Adventures With The Sage

Collect needed items:

Make herbal tea as for drinking. Measure and set aside. Grind oatmeal to a fine flour. Measure 1/4 cup. Set aside.

Measure oils on your scale. Warm on the stove or in the microwave. Bring temperature to near 120 °F. Exact temperature is not critical. Add sodium hydroxide to the herbal tea. Mix well. Allow to cool to near 120 °F. Once again, exact temperature is not critical.

Combine oils and lye solution. Stir until thin trace. Add 1/4 cup oatmeal flour. Adding the oatmeal slowly while continuously stirring will help prevent lumping. Stir out any lumps. Upon trace add the Honey Almond Fragrance Oil. Stir well. Pour soap into molds. Allow to sit until soap is firm. Depending on the depth of the mold this will happen in 6 to 36 hours. Deeper molds allow for faster firming.

Cut into bars. Stack to allow good air circulation. Allow to cure for several days before using. Longer curing will result in a harder bar.

Notes & Comments:
This bar has a good fragrance with gentle exfoliating from the oatmeal. Color will be creamy. The bar will be hard.

Don’t forget to submit your blog or video posts to win the MMS Perfumer’s Kit. Remember, this kit is worth $280! Submissions are due by February 1st for posts during January.

After I finished talking to the customer, I tracked down the technical support team and asked for more information about soda ash. Let’s start with the basics, what is soda ash? Soda ash is sodium carbonate that has formed when Sodium Hydroxide in the soap has had contact with Carbon Dioxide in the air.

How do I prevent soda ash from forming on my soap? Simply cover the surface of your soap with plastic wrap after pouring the soap into the mold. We prefer Saran Wrap to other plastic wraps since it doesn’t seem to stick to itself as much. Allow your soap to sit for the normal amount of time before you cut your soap. Peel the plastic wrap off your soap and cut. You shouldn’t have soda ash on the top of your soap now. Wasn’t that amazing?

Happy Soaping!

Don’t forget to submit your blog or video posts to win the MMS Perfumer’s Kit. Remember, this kit is worth $280! Submissions are due by December 1st for posts during October and November.

Collect needed supplies:
Soap we made on October 1st, cut into chunks
Hydrogenated Soybean Oil
Coconut Oil
Sweet Almond Oil
Fragrance Oil of your choice (I’m going to be using Pears & Berries Fragrance Oil)
Scale

Recipe in ounces:
40 ounces weight Hydrogenated Soybean Oil
20 ounces weight Coconut Oil
20 ounces weight Sweet Almond Oil

30 fluid ounces water
11.1 ounces weight sodium hydroxide

1.4 ounces of Pears & Berries Fragrance Oil

24 ounces of soap chunks from soap made on Thursday. I used 8 ounces of each color.

Weighing time: 8 minutes
Adding lye to water: 5 seconds, followed by 60 seconds of stirring
Heating of oils time: 2 minutes
Pouring lye solution into the fat mixture: 5 seconds
Using immersion blender to mix soap solution: 2 minutes
Mix shreds or chunks into the soap solution: 30 seconds
Pour into mold: 30 seconds
Allow soap to rest: 24 hours

Next week, I’ll show the Confetti Soap made with chunks instead of shreds.

Have fun!

Submit your photos and text for the guest written Embedded Melt & Pour Soap Challenge! Submissions will be accepted through October 18th at blog@thesage.com. The submissions will be released October 19th through October 23rd. Each guest writer will receive a $25 gift certificate.

Don’t forget to submit your blog or video posts to win the MMS Perfumer’s Kit. Remember, this kit is worth $280! Wow!

Collect needed supplies:
Soap we made on Thursday
Hydrogenated Soybean Oil
Coconut Oil
Olive Oil
Fragrance Oil of your choice (I’m going to be using Pears & Berries Fragrance Oil)
Scale

Recipe in ounces:
40 ounces weight Hydrogenated Soybean Oil
20 ounces weight Coconut Oil
20 ounces weight Olive Oil

30 fluid ounces water
11 ounces weight sodium hydroxide

1.4 ounces of Pears & Berries Fragrance Oil

24 ounces of soap shreds from soap made on Thursday. I used 8 ounces of each color.

Weighing time: 8 minutes
Adding lye to water: 5 seconds, followed by 60 seconds of stirring
Heating of oils time: 2 minutes
Pouring lye solution into the fat mixture: 5 seconds
Using immersion blender to mix soap solution: 2 minutes
Mix shreds or chunks into the soap solution: 30 seconds
Pour into mold: 30 seconds
Allow soap to rest: 24 hours

Notes:
You will want to make sure that the soap is thicker than the water thin trace that we generally have. This will prevent the soap shreds from settling to the bottom of soap.

Have fun!

Submit your photos and text for the guest written Embedded Melt & Pour Soap Challenge! Submissions will be accepted through October 18th at blog@thesage.com. The submissions will be released October 19th through October 23rd. Each guest writer will receive a $25 gift certificate.

Don’t forget to submit your blog or video posts to win the MMS Perfumer’s Kit. Remember, this kit is worth $280! Wow!

8 ounces weight Hydrogenated Soybean Oil
4 ounces weight Coconut Oil
4 ounces weight Olive Oil

2.2 ounces Sodium Hydroxide
3 fluid ounces Soy Milk
3 fluid ounces Water

Weighing time: 8 minutes
Adding lye to Soy Milk and water: 5 seconds, followed by 60 seconds of stirring
Heating of oils time: 2 minutes
Pouring lye solution into the fat mixture: 5 seconds
Using immersion blender to mix soap solution: 90 seconds
Pour into mold: 10 seconds
Allow soap to rest: 24 hours

Note:
I have attached two photos of Soy Milk soap that have gone wrong. This is a great example of why the half water and half milk method can be helpful for those learning how to make milk soaps. Soy Milk is high in carbohydrates whichi is causing a problem in all Soy Milk Soaps. Half and half method to the rescue! Start with the half and half method and you will find that your soaps will turn out better.

On Monday, I’ll show you an amazing Twilight party!

Have fun soaping!

Soy Milk does not contain the lactose that can give any soap maker problems. I decided to make my soap using Soy Milk as my liquid of choice. I will not be adding any additive to the soap to see how it turns out.

8 ounces weight Hydrogenated Soybean Oil
4 ounces weight Coconut Oil
4 ounces weight Olive Oil

2.2 ounces Sodium Hydroxide
6 fluid ounces Soy Milk

Weighing time: 8 minutes
Adding lye to Soy Milk: 5 seconds, followed by 60 seconds of stirring
Heating of oils time: 2 minutes
Pouring lye solution into the fat mixture: 5 seconds
Using immersion blender to mix soap solution: 90 seconds
Pour into mold: 10 seconds
Allow soap to rest: 24 hours

This recipe is the same as the test batch that we use for fragrance testing. If the protein gives you trouble, make a half Soy Milk and half water batch. Tomorrow I will show you my half Soy Milk and half water batch.

Have fun soaping!

Recipe for Bulgarian Lavender Soap

8 ounces weight Hydrogenated Soybean Oil
4 ounces weight Coconut Oil
4 ounces weight Olive Oil

2.2 ounces Sodium Hydroxide
6 fluid ounces water

9.5 mL of Bulgarian Lavender Essential Oil

1/2 teaspoon of Lavender Fields Dry Color