OK, not soaping related.  I just witnessed one of my cats, Pandora, throw up a couple of kibble bits.  When I came back with paper towels to clean up, she was eating them!  Eeeeeeeuuuuuu…  cats… at least she cleaned up after herself.

I soaped today.  4 batches and 3 had lard in them.  #1 had 70% lard, #2 50% lard, and 3# 25% lard.  I am curious to try them.  I purchased some Pop Mica colors from TKB trading in Oakland.  They sell micas, glitters, oxides, etc used in cosmetics and some of them work great in soap too!  Their Pop Micas are bright and shimmery, really nice.  I guess I could make my own eye shadows if I wanted to. 

I used the Staples boxes and a Pringles can. I did not secure the bottom of the Pringles can as well as last time so there was LEAKAGE!  I'll have to clean up the oven tomorrow.  At least it will be soap tomorrow!  The heart shaped cupcake mold I used to collect any tiny left overs from the lard batches.  I don't know what I'll do with it, but I collected it. 

The tiny boxes I used for unfragranced uncolored samples of the lard.  I forgot to get sample from #1, but I got them for #2 and #3.  It's unfortunate, because I really wanted to know if the 70% lard batch would smell piggy without any fragrance.  I have read that some people can smell the lard.  I didn't really smell anything in the lard to begin with.  I bought it at the super market and it's been rendered and filtered and it white and smelled faintly oily, but not too piggy.  I really made sure I didn't overheat the lard when I melted it.  I hear that overheating will cause the fat to smell.  Well I'll see tomorrow. 

Lard soaps                                     non-lard Yuzu FO, Pringles can leakage!

So the soaps from 3/25/10. 

I LOVE how the cupcakes came out with their whipped soap topping!  The multicolored jojoba beads just completes the look!  Even though my whipped soap went a little flat it still looks delicious!  The remaining whipped soap I put some color and fragrance and put into oval molds.  I wonder if I whipped it enough to make the soap float on water?  Air, that's what makes Ivory soap float.

The milk carton made a great rounded square shape when the sides bowed out.  I really like it.  Fits in the hand well. 

The eye shaped hair colorant packaging didn't fair as well.  It warped in the heat and some of the packaging ink came off onto the soap.  So I had to shave off some of the outer sides of the soap to take the inked soap off.  I still got an eye shape, although a little warped. 

The pomegranate and black currant soap is weeping oil.  I have read that sometimes the oil will absorbe back into the soap.  So I'll wait and see in a few weeks.  The swirl color with the burgundy and purple came out nice.

The rice flower and shea fragranced soap is an example of how colors can morph in the heat and high pH.  I used violet oxide which looks like a wonderful purple violet color, but when it hits the soap batter it turns grey.  So I heard that if you mix in some blue oxide it will become a nice slate grey.  Well,  I got sort of a dark brown black.  Also when I added the fo and colorant I got an ammonia burning smell.  Maybe something happened to the fo?

The 100% coconut oil soap I swirled with a light sky blue.  Came out real pretty.  But it too is a bit oily to the touch.  I did do a 20% superfat though, so maybe that's expected. 

Superfat is the amount of oil you put in on top of what gets used up by the lye.  0% superfat is just the amount of oil that will use up all of the lye to make soap.  If you put more oils in than that it will not saponify and have more moisturizing qualities as more oils are left in the soap.  I usually superfat at 6%, so 20% was a huge departure for me. 

The smallest of the Staples boxes produced a blockish bar that seems a bit awkward in the hand.  If I cut it in half it would make a nice guest soap size. 

I did 5 1lb batches today.  Again all different recipes.  I got in the 100% coconut oil with 20% superfat as well as experimenting with whipped soap.  The whipped soap was interesting.  I don't think I let my lye water cool enough.  Once the lye water went in it went from stiff peaks to very soft peaks.  I was still able to ice my prior gingersnap cupcakes, but I didn't get the piped look I was going for, but they still look really cute.  I got some colored jojoba beads yesterday and I mixed a bunch of colors and made “candy” sprinkles for my cupcakes.  I think they are perfect as a finishing touch.  I thought about fragrancing the whipped topping, but decided against it.  Some fragrances change the soap color and I wanted to keep the icing white, and I really like the gingersnap fragrance.  The remaining whipped soap after I iced the cupcakes I added a fruity fragrance and separated the batter and colored with yellow, blue, and green which I then swirled into individual oval silicone molds. 

Hopefully I'll get some photos of the soaps posted this weekend.

From reading various soapmaking forums most soapmakers seem to define Castile soap as 100% olive oil.  Anything less than that I have seen as “Bastile” soap; a bastardized Castile.  Not everyone uses this definition; some people consider OO above 70% to be Castile.  But if you are using the 100% OO definition I have seen many soapmakers be very annoyed with soaps being sold as “castile” when they have a bunch of other oils in them.   Dr. Bronner is a particular brand mentioned.  Here's what Dr. Bronner's website says:

“Dr. Bronner's Magic Pure Castile Classic Soaps

Unlike any you’ve ever used. A combination of organic extra virgin coconut, olive, jojoba and hemp oils, together with pure essential oils, creates a unique soap that cleans effectively without being aggressive and produces a velvety-lather that leaves the skin silky-smooth and refreshed.”

So OO is not the first oil mentioned.  It's coconut oil.  So obviously it can't be over 70% OO.  I haven't tried Dr. Bronner's soaps myself so I can't comment on it's qualities.  I'm not saying it's a bad soap or anything of the sort.  I just find it interesting, every company has it's marketing ploy.  And like I said there are differing definitions of “Castile” soap.  I personally use the 100% OO castile soap definition.  I've made some castile and bastile (94%OO, 6%caster oil) soaps no color no fragrance and it's curing/drying.  It's supposedly the mildest soap.  I've read that it gets better with age; 1 year or so.  I made some at the beginning of this year so, I'm trying to forget about it until next year.  I'll probably have to try some before then, but that's when it starts to get good.  I hear the younger it is when you use it it's sort of slimy.  It's a low lather gentle soap.  So no big bubbles, but a creamy lather.  We shall see.  A year is a long time to wait.  What if I really like it?  If I make another batch I'd have to wait another year!  Sheesh!

One of my co-workers gave me a plastic box that held hair colorant.  She thought it might make an interesting mold.  I totally agree!  Hopefully it will produce interesting eye shaped soaps. 

Who needs fancy smancy expensive molds when there are so many other things that can be used as molds. 

So those cupcakes that I iced with melt and pour soap…  I forgot that M&P soaps “sweat”.  The humectant qualities of the soap draws moisture from the air and beads of fluid show up on the soap.  So now the cupcakes look like wet cream cheese frosting.  Usually I shrink wrap or plastic wrap M&P soap to prevent “sweating”, but I needed to keep the bottom gingerbread CPOP soap to cure with circulating air.  I didn't like the wet look so I scraped the frosting off.  I'll need to try to make whipped CP soap for frosting.  I should be able to pipe the “frosting” onto the cupcakes.  That would make for some really cute cupcake soaps, like real cupcakes.  Next time.  Right now, I'm waiting for internet orders to arrive.  I need some more ingredients including lye before I can make more soap.  I think they are scheduled for delivery on monday. 

So, I looked back at my soap making notes and I was wondering just how much soap I have made since starting in November.  Here's the break down:
47 pounds of soap 
29 different batches
21 different fragrances

I didn't include some M&P soap that I have done here and there.  I have made nearly 50 pounds of soap.  That's a lot of soap.  Although it depends on the mold and how the soap brick is cut usually 4 bars come out of a pound.  That's about 200 bars of soap!  Wow.

On friday I made soap.  Surprise, surprise, surprise.  I tried hot process in my slow cooker.  It was interesting.  I'd do it again.  Although I can do only one batch at a time.  The swirling is not as delicate and the soap sides and top came out more rustic.  The sliced edges are clean and I trimmed some of the other edges to smooth out.  I think the slow cooker gets a little too hot because the soap on the sides started to burn.  So I had to pick out the brown bits when they got scraped off the sides.  Although it could be because I made a small batch of 1lb of oils.  Maybe it's better with larger batches.  I fragranced this one with Lavender FO and Rosemary EO and colored with violet but it came out really pale purple, next time I'll add more colorant.

I think I'll make some more soap tomorrow too. 

I think I want to try Hot Process soap and whipped soap.  These are different than the
Cold Process soaping that I do now. I do Cold Process Oven Process (CPOP).  For Cold Process I mix my warm oils/butters with warm, not hot, lye water to make soap.  I stick blend until I have trace, which is a runny pudding like texture (when you move the stick blender around you see a “trace” or trail of its movement).  The mixture produces it’s own heat during saponification; no additional heat is added to the process.  I used to insulate with towels, but I found it much easier to Oven Process it which means I warm my oven to 170 then when I put my soap in I turn off the oven.  The oven becomes the insulator rather than layers of towels.  Sometimes, if I’m making a bunch of batches like I did over the weekend I’ll leave the oven on until the last batch goes in, then turn it off.  I wait 24 hours or so until the saponification process is complete when I can unmold and cut.  The warm soap goes through a gel phase where it looks translucent, sort of like vaseline.  I know some people purposefully don’t have their soap go through the gel phase by not insulating and even putting their soap into the freezer.  I haven’t tried that yet, but I hear it’s a good way to make milk soaps because the mixture doesn’t get too hot so scorch the milk sugars and make the soap go orange.  CPOP is great for me because I have a double oven so it doesn’t interfere with regular cooking and it’s a great place to store saponifying soap away from the cats.  I don’t want the cats messing up the soap or the hot lye soaping messing up the cats.  The mixture is still really caustic as the lye is saponifying with the oils.  Any time after the soap is unmolded the soap needs to cure or dry.  This time allows for the extra water to evaporate and create a harder longer lasting bar.  You could use the soap right away since the saponification process is already complete and there shouldn’t be any lye left over, but you’d have a softer bar that will not last very long in the shower it will melt quicker maybe become gooey.  Over time the soap will become milder as well because it’s a harder bar you use less of it in the shower so therefore milder.

Hot Process is done in the oven or slow cooker or double
boiler.  I have an extra slow cooker donated by my parents who planned on never using it again.  So in Hot Process I would mix my oils/butters with the lye water which I don’t have to wait until it cools from
hot to warm.  I mix them together until I reach trace then I let the mixture cook in the slow cooker on low for about one hour.  The soap goes through the saponification with the assistance of the added heat.  I can watch it go through the gel phase.  By about an hour it’s like thick applesauce or whipped potatoes or and translucent like Vaseline; it’s gelled.   At that point the saponification is complete.  All the lye has been used up with the oils to make soap.   I would glop the mixture into a mold, then let it cool.  It can be unmolded as soon as it’s cooled down.  No need to wait 24 hours.  Soap is made even
before it hits the mold.  It produces a more rustic looking bar.  Swirling of colors and what not can be more chunky since it’s such a thick mixture. Still needs the cure/dry time but maybe a little less than with
CPOP because it’s already evaporated some during the cooking process.

Whipped soap is another method.  I would take softened solid oils and butters like coconut oil, palm oil, shea butter (solid at room temp) then whip them with a hand mixer, like whipping cream.  Once they are
whipped then add the liquid oils like olive oil, castor oil, avocado oil and whip again.  Then take the cooled lye water and add slowly to the whipped oils.  It should look like whipping cream or frosting.  This whipped product can be glopped into a mold or used with a piping bag to create soaps that look like
desserts.  I’ve seen people make soaps using the silicone cupcake molds then top it with whipped soap ‘frosting’.  It will complete the saponification similar to the CP method.  This whipped soap will float because it has so much air in it.

Interesting huh?
I find it all fascinating.    Yeah, I want to try these two methods of soapmaking.  I got my mom’s old
slow cooker and I just purchased an inexpensive hand mixer from Target…  I just need the time… weekend… friday…

Oh yeah, there’s also making liquid soap which is a Hot Process using Potassium Hydroxide lye rather than Sodium Hydroxide lye.