soft on the outside and the colors of the paper it was wrapped in soaked into the soap. Now I do not make soap until after Labor Day
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Post by Muller's Lane Farm on Apr 3, 2015 3:24:30 GMT
Oh my, Maura ... what a disappointment. I like making soap but drag my heels with packaging it ... & I have a very simple package ... just a small tag with the name of the soap that sits on top and the whole thing shrink wrapped in bands.
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