Handmade soap

Freshly cut soap

Do you ever see the fancy handmade soap at craft fairs? You can make your own at home!

I've seen them for up to $6 a bar at craft fairs but I make my own for less than $1 bar.

A couple of years ago, my friend and I bought a Groupon for a soap making class. It ended up being one of those Groupons where they tried to make something that should take an hour take three hours so you felt like you got your money's worth. On the bright side, it got us past the idea that making soap was hard and we left with a couple of bars of soap after a fun afternoon.

You can make soap by yourself but it's really fun to have a one or two friends over for soap making party and share the soap wealth. We've tried a few recipes (hint: buttermilk soaps are a pain!) and we like this one the best:

21 oz olive oil
8 oz palm oil (will be semi-liquid at room temperature)
8 oz coconut oil
5.20 oz Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH, also known as Lye)
13 oz distilled water
2 oz of essential oil (I like a nice strong scent, if you want it lighter you can use 1.5 oz).

Equipment - you do not want to use any of these for food use after using them for soap making!
two heat-resistant spatulas
stainless steel stock pot (I like a big, deep pot so you don't splash the oils when you mix it)
stainless steel bowl
other bowl for measuring lye (I use an old sour cream container, plastic cup or whatever I have lying around, do NOT use for food later)
stick blender (this model has made 10+ batches of soap and still going strong!)
soap mold (1 batch will fill 2 of these molds or you can use a box lined with plastic)
Small scale (I use my food scale)
Paper towels or rags
Knife for cutting soap (I bought this crinkle cutter to make mine look fancier)

I bought most of my soap equipment at my local thrift store except I couldn't find a blender there or spatulas that I was sure were heat-resistant. The first few times we used boxes lined with plastic but recently when making a big batch for our wedding favors, I ordered a few silicon molds to make the process easier and these are reusable. The soap also doesn't get plastic wrinkle lines on it if you use a mold, so I'd recommend this for gifts.

Directions:
*observe proper safety for handling lye and wear gloves safety goggles*

1. Weigh distilled water into stainless steel bowl
2. Weigh sodium hydroxide in separate lye measuring bowl. If you get the lye on your hands it will be itchy, wash your hands after contact. I suggest wearing gloves for extra protection!
3. In an area in with good ventilation, slowly pour a small amount sodium hydroxide into distilled water. Stir slowly using a heat resistant spatula and carefully and mix sodium hydroxide granules into the water, when the lye is mixed well pour another small amount in and stir again. Repeat until all of the lye has been mixed in and the water appears clear. We usually do this step outside, or in front of an open door with a fan blowing the fumes outside. Do NOT breathe in the fumes. Mixing the lye with the water causes an exothermic reaction and will heat the mixture up, you may need a pot holder to handle the bowl, be careful.
4. Weight coconut, palm and olive oils in large stainless steel pot. Melt the oils on low heat until all are fully liquid. If we have two or more people, usually one of us weighs the oils while another person mixes the lye solution.
5. Slowly pour water/sodium hydroxide solution into the large pot of oils. Stir with a heat resistant spatula. 
6. Mix the lye and oils with a stick blender,  as you mix the soap will begin to thicken in a process called "saponofication." The soap is fully mixed when it resembles pudding, it is thick enough that if you lift your blender out and fling a few drops on the surface they are visible on the top, this is called the "trace." Be sure to get the soap mixed at the bottom of the pot and on the sides, use your spatula to stir between blending with the stick blender.
7. Add your essential oils and if you want, colorants (we like to swirl the colors, to do this we add it later when the soap is in the mold already) and stir by hand.
8. Pour your soap into your mold
9. Allow to rest for 24 hours. A lot of directions say to cover it with a towel but we never do that and it turns out fine. It will retain heat for several hours.
10. The next day, you can remove it from the mold and cut it into bars. Depending on the size of the bar, I usually cut it 3/4" or 1" thick for a pretty generous bar, "full-size" bar.
11. Stack with plenty of space between bars in a box or plastic bin to allow it to cure (aka dry out and harden) for at least 2 weeks, ideally 4 weeks.
12. Use or gift!

Soap in silicon molds and box lined with plastic

Handmade soap makes a great gift but it does require some planning, you need to let it cure for a minimum of 2 weeks, ideally 4 weeks before it's used. I wouldn't give it to someone until it's ready to use, so you should plan to make it a month before you want to give it away.

Soap ready to be cut

A lot of soap ingredients are available locally or amazon but I find that Wholesale Supplies Plus has the best prices for coconut, palm and essential oils. I usually order enough that I reach their free shipping threshold. In my experience other websites will have lower posted prices but much, much higher shipping fees (oils are heavy!). I bought a large container of lye on amazon 2 years ago and we're still using it.

When I saw people selling "soap favors" on Etsy, I decided to do this for one of our wedding favors (we're having two favors). My friends came over and we made almost 100 bars of soap in about 4 hours, including some time for lunch and a dessert break in the middle.

Have you made your own soap? I'd love to hear about your favorite recipes or good sources for supplies!