Wednesday 17 February 2016

A Soap Making Foray

I mentioned in my Year of Projects Posts, that I was trying my hand at soap making and several readers expressed that I share my experiences.  So here we are!
Firstly, I just have to say, these are my own very limited observations and thoughts, and are not intended to be comprehensive or provide a tutorial or such like.
I have now tried two methods of soap making, melt and pour and a natural soap (a more traditional soap).
Lets start with the natural soap. (I am using a kit - the Natural Soap Making Kit by Kirstie Allsopp as seen here.)
Now firstly I have to say that it is not finished yet.  I went against all my knitting training and did not read through the pattern to the end first!  If I had I would have found that when my soap is at the stage it is at, at the moment, it is still corrosive and needs 3/4 weeks to 'age'!!  (I will come back to this later).
So it started well, I had a kit so everything was measured out, but I didn't want to make it all , so decided to half everything.  This process was easy and then had to put in a microwave till it got to 60 degrees.  I don't have a thermometer so just went to when it was all melted together, which seemed fine.  I was a little apprehensive about the caustic soda given all the warnings, even though I use it at school.  But that too was fine, I used the gloves as instructed and opened a window but I didn't notice any fumes.  Then I got to mix together, which all went swimmingly.  I was supposed to mix for 10 minutes, break for 5 then repeat until it had started to set.  Well it thickened but didn't get to the trace point Kirstie Allsopp wanted.  So I read the instructions and they said to heat it back up to kick start the reaction - it didn't say how hot or indeed if you had to get it to trace (leave a trail), so I didn't (being a little fed up of stirring at this point).  I went ahead and added my lemongrass and lavender and poured it into moulds.
It took a day but did set ok, and now I have to wait till it ages.
Now the Scientist in me is a little agitated at the lack of a definitive timescale, so I will get some pH paper from school to test it before I use it.  Here it is - curing.  A little rustic looking, but, I guess, that is the point.
It looks as though it will be nice and lathery (if that is a word!), but is it worth the faff? Probably not - I don't think I have enough patience to get any more of this, but I do have the remaining half kit, which if it sets ok and is not still corrosive (!) I will use with some colouring and different fragrance later in the year.
The melt and pour base.
Now this was a whole different kettle of fish.  This was so easy - you just cut up how much you want, melt it in the microwave, add colouring and pour into moulds.  I will make some adjustments to my original batch however.  I used too much and therefore by the time it was all melting it had formed bubbles which resulted in a white bloom to the finished soap.  You can just about make it out on this photo - the top soap was the one with bubbles, the bottom soap made later without.
I so next time I will use less soap and more fragrance.  Then the only issue with this one is it doesn't produce a lot of lather, enough but not lots.
In summary, I want this soap for myself and gifts.  In truth I think that means it will be the melt and pour base that I get more of for ease and reliability.  I will however, use up the kit and will be a little more adventurous if the soaps I have here lather well.
So there you have it - my assessment of soap making!

5 comments:

  1. Lucy, as one who was looking forward to seeing a write up about your soap making experience I found this very interesting. I wonder how any of this is different when cooking soap on the stove top? I've always wanted to try, but now I don't know. I do like that you were able to try a small batch by using a kit. Then again, for all the effort I wonder if I'd be frustrated not having a significant batch at the end. Hmmmm... You've given me some things to think about - and you make me realize there is probably a fair amount of research to do if going about this without a kit. Thank you for the write up! I do think your "rustic" soaps look just perfect. :^)

    ReplyDelete
  2. There are 2 methods of real traditional soap making. The cold method which you mentioned above and the hot method which can be done in a slow cooker. I think the cool method is easier but as you said takes time to cure whilst I've read that the hot process doesn't need curing. I've made a basic soap using the cool method once and have to say I found it easy. If you use a hand held bar mix you will get a trace easy. In fact I got mine too quickly. I don't think I would use a kit though, too expensive when it's easy to buy your own ingredients. Just use a recipe from online or an online soap calculator to give the correct amount of lye to fat. I used olive oil and coconut oil in mine. Aparently the coconut oil gives lather but mine took a long time to harden which I've been told is too high of an olive oil content. Next time I plan to use lard which should give a harder soap. Hope you enjoy your soap.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Interesting post, I've wondered about giving soap making a try one day. You wouldn't have thought there were so many methods of making it!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I have never made soap but I do love reading about the process and appreciate all the work and skills needed to make it!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I've always wanted to make soap, but the process seems very specific and a little worrisome with the possible "danger" involved. I do love a moisturizing, nicely fragrant soap though.

    ReplyDelete