Soap Cutting Day

Several people asked questions about the soap making process, and instead of answering individual questions, for once I'm addressing them here.

First,

Kathy asked if the soap was in the 1/2 and 1/2 containers.  Yes, there are different batches in each of these and I will show them soon.

Yvonne asked about how long you had to wait to use the soap.  You can cut it after it has set for two days, but you must wait FOUR to SIX weeks to actually use the soap because the lye water has still not fully dissipated until then.  If you use it too soon, you could burn your skin, although both Scott and I handled the soap without gloves on when he cut it and I positioned it on the racks.

Sheila and Sandra asked why add the lye to the water, instead of water to lye.  Lye is what you pour down your clogged drains to release the clog.  By adding water after the lye has been poured into the drain, you release caustic fumes and bubbles that get rid of the clogs in the drain.  So, my guess is the water would bubble over the glass container and spill all over the table, floor, or ground.  Another reason to prepare the soap outside.

Scott managed to get the soap out of the container I picked out for it.

Due to circumstances beyond our control, these soaps sat a few days longer than they should have before getting them out of the mold.  You can see my "Stress Free" soap didn't come out easily, but I'm still quite happy with it.  Soap should be unmolded within two to four days tops.  These set for six days and were harder to release.

The first soap Scott cut was the lavender.  Using my herb grinder, I had ground the lavender into manageable bits.

You can see the cutter he used.  I picked this up years ago in a kitchen boutique.

This is all the lavender we made.  It even smells wonderful. 

Most of the soap is now cut.

I couldn't stop taking photos of our soaps.

Leftovers and tops were placed here.

If you use milk or 1/2 and 1/2 containers, you will get these extras.  I'm going to wrap them in gossamer bags and throw them in my unmentionables drawers.  I might even give a few away like that, since I don't need that many to scent my drawers.

Here are all the types of soap we made.  There are seven different types and scents that don't include my Stress Free bar.

This is rose and it set uneven, but it still smelled wonderful.

This was Scott's hand soap he made using bio-char.

This is cinnamon made from ground cinnamon sticks (whole sticks ground in my herb grinder) and some added cinnamon oil.  The bottom is coffee and it smells like it, too.

It's lovely, even though it somehow picked up some of the cinnamon sticks or lavender sticks.

I'm not sure why Scott chose to cut these in squares, but he must have had a reason.  They are orange bergamot that he made for his mother.

These are grapefruit swirl.

Here is an example of the lavender.

For the final soap we made, peppermint swirl, I decided to get a bit fancy.  I got out my metal sealing wax stamp, but I didn't have a lot of luck.

You can just barely see the fleur de lis (some call it fleur de lys) stamp I used.  I simply didn't have the strength to push it hard enough and when I did, the stamp often slipped.  Sealing wax is so much easier to stamp into than set soap.  I believe if I'd done this within a couple of hours of making the soap, it would have been much easier and deeper.

After Scott and friend left, it was time to clean these bars up a bit.  The bars must be rotated every two to four days so air can get to all sides of them, even though they are sitting on bakers racks.

Like Susi, I am a gel or liquid soap person, but I'm going to see if I get lather on my bath pouf with the Stress Free bar once it has set the proper amount of time and is safe to use.  I'll let you know if the bar is as good as the liquid in a bottle.

Thank you for sharing this experience with me.

This is Day 10 of AEDM and my friend and I cut soap today.   Again, I appreciate your visits.