Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Soap Making Part 1-Gathering the Materials Needed

It has been a couple years since I made soap. A few years ago they took the lye off the market and I had to stop but now thanks to Patti telling me about Rooto Chrystals, I am again able to make soap. However, making soap is not something you take lightly, you have to have all the right materials to do it with. 
First I had to familiarize myself with the whole process again. Frankly, I had forgotten how to do it. So off to the soap making sites I went. Reading, reading, reading and reading some more. A few things had changed, others hadn't. Things I had always been told like using vinegar if you got lye on you, are now considered wrong. Also not everyone is using lard now. I always disliked the smell that lard gave the homemade soaps so my first soap this time I will try without lard. I found lots of recipes and familiarized myself with the soap calculator again. I still don't feel quite ready and I'll be reading up on it some more before I attempt to make any. 
I also needed to collect up some things: a new thermometer, some rubber gloves, oil and a few fragrance oils. Other things I found I still had: the molds I used to use, some soap coloring and fragrance. I also have a digital postal scale this time which I am sure will help a lot. I went looking for a stick blender (my old soap making one burnt out --no one had told me to shut it off and stir when it got hot). When I had made soap before you could buy one for $9.99 in Wal-mart, now they want $24. Needless to say, my first batch may be stirred by hand (unless I can find one in one of the Dollar stores or the thrift store). 
So I am just about prepared. I have an apron and will collect safety glasses from Phil. The only thing I need now is time to make it. I guess that will have to wait until the weekend :(

7 comments:

  1. I'm gonna try makin goat milk soap one of these days... I havent really looked into it yet. Been makin cheese & yogurt now :)

    Good luck.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have made goats milk soap before (still haven't got that goat but the sell it in a can). The important thing is to freeze the goats milk until it is slushy otherwise it turns the soap quite brown (though this doesn't hurt the soap and is sometimes pretty.)

    ReplyDelete
  3. This all sounds very daunting - and complicated! What is the appeal of home-made soap? Is it better, cheaper, just more satisfying or what? And as for goat's milk soap.... yuck! :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. It is definitely for my own satisfaction of knowing that I can make my own soap though it isn't much more expensive than buying it and I get a much better soap with much nicer fragrance--plus I also know what exactly is in the soap.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I can't wait to see how it turns out. That's always something I've wanted to try but just haven't gotten around to it yet.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'm fascinated. Will be watching for the next lesson!

    ReplyDelete
  7. It will probably be Saturday or Sunday before I make some.

    ReplyDelete