Okay, friends. As promised, here's our holiday soap making tutorial, all courtesy of my awesome boyfriend + birthday boy, Brad! Brad's a sciencey major, so soap making is basically a practical chemistry experiment for him and true to scientist form, he's perfected his process, which he researched for about three months before actually trying this out. This tutorial is only the second batch of soap that he's ever made and the first time ever tried using a scent, but it smells awesome while curing so I'm sure it'll work great! I'm basically just the journalist today (and I wrapped up a bar to photograph,) but that's it! This is all the ingeniousness of Bradley and he deserves all the credit. As such, if you have any questions in the comments, the answers will all come from him.
So if you're aiming to try this out for the holidays, act fast! It's not a difficult process, but you just want to be sure of what you're doing first. This tutorial makes about eight to ten bars of soap, depending on how thick you cut them. If you're doing this for personal use, eight to ten bars has officially lasted Brad and me about nine months of having awesome soap (but we/mostly me don't shower often haha.)
BEFORE WE START, TWO MAJOR ISSUES:
1. Please read ALL the directions before you start and make sure you understand them thoroughly! Many of the directions are time sensitive and it's best to be over-prepared than under.
2. Take safety precautions! Brad's pretty good with dangerous chemicals, but he wouldn't even let me in the kitchen without covering my face. If the lye gets on you, it reacts with your skins the same way it reacts with the oils to turn into soap. I can't lye, it's pretty dangerous (pun intended).
Equipment/Materials:
Brad basically minimized costs as much as possible and found most of the items at Ikea and Value Village, but we know not everyone is lucky enough to live three miles from Ikea, so we've tried to be as descriptive as possible.
Scale that measures ounces
(Brad's is from Ikea, but I can't find the exact model on the site. THIS might do though.)
Mold of stainless steel or plastic OR if you can't find that, cover any sort of substitute with wax paper
(Brad's mold is not stainless steel and just a baking pan found at our Value Village. THIS is similar to what he uses.)
Stainless steel pot
(Also a good thrift store find.)
Thermometer that gets a reading quickly and that is made of glass or plastic - you don't want the lye to react with it
(Can get two for the different mixtures or use the same one and wipe off between measuring.)
Cutter
(From Target, but as with everything else, be careful of what it's made of.)
Storage box
(A thrift store find - actually was a desk drawer that for some reason was being sold separate from the desk.)
Towels
(Cheap kitchen towels are always good from Ikea!)
Stirrer - glass, plastic or wooden
(Brad's is wooden, from Ikea HERE, but he also has a cake icing thing)
Heat resistant bowl
(plastic container that is microwave/dishwasher safe for the lye. THIS ONE from Ikea will do.)
Newspaper
Measuring cup
Soap Ingredients:
9.4 oz Crisco
6 oz Olive Oil
6 oz Coconut Oil (You may need to check your specialty markets to find this)
8 oz Distilled Water
3 oz Lye
0.9 oz fragrance oil or Essential Oil Blend (Brad used Honey Almond and it smells awesome. I also used it for our next forth-coming tutorial in my candles!)
Directions:
1. Assemble all equipment and ingredients.
2. Using the scale, mix lye soltion and set it aside to cool: Place the mixing bowl on the scale and zero the scale (or be able to do the math). Pour the lye in the bowl first and then carefully pour in the distilled water. Avoid splashing and try not to inhale any fumes.
3. Using the scale again, measure the oils and then heat on the stove until they are completely melted: Place the stainless steel pot on scale and zero it (or be able to do the math). Then add each ingredient in one by one (crisco, olive oil and coconut oil, in no specific order), keeping track of the appropriate ounces. Place the pot on the stove on LOW. (It won't take long to get to the desired temperature.)
4. When the lye and oils are between 100 and 110 degrees Fahrenheit, slowly pour the lye solution into the oils.
5. Stir well at a medium-fast pace until there is a light trace. This should take 30-60 minutes. (Explaining tracing is hard, so I stole a great explanation from
supersoapmaking.com)
Tracing: "the so-called 'point of no return' in soap making. It is the point where the oils or the fats in your soap have successfully mixed with your lye solution. More appropriately, this is the point where your oils and your lye tun into soap. Tell-tale signs of tracing:
- Soap has a thick consistency similar to cake batter after you've mixed it
- If you drizzle some of the soap on the surface of the mixture, it leaves behind a "trail" that takes a while to sink back into the mixture." You could write words on top of the batter.
6. Pour your soap batter into the mold and cover with wax paper. Use the cake icing thing to scrape out the remaining soap batter. Then wrap the mold in towels and let sit for 12 - 24 hours until the soap is hard enough to cut. Be sure to use gloves when you cut the soap because there may still be some lye remaining.
7. Remove the soap from the mold and cut it into bars. Place the bars in a storage container covered with a towel and let cure for 2-4 weeks.
8. Use, abuse and enjoy your awesome new soap!
I hope the tutorial works well for you, for those of you brave enough to try it! I'm too much of a wimp to try it out alone - I'm just lucky enough to live with a super brave olddd man now. ;) Post your questions in the comments and happy holidays!
*Puns by Brad. Apparently I don't write with enough of them.
