Soap Making

Carolyn Cappel-Rose

    Rose Soap

My Favorite - Castile Soap

Cold Process Soap Instructions

Make the Lye

Make the Log Mold

What is it?

BRL Enterprises'-Soap Calculator

Milling Soap Instructions
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Long story short.... After visiting the street bazaars and going out to the small peasant villages, I was introduced to pure Olive Oil Soap.  They make it in batches and cut the batches into large hunks of raw (basic) soap. I love the stuff.

Soap is heavy stuff.  When you buy enough soap to last you for a year, or two, it gets to be very heavy.  Checking bags full of soap through Customs can be interesting, also.  The answer.... make your own!

I tried it and was successful. In fact my pure Olive Oil Castile Soap is probably better than the soap the peasants make in Turkey. This year, there was no need to buy soap.

Can't just be satisfied with good Castile Soap, so we had to try "Milling" soap and adding fragrances then placing the soap in molds, so they are presentable. The first couple attempts to French mill soap were not successful. Lately, I've got it down to a science and end up with near perfect soap each time.

You can go to some of these links and get the details, if you wish to try making soap yourself.  Basically, you start with oil/fat and drain cleaner.  That's right... Drain Cleaner!  100% Pure Lye drain cleaner!  If you want it to smell good, then you need some essential oils, like Lavender or Orange etc.  That's it!  Just mix all this stuff together and you end up with soap fit for a King, or a Fighter Pilot!

For a really good site all about soap qualities and soap making follow this link to SoapCalc.  Also, follow this link to the "About.com" pages that have the step by step instructions on "Soap Making Basics". Between these two articles, you can't go wrong.

So, check it out! Maybe it is something you'd like to try.  I'm having a ball doing it. 

Latest experiment was Glycerin Soap.  You know, the soap that you can see through.  This soap is found at many fancy hotels. It makes a good gift.  It is very easy to make.  Here is how .... First, get yourself some fancy molds.  Buy some soap coloring, and the fragrance of your choice.  For the batch I first made, we used blue coloring and spiked the soap with Melaleuca Oil.  It turned out very nice.  The most recent batch was done with Peppermint Bath Salt added.  This colored the soap, provided some exfoliate, and added an interesting twist in the coloring.

Basic Soap
On the left is pure Castile Soap (Olive Oil). On the right is a blend of 86% Olive Oil and 14% Shay Butter. I like this blend, after having tried several other blends.

Basic Soap
This is a batch of basic soap that will later be milled and processed. It is a blend of Olive Oil and Shay Butter.

Soap Molds
These are a few of the molds we've tried. There are others, but this is just an example.

Additives
These are French Milled soaps. Top left one is Orange with pulverized dried orange peels. Then there is plain on the bottom. Followed by Pam's favorite, Lavender.

You can buy all the stuff you need from a Craft Store like Michael's.  You cut off enough glycerin, from the purchased block of glycerin soap, to fill the molds you wish filled.  Then simply put it in a microwave.  Heat it 15 seconds at a time, until it is totally melted, then add the ingredients, pour in the molds, and let the soap cool off.  As it cools, the soap will harden.  You can remove the soap from the molds once the soap has cooled off.  Then set it aside to cure for about two weeks.  You are done.

Rose Soap, as in Carolyn Cappel - Rose, rose soap!  I made this soap for my cousin, Carolyn, whose last name is Rose.  Isn't it neat to embed a rose bud in a bar of clear glycerin soap?  I'm giving this to her as a surprise. Since she never looks at my web page, the surprise won't be ruined!!

Take a look at the Rose Soap page and see how to do this.  It is fun, but a little tricky... kinda, sorta!