FYI- the crockpot worked wonderfully! It melted 5 lbs of base in a little less than two hours without me having to do anything to it! No stirring, nothing. I was able to make 18 bars of soap at once and Yippee...I'm thrilled! Thanks for the great ideas...Jill, I'll keep that roaster in mind. ;) Kristi

sameboat, When using those molds for CP, after 2 or 3 days, try putting the molds (with the soap in it) into the freezer for 20 minutes, they might come out a little easier for ya. When I started making soap, I used to use a lot of different containers for a mold, but I did use drawer organizers for my molds, that was a huge pain! One recipe I never did get the soap out successfully! lol! I use a triple beam scale for weighing my fats and oils, it'll measure down to the .1 of a gram, but I find that I only require to measure down to the single gram. I always have a drink coaster on the scale plate, so the containers won't slip while measuring. When I tare the scale this coaster is included. I measure my scent by the fluid ounce though. Have fun!

I am not sure, but I have a couple of thoughts; 1) If the Fo has a color, are you mixing it well? 2)Are you using a metal mold? If so, it could be rusting. (I recommend silicone muffin molds- they do not rust and it is easy to remove the soap.)

I'm looking for a recipe for gardener's soap. I've searched a little bit online, and found many recipes with pumice or coffee, but don't want to use them in mine. Are there any other "easy" recipes out there? I do like something with oatmeal, but wonder if there are any other sites with garden soap recipes to choose from.