Category Archives: Recipes

Playing with Silicone and Tea Tree Oil Soap

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It seems like I haven’t blogged in forever! The last month was absolutely, crazy, insanely busy. I was out of town several weekends. First to Haiti to check on the progress of OFEDA. They are doing remarkably well and were making all kinds of soap. (More on that later.) We are still raising funds for the next trip which will be in May. You can donate here http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/beauty-in-haiti–6. Thank you for your support!

Photo by Paula Allen, Ofeda.com

Photo by Paula Allen, Ofeda.com

After that was Kansas to teach at the first ever Central Soapers Workshop. This was an awesome conference! Then I went to New York to teach with Holly Port and Marla Bosworth for Soap University. So much fun! I’ll be writing about some of these trips later…but for now I want to share a few things.

I’ll be teaching silicone mold making at the HSMG Conference this year in Raleigh. Originally I was going to teach simple single cavity molds but I think most people really want to learn how to make the log or block molds. So I’ve added that to my presentation.

Here are some pictures from the progress with that. Come to the conference to find out more! I’ll also be having a class in Dallas and a class in Austin on how to make these types of molds along with the single cavity molds.

To break it in, I made a big batch of our household staple, tea tree soap.

Tea Tree Soap

Coconut oil – 42 oz
Shea butter – 10 oz
Apricot kernel – 10 oz
Avocado oil – 10 oz
Castor oil – 8 oz
Olive oil – 40 oz
Rice bran – 10 oz

Lye – 18.3 oz
Water – 36 oz

Tea tree essential oil – 4 oz

Make the lye solution by adding the lye to the water. Set this to the side to cool down.

Lye solution

Weigh out the coconut oil and shea butter and melt.

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Weigh out the liquid oils and add to the melted oils.

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Add 4 oz of tea tree essential oil. Mike did a drive by scenting and added a splash of orange essential oil to the mix.

Pour the lye into the oils and bring to trace.

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Pour into your mold.

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Let sit overnight. I’ll add unmolding and cut pictures later.

Updated: Unmolding and cut pictures.

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Happy Soaping!
Amanda

austin

Soaping with Hemp Milk – Milk in Oil Method

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Hemp milk is a great alternative to animal milks such as goat or cow if you want your soap to be vegan. Hemp milk contains omega essential fatty acids, proteins, amino acids and many more goodies. It has a great label appeal on soap and is perfect for certain target markets.

hemp milk soapThis tutorial follows the milk in oil method of milk soapmaking.  In the “Milk in Oil” method…you make a lye solution with equal parts lye and water. Then you add another equal part milk to the oils before you add the lye solution. This prevents the milk from burning in the lye solution. You also don’t have to go through the hassle of freezing your milk. For some people it is just easier to do.

Let’s make soap!

The recipe:
Coconut oil – 20 oz
Olive oil – 20 oz
Rice bran oil – 5 oz
Avocado oil – 5 oz
Castor oil – 4 oz
Shea butter – 5 oz
Sweet almond oil – 5 oz
Hemp milk – 9 oz

Sodium hydroxide – 9 oz
Water – 9.5 oz

Gear up in your goggles and gloves!  If you are new to soapmaking…visit our beginner tutorial first.

The first step is to make our lye solution.  I mention above to make the lye solution with equal parts of lye and water.  I always add a splash more because sometimes the mixture can fall out of solution if there is not enough water.  Usually equal parts is the most concentrated you should go.

Measure out the water and the lye.  Add the lye to the water and mix in a well ventilated area.

lye solutionPut that to the side.  Weigh out the shea and coconut oil and melt.

coconut and sheaOnce melted, add all of the liquid oils to the melted oils.

IMG_2303Add 9 oz of hemp milk to the melted oils.  I was able to find hemp milk at whole foods.  Check out natural food stores.

IMG_2305I also used a fragrance oil blend from Lebermuth – Rosemary, Grapefuit and Lime.  I used 3 oz.

IMG_2307Take a look at the lye solution.  You might see some floating white filmy stuff.  Give it a mix.  This is just because it is such a concentrated solution and the lye is reacting to the carbon in the air and forming sodium carbonate.  Lye (undissolved crust) stuck to the bottom of your container is bad…white floaties are not.

lye solution Add the lye solution.  Make sure you have your goggles on!

IMG_2310Now it is time to stickblend!

IMG_2311Blend until trace.

IMG_2316I wanted to do some textured tops.  I filled the molds full.

IMG_2319I let the leftover soap in the pot get thick.  Then I piled it on with a spoon.

IMG_2321Then I took a craft stick and played with it until I got texture that I liked.

IMG_2324IMG_2325IMG_2326Let sit overnight, cut and cure for 4 weeks!

Happy (Hemp Milk) Soaping!

The Classic Oatmeal, Goat’s Milk and Honey Cold Process Soap – Milk in Oil Method

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Oatmeal, Milk and Honey is a classic soap to make. It’s one of the first soaps that I made when I first started to make soap. This method of milk soapmaking is a bit different than the other method where we used frozen milk in the lye solution. This method uses equal amounts of lye and water for the solution and then another equal amount of milk is added to the oils. Some people find this method easier when soaping with milk. You can use this method for any type of milk including goat, cow, hemp, coconut, soy, oat…etc.

Oatmeal milk and honey soap

In standard milk soapmaking you typically freeze your milk into ice cubes and use them for your lye solution. This helps keep the temps of the lye solution down and the milk from burning. It can still cause issues such as burning and burnt fat (from the milk) leaving specs in your soap. Not always…but it can happen.

oatmeal milk and honey

In the “Milk in Oil” method…you make a lye solution with equal parts lye and water. Then you add another equal part milk to the oils before you add the lye solution. This prevents milk fat from burning in the lye solution. You also don’t have to go through the hassle of freezing your milk. For some people it is just easier to do.

I like to run my oatmeal through a mini food chopper or a coffee grinder to grind it down some.  The larger the pieces…the scratchier the soap.  I prefer instant as it is softer in the soap but you can use any kind.  I get fresh goat’s milk from another local soaper, Donna.  Learn about her goat’s here.

Let’s make soap!

The recipe:
Coconut oil – 20 oz
Olive oil – 20 oz
Rice bran oil – 5 oz
Avocado oil – 5 oz
Castor oil – 4 oz
Shea butter – 5 oz
Sweet almond oil – 5 oz
Fresh goat’s milk – 9 oz
Oatmeal – 4 tablespoons
Honey – 4 tablespoons

Sodium hydroxide – 9 oz
Water – 9.5 oz

Gear up in your goggles and gloves!  If you are new to soapmaking…visit our beginner tutorial first.

The first step is to make our lye solution.  I mention above to make the lye solution with equal parts of lye and water.  I always add a splash more because sometimes the mixture can fall out of solution if there is not enough water.  Usually equal parts is the most concentrated you should go.

Measure out the water and the lye.  Add the lye to the water and mix in a well ventilated area.

lye solutionPut that to the side.  Weigh out the shea and coconut oil and melt.

shea and coconut oilOnce melted, add all of the liquid oils to the melted oils.

melted oilsAdd 9 oz of milk to the oil mixture.

IMG_2271Next add the oatmeal.  I like to use 1 tablespoon per pound of oils.  We have 4 pounds so I added 4 tablespoons.  You can add more or less depending on your preference.

oatmealI use the same amount for honey; 1 tablespoon per pound of oils.  I added 4 tablespoons.

IMG_2277You can go ahead and your fragrance oil to the oil mixture as well.  My favorite oatmeal, milk and honey fragrance is from Bramble Berry.  I used 3 ounces.

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So now we have the oils, milk, honey, oats and fragrance.  Give this a good stickblend to make sure everything is well mixed.

IMG_2279Take a look at the lye solution.  You might see some floating white filmy stuff.  Give it a mix.  This is just because it is such a concentrated solution and the lye is reacting to the carbon in the air and forming sodium carbonate.  Lye (undissolved crust) stuck to the bottom of your container is bad…white floaties are not.

lye solution Add the lye solution.  Make sure you have your goggles on!

lye solution added to oilsNow it is time to stickblend!  Your mixture might turn bright orange from the lye and milk reacting.

IMG_2284IMG_2286IMG_2287Mix until trace and then pour into your mold.

IMG_2288IMG_2294IMG_2296Okay…so this soap likes to heat up.  Honey and (the sugar in) milk like to heat up when in the mold.  I prefer my soap gelled so I really have to keep an eye on it.  I cover, but I check on it every ten minutes or so.  If you don’t want your soap to gel or are afraid of overheating…you can put your soap somewhere cool like in the fridge or freezer…or even outside if its cold outside.

There is definitely a difference in color between gelled (darker) and ungelled (lighter) soap.

gelled and ungelled soapSo…some things to remember:

You can soap milk two different ways – full milk in lye solution or milk in oils as above.

Additives used:
Oatmeal – rate of 1 tablespoon PPO
Honey – rate of 1 tablespoon PPO

Happy (Goat’s) Milk Soaping!

-Amanda

This week in searches…

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benefits of using less water in cp soap making

Soap is harder when unmolding – This is great for when you are using silicone molds and individual cavity molds especially when using a high percent of soft oils. Using a water discount makes the soap less sticky, harder and easier to pop out.

Gel phase can more easily be prevented – According to Kevin Dunn, soap with less water is less likely to go through gel phase. Want to learn more? Get his book, Scientific Soapmaking. I know some soapers who prefer un-gelled soap because of how it effects colors or fragrance.

Soap is hard and can be cut earlier – I’m one of those soapers that likes to make a soap and cut the same day. When you are using less water, the soap is initially harder faster and can be cut sooner.

The cure time is shortened – Cure time is all about giving time for evaporation of water and the last bit of saponification to happen. If you initially use less water then there is less to evaporate out during the cure. You still need to allow time for the soap to become milder. I typically cure discounted water soap for three weeks.

On the flip side…the disadvantages are…

Makes your soap trace and move faster. Just keep that in mind if you are wanting to execute a complicated swirl. You can counter-balance this by using a high percentage of liquid oil…especially olive oil which is slow moving.

Can be harder to force gel (If you prefer gel like I do) – I use a heating pad a lot to force gel!

why goat milk does not make enough lather

It’s probably nothing to do with the goat’s milk. Especially since milk contains natural sugars that actually help to boost lather. I would take a look at your recipe. What oils are you using? Use more coconut oil to boost lather and castor oil to help suspend it. But goat’s milk shouldn’t be to blame.

the best mold for cold process soap

This is all a matter of opinion…but at the moment my favorite molds are silicone loaf molds. I like the one from Bramble Berry but many suppliers sell them.

how to pipe cold process soap

Here is a tutorial on cupcakes.

http://www.lovinsoap.com/2012/07/piping-soap-cupcakes-another-palm-free-recipe/

Check out youtube for piping techniques for cupcakes and cakes (not necessarily soap) and you’ll find all sorts of great videos. Also, check locally for a Wilton Cake Decorating class. The techniques you learn for sweet confections can easily be done with soap.

best soap recipe with rice bran oil?

Certainly a matter of opinion…but this is one of my favorite recipes using rice bran.

The recipe:
Almond oil – 5 oz
Avocado oil – 5 oz
Castor oil – 4 oz
Rice bran oil – 5 oz
Olive oil – 18 oz
Shea butter – 5 oz
Coconut oil – 18 oz
Water – 12 oz (I did a discount since I have all of the soft oils)
Lye – 8.4 oz

I love rice bran in soap. It is a good replacement for some of the olive oil and seems to contribute a sheen or shininess to the soap.

my cold process soap is oily

See my troubleshooting page – http://www.lovinsoap.com/troubleshooting/

Oily cold process soap could be caused by a few different reasons.

Overheating – Overheating in the mold can cause oils to separate out and cause an oily film on the top or sides of a soap. Usually if you let it sit…it will reabsorb in a few days.

Fragrance oil – Some fragrance oils can be finicky in cold process soap and do weird things. I have seen a fragrance oil seep out of or almost separate from soap. Usually it is a very thin film and the soap will reabsorb it if you let it sit for a couple of days.

Mis-measurements – If you cut your soap and it is really oily and spongy then you might not have used enough lye. Check your scale, if you need to change the batteries and try to see if you might have mis-measured the lye. Also, lye that is old and clumpy (soaked up moisture from the air) can easily be mis-measured and mess up your recipe. So check your lye.

hot to tell if hot process soap is done

Hot process soap is done when it is translucent and doesn’t zap. The easiest way to check for zap is to dip out a little hot process using a popsickle stick, swish it in the air to cool and harden, touch it to your tongue and see if it zaps. If it doesn’t…it’s done. If it does…keep cooking.

safe clean up after soap making

http://www.lovinsoap.com/2011/08/cleaning-up-after-a-soapy-session/

palm oil versus shea

Palm oil and shea are similar but different in soapmaking. Palm oil is high in palmitic and oleic fatty acids. Shea is high in stearic and oleic fatty acids. The palmitic and stearic properties both contribute to the hardness of a soap. However I don’t consider them one-to-one subs for each other. I like to use a mixture of (additional) olive oil and shea as a sub for palm oil. The two reasons I like to use a mix of shea and olive is that shea butter doesn’t seem to make as bubbly as a soap as palm and it can also be quite expensive to sub that much shea butter into a recipe. Olive oil is soft upon un-molding but cures out really hard so helps with the hardness of a bar.

does felted soap get moldy

No, it doesn’t. Wool dries quickly between uses and is anti-microbial so it doesn’t grow yuckies! Check out this felted tutorial… http://www.lovinsoap.com/2012/10/fuzzy-felted-soap-balls-and-bramble-berrys-spectacular-givember-promotion/

can i use palm oil in my salt bar recipe

Absolutely! But do I? Nope. Salt kills lather so you need to use mostly coconut oil (if lather is important). So if you do use palm oil, use 10-20% palm and 80-90% coconut oil. I personally like a butter or specialty oil in a salt bar instead of palm.

is palm oil and palm kernel oil the same in soap making

Nope. They are two different animals in soap. The only thing they have in common is that they make a hard bar of soap. Palm oil makes a hard long lasting bar of soap. Palm kernel is similar to coconut oil and makes a hard bubbly bar of soap.

Happy Soaping!
Amanda

Converting a recipe from percentages to ounces

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Many times you run across recipes that are written in percentages. These are great because you can convert them into workable recipes for any size of mold or production.

Sometimes the process of converting percentages to the recipe size that you need can be confusing. Let’s walk through it.

http://www.brambleberry.com/10-Silicone-Loaf-Mold–P5199.aspx?afid=5
I’ve got this nifty silicone mold from Bramble Berry. After checking out the website I see that it holds 50 oz of soap and measures 10″ x 3 5/8″ x 2.25″. Before I convert my recipe from percentages to ounces…I need to know the amount of oil that it holds.

50 oz of soap means it holds 50 oz of finished soap (water + lye+ oils). I need to know how much oil it will hold so I can convert my percentages to ounces of oils.

I use the formula l (length) x w (width) x h (height) x .4 to determine how many ounces of oil my recipe needs to be.

So for the BB loaf mold:
10 x 3.625 x 2.25 x .4 = 32.625 oz

I like to do fluffy tops so I will add about 4 extra ounces so I have enough soap on top.

My recipe needs to contain 37 oz of oils.

My recipe in percentages looks like this:

Olive oil – 50%
Coconut oil – 32%
Shea butter – 8%
Avocado oil – 8%
Castor oil – 2%

To convert the above percentages you will multiply each ingredient’s percentage by 37 oz which is your total oils needed (or the 100%).

Olive oil – 37 x .5 = 18.5 oz
Coconut oil – 37 x .32 = 11.84 oz
Shea butter – 37 x .08 = 2.96 oz
Avocado oil – 37 x .08 = 2.96 oz
Castor oil – 37 x .02 = .75 oz

So your oils needed will be:

Olive oil – 18.5 oz
Coconut oil – 11.84 oz
Shea butter – 2.96 oz
Avocado oil – 2.96 oz
Castor oil – .75 oz

Run this through a lye calc to get the lye amount needed.

Lye – 5.28 oz (5% SF)

I double my lye amount to get my water amount. (Ignore the water amount the lye calc gives you.)

Water – 10.56 oz

So my final recipe is:

Olive oil – 18.5 oz
Coconut oil – 11.84 oz
Shea butter – 2.96 oz
Avocado oil – 2.96 oz
Castor oil – .75 oz
Lye – 5.28 oz

Water – 10.56 oz

This recipe will make a total of 52.85 oz of soap.

BB’s site states that the mold will hold 50 oz…so we’re good! I always prefer to have a bit extra than not enough.

If you want extra to make higher peaked soap…then calculate for extra soap.

Happy Soaping!
Amanda

Fuzzy Felted Soap Balls and Bramble Berry’s spectacular GIVEMBER Promotion!!

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Bramble Berry was sweet to ask if I would be interested in participating in their month of Givember which will include weekly tutorials and free gifts with purchases as a way of saying “thank you” to their customer during the month of November.  They sent a little package with some goodies including the silicone sphere mold, cranberry chutney fragrance oil and fuchsia lab color!  I immediately tried the sphere mold and loved it so I’ve already bought another one.  It makes perfectly adorable round soap balls.  So I’m going to show you how to work with the sphere mold and make adorable felted sphere soaps.

This is gonna be a long one!  But stay with me because at the end I’m going to give you an exciting coupon code to use during Bramble Berry’s Givember event.

This recipe fits nicely into two of the round sphere molds.

Apricot kernel oil – 2 oz
Avocado oil – 2 oz
Coconut oil – 8 oz
Olive oil – 9 oz
Shea butter – 1 oz

Lye – 3.17 oz
Water – 4 oz

Cranberry Chutney FO – 1.2 oz
Fuchsia LabColor (diluted) – 15 drops

If you are new to soapmaking…visit my basic tutorial first as it goes into more details on the basics.

Let’s make soap!

Make your lye solution.

Weigh out and melt the coconut oil and shea butter.  Add the liquid oils to the melted oils.

Add the fragrance oil and fuchsia color to the melted oils.

Get everything ready to go.  You should have your melted oil (with fragrance and color), the lye solution and two sphere molds.

Be sure you have on your safety gear!

Add the lye solution to the melted oils.

Check out that beautiful color!  When you reach a light trace…pour into the molds.

Let them sit overnight and unmold.  I wanted mine to gel so I put them onto a heating pad and covered with a towel until they gelled.

Unmold!

They can require a bit of cleanup.  Simply take a knife and cut off the nub.  You can then smooth it down with your finger.

Adorable!  And even more adorable felted!  So let’s make some cute felted soap balls!

Let your soap balls cure at least three weeks before you felt them.  You will need some wool roving.  Make sure its the kind that shrinks down and felts.  Look around locally and see what you can find.

Pull the wool into thin pieces as shown below if you want to create a striped pattern.  If you don’t…just use single colors similar in size as shown below.

Wrap your ball as evenly and tautly as you can.

Dunk your soap into hot water.

Bring it out after it is completely wet.  Then start squeezing and patting.  You don’t want to rub at this point or it will move your fibers around too much.  Dunk again.  Squeeze and pat some more.  It should start felting.

Now you can rub.  Alternate between squeezing, patting and rubbing your soap to felt.  You don’t want to dunk it into water too much but do it a few more times.  You can also use bubble wrap or a woven dinner mat to help with the agitation and felting.

Once you feel like you have it felted enough…where you pull on the fibers and they don’t pull up…then shock it with cold water.  This is a tip I learned from Bobbie at the Texas Soapmakers Conference.  Cold water shocks wool and causes it to felt as well.  So give it a good shock in ice cold water.

Then roll it in a towel to squeeze out the water.

And there you have it!  Adorable felted soap balls!

Cute!  And this one above came out with a little face on him.  So why felted soap?  Felted soap is a wash cloth or luffa and soap in one!  The felt causes the soap to lather like crazy and gives your skin a gentle exfoliation.  Wool dries quickly between uses and is anti-microbial so it doesn’t grow yuckies!

Are you still with me?

Remember up above when I mentioned being a part of Bramble Berry’s Givember promotion?

Enter the code GIVEMBER200 on any order when you check out at brambleberry.com to be entered into a drawing to win a $200 gift card from Bramble Berry.  This code is good on orders placed during the month of November only.  Thanks, Bramble Berry!

-Happy Soaping!

Amanda Griffin

Charcoal Facial Bar with Mango, Avocado and Babassu

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I received an email recently about soaping without coconut oil. I have some recipes sans coconut oil but most are really high olive/bastille/castille type of recipes that don’t produce many bubbles. I wanted a bar that was nice and bubbly. I know that babassu is similar to coconut oil in its fatty acid makeup so I got some babassu to try.

I wanted to make a face bar with charcoal. I like to have at least one butter in every soap that I make and that butter is usually shea. I’m not a big fan personally of shea on my face…so I thought I would try mango in this recipe. I also love avocado oil in a facial bar…so included that as well.

Charcoal Facial Bar with Mango, Avocado and Babassu Recipe

Avocado oil – 4 oz
Babassu oil – 8 oz
Castor oil – 2 oz
Mango butter – 4 oz
Olive oil – 12 oz
Rice Bran oil – 2 oz
Water – 9 oz
Lye – 4.35 oz
1/2 Tablespoon Charcoal

If you are new to soapmaking…start here.

Melt the mango and babassu. 

Add all of the other liquid oils to the melted oils.  Add the charcoal to the mix as well.

Add the lye solution and mix to trace.

I added about .75 oz of tea tree oil.  Then pour it into your mold.  I prefer facial soap to be round.  Facial soap and beer soap…  I’ve always gone with round bars for those types of soaps.  So I am using a mail tube with a liner (more info on the liners).

Unmold and cut after 24 hours. Let cure for at least four weeks.

So…the verdict. Its been several weeks since I made these and I have to say that I LOVE this recipe. Its bubbles amazingly well even though there isn’t any coconut oil. The charcoal helps suck up excess oil. When I use this soap I make a nice thick lather in my hands, put it onto my face and let it sit for a minute (almost like a mask) and then rinse it off.

If you give it a try…let me know what you think!

Happy Soaping!
-Amanda

ps….  Bramble Berry sent me a goody package with some exciting products to try out!  They are running a promotion during the month of November called GIVEMBER!  (Make sure you are on their email list for the newsletter!)  And I get to be a part of the fun.  I’ll share the details with you soon! 

pss or is it pps?…. Check out the new pourable silicone from Bramble Berry!  Guess who wrote the eZine that accompanies the kit!  (MOI!)

Don’t forget SOAPMAKING CLASSES!

How to make Goats Milk Soap Using Farm Fresh Goat’s Milk

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Goat’s milk soap is a very popular soap to make. You can make it with either fresh goat’s milk or you can use goat’s milk powder. The milk adds a creaminess to the soap and the sugars in the milk add to bubbly lather. Here is how to make soap using fresh goat’s milk. You can also use this method using other types of milk including coconut, hemp, almond, soy or even cow milk.

The main concern with making goat’s milk soap is overheating of the milk/lye solution or overheating in the mold. When the lye solution overheats you can get scorched milk which means it will darken and even speckle your soap. When the soap in the mold overheats you can get all kinds of issues including mushrooming, separation, cracking or other issues. (Take a look at my troubleshooting page to see what some of these issues look like.)

To keep the lye solution nice and cool I start with frozen goat’s milk. As you sprinkle on the lye…it melts the goat’s milk gently without getting too hot. I also set the lye solution in an ice bath.

So let’s make goat’s milk soap!

The recipe:
Coconut oil - 20 oz
Olive oil – 20 oz
Rice bran oil – 5 oz
Avocado oil – 5 oz
Castor oil – 4 oz
Shea butter – 5 oz
Sweet Almond oil – 5 oz

Goat’s milk – 18 oz
Lye – 9 oz

First we create the lye solution. My goat’s milk is frozen in plastic freezer bags.

Take the frozen milk out of the bags and chop into smaller pieces.

Weigh the required amount. I like to put a splash of water with the goat’s milk to start the lye dissolving. You don’t need much; I used about an ounce.

Create an ice water bath by putting ice cubes and water into a bowl big enough to set your lye container into (red bowl above). Sprinkle about 1/4 of your lye and start mixing. One of the cool thing about soaping with milk is that you don’t get the fumes like you do when making a lye solution with water. I have no idea why…but you don’t. Its important to sprinkle your lye while mixing and not dumping it entirely into the goat’s milk. If you just dump it, it can create crusty lye clumps that are hard to dissolve because there is not initially enough liquid to dissolve it all at once. Some of these lye clumps can go without getting dissolved and end up in your finished soap. You don’t want that! So start with sprinkling about 1/4 of the lye and mix mix mix. It will start melting the goat’s milk.

Once it melts a bit, add another 1/4 of the lye and mix some more. Do this until you have completely mixed in the lye.  Please note that your lye solution can turn bright yellow!  This is a bit shocking, but it is normal.

Put your lye solution aside. I keep it in the cold water bath and just set it in the sink. Let’s prepare the oils.

Melt the hard oils. This includes the coconut oil and the shea butter.

Add the liquid oils to the melted oils. Adding the liquid oils to the melted oils helps to bring the temperature down. If we were to measure out all of the oils (liquid and solid) and then melt…the temperature of the total mixture would be hot and we’d have to wait to bring the temps down. It is unnecessary to heat the liquid oils along with the solid ones.

Once we have the oils ready…its time to make soap!  You can add your fragrance to the melted oils.  I used a bit of litsea and tea tree essential oils.  The litsea tinted the soap a bit towards yellow.

Give the lye solution a good stir. You can see there are some globs in it. Milk contains fat so this is a bit of that fat turning into soap. I like to give it a good whisk to break the globs up a bit…but I’m sure the stick blender does that as well.

Add the lye solution to the oils.

Bring the mixture to trace.

Pour into your molds. I’m using a couple of Bramble Berry silicone loaf molds and trying out their new sphere mold. You can use any type of molds that you want but realize that larger volume loaf or block molds will hold more heat and can cause your soap to overheat. You can even put your molds in the fridge or freezer to help keep the in-mold temps down but mine were fine as they were.

Un-mold 24 hours later, slice into bars and cure for 4 or more weeks. When you first cut the soap it can have an ammonia type of smell. It should go away after a couple of days. (So don’t think you did something wrong! It’s normal.)

The sphere mold – I was trying this mold out for the first time. The soap did not gel and its a softer recipe so I was a bit concerned with un-molding. Because the inside of the mold is smooth as glass, I had no issues with the soap sticking. It un-molded beautifully and created some super smooth, super cute round soaps! I can’t wait to use it again. I guess if I were concerned enough…I could have put it in the freezer first but I didn’t have any issues. It created 3.6 oz soap balls which will probably cure to be about 3.5 oz. They fit nicely in the hand.

A special thank you to my friend Donna and her sweet goats for the milk.

Happy (Goat’s Milk) Soaping!
-Amanda

Getting started in soapmaking without spending a ton of money

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I get this questions a lot! How can I get started in soapmaking with spending the least amount of money? And I want to do it tomorrow! Yeah…I’m one of those people too! I get it in my head to try something and I want to do it tomorrow.

Here is the minimum that you will need.

A digital scale that measure ounces and grams – You simply can’t get away with measuring by volume (cups, tablespoons…etc.). You’ll need a digital scale. Check out Ebay, Craigslist or ask your friends. Post on Facebook! Somebody is bound to have one! Here is the scale I use in classes. http://www.amazon.com/Ozeri-Digital-Multifunction-Kitchen-Elegant/dp/B004164SRA/ref=sr_1_18?ie=UTF8&qid=1349729615&sr=8-18&keywords=digital+scale

Something to stir with. To save time we now use stick blenders, but you can do it “old school” and use a stainless steel spoon or a silicone spatula. You can find good silicone spatulas at the dollar store. You can find a decent stick blender from Walmart for about $25 bucks.

Containers for mixing lye solution (get two). 1 quart paint mixing containers work well. I like using these from Home Depot (most home improvement/paint stores have them). http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-25ecodZ5yc1v/R-202264024/h_d2/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&keyword=bucket&storeId=10051

Containers for mixing soap. Since you’ll be doing 2 pound batches starting out (that’s what I recommend) get a couple of the 2.5 quart containers (same as above…just bigger). http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-25ecodZ5yc1v/R-202264029/h_d2/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&keyword=bucket&storeId=10051

A mold. You probably already have something on hand to use. The easiest beginner mold to use is a plastic food storage container. Or maybe even easier than that is an empty milk carton (the square cardboard kind).

Goggles and gloves for safety! You can find these at hardware stores. Do not make soap without the proper safety gear.

You’ll need lye. Locally we can still get lye at Ace Hardware. But depending on where you live…it might be hard to find locally. Chemical suppliers sell it but you might have to buy and 50 lb bag and I don’t recommend messing with a 50 lb bag when just starting out. If you can’t find it locally…you’ll simply have to order it from a supplier such as www.brambleberry.com, www.essentialdepot.com, www.thelyeguy.com…or anywhere else that sells soapmaking supplies.

Then you’ll need some oils to soap. I would start with a very bare bones basic recipe using oils that you can find at the grocery store. If you are not opposed to using lard you can find lard, coconut oil (Lou Ana) and olive oil (regular Bertoli is what I use) at Walmart. Or you can get soapmaking oils from a supplier…but again this tutorial is for those that want to get started over the weekend. You will definitely save money buying oils in bulk from a supplier but there’s nothing wrong with buying oils from Walmart to knock a batch out and make sure this is something that you want to delve into.

Oh and last but not least…its best to use distilled water.  That’s easy to find.

For your very first batch of soap…I recommend not using fragrance or color. You want to get the very basics down and not have to worry about anything else. And believe me…fragrances can be tricky if you don’t know what you are using.

So here are a couple of recipes that you can try using oils from Walmart or locally.

Extra Bubbles
Coconut oil – 8 oz
Lard – 16 oz
Olive oil – 8 oz
Lye – 4.5 oz
Water – 9 oz

Extra Gentle
Coconut oil – 8 oz
Lard – 8 oz
Olive oil – 16 oz
Lye – 4.46 oz
Water – 9 oz

No Lard
Coconut oil – 18 oz
Olive oil – 18 oz
Lye – 5.4 oz
Water – 9 oz

So how much is it gonna cost to get started?

Scale – $16.00
Mixing utensils (2) – $2.00
Lye containers (2) – $2.40
Soap containers (2) – $3.96
Gloves & Goggles – $4.00
Lye (32 oz) – $4.00
Coconut oil (Lou Ana) (31.5 oz) – $5.98
Bertoli Regular Olive oil (51 oz) – $13.98
Lard (64 oz) – $5.88

So you are looking at about $58.20 to get started. $75.00 if you add a stick blender to that.

There are some fantastic beginner soapmaking videos and tutorials out there. Don’t get hung up on the fancy molds, the fragrances, the nice colors…adding oatmeal, goat’s milk or poppy seeds. Remember…for your first batch…you are just learning the basic process.

Get started!  Here is my basic process.

Happy Soaping!

-Amanda

Ginger Soap – Using fresh ginger pulp in soap

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Holly Port of Lotion Bar Cafe came down to visit a couple of weekends ago and help out with a class.  Unfortunately she wasn’t feeling well so we decided to juice some fresh ginger to hopefully knock out whatever was getting her.  As we got done juicing and started to clean up the juicer…we both kinda paused, looked at each other…and I think it was Holly that said…”let’s soap it!”  And “soap it” we did!

I took some of the ginger pulp and laid it out on a cookie sheet to dry a bit more.  Then I put it in a food processor shred it down some more.  We used about 1/4 cup in our three pound recipe.

Ginger Soap Recipe:

Avocado oil – 2 oz
Coconut oil – 20 oz
Olive oil – 16 oz
Rice bran oil – 5 oz
Shea butter – 4 oz
Sunflower oil – 3 oz
Ground ginger pulp – 1/4 cup

Lye – 7.2 oz
Water – 12 oz

Make your lye solution.  Weight out the solid oils and melt.  Add the liquid oils to the melted oil.

Holly and I decided to add the ginger to the melted oils and stickblend to help break them up some more.

Add the lye solution and bring to trace.  We wanted to do two bars…one scented and one unscented.  So we divided our mixture at trace and scented one.

Then pour it into your mold!  We used mail tubes with liners to make cute 3″ round soaps.

After 24 hours, cut your soap and cure for about 4 weeks.

I used one today for the first time.  Its been curing about 2 weeks so I’ll let it keep curing a bit longer.  I love this recipe.  Its nice and hard (and palm free).  The lather is great and it rinses nicely without any tacky/sticky feel.  You can see some of the pulp in the soap so I was worried that it might be a bit scratchy like oatmeal.  It wasn’t scratchy at all.  You could feel it a bit if you really tried but it was really smooth.  It turned out to be a great soap!

Happy Soaping!

-Amanda

ps – Do you want to purchase some of the liners used above?  I sell them 25 for $10.00 (includes US shipping).  Email me amanda@lovinsoap.com to order.  See original liner post on how to use them.