Just added - Huge Glossary
Soapmaking
Recipes
Create your own Cold Process Soap Recipes Quickly and Easily
Create your own soap recipes using the oils you have on hand.
Recipes featured on this site consist of Mortar and Pestle's most successful and best loved soaps as chosen by our faithful testers; friends and family. They are offered as examples of the many variations of ingredients you can use to craft the most luxury soaps for yourself and your family.
Rather than use a particular recipe to
craft the soaps featured here, they were created as I went along.
Things
to consider are
1) oils you already have on hand,
2) what specific oils
will offer to a bar of soap,
3) size of batch to calculate how much oil will
be required,
4) type of soap bar - bath, shampoo, pet friendly, soothing,
etc. - and last, but not least,
5) you need your favorite on-line or manual
lye calculator.
Even if you find the
"perfect" soap recipe, you may not have all the oil ingredients on hand. It will
be much easier to take ingredient suggestions offered in a formulation and
apply them toward creating a similar recipe using ingredients you do have
and what you're looking for in a finished product.
There are many oils that have the same
or like properties, so you can often substitute one oil for another and
still produce a very fine bar of soap. For instance, when we ran low on
coconut oil, we used palm kernel oil as a substitute for its hardening and
lathering properties. This produced an awesome soap with thick creamy
lather. Several of our most successful formulations have contained the
least variety of oils, including one of our favorites - with only olive,
palm, and coconut.
EASY STEPS TO CREATING YOUR OWN SOAP
FORMULATIONS
1.When the soapmaking bug hits,
check your kitchen shelves oils you have on hand
and make a selection based on availability (obviously) and what
benefits or properties they will offer to a bar of soap.
See Oils and their Properties -
Ingredients for descriptions. Of course, you want to make sure you have enough lye as
well.
2.
For instance, we have two "20-bar" wood soap molds. Filling each mold requires more than 60 ounces of a combination of oils, 23-26 ounces of distilled water/other liquid, and 9.0 - 9.9 ounces of lye). If I want to make a smaller batch, I'll have to find something else to use as a mold. Generally, I'll use a shoe box lid or something lined with plastic and that works out pretty well for a fairly small batch.
3. List the oils you
want to use and their weights (in ounces or grams) on paper and run them through the lye calculator at
Cranberry Lane or use another lye calculator
if you have a preference. Majestic Mountain Sage has a
popular online lye calculator (see our Links Page).
4. Once you've entered your selection of oils, the weight(s) of
the lye and water (liquid) you need will automatically be calculated for
you.
5. Print or copy your recipe and
start making soap. If you need further instructions,
click here . You will want to add notes for future reference.
If you are going to include an additive, such as an EO, herb or
colorant, make note of this on your recipe page. For cold process soapmaking
instructions (including milk based soaps), visit our
soapmaking instructions page.
Note: Coconut, Palm, Soy (Shortening or Vegetable Oil) and Olive oils are some of the most commonly used oils in soapmaking. The majority of our soaps include Coconut Oil for hardness and lather, Palm Oil for hardness and smooth, creamy bubbles, and Olive for its obvious benefits to skin and for a lasting, mild, non-drying, bar of soap.
Remember, soapmaking is a personal thing. You have complete control over what goes into your products and it includes molding preferences, desired additives, the oils you select, your method of packaging and more. I guess this is where it becomes an art because everyone has an opportunity to craft a bar that perhaps no one else has ever produced to be exactly the same.
High Grade Fragrance oils for soaps, candles, toiletries from Glenbrook Farms
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1997