Soap Making Day
Its hard to take pictures of soap making with no help, so to make my life easier I am using pictures from last year when my sister was here to help me.The house is filled with a licorice scent from using the anise oil. I love it.
Next week I hope to make some baby soap and my laundry soap.
The pictures......
Soap mold ready to be used, lined with a plastic trash bag
Fats being melted in a pot on the stove
Lye water mixture cooling in a cold water bath in the sink, ice cubes help. Lye gets very hot when mixed with water so it has to be cooled down
Lye water has been added into the fats and stirred until thickened, at this point my sister is adding in the essential oils
The soap is poured into the mold
After 24 hours of being in the mold, the soap can be removed and cut.
In 3 weeks the soap can be used.
The Recipe ......Anise Olive Oil Soap
5 cups chilled soft water. Rainwater works fantastic but if you don't have any, use bottled distilled water
1 1/4 cups 100% lye crystals, 12 oz by weight
5 3/4 cups 100% olive oil.
3 3/4 cups coconut oil
3 cups palm oil
4 oz anise essential oil
Do not use aluminum utensils or pots when making soap. Aluminum and lye don't work well together.
Use Lye safety. Its caustic and will burn your skin, eyes etc. Make soap when small children are NOT around.
Make soap in a well ventilated area.
Prepare your soap mold by lining with a single layer of a plastic trash bag. Smooth out any wrinkles and tape in place.
I put my mold on a large old bath towel.
Put the mold someplace where it can stay safely undisturbed for 24 hours. Keep it out of reach of children and pets.
Soap making requires mixtures be just the right temperature so have a good dairy thermometer handy.
Before you attempt to make soap for the first time, do some research.
There are some great instructions at http://members.aol.com/oelaineo/directions.html
Soap making is fun but you must use safety precautions. Please read the instructions in the web site above carefully if you plan to try this recipe.
I try to have my oils at 92 and also have my water lye mixture reach 92 degrees also, and then I slowly drizzle the lye water mixture into the oils, stirring briskly with a whisk. Be very careful to NOT splash the mixture as its still very caustic !
Comments
Judy L.
Anise oil ingested is the real worry when pregnant or nursing.
3-4 oz of the oil in such large batch of soap (about 40 bars), used topically should not be too worrisom.
But if one is concerned it would be best to ask their doctor.
Thanks for bringing that concern up : )
I suppose it's also easy to change the scent - just to buy another scent oil..?
Thank you for the receipe patty