Best soap recipes

[OneFineAcre]

I know someone who uses 4" PVC pipe to make round soap molds but of course no waves.

We bought a piece of square PVC downspout from Lowes

 

[babsbag]

Yes, you can cut it down. I make a little over 4lbs at a time as that is what fits in my mold and my soap cutter. I get 12 4 oz bars which is plenty. I like making different ones; I wouldn't want 40 of the same thing.

https://www.thesage.com/calcs/LyeCalc.html

This is the lye calculator that I use. After you enter the weights of the individual oils for the original recipes and hit the calculate lye recipe it will give you a place to resize the recipe.

This is how you can tell how much soap your mold will hold.

Length of mold x Width of mold x Height of soap x .40 = ounces of oil needed

 

[Hens and Roos]

Yes, you can cut it down. I make a little over 4lbs at a time as that is what fits in my mold and my soap cutter. I get 12 4 oz bars which is plenty. I like making different ones; I wouldn't want 40 of the same thing.

https://www.thesage.com/calcs/LyeCalc.html

This is the lye calculator that I use. After you enter the weights of the individual oils for the original recipes and hit the calculate lye recipe it will give you a place to resize the recipe.

This is how you can tell how much soap your mold will hold.

Length of mold x Width of mold x Height of soap x .40 = ounces of oil needed

thanks, I will look into this

 

[norseofcourse]

Great, great thread! I'm going to be making more sheep's milk soap, and I still have a whole lot to learn. I poured my first batch into individual soap molds, but as the soap cured, it shrank to about half the size, and even with turning them, they deformed a bit as they shrunk. Plus, I'd need a lot more molds to make the quantities I'll be making, and they get expensive. Cutting bars from a rectangle or cylinder sounds good.

What are people meaning when they talk about 'wavy' soaps?

 

[Southern by choice]

 

[norseofcourse]

@Southern by choice - ah, ok! I don't think I've seen that effect (then again, I haven't done much looking for homemade soaps). The only 'wavy' I could think of was something like the shape of a Dove soap bar.

I have to start making more soap and cheese soon, I am running out of freezer space for milk - although that's a good problem to have

 

[babsbag]

soap molds are easy to make with a good saw and a drill press. I make a bunch and sell them in my classes and I sell entire kits at the local Goat Education Day that our dairy club puts on each year. If you make molds it is easiest to make one that is held together with bolts and wing nuts so you can take it apart and release the soap.

@norseofcourse ...your soap shouldn't shrink that much; or deform. That is not a problem I have run into or even read about. What kinds of oil did you use?

 

[norseofcourse]

@norseofcourse ...your soap shouldn't shrink that much; or deform. That is not a problem I have run into or even read about. What kinds of oil did you use?

I used olive oil and lard. The shrinking happened when I milled the soap and repoured it into molds. The milling recipe called for 12 ounces of grated soap and 9 ounces of water, heated together to re-melt it so you could add color, scents or other stuff, and repour it into molds.

It was in "The Complete Soapmaker" by Norma Coney. I like all the descriptions she has of oils and additives and their properties. It is the only place I've seen where she tells you to add the water to the lye, though, and everything else I've read says the opposite.

 

[Moody]

I will try lavendar next time thanks!

Wow that is some pretty purple soap!

My mold is from some wood I had laying around and doesn't break apart and my soap wasn't very thick when I poured it. So it escaped out of the sides.

 

[babsbag]

Never pour the water into the lye; she has that backwards. I haven't milled any soap, too much work for my schedule. If you buy good fragrances that have been tested in cold process soap making you can add them the first time and all will be well. I only buy from sites that tell how the fragrance will react as some turn the soap brown and others can speed up trace to the point of seizing. And some scents just don't smell good as they age.