How to Make Cold Process Soap
Author: Sinclair A. Sheers Published on: August 3, 2001

Recommended Reading
First of all, I recommend that you buy the book Essentially Soap by Robert S. McDaniel and read the Soapmaking Recipes and Instructions at http://www.soapcrafters.com.

Supplies
A large stainless steel pot
A scale that weighs 1/10th of an ounce (you can buy this at an office supply store)
Oils, butters, and/or fats
A candy thermometer
Two thick plastic pitchers - write "LYE" and "POISON" on them
Distilled water
Rubber, preferably neoprene, gloves
Goggles
A heavy apron
Lye
A heavy plastic spatula
Vinegar
A stick blender
Fragrance oil certified for cold process soap or essential oil
Oil-based colorant, if desired
Molds


My Recipe
4 oz coconut oil
7 oz olive oil
5 oz palm oil
6 fl oz distilled water
2.3 oz lye
2/10 oz kiwi-lime fragrance oil from http://www.soapcrafters.com
about .07cc (1/2 scoop) Rolling Meadows (green) oil-based colorant from http://www.soapcrafters.com

Before making a recipe, I always run it through a lye calculator like the one at http://www.thesage.com/cgi-local/lyecalc... I suggest you do the same.

Instructions

First, measure the oils and butters in a measuring cup and put them in the pot on the stove. Remove about a tablespoon of the oil mixture and save it nearby. You will use it to mix in your scent and colorant. Heat the oils in the pot at a low temperature, stirring occasionally, until all of the solid parts have turned to liquid. Remove the pot from the heat.

Measure your distilled water in a plastic pitcher. Take it, and your scale, outside.

Get your molds ready. Set them in a convenient spot nearby. If you want, grease them with a little olive or canola oil. Use a pastry brush to a paper towel to get rid of puddles or droplets. If you don't have soap molds, you can always use a small cardboard box lined with a plastic garbage bag.

Put the vinegar on the counter.

Don your goggles, gloves, and apron. Read the fine print on the lye container. Take your lye, the empty pitcher, and the spatula outside. Measure the lye into the empty pitcher. Replace the top on the lye container. Pour the measured lye into the distilled water. Never pour the water into the lye. Do not ever let the lye crystals or the lye-water mixture touch your skin. If it does, it will hurt !! Rinse it immediately with a vinegar/water mixture and keep flushing with water for several minutes. If the lye gets on an inanimate object like the kitchen counter, you can neutralize it with straight vinegar.

So, you have put your lye into the distilled water. Stir it until all the lye is dissolved and the liquid is no longer cloudy. At this point, most soapmaking instructions tell you to let this dangerous mixture sit until it reaches room temperature. However, Dr. McDaniel, the author of Essentially Soap, says you can pour it into your pot of oils right away. That is what I do. I do not want a pitcher of dangerous poison sitting around my house looking like water where my husband, kids, and pets can get at it.

Once you have poured the lye/water mixture into the pot of oils, start stirring. If you have a stick blender, use it. After a minute or two, you will notice the mixture getting thicker. Soon, it will become the consistency of pudding and leave a mark, or a trace, after you drip a drop onto the surface. When you stir it, the surface may look wrinkled. This is the point called trace. When it reaches trace, your soap is ready to pour into molds. If you do not reach trace within five minutes, give your stick blender a break so it doesn't overheat. Hand stir for about five minutes. Then go back to the stick blender for five minutes. Keep alternating until you reach trace.

After your soap has reached trace, you may add scent, colorant, herbs, or anything else. Remember the few tablespoons of oil I asked you to set aside at the beginning? This is when you mix your scent (I used a sample size of kiwi-lime fragrance oil from http://www.soapcrafters.com) and your colorant (I used about 1/2 a scoop of Rolling Meadows from http://www.soapcrafters.com) into the oil you set aside. When that is all mixed, pour it into the pot and stir with the stick blender until everything looks blended. Then pour your soap into molds. Cover with plastic saran wrap. After 24 hours, the saponification process is complete! Remove the soap from the molds. If they don't come out easily, put them in the freezer for several hours and try again. Set them aside for about six weeks to cure, for all the water to evaporate out of them, then you can use them and do the happy soap dance! Actually, you don't have to wait to do the happy soap dance; you can do it as soon as you remove the soap from the molds !!!