River County Soapworks produces high quality soap and toiletries that are both pleasing to the senses and terrific for your skin. I invite you to try our products.
I must confess that I got distracted. Yes, I did! We have a small handmade soap company and I really want to offer liquid soap as well as handmade bar soap. I’m so close to launching a liquid soap line but got distracted when I ran across a different method of making liquid soap on a handmade soap making forum that I belong to. While I found this different method interesting I was hesitant to try it. Instead of adding potassium hydroxide which is the alkali used for liquid soap making to the water phase, you replace the water with vegetable glycerin and add the potassium hydroxide to the glycerin. It’s a quick and painless method. Usually, it takes me several hours to get to the point that I have a workable soap paste. When using glycerin in place of water the chemical reaction happens so much faster and I’ve got a nice solid translucent paste within an hour or so. It’s that quick! Also, taking a 2% discount, there is no need to neutralize and I still end up with a clear liquid soap after dilution. Has there been a learning curve? Yep! Sure has and I’ve got a couple gallons of dish soap to prove it! Some of the essential oils I added turned the diluted liquid soap to a nice thick gel after sitting for a while so I learned to work through this adding a bit more glycerin and letting it sit. The glycerin dissolved the gel and made it fluid again. It is normal for a true liquid soap to be pretty thin. Thin enough that you can squirt it out of a bottle. I happen to like a thicker soap and so have been tinkering with how to get it. I tried different vegetable gums, adding borax and reducing the amount of water used to dilute the soap paste. Using the normal method of making liquid soap, I could reduce the water quite a bit but with the glycerin method I found I needed a bit more water in dilution to keep the soap from reverting back to paste. Borax works but I really wanted to avoid using it. What I ended up doing is making a 20% sodium chloride (table salt) solution and adding a dropper full at a time to the diluted soap stock. Using too heavy of a hand will turn the soap cloudy so there is a fine line on how thick you can take it and not get cloudy soap. I was able to use the salt solution with a coconut oil percentage of 20% in my formula. I have never used a salt solution before but have read that it won’t work on a liquid soap formula with a high percentage of coconut oil. In my case, it seemed to work great so I don’t know how high is high. I really like using the glycerin liquid soap making method. It’s a time saver and has produced some beautiful soap for me. Took a lot of testing but I think I’ve got the process down now. Patience is not one of my virtues but I have been forced to go slow and test, test and test some more.
Here I’ve got warmed oils and the potassium hydroxide added to the vegetable glycerin.
The lye solution has been stick blended into the warmed oils.
Tracing…
We have bubbles..which means done!
To get to the bubble stage only took about 5 minutes. The soap is done and after I put the lid on and came back in about an hour I had paste and it tested neutral with the phenolphthalein. I had whipped air into the soap which accounts for the cream color but underneath was all clear paste. So much for 24 oz test batches. Not the easiest to work with but better than wasting a lot of material.
And here is the final test batch of paste diluted, thickened and scented with Eucalyptus, Spearmint and Sweet Orange essential oils. Perfect!
When customers want to buy handmade soap from us for problem skin and ask what handmade soap we carry that I would recommend, the first handmade bar soap that comes to mind is our Oatmeal, Milk & Honey soap. For several reasons really. Oatmeal has long been used to relieve dryness, eczema, inflammation, rashes (think diaper rash), and even bug bites. When my kids were just babes and either their little bottoms were burnt from diaper rash or they had irritating bug bits I would put some whole oats in an old sock and squish them around under running water in the tub and have them soak. We always got relief and healing that way. Our Oatmeal, Milk and Honey soap bar also contains a generous amount of honey and heavy cream. Remember Cleopatra? Only milk and honey baths for her! Honey in skin care is primarily known for it’s humectant and antimicrobial qualities. (A humectant is a compound that attracts moisture to itself and helps retain the moisture.) For this particular handmade soap, I added wheat germ oil which is naturally high in vitamin E. It has been one of our most popular retail and wholesale soaps.
Over the winter I loss my beautiful mare Sasha in a tragic accident. It was heartbreaking for me and my husband in his infinite wisdom brought home a alpine goat named Emily to keep our little shetland pony Snuffy company not to mention give me something else to focus on. Now all my customers who know me first hand and have always looked at the goat milk soaps in my handmade soap collection and asked the question “Do you have your own goats?”, know that I never wanted goats. No way, no how! Absolutely not! Yes, I do make quite a bit of goat milk soap in addition to my shea butter handmade soap bars but goats are mischievous and gregarious creatures and I didn’t want the hassle. Boy has time changed my tune! Little Miss Emily dropped a baby one evening and my husband knew that anything that has fur on it and especially a baby fur animal just warms my heart. I wondered why he kept saying “You know, Emily sure is getting round.” He knew that goat was pregnant when he brought her home! I am now officially and happily attached to my little goat herd. They are so much fun and a delight to interact with. Snuffy is the big boss now and baby loves to jump on him and run circles around him. He has a lot of patience with her and everyone has settled right in. No, I still don’t have any intention of milking goats to make handmade bar soap with. I will still buy my goat milk in bulk. There isn’t enough hours in the day. After all, we are a “artisan” handmade soap company which basically means I do everything. LOL!
Emily & Baby
Our Baby a bit bigger. She grows really, really fast!
And..this is one of my favorites. Before I took this photo the baby was jumping on Snuffy. She got tired and layed down near him for a snooze!
One of the problems of having a handmade soap company is finding “fun time” for experimentation. I’m in the process of testing some essential oil blends in soap and decided to try my hand at some different handmade soap designs while testing these blends out for longevity and appeal. One of the blends is “Mojito” which has Lime, Bay, Spearmint, Litsea and Bergamont in it. I poured handmade soap layering three colors of white, green and gold one on top of the other in a small log mold. This test mold yields seven handmade soap bars so it is the perfect size for testing a scent or soap recipe in. After the anticipation of cutting into the handmade soap log, I was very pleased with how this soap looks. Reminds me of tie die and smells wonderful! If you like the look of this soap it will end up in the grab bag.
Well, after several requests from wholesale soap customers I broke down and purchased some molds that will support handmade bar soap for smaller guest size bars. These molds will produce 1oz handmade soaps in the size of 1 1/2 x 2 1/2 x 1/2 inches. This size is perfect for hotels, bed and breakfast inns and make nice wedding favors too.
As an handmade soap company I want to include both handmade bar soap and also handmade liquid soap. I’m almost ready to add liquid soap to the web site. The only thing holding me up is what type of bottle and labels. We are close though and I hope to have labels designed in the near future. Then it is only a matter of bottles & tops! In the meantime, I thought I’d share how I make my handmade liquid soap. The process takes a bit longer than handmade bar soap but once you get the hang of it then it is like anything else, practice makes perfect! Here is what I do.
1. Combine Melted Oils and Potassium Hydroxide on the cook top using very low heat. Stick blend. The solution emulsifies.
2. After stick blending for a bit you will feel the solution start to smooth out.
3. Then you get bubbles…big fat bubbles….
4. After the bubbles comes the beginning of the taffy stage….
5. Thick taffy…
6. Before you know it you can’t stick blend anymore. The soap is too thick and won’t budge. I take a big stainless spoon at this point and flip the paste around. Turn your burner off. I used to cook the paste on the stove top in a rigged up double boiler. What a mess this used to make. Remember you are cooking the soap paste for several hours. So now, I just turn my oven on to 185 degrees, put a lid on the pot and cook the paste in the oven.
7. This is the paste at 3 hours. When I first started making liquid soap I read to cook it for 3 hours. Well.. that is definitely not enough time for my paste. I cook for several hours until I get a good translucent gel. When I say several hours I really mean it. I’m talking 12 or more. This has saved me a lot of frustration.
8. Here is the liquid soap paste ready to be diluted. It’s perfect! Can you see the difference?
One of the first questions I get from a new wholesale soap client is “What are your best selling handmade soap fragrances?” and “How do I choose, you carry so many fragrances? Let’s make it easy. You can’t go wrong having a selection of handmade bar soap that includes citrus, lavender and mint. Those simple fragrances please just about everyone. Don’t forget to include a floral like Gardenia or Plumeria and a spice like Applejack & Peel or Warm Citrus Spice. I know it can be overwhelming to choose from a large selection. Keep things simple. Start with six or eight different fragrances but include a citrus, lavender, mint, floral and spice fragrance. We have several different handmade soap bars within those categories to choose from. Enjoy the process!
In my “old” age I have got into fitness. I’ve been running and lifting weights now for about a year and a half which for me is a real milestone. Recently, I joined a “boot camp” at my gym. After running my three miles I faithfully participate in this camp. It’s a real challenge and when I’m on the third set of bear crawls I feel like I’ve lost my mind. We sweat a lot! Sometimes cry. It is pure pain. I was thinking what handmade bar soap I make that would be invigorating and refreshing after a good sweat. I’d like to give a bar of my handmade soap to my classmates. Personally, I like the Lemongrass or Peppermint & Tea Tree soap. Both of these handmade soaps get the dirt, grime, mud and sweat off nicely and the poppy seeds invigorate after a good work out. Think I’ll bring a bag of these to my next boot camp experience.
already and I’m back at the Vancouver Farmers Market selling my handmade soap along with some natural bath and body care products. It is heartwarming to me that I have customers that continue to buy handmade soap from me year after year. I really appreciate the continued support I receive from everyone and I love visiting. That just makes my week end! This year I decided to change the booth display around. It is a bit different but I think it offers more room. I make quite a variety of handmade bar soap and need all the room I can get!
Here I’ve got warmed oils and the potassium hydroxide added to the vegetable glycerin.
The lye solution has been stick blended into the warmed oils.
Tracing…
We have bubbles..which means done!
