Carrie

I made lavender eo soap but didn't add enough lavender color and it turned gray. I thought that if I added some red it would bring out the lavender color. I was wrong, it turned red. So I hurried to my eo shelf and found something that would go with lavender but that wouldn't be too bad with a red color. I added about 1/2 ounce of Tangerine. I didn't weigh it because the soap was tracing fast, I was soaping way too hot. I put a lid over part of the mold, just to keep the towels off of the soap and put it to bed. This morning I unmolded it and the portion that had the lid on it is lavender colored and the rest is kinda reddish/gray. Oh well, we live and learn.

The bar size is just slightly bigger than the kelsei. I did cut a few soaps in the mold before I used it to make soap. I had a couple of slabs made in another mold that fit down inside. I wish the slots on the sides were narrower because when you fit the knife down in the slots there is room for some play and the bars don't come out cut straight, at least for me. I'm still working on it. I do like the divider bar. I made a 5lb batch and put half in lavender/tangerine and half in litsea/lemongrass. LOL...Lavender tangerine isn't a usual combo I do, it was a mistake, kinda. I hope it'll turn out to be a good mistake.

If you don't find one let me know. I have a 3 section martha mold that I could let go of.

I just bought a misty creek mold. I made my first batch in it yesterday so the jury is still out, but it looks good.

The boxes are 2 3/4 X 3 3/4 x 1. Only one inch thick. A three pound batch will be at least 1.5 inches thick, don't you think?

The bars made in the kelsei rattle around in the boxes. On the Kelsei site it says that the bars are "2 1/8 X 3 1/8". The soap boxes are 2 3/4 X 3 3/4. IMO the kelsei bars are just a little too small.

LOL, I tamed it but that just might teach me to research a new FO before I pour 3oz into the soap. It was Drakkar from AWE. It smells devine.

Today I used 42oz of oils and 16oz of water and it filled the little 9 bar kelsei to the very top. It also riced and then traced super fast. :lipsrseal

Yup. You don't need the same amount of butters as you use for lotion. Just melt a little on your fingertips. That is plenty.

I cannot even imagine. Thanks for the lesson. I thank the lord daily for making this little piece of Paradise I call home. No chiggers and no poisonous snakes. The cold weather lasts a little too long for my liking but that's the price I pay to be here.

LMAO...I was reading your post thinking "I've never used soybean oil." I had to click on the link. Sorry, I don't know the answer.

What's chigger?

Here is a pic of some soaps right out of the kelsei. I forgot to put the SL in that batch and tried to remove them too soon so some of them are kinda messed up. See that soap front and center. Look at the back edge. All but the very middle soap in the batch have to be cleaned up. All of the soaps that are around the edge have a "lip" of soap on that side.

Let it sit 3-4 days to harden up a bit and completely finish saponification. I try to wait at least 1 week before I use a new soap in the shower.

Then draw a square the same size as the inside dimensions of your mold and go from there.

Does your mold have a lid? I use my lid to mark the fold lines. If you don't have a lid you have to measure the length and width of your mold to determine where to fold. For me, I take a piece of freezer paper about 2 feet long and lay it on the table shiny side down. I place the lid to my mold on the paper and trace around it. Then I take a yard stick and align it with each line from the lid and extend the lines to the edges of the paper. Then I cut out the corner sections, turn the paper over so the shiny side is up and fold at the lines toward the center. Place the paper in the mold and it should fit perfectly. Either tape the edges of the paper to your mold or use a large rubber band. Hope that made sense.

Maybe you could tell up which whipped lotion base you purchased. Have you checked the suggested recipes at the site where you purchased it?

Ask her to test one for you, then you'll know.

Can a person buy borax locally? I've seen the borax in the laundry aisle at the grocery store...Same or different?

These are the ones I buy. They are perfect for the soaps with a pouf embedded in them.

Look here: http://www.candletech.com/forums/search.php?searchid=123418 I entered goat milk in the search and came up with 3 pages of different threads. Then I went to the archives and did it again and came up with 390 responses to goat milk. Again, I hate to be rude, but the majority of the questions you've asked could be answered in 5 minutes with a search or at the millersoap.com site that you've been given the link to at least 3 times. If you do not know how to use the search feature, either here or at the archives, I'm sure a mod would be more than happy to instruct you. You can only become a better soapmaker when you are able and capable of researching at least some your needed information by yourself.

Sorry, don't mean to be rude but... Is this the same soap you posted about at 5 and 1/2 hours ago or did you make 2 stinky batches of soap today?

B&B Recipes section, page 2, third post down. Bunny's bath melts.

I typed FBB recipe in the search, up at the top, and got this. There are several recipes listed. http://www.candletech.com/forums/search.php?searchid=122591

I understand the confusion witht the term preservative. Vitamin E is an anti-oxident that helps to keep the oils from going bad. It preserves the oils. Most people think of a preservative as an additive that will keep the little nasties from growing. IMO, both are correct uses of the term, however, just like ounce and fluid ounce, there will always be some confusion