This scent is so intoxicating, I am absolutly in love with it! Its not super masculine, its not heavey on the musk, its got a hint of sweetness from the Vanilla and an earthyness from the Sandlewood and somewhere it picks up these ‘clean’ notes that are just so appealing. Im usually a big fan of citrus and girly scents but there is definatly something about this that makes me weak kneed. It soaped nicely. I knew it would be a quick mover so I soaped as cooly as possible and I added my fragrance oil to my base oil and made sure it was well blended before adding in my lye water. It did move pretty darn quick! I wanted to do this in a tan on brown, since this discolors naturally. I quickly removed part of the batch and added some titanium dioxide got it all mixed up and by now it was very very thick. My end result wasnt whispy swirls that I love so much but chunky well defined and 3 dimensional swirls. It looks GREAT! Not what I had origionally envisioned but even better!
I had a special request for a strawberry soap. I had a couple oils in mind so I ordered two of them, the first came promptly and I wasnt impressed. I was looking for a sweet candyish strawberry, this was more a strawberry and champaign scent. Not bad, actually very nice but it wasnt want I wanted. The second oil came and it knocked my socks off! I prepared a batch of soap and knew before hand this oil may accelorate but didnt add my fragrance to my base oils prior to the lye water stage. My bad! As soon as the fragrance oil hit the lightly traced soap it became rock hard. I had to snap my handblender apart and dig it out with my hands. Soap on a stick! I thought that was just a myth, afterall I have soaped some very speedy florals and never had THIS! I scooped the soap out with my gloved hands and slammed it into the mold. I had this vision of a light pink base with a darker pink swirl and a white swirl. I managed to slam half the soap into the mold and poured over that some of the unscented I had pulled to the side earler (which was a darker pink) and then slammed the rest of the hard soap over that. The top was not pretty looking, and it was just entirely too hard to make a cool pattern of even a spikey top, it was just sort of jagged and ugly. I patted it down with my gloved hands a little more and it just wasnt doing the trick so I slipped my gloves off and sort of rolled my eyes and shook my head as I poured cold water over my hands and quickly smoothed the top of the raw soap with my bare hands. I very quickly got my hands under cold water again and did it again, and a third time, each time a very very fast swipe over the soap top. It worked. The top became smooth and shiney! I cut the log with my new soap cutter about 12 hours after I ‘poured’ the soap and it was REALLY hard. Unfortunatly it just has too many air pockets. I knew it would since it went so fast. Im going to handmill this and add a little extra strawberry fragrance too. It is just an awesome scent!
My watermelon soap turned out really cool- all three layers turned out pretty darn even and the colors were awesome, until the fragrance oil started to discolor. Ah bummer! The red started to get very brown, even now its still pretty cool looking, but I decided to do a rebatch of half of the log. The soap was still very very soft, it was rich in olive and rice bran oils which are awesome gentle oils. So I decided to take the dark red/brown part and add it to half a batch of oils. This was totally unchartered territory for me! I stick blended the oils and soap together. Could this really work? I mean its a bit of a long shot! The oils became very very thick and I definatly would not be able to see trace (a natural thickening of the oil and lye solution, trace is when the soap is ready to be poured into the mold) I blended and blended and blended until I didnt think it could get any smoother then I added my room temperature lye water and started stirring and stick blending. I blended for a few minutes, and started stirring, I added in some titanium dioxide and just kept on stirring. I couldnt see any change in the thickness, it was still THICK! I was getting slightly concerned so I just kept on stirring and finally decided I had stirred longer than usual and could only hope for the best at this point. I glopped it into the mold and pounded out the air bubbles. Oh it smelled glorious!! It turned out awesome! And has been named Melon Smoothie. I cant wait to get some shots of it labelled up!!
I soaped two batches today, the first was watermelon. Oh wow was this a FUN soap to make!! I cut up one of my favorite soaps for ’seeds’ before I even mixed my lye water. The soap I cut up is called sinful and its almost black with a creamy grey black swirl- just like watermelon seeds! I planned three layers, which is very ambitious. I placed my main portion of my soap mixture in a larger bowl and added in dye and fragrance and away we went! I added some green to a small portion I had set aside and titanium dioxide to another small portion I had also set aside. So I set to work getting the green mixture to a thick trace. It went beautifully! Next I needed to move onto the white layer. But snap! the red layer was looking extreemly orange from the fragrance oil. I was a bit worried. But continued onto the white layer. Got it to the correct trace and poured it ontop of the green. So far so good! Then I turned my attention onto the now dark orange layer…..well there are orange melons out there….right? Not much I can do at this point but continue on, saponification does wierd things, so I cna only hope for the best! I brought it to trace poured about half and then scattered some of the ’seeds’ and poured the rest and put it to bed. When I peaked an hour ago it was deep deep red! Just like a nice ripe juicey watermelon!! I can only hope the other layers turned out half as well! This is definatly a BOLD soap!
Afterwards I cleaned up and started on a beautiful oil, Stephanotis. Florals very often excellerate trace and therefore shouldnt be swirled or layered, they just need to be slammed together as cooly as possible. But I soap at room temperature and have a couple other tricks up my sleeve to keep things from moving too fast. I ended up swirling it with just a touch of green. It smells devine! I didnt have any problems with it moving too quickly.
The one most important item in home made soap is lye. There is no way around it you must have lye to make soap. If you prefer to not use lye but still wish to dabble in soap making melt and pour is a much safer and easier route to go. Unfortunatly it just isnt nearly the same as truely homemade soap, it lacks certain qualities but it definatly is fun to work with! Ive played with it and rather enjoy it! But if you are looking to make soap from scratch lye is the only way to go. Finding lye can be a bit of a challange these days since it can be used to manufacture illegal drugs. Ive purchased lye from several places my most recent favorite supplier is www.organic-creations.com and www.thesoapdish.com Ive had excellent experiences with purchasing from both of these suppliers. There are a few safety rules about working with lye. If you dont know already this is a very dangerous substance that will burn unprotected skin. Its nasty stuff, so you need to be extreemly careful handling it! Gloves, the higher the better, and goggles are absolutly required. Also having lots of paper towels handy is a good thing along with some vinegar. Vinegar is supposed to neutralize the reaction of the lye if it hits skin. Personally I wash with water first and then splash on some vinegar and then wash again. If the area is slippery you still have lye on you! wash wash wash! Keep washing! If you get it in your eye start rinsing immediatly and get to a doctor immediatly.
If you have children or pets keep them away, out of the room, out of the house is even better. I have two small boys, ages 2 and 3. I never make soap when I am home alone with them. My husband watches them and I put a baby gate up at the end of the hallway so they cant get into the kitchen at all. They know now that they cant come into the kitchen when mommy is soaping but I still take all the precautions I can. Little curious fingers can turn into painful burns all over their body.
When measuring and mixing lye, water, or whatever liquid you chose to use (milk, coconut milk, goatsmilk, tea are all popular choices) you have to be sure to use the correct types of vessels. For measuring lye I use a stainless steel mixing bowl. One tip for pouring the lye crystals to be measured- rub down your bowl with a fabric softener sheet. Lye is staticy and can go flying all over, the rub down of the fabric softener seems to keep everything in the bowl. Some people prefer to use pyrex measureing cups to measure their liquid out but all I can think about is shattered glass everywhere mixed in with lye water. I use a rubbermaid pitcher- this one to be exact and I always mix my water and lye in a sink. ALWAYS pour your lye into the liquid, otherwise you can have a volcanic like explosion of lye and water. On my pitcher I have in black marker “LYE INTO WATER” just to remind me, just in case. I use hard plastic spoons to stir the mixture, keep clear from aluminum and any metal that isnt stainless steel. I even have a few wooden spoons Ill use in a pinch. Stay upwind of your lye solution when you are combining them! The fumes will knock you on your butt! Open a window near your work space, turn on an exhaust fan or something. Ive read about people who mix their lye water outside then bring it inside….ah thats just too much movement for me! I prefer my caustic liquids to not be moved about my house!
Clean up- lots and lots of water. I do most of my work right in the sink and let the water run as I use utensils and my rubbermaid pitcher. Once Ive got my soap to bed I go back over my work space with water and vinegar and then soap and water to make sure I didnt miss a speck of lye or lye water somewhere.
Lye is a pretty dangerous substance and its not to be taken lightly, a little healthy respect for it can keep you injury free and enjoying soap making!