Teach Soap

For those who have done it--I keep seeing references to using a saturated salt solution--but in what proportion? If I'm diluting a lb of olive oil/castor oil paste with 2 lbs distilled water, would the salt go in the 2 lbs, or be separate? How much?

Thanks!

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Lesli Sagan
Avital's Apiaries
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I didn't try that, but I did dilute my 1# of paste in 2# of water and it was too thin. Next time I'm going to start at a 1:1 ratio and add more water as necessary.

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Linda
I know the voices in my head aren't real, but they sure have some great ideas!

I went with the 2:1 ration last night for the few ounces I was testing, and it was thin, but worked fine anyway. Right now, I'm diluting 1 lb of past in 2 lbs of water over a double boiler. If it seems too thin, I can always take the lid off tomorrow and heat it up a bit, I guess.

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Lesli Sagan
Avital's Apiaries
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Well, this morning the paste was dissolved, and it's anything but thin. I just added more water. I'm going to need some containers...

Has anyone tried those foaming soap bottles? I was thinking that they would work well for the thinner soap, if they foam it up.

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Lesli Sagan
Avital's Apiaries
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I have tried the foamer bottles and love them. I used about one ounce of my already diluted soap with about 2-3 ounces of water. I keep a foamer bottle by the kitchen sink.

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Linda
I know the voices in my head aren't real, but they sure have some great ideas!

Quick question for those of you who sell liquid soap - How do you package it? in a pump bottle, foamer, disc lid? Thanks!

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Linda
I know the voices in my head aren't real, but they sure have some great ideas!

Update: I used 40 ounces of water to 16 ounces of paste, and it's a nice consistency. I was surprised! I thinned it to a watery consistency, and put it in a foaming soap bottle that I had cleaned out. Works like a dream.

So--while I don't sell it yet, I'd say that I'll use it thick in a disk or upside down squeeze, and thinned in a foaming bottle.

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Lesli Sagan
Avital's Apiaries
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did anyone neutralize their soap with borax? It's suppose to thicken it.

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Linda
I know the voices in my head aren't real, but they sure have some great ideas!

Ditto--3% superfat, because I didn't want to neutralize. But I found that I didn't need to thicken it. My 90/10 olive oil/castor is a nice consistency at 40 oz water to 16 oz paste, or further thinned for a foamer bottle.

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Lesli Sagan
Avital's Apiaries
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I'm updating this: the second soap batch, coconut and avocado oils, is completely different from the olive/castor paste. Supposedly, olive oil soap should require less water to dilute (2:1) and coconut more. Not in my case. The olive oil soap is a nice consistency when diluted 3:1 or a bit more, while the coconut oil soap diluted 2:1 is watery (but a fine soap).

So I'm back to trying to figure out how to thicken it a bit--I tried the suggestion on the Bramble Berry castile paste page: 1.5 oz water, .5 ounces salt, and 12 ml per 16 ounces of soap. No deal. It didn't thicken.

I'd rather not use borax. So I'll try a more concentrated salt solution, I suppose.

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Lesli Sagan
Avital's Apiaries
Like us: http://www.facebook.com/AvitalsApiaries