Left Continue shopping
Your Order

You have no items in your cart

You might like
From $1005
Show options
From $475
Show options

Introduction to Soap Making - Day 6

We have made a few batches of soap already. Has anyone cut their soap yet? I want to hear how your soaps look, smell and feel!

Today we are going to use Tamanu Oil as our luxury oil. Tamanu Oil is used for the same reason Emu Oil is. It adds great emollient properties, making a soap feel more conditioning and luxurious. It has a little less emollients than Emu Oil but adds a beautiful color and faint nutty odor that is very enjoyable.

If you are to use Tamanu Oil in your soaps with a fragrance, I would recommend more earthy, musky or nutty scents. Florals would not be a good mix.

I used Coconut Oil for lots of good lather and Hydrogenated Soybean Oil to help lighten the color from the Tamanu Oil. I personally prefer lighter colored bars of soap.

Ingredients
Hydrogenated Soybean Oil
Coconut Oil
Olive Oil
Tamanu Oil
Sodium Hydroxide (Lye)
Water
Equipment
Scale
Microwave Safe Container
Spoons
Pipettes
Thermometer
Immersion Blender

Recipe:

Recipe in Grams
170 grams Hydrogenated Soybean Oil
142 grams Coconut Oil
113 grams Olive Oil
29 grams Tamanu Oil
64 grams Sodium Hydroxide (Lye)
177 mL Water
Recipe in Ounces
6 oz Hydrogenated Soybean Oil
5 oz Coconut Oil
4 oz Olive Oil
1 oz Tamanu Oil
2.26 oz Sodium Hydroxide (Lye)
6 fl oz Water
Recipe in Percentages
37.5% Hydrogenated Soybean Oil
31.25% Coconut Oil
25% Olive Oil
6.25% Tamanu Oil
Q.S. Sodium Hydroxide (Lye)
Q.S. Water

Weigh the oils into a microwave safe container. Place into the microwave and heat. While the oils are heating, weigh the lye. Slowly add the lye to your container of water. DO NOT add water to your container of lye. The two chemicals reacting can cause a dangerous volcano. It is best to create good safety habits before you make a batch of soap that is 20 lbs in size.

For most soaps, you will want to mix your oils and lye solution when both are somewhere between 110°F to 130°F. In the winter when your soaping area is cooler, you will want to soap at higher temperatures. In the summer when your soaping area is warmer, you will want to soap at cooler temperatures. For this batch my temperature were 128°F for my oils and 114°F for my lye solution.

When your lye solution and oils are within the ideal temperature range, slowly pour the lye solution into the oils. Using either an immersion or a soap spoon, mix until you reach trace. Trace is when the raw soap has been mixed enough that oil will no longer rise to the surface when mixing is stopped. If you aren’t sure if you have achieve trace then stop mixing, go get a glass, fill it with water, do not drink it. Come back to your soap. Is oil floating on the surface?

Once trace is reached, you can pour the soap into a mold. Allow the soap to sit undisturbed for 12-24 hours. After the soap has been allowed to sit for up to 24 hours, you can unmold the soap and cut it. Arrange the cut bars of soap in an area where there is good air flow but they will not be in the way. I like to put them on a sheet of cardboard. You are now ready for the curing process. The curing process is just allow the soap to dry out, giving you a nice hard bar. You can use your soap immediately after cutting but it will not last as long as a fully cured bar.

A great way to determine if your bar has cured all the way is to use our Cure Cards! Did you know you can get them free in qualifying orders? How cool!
Taylor

Finished Soap

Finished Soap

Preparing to Remove Soap from Mold

Preparing to Remove Soap from Mold

Weighed Oils

Weighed Oils

Making Lye Solution

Making Lye Solution

Adding Lye Solution to Oils

Adding Lye Solution to Oils

Preparing to Mix

Preparing to Mix

Mixing Soap

Mixing Soap

Mixed Soap

Mixed Soap

Pouring Soap into Mold

Pouring Soap into Mold

Soap in Mold

Soap in Mold

Orange Butter Lip Balm

This has been one of our most popular promotional lip balms! We are often asked if we brought this lip balm to events, conferences and even business meetings.

This...

Read more

Basic Bar Soap

This recipe is the basic recipe that we use to test fragrances, colors or other additives.

Ingredients

    4 oz Coconut Oil or Palm Kernel Oil (See Comments...
Read more

Lemon Cookie Lip Balm

I didn t want to miss out on the slightly nutty kick that the poppy seeds contribute. Instead, I added a small amount of Black Pepper Essential Oil to...
Read more