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Miller's Homemade Soap Pages |
Dear Kathy,
I feel so foolish writing you, because I have not made soap yet. I don't want my first batch to fail. I'm still researching it, and have a lot of questions. I have been reading most the sites I can find on the Internet, plus using books from the library. (I got interested in soap making by buying a $3 book on the subject).
I can not find coconut oil in the supermarket. I wanted my first batch to be with this oil because it seems most of the basic recipes call for it, but I want to make it this weekend. (That leaves out the catalog places I just called) This leaves me making Castile soap or a Golden Honey soap. (I noticed almost half the problems written on the Internet were made with milk and/or honey).
While visiting in Virginia this weekend I bought some essential oils. (The first I could find). Each bottle was .5oz (notice the point in front of the 5). Where I purchased them, the lady told me that some oils call themselves essence oil, but they add other oil to it. I think I may have over paid. For example, I paid $4.59 for .5oz of Eucalyptus oil. It did state "essential" oil. (I know. Not even enough to make a small batch). Today, I paid $4.74 for 2oz of Eucalyptus oil in the pharmacy dept. of my local grocery store. It did not state "essential", but stated pure, natural. Both bottles say "pure".
So far I have spend about $100 on essential oils and other oils such as Crisco, olive, almond, and the such. I still have to buy the lye, and find a scale and coconut oil. Somewhere in the "botched batches" section of the e-mail one guy said he had to sell one botched batch in his discounted bin, but that was okay because it only costs about 25 cents to make a bar of soap. Other places it states that it doesn't cost much to make soap. I know I haven't made it yet, but that would mean I'm going to get 400 bars of soap for my $100 or else I may be doing something wrong. HMMM
I also read in my research that you should not add perfume to homemade soap. No alcohol. I like my soap to smell like my perfume and powder. Could I add my already perfumed foaming bath powder (free gift when I buy my perfume) to my homemade soap?
Would either Castile or Honey be a good soap to start out with?
Is there any difference between "pure" oils.
Can I buy coconut oil other than by mail or Internet?
How much does it cost to make an average bar of homemade soap?
What is the difference between Pomace Olive oil and reg. Olive oil?
Where do I buy pumice?
Can I really use my equipment for food after making soap, or does it have to be used solely for soap?
I can't wait to stop researching and finally make soap. I don't know why all the research though. I don't think people in the 1800's used all the temps and accurate measuring as we do today. I was reading "The Foxfire Book" and it looked like this lady "just made it".
Thank you so much for helping me. Not only by answering these questions, but for your pages which I have read and read may times.
Nancy B.
I need to get moving and work outside before the rain sets in, but wanted to address your questions this morning. Glad you've enjoyed the page!
No... that is a really low estimate, I think. It probably takes closer to 50 cents to a dollar to make a four ounce bar, depending on how much you had to pay for your scent and whether or not you used any special oils for superfatting... like shea butter, avocado, that sort of thing. 25 cents per bar might be in the ballpark for UNSCENTED soap, but I doubt you could make scented for that. The scent almost doubles the cost.
>I also read in my research that you should not add perfume to homemade soap. No alcohol. I like my soap to smell like my perfume and powder.
Oil based scents work much better than adding alcohol to cold process. It can sometimes cause the soap to want to separate. If you want to try this sometime, experiment with a small amount of soap from a batch before using an alcohol based fragrance in a large one. Also... some scents mutate in soap and don't turn out very nice. Better to get them from a source that realizes what does and doesn't work in cold process soap. Sweet Cakes is good for that.
>Could I add my already perfumed foaming bath powder (free gift when I buy my perfume) to my homemade soap?
I don't know how this would be and how it would react. Sorry I don't have an answer for you.
>Would either Castile or Honey be a good soap to start out with?
Soaps with honey in them have given me a problem in the past... it can be prone to separate. I'd start with a simple base recipe like Rachael's Tried and True, or the Sudsy All-Vegetable (the Favorite Castile II and the Canolive II are nice recipes also... not sure they last as long in use).
>Is there any difference between "pure" oils.
If you're talking about essential oils, there could be, but some of that is market hype to justify really high prices. You'd be better ordering essential oils in larger bottles from A Garden Eastward (on the net) than to pay the inflated prices from the local stores. You might do okay with eucalyptus or cinnamon from the pharmacy.... but the health food stores really have high prices for those tiny bottles. You need a fair amount of EO for scenting soap usually.
>Can I buy coconut oil other than by mail or Internet?
Look on my "Where to Find Ingredients" page and then poke around locally and see what you find. I can sometimes get it from the restaurant supply.
>How much does it cost to make an average bar of homemade soap?
I'm guessing that the scented ones might be closer to 80 or 90 cents for a 4 oz. bar... but again, it depends on how much you spent for fragrance.
>What is the difference between Pomace Olive oil and reg. Olive oil?
Pomace has more unsaponifiable material in it... it's from the last pressing. It behaves a bit differently and traces more quickly than regular olive oil. I have not used it. It will give your soap a greenish cast, which some folks like. I like the 100% pure olive oil that is NOT extra virgin. It's a golden color with only the slightest green cast. For soapmaking, it's great. I think the sap number for pomace is slightly lower than regular olive oil.
>Where do I buy pumice?
I just read some posts on this and some of the suggestions were the local hardware store... especially near the paint section. You would want a find grade if you get it. One person bought some from her dentist and others got it from soapmaking suppliers like Sunfeather or Majestic Mountain Sage.
>Can I really use my equipment for food after making soap, or does it have to be used solely for soap?
Hey... you said you read the page many times. I have this posted in a big block on a couple of pages! ;-) I use regular pans for soapmaking and the only utensils I would have special are things like the spatula, wooden spoons, etc. The main problem is not from the exposure to lye, but repeated exposure to strong fragrance oils. Your food could end up with a taste you'd not planned on!
Happy soaping!
Dear Kathy,
That burned sugar batch that I finally figured out how to resaponify did turn out to be good soap. -If you don't mind the burnt sugar smell! You are right, I will never do that again. (absentmindedly reverse the steps)
In the Soapy Success part you mention a laundry soap recipe to be found on the main page, but I cannot find it. Would you please steer me to it? I really want to make laundry soap.
Thanks,
Shivani Arjuna
Probably because it's not called "laundry soap" and may not be what you are really looking for. It was a variation under the original lye company recipe for making jelly soap (which works well in the laundry since it dissolves quickly). Here's what that said:
Jelly Soap
For use in washing machines and for washing dishes. Lye hard soap converted into jelly soap is convenient and economical to use. Cut 1 pound of hard soap into fine shavings and add 1 gallon of water. Boil for about 10 minutes then transfer to a suitable vessel to cool. Keep covered to prevent drying out. Jelly soap melts in hot water immediately and makes thick suds.
Now you probably want to know how much to use and I'm not sure! Sorry... I'm not much help, huh?
Any basic soap can be used for the laundry. If you know it's for that purpose, you might toss in some borax in the recipe, use 0% superfatting and keep the base oils fairly simple and economical. The addition of coconut oil will certainly help with the sudsing... I would not waste olive oil on laundry soap. Just a good tallow soap with coconut oil in it would be great. You can make up your own recipe with the Majestic Mountain Sage lye calculator.
Good luck!
My question is pretty simple: do you recommend any specific temperature for the lye and fat combination? I have read some sources that suggest 90 degrees Fahrenheit for some oils like vegetable oils, and others completely contradict this and say at least 100 to 110?
Any suggestions will be helpful.
Thanks,
Katina Whitford
I have learned that there is a leeway as far as temperatures go and while they can affect the texture and tracing of the soap... it still comes out soap in the end. The temperature I usually work with is around 110 degrees for both lye and fats. The lye solution can sometimes be a bit cooler than that... but I don't like it any cooler than 95 or 100 degrees. [When making milk soaps, lower temps may be in order... I don't do too many of those.] That's a pretty good midrange temperature. If the soap starts looking grainy right away after I mix the lye solution in (like maybe it was a bit cooler than I thought and making the fat glob up), I warm the pan slightly while I stir it until this smoothes out. Only low heat and only for a minute or two... then I turn it off. Once the mixture really begins to blend, it will produce some of its own heat and warm up. You just don't want it to loose too much temperature in the mixing process so that the fats will want to clump and not blend well.
Hope this helps clear up some confusion.
Thanks for all of your help in my first attempts at soapmaking. I have now made 6 beautiful batches. With one recipe I tried, I experienced ash and no matter what I did this particular recipe still formed ash. The next two recipes I have used did not and are have a beautiful shiny finish. I have made Bay Rum (colored a mauvey tan), Freesia (light lavender), Rose (palest pink), Sweetgrass (natural creamy tan), Apple Blossom (two-tone natural light cream and pink swirl), Almond (natural color of almost white). I have not tried any fancy molds but have used Rubbermaid snap together drawer organizers. The small one is perfect for a 1 lb batch. The next size works perfect for a 2 lb batch. I have had some problem cutting the bars evenly, but am working on that. I have made labels and am using my soap and giving it to friends as gifts. I made some bath salts to match the colors and fragrances and recently gave soap and bath salts to a friend who was in the hospital. She was thrilled (and, of course, so was I). I used Easter egg dye to get the lavender color to match the bath salts to the lavender colored Freesia soap . I put the bath salts in a Gladware plastic container and tied the soap and container together with a sheer lavender ribbon. It was a beautiful gift. Thank you so much for your advice and help.
Anneice
She is certainly welcome!
Hi Kathy, me again. I've got a question for you about fragrances for soap. I have tried SweetCakes fragrances and Soap Crafters fragrances and I also used essential oils. Except for the essential oils, I have used the amounts they call for per pound in my soap, but the scent is never very strong. To me it seems like it should be stronger. The essential oils (which are alot more expensive) seem to be the best, but you can't get scents like cucumber or china rain etc. How much fragrance do you usually use in 8lb batches of soap.? This last batch I made was with one of your veggie recipes with canola oil and I added 3 oz of Plumeria. And smells ok but not real strong. Was that enough? Does that clear glycerin soap scent easier or stronger ? Anyway thanks for all your help and your great recipes. I looked at other soap maker sites on the Internet but I always come back to yours. Thanks again Brenda Nichols
I think it's a difference between noses partly. Also... if you are expecting it to be as strong in the soap as in the bottle, that's never going to happen. The reason the EOs might seem stronger is that they are more volatile and put off more smell at the beginning. For the same reason, they seem to fade out and disappear from the soap (except for a few that are real base note types... like patchouli and anise for instance). I really like the FOs because they hold well and the amount I use for scenting would probably seem light to you based on what you just told me. It partly depends on the FO used, but I use anywhere from 2 oz. to 4 oz. per batch. Some of the Lebermuth oils I use 4 oz. of for the batches I do (like the berry scents, for instance), but for some Sweet Cakes scents that are strong like Iris, Purely Herbal, Bay Rum, Rose Petals, Special Edition Vanilla, 2 oz. is enough to my nose. Also... I'm too cheap to pay for a 4 oz. bottle when I don't want that much for a batch! =:o
Maybe you should get a few other opinions on the strength of your soaps. When you are around the scents for a long time, you'll have more trouble smelling them. Your nose gets kind of "desensitized". Get a few other noses to tell you what they think. Also... a small jar of coffee beans is nice to sniff between bars when you are testing for fragrance... kind of cleanses the olfactories! I don't drink the stuff but sure have benefited from those beans when I'm smelling too many things. Think I only paid 14 cents for them. Always thought it smelled better that way than how it tasted brewed anyway.
I hope this helps. Thanks for your nice comments about the web page and Happy soaping! :-)
Thank-you for putting all of this wonderful soap information on the web. It has really given me a lot of inspiration and information. I have had two soapy successes recently and wanted to share them with you.
I was really itching to make some new soap, and while I was wandering around the grocery store looking for inspiration I stumbled upon the Kool-Aid aisle. It seemed all to perfect, Kool-Aid has both color and flavor so I thought that it would be fun to try it in soap. I bought several packages and set to work. I have made two batches now, and have found that any of the flavors with Red dye #40 hold up well when they come into contact with the lye. The blue dye #1 turns pale gray. I have not tried it with the yellow dye soaps yet, but am about to go back to the store. I found that the best way to use the Kool-Aid is to dissolve it in a few tablespoons of water, and add it at trace. Kool-Aid will not dissolve in soap by itself (I tried,and it all sank to the bottom). Although this was a fun experiment I don't think that I would do this all of the time. It took 4 packages to color and scent a one pound batch. This is not exactly cost effective unless you happen to find some very cheap Kool-Aid, or Flavoraid (dollar stores sometimes have it cheap).
I live in a very enlightened city and as a result have chosen to make only all vegetable soaps. I just read a book about how to make milk soaps and was very interested in making milk soaps. I went to the health food store to try to find the most P.C. milk that I could and stumbled upon soy milk. I bought a box and set to work. I followed the instructions that were in the milk soap book. First I froze the soap (I don't know if this was necessary, but the book said to do it, so I did). When it had thawed out I made an ice water bath in the sink and very slowly added the lye. It smelled like ammonia, and turned thick and yellow. I proceeded to make the soap added oatmeal, and ground almonds, plus some almond, milk and honey fragrance oil. It has only been a week, but I tried the soap and it is lovely. It has a creamy lather, smells great (the ammonia smell disappeared) and was very moisturizing. I used my normal recipe, but used the milk instead of the water in a 1:2 ratio of milk to fat. I used the unsweetened, unflavored organic soy milk. It is available in other flavors, but I did not them to react with the lye, or have the lye scorch the sugars in the sweetened milk.
Thanks again for the great site,
Karen Stark
Food coloring is pretty iffy for soapmaking (the Kool-Aid). There are some colors that work and others that don't... kind of like when you work with crayons. There is some information about those on the "Design Your Own Recipe" page. You can get some different natural and "unnatural" colorants from The Pigment Lady on the Internet. I've ordered from her... you can get a sampler pak of different kinds and try them out, or buy individual colors. I have her on my links page.
Thanks for the email and happy soaping! I have a feeling you're hooked! :-)
Could I please trouble you with a quick question or two? I am having some problems figuring out what size of slab mold to use. Is there a "recipe" for figuring what size mold you need for a recipe? Is slab or log style the best? And will any recipe that calls for 12 oz of lye always make approx. the same size batch of soap? Thanks so much for your answers!
Sincerely, Trisha
There are slight variations, but generally, you'll get the same size batch with recipes using 12 oz. of lye. If you made a batch of all coconut, it might be a bit smaller since that uses more lye per ounce than most of the other oils... but you're probably not going to be doing that.
I don't have an exact way to do this. You can try filling a container with water (line it with saran first) and then see how many ounces of water it holds. This might put you in the ballpark for knowing how many ounces of freshly poured soap it will hold. That method can lend itself to any shape mold you might want to use and is probably the easiest way to estimate needed batch size.
Since I already know what size mold I use for my recipes, I could figure how much more length I'd need to add to the mold dimension in order to accommodate X number of bars. When you're working with a known size, you can just imagine how much bigger it would need to be to add a few more bars and size up your recipe and mold accordingly. When you're working with the unknown, however... the water measuring thing is probably the best.
I hope this helps and I've explained it well enough.
Dear Wonder-woman: [The only thing we have in common is that we both have blue eyes! K.M.]
You may recall me as the person who asked about high altitude soapmaking. I live in New Mexico at over 7,000 feet..you advised to test out my thermometers and not let it get too hot and to just go for it. Since I had brought back emu oil from Australia, I asked about emu oil soap recipes...you suggested not more than 4 oz to 3#s. So, oh great one, I went forth and now have the MOST WONDERFUL soap I have ever made. I guess I needed the shot of self confidence that you supplied. It is gentle, lathers well and smooth as silk:
I mixed it together with lye water at 90 degrees and fat around 130..Oh, I also added 1/2 oz of colored bees wax so it is a pleasant soft rose color. I love it!! I thank you.
Today I made a batch of all veggie soap - the recipe said to put it in the oven and stir off and on for 1/2 hour. Well, your wondrous stick blender had it tracing before I even put it in the oven. Hope I didn't goof by avoiding that step. It smells great and is nice and warm and you have opened new doors. I was making the 1lb batch size before and now am hooked on 3#s or more. Thanks so much, Tennie Bottomly
[Wow... what do I say? She really did it all herself. :-) ]
It's not "my" stick blender idea, but I've done plenty to share it with others on the net! Yeah... you don't need to put that in the oven. Would make the texture more like a remelt which I don't prefer. Think you'll like it better when pouring it right after trace is obtained.
Congratulations on your first emu batch! I wasn't sure if I was leading you down the garden path and am glad it all worked out for you. Only problem is... you're probably hopelessly hooked now. ;-)
Hello! Love your website.
I have 2 questions regarding soap with a high olive oil percentage:
(1) I noticed the "14 oz coconut/74 oz olive oil" recipe only had 24 (or thereabouts) oz of water and 12 oz lye. I have a similar recipe that includes Crisco in lieu of some of the olive oil, but the water is increased to 30-34 oz (per 12 oz lye). Is there less water required due to the high oil percentage? Will this make a very alkaline bar of soap?
(2) Will the above recipe be very lather-y?
I look forward to trying the recipe, but have had bad batches (high oil) that were goopy and failed to trace.
Thank you for your response,
Katy Yetter
Salem, Oregon
Hi! Salem is not all that far south of here (well... maybe about 4 or 4.5 hours).
Actually... there is some leeway on the water addition rate with any recipe. You want enough water there to allow free flow of the lye into the fat solution. At some point, you can cut it back though and the soap will still be okay and will not take as long to harden during cure. That's the advantage of the lower addition rate. I'd not go any lower than 24. If you are using a fragrance oil that might be problematic or accelerate trace, you are much better off using the higher addition rate (what Majestic Mountain Sage usually recommends)... probably closer to 31-33 ounces, depending on the base oils used. Tallow soaps get quite hard and need more water to keep them workable. If you are scenting with essential oils, you will usually not have trouble with the soap so can use the lower water amount.
Your recipe will be more lathery than straight castile (all olive), but not quite as much as a recipe with more coconut or added coconut and palm. That is not very helpful, is it? It will be sudsy but not profusely so and should be quite mild on the skin.
Soaps made with a high volume of olive oil are often slow to trace. If you use a stick blender for part of the mixing time (being careful to turn it off frequently and intersperse with hand stirring so it doesn't get too hot), you can probably have it to trace within about 5 to 15 minutes.
Hope this helps!
Hi Kathy - -
Wanted to tell you my first batch ended up perfect and usable - - now what do I do with all that soap? I've given away lots and kept some but overall I made 69 bars. Actually a monthly craft sale is in for a treat. I was so thrilled with my end results I just finished cutting my second batch into bars.
My daughter and I even made our own recipe (how daring for a soapmaking newbie! It's a chocolate milk soap that I made with tallow, equal amounts of coconut and palm oil with cocoa butter. We worked up our fats, ran it through the chart for lye and liquid (the soap has two ounces of milk and the rest water). After mixing the fat and lye we moved about a quarter into another pan, adding one ounce of baking chocolate to the larger half. It smells like a chocolate bar but did not come out as marbled as I wanted. I was shooting for something similar to the photograph on your "design your own recipe" page but instead we got primarily a chocolate brown bar with some light almost unnoticeable marbling. Guess I used too much dark and not enough white. Well, maybe next time.
I wanted to pass along a terrific cheap idea for a soap mold - - the plastic containers sunglasses are displayed in. My stepmom had one she gave me. It has 12 cavities that will make bars 2.5" wide, 6" long and 1.5" deep. I thought it might be a little too large but my dad (who grew up using handcrafted soap) says it is the perfect size. I like the size myself - - a healthy bar of soap.
Got to run and plan my next batch - - I'm thinking something like a strawberry or kiwi soap. Starting to think variety for my "sale."
Rae
Congrats on your success! I've had the marbling problem before when I got too carried away with the chocolate part. It actually doesn't take all that much soap to get the streaked effect... a couple of cups out of a batch is plenty... maybe even one and a half.
Just wanted to ask what size mold you use for the Favorite Castile II recipe. Also, how many ounces the mold shown on your page holds. I have problems on the math bit in knowing how to determine a mold size. :-( Any help would be appreciated.
Also, where do you purchase the Lemon Verbena - is it an Essential or Fragrance?
Thank you.
Wanda Freese
On the mold size, I can't tell you exactly... only that I am currently cutting 28 bars of soap from the mold I picture on the site. After curing for about a month, they are close to 4 oz. each (after being trimmed and beveled). That mold is the size I use for all my recipes which use 12 oz. of lye (including the Favorite Castile II). The mold is about 8" X 8.5" X 3.5" (that's approximate... a little extra was added to the widths to allow for the room that the lining takes up).
If I had to guess in ounces on that mold... it would be around 8 lb. or 128... roughly.
One way you can determine a mold size is to pour water into it, keeping track of how many ounces you have put in (I'd line it with saran wrap first). That will put you in the ballpark of how many ounces of poured soap it will hold.
When they have it, you can get Lemon Verbena FO from Sweet Cakes (Internet). They have a nice assortment of fragrance oils... I think you need to meet a $25 minimum order, so you'll want to try several if you do an order yourself.
Just found your website. Wanted to tell you that black ABS pipe that plumbers use for sewer will leach harmful chemical into your finished product. Use the white pipe ONLY according to my friend who has a plumbing business. Thought you would want to know. Thanks!
Kathie Mystical Mountain Soap.
Kathy,
I enjoy looking and reading your website. It is the one I go back to the most. Your soaps are beautiful. I have a question. If you use a wax chip or crayon to swirl in with some of your soap mixture, do you melt your wax chip in anything or do you melt it alone and then add it to your small amount of soap that you took out to color?
The reason I ask is that I melted a wax chip and poured it into my soap and I ended up with "small bits" of wax. Thank God I was making raspberry, so.........it looked like raspberry pieces. Any information would be helpful. I especially liked the color of the soap that was swirled with green. (Green is my favorite color any way.)
Thank you for your time.
Mona Whitney
If I'm doing a straight color with no swirl, I melt the wax colorant right in with the base oils at the beginning. For swirling, I'll put the small wax colorant in a stainless measuring cup with a tiny bit of oil. This is premelted on a low heat and when the soap is at light trace, I mix some of it in with the melted wax and oil in the measuring cup. Sometimes it will want to harden then also if the soap is much cooler. If that happens, I turn the heat up a bit and keep stirring it until the little pieces melt back in and homogenize in the swirling color. You have to stir your base soap every so often during this also and hope that one of them doesn't suddenly get quite thick on you. If that happens for some reason, you'll be doing the "swirl in the pot" method! (which is great and a lifesaver)
Anyway... after it's melted into the swirling color, you can do your thing with it. Kind of tense for a minute or two if you have to wait for little chips to melt in, but it all works out in the end!
Good luck with the next batch... I'll bet the unplanned effect still looks kind of interesting. :-)
Open your window. The shrieks of joy you hear coming from upstate New York are from me! To borrow a phrase from my children...The stick blender ROCKS! No more falling asleep with my head in the soap pot from stirring so long!! I literally couldn't believe my eyes. What once took an hour or so, took me less than 15 minutes!! I guess this is not news to you and you probably get mail like this all the time. I was able to get the soap out of the mold after only 15 hours. It is firm enough to cut already. I am wondering though....I ended up with a rippled top . Is this because it heated up so fast? Did I maybe wait too long to pour it? The soap itself is nice and uniform looking throughout, just this ripple thing on the top. I can slice it off, not a big deal. Just wondered what it was from.
Plus, I am thrilled no end that I didn't spend the money on the fancy-schmancy blender I had been oogling for so long. Hurray for Braun, only $16 at Target! Now I can spend the money on great new oils, beeswax, goats milk......!! HA!!
Thanks again for the splendid idea!
Heather Ohmit
P.S. The "what kind of soaper are you" section should have something for those of us who have apparently lost their sense of smell and run around the house shoving soap under everyone's noses and asking...what does this smell like to you?!!!
Blended soap heats up to gel faster and it sounds like you had too much insulation. That's what causes that ripply top thing. I cover mine with an inverted cardboard box and check it every so often. When it hits gel and the gel spreads to the edges (or pretty close), I uncover it for awhile until it starts to cool down a bit and form a skin over the gelled part. Then, you don't need a ton of insulation on it... just a little. Probably depends on how cold the room is.
Exactly. Be sure to turn it off frequently if you are using it over a 15 minute period... so the motor doesn't burn out. Some people don't seem to notice this and burn one out in the learning process. Sounds like you didn't do that... but just thought I'd mention it.
>Thanks again for the splendid idea!
Not my original idea, but you're welcome! I read this on someone else's page and she'd read about it on a soaplist somewhere. I've probably done a lot to spread the word though. :-)
Probably too true! I don't drink coffee, but bought 14 cents worth of beans to use when my sniffer gets confused or overwhelmed. Works great for visiting sniffers as well who can no longer smell the more subtle scents.
Congrats! You will love the improved texture of your soap and how consistently the batches turn out.
Thanks for writing!
This always puzzled me too. If the soap is well balanced and a bit superfatted, AND goes through gel stage, the texture is much better for cutting than lye heavy soap that never gelled. Deeper molds are more likely to gel. It would also depend on the particular recipe and how old the soap is, but those larger loaves take longer to dry out than the individual bars. I have been surprised at how some old bars can still be cut, but in the old days when my batches were more lye heavy and technique not as good (and no stick blender), I had plenty that would have been too brittle. If they use a base recipe that tends to be softer and not too heavy in stearic or palmitic acid, then the soap can probably be cut for quite awhile.
Not sure on how long it should be aged. Would depend on the base recipe and how much water was used. Four weeks might be okay, but maybe six better. I just haven't done the large quantities in loaves like that.
Lots of the soaps sold in loaves are melt and pour base... either clear or opaque with goodies put in... but the soap you saw may very well have been cold process.
Could you answer a quick question for me? Do you know how to calculate drops of essential oil into millilitres, drams, etc_?
It`s such an easy question, but no one can answer it for me!
Thank you for your kind help and assistance,
Blessings!
Joanna - from Tokyo
Well... all I can go on is my "Joy of Cooking" book. Here's what it has:
If that's true, then 1 Fluid Dram should equal 45 drops.
I hope you can make sense out of all that and figure out how to use it! :-)
Working with the numbers I already sent you and assuming they are accurate... it would come out a teensy bit over 12 drops.
Kathy: I am new to soapmaking, and I really like your pages! They are very helpful. One thing I would like to see, though is a description of the soap with the recipe. E.g. this soap has good lather, but tends to be drying when used on the face, that sort of thing.
Anyway, I wanted to tell you that stamps.com has 2 electric scales available for great prices! The 5 pound scale $29.95; the 10 pounder is 49.95. They add about $10.00 for s & h. Seems to be a good deal; even on the smaller one, you can subtract the weight of the carton. They are "postage" scales, but I think they would be very helpful.
By the way; I can only find the red devil lye in the 18 oz bottles. The first batch I measured by volume, and took out 1/3; I think it came out ok; the second batch I used a balance to weigh out ; I think it's ok too!
Just thought you
That was where your email trailed off, but you were probably almost done. I've gotten a decent small postal scale at Costco here for $25 (believe the brand is Royal). It weighs up to four pounds and has a tare feature on it. Not bad for the money and for weighing lye and fragrance/essential oils. No shipping charges either... so it was a good deal. A fellow I know got the same kind at his Costco in California.
Not sure I could do this... I'm not particularly sensitive, so fine differences between recipes are wasted on me. Most soaps are great if you make them properly and age them enough before using. If you have dry skin, I don't think there's any soap that can cure that, but homemade is about as good as it gets. Thanks for the suggestion... just not sure I'll do that because I don't want to make things up if I don't really notice a great difference. If there is a textural difference in lather, I think I already mention that... like castor oil being kind of slick and good for shaving soap (faces OR legs!).
Thanks for your input and happy soaping! :-)
...oops! meant to add that you could get digital scales at stamps.com for fairly cheap; the 5 pound one is about $30; the 10 pound one is about $50.00; Thanks for everything!
Kathy Miller . . .
Forgive me. I know you are extremely busy, but I've just got to ask someone who knows.
I just never could get a straight answer from the local soapmaker for my nine-year old daughter (and me!) about homemade soap. The lady talks as if she uses only oils . . . and no lye, but the websites all list lye. I have been reading; yet, nothing agrees with her soap having "no lye."
Doesn't ALL soap have to have lye . . . lye is what makes the soap "soapify"? and is it the lye that causes the all the oils to harden into the cake of soap?
I don't want the lady's soap business. I just want to give my little girl a good memory.
Thank you so much for your patience.
Lynn Haynes
If she's using oils and not a soap or glycerin base (already made), then she has to be using lye to turn them from oils into soap. Too bad she is not more honest about her product... it is just as mild whether she tells the truth or not and being truthful is always better, in my opinion. :-)
Lye soap by any other name (when well made) is just as mild. :-)
Kathy, I love your site! I have to pull myself away from the tons of info. and additional web sites you suggest. What I wonder, is if you would have any info regarding hemp soap? I have not had any luck finding recipes, and I am real interested in making hemp soap. Any ideas?? Also, I am soooo sold on those stick blenders now that I have tried it (Your enthusiasm had me running to Walmart to buy one). I can only wonder why anyone would want to stir after experiencing the fast action of the stick blender!! Anyway, I really appreciate any info. you can send me regarding hemp soap, or any referrals to someone who would be knowledgeable in this area. Thank You!!
Take Care, Carol Heinisch
Glad the site has been helpful to you and that you're enjoying the soapmaking. It really is satisfying. :-)
I don't know much about hemp oil soap, but will pass on what I think I've heard. You should not use more than 20-30 % hemp seed oil in your base oils (cold pressed is recommended and FRESH... it goes rancid quite quickly if not stored properly). Don't go overboard with superfatting/lye discount. She said not over 10% discount and I would say 5% since I don't like overly superfatted soap. The SAP value I found for hemp oil when using lye is about .1345.
Work from a recipe you already like... a good basic one and substitute the hemp oil for one of the other oils in the recipe. Recalculate it in a lye calculator to be sure it is still right for the amount of lye you are using. That should do it! I like the Sudsy All-Vegetable recipe really well and would probably substitute some hemp for some of the olive and canola oils if I were to do this.
Hello,
I used about 1 1/2 cups of the jelly and 3/4 cup of Borax for a large capacity washer. It seems to have come out just fine! I may be able to use less with a different recipe of soap shavings. One of the reasons I didn't like that batch was because it didn't lather very well.
Chris
I am new to soap making. I guess I don't understand what the difference is between glycerin soap and the soaps made with lye. Could you please explain to clear my confusion? I want to start a home based business. I want an all natural, healthy product. Thank you for your help.
The soaps made from lye are cold process and made from scratch. The lye turns the fats into soap molecules and glycerin. Glycerin soaps like what you see at the store have been made with either a soap or synthetic detergent base (like shavings of soap) and has had glycerin, alcohol and sugar solution added to it. There are a couple of ways this is done, but that one is common. The base they start with has probably had sodium hydroxide (lye) as part of the process, or something that has a similar role as a harsh alkaline salt. You can't make soap without something like that. When you buy melt and pour base... they've already gotten past that step so you don't handle the lye yourself, but it doesn't mean a substance such as that has not been used to create the glycerin soap base.
Personally, I think cold process soaps properly made are much milder and longer lasting than melt and pour glycerin type soaps. It's great stuff. Don't let the lye put you off too much... just use common sense when handling it and follow instructions. It's a fascinating process.
Hi Kathy,
Love your site, got me hooked on soapmaking with some easy recipes and good advice. Lately I have found some recipes that call for distilled water. Someone suggested to me that rainwater is basically distilled water that has only been distilled once, as opposed to the kind in stores that has been distilled twice and is purer. Could rainwater be substituted for distilled water in these recipes? If not, where do you buy distilled water? Also, could soft water be substituted for distilled water?
Thanks,
Marlene
I have always used our own well water which is quite soft. I don't see why it would be a problem using those things you mentioned. Might not be so good if you are on city water with loads of chlorine or have water softeners in your water. I don't know specifically what problems that would pose, but surmise that maybe there would be something since so many folks recommend distilled water instead of tap.
Thanks for you nice email and happy soaping! :-)
This may be common knowledge among new veteran soapers, but thought I'd share my new discovery. I was cutting up soap this morning & decided I'd like to try an imprint of some sort in a bar. I thought of my rubber stamps. Well, this actually worked! Naturally, the simpler designs worked the best. My son caught my enthusiasm so we now have bars of soap covered with soccer balls, bikes, footballs, helmets..... :-) I'm thinking those round cookie stamps may work even better.
Thanks again for all your help, Kathy.
J---
Thanks for sharing your stamping experiences. I've heard of a few folks doing this, but they probably used heavier stamps when the soap was a little bit older (but not much). I didn't know the rubber stamps would work very well.. but I think you hit on the key... they need to be simple. How fun! I could just see all those bars with soccer balls on them! :-)
Hi there. I've been making my own soap for about 1 1/2 years now and I learn something new with each batch. I'm currently using a blend of olive, coconut & palm oils but found I'd be stirring like a madwoman for 40 minutes or more. I then decided to take your advice and bought myself a stick blender. Well, the first time I used it - POOF - my soap traced in about 5 minutes! I couldn't believe it. The result: nice, even, creamy bars which are nice & hard and the best part, no sore muscles! Thanks for the advice!
All Canadian Soaper
You're welcome! I actually read about that on someone else's web page after I got on the Internet (Sabrina Downard... think she read about it from a list or somewhere). It's the greatest thing! I'm glad I could help spread the word.
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