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Natural Soap Making Directions by Swan Creek Farm

Supplies you will need:
  • Pot (8 quart size) with water
  • Oils (62 ounces of fats and 26 ounces of vegetable oils with this recipe- see below)
  • Fillers and essential oils (see below)
  • Scale
  • 40 ounce glass bottle (heat tolerant)
  • Enamel pot that holds at least 8 quarts
  • Thermometer (needs to go down as low as 90 degrees and be made of glass or stainless steel-not your medicine chest thermometer)
  • Thick rubber gloves
  • Long-sleeved shirt
  • Strong wooden spoons
  • Soap molds (shoe box)
  • Apron
  • Lye (12 oz. Red Devil Brand)
  • Eye protection
  • Heavy rubber spatula

Natural Soap Making Directions: (Read through completely before beginning)

1. Lye solution should be made the night before natural soap making so that it can cool down to 95 It is easier to heat up solution from room temperature than to cool it down when you’re ready to make the natural soap. Take 12 ounces of lye and pour it into your heat tolerant glass jar. Lye is quite caustic and will burn you eyes, skin or clothes if it comes into contact with them. It is activated by water which heats it up. It can sit unnoticed until perspiration or humidity activates it so take care to use heavy rubber gloves, long sleeved shirt, apron and protective goggles.

2. Slowly add 32 ounces (by weight) of water to lye. The water will heat up to 200* so take care touching the bottle. The bottle cap should have 2- 1/4” holes for even pouring. This solution will sit overnight.

3. The following day, prepare two shoe boxes as molds by lining with a white trash bag and greasing.

4. Place lye solution bottle in the pot of water and stir the solution with wooden spoon handle. Place on burner and turn on. Heat lye solution slowly to 98*. Turn down.

5. Combine 62 ounces of fat (by weight) and 26 ounces of fine vegetable oil (olive possibly) and heat up to 105* and turn off.

6. When the fats (which should be stirred for accurate reading) and lye are both at 98*, slowly stir lye solution into fats stirring constantly. Bringing the fats and lye solution to the same temperature at the same time will be a bit tricky. However, this is a critical part of making a successful batch of soap. You will continue stirring for 1-2 hours until saponification occurs. The spoon will stand on its own when it is soap.

7. Optional. Essential oils (1/2-1 oz) or fillers (10 oz.) can be added at this time and blended well.

8. Pour liquid into molds.

9. Cover with a towel and protect from extreme temperature fluctuations.

10.24-48 hours later, cut the soft natural soap into bars and place them where air can circulate.

11. After curing for two weeks, scrape the top of the soap to remove the soda ash with a cheese cutter. The natural soap is ready to use.


















Natural Soap Making Ingredients List:

Fine vegetable oils:
  • Avocado Oil-Use up to 6 ounces in the above recipe
  • Coconut Oil- Makes a hard natural soap that is brittle but is valued for its foaming ability; odorless and drying to the skin. Use modestly, only 10 ounces in the above recipe
  • Cottonseed Oil- Makes a soft natural soap that doesn’t foam well; mild on the skin
  • Olive Oil- Makes a hard natural soap that is mild and foams well
  • Peanut Oil- Makes a medium-hard natural soap that is odorless and foams well; mild
  • Soybean Oil- Makes a hard odorless natural soap. Doesn’t foam well; mild

Fats:
  • Tallow- Makes a very hard natural soap that foams well; mild
  • Lard- Makes a hard natural soap that foams well; mild
  • Butter- Soft texture natural soap and a mediocre detergent; mild

Vegetable oils that can be used in place of fats for making natural soaps:
Hydrogenated Oils-An example being Crisco™; make a soft soap with a pleasant smell

Fillers in natural soap (Use up to 10 oz. Of any one or a combination of the following):
Powdered milk
  • Honey
  • Oatmeal
  • Borax
  • Sand
  • Cornmeal
  • Ground dried herbs
  • Fuller’s earth
  • Bran
  • Paraffin
  • Beeswax
  • Lanolin
  • Pumice etc..

Essential Oils:
Add 1/2-1 ounces just before pouring soap in to molds

Preservatives:
Vitamin E and Wheat Germ Oil:Add 2 ounces prior to pouring above recipe as a preservative

Freelancing measurements:
Many recipes can and should be tried during your natural soap making experiments. Use the following guidelines for making your own custom soaps:
Fine vegetable oils20% of total fats
Essential oils1-2% of liquid volume
Antiseptic oils2-10% of liquid volume
Fillers10-20% of total volume


Natural Soap Making Directions by Swan Creek Farm
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©2006-2010 Swan Creek Farm
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