Blog

03/08/07

Watch a walk-through of a soapmaking session in my shop kitchen.

Category: General

Posted by: althaea

Here is an afternoon's soapmaking session in my kitchen at work. I just recorded the first 4 varieties of the 9 total that I made today, but you have to draw a line somewhere. I've been meaning to do this forever, but well, when you see how many steps are involved, and you consider that with many of my soap varieties I have probably less than a minute to fool around with it after the scent is added before it starts getting too thick to do the visual effects I want to do, hopefully you'll have an idea of why it's taken so long to do this.

First, I measure out my distilled water.



Next, I add the lye to the water. You don't do it the other way around - lye first, then pour water in - because if water droplets bounce back out, they'll be caustic. Pouring the lye into the water, there's no droplets bouncing out. Say it with me one more time now: "Lye into water, NOT water into lye." Very good. But don't worry. If you forget, the first time a droplet comes bouncing out and goes straight up your left nostril as you hover over the pot, you'll never have to worry about remembering again.


Stir it up with something heatproof, because once the lye is added to the cold water, it will instantly heat up to about 150 degrees F.  Also, you need to make sure that you use no metal other than stainless steel, and it's probably best not to use wood because the lye will eat it up pretty quickly and you'll end up with weird wood goo in your soap.  For the same reason, nothing painted, unless it's a baked-on enamel coating for instance.  Here I'm using a heatproof 1-piece spatula, because my experience is that with a spatula where the head is simply pushed onto the handle or glued on, the glue dissolves pretty quickly and you end up with questionable stuff in your lye water, plus the problem of fishing out the head of your spatula, plus if you don't quickly get this stuff stirred up the lye can form hard little chunks in there which can be a problem to dissolve.  So, yeah.  Heatproof spatulas are good, stainless steel long-handled spoons are good, stainless steel whisks are good, etc.


It is also a good thing to have eye protection on and a vapor protection device for the initial plume of caustic steam that will rise.  You don't have to have a mask, some people leave a window open, a fan on, or mix it outside and then bring it in later.  Or they just stand at arm's length until that plume passes, which only takes a couple of minutes.  I'm wearing the mask today because I want to keep going while the lye is still very hot and steaming.  When I'm doing a batch that doesn't require the lye to be so hot, I just stir it at arm's length and then go into another room for a few minutes.  But always, ALWAYS cover your eyes.  You would be amazed at how easily little droplets can get flung around during all of this, and they are not easy to rinse off once they hit.  That slippery feeling you get when bleach is on your skin?  Lye feels similar and is just as hard to wash off.  Plus, you'll be mixing it with oil soon, and that will make it even harder to rinse. 

In lieu of a mask, you can really get away with a doubled up bandana around your nose/mouth.  The steam is pretty large droplets and that seems to do the trick.  Trust me - you will know if the steam is getting into your lungs, you will feel it and your body will prevent you from breathing very much of it.

When you first mix up the lye water, it will be all milky looking.  After a few minutes, it will go back to clear.  Give it another good stir at that point, looking for any undissolved granules.  Be sure to scrape the sides, as the lye granules are very static-y and will stick to the sides of the container on their way down into the water.  Make sure you get all those little boogers mixed in, because any undissolved lye crystals can end up as unused lye in your soap.



I keep a squirt bottle of white vinegar nearby, because I always end up getting a drop or two on my arms during the process.  Rather than fill my gloves with water while I'm trying to rinse my arms in the sink, I just spritz my arms with vinegar when that familiar itch (like battery acid) sets in.  It neutralizes it instantly.


My lye is mixed, now I am weighing out my oil into the pot.  Until recently I always strained the oil into the pot, as I would add my marshmallow root powder to the olive oil cans as soon as I bought them, but I realized that after adding the marshmallow root, giving it a good shake and waiting 24 hours, the debris settled to the bottom of the cans so I can just pour the oil off the top and then strain out the dregs later.


Before I mix the lyewater and oil, I get my molds ready and get my fragrances and herbs/additives measured out.  The soap can move pretty fast, so everything I need to use needs to be right there and ready to go.  Yes, that's a Rubbermaid shoebox with a sheet of mylar in the bottom.  The mylar lets the finished loaf slide right out of the mold.  To release the sides, all I have to do is bend the plastic a little to release suction.


For 3-pound loaves, I use the ice cube bins that go in your freezer.  Again, a strip of mylar in the bottom to keep the soap from sticking.


One of the soaps I'm making is Orange Spice, so I'm measuring my cinnamon powder into the cup that the fragrance will go into.  Soaking the fragrance into the spices seems to bring out the natural scent of the cinnamon; also the cinnamon helps to fix the fragrance.


After the cinnamon, I add the powdered cloves, nutmeg and allspice.


Then I pour in my fragrance mixture, which I've already got mixed up in this bottle.


Okay, here we go!  I'm pouring the lyewater into the pot of oil.  Most recipes call for you to let the lyewater cool and to heat the oils to a certain temperature range.  For my particular process (not for all processes, and I don't use this same process for every soap variety!) here, I'm using room-temp oil and fresh lyewater which is close to 150 degrees F.


I mix it up by hand first.  You can see it already starting to want to be an emulsion, kind of like when you add oil to vinegar for a vinaigrette dressing.


I give it a quick zap with the stickblender for maybe 20 seconds.  It gets lighter in color and looks more emulsion-like.  The layer of oil on top of the pot homogenizes in.  Most recipes call for you to keep stirring/blending until it thickens to trace, which means that you can pour a bit off of a spoon and it makes a trail in the pot before sinking in.  I don't even come close to trace for this batch, because I have a LOT of fiddling around to do with 4 different kinds of soap and if I bring it to trace in the pot, it will be a solid lump before I get half of the work done.


Okay, first soap is the Orange Spice.  I measure out 2/3 of the soap batter needed for this small loaf into a separate bowl.


Now I add the fragrance/spice mixture to this portion.  Spice essential oils, especially clove and cinnamon, are known to be fast movers, as are citrus oils.  They start making the soap thicken up right away, so I have to move fast.  I mix it in by hand quickly.


Eeek!  45 seconds, and it's already almost pudding!


Into the mold, quick.


Now I add the other 1/3 of the soap batter, plain white from the pot, to give the Orange Spice soap a white swirl.


Top is studded with Star Anise, and it's done.  Onto the shelf.


Round two.  This one moves even fast than the Orange Spice:  Lavender-Chamomile.  It's also a very complicated decorating ritual.  I have separated out 1/2 of the soap batter needed for this batch, and I am adding the lavender and chamomile oils and the fragrances to it.


I haven't even had a chance to stir the oils in yet, and look at it:


Poured into the mold quickly, and then I am making embeds with these pale beige soap strips.  The Lavender-Chamomile is so firm already that I can stand these strips right up in it, no problem.


Now I pour some unscented, plain white soap batter on top of the scented portion to mostly fill the mold.


Additional soap batter.  I color a portion with ultramarine blue.



...and a portion with ultramarine purple.


...and then I dump them together in a bowl....


...and then I drizzle them on top of the white soap in the mold.


Using a stainless steel butter knife, I drag back and forth in a crosshatch across the soap, making surface swirls.


...now going the other way, to complete the swirls.


Then I sprinkle some blue lavender buds down the center.  This mold does a double loaf.  It will be sliced down the center to make 2 loaves, which can then be cut into bars.  This batch makes about 48 bars of soap.


Next up:  Yuzu Japanese Grapefruit.  This fragrance is very well-behaved, it doesn't make the soap set up too fast, which is why I saved it for later.  If the base batter in the pot were starting to firm up by the time I got to this point, I wouldn't have to worry about the yuzu causing a seize (where the soap turns to cement before you can work with it) as I would have with the faster-moving Orange or Lavender.  So, I measure out my batter and pour in the Yuzu.


Actually, this one is so well-mannered that I have to use the stickblender to get it thickening up.


To make swirls on this variety, I simply drizzle my green oxide on top of the pot.  (my oxides and ultramarines are in various ketchup-style squeeze bottles, premixed with castor oil.  That's why I list "may contain traces of castor oil" on my ingredients list.)


No mixing needed, As I pour it into the mold it mixes by itself and makes a lovely, chaotic swirl.


...a few little tweaks with the butter knife, just to make it pretty.  Done.  On the shelf.


Next:  Nag Champa.  I don't color this one with anything.  The fragrance naturally causes discoloration, and I use that to my advantage.  Measuring batter into bowl, setting aside 1/3 of the batter in a cup to add later....


I add the fragrance, and it immediately turns a bright orange-amber shade.


Once the fragrance is mixed into the 2/3, I add the remaining, uncolored 1/3 of the soap batter.  Just dump it into the bowl, no mixing.


As with the Yuzu, I let the process of pouring create the swirl effect.  Later, when the soap is firm, I will hand-paint it with gold mica detailing on top. 

That's it for tonight, join me next time for Part 2 - where I finish prettying things up, and get them ready for sale.

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