Over the Christmas holiday I got to spend an afternoon making soap with Megan from A Blossoming Homestead. It was so neat to meet someone I'd met through the blog! It was great fun getting to share my favorite hobby and getting to know Megan.
I've wanted to do a tutorial for possibly a year or more, and now I finally have the photos to do it! Making soap can be as simple or as complicated as you want it to be. You really only need three ingredients: fat, lye, and water. Here are the ingredients and supplies gathered on the counter beside the stove:
Supplies include a stainless steel pot, a tempered glass bowl, preferably wooden utensils (We used plastic and silicone because that is what was handy.), a measuring cup, a scale, and soap molds. You will also want to keep a large bottle of vinegar by the sink to pour over any accidental lye spills to counteract the lye. It is a real lifesaver.
Step One: Combine your fats in the stainless steel pot and heat until the solid fats are melted.
Step Two: Measure your water and put it in the tempered glass bowl. Weigh out your lye and add it to the water, stirring constantly. Be sure to do this in a well ventilated area that is protected from strong winds. The vapors from the lye will take your breath and make you cough violently if you inhale them. Some folks wear rubber gloves and face masks for this step. Continue stirring until all the lye is fully dissolved. Set aside in a safe place until the lye water solution and fat are about the same temperature.
Step Three: Once the lye solution and fat are the same temperature, pour the lye solution into the fat while stirring gently. You always add lye to water, not water to lye. Then you add the lye solution to the fat, not the fat to the lye solution. Not following this pattern can have explosive and painful consequences.
The mixture will begin to thicken almost immediately, but can take up to thirty minutes to reach trace, which is a pudding-like consistency. I like to use my stainless steel stick blender to speed up the process. I think it takes about one fourth of the time to achieve trace when you use this little jewel of a tool.
Step Four: Once trace is achieved, add any essential oils or additives (oatmeal, cornmeal, lavender blossoms, etc.) that you wish. If you are unsure how your EO will react with the soap, it is wise to add it at the very early signs of trace instead of later when it's really thick. Some EO's can cause soap to seize up, leaving you with one gigantic chunk of soap!
Step Five: Once your EO's and additives are incorporated well, pour your soap into the molds. Since we made tiny batches this day, we used individual bar molds. I have a wonderful oak log-style mold that my darling husband and good friend (who is a cabinet maker) made for me.
Step Six: Place soap in a box that you can insulate to keep in the heat that is being generated through the saponification process, which is a chemical reaction that turns the fat and lye into a new chemical, soap! Allow your soap to cure for three weeks before use.
