I’ve been dragging my feet regarding making our Oatmeal, Milk and Honey handmade soap in one of the large 35lb block molds since I knew that the honey and heavy cream I add to this particular soap is a bit touchy and heats things up quite a bit.   In the 12lb slab mold it has a large surface area and the heat these additives generate have been manageable.  The big block mold though, is a whole new ball game and I knew it was going to get hot, but didn’t know how hot and had no clue how much insulation I would need if any.    It would not be fun to lose 35lbs of handmade soap, especially, one as popular as this one is for both a retail and wholesale soap so I’ve been dancing around working up the nerve to just jump in.  So yesterday I poured the soap and just put the lid on at an angle with the ends open thinking this would be enough to let the heat escape and didn’t insulate.  Left the shop and took a break for some coffee.  What I should have done was hang around and watch because when I came back the soap was in full hot gel and heaved up against the lid!  This in a matter of about 15 minutes.  No kidding!  I went to remove the lid but the soap was stuck to it so I had to scrape it off and pat it back into the mold.   The next thing I did was grab a fan to blow air over the mold to slow things down a bit to avoid the volcano I knew was getting ready to happen.  Anyhow, I am pleased to say I still ended up with good handmade soap bars with some creative trimming.     Well now I know how this particular soap behaves in this mold so I won’t use the lid at all and will be hovering over it watching and ready to put the fan on it.

Popularity: 7%

Been making handmade soaps for some time now and from the beginning used Brambleberry.com as one of my “go to” suppliers for top notch fragrance oils for use in soaps and body care products.  What makes this supplier so great you ask?  CUSTOMER SERVICE!  Yep, you got that right!  Their customer service is top notch.   Every time, I’ve got a question, I get an answer.  No repeat emails or having to pick up the phone.   When using a new fragrance oil when making a batch of handmade soap bars, I know exactly how it is going to react.  No guessing and no surprises.  Why, because Brambleberry tests their fragrances and posts any reaction they had in the soap pot on their website.    So when I buy them, on the invoice, I have a reminder of whether the fragrance oil is going to move fast, discolor or is just plain not suitable for making handmade soap.   This is especially important to me and avoids situations like the seized soap I had a couple of weeks ago.  I love this about them!

Popularity: 9%

I had my day planned Friday.    The plan was to make several batches of handmade soap and then take a break and go to town.  It didn’t happen that way.   The first batch went smoothly.    Made the first batch which was  goat milk soap with honey and oats.     Something must be in the air as this is the second special request for this type of soap with no scent.   It went smoothly.  Got everything prepped and ready to make another batch of a the new Cucumber Mint goat milk soap that will be coming soon.  Made it before, no issues.  Well….this time as soon as I added the fragrance to the soap pot it was instant SEIZE.  Instant!  What a headache!  Either dump 12lbs of handmade soap or thinking quickly I decided I didn’t want to dump this so decided to turn the oven on and try to hot process it which I have never done before so it was risky.    Simply put,  in hot processing you “cook” the soap to speed up the saponification process.   By using this method you can use the soap right away if you want, however, allowing it to “cure” for a week or so will allow a harder bar.    Once the soap is ready it is glopped into the mold.  Not poured.   It makes for a different texture and more rustic appearance but I have seen hot process handmade soap bars made by soap makers who only make hot process soap turn out very smooth bars.   I however, was  just going for saved soap.  I tell you I had a mess on the floor, a mess on the table and a mess in the pot but the soap cooked and I was able to slam it into the mold.  Not a pretty site but in the mold non the less and not the garbage can.   After I released the soap the next day, I used my kitchen aid stand mixer to shred it and roll it into little soap balls which will be used a design element in a new soap.   Feeling pretty good about this!  Actually, learned something here.  Took me all day and I was pretty stressed by the time it was over but I’m glad I took the plunge.

Seized soap in the pot!

Seized soap in the mold.

And voila!  Soap balls!

Popularity: 16%

I have wanted to make a Dead Sea Mud soap for quite some time and finally got around to it.   This is a fabulous handmade soap which incorporates the mineral rich black mud of the Dead Sea.   It is gentle enough to use on a daily basis as a facial soap but I wouldn’t limit it there.   Our Dead Sea Mud soap makes a fantastic handmade soap for the body too.   What makes Dead Sea Mud so special in handmade soap bars?   Well the rich mineral mud from the Dead Sea actually deep cleanses the skin while gently removing impurities and reducing pore size.   The fine mud particles have a gentle exfoliating effect while helping to remove dead skin cells leaving your skin with a smooth and refined finish.   Your skin will feel soft and not tight.   While designing this particular bar of handmade soap, I decided to swirl it with Australian Black Clay which is high in iron and oxygen and very nourishing to the skin.   I also think it adds a lovely touch to the soap.   It’s scented with a essential oil blend of  Litsea Cubea, Lavender, Tea Tree, Lavender, Patchouli and Clove which is just perfect for this soap.    I can’t say enough good things about this soap.   Can you tell that I’m pleased as punch with how it turned out?   I think it is going to be a fantastic handmade soap for both our retail and our wholesale soap clients too!

Popularity: 10%

Sometimes, but not always, once you pour your handmade soap batter into your molds and the soap starts to solidify, a white powdery substance will form on the top of the soap.  In the morning, when the handmade soap is removed from the mold, you will notice that you either have a light scattering of white residue or it can be fairly thick as will happen with goat milk soap.

Ummm..what is this white powdery substance you ask?  This white chalky residue is commonly known as soda ash or sodium carbonate, a sodium salt of carbonic acid and forms as the water in the soap stock evaporates.  This soda ash may be a bit unsightly on top of those perfectly formed and colorful handmade soap bars but it is harmless and washes away with water or can be wiped off with isopropyl alcohol or simply ignored and accepted as part of what makes handmade soap unique and special.

One tip to prevent the formation of soda ash is to simply cover your freshly poured handmade soap with plastic wrap which cuts the soap off from the open air  preventing the soda ash from forming.  Unfortunately, because of the type of molds I use, this isn’t an option and I picked up another tip from a fellow soap maker which I’ll pass on.  I spritz my slabs of freshly poured handmade soap with 99% isopropyl alcohol after the soap sits a bit and goes opaque.    This has been a huge help in reducing or eliminating the amount of soda ash that forms.   Especially, on the goat milk soap bars.    Be sure to either use 91% or 99% isopropyl alcohol as the 70% does not seem to work.

The photo below is an example of soda ash on the  side of a few bars of Raspberry Mint Goat Milk Soap that weren’t sprayed with isopropyl alcohol after sitting for one week on the drying rack.  When these particular handmade soaps are beveled for sale, I will remove the soda ash just because I’m a bit obsessive about it.

Popularity: 19%

I don’t know why but I’ve been intimidated with the thought of making a larger bath of handmade soap.  Say 35lbs or so at a time.   I know.  It’s not rocket science but it’s taken me a couple of years to get around to doing it.  I make a lot of soap at a time but use several of my 12lb slab molds lined up and then roll like on an assembly line.   Get the molds ready, make a batch, pour and go back and do it all over again.   The rush in wholesale soap orders this fall pushed me over the edge and I purchased a large silicone soap mold to test the process out.  Could have used just wood and lined it and yes, it would have been cheaper but I am spoiled and will only use silicone soap molds now.  So after looking at this beautiful new big batch handmade soap mold for a few weeks, I finally got the nerve up to venture into the shop and make a batch.   Borrowed the big guy’s electric power drill and hooked up the squirrel cage mixer to it.  I had saved a large 55 pound bucket which had held shea butter to  to mix the oils and lye solution so I was good to go.  For the first batch, I decided to make my Lemongrass soap since this recipe moves at a reasonable pace and would be easy to work with.  

Here are the buckets of melted oil and lye water solution waiting to be combined.

Part of the prep was getting the poppy seeds and mineral pigment used for color mixed and ready.

Here is the drill with squirrel cage attachment waiting to go into action.     Felt like I kid when I used this to mix the soap up.   Something new and it was really easy and fun!  Don’t know why I was so intimidated.  

And…here we go, the soap solution has emulsified, I’ve added the color, poppy seeds and essential oils and the soap is almost ready to pour into the mold.  I was having so much fun using the mixer that the soap almost went into a heavy trace which is not what I like.  Caught things just in time.

Finally, the soap is ready to pour into the mold.  Really, it didn’t take long.  Maybe 10 minutes from start to finish.

And…the finished soap logs ready to be cut into handmade soap bars!  The sweet part… I get eight soap logs out of this one mold which is soaptacular! We will definitely be making a mother mold and pouring our own silicone liners.  I’m sold!

Popularity: 11%

Well, I feel like I’m playing the stock market.  Pricing for raw materials for making handmade soaps are skyrocketing.  Not only have we been dealing with the huge jumps in essential oils such as Lavender and Patchouli, both of which I consider necessary in my arsenal of fragrances for several of our handmade soap bars but now coconut oil, palm kernel and palm oil are skyrocketing.   Not the normal annual increases but HUGE GIGANTIC jumps!    These are necessary oils.   I can’t make soap without them.  Well…I could make a traditional castile but gosh darn it, I don’t want to!    From what I can gather from my suppliers, coconut has taken a hit due to all the natural disasters and because coconut oil is now very expensive it has driven up the price of substitute oils such as palm because the demand has suddenly shot up.   This is not good folks.   When I picked up coconut oil yesterday I was told not to expect any drop for the remainder of the year and there was no indication of any stabilization of price any time soon.  Yeah, this is scary.

Oh and then there is the bad crop of jojoba.   Apparently, there isn’t enough of it to go around right now so if you find a supplier with it, you need to buy it.    I will be hording mine! 

I’m also hearing about jumps in cocoa butter.  Luckily, I’ve got a good supply of that butter right now.  Now if shea jumps then I think I’ll have a fit!

Popularity: 10%

Our family owned and operated handmade soap company is growing and I need to ramp up production of our popular handmade soaps.   Yeah!   We make our own silicone soap molds or should I say my handy other half makes our molds for me.  Before investing in the silicone, however, I need to test out the process of making a larger batch so went ahead and ordered a block soap mold from Upland Soap Factory.   Silicone is not cheap and I need to make sure this type of handmade soap mold is what I want before we make the investment.  Our handmade soap bars are not the standard size so unfortunately, I have to make due, and I can with one of the standard size soap molds available until I’ve got the process down and then we will design a mother mold for my particular bar soap size and Rick will pour several silicone soap molds for me like he did with my slab molds.   This new mold will hold 35lbs of handmade soap.  Yep, you got it!  35lbs.  I’m so excited!  You could not pay me enough to go back to lining wood molds!  Silicone is the only way to go.

Popularity: 12%

Lately, I have been really busy making many batches of handmade soap in the shop.  Those of you who buy handmade soap from me know that I like to use color quite a bit.  Otherwise, I’d be bored with making lots and lots of plain handmade soap bars!  I just like color!  It’s a fun part of the whole process for me.  You would think as a handmade soap company I would have come up with a simple solution to mixing pigments up some time ago but I have to confess that the light bulb just went off about a month ago while I was busy mixing up some soap batches.    A few years back, I purchased a mini mixer to mix up small test batches of lotions and it has been sitting staring out at me on the shelf every time I go into the shop to mix up some more batches of handmade soaps.   This little mixer is the perfect solution to avoiding clumps in your color solution.  I just add a bit of oil to the colorant and mix away.  No more clumps of pigments!   Perfect, clean color in the final handmade soap bars.   Don’t know why I didn’t think of this before.

Popularity: 21%

Today I made a bunch of Tanzanian Clove handmade soap and I’d like to give some tips on how to handle those fast moving fragrance oils that I’ve learned over the years.  You know, those tricky fragrance or essential oils that make soap on a stick as soon as they hit the soap pot!  This particular fragrance oil sets up real quick and the specs on it says not to attempt any fancy swirls or color schemes when making handmade soap bars with it.   When I make this particular handmade soap I do put a swirl of color in it.  Just because I like color!   I tend to soap by feel so am not used to watching oil and lye solution temperatures anymore.   Been there, done that but not anymore!   Maybe just chalk it up to experience but I can tell by what I’m looking at and the how the soap pot feels on when to add my lye solution.   I guess I cook this way too with a little of this and a little of that.  With that said and because I had the idea to write about this I did take the temperature of the oils.   They were at 92 degrees.    Anyhow, back to those tips.   When I have a fast moving fragrance or essential oil blend to scent a batch of handmade soap, the first thing I do is add the fragrance oil to the melted oils and stir it around.  After adding the lye solution to the melted oils in the main soap pot instead of taking a stick blender or mixer to it I will mix vigorously with a wire whisk just taking the mixture to an emulsified state.  Not even a light trace.   Just emulsified.   I pour some of the soap mixture into the the container I’ve got the color in that will be the swirl color in the handmade soap bars and mix that well using another wire whisk.   Then depending on how the large pot of soap mixture is doing I will usually take the stick blender and just pulse it a couple of times to make sure everything is well blended before pouring the main soap mixture into the mold.   It moves quick so just a couple of pulses of the stick blender will usually take things to a light trace.  You don’t want to be playing around and have the soap set up too fast before pouring into the mold or you won’t be able to add your swirl color.   Quite often I am pouring these fast movers at a very, very light trace when the soap is very fluid and you might even think the solution might break.   It’s ok because the soap will continue set up in the mold and you have bought yourself some time to add the swirl color.   Note that you will want to have all your tools and molds lined up  and ready to go.  Shutting the phone off is a good idea too.   You do not want any interruptions because you will need to focus and move very fast to beat the fragrance oil into submission.

Popularity: 11%