In November of 2009 I learned from a friend of mine Cold Process Soap Making.  I did some Melt and Pour soapmaking for wedding favors in 2005, but Cold Process is a whole other animal.  I use various oils and butters and mix it with lye and water to saponify and make soap.  All soaps have been through the lye process, you can't make soap without using lye.  Lye is caustic, have you seen Fight Club?  But treated with respect and with proper precautions it can be safely used in the home to make soap.  Anyway, since November I have been experimenting with variety of colors, swirling techniques, and fragrances.  My first batch was 4lb, made about 16 good size chunky soaps.  I have since downgraded to 2lbs batches so that i don't have so many soaps.

Recently I was told by people on a soap makers forum that the recipe maybe overly cleansing and not enough conditioning; too stripping and not enough moisturizing.  I thought it was OK, but then I am used to commercial soaps which in general are drying to the skin. 

So I am taking this weekend to focus my experimentation on the base soap recipe.  Although I am still using color and fragrance I'm keeping them pretty simple.  I am also experimenting with different molds.  I have purchased log and slab soap molds, but I am experimenting with some unexpected molds.  Pringles can, Nutter Butters cookie tray, plastic storage containers.  I am downsizing my batches even more to 1lb, so I'm not stuck with a bunch of the same kind of soap in this soap base experimentation phase. 

So far I am only experimenting with vegetable fats, but in the future I think I might try some lard or tallow.  I hear they make great soap.   Sort of historical too, people used to use the animal fat from the animals on their farms, and lye made from ash to make soap.