Soapifying

For a long time,

I've been wanting to learn how to make soap,

but the process of using caustic lye had me afraid to try it!

It all sounded so complicated and

I didn't even know where to buy lye and needed to get

a better kitchen scale before even considering to

attempt this process.

This Fall while visiting our friends in Kentucky,

I was gifted with a beautiful piece of  handmade/handcut

soap and this got me going - finally!

I well remember my mom making a huge cast iron kettle

full of homemade soap. She used rendered lard and

fat drippings that she saved throughout the year.

Nothing cleaned the laundry like this soap!

I had the house to myself for the evening so
I gathered up the ingredients

and tools:

The Oils and Fats

9.6 oz. of Vegetable Shortening

9.6 oz. Olive Oil

6.4 oz. Lard

6.4 oz. Coconut Oil

An old Crock Pot,

a digital scale,

and a Stick Blender

The "flavourings":

1/2 Cup Oatmeal - ground fine

1 Tbsp. honey

1/2 oz. of Lavender Essential Oil

1 Tbsp. Cinnamon

The "scarey stuff"

4.463 oz. Lye crystals - eek!

12.16 oz. distilled water

(I used RO water from our tap)

Oh - and don't forget the 

rubber gloves!!

The "fancy" molds

Real molds are expensive!

O.K. - now I'm ready to start....

Melt the fat on low

Mix the scary stuff into the water

(caution - never add water to lye - always

lye to water)

I opted to mix this outside on the deck remembering

to lean back from it to not breath in the fumes.

This get's hot so be careful.

You should wear goggles as well as rubber gloves.

I don't have goggles but those who know me know 

that I have some cool kitchen glasses which sufficed.

Turn crock pot off and

blend with stick blender till

mixture traces (is thick like pudding and leaves a trace when stirred)

This takes about 10 minutes.

Cook on low - stirring on occasion

till the mixture looks like thick, waxy,

mashed potatoes (takes about 1 hour).

The temperature of the mixture will

be close to 200F when soapified!

You can use a PH strip test which

should read around 7 but I didn't have

one so I did the Zap on the Tongue test

to see if it was finished.

The smell of this soap as it cooked

reminded me of mom's soap!

Turn the crock pot off

and stir in the flavours.

Oh - now it smells really good!

This is where you can get really 

creative with different scents,

colorants and additives.

The combinations could be 

endless and fun to try!

Now it's ready to "glob" into

the fancy molds.

Tap them sharply

on the table or floor to make sure 

all the soap settles into the mold.

Cool and wait patiently (3 hrs. or overnight)

till the soap cools completely and hardens,

before removing from the mold.

WAITING IS THE HARDEST PART!

A piece scraped from the crock pot - it really is soap!

While I waited I went outside and rescued our

patio furniture from the crazy high winds we've

had here in the last couple of days - nothing compared

to our friends to the South - such devastation!!

I can only hope that all my blog friends from

Indiana and Illinois are O.K.!!!

Praying for all who have experienced this devastation.

Till next time ...... have you ever made scarey homemade soap?  I think I could get into this.....

First attempt at making Oatmeal, Honey, Cinnamon and Lavender Soap