# Advice for a newbie



## Tim Pruitt (Oct 26, 2007)

Being from LA we cannot sell our milk legally. Feeding calves, pigs and chickens make meat but not a lot of money to pay the feed bill. We are thinking of expanding our operation to include soap and lotions. Any advice for a beginner?


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## Kalne (Oct 25, 2007)

Start with the WalMart recipe in the recipe thread. Personally, I would scale it down. When I started I made 1 pound batches until I knew what I was doing and was happy with my formula. The WalMart recipe is made with easily obtainable oils and makes very nice soap. Read a lot on this forum and then ask your questions here.


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## nightskyfarm (Sep 7, 2009)

Once you start, you won't stop! It is very addicting. Learn to use the lye calculator at thesage.com a very invaluable tool. Start simple was the best advice given to me and really investigate your EO's and especially your FO's for how they interact with your oils etc. Get a good digital scale also a must, for around $40. I started with PVC molds and still use them, inexpensive to make. And I made my miter box for slicing. Good Luck and Have Fun! Jennifer


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## Sondra (Oct 25, 2007)

yes Tim start with the Walmart recipe for soaps. another good seller is a simple shea butter either whipped or plain.


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

Barb's lotion is the best! And I do think that the walmart recipe is the best one to start with. Problems with it is pilot error 

oldwillknott.com get a soaping scale from him, I have and still use my old KD600 from him, the KD series are wonderful, get the one with the AC adaptor.

thesage.com put any recipe you even think about using through it, print it out to keep...if you want to change to a smaller or larger recipe it will resize it for you. IF you take a simple glass baking dish, weigh it, tare the scale (which sets it back to zero) then fill it with water, this is the amount of soap you need for a batch to fit the dish. This will be fine for your first trail batches, if you like doing this immediatly think about molds, either commercial molds via Kelsie (sticky above) or use the 3 inch PVD pipes. Yes you can make wooden molds, but it's lining and not only cutting bars, but cutting the big batches of soap into logs that you then cut in bars! You can get your costs down by buying in bulk, scent, butters and oils etc...and instead of using a miter box you can cut soap with a tank...each step that lowers labor or freight price makes you more profit of course.

Dont' go crazy with scent....a couple essential oil bars, a couple of food scents, a couple of florals, a couple of fragrance dupes.....do a handful of soaps really well. Think ahead of time about scents in soap that match lotions, that perhaps match soy candles someone else may want to make, or smelly jellies even very young kids can make. There is so much room for everybody to do this, why so much info is given so freely. I buy my smelly jellies and candles, and this year shaving mugs (buckrun) from others, so I can soap. Looking for somebody to do my tolietries this year. Vicki


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## adillenal (Feb 6, 2009)

My advice would be to check around and see how many other soapmakers are in your area if you plan on selling at farmers markets or craft shows. For the past several years I have been the only soaper at most all venues I attended. This year there are 3, 4, 5 or more at every show I attend. Seems like everyone is trying to add income through soapmaking in my area. Which means no one is doing well. My area is suddenly saturated with soapmakers. Luckily , not as many are also making lotion so I am surviving. 
Research oils and start developing your own formulas. This isn't an overnight project. I keep a 3 ring binder with a print out of each batch from soapcalc. I can then write notes on that sheet about the good and bad of that particular batch. Then give away a lot of soap to get feedback from others using different types of water. 
I started with wooden log molds which I love. Easy to line and I am careful and use the liner over and over. I have just received a double log mold with silicon liner after making soap for 3 years. I also have a silicon lined slab mold I bought used. I think I have arrived with my new molds. I LOVE the silicon lined molds. 
Good luck and enjoy. Last year my goats were self sufficient from the goat milk soaps and lotions but they did not pay me a salary. In other words, I worked for the goats.


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