" We dance our madness;
We dance our joy.
Oh precious ones, the fun has just begun.
Wild music is in the air;
there's beauty flowing everywhere."
James Green, "The Herbal Medicine Maker's Handbook"
This is my post about soap making; I was hoping it would be about my hamper but I'm still making that!
I love, love the above quote. It describes my life and how I feel about my garden and children. Studying medicinal herbs led me into making my own lotions and potions which led into making my own soap. I make my soap outside, surrounded by my plants and with music. This is one of my favorite songs to begin projects with. Enjoy and play while you read!
I love, love the above quote. It describes my life and how I feel about my garden and children. Studying medicinal herbs led me into making my own lotions and potions which led into making my own soap. I make my soap outside, surrounded by my plants and with music. This is one of my favorite songs to begin projects with. Enjoy and play while you read!
LYE IS DANGEROUS. THIS IS TO SHOW THE GENERAL PROCESS.
You can email me or do further research yourself if you have questions. Usually you want to try a couple of recipes first and get it down to a blend you like working with.
1. Gather crude oils. I have my own special blend I like to mix and sometimes it's fun to add mango or cocoa butter.
*Tip- Adding castor oil to batch makes a nice soapy bar.
2. Measure your oils . Heat your oils in crockpot. Heat the liquid oils first and then the solid oils.
3. Measure your water and lye. ALWAYS add lye to water, not vice versa. Wearing gloves, a mask and eye protection is the safest way to do this. The lye heats in the water and gives off a fume. At the very least, know this so you can turn your head away. Be careful not to get the solution on yourself. It will burn your skin.
4. Add the lye solution to the heated oils in the crock pot to produce a quick "trace". This is the beginning of the saponification process. Once you see a thin trace, put the lid on the crockpot.
*Tip- Adding castor oil to batch makes a nice soapy bar.
2. Measure your oils . Heat your oils in crockpot. Heat the liquid oils first and then the solid oils.
3. Measure your water and lye. ALWAYS add lye to water, not vice versa. Wearing gloves, a mask and eye protection is the safest way to do this. The lye heats in the water and gives off a fume. At the very least, know this so you can turn your head away. Be careful not to get the solution on yourself. It will burn your skin.
4. Add the lye solution to the heated oils in the crock pot to produce a quick "trace". This is the beginning of the saponification process. Once you see a thin trace, put the lid on the crockpot.
5. After about 10 minutes you will see a thickness forming around the outside rim of the crock pot. I like to stir mine back into the rest of the soap. It also gives me a sense (by touch and weight) of how the oils are mixing with the lye solution.
6. After about 30 minutes, your soap with look and feel like creamy mashed potatoes. You want to make sure you don't have any active lye left in the soap. You can buy ph testing strips but I like the old-fashioned method--take a bit, put it on your finger, it should feel waxy, and place it to your tongue. If it *zings* you have active lye and you need to cook the solution longer.
7. Turn off the heat on the crock pot and now you can add your fragrances. I use essential oils (oils that are derived from plants) but I am interested in getting into fragrance oils as some scents are very difficult to reproduce yourself through essential oils. Blending my own fragrances with essential oils is another skill set I want to master. I took out a little of the soap batch and added vanilla which darkens the batch.
7. Turn off the heat on the crock pot and now you can add your fragrances. I use essential oils (oils that are derived from plants) but I am interested in getting into fragrance oils as some scents are very difficult to reproduce yourself through essential oils. Blending my own fragrances with essential oils is another skill set I want to master. I took out a little of the soap batch and added vanilla which darkens the batch.
8. I added the darker batch into the original soap batch and mixed them a couple of times which will produce a marbling effect.
9. Spoon the mixture into a form. I used a glass bread dish and lined it with wax paper because I had it on hand. I really should have used butcher's block paper to allow more breathability.
*Some people like to put theirs in the freezer to help it harden. I like to leave mine out and let it cool down on it's own.
*Some people like to put theirs in the freezer to help it harden. I like to leave mine out and let it cool down on it's own.
10. You can let it cure longer or immediately use it. BIG SURPRISE--but I like to use mine immediately, as soon as it hardens. Cut and package it however you would like.
*Dance your time away in nature creating! Soapmaking is incredibly rewarding to me. Try your hand at it, you never know, you may love it!
*Dance your time away in nature creating! Soapmaking is incredibly rewarding to me. Try your hand at it, you never know, you may love it!
