The recipe pages represent soap formulations we have used successfully, but they include oils and additives we had available at the time. If you have one single oil in your house - even if it is only vegetable oil, you can make soap with it. In fact, you can create your own soap formulations or recipes quite easily. Read About Oils and Additives and visit our "create formulations" page using the navigation buttons above.
We've had a lot of positive feedback on the wedding soap,
so we'll start our formulation/recipe pages with this luxurious bar. For other
soap recipes, use the links to the left. The wedding soap was originally crafted
for my daughter's July 2003 wedding to share with her guests. Our goal was a
hard, cream-colored bar with superior lathering and moisturizing properties and
this batch did not disappoint us. We used two cranberry fragrances, one with a
mild sweet scent and the other more intense and tart.
Remember, it is not
necessary to have all the oils listed. You can easily substitute oils, as long
as you write down the name of oil and weight as you place them in your
container. The formulations in this website are meant to give you ideas of the
oils you can use. Check out their properties on our About
Oils
page.
INGREDIENTS
Palm Oil - 27 ounces
Olive Oil - 27 ounces
Coconut Oil - 10 ounces
Grapeseed Oil - 1 ounce
Sweet Almond Oil - 1 ounce
Avocado Oil - .25
ounce
Shea Butter - .25 ounce
Distilled Water - 26 Ounces
Lye @10% Discount Factor - 9.9 Ounces
Lye @5% Discount Factor - 10.45
Ounces
See soapmaking instructions for additional prep information including gathering
equipment, supplies and ingredients, preparing your work surface and lining your
soap mold.
Instructions -
Lye/Water
1. Weigh 26 oz distilled water into a lye/water
safe container that is large enough to add and mix the lye into. I have a heat
resistant 4-cup heavy duty Pyrex glass measuring cup which is perfect for the
batch sizes I make. (See
soapmaking instructions
)
2. Put your rubber gloves on for safety and carefully weigh
out the amount of lye required (based on a 5 or 10%) discount into a plastic or
glass measuring vessel.
I used a 10% discount at
9.9 oz of lye based on our formulation. Before you pour the lye into the
water, put on safety glasses or goggles and a breathing mask. As you become familiar with
the process, you will determine the level of safety measures you need to take. The
rule of thumb is to just be careful.
3. Clip
a meat thermometer to the lye/water container and carefully pour the lye into
the distilled water while stirring consistently until the lye is dissolved.
There will be an
almost immediate rise in temperature to approximately 160F. This is when the
reaction is the strongest and the solution will emit fumes until
it settles and begins to cool. Remember that the cooled down lye solution
does not look like a dangerous substance, so take care where you set it
down before you use it.
4. Place your lye/water solution in a
well-ventilated area where there is no through-traffic and allow to cool.
Continue to monitor the temperature while weighing out and heating your oils.
Instructions - Oils
5. Weigh all oils and butter(s) into a stainless steel pot
or other lye-friendly heating vessel. I have
a very accurate digital scale that I use to weigh out my oils
and lye.
6. Clip a candy thermometer to your oil container and
place over low heat. Stir regularly and monitor the temperature.
7. At
the moment that all fats have dissolved, remove from heat and allow to
cool.
Instructions - Saponify
8. Continue to monitor the temperatures of both the oils and water/lye
solution. When they have each reached a temperature between 110F and 120F, they
are ready for the next step.
9. Carefully pour
the lye/water into the oils
and stir for a few minutes to blend them somewhat.
10. Using your hand
or stick blender, continue blending until the mixture comes to trace. Add
fragrance at this time.
11. Pour your mixture into your pre-prepared mold and
insulate.
I cut and wrapped approximately 30 bars of soap from this loaf, which were provided to my
daughter's wedding guests.
Formulations, Page One - Back to
Main or Recipe 2 (Citrus
Rosemary)
High Grade Fragrance oils for soaps, candles, toiletries from Glenbrook Farms
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