A customer once asked me to make her an antibacterial soap to replace the triclosan wash she had used for years, and the whole conversation turned into
Use neem oil at about 5 to 10 percent of your oils for a skin bar, and up to 15 percent for a therapeutic or pet bar. It brings real antibacterial and
Making soap from scraps means grating your leftover slivers, melting them low and slow with a splash of liquid until they congeal into a mashed-potato
The bar that taught me the most about soap colorants came out the color of wet cement when I had poured it a bright sky blue. I keep a labeled tray of
There are three ways to make a soap flower: carve one from a bar with a small knife, pipe one from whipped soap using cake-decorating tips, or pour melted
Red palm oil does two jobs in soap at once: it hardens the bar like tallow through its palmitic acid, and it tints the soap a natural golden orange from
My soap shelf holds more books than any other craft I practice, and the spines tell the story of every mistake I made learning. I have been making soap
You render the raw fat first, melting it low and slow to strip out the connective tissue, blood, and water, then treat the clean tallow or lard like any
Making soap for gifts is a scheduling problem before it is a craft one: melt-and-pour bars are ready the same day, while cold process needs four to six
My first soap kit was a bargain all-in-one set that shorted me on nearly everything that mattered. I have been making soap for about eleven years now