Thank you for this recipe and introducing me to calendula flowers. I am growing them, drying them and making lotion, lip balms and now today, soap! Thank you
i was so happy to see that you have a calendula soap recipe! I just so happen to have a large zip- lock back full of dried calendula blossoms from our old house before we sold it! For me this will be a wonderful stroll through memory lane with all the garden meant to me and to know that a piece of it will be made into soap and shared. Thank you so much!
Love your videos! Great to see you on Gardener's World, ❤🎉🎉🎉 I've been following you for quite some time - Mostly on the gardening content. Now I've got to try your soap; you're a master. Greetings from Virginia Beach, Virginia, east coast USA where I garden & teach on my property along a salt marsh. All the best to you! 😊
@Lovelygreens oh thats true, maybe I'll make a second batch with it and ine without and see. I made some goats milk soap with infused dandelion olive oil and it was a pretty yellow color.
i never grow tired of watching your soap making videos...did i see miss maggie in the background when you were outside?...the calendula does make a beautiful gentle color for the soap...which scent do you use for the calendula recipe?...thank you again
I think when i added my lye water, the oil wasnt cool enough and it didnt gell right after i put it in the mold, its oily and not at all smooth... Can i melt it down again with a little water to smooth it out and remold it?
Lovely video, after the second day you said to still wear gloves because of the lye, what happens to the lye after this time? does it totally disappear?
It doesn't disappear - it transforms into soap. Oil/fats and lye break apart on a molecular level and then rebond into soap molecules. Soapmaking is natural chemistry 🙌😍
Absolutely! Just ensure the milk is kept from scorching in the lye solution or in the soap afterwards. Don't oven process it either. Here's my goat milk soap recipe to show you how to add the milk, etc: lovelygreens.com/how-to-make-natural-goat-milk-soap/
Castor oil is soooo important in soap recipes. It's the only oil that contains ricinoleic acid - a natural fatty acid that helps stabilize lather. It's in nearly all my soap recipes, and I don't consider using it as optional.
I'm growing calendula this year, so I'm really excited to try this. Your recipe looks perfect for me. I was thinking of infusing some oil with the petals though. It's one way better than the other? By better I mean better color?
By the way, I'm also growing Japanese indigo after watching your video on processing it last year. I've watched it so many times so that I feel confident when the time comes.
You can absolutely do that :) With this recipe, the calendula petals infuse into the solid oils while they're heating. If you want to infuse the liquid oils with calendula, it will add even more color! I share that method over here: lovelygreens.com/calendula-infused-oil-soap-recipe-natural-yellow-soap/
I leave them completely unpackaged until I use them or sell them. Then, I either sell them as part of my packaging-free soap sale lovelygreens.co.uk/shop/packaging-free-natural-soap-isle-of-man/ or put them in kraft paper boxes with a pretty label. Doing this allows the soap to breathe, stops it from sweating, and extends the shelf life.
Where do you get calendula plants or do you grow them from seed? I have looked at many stores and nurseries for them. I know they are annuals, and many articles have stated that marigolds are the same thing, but they don't look the same to me.
One common name is Pot Marigold, but they're not the same as the marigolds we plant as bedding plants. Calendula are Calendula officinalis and marigolds are tagetes. Calendula is normally grown from seed and you can find them for sale here: shrsl.com/47hkt
I live in Ohio. Thank you for the information. Your soap is lovely. I want to plant some calendula to use for soap and body butters, but also because they are gorgeous.
What should calendula oil smell like? I see nothing on the Internet about that. Should it smell..."stewed" cooked/ almost burnt? It looks ok, never had mold etc. Just not sure what to " expect " as this is the first time I made oil
@@shervin6711 You may want to consider a cold-infusion method. I go through three ways to make calendula oil here: lovelygreens.com/how-to-make-calendula-oil/
The amounts must be precisely measured and safely precautions taken. The amounts are listed in the video and in the video description. lovelygreens.com/calendula-soap/
I have a question on making soap when the weather is very warm or very humid. I have had times when mine just took forever to cure to dry and to cure what is the solution to that? How do I resolve that issue? I've spoken to some of the Amish people and that make their own soap and they say they never make soap in a month that doesn't have an r. If it does not have an "R" in it. Those months it doesn't seem to dry and cure correctly. Help, I'm having trouble!
When it's humid, soap has difficulty curing since the water doesn't evaporate out as easily. There's also a chance of DOS forming and spoiling your bars, and dried botanical decorations can mold. You can either wait until the humidity decreases or invest in a good dehumidifier. We have low humidity here in general, but I always have a small unit going in my soap room. In your case, you could have a designated room (or wardrobe/closet) for soap curing with a dehumidifier inside. It needs to be kept on at all times but will help you make soap whenever you want or to run a soap business in your region. Here's a good one to consider: amzn.to/4633FDR (affiliate link)
Just subscribed to you, growing veg and flowers i need no help with, but the soap making thing i really want to try as i grow tons of calendula in my veg garden, till now only for eating but thats about to change 😁😁😘
