# Starting with basic supplies



## Trysta (Apr 5, 2011)

I want to try to make soap, but am not sure if I am going to succeed, so I want to start with basic supplies. I do realize that the right supplies are important, but I can not find a good 'what-you-absolutely-need-list'. Can anyone help me? Also a very simple recipe and a link to the calculator everyone is talking about? What can I use for molds until I am ready to invest in nice molds?

Thanks for your help! (I will thank you now, in case I won't be able to after I exploded my first batch...)


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## Kalne (Oct 25, 2007)

You can start on a shoestring but I would invest in a good scale right off. Other than that you can pick up stainless steel bowls/stock pots at yard sales/thrift stores and use them for mixing your soap in. Some here use plastic, I prefer SS. Large plastic pitchers are easy to find cheap too (use for mixing your lye solution). And almost anything rigid can be used as a mold once you line it with freezer paper.


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## Trysta (Apr 5, 2011)

Yes, I do want to buy a good version of what I really need! So a good digital scale, I guess. And what about mixing spoons or a stick-blender? I have plenty of plastic pitchers and a few stainless steel bowls, so I'm good there.


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## hsmomof4 (Oct 31, 2008)

Go up to the recipes sticky and make the Walmart recipe for your first batch, water only, no milk. Use a lye calculator to scale it down to a smaller size (no need to make such a big recipe straight off). Here's one lye calculator: http://www.thesage.com/calcs/lyecalc2.php And here's another: http://www.soapcalc.net/calc/SoapCalcWP.asp

Stainless steel mixing spoons are perfect, or you can use silicone spatulas, I have both, and I would start with a cheap stick blender from Walmart, in case you don't like making soap, since you can't use that stick blender for food after you've used it for soap. If you enjoy it, then you can invest in a good one later (since a good one is going to cost you $50+)


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## hsmomof4 (Oct 31, 2008)

Wanted to add that once you use stuff for soap (except for stainless steel, which can be gotten totally clean) you can't use it for other things. So those pitchers you have, for example, or any plastic or silicone spoons, spatulas, etc.


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## Trysta (Apr 5, 2011)

Thanks so much everyone. I will try that Walmart recipe (haha, I've seen it mentioned and I thought people were kidding...), only water though :sniffle I hope I learn fast, 'cause i want to use my milk. 

I realize I can't reuse items, but I have plenty of pitchers without lids (where do those things go??) that I can use and keep for soap. I will keep you guys posted on my soap adventure, thanks for the good tips!!

Oh, and is freezer paper and wax paper the same? Since the size looks handy, I wanted to use the 'box-bottoms' that cans come in, lined with paper. It looks like that would be the right height and then I can cut it into the right size bars later?


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## Jenny M (Nov 21, 2009)

Freezer paper & wax paper are different. The wax paper won't work so great - to fragile. Freezer paper is better. You can find it in the store near the wax paper usually. Some use plastic wrap but I eveidently am plastic wrap challenged. I tried it on 3 batches this week cause I was out of freezer paper & just could not get it smooth to save my life. The end bars were especially messy & wrinkeld where it bunched up the worse. I don't have the patience to fight that stuff!


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## tmfinley (Feb 21, 2008)

You can find stick blenders cheap at the thrift store I have a plethora of them I got for $3 at Goodwill.


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## Trysta (Apr 5, 2011)

Goodwill it is!


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## hsmomof4 (Oct 31, 2008)

Or you can use parchment paper (which is different from either freezer paper or wax paper) and some people use plastic wrap or trash bags.


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## MF-Alpines (Mar 29, 2010)

Safety equipment is a must! Gloves, long sleeves and safety glasses or shield. No open-toed shoes.

Good luck.


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## Faye Farms (Sep 14, 2009)

You know I am still soaping with a lot of the supplies I started with. I like to use trash bags to line my molds. They are cheap and quick. Much easier to work with than saran wrap. I can minimize bunching at the end of my logs but running a butter knife along the sides of the mold to smooth the plastic out after I poured the soap. My friend made me some cheap wood logs molds made out of scrap lumber. I am still using the same cheap $10 stick blender I bought 8 years ago! I use frosting buckets that I got for free at the bakery departments at Walmart and Dillons. They even come with lids. I like to measure out a whole bunch of batches of soap at the same time. If I don't get around to soaping them right away I just pop a lid on and I can soap it when I'm ready. I am moving up in the world though. Last year I splurged and bought myself a tank. Before that I cut soap with a homemade miter box and a bread dough knife. Did that for quite a few years. My next big splurge will be some Woodfield molds. That will have to wait until next year though. I've got too many bills to pay!


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## Trysta (Apr 5, 2011)

MF-Alpines said:


> Safety equipment is a must! Gloves, long sleeves and safety glasses or shield. No open-toed shoes.
> 
> Good luck.


Ha, the shoes! I would have absolutely forgotten that!! I bought safety goggles last week, and knew about the long sleeves and gloves, but I would have happily started the batch on my socks or bare feet. Thanks for the details!!!!


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## Jenny M (Nov 21, 2009)

Yes, the little lidded buckets that hold about 7 or 8 lbs. I have several for melting my oils. I set them in a wok filled with water on my hot plate. Then you can pour your oils safely into your stainless pot that you have disloved your lye in. Also, when I have extra time I measure out oils into several buckets so I can whip up a batch of soap quickly. The lidded buckets keep the oils clean & safe till use.

Always wear long sleaves & shoes!!. I was wearing flip flops one day & splashed lye. Did not know it til my foot began to hurt horribly. Worse than burning even. A big blob of lye burned a hole in my toe.


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## hsmomof4 (Oct 31, 2008)

> Then you can pour your oils safely into your stainless pot that you have disloved your lye in.


Um, pouring the oil into the lye???


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## Jenny M (Nov 21, 2009)

Yep. In all these years I have never done it any other way. Did not know there was a rule otherwise. I slowly pour the melted oils into my stainless pot of lye mixture. These may be old ways but it works perfectly fine. 

But remember that any way you do it to work carefully. Whichever way you do it there is a risk of spashing. I would just rather pour oils to lye than the other way round.


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

It's also done this way in commercial setups. You also don't have to slowly pour your lye into your water.....and you don't have to even stir your lye as you dump it into your oils....so much of what we do is internet stuff we do because somebody else said so, when in reality so much of it is fluff and certainly nothing to do with the chemistry behind saponification


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