Hot Process Soap Making!

Hot Process Soap Making!

Making hot process soap is no easy task!  It does take some time and experience to get it right, and to get the artistic component down.  My first effort at making hot process soap was the Apple Crisp recipe.  I cooked the soap way to long, I had difficulty determining when it had reached the proper stage called saponification.  I had real problems when it came time to mold.  It was way too dry, and seized up when I began to mix in the additives.  I have since learned that I could have added water.  A whole bunch of the bars crumbled into pieces when slicing them.  Others may have thrown out the entire batch, it did cross my mind, but I just couldn't bring myself to waste all that good stuff!



I do love the concept of this soap, with the oatmeal, ground almonds, cinnamon, and brown sugar.  It smells wonderful, just like a freshly baked apple crisp.  The base formula consists of coconut oil, palm oil, olive oil, castor oil, and beeswax. Everything in it is good for your skin.  It has a gently exfoliating texture, and leaves your skin feeling silky smooth, and soft, as well as clean.

Apple Crisp Soap!

The next time I thought it would be a breeze, because, of course I was experienced now, right?  Wrong!  I still overcooked it, but it did turn out much better.  This time I made the Scarborough Fair Soap recipe.  It is the same base recipe, but this one has white kaolin clay, tussah silk, parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, and cocoa butter as additives.  I LOVE this soap, although it looks really unlovely in the photos.  The fragrance is so fresh and clean, the kaolin clay and tussah silk leave the skin feeling so very soft, silky, and clean too.

Scarborough Fair Soap!

My next attempt at perfection was this one, Lavender Fields soap.  I adjusted the basic recipe a bit, using the same ingredients, but altering the amounts of each one.  I might note here that using olive oil in these soaps does impart a greenish tint to the finished product.  I hope to try another basic recipe without the olive oil in the future to see how it looks and feels.  This one is still drying, as I cooked it much less than the others, only about 45 minutes (+/-) after adding the lye to the oils.  So, it's still a little wet.  I slightly increased the olive oil and the castor oil, and decreased the coconut oil and the palm oil.  This adjustment was intended to make the bars slightly softer, more conditioning, and just a bit less cleansing.  It also has the kaolin clay, tussah silk, as additives, including shea butter, and a tiny bit of lavender liquid pigment for color.  It smells heavenly with lavender and vanilla essential oils.  In working out a formula for my soaps, I use a soap calculator, which guides in formulating a good, workable recipe.

Lavender Fields Soap!

So, as you can see, I may need some more practice.  But, I have an awful lot of good soap in case there's ever a soap shortage!  It may be a while before I need to make more, so I hope this blog post helps me to remember what, and what not, to do!  Scarborough Fair and Lavender Fields are truly great soaps, so watch for them on our Marketplace page!  A new and improved Apple Crisp soap will appear again sometime in the future.

Carpe Diem! Lil and Bill