The soap making workshop was amazing! We had a full house, and made 3 different soaps - unscented/uncoloured, black sunshine (black and purple soap with a blend of citrus oils), and a green and yellow red currant and thyme tea bar.
Below, I'm including the recipe we used, and instructions. As well as some resources for your own forays into soap making! Read the recipe in advance and have your materials ready to go - don't forget it's a time sensitive process!
IMPORTANT:
- Wear protective gear: gloves, apron and goggles; lye can blind you if it gets in your eyes, and it burns skin!
- Pour lye into water, NEVER water into lye; it can make a boiling lye volcano!
- NEVER change a recipe without putting it through a lye calculator; different oils consume different amounts of lye when turning into soap.
- Do not use anything aluminum when making soap; lye and aluminum react together and release toxic fumes and ruin the aluminum.
Our recipe (fita a 1L milk carton, makes 8 large bars):
150 g coconut oil
150 g palm oil
300 g olive oil
48 g shea butter
88.5 g lye
200 g water
fragrance up to 1% of total oil weight, DEPENDING ON THE FRAGRANCE
coloured pigments as desired
1: Mix lye into water. Place somewhere safe to cool down.
2: Put solid oils in a microwave-safe dish. Microwave until liquid (I use 1 minute intervals).
3: Add liquid oils to melted oils and stir so they are thoroughly mixed.
4: Pour lye water into oils.
5: Blend in short pulses with a stick blender (~5 second pulses to start, longer if required after the mixture is emulsified/homogenous).
6: Optional - Add fragrance and blend until incorporated.
7: Continue blending until "trace" is reached (soap batter drizzled off your mixing utensil leaves a trace across the batter in the bowl).
8: Optional - Separate soap batter into portions for addition of colour. Add colour and blend until well mixed.
9: Pour soap into mold.
10: Optional - Cover soap and insulate with an old towel or blanket.
11: Place soap somewhere safe. Leave it to set for 24 to 48 hours.
12: Remove soap from mold and cut into bars.
13: Cure soap in a well ventilated area for a minimum of 4 weeks. Turn occasionally so all sides are allowed to dry.
14: Enjoy your new soap!
Lye calculator examples:
BrambleBerry
Soap Guild
YouTube channels
Soaping101
SoapQueen
Am's Favourite Suppliers
New Directions Aromatics $100 minimum order
Voyageur Soap and Candle
There are others, if you Google, but these are the ones she uses most.
Lye can be purchased at Home Hardware/
No comments:
Post a Comment