/diy/ - Do It Yourself

>>800701
A hardness number of 40 should be just fine. Give them time to cure. What are your oil percentages like? Also, are you using Sodium Lactate?

>>800507
Hardly worthless, good sir or madam or other. And happy to help.

There's always someone who will find a reason to complain...that's the nature of the internet.

>>800378
I made it into my 30s without making anything of myself, so I WAS due. Considering a move to the Atlanta suburbs, to be closer to my friend/mutual investor who wants to be more directly involved. Plus, I'm pretty anxious to get out of South Texas.

>>800091
>>800338
It's just someone getting mad that I dared to use a trip. Honestly, the whole arguement over it was stupid to begin with. In this circumstance, it isn't attention whoring. It's just easier to do this and keep it consistent on the comments coming from me, the OP. I don't care about the attention. More just want to keep it consistent. I don't know why I let people argue with me about it to begin with.

>>800069
Baking/cooling racks which stack, with a small fan on low pointed at them. Turn it up too high and the soaps loose fragrance kinda fast. Turn upside down after about a week.

>>800073
LMAO at first I thought you meant me.

Actually, it'd still be accurate if you meant me.

Soooooo......

Has anyone had any experience making liquid soaps, bubble baths, lotions, etc? Thinking of expanding my lines.

Don't want this thread to 404. So...here's some more soap. I'm actually going to start making candles too.

>>797065
Thanks man. I wanted to put shrink wrap on my soaps that are ready for sale and put them in a more secure place. I already ruined one bar by knocking it off the curing rack, onto the floor, and my dog biting down on it...really didn't want to repeat that. Plus, my dog wouldn't drop it until I finally threatened a bath.

Overall, I've been really happy with how my soaps are turning out. I definitely add stuff for visual appeal, but I also add stuff to improve the quality of my soap. I make my soaps moisturizing and skin-friendly.

>>797066
Well you could always buy some of mine first....

Eh, I'm mostly joking. Soap making is definitely a fun thing to do. And the great thing is you can make soap that is based on individual needs. Soap for dry sky, soap for oily skin, soap for people with psoriasis, etc.

>>796384
Hehe.

>>796296
Use of Titanium Dioxide and Zinc Oxide can both make soap whiteish. Not 100% white if you're using olive oil, but still pretty close.

>>796292
Shit, forgot pics.

>>795388

I tried my first Hot Process soap batch last night. I think it came out pretty well. Coconut oil, palm oil, olive oil, castor oil, and shea butter.

>>795395
Infected with what?

I've done about 15 batches of cold process soap with successful results. Now, I'm going to take a stab at Hot Process soap. Anyone tried it yet?

>>794467
There is usually a small percentage of "filler" in the lye container. Usually, it's other chemicals that are part of the manufacturing process or for aid in storage. On places like Essential Depot or Brambleberry, the lye you get is usually 97-99% pure. Mostly, the extra chemicals are sodium bicarbonate, which is harmless.

But the way it works, you pre-measure your water (use distilled and nothing else), add your lye to it and stir. When your lye water becomes mostly see through and has cooled to within 10 degrees F of your oil temps, you can mix them. Your oils are basically chains of fatty acids. Things like olive oil, coconut oil, lard, tallow, etc.

As your mixture undergoes saponification and hardens, the sodium bicarbonate tends to float to the surface, leaving a film or "scum" as you put it. This is known as Soda Ash. You can remove it pretty easily, but best to prevent it by spraying your molds and the top of your hardening soap with rubbing alcohol.

>>793562
Soap Queen is pretty good. She taught me the basics. She owns the best soap supply company around, Brambleberry. Awesome prices.

If you're gonna give it a try, buy yourself some olive oil, coconut oil, and palm oil. Also some Castor oil, in smaller amounts. Personally, I find it super fun. It's like chemistry + cooking + the only parts of art class I liked.

So I've got a decade on ya. Alright, awesome. Good on you for realizing the system is bullshit.

>>793545
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fight-Club-Plastic-Soap-Prop-/111637392453?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&var=&hash=item19fe1b6c45

Fuck it. Putting my trip back on. Don't care if people object.


>>793051
Umm...don't do it. You won't really care for the outcome. Just google "Rebatch Soap" and you'll see how to reuse your soaps.
>>793453
Thanks. Melt & Pour would be of higher quality than your regular old store-bought stuff. You can buy melt & pour super cheap online, and can add stuff to it very easily. Your own fragrances, colorants, etc. It's only slightly more money and it'll be very much worth it.

Soap, truth be told, won't be that hot. So you can use a lot of things: plastic, wood (has to be lined), silicone, glass, etc. Virtually anything will work.

So here's a little something to help. I found a prop replica on eBay. You can create a mold of that using silicone.

>>793479
When did you drop out? I got my GED back in 99.

As far as chemistry goes, you will learn some basic stuff if you do research. I find the process pretty fascinating, and you get to see chemical reactions happening right in front of you, so that's cool. Go on youtube and look at some basic "cold process soap making" videos and you'll learn a ton.

>>779845
Haha! Yeah, I've seen a ton of those. The soap threads in the past were really informative and experimental and I absolutely loved it. It's what inspired me to do it myself. And after a little research, I saw that a lot of companies that make artisan soap products, especially the shave soaps I love so much, buy their materials and fragrances from Brambleberry. That said to me, "If they can do it, I can too!" I think my real key to success is going to come in the scent combinations I'll create, as well as producing entire lines of bath products with those scents. I've already got an idea for a very masculine soap, inspired by Humphrey Bogart.

Now if you're not wanting to deal with Lye, which is understandable, then you can still do your own soap making. There's tons of places where you can buy a soap base to create melt & pour soap. All you need is the soap base, a microwave, a mold, and some fragrance oil. Although with melt & pour, you can also make some really visually stunning products.

>>779835
Nearly all soaps use sodium hydroxide (lye). If they don't, they really can't even be called soap, legally. But to answer your question: Not at all.

The reason is that when the soap is finished curing, there is NO lye left in the soap (provided you made it properly). Lye itself is very caustic and can cause severe burns, but when added to the oils in the proper proportions, the process of saponification changes everything chemically into soap. There's no lye left in the soap once it is finished curing. That is why, if you make cold process soap, you have to let the bars cure for 4-6 weeks. That ensures that everything is fully saponified.

>>779833
Don't worry...not discouraged. Just realized I came across as kind of defensive. Wasn't my intention. I was gonna go by "Shave Dad" but then I realized that could come across as an instruction instead of an interest.....

The process of making soap is fairly easy, but it's figuring out what to put in it and the best combinations that is important. Each oil has different properties that it lends to the soap. Palm oil makes a harder bar of soap, so it's important to include some if you're using softer oils like Castor oil. I'll post a link to a soapmaking calculator, so that nobody has to try to figure out the proportions themselves.

http://www.brambleberry.com/Pages/Lye-Calculator.aspx

>>779829
By the way, thank you for posting that picture. I was looking around on my computer for it...saved it a while back, but had trouble finding it.

>>779829
I'm a dad and I'll be making soap. I see your point, though. Shall I change it to "Soon To Be Soap Dad"? Or do you mind if I go ahead and start my first batch tomorrow and post pictures of the process and results?

To be honest, I actually am a soap enthusiast. It's been mostly shave soap, but my interest in cold process soap has also grown. I have about 40 different types of shave soap. This is a small order I placed with my current favorite shave soap company, Stirling.

Either way...if I can help others get into it an learn, then why not?

I'm getting geared up to start cranking out lots of soap. I bought about 50 samples of fragrance oils, to see what I like best, and a dozen different types of oils, so that I can test the different properties each oil adds to the end product. I also purchased molds, but you can use anything from plastic tupperware containers to muffin pans as molds for your soap.

>IMPORTANT RULE
>NEVER EVER EVER EVER USE ALUMINUM. IT REACTS WITH SODIUM HYDROXIDE.

I've done a lot of studying. Youtube is a great resource, as there are tons of people who show you how to make soap. There's several different ways as well, but if you're making soap "from scratch", you'll be doing either:
>Cold Process Soap
or
>Hot Process Soap

The methods are very similar, but there is a distinct difference in how the soap turns out, the length of time before the soap is ready, and the amount of work you're putting into it.

Most people get into soap making as a hobby. They make guest soaps, party favors, or just want to produce a higher quality soap than they could buy at their local grocery store, for half the cost.

Personally, I'm approaching it as a business. I'm very new to it, and maybe it's a bit silly to start a business doing something I haven't done before, but life is all about adventure.

In this picture, you can see a bunch of supplies I ordered from Brambleberry, a really great soap supply company. You can get most of the stuff to make soap at your local grocery store and hardware store. There are also tons of hobby shops out there with soap making supplies.

The main ingredients in soap are oils. You can use virtually any type of oil: coconut, olive, castor, hell even beef tallow. When combined with Sodium Hydroxide (Lye), the process of Saponification begins. This process converts the oils into soap.