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 Soap Making

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Astraea

Astraea


Number of posts : 2738
Age : 62
Location : Arizona, USA
Favorite Quote : Beware the deadly donkey falling from the sky You may choose the way you live, my friend But not the way you die
Registration date : 2007-08-11

Soap Making Empty
PostSubject: Soap Making   Soap Making EmptyMon Aug 20, 2012 12:19 am

http://www.squidoo.com/how-to-make-soap-at-home-

How To Make Soap At Home

Why You Should Learn How To Make Soap
Recent studies show that many chemicals used in commercial soaps can actually be harmful for your skin, causing allergies and all sorts of reactions. Because of that, a growing number of people are becoming interested in learning how to make soap at home.

When you make your own soap, you can choose to use only natural ingredients that are gentle to your skin and beneficial to your health. Soap making is not only a hobby, but a craft that can be perfected along the years.

If you have never made soap before, you feel intimidated by the terminology. But it really isn't that difficult once you get the hand of it. The secrets to successful soap making are three: good soap recipes, the right amount of ingredients and proper technique.
Contents at a Glance

3 Methods On How To Make Soap At Home
Soap Making Procedure Overview
Step-by-Step Instructions on How to Make...
Some Thoughts On How To Make Natural Soa...
Are You Ready To Make Soap?

More
3 Methods On How To Make Soap At Home
There are about three different processes to soap making: melt and pour (M&P), cold process (CP) and hot process (HP). Each has its own pros and cons. The best thing to do is study, learn a lot and then decide which is best for you. There's no need to rush -- it is best if you slow down, spend some time researching and learning and then make the soap once you have a good understanding of the process and all that is going on. Rushing in with new instructions that you've barely learned is a recipe for disaster.

Melt & Pour

As the name implies, you basically melt the glycerin base, add colorants and fragrances and pour the mixture into molds. M&P is sort of its own world: scents will behave differently, colorants will behave differently. It's basically as simple as it gets. Just don't expect that doing this will teach you much about making lye soaps... If you want to make soap from scratch, refer to Cold Process or Hot Process below.

Cold Process

Cold Process (CP) has been regarded by many soap makers to be the easiest method to start with, for making soap from scratch. Of course, people have different opinions, but one could safely say that CP has fewer steps than HP, because the stage of neutralization occurs during moulding. CP process requires the use of lye and safety equipment and you need to wait several weeks before it's safe to use the soaps.

Hot Process

Hot Process is basically the Cold Process taken one step further. In a nutshell, it's CP soap made usable quicker by cooking the mixture on a stove. With HP, you don't need to wait the soaps to cure: in fact, you can use them as soon as they cool.
Soap Making Procedure Overview
The process of making soap at home through Cold Process is rather simple: you start by carefully adding lye to the water. The reaction will cause the mixture to heat. You than it aside and let it cool to approximately 110F.

While the mixture reach the right temperature, on a separate container you should add the oils together and melt. Allow them to cool to around 110F.

Than, carefully add the lye mixture to the melted oils and stir vigorously until it achieve the right consistency, called trace. The term trace is hard to describe, but once you see it you will know exactly what everyone is talking about. It is when the lye and fats have combined to make soap, but the soap is still very much a liquid -- think liquid dish washing soap consistency.

When trace occurs, it's time to pour the mixture into a mould. Let the mixture set up for a couple of days, than remove them from the mold and let them cure for 4 to 6 weeks.
Step-by-Step Instructions on How to Make Soap at Home
Learn how to make soap the easy way
Photos by madaise (http://www.flickr.com/photos/madaise)

Here are some instructions on how to make soap at home using inexpensive ingredients, most of which are easily available in health food stores or the supermarket:

1.) Make the alkaline solution by adding 2 oz. of Red Devil lye slowly into 32 oz. of distilled cold water in a glass container, stirring slowly with a wooden spoon. The lye will react with the water, heating it and releasing fumes so be careful not inhale any. Set aside the solution to cool the lye.

2.) Prepare the oils by melting 24 oz. coconut oil and 38 oz. vegetable oil in a stainless steel kettle over low fire, stirring frequently. Once the oils have melted, add in 24 oz. of olive oil.

3.) Wait until the lye solution and the oils reach the same temperature range. Use a glass thermometer to check if both mixtures are about 95 to 98 degrees, and then pour the lye slowly and steadily to the oils.

4.) Using a stainless steel wire whisk, blend the mixture.

5.) Wait until saponification and tracing occurs, which is when the soap mixture appears like light cream and soap droplets are able to hold up on a surface. Than add 4 oz. of any essential oil and stir thoroughly.

6.) Spray vegetable oil inside the soap molds and then pour the soap into them. Cover the soap molds with towels and set them aside. Let the soap go through a gelling and heating process. Do not touch for about 18 hours.

7.) Take off the towel covers and allow the soaps to sit for 12 hours more. Than remove the soap from the molds and cut them into bars. Cure the soap for about 4-6 weeks before you use them.
Remember: safety first! Always wear goggles and rubber gloves. Keep some vinegar handy as first-aid remedy because lye can burn your skin.

The slightest variations in the measurement will cause your soap to have a deep layer of oil on top, in which case you will not be able to use the soap. So, make sure to follow the above measurements and directions on how to make natural soap to get perfect results.
Some Thoughts On How To Make Natural Soap
Olive Oil SoapIf your purpose in learning how to make soap is to avoid the synthetic chemicals in commercial soap bars, then by all means be careful in choosing only a natural base. Otherwise, you defeat your purpose.

Soaps with fragrance oils and colorants made precisely for soap-making are not all-natural soaps because the mentioned ingredients are produced artificially. Traditionally, animal fat is used in soap-making but while this is of course natural, the use of vegetable fat instead of something that came from an animal has become more popular these days.
Are You Ready To Make Soap?
What you need to get started with soap making

The internet is filled with soap recipes showing how to make natural soap using both vegetable oils and animal fat. Soap Recipes 101 offers not only an assorted selection of homemade soap recipes, but also safety equipment and in-depth information on how to make soap.

No matter how much research and studying you do in the beginning, your first soap batches, while hopefully successful, will not likely be your "best" soaps. Your best will come as you gain knowledge and understanding and experience over time as you actually make each batch and learn from those batches.

Like most things in life, practice makes perfect. If you are really interested in learning how to make soap, thorough research is a must to improve your chances of success.

While making soap is actually quite simple (water, lye, oils), the craft and art of making good soap takes lots of time and learning to fully understand and comprehend the complexity of variables that go into making a great soap

Soap Recipes for beginners

Soap Recipes doing Lard

Vegan Soap Recipes

Shea Butter Soap Recipes

Beeswax Soap Recipes

How to make soap & lovely soap recipes

Insecticidal soap recipes

How to Make Bath Bombs
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Astraea

Astraea


Number of posts : 2738
Age : 62
Location : Arizona, USA
Favorite Quote : Beware the deadly donkey falling from the sky You may choose the way you live, my friend But not the way you die
Registration date : 2007-08-11

Soap Making Empty
PostSubject: Homemade Lotion Bars and Lip Balm   Soap Making EmptyMon Aug 20, 2012 5:08 am

http://myellowumbrella.blogspot.com/2012/02/homemade-lotion-bars-and-lip-balm.html

Homemade Lotion Bars and Lip Balm


Hello, friends! The good news is we survived Monday. The bad news is we have four days to go (unless you love your job, in which case you're probably peachy right about now). I do love my day job, but I also love my weekends. It's my time to really focus on projects, get things accomplished and cross things off of my ever-growing to-do list (this is self-inflicted, though).

This weekend, I made my own lotion bars and lip balm! The lotion bars were inspired by this blog, which I encourage you to visit. Her post is pretty compelling on why you should think twice about what's in store-bought lotions.

I tweaked her recipe just a bit and went with canola oil instead of vegetable oil. I used bergamot essential oil because I LOVE the smell of bergamot. It reminds me of a nice cup of hot earl grey tea, so it brings a slight smile to my face every time I use the lotion bars!

What You Need:

Beeswax (I picked mine up at Hobby Lobby since it was convenient and I had a 40% off coupon, which made it $8.99 for the 1-lb. block)
Vegetable shortening
Canola oil
Essential oil, of your choice (this is optional, but you can really customize these to your liking with just a few drops of essential oils)
Form/mold (I used a soap mold, also from HL, as it was also on sale, but you could use really anything you want. Try a silicone pan/mold for some fun shapes!)




What You Do:

Melt a 1:1:1 ratio of all three ingredients (you're going to add the essential oils at the end, if you're using them) in a double boiler or a small pan inside of a larger pan of boiling water. (NOTE: I did try to melt these together in my microwave, but the beeswax started sparking. Apparently this will happen in some microwaves and will be fine in others, so be careful if you try this!)


Once everything is melted together, stir well, remove from heat and add your essential oils. I used around 25 drops of bergamot for 4 bars. Pay attention to any directions that come with your mold...for example, mine specifically noted that anything above 150 degrees could melt the mold. Since my mixture was closer to 165 degrees, I let it cool in the pan on my counter before pouring it into the mold. Nothing would be worse than pouring your mixture into the mold, just to watch the mold melt away! If you're using silicone, you shouldn't have to worry about this. Smile


Once the bars have cooled, pop them out of your mold and enjoy!

To use, rub them between your hands and your body heat will soften the bar enough for you to get what you need. It WILL be extremely oily at first, but it WILL soak in after a couple of minutes. The air in our house has been extremely dry lately (thanks, winter), which wreaks havoc on our skin. That's probably the top "problem" I hear about from Cowboy, so to say these have been a hit would be an understatement. Not only do they smell good, but I've found that once it soaks into your skin, it sort of leaves a super-soft, non-waxy protective layer that doesn't wash off with water (like, if you're washing your hands) like lotion would. I'm pretty much obsessed with these things! I even mailed one to my brother today because his hands have been on the verge of cracking open (sorry for the mental picture) every winter for as long as I've known him (i.e. since the day he was born). Mom--shhh, don't tell Jason! Smile


You could fancy these up lots of different ways--different molds/shapes, some food/icing coloring, some smaller shapes you could add to the top (like a tiny heart on top of a big heart of a leaf on top of a more plain bar, like mine)...and of course add your own favorite scents. Make them your own!


While I had the beeswax out, I thought I would also make my own lip balm. I just needed to find something awesome to keep the balm in. Then I remembered these adorable tiny jars I picked up at a Goodwill in Kansas City a couple of years ago. I thought they were the cutest little jars I'd ever seen, but never really had a great use for them...until now!


I paid a whopping 29 cents for each one. Score!


For this mixture, I used beeswax, olive oil and essential oil (again, bergamot)


Using the same method, melt together a 1:1 ratio of beeswax and olive oil (you really could use any oil you want, but olive oil is awesome for your skin. I think I might add in some coconut oil next time, too!), stir in your essential oil (I used 2-3 drops per jar) and pour into a container of your choice!


Voilá! Now you have two items to make from scratch that won't take a lot of time or money and you'll managed to have remove even more chemicals and other yucky stuff from your home and your daily routine.

Enjoy!
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