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Yooper said:
Liquid soaps can be tougher to do and to do well.

You need KOH instead of sodium hydroxide. Also, due to dilution enough to be fluid, sometimes they are a bit thin. So, to get around that, I found "the glycerine method" which works great, but costs more, since you have to buy glycerine but the drug stores have it. Here's the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0LPCXo2zvE&ab_channel=TheLadyMarah

I found that not using glycerine, and just doing traditional liquid soap, I use a mixture of NaOH and KOH, (about 2% of the lye is NaOH, so it holds together with some body better) and then dilute the paste as much as it takes.

Tell Kris about Bath Bombs! Those are the best, and people love them. Oh, sure, it's mainly women and girls- but Quinn loves them too. He calls them "bath fizzies". Last year I did Christmas tree molds that a friend had and they were perfectly sized. For me, I did use some whole hops, because, well, beer.

You drop one in the tub, and it's like a jacuzzi when it fizzes around the tub. I use citric acid and baking soda for the reaction, but that also makes nice soft water for softer skin. A tiny bit of oil (either sweet almond oil or avocado oil) and some essential oils- and a few miniature squirts of water just enough to hold together but not start the reaction- and then set on a rack in a dry place to harden out before storing. http://www.instructables.com/id/How-To-Make-Bath-Bombs/

Bath salts are just epsom salts, and Dead sea salts with some essential oil and again, maybe a wee bit of sweet almond oil (but not enough to make your tub slipper). My daughter loves orange essential oil, so that's what I do for her. Lavender is awesome as well.

The lip balms are super easy.

Oh, boy. I wish I didn't have to work today/this evening- now I want to make lip balm, bath bombs and bath salts!!!!!!!!
Click to expand...

Got some Potassium Hydroxide in my cart now. No problem with the glycerine. I have a small bottle already from when I meant to make transparent soap (might still do that too...)

My young one and her friend are into the bath bombs. They've actually saved up money to buy different ones. I wonder if she'd like making some from scratch. Finding the right scents and colors might be challenging.

We found a friend is selling some "natural-ish" cleaners and health foods, etc. and they sell some essential oils. I might try a couple of those out in soap.
 
Yooper said:
Tell Kris about Bath Bombs! Those are the best, and people love them. Oh, sure, it's mainly women and girls- but Quinn loves them too. He calls them "bath fizzies". Last year I did Christmas tree molds that a friend had and they were perfectly sized. For me, I did use some whole hops, because, well, beer.

The lip balms are super easy.
Click to expand...


The bath bombs sound like fun to try. We've been going around and around on doing lip balms. Several female bartenders have said they would buy everything we can make, *IF* I can get my Zebra Stripe IPA flavor into a lip balm... :p
 
Yooper said:
I laughed and laughed.

I'm sorry. I shouldn't have led you down this path.

Do you want to talk about liquid soap making? how about hot process (I do a lot of hot process now)? Or, making lotions, lotion bars, bath salts, body butters, body scrubs?

I'm sorry to have been a bad influence on you. But c'mon- you have SOAP. :ban:
Click to expand...

Cheese is next.
 
I hope you guys aren't really big fans of Tyler Durden are you :D? If you're not familiar, watch Fight Club and you'll know what I mean.
 
Making liquid soap is great and you will get spoiled to it! The thinner body works really well in foaming/pump type dispensers. Now, when I go somewhere that has regular "softsoap" I can't believe how thick and nasty it is.
 
Okay here are a few of the soaps that we are doing at Raincross Soapworks

Matched set of a Bull Dog - Strawberry Hefeweissen soap for a local brewery called Sons of Liberty Aleworks

Bottom row left to right.
Looks like Rain - Rain Scented soap
Not Your Irish Spring - Cedar and Lavender with Pink Sea Salt
LoveSpell - named for the essence

Raincross Soapworks.jpg
 
Melana said:
Thank you. I might have to start sending people random bars of soap just to make room for more soap.
Click to expand...

My address is..... LOL!!!

I envy your talent there, seriously I do. SOME day I'd like to try it. You and @Yooper are VERY BAD INFLUENCES, amongst others, like @ChefRex and @PassedPawn and many more on this site!
 
Temptd2 said:
My address is..... LOL!!!

I envy your talent there, seriously I do. SOME day I'd like to try it. You and @Yooper are VERY BAD INFLUENCES, amongst others, like @ChefRex and @PassedPawn and many more on this site!
Click to expand...

@Melana
Melana's dad apparently blames ME for her obsession with soap now. He told me on Facebook....................:D

So she retaliated by talking me into making pancetta and I think bacon...................

A neighbor walked over with a quart of goat's milk yesterday that she had in the freezer. I was so excited, but Bob actually wants me to waste some of it in FOOD. So I'll make blue cornbread with goat's milk for part of it, and the rest is going for soap! :ban:
 
Has anyone else tried the Bite Me fragrance from Natures Garden? My wife and daughter love it. Here lately, I think my go to scent is Spearmint Eucalyptus from BrambleBerry.

I've been playing with some Melt & Pour for Christmas soaps. It's so fun and easy!

 
Yooper said:
@Melana
Melana's dad apparently blames ME for her obsession with soap now. He told me on Facebook....................:D

So she retaliated by talking me into making pancetta and I think bacon...................

A neighbor walked over with a quart of goat's milk yesterday that she had in the freezer. I was so excited, but Bob actually wants me to waste some of it in FOOD. So I'll make blue cornbread with goat's milk for part of it, and the rest is going for soap! :ban:
Click to expand...

He should be blaiming you im trying my hardest to not get hooked :) make some goat cheese im sure you can do it!
 
applescrap said:
He should be blaiming you im trying my hardest to not get hooked :) make some goat cheese im sure you can do it!
Click to expand...

Oh, yes, I've made tons of cheese in my time, and have plenty of cultures and rennet in the freezer. The thing is, a quart would make about 3 ounces of cheese- not really worth it!
 
Wife and I sat down last night to look at different crafting ideas. She was semi-interested in liquid hand soap. Just not sure who would appreciate it as a gift.

Lip balm looks incredibly simple. Already got beeswax and tubes. Just need the kid to start giving ideas for flavors/colors.

Wife bought some craft bar soap from the craft show in town on Friday. She doesn't like bar soap (because apparently soap can harbor bacteria?? IDK...) But I'd still like to perfect a few recipes. I'll need to scale them down so I don't make so much at a time and still need to rig up a nice mold box. I'm partial to the plain rectangular bar. My usual recipe make SO MUCH soap. I've still got a ton from my first and second batch. I don't know anyone who would use bar soap, other than myself.
 
Homercidal said:
Wife and I sat down last night to look at different crafting ideas. She was semi-interested in liquid hand soap. Just not sure who would appreciate it as a gift.

Lip balm looks incredibly simple. Already got beeswax and tubes. Just need the kid to start giving ideas for flavors/colors.

Wife bought some craft bar soap from the craft show in town on Friday. She doesn't like bar soap (because apparently soap can harbor bacteria?? IDK...) But I'd still like to perfect a few recipes. I'll need to scale them down so I don't make so much at a time and still need to rig up a nice mold box. I'm partial to the plain rectangular bar. My usual recipe make SO MUCH soap. I've still got a ton from my first and second batch. I don't know anyone who would use bar soap, other than myself.
Click to expand...

You can pretty easily scale soap recipes with a lye calculator. I use http://soapcalc.net/calc/SoapCalcWP.asp
Melt and pour basis may be a good option for you.
Somewhere I have a list of 1# test recipes I can see if I can find for you. I got them online someplace when I first started soaping...
 
These are my soaps I made for Christmas gifts. I only send the prettiest bars out, the ones that don't look nice stay at home for family use. Some need to be cleaned up a bit, like the overflow trimmed off, then they'll be good. Everyone who I send the soap to is already chomping at the bit for their soap! Two batches, same recipe, just different fragrance oils.

I use milk from my Nigerian Dwarf goats, that replaces the water in the recipe. It is made with olive oil, coconut oil, kokum butter, castor oil, and jojoba oil. Jojoba was mixed with the fragrance oil and added at trace. The castor oil did cause some acceleration, which it is known to do.

One batch is Spiced Caramel Pear, the other is Blackcurrant Vanilla mixed with a little Honey fragrance.

Making soap is so much fun!

I need to make a batch of salt soap here soon. My Dad brought me a box of coarse kosher salt, that is his hint that he wants some made. Doesn't help that I told him I bought some Bay Rum fragrance oil recently, a favorite of his!

Blackcurrant Vanilla Honey.jpg


Spiced Caramel Pear.jpg
 
Made lip balm this past weekend. 2:1 coconut oil and beeswax by weight (Grams) plus a couple of drops of Vitamin E (I bought a small bottle of capsules and nip the end off of one and squeeze it in a small microwaveable dish.)

The first one we added a bit of powdered drink flavor, because I'd heard you can use Kool-Aid as flavor and color. This stuff didn't mix in. I also added a drop of food color to brighten it up. It didn't mix in. So I poured that into a chapstick tube I bought on Amazon (tried too anyway. It went everywhere but in the tube!)

Next batch we cut the flavors and colors and just made them more natural. I'm not a fan of chapstick in general, but this stuff ain't bad. I'll probably carry a stick around for when I'm outside snowblowing or something. The cold and wind can really dry the lips.

We also made bath bombs. The kids love these things these days. They are a fizzy ball you drop in a bath that has essential oils for aroma and coconut oil for smooth skin. The kid and her friend were coellcting and trying different ones, so we decided to try and make our own. Here is the basic recipe:

4 ounces Baking Soda
2 ounces Epsom Salt
2 ounces Citric Acid
2 ounces Cornstarch
1 tsp essential oil (although it's pretty fragrant. I think half of that should be enough.)
1.25 or so of coconut oil
1 - 1.5 tsp water

Mix dry ingredients with a whisk. Then combine wet ingredients. Then add the wet ingredients very slowly, while continuously whisking it into the dry. You will probably need a bit more water to get a texture that allows for it to be packed, but not wet. If you see fizzing, it's activated, so back off on the water and add more slowly. Then cram it into a mold and let it sit overnight to harden a bit.

I used some old plastic Easter Eggs that you put stuff into. Not ideal, but mostly worked. You can get actual Bath Bomb round molds online. Kid tried one last night and said it worked great. Some people get creative by putting tiny toys or things in the middle, or by mixing colors.

I'm sure I'll never use one (I get enough of that aroma while making them) but the girls really seem to love them.
 
Those look great!

I made bath bombs tonight, as gifts for my daughter for Christmas. I used basically the recipe Homer posted, except for more oil (sweet almond oil). I use very little fragrance, as I hate smelly things but my daughter loves that stuff. I made a lot, because her boys like the bath bombs as much as she does, because they fizz in the tub.

I think up next for soap will be a deer tallow/goat's milk soap since I have plenty of both right now.
 
Yooper said:
Those look great!

I made bath bombs tonight, as gifts for my daughter for Christmas. I used basically the recipe Homer posted, except for more oil (sweet almond oil). I use very little fragrance, as I hate smelly things but my daughter loves that stuff. I made a lot, because her boys like the bath bombs as much as she does, because they fizz in the tub.

I think up next for soap will be a deer tallow/goat's milk soap since I have plenty of both right now.
Click to expand...

Kara and I went shopping in GR on Sunday. We had to stop in to a store called "Lush" to get a special bath bomb for her friend.

I could smell that place halfway across the mall!

The one she picked out was over $7. Needless to say I'm thinking we are going to invest in a bath bomb mold and continue to make our own. There are advanced techniques we might be looking into to make them even more special so they can compare to the store bought stuff.

As it is, I think the homemade stuff is at least as good for your skin, and probably even more so.

And I bought a used crock pot from Goodwill to make soap in.
 
Yep, girls love Lush- but it's full of artificial and overpriced junk (as you've found).

I guarantee that yours will be better than Lush's in quality, but you may want to go with some colors and fragrances to make it seem less "homemade"' if you want yours to be like Lush.

The reason I make my own is to avoid artificial products with fragrances and additives. So I got a little color from grinding some Himalayan pink salt, but otherwise mine are white. I use only a few essential oils, and sweet almond oil, without other fragrances or colors.

I read someone used a crayon (melted) to color theirs, and I cringed a bit. It's probably not going to hurt, but the idea of making things myself means not using things like that in my stuff.
 
As for rendering fat, I take the suet and run it through a meat grinder. It works best if it isn't too cold, so that the grinder does not struggle too hard. I then cook it in a crock pot. I add AND MIX water. The bottom consists of really low grade burger that can be used for chili or whatever. The fat, with debris dissolved in the water is clean. I then take the fat out and it is nice and pure. I then put it in jars. The less pure I rinse with water, cool, skim, and repeat until it is nice a pure.
 
What are you people doing?

I used to come here and read about various escapades in beer making.

Then one day this thread popped up on the Today's Post list. Then it all went to hades. Not really but it sounds more dramatic.

It started so simple with making a few bath bombs for the wife, who loves them by the way. Already have the scales and such just need to get a pitcher and a few things devoted to trying to make some soap. I'm sure I'll have to buy the wife a new Cuisineart stick blender since I've used hers to try this. I told here I washed it quite well but I'm sure she'll never use it again for food. :p

Picked up the coconut oil, olive oil, and some lard at the grocery. Lye was purchased at the local hardware store. Went home and built a wooded mould, lined it with plastic from a grocery store bag, and away I went. Went with Yooper's first recipe with the lard in place of the palm oil, still haven't found that locally yet. Found out that her recipe amount just about exactly fills the mould half way. No problem since it made 5 equal sized bars about and inch thick.

Last week in the middle of brew day I doubled the size of the bath bomb recipe and used some lavender epsom salts the wife bought. This was done while I was waiting for the mash to complete. I found that dixie cups make a nice mould that you can leave them in until they harden.

Yesterday morning nothing better to do so since the wife bought some sea salt to use in the bath bombs I decided to make some salt bars.

Coconut oil, olive oil, castor oil, sea salt ran through a food processor to make a powder, and orange essential oil. Just didn't read far enough through recipes to remember to superfat it by about 20% and left the soapcalc at 7%. I used 16 ounces of oil and an equal amount of salt. I guess we'll see how they turn out.

After the bread loaf pan, yes I bought one of those too, set up enough to cut I put the pieces in a cardboard box in an oven in the garage preheated to 170 and turned off and left them overnight.

I'm not sure if I like anyone who has contributed to this thread so far. :D:D:D

I'll go see if I can get a picture.
 
The four at the top of course are part of the 5 first ones I made. Less than a week later the zap test proved ok and I've been using the fifth one.
The bottoms are all of the salt bars made yesterday.

IMG_20151225_213153_297.jpg
 
dcrog said:
What are you people doing?

I used to come here and read about various escapades in beer making.

Then one day this thread popped up on the Today's Post list. Then it all went to hades. Not really but it sounds more dramatic.

It started so simple with making a few bath bombs for the wife, who loves them by the way. Already have the scales and such just need to get a pitcher and a few things devoted to trying to make some soap. I'm sure I'll have to buy the wife a new Cuisineart stick blender since I've used hers to try this. I told here I washed it quite well but I'm sure she'll never use it again for food. :p

Picked up the coconut oil, olive oil, and some lard at the grocery. Lye was purchased at the local hardware store. Went home and built a wooded mould, lined it with plastic from a grocery store bag, and away I went. Went with Yooper's first recipe with the lard in place of the palm oil, still haven't found that locally yet. Found out that her recipe amount just about exactly fills the mould half way. No problem since it made 5 equal sized bars about and inch thick.

Last week in the middle of brew day I doubled the size of the bath bomb recipe and used some lavender epsom salts the wife bought. This was done while I was waiting for the mash to complete. I found that dixie cups make a nice mould that you can leave them in until they harden.

Yesterday morning nothing better to do so since the wife bought some sea salt to use in the bath bombs I decided to make some salt bars.

Coconut oil, olive oil, castor oil, sea salt ran through a food processor to make a powder, and orange essential oil. Just didn't read far enough through recipes to remember to superfat it by about 20% and left the soapcalc at 7%. I used 16 ounces of oil and an equal amount of salt. I guess we'll see how they turn out.

After the bread loaf pan, yes I bought one of those too, set up enough to cut I put the pieces in a cardboard box in an oven in the garage preheated to 170 and turned off and left them overnight.

I'm not sure if I like anyone who has contributed to this thread so far. :D:D:D

I'll go see if I can get a picture.
Click to expand...

That's how it starts. I tried to warn you.

The good thing is today was Christmas- and my daughter was so excited to get bath salts, bath bombs, and soap from her son. He hand picked out the soaps, and made the bath salts and bombs. He also decorated the jars and bands for the soaps.

When he was here last week to make the bombs, he HAD to try them to make sure they were ok for his mom- so even the 5 year old grandson is making "bath fizzies".

It's an addiction. I tell you, it's an addiction.

so.............

Have you made the salt soap yet? It's a "spa bar", and that's my newest obsession.

If you haven't, you must. Like right now. Drop everything and go make a small batch. Ask @melana - it's the new best thing ever.
 
CA_Mouse said:
Who are ya'll getting your supplies from? We've only been using 1 or 2, but I'd like to expand on that...

Thanks everyone!
Click to expand...
I've tried many, but usually stick with 2. Brambleberry and Natures Garden.
Imo, Brambleberry can't be beat for some of their silicone and other specialty molds. I'm also a big fan of many of their scents and they have an outstanding selection of colors and coloring options. Natures Garden has some nice scents also, but some just don't seem to hold as well BB. I guess I like Peak Candle also lol. They've got some really nice scents!
I tend to deal with BB for the most part. The selection is excellent and they seem to carry just about everything you could want or need for soaping, including stuff for liquid soaps.
 

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