I made a batch of Castile today with 850 grams of Olive Oil. I have a super cheap source at a store liquidator called HomeBuys. I got a 33 oz. Bottle of extra virgin OO for $6. Amazing. Anyway it took a really long time to trace. Even then it was very very light. I used a steep water discount. Anyway I wore my Fitbit and I recorded 38 minutes of zone minutes where my heart rate was elevated. What a workout. I used a 1.2 kg loaf mold and have it in a box covered with towels. I cannot wait to look at it. I never knew that soap making is a cardio workout.

A bit unconventional design, but in my defense I probably did 10 different designs of ocean soap in 2 days.

This was one of the stars over my Christmas markets ❤️☺️ people couldn’t get enough of them ✨✨✨✨

Scented in Mandarin and Lime. Happy 2025!

My neighbour gave me about 22 oz of beef tallow that he rendered and I am stoked to make some soap with it! Is there anything I should consider given that this is home processed with regards to its SAP value? I was thinking of bumping my calculated SF up to 8% to be extra cautious. I'd welcome any advice!

Mint, Lemon & Eucalyptus

https://preview.redd.it/eyy04yllbfae1.jpg?width=539&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=158a1f0405e4ee36bbb964868177b1d4d5c5fce3

Orange, Cinnamon, Clove, Pine & Eucalyptus.

https://preview.redd.it/w3pi67aabfae1.jpg?width=555&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=48812c470547c098593d8285b32b13aa5db48daa

A blend of Cranberry, Pine, Cedarwood & Juniper Berry

I am wondering how many here use online sales as their primary method of distribution? Thanks.

Tried making a batch with scent for the first time and it came out smelling STRONG.

It seemed like a lot of essential oil when I looked at the recipe, but being a new soap maker I told my self stick to the plan.

Does this person like their soaps really strong? Will the essential oil smell fade as it soaponifies?

Or......

Did I just mess up?

Future thanks for any help!

Delicate, fragrant, and utterly divine.

I want to make a gold and pink swirl mica soap. I’ve noticed most people pencil layer with gold or put on soap tops. I’ve never seen a gold bar any reason?

I’m testing a new to me fragrance this weekend in my CP soap- balsam cedar from crafters choice. 3% vanillin. How much/depth of yellow brown discoloration should I expect with that % of vanillin? And will it olive out any true green micas ?

I made some hot process soap (my first ever soap) but it was too thick when I put it in the form and so there’s lots of divots all over the outside where the globs didn’t fill in the mold all the way. I’d like to cut them off to have nice, square, smooth soap bars, and I’m wondering if the bits I’ll cut off can be repurposed.

I'm wondering if Kirk's Castile (specifically the coconut oil fragrance free soap) can be used as M&P since it has glycerin?

These are the only listed ingredients: sodium cocoate, water, glycerin, sodium chloride, sodium gluconate.

We meant to get an M&P base and my SO misread this as just a clear glycerin base so I'm trying to see if we can still use it or not 👀

Any advice is helpful, thanks!

Hello! Probably 20 years ago, maybe more I read a book on soap making that I really loved and cannot find in my collection. Hoping someone can help, here is what I remember: natural soap making, lady lived in New York I think, recipe for a dish soap bar, talked about a Dutch custom of whole house cleaning every year, included some recipes for face cream from beeswax as she kept bees. Talked about buying huge drums of lavender oil. Anyway, know it’s a longshot but it’s driving me nuts! Let me know if you k own what I’m talking about.

One of my favorite.

I’ve been making sugar scrubs for years now and I used to use the base from wholesale supplies plus. I’m re-introducing whip soaps into my line and figured I would continue using the Stephenson’s foaming bath base. I received my order from candle science, (75lbs) and I proceeded to start whipping the base just like I would normally do. After about three minutes, I started to notice a kind of grainy looking texture, but I continue to whip it thinking that it would potentially stop. After the batch was complete as you see above, it almost looks and feels like there are sugar in it, though the only thing that I added was a jojoba oil. I also made several more batches out of the other boxes and all came up looking like this. I even left out the oil from a few. It also feels rough.

Looking for any advice or theories!

Lavender, oatmeal soaps as my first soap. What could I use the tiny ones for? Could they work in the middle of a white bar?

thank you for the upvotes on the soap top! Here’s the cut! I used mad micas for the colorants.

I am getting ready to dive into cold pour soap making but live in NY. It says to mix lye into water outside everywhere I have researched/read. Is it okay to do this during winter months or should I take different precautions? Would the cold temperatures have a negative effect on soap making? Thank you for helping!

So this is my first time making soap, i used a recipe of 40g grapeseed oil 95.6g coconut oil, virgin 95.6g olive oil 87.9g water 33.9g lye I mixed by hand (i lack an emulsion blender) i mixed for 10-15 minutes and it felt a little too thin so i kept mixing until it felt like a flood consistency royal icing. I then poured it into the mold. But now im second guessing if it was thick enough and if it will even set. This is meant to be a hard soap.

Hello all. What do you do to maximize the fragrance in your soap? My wife is a soap maker and even though she uses the prescribed amount of fragrance in her batches, the fragrance isn’t very strong. Some are so subtle you can barely notice the difference between them. I know she adds something to help the fragrance “stick”, but for me, it doesn’t do the trick.

She uses fragrance from BrambleBerry, Crafters choice and Candle Science.