Soap Recipes and Instructions
 
CP = Cold Process Soapmaking
HP = Hot Process Soapmaking
CPHP = Crock Pot Hot Process Soapmaking
CPOP = Cold Process Oven Processed Soapmaking
ITMHP = In-the-Mold Hot Process Soapmaking

 

Soap Making Sites


Cold Process Soap Directions
© Nessa Huckaby
Find a recipe that you like (ingredient wise) and follow these steps to soap success!
 

Assemble all the ingredients and pans and such in one place

1. measure out each of your oils and place in a pan for melting...set aside

2. Measure out your water and pour into the lye/water container you are going to use.

3.Measure out your lye and add to your water, stirring until completely disolved...try not to breath the fumes...you will see what looks like smoke coming out of it.I do this outside.

4. Put a thermometer in the lye water mixture and set aside to cool.

5. heat your oils to just below melting level...remove from heat and pour into the bowl/container you are going to mix your soap in.I use a large glass bowl....from my mixer that died.

6. Place a thermometer in bowl of oils and allow to cool.

7. check the temp of your oils and lye periodically......it took mine about 30 minutes or so to cool to between 100-125 degrees.

If your lye is cooling faster than your oils. you can place your lye in a water container in a sink of hot water so it cools slower.I just put a fan on my oils, as they seems to take longer to cool.

8. when the temp of the oils and the lye is between 100-120 slowly pour the lye water into your container of oils, being careful not to splash.....stir with a heavy plastic or stainless steel spoon while pouring it in.

9. stir for several minutes with the spoon..then use the stick blender and begin blending....blend for a minute or two then stir with the blender a minute or two until you notice that when you drizzle the soap on top it left a little design(light trace)

10. add your fo and color

11. blend with the stick blender for a couple of minutes more to blend it...you will see it getting thicker...mine traced very fast...it will start to look like pudding.

12. pour into your prepared mold.

13. bounce the mold on hard surface several times to get rid of air bubbles.

14.place a piece of saran wrap on the top RIGHT on the soap...run your hand across it to smooth it out...you want to get rid of air bubbles.

15. wrap in blanket or I use a heavy bath towel and let sit for about 18 hours....

16. when cool to the touch. take it from the mold and cut it

17.lay your bars somewhere to dry.

18....let cure for 3-6 weeks and enjoy your soap


 


MomLinda's Basic CP Soap (with shortening)
© Linda Bowser
24 oz. Olive Oil
24 oz. Coconut Oil
38 oz. Shortening
32 oz. water
11.92 oz. lye
Follow regular CP soaping directions such as the ones found above.  Recipe can be cut in half for smaller batches!

J'Son's Watermelon Shampoo Bar
© J'Son
12 oz. Coconut Oil
19 oz. Olive Oil
12 oz. Castor Oil
16 oz. water
6 oz. lye
Pour when both mixtures have reached 100 degrees.
When you see a trace, add 1 oz. Watermelon FO.
Pour into mold. This will take longer than normal to set up.
Leave in the mold for 2 or 3 days. Cut when firm. Cure for about 6 weeks

 

Goat Milk Soap
© Shell
I'll share my "secret" to making nice light colored goatmilk soap.
If you are careful, and lucky, you can get it almost white. Some people think that all goatmilk soap is that tan to brown color. Not so.
This "secret" was shared with me by a soaper on another list and it really is simple and makes the whole soapmaking so much faster, it's almost one of those no-brainer things. (Duh, why didn't I think of that) OK, here goes.
Measure out the amount of gm needed for your recipe. Put it in a large freezer bag, squish all the air out and lie it flat in the freezer to freeze Obviously, this step needs to be done at least a day ahead... When you are ready to make soap, take the milk from the freezer, whack it on the counter several times to break the milk into chunks.   Not too small or they will melt too fast, not too large or it just takes longer. It's hard to give a dimension LOL Pour them into your mixing container. I make 5# batches and use a 2qt Pyrex measuring cup to mix my lye and milk. I set this into a bowl in my sink so if needed I can easily run some cold water into the outer bowl.
Add ALL of your lye at once. (I know, totally contrary to all goatmilk directions) Stir gently until the milk is dissolved. By that time all the lye should be too. You do kind of need to be watchful here as it can go from still a few chunks to turning yellow really fast it seems.
This is where the cold running water bath comes in handy.
If you have started any solid oils melting before mixing the gm/lye they should be melted and ready to add the milk mixture to.
Proceed as you normally do when making cp. That's all there is to it.
It's so simple and so much faster. I used to take over 1/2 hr just mixing the milk and lye so it didn't get too hot and constantly monitoring the temps. With this method you don't even worry about the temps...when everything is ready, mix it.

Warm Process - Crockpot - Goat Milk - Swirled
© Jan Monk
First of all I didn't say this, but if you haven't made HP in the crockpot, I guess you would really be lost. I just assumed too much when I posted the instructions. I will post them again and try to add to them. 1. What you do is cook on low setting in the crock pot.
2. When the edges start changing or any other changes occur to the soap, stir the entire pot of soap with a wire whisk. Just do this ever so often until the soap is done. Don't beat it, just stir.
3. After the cook, you have a softer and much more manageable soap batch. When doing hp you wait for the 'look' of being done. With wp, you just have to test every so often. I really love it. I will post the recipe that I use, which has instructions and maybe that will help more:
Jans basic soap recipe Warm Process Crockpot - Goat Milk - Swirled
2.5 # batch
16 oz olive oil
16 oz lard or shortening
8 oz coconut oil
15 oz water
5.4 oz lye
2 oz castor and or emu at trace
1.t. salt mixed with the water before adding lye
˝ c. gm powder
Use just enough of the water to mix with goat milk powder to make a paste.
Mix lye with remaining water. Melt shortening and oils in cp on high. After oils are melted, turn the crockpot off. Bring the lye water and the melted oils to 100 degrees. (I use 125 most times). Add lye water to oils, stirring constantly. Using stick blender bring to light trace. Add castor &/or emu oil. Mix well. Turn crockpot to low and cook until edges start to change Color. Stirring with wire whisk, continue cooking and stirring occasionaly until done. Add the gm paste and mix well. Add fo or eo and mix well. Take about 1 ˝ cups soap out of pot and color with desired color. Swirl this colored soap into pot. Pour into molds. I use a log shaped wooden mold most of the time. I line it with freezer wrap, cut to fit. I put about 1/3 of the soap in and then pound the mold on the cabinet to get out air. Add another 1/3 and repeat. Add remaining soap and repeat again. I have a board to fit the top opening of this mold and I cover the soap with freezer wrap that has been cut to fit and smash it down with the board. All four sides and the ends are unbelievably smooth. Even you will think this is CP soap.

Cocoa Butter Shea Soap
© Jewel
16 oz.cocoa butter
8 oz coconut oil
7 ounces shea butter
16 oz soybean oil
4 ounces sunflower oil
approx 6.90 oz of sodium hydroxide
8 oz water added with lye
11 ounces fresh goats milk added at light trace
after trace was achieved, I had my crockpot standing by and cooked it for approx 40 minutes if I remember the time correctly,
anyway, until it didn't tingle, and then poured into my molds and let sit until cool and sliced.
I received a phone call from my friend's husband who said this was wonderful and it actually caused him to be able to bend a knuckle that was very sore from dry skin, after one night washing his hands with it.

Basic Instructions for CPOP Soap

(Otherwise known as the "I'm Too Impatient Soap")

Credit Given to Original Source—Vanessa Huckaby

If you don't want to learn a new method, just remember that CPOP soap is really just CP soap that is cooked in the oven after putting in the mold, instead of just insulating it and letting it sit.
The first thing I do is to turn the oven on to about 170 degrees.
(After trying to make sure I remember to take the cookie sheets out of the oven first!)

These instructions will be using the crockpot to melt/heat your oils and/or butters. But, you can just as easily melt them on the stove if that is the method you are used to, switching them to a bowl to do the actual mixing. It's all a matter of personal preference.

Attention: Save out 1 oz. of any oil to use to mix in your FO. This too is a matter of personal preference, but this helps some in keeping your soap from seizing.

I use the crockpot when making any soap. I start with it turned on to High. I measure out all my oils and butters and put them into the crockpot, letting them start to melt and mix together. After all my oils/butters are melted and mixed together, I turn the crockpot down
to low.

Now is when I mix my lye and water together and let it start cooling. Normally, the lye/water mixture makes it to about 130 degrees about the same time as the oils/butters do. When both mixtures reach approximately the same temp (this can really be in anywhere around the 125-135 degree range), I turn the crockpot off and put the bowl part (mine is in two parts) in the sink (this makes messes easier to clean up). Then I slowly stir the lye/water mixture into the oils.

The most important thing I can stress here is to make sure your mixture is not too hot. If it is, your soap will progress so quickly to trace, you might actually have something likened to a volcanic eruption spilling out the crockpot! Ask me how I know ;)

I use my stick blender for two minutes, then stir for two minutes with it off, turn it back on for two minutes, etc. until it almost reaches trace.

When you need to add your FOs and dyes really depends on your recipe. I have several different recipes I use, and each one needs to be "tweeked" a little to suit the FO, i.e. some FOs need to be added sooner or the soap will come to trace and harden so quickly you won't have time to get it in the mold. REMEMBER, if you saved out your 1 oz. of oil, be sure and heat it up and then add it to your FO before mixing it in.

If you want to do swirls, follow the same method you generally use for CP soap.
Here are some tips for swirling: I pull out my soap to be swirled before I add my FO. I pull it out, add my color to it, then I add my FO to the rest, stir with a spoon and then quickly add my colored part. That way if it DOES start to set up, I've got my swirl ready to pour

 Once your soap is at trace and you have added your FOs and dyes, pour it into your mold (just like you would CP soap). I use a wooden soap mold with a lid. If you use the lid, make sure you put Saran Wrap under the lid to help keep your mold clean. I tap the mold on the floor a few times to help release the air bubbles and jiggle the lid around and lightly press down to help get a smoother top.

Next, just put the soap in the oven, and you are almost there! I leave my soap in the oven for one to two hours at the 170 degree temperature. Don't panic if you forget and go over the hour. I've left it in up to four hours and have had no ill effects. After that time, turn the oven off and leave the soap in there without opening the door up for another 11-12 hours.

After the time frame is up, take your soap out of the oven and unmold it. I usually cut mine immediately after taking out of the oven, before it hardens much more. Your soap should be ready to go now after only about one-half a day instead of four to six weeks! I will admit though, the longer you let your soap sit after that time frame, the harder a bar you will have. So although the bar is usable much quicker, nothing helps get a harder bar of soap then time!

Unfortunately <grins>