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.

The orange arrow points to soda ash on the surface of the soap.

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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

Soap out of the mold and unwrapped.

Cut bars of soap.

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. I have already received one entry! Don’t miss out on your chance!

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

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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!

The soap out of the mold and with the bag peeled off.

Cut bars of soap stacked Stonehenge style.

A close up of a bar of soap.

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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!

Shredded soap.

Measured oils.

Mixing the lye solution.

Placing shreds into a plastic bag.

Mixing the shreds. Adding the lye solution to the oils. Adding soap shreds. The soap is now ready to go into the mold. Pouring the soap into the mold.

Melted oils ready for the lye solution to be added. Adding fragrance oil. Mixing the soap shreds in to the soap. Cardboard box lined with a plastic bag. Soap in the mold.

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My three soaps after finishing the last batch.

Collect needed supplies:
Hydrogenated Soybean Oil
Coconut Oil
Olive Oil
Pigments of your choice (I’m going to be using Mint Green, Lavender Fields, and Amethyst Pink
Fragrance Oil of your choice (I’m going to be using Pears & Berries Fragrance Oil)

Recipe in ounces:
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

0.2 ounces of Pears & Berries Fragrance Oil

1 teaspoon of desired 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: 90 seconds
Pour into mold: 10 seconds
Allow soap to rest: 24 hours

I will make my three color batches today, and tomorrow I will show you how to make the confetti soap.

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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!

Adding Lye to the Soy Milk and water.

Mixing the lye solution.

Melted oils ready for the lye solution. Starting to blend the oils and lye solution together. The oils are almost all mixed together with the lye solution. Pouring the soap into the mold. The soap is starting to go through the gel phase. Another all Soy Milk batch that didn't work.

Pouring the lye solution into the oils. There is still some oil left. The soap is almost at trace. The filled mold. All Soy Milk batch that didn't work.

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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!

Adding lye to the Soy Milk.

Stirring the lye and Soy Milk.

Wow! What a color change!

This lye solution is the color of a deer. Lye solution sitting under the oils. Pouring into my test mold.

Emptying melted oils into my beaker. Using the immersion blender. All of the soap in the mold.

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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

Bulgarian Lavender Soap on the left and Cinnamon Rosemary Soap on the right.

Recipe for Cinnamon Rosemary 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

3.5 mL of Cinnamon Leaf Essential Oil
6.5 mL of Rosemary Essential Oil

1/2 teaspoon of Brown Oxide Dry Color

If you didn’t catch the announcement last week, MMS now has a Twitter account! This is a great way to be updated on price changes and new product releases. For example, information about projected Cocoa Butter prices, newly released products and new prices on products have been released lately and the first to know were reading our Twitter.
Here is the direct link to our Twitter account. http://twitter.com/mmtnsage

If you are interested, there is a swap on the forum. It is a Fall Themed Swap with a due date of September 1st. Head over to the forum if you are interested in joining.

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A sample recipe from our Lye Calculator. Click for a larger image.

Did you know the Lye Calculator has been in operation since 1996? Many soap makers have used the Lye Calculator for their recipes and even for checking recipes they were given by fellow soap makers. However, those who are new to making soap want to be able to use the Lye Calculator easily.

Several years ago, a tutorial was created for the Lye Calculator and it includes information about all the fields and buttons for entering a recipe. This tutorial is a great resource for those wanting to learn more about our Lye Calculator.

Along with this tutorial we also released “How to Read the Lye Calculator Printout” and “Understanding Specific Gravity“. These were written to help all soap makers understand how the Lye Calculator works and use this tool to their greater advantage.

Have fun making soap!

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Rebatching is sometimes confused with milling, or French milling. Rebatching is when a batch of soap is melted and additional items are added or a failed batch is reworked. Rebatching is done to make small, custom batches of soap from a large initial batch. The resulting bar of soap has a shorter shelf life than a properly prepared, handmade batch of soap. Rebatching is also a soap that is more likely to be cosmetically challenged (ugly).

Milling is when excess lye, fat and glycerin are removed from the soap and the resulting soap is shredded into flakes, pressed through a series of rollers and then molded. Milling makes a hard bar of soap that can last a long time. It is also not as skin friendly as a properly prepared, handmade batch of soap. Milled soaps are generally beautifully molded bars. These soaps are also more likely to be brittle.

Rebatching, when done to save a batch, is the only time MMS recommends doing this labor intensive work. Our favorite method of rebatching is the oven method. While still time consuming, the oven method is not a constant attention process.

To rebatch, using the oven method we use, shred or grate all of the soap and put it in an oven proof, lye resistant container (glass or stainless steel please!). Set the oven to 200 degrees F. Pour a bit of boiling water over the soap gratings and mash with a potato masher. I allow 1/2 hour for each pound of fat in the original batch. I mash and stir each 1/2 hour until the mixture appears fully melted and smooth in consistency. The mixture will probably be thick but it shouldn’t have major chunks. Small bits are OK to leave, but do expect color differences in the final bar of soap if you leave any small bits unmelted.

Add boiling water anytime you get a mixture that is too thick or dry. Do not add a lot of boiling water, just a little. If too much boiling water is added, then the soap will expand and probably float. Very wet soap is a problem because as it dries the sides will become concave.

To avoid the work of rebatching, try making each batch correctly the first time. The idea of making a very large batch of soap, then intentionally rebatching 1 lb at a time, seems to be wasteful of life’s precious minutes. No bar of soap that has been rebatched is an improvement over a properly made batch of handmade soap. Rebatching is for prevention of ingredient loss. It is a “waste not, want not” activity.

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