# any other soapers here?



## Northernrobin (Dec 12, 2011)

Did this years ago, due to allergies. Revisiting this, this time using fancy molds. currently just "re-batched" some old soap. collecting suet to render and found a source of lye ( the hard part as its now not commonly available). Have a rose stamp and some larger and smaller molds on the way. Years ago I just made crude logs and cut them.


----------



## Irene Kidney (May 29, 2011)

Whoops thought you meant soap operas, no never done that but must be interesting.


----------



## bwtyer (Oct 31, 2012)

I have done the melt & pour but never the lye method. I have not found anyone who does it nor any good books. Wish you were closer - making soap the real way is something I would love to learn.


----------



## Senjia (Nov 22, 2013)

My mother used to have a wire basket with a handle on it. You opened the little basket and put small pieces of soap in it and then closed the basket. When washing dishes, you would swish this basket in the water to make suds to do the dishes. Does anyone else remember that utensil?


----------



## windowwonde28941 (Mar 9, 2011)

Yes I make soap .


----------



## chantilly65 (Apr 6, 2014)

Check out this web site. I have bought soaps from her and she does several designs and has won several awards. If you go to craft shows, hers is always the busiest. www.thenaturalcottage.com
Lynda


----------



## NanaTess (Feb 19, 2014)

I just ordered supplies to make my first. Went to two demos at Mother Earth News Fair at Seven Springs, PA in September. Excited to get some made.


----------



## Cara7000 (Sep 25, 2014)

This company, Essential Depot, http://www.essentialdepot.com/servlet/the-Sodium-dsh-Hydroxide-dsh-Lye-dsh-Food-dsh-Grade/Categories
is the best and cheapest source for food grade lye (used for soap and pretzels) I have found. They also have other soap making materials. I also like Wholesale Supplies Plus.


----------



## Windbeam (Jul 31, 2011)

bwtyer said:


> I have done the melt & pour but never the lye method. I have not found anyone who does it nor any good books. Wish you were closer - making soap the real way is something I would love to learn.


Me too.


----------



## Linda6885 (Feb 13, 2011)

I haven't made any soap myself, but I love homemade soaps, and buy them when ever I see good quality ones at craft fairs. There is also a lavender farm in WA state that makes wonderful soap. I love lavender, rosemary, thyme, eucalyptus, rose, so many. Do you sell your soaps? I am sure many of us would like to know. If you do please give us a link.


----------



## littlebaba (Jul 20, 2013)

Peaking in for links, would love to learn making soap


----------



## Chrissy (May 3, 2011)

It's great fun, will never buy store soap again. I use http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=DPUYI&m=422k5r72v5K013W&b=bShIp4QYosDx2YMgEP48tA

:thumbup: :thumbup:


----------



## Senjia (Nov 22, 2013)

When I go to a village fair in Hebron, New Hampshire in July, there is a gal there who makes homemade soaps--called Cardigan Mountain. I love citrus type soaps and also lavender. I buy enough to last me for a year--never by soap in a store again. I love homemade soaps.


----------



## Leanna2 (Mar 31, 2011)

I made all the soap for my family years ago. After I remarried I made some round bars & my new husband thought they would fit in an old timey shaving mug, so he bought one. He used that soap for several years until it was gone. Should probably make some again.


----------



## wadeallie (Feb 1, 2011)

Yes, I make soap. I began last autumn for Christmas gifts but recently I have had requests from people wanting to buy it so I am hustling for enough to sell.
I use a website; www.brambleberry.com to purchase supplies, and their blog: Soapqueen gives lots of recipes and hints.
I get my lye (red devil) from the local Ace Hardware. I use lard, coconut oil, and olive oil for most of my soaps.


----------



## chrisboldo (Jan 31, 2011)

Love making lye soap and melt and pour. Both are fun to do and easy. Google, Brambleberry, wholesale supplies plus and bitter creek, they are some of my fav places to order from. 
Also check You Tube for easy to follow videos.....

Hugs
Chris


----------



## Ermdog (Apr 24, 2014)

Cara7000 said:


> This company, Essential Depot, http://www.essentialdepot.com/servlet/the-Sodium-dsh-Hydroxide-dsh-Lye-dsh-Food-dsh-Grade/Categories
> is the best and cheapest source for food grade lye (used for soap and pretzels) I have found. They also have other soap making materials. I also like Wholesale Supplies Plus.


I make soap also, have for years, but it is getting harder to find lye locally. Thank you for posting this website. I bookmarked it so I can just have things shipped to me. So glad for this. I was also pleased to see I can get beef tallow from this company. None of the meat markets sell that anymore. Didn't think I would ever find it again. Theirs looks all nice and cleaned up too, no more rendering. Yay!


----------



## Medieval Reenactor (Sep 3, 2013)

Thank you for the site to buy lye. My DW sometimes makes soap and teaches basic soap-making. She spent at day at Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts last year learning to make lye from wood ash and then make soap. 

We've rendered tallow from beef fat. The soap makers at OSV use pork fat because that is what they butcher, but told us they must add salt to get it to harden - or leave it softish to use for laundry and dish washing.


----------



## Montana Gramma (Dec 19, 2012)

My friend makes unscented for me. I love all of them but cannot have the scents around. They last forever if dried each time on a drip pad. Sure are some pretty molds out there. Have fun again!


----------



## ceebee2001 (Jun 24, 2014)

I've been soaping for about 6 years now. My best piece of advice is always run any recipe you find through a good soap calculator. There are soo many bad recipes out there on the web.


----------



## auntycarol (Mar 24, 2012)

Chrissy said:


> It's great fun, will never buy store soap again. I use http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=DPUYI&m=422k5r72v5K013W&b=bShIp4QYosDx2YMgEP48tA
> 
> :thumbup: :thumbup:


Thanks for this link.


----------



## chooksnpinkroses (Aug 23, 2012)

I also used to make soap from the raw ingredients, many years ago. I keep wanting to do another batch, but haven't gotten around to it yet... I also used to render down my own tallow from beef fat, boy does that smell! At least now I have somewhere I can do it out of the house. Homemade soap is lovely on the skin because it still has the natural glycerine in it. (commercial soap has it removed) It also smells wonderful, unscented, just the soap it'self... So does the soap pot just after you've poured it into the moulds!.. .Makes me want to go and get the ingredients together to make some NOW.


----------



## chooksnpinkroses (Aug 23, 2012)

Medieval Reenactor said:


> ..... The soap makers at OSV use pork fat because that is what they butcher, but told us they must add salt to get it to harden - or leave it softish to use for laundry and dish washing.


I made a lard soap many years ago, (rendered pork fat) and it wasn't soft, it wasn't quite as hard as the tallow one but it wasn't squishy soft. I didn't add salt. I wonder what is different now? Perhaps it is that my soap wasn't made from 100% lard, it had other oils in it also. 
Here's the recipe I used; 9 oz castor oil, 22oz olive oil, 18oz coconut oil, 36oz lard, 11.5oz lye (cautic soda), 32oz water. ALL the ingredients are weighed on scales, none are liquid measure. I have an old book from 40+ years ago, first printed in1972, and all the recipes I tried worked fine. Cheers.   
The book (printed in New York) I used for all my soap making is as follows.


----------



## Longtimer (May 23, 2013)

Senjia said:


> My mother used to have a wire basket with a handle on it. You opened the little basket and put small pieces of soap in it and then closed the basket. When washing dishes, you would swish this basket in the water to make suds to do the dishes. Does anyone else remember that utensil?


Yes, my mother had one also.


----------



## Bummy (Sep 6, 2013)

I used to have to help my granny make soap. It was when my uncle butchered, and she had tallow. She would send me to the grocery store for a can of Lewis lye. I have never seen whiter sheets.. But seemed caustic to me!


----------



## audlox (Jul 11, 2012)

Yes, we had one, too


----------



## Medieval Reenactor (Sep 3, 2013)

Medieval Reenactor's Wife, here.

Bummy, Lye soap isn't caustic after it's cured. The chemical reaction between the lye and the fat neutralizes the caustic nature of the lye and the greasy nature of the fat.


----------



## Northernrobin (Dec 12, 2011)

good books..excellent: The Everything Soapmaking Book by Alicia Grosso ( available used as a HB) my local library has it. Two books by Ann Watson "smart soapmaking" and "Milk Soapmaking". You can find a very active FB group "soapmaking". I do not do scented soaps, due to allergies. Years ago I did not explore the fancy molds; nowadays there are endless varieties available. So I am exploring this. I might also explore color, but am likely to get into trouble with my allergies. I guess this would make the scentless soap more attractive to buyers.

Before I start selling I need liability insurance and good practice with PH testing..just to be safe with people buying. 

So many buy soap by fragrance ( see other posts) that selling it without may not really work. Currently my thoughts are gifts, and perhaps selling at local hospital gift shop, where I volunteer. We already sell scented plant sourced oil soap, made locally. I am exploring using tallow ( found a local free source and currently have about 30-40 pounds that I am rendering. Also thinking about making fragrance free laundry soap. does anyone think there would be an interest in this?


----------



## Northernrobin (Dec 12, 2011)

Our local library still has this book. I had it years ago, but cannot find it. wondering if I pitched it. On line there is a site called soapcalc where you can go and design your own recipes. Its always calculated with at least 5 % superfatting ( or more) to avoid a PH issue. Before i would consider selling I would also regularly test each batch for the PH, just to be very sure that the lye has all been combined safely into soap. This is a chemical process and ought to result in lye free soap. The fats being converted by the lye into various sodium compounds..which becomes your soap. Absolutely no lye remains in well made soap.

The superfatting also results in a gentle moisturizing soap that is great for dry skin.


----------



## Northernrobin (Dec 12, 2011)

Ermdog, I found free suet ( he offered 50 pounds, I took a bit less due to my muscle power) by contacting a local custom butcher business. People who raise beef for meat, frequently have it butchered for their own use and have no interest in the suet. This is a great way to keep fat out of the waste processing system ( dumps). And I have to say the quality of the suet is far superior to what I bought from local grocery stores. 

They ( grocery stores) seem to sell it this time of the year, due to holiday baking..( ? suet puddings?, pies?).


----------



## Northernrobin (Dec 12, 2011)

I also love the smell of unscented homemade soap...


----------



## Medieval Reenactor (Sep 3, 2013)

Northernrobin said:


> I also love the smell of unscented homemade soap...


Me too. A friend once stated at a meeting that homemade soap turns rancid after awhile. I brought down some 5 or 6 years old soap that smells as clean and fresh as when we made it. Perhaps the soap she had seen before was made with not enough lye or something, so all the fat had not saponified.


----------



## Nanny M (Nov 23, 2014)

Have just started to make soap. We have done four or five batches using the cold process method. Our soap has been very good. We do seem to have a problem getting it to hold its scent. Other than that. It's fun and produces a great bar. We have used a different recipe for each batch. :lol:


----------



## freesia792 (Feb 24, 2012)

Medieval Reenactor said:


> Me too. A friend once stated at a meeting that homemade soap turns rancid after awhile. I brought down some 5 or 6 years old soap that smells as clean and fresh as when we made it. Perhaps the soap she had seen before was made with not enough lye or something, so all the fat had not saponified.


The soap that turned rancid for your friend had to high of super fat?


----------



## Northernrobin (Dec 12, 2011)

different oil choices also affect the shelf life. The oil liquid at room temperature, esp polyunsaturated do not last as long. Olive Oil has a long shelf life.


----------



## Northernrobin (Dec 12, 2011)

here is the end result of my shaving soap project..mostly cause my DH asked. It was a lot of fun. Shaving soap is made with different qualities in mind. creaminess and hardness being most important. He has not tried this yet, its curing. Well I was going to include photo..but cannot see how to do it.


----------



## freesia792 (Feb 24, 2012)

When you hit the reply button, on the bottom of the screen is an option to upload.


----------



## Northernrobin (Dec 12, 2011)

the issue is a non one as I attempted to "drag" the photo to a location where it could be used and instead.."windows" deleted it. However I do have a new photo  yesterday I poured some soap made with yogurt. So I will try for this one to post instead. sorry its a bit blurry.


----------



## Medieval Reenactor (Sep 3, 2013)

Northernrobin said:


> the issue is a non one as I attempted to "drag" the photo to a location where it could be used and instead.."windows" deleted it. However I do have a new photo  yesterday I poured some soap made with yogurt. So I will try for this one to post instead. sorry its a bit blurry.


Your soap is lovely. Once all the current knitting is done, your pretty soap is very much tempting me to make soap again. We've only ever made the medieval sort - rendered tallow, soaked wood ash, etc. - that is a lot of work but I do have a book on making soap with olive oil and other fats. I've never seen directions for using yoghurt. What texture do you get? What did you use to saponify the fat in the yoghurt? Sounds like a lot of fun.


----------



## SouthernGirl (Dec 28, 2011)

I have soap from this shop and it's great. And the shop owner has a manual.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/185480754/soap-making-guide-diy-soap-instructions?ref=shop_home_active_1&ga_search_query=manual


----------



## Northernrobin (Dec 12, 2011)

the directions are in the Milk Soapmaking book by Anne Watson. The yogurt is used in place of 50% of the water..the fat in the yogurt is not considered in the fat/lye calculations. I froze the water.yogurt combination into ice cubes to which the lye is added. This is to keep the temperature lower so that the sugars in the yogurt ( whole milk yogurt) does not turn the soap a brown-ish color. 

Just made a second and larger batch a few days ago..I over shot the lye and then had to remove some when measuring..by that time the scale had turned itself off. I guessed. Now the soap is kind of "sticky" and I am hoping that it will eventually be alright. It will probably have a short self life though.

From now on I will include the weight of the container in the lye measurements..then I can just turn the scale back on and proceed. Only other option would be to buy another scale that does not have an auto turn off feature..also going to have another extra container and extra spoon for corrections..


----------



## Medieval Reenactor (Sep 3, 2013)

Thank you for the instruction. This really does sound like a fun project.

I see homemade soap in hand knit soap socks arriving for Xmas presents.


----------



## freesia792 (Feb 24, 2012)

I JUST saw on one of my soaping groups an idea to rebatch in a heat proof bag (such as crock pot or turkey cooking bag)and just boil the bag to remelt/incorporate. I am so going to try this, maybe this weekend. All those end pieces and beveled ends have to go somewhere! I love the idea of the bag. NO MESS! Hurray for ME! Should be an easy pour, and need less water so set up should be faster too.


----------



## Geebart (Jun 2, 2014)

I see them at estTe sales occasionally. I have one (somewhere)


----------



## Northernrobin (Dec 12, 2011)

So, I am slowing down for the summer on soap making. Last I made 2 batches of 100% olive oil soap. One CP and one HP. Currently in a belated oven process to gently bake out some moisture. I figure they might be good to use by October. Then my last project was to rebatch all of the scraps from last winter's soap. Used aloe vera in place of water. Also OP finish, as they were pretty soft and moist. 

I revisited the olive oil soap ( which I first made in the early 80s cause of my allergies) due to a grand nephew who has eczema to the point that they dropped him down to weekly baths, which he fights and does not like. The conditioning factor on 100% OO soap is 80!


----------



## Northernrobin (Dec 12, 2011)

winter, which is long and cold where I live is a great time to get into soap making. This summer I hope to return to spinning fibers. I no longer can knit, but a niece does ( she is focused on becoming a knitwear designer).

Olive Oil soap has the absolute best smell of all soap! 

Am donating a bunch of soap this fall for a group for money making funds. They are having a small festival. Umbrella insurance covers giving it away. For selling it, for starting a business, I would have to get additional insurance.

Due to giving away soap, I now am getting requests to sell it. I certainly have enough to start selling, but have not decided what to do yet. I have a son who could use the SS benefits of our starting a business...


----------



## freesia792 (Feb 24, 2012)

I have been making soap as needed (personal, friends,family)and now find myself into whipped cream lotion, lotion bars, etc. These might be a better summer make than soap. Is there no end to this addiction?


----------



## Northernrobin (Dec 12, 2011)

I love "body butter" and lotion bars. Only con is that the butter must be kept below 75 degrees. don't know how much more I can sneak into our frig before my DH starts complaining. and no there does not seem to be any end.


----------

