SOAP!

For those of you who don't know, I used to be a hard core soapmaker. I learned it as a hobby in early 2001 and then I started a business in 2002 so that I could work at home while taking care of Amelia (and then the other two who came shortly after). I would spend every weekend during the spring/summer/fall at farmer's markets and festivals selling my soaps and lotions and other various bath products.

I had always said that if it didn't feel like fun anymore then I would quit. I ended up getting pretty burnt out on it, so I did eventually quit. Much to my husband's dismay, I also stopped making it for our personal use. I, finally, just felt like making it again. Tonight I did!

Keep in mind that I am not showing you these photos as instruction on how to make soap (there are better websites that do a more thorough job of that). Also, I should technically be wearing gloves and goggles, but my glasses are huge and work like goggles and I don't like to wear gloves. Lye burns like a MOTHER, but I prefer to feel when I have gotten it on my hand so I can wash right away rather than having it on my gloves and then accidentally brushing it against my face or something. So there. My disclaimers.

My supplies involve several kinds of fixed oils and lye. For this batch of soap I used for oils: olive, palm, coconut, and avocado. It was strange using 7lb bottles of oils instead of 50lb pails like I used to!

Here is my mold that holds a loaf that makes 12 HUGE bars of soap (they end up being 5-6oz each)

My lye and water are set carefully in the sink. This is so that if it gets knocked over some how, the mess is contained to the sink. Lye is nasty to work with. I was only willing to whip up soap because Joe was home to wrangle children and be sure none of them would get hurt.

So, the lye mixture cools to about 100 degrees and then I had to heat the oils to about 100 degrees. Keep in mind that I did this for years and years (in huge quantities, many times per week), so I have gotten pretty comfortable working without a thermometer and just using my hands to tell me when the temps are right.

When the temps were right, I started mixing. I could just use the spoon, but it takes a few hours of stirring. A stick blender makes it MUCH faster. In just a few minutes it goes from looking like this to looking like pudding (called a "trace")

See? Here I am being all dangerous without safety gear!

This is what a trace looks like:

The fragrance oil is added at trace, and this fragrance oil made it start to set up quick, so I had to run it to my mold.

Edie snapped a photo of me slapping it into the mold (which I lined).

I covered the mold with a towel to help retain the heat. It will stay in the mold for 24 hours and then I will take it out and cut it.

Here the soap is starting a "gel stage." After it is removed from the mold and cut, it will need to "cure" for approximately 4 weeks to make sure it is nice and gentle.

4 weeks is an awfully convenient time for Christmas gifts ;) This batch was scented with Dragon's Blood fragrance oil, which is AMAZING. It is like a spicy incense. Yum.

I am excited to have enough oils to make about 6 batches of soap. Of course, I also bought the supplies to make lotion bars and I am thinking sometime this weekend making my oldest child do that with me.