# Newbi question??



## Oakshire_Farm (Dec 4, 2008)

Hey Master Soapmakers! 

Help a Newbi out 

Last year was my first time ever making soap, I made it for Christmas gifts. It worked great, did the cold method, we used olive oil, added lye to the water, mixed it...... 

Well this year I have left it to long (shoot) So I was looking and found people talking about the "hot method" where is does not need to cure so long. 

I have done a quick google search and I cannot find any recipes that made sense? 

So I thought I would post quick here to see if anyone can give me a easy, crock pot style recipe that I can make.

Thank you so much, in advance!!


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## linn (Jul 19, 2005)

You can use almost any cold process recipe and either cook it in the oven or in an old crockpot. You might also try melt & pour this year. There are many bases out there including goat's milk melt & pour. Buy a couple of books or go http://www.soapqueen.com/ for ideas. My favorite book on using m&p base is Soapmaking the Natural Way by Rebecca Ittner. The soaps in that book are works of art and fairly easy to do.


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

Oakshire, Since you are using just Olive Oil, you can reduce the amount of water used for your lye solution.

Both Cold and Hot processes need the extra 'cure' time to allow the excess water to evaporate out of the soap bars.

I have a pictorial about making crock pot hot process milk soap. Since I used the full liquid amount for the lye solution, it took even longer to harden up when compared to my discounted liquid cold process soaps.

Here is a cold process Olive Oil soap recipe that uses a discounted water amount.

48 oz Olive Oil
10 oz water
6.2 oz lye

Cover it and let it go into a gel stage. You'll need to cut your bars once the soap cools from gelling. The soap will be rock hard within a week's time.


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## Oakshire_Farm (Dec 4, 2008)

Thank you so much MullersLaneFarm! That is just what I needed! I will give it a whirl tomorrow!


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## Goatsandsheep (Jun 7, 2006)

Hi Mullerlanefarm, Can I use this in my Christmas molds or will it be to hard to work with?
Thanks Shelly


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

I don't know what your Christmas molds are like so I can't say!


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## Tinker (Apr 5, 2004)

A lot of the fancy molds from craft stores are made for M&P, and can be very tricky to get CP soap out of. If you have silicon molds (like the ice cube trays from the dollar store) these work pretty well MOST OF THE TIME. If they are intricate, like snowflakes, you might still have problems. I have had pretty good luck with the gingerbread men and the stockings, also the hearts.


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## Tinker (Apr 5, 2004)

You can also pour your soap in something like a flat sturdy box lined with plastic, and cut your soap with cookie cutters. You do need to do this within a few days of making the soap, or it will be to hard. And you end up with a LOT of waste, but I usually rebatch the waste, and make soap balls.


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