Posted: 11/26/2012 4:41:56 PM EDT
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My first attempt at bar soap this weekend. Can't say if we did it correctly but it worked.
The ingredients we used: 3 lbs. of Crisco 22 oz. of cocanut oil 16 oz.olive oil 24 oz. cold water 12 oz. lye crystals 1 oz. essential oils..We used cinnamon and almond. 12 oz. evaporated milk. 1/4 cup honey. Safety equipment: Goggles, rubber gloves, face mask, bentilation. Other equipment: Mold, freezer paper, glass jug, plastic spoon, thermometer. We lined the mold with freezer paper. We used a crock pot to make it in. We melted the solid oils in the microwave and added it to the crockpot while we mixed the lye and water. Before we realized it, it was 140f. We used a large glass container to out the cold water in and added a tiny bit of lye at a tie, stirring it with an old plastic spoon. Tried wood but it started eating it. The lye heats the water fast. Add a bit, stir it till clear, let it sit a couple minutes. Take your time and keep the area well ventilated. Once the lye is mixed, very, very slowly add it to the oils in the crockpot. At this point we realized how hot things were, but started mixing. Seperately, we slightly warmed the milk, and stirred the honey into it. Then we slowly mixed the milk/ honey into the rest. We mixed the lye/oil until it stuck to the back of the spoon, then mixed a lot more because we thought it was supposed to be 100f and it was still over 120. The instructions said to add the oils at light trace and be ready to pour..but ours was still hot, so we kept stirring..and stirring. Eventually, it was just over 100f and thick, so we poured it into the mold. Thats it. It sat for two days and was pretty hard as soon as it cooled. I removed it from the mold today and it was solid but soft enough to cut with a kitchen knife. Not aure the total cost because I had a lot of the ingredients..maybe $20.00. We got 28 bars of soap..suds well and smells nice. I'll let it cure for a couple weeks and wrap it. Snce its till soft, I'll clean it up some and maybe stencil some stuff in it since I'm giving it away as gifts.i'll definitely try it again and see what else I can use to reduce the cost. 
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Get some PH test strips... Lye soap can be a bit "harsh"
http://www.soap-made-easy.com/soap-ph.html LINKY I rub a drop of water on the bar then dip. |
| I have been playing with making cute soap bars to give as gifts but I'm using a soap base rather than mixing it on my own. I'm waiting to see if my Mother in law is going to buy a new milk goat so I can start using its milk. As soon as I have the basics down I am going to start making from scratch. Dont forget to update after they cure. |
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As long as the soap cooks in the crock pot long enough it will go through saponification thereby changing the properties of the lye. Thats the nice thing with 'hot process' soap- u don't have to let it cure. Mine usually takes about 1 hour and 15 minutes to cook before it is done. You can test it by taking just a tiny bit and touching it to your tongue- if it has a tingle it needs to cook longer, if not it's ready.
This soap is what we use for our bath soap and absolutely love it. |
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Quoted: Get some PH test strips... Lye soap can be a bit "harsh" http://www.soap-made-easy.com/soap-ph.html LINKY I rub a drop of water on the bar then dip. I always superfat my soaps by 5% and have never had anything that could be described as harsh. I also use sodium lactate and a few tricks to force gel stage, the soap is usable the next day (although not completely dry). |
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Most all the soap I make is also 5% superfat and I have always used hot process. Here is the recipe I use for shampoo bars and that is what my husband and I both use exclusively now. The bath bar I posted the link to is a pale yellow. It is an unscented bar but you could add essential oils to it if you wanted to. Both the shampoo and bath bars are specifically targeted to be moisturizing and great for your skin.
I have found the best price for lye on amazon.com (we have amazon prime). Whenever I purchase stuff for soap, salves etc I always price check amazon and mountain rose herbs . I also love Mountain Rose Herb's products and have never been disappointed in anything I have ordered. The soaps I make are more geared towards being beneficial to our skin, etc so I make aure that what I use is the best I can purchase within reason. Hope that helps! |
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In retrospect, I should have used a miterbox to cut mine. I made a wooden soap mold for the wife awhile back, patterned after one in a soap making supply catalog. Whole box pops apart, and has slot for guillotine style knife to cut bars. (We also raise dairy goats) Not sure where it is right now, and she's up a tree, but I'll see if we can dig it up, but you should be able to find one online to copy. Then you can make it whatever size you want! |
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I received a pm from a member asking about curing issues so I thought I'd post my process here since it might benefit others as well. I always use the lye calculator at - http://www.thesage.com/calcs/lyecalc2.php I have 2 tricks to make sure my soaps cure properly. 1 - I use Sodium Lactate as an additive which works as a mold release agent and causes the soap to fully saponify in 12 hours. It is all natural and is actually something your body produces to moisturize the skin when you sweat (sounds gross, but works). 2 - There are 2 main processes for making soap; hot process and cold process. I have developed what I call my "kind of warm" process. It goes something like this:
The next morning your soap will be hard enough to cut and dry enough to use. Caveat - this may not be the case of you do not add the Sodium Lactate. Check the ph to verify that saponification is complete. Of course, soap will last a lot longer in the shower if it is fully dried. The longer you let it dry, the longer it will last. However, it is ready to use right away. I have never added any colors to my soaps, I try to keep them as pure as possible. I only use essential oils and do not use fragrance oils as they tend to cause my warm soap to sieze and they generally are stinky  BTW - I have a custom mitre box made of hdpe that is adjustable. I'll get a pic of it uploaded tonight. Hope this is somewhat helpful. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
Get some PH test strips... Lye soap can be a bit "harsh" http://www.soap-made-easy.com/soap-ph.html LINKY I rub a drop of water on the bar then dip. I always superfat my soaps by 5% and have never had anything that could be described as harsh. I also use sodium lactate and a few tricks to force gel stage, the soap is usable the next day (although not completely dry). I tend to make mine a bit fat heavy too (olive oil, coconut, and lard) and have good results. I have made a few batches very lye heavy to use as a ground laundry soap..Trust me, you DON'T want to grab one of those and take a shower. 
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Anyone here ever made lye from wood ashes? I am very interested in attempting a complete from scratch per the foxfire books using hardwood ashes and bacon fat. I am sure getting the lye ratio correct or it cooked properly can be tricky...thus the desire to talk to someone who has BTDT. |
| Thats something I haven't done either, but here is an article in Mother Earth News about how to do it. |
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OMG!
Whats this website coming too!!! I just posted some info on a spinning wheel thread and now I find this on soap making. Nice to see my wife and I are not all alone.! Your recipe is pretty good, very basic and reliable. Test your soaps over time. The more they age the better they become. Currently my wife is felting soap. Making felt from sheep fiber and covering the scented bars with it. Very trendy !!! Hoping to get into soap bar production again this spring and create a bunch of felted bars for holiday craft fairs. Still amazed that these topics are popping up here!!! |
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I ordered some oils to make different recipes but I took the shavings from cleaning up the bars plus a couple of the end bars and melted them down and made liquid handsoap.
I didn't really use a recipe and I'm not sure how much since I was goofing around..a couple cups. I added a gallonh of distilled water, a teaspoon of caster oil and a tablespoon of glycerin. I boiled it up and let it sit overnight..nothing. So I put it back on to boil and let it go for 10 minutes or so and turned it off. Started thickening right away. Let it sit for 8 hours or so and then beat it with a hand mixer and added just a little more water..maybe a cup. Its perfect. I made a gallon of this stuff..including the distilled water, I have less than $3.00 into it as far as I can figure. The candles are unrelated. I rendered some beeswax this morning and poured a few more votives..got the molds overfull, though. ETA..pic isn't loading so you'll have to take my word on the awesomeness. |
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Nice. My Wife makes soap from our Goat's milk, lard, and organic herbs and essential oils. She has a 5LB mold, that produces about 36 bars. Best soap I've ever used. I'll never buy soap from the store again if I don't have to. ETA: One tip to save some money, get the 100% lye drain cleaner from Lowes/Home Deopt, instead of buying the expensive stuff from soap making suppliers.
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| Barb, hope you are still enjoying your soap! Funny thing - husband and I took a trip over Christmas and forgot to pack one of our bath bars and one of our shampoo bars that I make. We were so happy to get home to "our" soap and shampoo after using storebought for a week!! We are spoiled now. |
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stupid man question: you said you used a crock pot,, can my wife use the crock pot for regular food after I clean it?? I see the only thing hazardous is the lye.. thoughts?? She could but I wouldn't eat anything out of it... Pick up a crockpot at goodwill for $5 |
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well,, I attempted it tonight. it's the same color as Barbara made.
took forever to get it down to 100F. then poured it into my molds. pretty runny yet, we'll see by tomorrow if it sets up. oh, the cost was right at $25 for the ingrediants. I did buy a therm and a plasic mold i found at walmart. |