Gallery

Gallery

This is the beginning of Orange-clove soap. I am pouring distilled water into stainless steel container.

This is the lye, or sodium hydroxide. It is very important to add lye to water, and not the other way around, to avoid splashing and/or violent reactions.

I take the lye/water mixture outside to stir as it off-gasses as it heats (almost to boiling temp). I leave it here to cool in the winter. In summer, I put it in a freezer to speed cooling.

I weigh my base oils carefully, starting with olive oil. My recipe consists of 77% olive oil.

Olive oil: Pressed from the olive fruit. An excellent moisturizer with its own healing properties. It does not block the skin's natural functions such as sweating, skin shedding, etc.. Olive Oil prevents the loss of your skin's natural moisture, softens skin and attracts external moisture to your skin.

Jojoba oil: Actually a liquid wax. A wonderful moisturizer that regulates the flow of human sebum (skin oils) without plugging pores and maintains balanced moisture.

Coconut oil (does NOT smell like coconut): Obtained from the coconut meat. Truly a "gift" to soapmaking, it makes incredibly rich, moisturizing lather. Yet if too much is used, it can be very drying; balance with other oils is key.

Happy Soap Maker

clove essential oil

ground clove & orange peel

grinding herbs in mortar & pestle to release oils

Freezer paper is used to protect surfaces and line molds. Parchment or wax paper can be used as well, but is not as strong.

taping paper in place

molds lined with freezer paper

Heating oils to approximately 100 degrees (this is a low temperature for soapmaking - considered "cold process")

Pouring lye/water mixture into base oils. You can already see where the oil & lye molecules are colliding and creating SOAP.

We all know oil and water do not mix, so mixing the base oils and lye/water mixture is imperative. The molecules need to hit in order to change to soap - this is called saponification.

In the "old days," this mixture was stirred by hand, which could take hours to get the mixture to saponify. When using a stick blender, this process can take mere minutes.

I blend for about 5-10 minutes. This time varies depending on the type of soap being made and temperatures being used.

Trace - this is the point at which herbs and scents may be added. Trace is identified by spooning an amount of the soap and trailing it on top of the mixture. If it is thick enough to leave an impression, or dent, it is at trace.

Adding herbs: At trace, enough saponification has taken place to prevent separation of oils. Enough lye has been used in this process to prevent it from "eating" the ingredients being added.

Clove oil being added. I do not stick blend after adding herbs and scents .

orange essential oil

pouring soap into molds

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