Soap day

I have made soap twice before, but never had help until now.  I recently fell and hurt my hand and wrist getting my plants in before the hard freeze we had last weekend, so it was not a good time to try to lift the heavy glass and pots needed to make lye soap.

The first thing I did was lay news print on the table.

It took forever, but I arranged everything on the table.  The tools and equipment we would need are in front, while the oils and fat solids are on the right.  Lye and distilled water are on the left, along with vinegar in case we spill the lye on ourselves.  Behind that are extras.

It's easier to see here the "extras" and the additives, such as oats, my herb grinder, instant coffee, cinnamon sticks, and essential oils from this angle.   You can also see what I'll be placing the melted soap in.  Yes, those 1/2 and 1/2 containers are surely good for something.

Some of the essential oils had leaked in the bags, so I had a major clean up to perform before my friends arrived.

I forgot to show the stick blender we will use to shorten the time to trace.  I realize some will disagree with me, but I never use items meant for crafts in food preparation again.

My friend Sally gave me this 2 burner hot plate, and I won't apologize for not cleaning it up.  It's in the same condition in which she gave it to me several years ago.  Since I only use it for soap and paper making, I see no reason to spend hours cleaning it.

Finally, I got help.  My friend Scott laughed when I gave him the dust mask.  He said it wouldn't help, but he used it anyway.

Now he's adding the lye to the distilled water.  NEVER add water to lye.  He stirred slowly until the mixture was clear.

Next, he placed the faux Crisco in the pot to heat.   The plan was to use my other stainless steel pot for the mixture and this pot for heating the oil. 

We started with a very simple recipe that included only Crisco, Olive Oil, and Lye.  I thought it would be the easiest and would be fun to see the science behind it, too.


As the final dregs of "Crisco" were placed in the pot, it had already started to melt.  The hard part was getting the lye and the melted Crisco within 5 degrees of each other.  We opted for 100 degrees F., which was finally achieved.

Here Scott has added the heated oils to the lye water and is ready to mix the two in the pot designated for this.  To the left, you can see the 1/2 & 1/2 containers have been cut open and are ready for the soap to be poured into.  On the right directly behind my coffee mug are some essential oils that will be added to the mixture at trace.  The plastic container sitting on top of the "Crisco" next to the lye is what we will pour each batch into so we can get several different scents and blends from each batch.

So what is trace, you ask.   According to a site dedicated to all things British, but also about soap and candle making called The Spruce, this is what they have to say:

Most soap making instructions will say to blend the lye-water and your heated oils until the soap reaches "trace."

In days of hand stirring (which took hours!), trace was a sign that the soap was finally ready to pour into the mold. Some people describe the "trace" as a little line, ridge or mound of soap that after you've stirred the soap and drizzled it back into the pot, takes a second or two to disappear back into the mix.

Also according to The Spruce:

But with today's soap making world of stick blenders, trace is less of a consideration. It happens in a matter of 30-60 seconds.

Some like to pour their soap into molds in liquid form just after a "light trace" has occurred.  We started with a light trace because we knew we would have at least three different types of soap from this single batch.

After we poured the first batch into the molds, I forgot to take any more photos, but I left my camera on the table and was surprised when I was taking these pictures off the card.

It seems one bee got too close to some essential oil and inhaled too much.  It later regained consciousness and flew away.

After the soaps had been placed in molds, they were covered with both cardboard and towels to keep them warm.

This is an entire batch of peppermint swirl and the final batch we created.  I checked on it late today and the entire guest bedroom smelled incredibly wonderful.

This was a large container and we made several different soaps based on the various essential oils we used.  The soap can be cut in two days.

Today is Day 4 of AEDM and I took you through my soap making experience.  Now all I need is a bit of patience.  And of course, I totally enjoyed your visit, too.  Have you ever made lye soap?