Adventures With The Sage

Equipment that we will need for Cold-process Soap Week:

Safety goggles, anti fog are helpful
Heavy duty gloves
heavy duty plastic buckets (I’ll be using two 87 ounce buckets)
Plastic Spoon
Scale
Thermometer
Work clothes with long sleeves and closed shoes
Saran Wrap or Mold Release
Molds
Vinegar
Microwave for heating oils
Immersion blender, optional but very helpful

Ingredients

Sodium Hydroxide
Distilled or soft water
Coconut Oil or Palm Kernel Oil (suggested: 5 or 10 lbs)
Hydrogenated Soybean Oil (suggested: 10 lbs)
Choose at least 2 of the following oils: Olive Oil*, Almond Oil, Sunflower Oil, Sesame Oil, Grapeseed Oil, Apricot Kernel Oil, Rice Bran (suggested: 1 gallon sizes) * Preferable if this is one of your 2
Choose at least 1 of the following oils: Avocado Oil or Butter, Shea Oil or Butter, Mango Oil or Butter, Cocoa Butter, Hemp Oil or Butter, Almond Butter, Olive Butter, Macadamia Oil or Butter, Lanolin, or Coffee Butter (suggested: 1 lb sizes)
Fragrance Oils of choice, optional but most soap makers consider this mandatory (suggested: 1 fl oz sizes, a total of 4 fl oz is plenty for our week of soap)

Each day will give 2 or 3 recipes for soap making, you can make one, all or skip a day.  The focus of this week is to look at each piece of equipment and each technique to learn WHY we do what we do.

Where do I find Sodium Hydroxide?

Check with a local Lowe’s or Home Depot store if you only need a few lbs. Lowe’s carries Roebic Brand Drain Cleaning Crystals. Under that title it says 100% sodium hydroxide. This is fine for soap making. This brand is a 2 lb can and will be plenty for our week of soap. If you need more than a few lbs try calling a few companies listed in your phone book under Cleaning Supplies or Chemicals. If you can’t find anything there call the local high school or college and talk with a chemistry teacher. They are usually able to direct you to a chemical supply in your
area that offers small quantities of lye. It make take a few hours of phone work but you will save the Hazardous Materials shipping fees AND support your local economy.

A word about scales:

You must have a scale for making soap. You do NOT need an expensive scale or one that measures in 0.1 gram increments. You do need 1 gram readability for scales that have grams and ounces, or 0.1 ounce readability for scales that only offer ounces. My hope is you can get one that has 1 gram readability. If you intend to make lotions and lip balms, in quantities suitable
for a family of four, not communities of 40,000, then I suggest you consider a scale that has 0.1 gram readability. The benefit of making your scale dual purpose is to cover the soap making AND personal care products like lip balm, lotions, creams and serums. If the scale is only for soap choose the higher readability.

The price of a scale corresponds to the number of steps each scale offers. A step is readability times capacity. A scale that has a readability of 1 gram and a capacity of 100 grams has 100 steps. A scale that has readability of 0.1 gram and a capacity of 100 grams has 1000 steps. The second scale will cost more than the first. We hope this has helped you consider the scales available to you. If you have questions along the way give us a call or send an email.