Tag Archives: soap

The Secret Life of Soap – Kevin Dunn at the 2011 HSMG Conference

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Hands down…the seminar I enjoyed most at the 2011 Handcrafted Soapmakers Seminar was The Secret Life of Soap by Kevin Dunn.

Kevin Dunn is the Elliott Professor of Chemistry at Hampden-Sydney College.  Professor Dunn has undertaken a series of research projects on the chemistry of handcrafted soap.

It was refreshing and exhilarating to hear a seminar on soap making that involved deeper explanations of the chemistry of soap making that was not only entertaining but easy to understand!

One of my favorite things about Professor Dunn is his ability to make us non-chemist types understand the findings from his research.  In his seminar he used an entertaining story of cheerleaders and nerds (which I thought was brilliant) to compare the reaction of oils and water.  You didn’t have to have a chemistry background or even the knowledge of chemistry jargon to follow along.

Some of the interesting topics he discussed:

Soda Ash

Soda ash (commonly referred to as ash) is a pesky little problem that just about every soap maker has encountered at one time or another.  You put your soap to bed…wake up in the morning and there is a powdery layer of “something” blanketing the surface of your soap.

What is that “something?”  Professor Dunn explained to us that it is sodium carbonate.  Sodium carbonate forms where lye meets air.  We know it is sodium carbonate if it is soluble in water (you can rinse it off) and it completely covers the surface of the soap that is exposed to air.  If you have white dots or streaks, especially below the surface of your soap, these are usually something else and not ash.

How do we prevent it?

Cover your soaps with wax paper or plastic wrap to keep the air from “touching” your soap surface as it saponifies.

Do not uncover or unmold your soap until it is “tongue neutral.”  This is especially important to remember when you are doing un-gelled soap.  In my experience un-gelled soap takes longer to complete the process of saponification than gelled soap and can sometimes remain “zappy” 12-24 hours (sometimes more) longer than the same recipe when gelled.  Once saponification if complete (no zap) you are usually safe from the ash monster.

If we get it, how do we remove it?

Since ash is just an aesthetic issue we can remove it from the bar of soap to “fix” the problem.  You can do this by rinsing off with water either by putting it under running water or by rubbing it off with a cloth.  If my soap bars have a flat enough surface I like using a vegetable peeler to remove the ashy surface.

Another exciting thing we learned?  Cetyl alcohol is a great substitute for jojoba oil.  Jojoba prices have been sky rocketing lately and it’s hard to even find jojoba from some of our favorite suppliers.  He sought out a replacement at the urging from Mike from Columbus Foods.  His result was cetyl alcohol (+ other fatty alcohols and waxes).

He also shared that during his research (actually making soap with cetyl alcohol) he found that soap made with cetyl alcohol helped to sustain the soap’s lather.  Of course I immediately thought of a shaving soap!  So this is definitely on my list of things to try.  (If you want to try it out…start with 5% and go from there.  Cetyl alcohol does not have a sap value so add it as you do beeswax and other general additives.)

What is cetyl alcohol?

Cetyl alcohol is a saturated, fatty alcohol with similar properties to those of stearic acid.  Even though it’s called an alcohol…its physical characteristics resemble that of a wax.  Cetyl alcohol is generally derived from petroleum or vegetable oils (coconut or palm).  Your supplier should be able to tell you if their cetyl alcohol is derived from petroleum or vegetable oils.  Since cetyl alcohol is saturated…it has a stable shelf life (something we consider when choosing ingredients for making soap).

He covered many more topics in the seminar.  If you missed it…don’t fret.  You can always get his book Scientific Soapmaking.  I ordered this book when it first came out and it has proved to be a wonderful resource providing answers to my soap making chemistry questions.  It also gets me to think outside of the traditional soap making box.  You can find more information about Kevin Dunn and his book at www.scientificsoapmaking.com.

I’m not sure why Kevin Dunn has chosen the topic of handcrafted soap to focus a bit of his research and time on.  I wonder if it has anything to do with the swarm of women he had flocking around him at the conference!  :)   Whatever the reason…I’m so happy he has done the research and generously shared the results with the soaping community.

And yep…I got to give him one of my shirts I have printed!  Thanks for a wonderful seminar,

-Amanda

The Column Swirl

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Soapylove, Debbie Chialtas, posted a really cool video on her Facebook page.  Check it out.  They of course are using paint…but I see soap!  I had to give it a try!  So here it is…

Recipe (so I remember):  12 oz coconut, 8 oz olive, 7 oz palm, 2 oz jojoba, 1 oz castor

 

 

Doh!  I kind of ruined it with a skewer.  Now it looks like a regular funnel swirl.  Lol.  I guess I was just worried that when you break it down into individual bars that there wouldn’t be enough interest in each bar. 

A very cool effect! I’m going to play with it some more.

Thanks, Debbie!
Amanda

Castile

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for Celine :)

You either hate it or you love it.  Castile.  I used to be on the “hate it” team.  But I never tried an aged…well cured bar of castile.  Now I’m on the “love it” team!

To me castile means a soap made out of olive oil only (+lye and water).  I know to some…castile is a soap made with “mostly” olive oil and can contain other vegetable oils.  I make my castile with no added color or fragrance.  It’s just a beautiful cream colored bar of soap.  I let mine cure for at least four months. 

Let’s make some castile. 

The recipe is simple.  100% olive oil.  So determine how many ounces of oils your mold holds and go with that.  My mold holds 48 oz of oil.  I like to do a 5% superfat with castile so that will give me 6.2 oz lye for 48 oz of oil.  I take a steeeeeeeep water discount when making castile.  I usually do equal amounts of water and lye.  Since my recipe calls for 6.2 oz of lye, I’ll use 6.2 oz of water. 

*Please note that doing such a high water discount makes your lye solution much more potent and dangerous if splashed on you.  Wear gloves, goggles, shoes and long sleeves to help protect against splashes.  Since your solution if much more concentrated make sure that the lye crystals are completely dissolved before adding to your oils.     

For all my soaps I use Bertolli (regular) olive oil.  I’ve never used any other type of olive oil so can’t comment on how different types of olive oil behave differently.  Olive oil is traditionaly slow to trace but with such a steep water discount…it won’t take long at all to trace. 

To start.  Make your lye solution.  Let it cool down a bit.  I usually determine mine ready when it is warm to the touch.  (Not hot and not room temp.  Sorry, I don’t take temps!)   

Measure out your olive oil.  I leave it at room temp…I don’t worry about heating it up or making it the same temp as the lye solution.

Add your lye solution carefully to the olive oil.  Be careful with splashes! 

Stickblend until your soap reaches trace.

I like to let it sit for a minute or two before pouring it into the mold.  Olive oil can sometimes seem like it is well emulsified and then all of the sudden separate.  So after you think you’ve reached trace…let it sit for a minute.  It’s not going to thicken up or sieze on you so you can take your time to make sure it’s properly mixed.  I love reaching trace and then lazily mixing by hand with a spatula.  It’s a bit soothing and somewhat hypnotic.  :)

Pour it into your mold.

Cover and insulate as usual.  Since we’re using such a high water discount…your soap will probably not gel.  No worries though…this soap is rock hard after about 2 days in the mold.  Normally we think…high olive- must not cut right away.  But you’ll find that this is super hard after a day or two and ready to cut.

Be sure to cure your castile in a cool dry place without the bars touching (as that can trap moisture).  Cure them for at least four months.  The longer the better! 

So…if you haven’t given castile a try…give it a go!  Or maybe you’ve tried it and hated it.  Try it again!  The high water discount and a long cure make for a really nice bar of soap.

Good luck!

-Amanda

Funnel swirl / coat hanger swirl

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This is a technique I’ve been working on.  You simply do a funnel swirl and then pull a coat hanger side to side while pulling up.  The coat hanger skews and pulls the concentric rings from your funnel swirl and makes a really cool effect.  I’m still working on it.  The above soap has a bit too much color and not really enough contrast in the colors.  But here’s how you do it…

Make your soap mixture as usual.  You’ll want to use a slow tracing recipe so you have time to divide out your colors and pour through the funnel.  I mix just until a steady emulsion is formed.  I don’t want to see trace. 

Once your lye solution and oils are emulsified, divide out into your coloring cups.  It is totally up to you how many you do.  I leave a bit of white for the middle. 

Hand stir in your colorants.   If you use a stick blender they might get too thick. 

Once the colors are mixed well you can add your fragrance oil/ essential oil to the individual colors.  I add it now instead of at the beginning because we don’t want it to thicken the soap while we’re mixing in the colorants.  Be sure to use a fragrance oil that doesn’t accelerate your mix.  I used one of my favorite essential blends of lavender and anise.

Using a funnel held over your mold pour in a bit of each color.  I made about 3 or 4 rounds of each color. 

I like to finish it off by pouring the last of my uncolored mixture down the center. 

Once you have all of your soap poured you’ll take a clothes hanger (bent to fit the width of your mold) and use it to swirl.  Start by putting it down to the bottom of your soap on one side…then sweep from side to side as you pull it up and out of the mold. 

Then if you want you can swirl the top on the surface.  I added a bit more purple and yellow and swirled with a craft stick.

I’ll give it another go…using less color and more contrast.  

Happy Soaping!

Amanda

The Moustache Soap – a preview and a question

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What is up with all of the moustache “stuff” on Etsy?   Seriously.  Search moustache (or mustache) and you’ll find all sorts of items including shirts, toys, jewelry, pillows, stamps…the list goes on and on. 

So yes…I had to.  I made a moustache soap.  I’ll post a tutorial tomorrow (not that its a hard one to figure out…).

Advanced CP Soap Class

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I had a great advanced soap class on Saturday.  This class focuses on advanced design techniques.  I first demo several different techniques then the students get turned loose to make their own soap.  They each make 1 funnel swirl loaf, 1 slab swirl and 1 layered soap loaf with a mica line and embeds.  I think they did an excellent job! 

2 new logs

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First, I have to say THANK YOU to all that have bought my E-Zine!  And for the wonderful and kind emails/comments I’ve been getting.  I really appreciate all of you!  :)

I made a couple of logs of soap yesterday for some friends.

Neither of these came out very exciting.  I did an in the pot swirl for both but the colors didn’t hold well.  I used some micas I hadn’t used before and I guess they weren’t very stable or I didn’t use enough.

Anywho…the soap on the left smells awesome!  It is a mix of 2 parts Bramble Berry Sheer Fresia, 1 part BB Mangosteen and 1 part BB Rain Cybilla.  (All samples I had received in various orders/swap.) 

The other log was Kumquat from Taylored Concepts.  It was very different than other Kumquats I have used.  It almost seemed to smell like bubble gum.  This soap is for some friends with kids…so I know they’ll be happy when they get it. 

Sorry my pictures aren’t that great.  This yellow table I have just isn’t the best background for pics.  Usually I use a brown table cloth but I had a transparent crock pot soap volcano all over it the night before  and I’m having trouble deciding how to wash it.  I think there is too much sticky soap on it to throw it in the washing machine so I should probably throw it in the tub first to soak it. 

I also tried out a new recipe.  It’s similar to another one I love but has more shea and some palm kernel.  Because of all the solid oils/butter it does get thick fast. 

Olive oil – 8 oz
Palm oil – 8 oz
Coconut oil – 6 oz
Palm Kernel oil – 4 oz
Shea butter – 6 oz
Avocado oil – 2 oz
Castor oil – 2 oz

Water – 11 oz
Sodium hydroxide – 4.8 oz 

Today is like Christmas for me.  I’m anxiously awaiting a delivery of a new soap mold which should deliver tonite!  I can’t wait to play with it over the weekend.  I’m sure I’ll have plenty of posts coming up about using it.  :)

Happy Soaping!

Amanda

Creamy carrot cold process soap

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Have you been to Holly’s blog, Sparklebrook?  If not… head on over there and check out her beautiful soap.  The other day she posted a Carrots and Cream soap.  Drool.  I make a soap with carrot baby food and half and half cream.  I haven’t made it in awhile but was inspired to do so after seeing hers.  I think this will be just what my dry winter skin needs. 

Creamy carrot soap

Avocado oil – 2 oz
Castor oil – 2 oz
Shea butter – 4 oz
Coconut oil – 6 oz
Olive oil – 6 oz
Lard – 8 oz (sub with palm if you want but run through a lye calc)

Cream (half and half) – 6 oz
Sodium hydroxide – 3.7 oz
Sodium lactate – 1 oz

Carrot baby food – 2.5 oz jar (make sure the ingredients say carrots and water only)

I scented this one with an essential oil blend of lavender, lemongrass and cedarwood.  (8:2:1)

The first step when using cream or milk for soap making is to freeze the milk.  I simply pour mine in an ice tray. 

Then measure out what you need.  I used 6 oz. 

You can add the carrots to this or you can add at trace.  I’m going to go ahead and the carrots to the cream.

Slowely sprinkle in the lye as you stir…stir…stir.  Milk likes to heat up but since we froze it first…it doesn’t get too hot and burn. 

It felt like it was heating up more than I wanted so I took it over to the sink and ran some cold water over the container as I stirred. 

While that’s cooling down, measure out your solid oils.

And melt down.

Add the liquid oils to the melted oils. 

Once the oil mixture and lye water have both cooled down to where they are warm to the touch, we’re ready to make soap.  If you’re using sodium lactate add it to the lye water. 

Pour the lye solution into your oils and stickblend until trace.  Since we’re not doing a fancy design or anything you can mix to a nice thick trace. 

Pour it into the mold.

I like to gel my soap (yes, even milk/cream soap) so I covered with a piece of seran wrap and piece of wood.  Milk/cream soap does tend to heat up so if you do insulate to gel be sure you check on it quite often.  You might find that you don’t even need to insulate it to get gel.  It’s a bit cold here, so I find that I usually do.  I checked on it after about 20 minutes and you can see it started getting a bit too hot.  Notice the crack?  So I uncovered it and let it finish gelling without all of the insulation. 

Thanks, Holly for the inspiration!

Amanda

Pass the Chai

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I’ve been on a chai kick lately.  I managed to wean myself off of Starbucks Peppermint Mochas only to discover the greatness of their Chai Lattes.  Those things are addicting.  So look-y what I ordered to soap! 

I ordered Bramble Berry’s Chai Tea Cybilla.  It smells wonderful!  I was going to blend it with some coffee but I looked through my FO stash and couldn’t find any.  O’well. 

I found these little white cups at the grocery store awhile ago and knew that I wanted them for my Chai soap. 

This was going to be a test batch so I came up with a small recipe.  When you’re doing a recipe this size be sure to measure in grams and be as exact as you can. 

The recipe:

Palm oil – 90 g
Coconut oil – 90 g
Olive oil – 90 g
Cocoa butter – 30 g
Castor oil – 30 g
Lye – 46 g
Water – 100 g

*A note on this recipe + BB’s Chai Tea.  I knew the fragrance oil would probably accelerate a bit because it does contain spice.  I didn’t even use a stick blender; I just mixed with a spoon and it thickened quickly and also got very hot.  Also note that my recipe is a pretty quick tracing recipe because of the palm and the cocoa butter.  So if you want to slow things down when using fragrance oils like this…use a recipe that contains higher amounts of olive.  If you’re okay with lard, lard is slower to trace than palm so works great also.  Keep your temps down as soaping cooler tends to slow trace.  Adding the fragrance oil to your melted oils helps also if you have a fast moving FO.*

For this soap, I’m going to make this recipe twice.  Once for the bottoms and again for the tops.  So make your soap as usual and bring to trace.  Pour it into the individual cups. 

That was easy enough!  Now we’re going to make the tops.  Since these are hot drinks I wanted a layer of cream on top that molded to the top instead of a whipped top like they put on the cold drinks.  If you are wanting a whipped top that forms peaks…then  make a whipped soap Nizzy style and that would be perfect.  I’m going to make our same recipe and do sort of a partial whipped.  I used a cold lye solution but melted the oils like I usually do and let them cool a bit.  Since I used cocoa butter I couldn’t let them cool too much or it would start to resolidify.  I wanted the topping to be more white so I added some TD dissolved in water.   

So once you have your lye solution cold (put it covered and labeled in the fridge) pour your lye into the melted oils.  I wanted to whip some air into this mixture so I used a beater instead of my stick blender.  I didn’t add any fragrance oil because I wanted it to stay nice and white.  

And now you can see after I’ve whipped it for a bit it gets more white in color.

I beat it for about 10 minutes.  Longer than I thought it would take!  You want to look for it to become whiter and a bit frothy/slightly whipped.  It’s not going to whip up like whipped soap Nizzy style because we started with melted oils instead of room temp oils.  My goal is to pour it over the tops of the drink bottoms and have it spread on its own.  So you don’t want something that you have to spread with a knife.  We’re ready to pour the tops on.

I scraped off the tops of the cups to make them more even.  I would actually recommend leaving a bit more head room in your drinks than I did so you have room for the cream topping.  I’ll add more for the next batch- lesson learned.

Gently spoon the topping on.  If you do it slow enough and a bit at a time it will form a nice dome without running over the sides. 

Depending on what drink you’re making you can sprinkle of some topping.  I added a bit of cinnamon to these.  If I were doing a peppermint mocha I would shave a bit of brown soap to look like chocolate shavings on top. 

These cups are super easy to unmold.  Let them sit like this for about 24 hours, pop in the freezer for 10 minutes or so and gently push from the bottom while sqeezing the sides gently.  They pop right out.

On Bramble Berry’s website they do state that this fragrance oil discolors to brown.  This is exactly what I want so I didn’t add any colorant.  If I wanted a darker brown I could have added some brown mica or even some cocoa powder.

I’m making some cute little labels for these and tonite I will post some finished pics that show what they look like out of the cup molds and then with labels. 

UPDATE:  Here are the chai soaps labeled.  You can see they turned the perfect chai color (if you added milk).  You could either leave them naked, put a label around the naked soap or my favorite…put them back in cups and put the label on the cups.  They ended up being about 3.5 oz (ignore what the label says). 

Download the label template here.

Happy soaping!

Amanda