Soap Making

Soap Making Instructions

Cold Process Soap Making - A Unique Crafting Experience

By Steve Paul

Learning how to make soap using the cold process soap making method is easy once you have the basic instructions laid out before you. Not only is it super simple, but it's an absolute blast as well! Soap making neatly combines science and art to create a unique crafting experience that I'm sure you will love.

First, let me explain the essential cold process soap making basics that everyone must know in order to create soap successfully...

Soap is the product of a chemical reaction known as saponification. In order for saponification to occur, an oil (this could be coconut oil, castor oil, olive oil, etc.) is mixed with a base (usually lye) to form a salt. The salt created from this chemical reaction is your soap!

When you make soap mixing the above ingredients from scratch it is called cold process soap making. Unlike the melt and pour style, this type of soap making is the "real deal" as it does not involve melting a pre-made base and merely adding nutrients and dyes.

The cold process soap making method is the technique I will be discussing today and can be accomplished with 8 easy steps:

  1. Make sure that you have all necessary safety equipment. This should include heavy duty rubber gloves, goggles, thick outerwear and a bottle of vinegar. Lye (sodium hydroxide) is an extremely caustic chemical that can cause nasty burns if it contacts the skin. Don't worry; As long as you use some caution, you'll be just fine. Oh, and why vinegar? Believe it or not, pouring vinegar over a lye spill will actually neutralize the chemical and render it harmless.
  2. Prepare your Lye solution. When purchased, lye is usually in a dry form. Water must be added to the dry lye to serve as a solvent and allow this chemical to react with all the molecules within the oils being used. Although the soap making recipe will probably tell you how much water is needed, I recommend using a 1/3 lye to water ration. Never pour the water directly into the lye, but gently pour the lye into the water. Keep in mind that the lye and water reaction will cause your solution to heat up to more then 200 degrees Fahrenheit!
  3. Measure out the appropriate amount of fats and oils. Your cold process soap making recipe will tell you exactly how much to use. This measurement needs to be relatively precise as too little fats and oils will result in left over lye and an extremely caustic soap while too much fats and oils will result in an extremely soft finished product.
  4. Pour the lye solution into the fats and oils mixture and stir vigorously. Before you make this combination, make sure that both the lye and fats and oils are around the same temperature of 80 degrees Fahrenheit. This takes some patience as your lye will have to cool off dramatically. How do you heat up your fats and oils to reach 80 degrees? Well, they usually will be warm already as some of the fats or oils probably needed to be melted to liquid form during step 3. If this was not the case then you can insert the pot holding your ingredients into a skink filled with warm water to increase the temperature. If available, you can alternately use a double boiler or microwave for the same purpose.
  5. Keep on stirring in a figure eight pattern with your wooden spoon until trace occurs. Trace is a sign that saponification has started to take place. You can easily tell when you are at this stage by drizzling a small amount of your early stage soap from your spoon onto the surface of the liquid. If the drizzled soap seems to stay on the surface for a brief second before sinking back into the rest of the mixture, trace has occurred and you are ready to proceed.
  6. Pour your soap into a mold and insulate it well using old towels. It's extremely important for the curing stage that the heat escapes as slowly as possible.
  7. After the soap is hard enough to slice (this usually takes a couple of weeks) cut it into traditional soap bars and set on a cookie rack to further cure for another 6-8 weeks.
  8. Test your soaps PH levels to ensure that it is safe to use. If everything checks out, your final step is to enjoy your new creation!

As you can see, cold process soap making is a fun and unique craft. Just give it a try! You won't regret exploring this art.

For a more detailed cold process soap making tutorial please visit Steve's site http://www.soap-making-resource.com/ Through this resource, you will learn all there is to know about every aspect of soap making including ingredient profiles and equipment reviews. Feel free to ask me any questions you may have about making soap at home using the "contact me" form located on my site.

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