Soap

I have had a few people ask me about how to start making cold process soap, so I thought I would gather up some resources and post them here for all to see.

Cold process soap making involves mixing oils with a lye and water solution. The resulting chemical reaction, called saponification, creates soap.  There is no lye left in the soap when the saponification is complete.

Lye is a caustic substance – ie it can burn you – so there are some safety rules you should follow.

Before you start making soap, watch this video from about.com on lye solution safety.

About.com Candle & Soap Making is an excellent resource for beginner soap makers.

Also check out their step-by-step photo tutorial on making cold process soap and the basic soap making video.

Another good resource is Teach Soap and the Teach Soap forum, created by the owner of Bramble Berry Soapmaking Supplies, Anne-Marie Faiola.  Anne-Marie’s blog, The Soap Queen, is loaded with lots of fun tutorials and other information for the soap maker.

Anne-Marie also has a YouTube channel, called Soap Queen TV.  Coming in April is a series of Soap Queen TV episodes on cold process soap making basics.

A wonderful book for beginning soapers is The Everything Soapmaking Book, by Alicia Grosso.  That is what I used when I started cold process soap making and it is great.

You can use many different things as a mold to make cold process soap.  I prefer a wooden mold, but when I first started out, I didn’t want to invest that much money, so I used a silicone bread pan.  They make great soap molds, but they are floppy, so if you use one, make sure you support it.  I use a shoebox.

A good starter recipe that does not require any fancy oils is a good place to start.  You can find all of the ingredients at the grocery store (except maybe the lye, but you can usually find that at the hardware store in the plumbing section – make sure it is 100% lye!).  Hold off on buying a bunch of fancy supplies until you decide that you like soap making.

Below is the first recipe I ever made, as recorded in my soap making notebook.  It uses olive, coconut and castor oils.  You can find castor oil in the pharmacy section of your supermarket, with the laxatives.  The castor oil gives the soap a very creamy feeling.  I personally don’t like it very much, so I don’t normally use castor oil anymore, but a lot of people like it.

Olive, Coconut, and Castor Oil Soap, 3-Pound Loaf

6.8 oz lye
16.2 oz water

31.5 oz olive oil
16 oz coconut oil
1.5 oz castor oil

All measurements are in weight ounces.

A few more tips:

• Always run your recipe through a lye calculator to make sure you use the correct amount of lye.  I have found mistakes in the recipes in soap making books!
• Make sure you have enough time to devote to making your soap, without any distractions.
• Have all of your materials ready ahead of time, before you mix anything.
• Be safe!
• Raw soap will hurt like the dickens if you get it on a paper cut!!
• Record everything you do in a notebook, for future reference and to see how far you’ve come.
• Have fun!

Okay, I am a blog slacker lately, I know, but on the bright side, my long-time readers are used to it!

I really wanted to do tons of awesome Valentine’s Day posts and here I am, only a week before the big day, just now kicking it off.

And what better way to kick off a week of Valentine’s Day posts than with Melt and Pour Soap Cupcakes all dressed up for V day?

I left the “frosting” white and, even though the Jewelry Box colorants are not non-bleeding, it has been a week and there has been no bleed whatsoever.  If you are worried about bleeding, make the frosting pink.

I colored clear soap with the red colorant and soap-safe glitter, and added fragrance.  I poured a thin layer (~1/4 inch) into a silicone pan.  (I only wanted a couple of hearts, so I used a muffin pan, but if you want to make a bunch, use a brownie pan.)  I poured the rest of the soap into the silicone cupcake liners.  When the thin layer of soap was set, I popped it out and used a small metal heart cookie cutter to cut out the hearts.

When the cupcake was set, I made the frosting using white melt and pour soap, with added fragrance.  I stirred it with a fork until it was thick and poured/scooped it onto the cupcake, which was sprayed with alcohol to make it stick better.  Then, I sprayed the top with more alcohol and sprinkled on more glitter!

While the frosting was still freshly poured, I popped in the heart.

Give one to someone you love.  Just don’t let anyone eat it!

My sister and brother-in-law bought me these awesome silicone cupcake cups fro Christmas, Regency Sili-Cups.

Unlike other silicone cupcake cups, Sili-cups gold their shape without needing a muffin tin and the edges are crisp little zig-zags.  They are, in a word, awesome.

I decided to play with my Soapylove Jewelry Box colorants and make some soap cupcakes.

I melted clear soap and mixed in fragrance, color, and the sparkle dust soap-safe glitter that comes with the color set, then poured the soap into the cups.

I played around with filling the cups to different levels.

While the soap hardened, I melted white soap and added the same color and fragrance.  These colorants are not non-bleeding, so I used the same color for the cupcake and frosting.

The “frosting” needs to be stirred and stirred until it cools and thickens enough to hold shape when it is poured on top of the cupcake base.  Then, you only have a few second before it gets too hard to pour, so be prepared to work quickly.

Spritz the cupcake with alcohol just before putting on the frosting.  Then, pour the soap frosting on, using a spoon to shape it.  If it floops of the edge of the cupcake when you pour it, just smoosh it back on; it gives it a more realistic frosting appearance.

Spritz again with alcohol and top with a sprinkle of the sparkle dust.

I loved them so much, I made lots of different colors!

I am so far behind on Christmas crafting, baking, and blogging.  I just can’t seem to convince myself that it really is almost Christmas.  The dusting of snow we got today helped.  Hopefully, the 3 – 6 inches we are supposed to get tomorrow will even more so.  I did make Gingerbread Cookies today, though.  I will post the recipe and pics after I decorate them with icing tomorrow.

I thought I would link to a couple of my Christmas posts from last year.  Here are a couple of simple melt and pour soap tutorials that are fun to make, give, and receive.

Christmas Tree Soap

Snowflake Soap

My little sister is getting married next year and, as a gift to her, I am making her soap wedding favors free of charge.  Last night, we scoured the internet for ideas.

We both had in mind some kind of shaped soap, probably packaged in organza bags.  There are lots of tutorials out there, like this one from Soap Queen.

I did a Google image search on “soap wedding favors” and we did find lots of shaped soaps, none of which we were too crazy about.

Then we saw it.  The ones.  We both loved them.  They were simple, small bars of cold process soap with a label that had the names of the couple and the date, like this.  So sweet.  So simple.

We were both stunned because we were expecting something else entirely, yet these were perfect.  Isn’t it funny how that happens sometimes?

A few weeks ago, I tried the Pumpkin Spice Latte at Starbucks and was instantly in love.  The very next day, A Year of Slowcooking posted a link to a Pumpkin Spice Latte slowcooker recipe.  I had to try.

It was yum!  I thought it was a wee bit heavy on the pumpkin, so I halved it the next time.  I also added a bit more spices.  But overall, I recommend trying it.

Since I had so much left over canned pumpkin, I decided to make mini pumpkin pies.

I used my favorite pie crust recipe – Martha’s Pate Brisee.  I cut large circles and pressed them into a standard muffin tin.  Then I made the Libby’s Pumpkin Pie filling and filled the crusts.  I baked as directed, until the pies were set.

Since I was on a Pumpkin Pie kick, I decided to make the Triple-Layer Pumpkin Spice Pie, using JELL-O’s seasonal Pumpkin Spice Flavored Instant Pudding.

The recipe calls for Cool Whip, but I substituted 8 oz. of cream, whipped.  I often do this with recipes and they come out fine.  I like to use powdered sugar instead of regular to give it a little more stability.

I also used a Keebler Shortbread crust instead of graham cracker crust.

It came out delicious!

My final adventure in pumpkin spice was a loaf of cold process soap using Pumpkin Spice fragrance oil from Bramble Berry.

Those are actually apples on top that I made using a silicone ice tray, but they get the job done.

The soap smells amazing – and I already had someone ask me about buying a bar!

All of the wonderful pumpkin spice delights make this time of year my favorite.  And I am not done yet!  I am making Pumpkin Whoopie Pies for Thanksgiving.  I will be sure to post pictures when I am done.

Anne-Marie Faiola, owner of Bramble Berry soap making supplies, has started a video series called, Soap Queen TV.  New episodes will be posted on her Soap Queen blog every Friday.  She has 15 episodes outlining melt and pour techniques from the very basic to the more complex.  Episodes 16, 17, and 18 cover bath fizzies and lip balm.  You can view the schedule here.

Here is the first episode.  If you ever wanted to try melt and pour soaping, you have to check out these videos.  The first one starts with the basics of creating a simple bar.

Soap Queen TV Episode 1: Fragrance and Essential oils from Soap Queen on Vimeo.

I finally got my soap shop up and running.  I only have 6 soaps listed to start, but – hey – that’s a start!

ctdesigns.artfire.com

Hop on over and take a look. I wanted to offer All Things Hold Together readers 10% off any order, but I am not sure how to process that. There is not a coupon option on Art Fire. If I am not able to adjust the sale amount, I will refund your 10% via paypal, if you let me know that you came from here.

(I know, I am such an amateur.)

Update: Okay, I figured it out. If you want 10% off any purchase at my Art Fire shop, here’s how to do it:
-Choose your products and put them in your cart.
-Checkout.
-When you come to the screen with payment options, send a “note to seller” telling me that you want the “ATHT 10% off.”
-Be sure you click send.
-When you choose your payment option, you will be brought to the paypal screen. Do not pay yet. Just exit. I will receive your order and contact you with my paypal address and the adjusted payment amount, so you can pay me and I will manually mark the order paid in Art Fire.

I know it’s more complicated than just entering a coupon code, but, hey, it’s 10% off!

Don’t worry, I didn’t forget that I have a blog here!  I have been very busy with family lately…and soap making.  But I have lots of pictures just waiting to be blogged about.  I just pulled them off my camera and there were 132!

I finally bought a loaf mold for melt and pour soap.  I used to use my silicon bread loaf pan, but it makes wide bars and uses too much soap at once.  I prefer smaller batches.  I bought mine at Go Planet Earth, but you can find them pretty much anywhere soap making supplies are sold.

Here are a few of the soaps I made.  I finally gave in to the food-as-soap craze, even though I myself do not get it.

Inspired by the Bramble Berry fragrance Hello Sweet Thang! – which smells like sugary lemony amazingness – I made a lemon meringue soap, with yellow mica semi-circles for the lemon slices.

Today, I made carrot cake.

Carrot cake soap, that is, using the Bramble Berry fragrance of the same name.

They look and smell good enough to eat, but I wouldn’t recommend it!

This week, I have been playing around with bath bomb recipes.  It is so fun and easy.

Most of the ingredients you need can be found at the supermarket.

The process is as easy as baking, except you don’t need an oven and the finished product won’t make you fat, but it will make you feel fabulous.

If you want to make your own bath bombs, here are some links to help you get started.

Make Fizzy Bath Bombs – About.com: Candle & Soap Making

Bath Bomb Recipes – Teach Soap

Later this weekend, I will share some pics.