A fragrant, handmade bar of soap is a simple indulgence that fosters a feeling of relaxation and being pampered. And wrapping a bar with a band of beautiful paper tied with a raffia bow makes for a truly unique and luxurious, yet practical gift.
The Legend
The emergence of soap remains foamy, but one legend takes us to an ancient site on Mount Sapo that was the setting for many animal sacrifices in the early days of Rome. Over time, residual animal fat and ash collected under the ceremonial altars. In actual fact, fat and ash just happen to be the key ingredients of soap. Supposedly one day a heavy rain saturated the slopes of Mount Sapo, causing the fat and ash to mix with the rain, and the mixture flowed down the slopes to the banks of the Tiber River where washerwomen were cleaning clothes. Inexplicably, their clothing cleaned easier and more quickly once mixed with this unknown substance, which we now know as soap.
Overview
Soapmaking is a craft dating back in time for thousands of years. Today, many people buy their soap from commercial vendors, but handcrafted soap is experiencing a resurgence both in availability and interest. Handmade soaps may use more expensive and exotic ingredients such as olive oil, coconut oil or soothing herbs and extracts, and the resulting soap is unique and luxurious.
Types of Soapmaking
Melt and Pour
While other types of soap have been around for thousands of years, melt and pour, also known as “glycerin” or “casting” soap, is a relative newcomer. It started with the concept of making a transparent soap in the 1800s because soapmakers felt that a clear soap would appeal to consumers by appearing more natural. Glycerin soap is often translucent or transparent, but it can be made opaque with whiteners. It is remeltable, and it’s easy to work with. All you need to do is take a pre-made block of soap, melt it down, add scents and color, cast it in a mold and the soap can be ready for use in an hour.
Hand Milled
Hand milled soap, also known as “rebatching” soap, is made by taking scraps of pre-made soap and melting them into liquid. This method is useful for soapmakers who want a completely natural bar of soap but who don’t want to work with lye. Hand milled soap only takes a few hours to make, but a couple weeks to cure. It is more difficult to get consistent results with this technique and the final product may appear lumpy.
Cold Process
Basic soap is created when fats such as tallow, lard, coconut oil or olive oil are blended with lye that has been dissolved in water. As the two are stirred together, a chemical reaction, or saponification, takes place, changing everything into soap, as well as the by-product glycerin, a natural emollient. A properly made bar of soap has no free lye in it and is gentle and cleansing.
General Instructions for Melt and Pour Soap
It’s easy to create your own handmade soaps. To get started, all you need is a soap block, color and scent.
• Cut the soap block into thin slices. Then cut the slices into small chunks for faster melting.
• Put the soap chunks into a glass Pyrex measuring cup. Cover the measuring cup loosely with paper towels and microwave for 45 seconds. Stir gently, and then continue microwaving at 15-second intervals until just melted. Do not boil.
• Stirring gently, add color one drop at a time with an eyedropper, to the melted soap until the desired color is reached. The color will lighten after the soap has cooled. If you started with a pre-colored soap block you do not need to add dye.
• Continue stirring gently. Using the other eyedropper, add scent one drop at a time until the desired fragrance is reached.
• Pour the melted soap into a mold of your choice and let it cool completely. Placing the soap in the freezer for a few minutes can quicken the hardening process. After the soap is solid, remove it from the mold.
General Instructions for Hand Milled Soap
Hand milled soap, made from melted scraps of premade soap, can be wonderfully creamy and airy.
• Place one pound of chopped up soap in a crockpot. Add one cup of liquid, either water or milk.
• Heat ingredients at 250 F for 3 to 4 hours, stirring briefly once an hour.
• Alternatively, place the ingredients in an enamel pot, cover, and place in a 200 F oven for 3 to 4 hours, stirring once per hour.
• Pour liquid soap into selected molds. Let the soap age for a few weeks so that the bars will harden. Aging is important, because otherwise the soap dissolves too quickly in water.
General Instructions for Cold Process
The basic process of making soap is fairly easy. However, before attempting to make cold process soap, you should read as much as you can, many books are available on the cold process method. Use a recipe with weights and measurements because it is important to get the lye/water/fat ratio correct.
• Pour 8 ounces of water into a plastic bowl, add 2 ounces of lye and stir until fully dissolved. Set aside to cool.
• Melt 1 pound of lard in a pot and remove from heat.
• When the lye and the lard are both approximately 100 F, pour the lye/water into the lard. Pour in a slow and steady stream, stirring continuously.
• Continue cooking for about one hour. The chemical reaction will make the soap stock thicken like pudding.
• Pour into one large mold. Cover the mold with plastic and wrap with blankets. Leave undisturbed for 24 hours.
• After 24 hours, remove the soap from the mold and slice it into bars. Set the bars in a dry place to age for 2 or 3 weeks before using.
Tip: Soap can be grated and remelted to make hand milled soaps. Ingredients you can add at this time: ground oatmeal, lanolin, vitamin E, juniper berry meal or avocado.
Try This!
• Add small pieces of soap to other soaps to achieve a multicolor, or confetti, look. When pouring liquid soap over smaller soap pieces, be sure that the liquid soap is cooled so that it will not melt them.
• Try rubber stamping, rub-on transfers or soap paints for added personalization. Just follow the manufacturer’s instructions, and with a bit of practice and experimentation, you’ll soon be making your own fabulous soap creations!
• Soap on a rope: pour half of the soap into a mold. Fold a length of cording or rope in half. Lay the cut ends of the rope across the end of the mold, over the length of the soap. After 15 minutes, spritz the soap with witch hazel or rubbing alcohol. Microwave the remaining soap for about 15 seconds and pour it over the soap in the mold. Let the soap harden and it’s ready to use.
• Use natural herbs and spices in powdered or whole form to color your soap. When adding a powdered colorant, don’t add it directly to the entire batch of soap or it will clump. Separate out a small amount of soap into a dish, add the colorant until it is like a paste, and then stir this paste back into the main batch of soap. Some natural herbs and spices to try: saffron, turmeric, paprika, annatto, cinnamon, rosemary, cornmeal or seaweed.
• Customize your soaps with small amounts of skin-loving emollients such as almond oil, olive oil, aloe vera, cocoa butter or vitamin E. Start by adding 1/4 teaspoon to 2 tablespoons per pound of soap. Please note, additives may affect the final clarity and color of the soap.
• To make a firmer soap, add 1/4-ounce of beeswax. This will also make the soap less transparent.
Tips and Techniques
• You can remelt your soap if you want to start over again. If you melt too much soap for a project, simply pour the excess into a mold and use it for another project.
• To determine the amount of soap you will need for a mold, fill the mold with water and pour it into a measuring cup.
• When adding botanicals or other additives, allow the soap to cool, then add the ingredients, stirring constantly to keep them suspended throughout the soap. Keep in mind, adding too many herbal additives can make the soap scratchy.
• When adding botanicals such as rose petals, especially if giving the soap as a gift, watch it for a couple days to see if the herbs rot and turn brown. Avoid using these in future batches.
• The color of your scent or a characteristic of an additive may affect the final color and clarity of your soap. For example, using lemon grass will give a yellow hue.
• If bubbles form on the surface of your soap after pouring it into a mold, spray a fine mist of rubbing alcohol over the soap before it cools and they will disappear. If there are excessive bubbles, use a spoon to skim off the surface of the soap.
• To ensure that your molds last a long time, always clean and dry them thoroughly. Store rubber and plastic molds out of sunlight in a cool, dark place.
Troubleshooting
• When bringing soap to a liquid form, take care to avoid heating soap for long periods of time. Burned soap can let off a bad odor.
• To prevent discoloration or loss of transparency, do not overheat or boil soap.
• Avoid excess bubbles in your soap by not overstirring. Lift the cover and stir in a circular motion once or twice.
• To prevent warping your molds, be careful that your soap is not too hot, and never put your molds into the microwave.
• Never use molds made from aluminum, tin, zinc, china, untempered glass, flimsy plastic or colored plastic. Metals may corrode, china and untempered glass are prone to breakage, and you don’t want to use a plastic mold that can melt or discolor your soap.
• Soap should just pop out of a mold. If you are having trouble, the soap may not be fully cooled. Simply put the mold in the freezer for a while and then try again.
• When using the freezer method, if possible, unmold the soap onto the surface where you plan to dry the soap. When cold or frozen, soap will exude moisture almost immediately and the soap’s wetted surface will show fingerprints, so work quickly and try not to handle it a lot.
• Don’t use food coloring to dye your soap because it can stain your skin or washcloth.
• Since soap melts at about 140 F, it is best to add scent after letting soap cool to under 120 F, because scent has a flash point of about 120 F to 140 F. The flash point is the temperature at which the scent burns off. Try adding scent just before pouring liquid soap into molds
Safety Tips
• Never use aluminum containers when melting soap. Always use stainless steel or enameled pans. Always use microwave-safe glass.
• Due to high melting temperatures, avoid contact with skin while the soap is liquid. If hot soap touches your skin, immediately place under cold water. And remember, children always require adult supervision.
• Always test a small patch of skin for allergic reactions prior to using the soap.
Glossary
cold process: is a method of making batch soap adding only refined ingredients which have been chemically balanced to each other. A chemical reaction, or saponification, takes place over several days. Glycerin, which is a natural by-product of this process, remains in the finished soap.
essential oil: is derived from plants and is purported to have aromatheraputic benefits.
flash point: is the temperature at which scent dissipates into the air and burns off. Scent has a flash point of about 120 F to 140 F, which is the temperature at which the scent burns off. Since soap melts at about 140 F, it is best to add scent just before pouring into molds, after letting the soap cool to under 120 F.
fragrance oil: is made in the lab and can contain essential oils as a component part, but they are not entirely natural.
glycerin: a by-product of making soap out of natural ingredients by the cold-process method. A natural emollient that acts as a skin moisturizer.
hand milled: also known as “rebatching” soap; made by taking scraps of premade soap and melting them into liquid. This method is useful for soapmakers who want a completely natural bar of soap, but who don’t want to work with lye.
lye: a form of potash, or sodium hydroxide. Also known as “caustic soda.”
melt and pour: also known as “glycerin” or “casting” soap. Glycerin soap is often translucent or transparent, but it can be made opaque with whiteners.
saponification: the chemical reaction caused by the process of combining lye, animal fats and water while the soap “cures” or rests.
tracing: As lye and fat react chemically to form soap, the mixture “traces”, or thickens, and turns opaque. To test for tracing: drip some soap onto the surface of the soap mixture in the stirring bowl; it should hold its shape on the surface.
Soapmaking Supplies in Washington State
Aromatherapy Website
Pure aromatherapy grade essential oils, essential oil blends, carrier oils and more
18724 109th LN SE
Renton, WA 98055
877-781-1112
www.aromatherapywebsite.com
Bramble Berry
General Soapmaking Supplies
1427 Railroad Avenue
Bellingham, WA 98225
360-676-1030
www.brambleberry.com
Jardin du Soleil
932 Sequim Dungeness Way
Sequim, WA 98382
877-527-3461
www.jardindusoleil.com
Lavender Farms of the Sequim-Dungeness Valley
This isn’t just one supplier–it’s a directory of lavender farms
www.lavendergrowers.org/growers.html
Specialty Bottle
Containers
5200 4th Avenue S
Seattle, WA 98108
206-340-0459
www.specialtybottle.com
The Soap Goat Soap Shop
PO Box 2792
Sumas, WA 98295-2792
www.thesoapgoat.com
Zenith Supplies
Essential and fragrance oils, carrier oils, herbs, molds and more
6300 Roosevelt Way NE
Seattle, WA 98115
206-525-7997
800-735-7217
www.zenithsupplies.com