Adventures With The Sage

I e-mailed her back and asked for pictures as well as for more information about the party so I could share with you. Her response was so descriptive, I just copied it for your perusal.

“I was looking on the internet for ideas and was thinking about a spa party for about eight 12 year old girls. We have a place locally that does this and it would be about $20 for just a scrub! I am pretty crafty, and when I came across your site, once I saw the Bella & Edward fragrance I knew I had to run with it. The kits looked so easy and economical I figured that was the way to go (and just get the fragrance separate).

I set up the dining room table ahead of time to keep organized and get them excited when they walked in. For each project, though, I did bring supplies into kitchen. First we did the body milk – I let them pump right into bottles halfway, drop in their fragrance, color & glitter (vampires sparkle you know!) then shake it up, then top off the bottle and re-shake. Next we did the scrub. While we were doing this I had the Vegan lip base (they are ‘vegetarian vampires’) melting in it’s jar in my chocolate melter. I did pipette that into the pots for them since it was hot. Lastly, I had given out a white washcloth and black hair tie and we made a face mask with yogurt and oatmeal which they put on with cucumber slices on their eyes.

The first soap we made was a layered soap for the Fourth of July. Beck actually makes three batches of soap and divides each batch of soap between three molds. She told me that it was easier this way rather than trying to divide her oils into smaller batches to make one soap. These layered soaps are poured into log molds that Becky made specifically for her soaping. Each mold is lined with sheets of heat resistant Mylar before the soap is poured and this helps the soap come out of the mold smoothly. We didn’t use any goat’s milk for this soap, but it still looked great!

Becky made the first batch and heated her oils to about 120 degrees Fahrenheit. Once she had reached her starting temperatures, she used her handy immersion blender and mixed her soap until the soap hit a light trace. Once the soap was at the light trace, she added Ultramarine Blue and a little Black Onyx to color the soap a dark blue as well as her special patriotic fragrance blend. Then Becky divided the raw soap between the three molds and then let it set for about 15 minutes to allow the soap to become firm before pouring the next layer. I had to see how firm it was for myself, so I tipped the mold and the soap didn’t move. Becky told me that she could tip a mold and judge how if it was ready or not.

While the soap was setting, we quickly cleaned the immersion blender and prepared the Titanium Dioxide and fragrance blend. Becky adds a little bit of water to her Titanium Dioxide to ensure there won’t be clumps of white color in the soap. Becky quickly prepared a new batch of oils and heated the oils to 120 degrees Fahrenheit for starting temperatures and mixed this batch of soap until it hit light trace. Now this batch was ready to have the fragrance blend and Titanium Dioxide added. Once again, Becky divided the raw soap between the three molds, but this time she poured the soap into a large soup spoon to prevent the white soap she was pouring from putting dips in layers. The white soap ended being a little thicker than Becky wanted, but it still was fluid. We let the soap sit for 15 minutes to set to the firm point that is desired.

For the last batch, we repeated the same steps as the second batch only adding a red oxide and red mica for the red color. After the soap had been poured into the molds, we set the filled molds aside to make a swirled soap.

The swirled soap is beautiful and has yellow and orange feathery looking swirls. We melted the oils until we reached the starting temperatures of 120 degrees Fahrenheit. Once we had reached the starting temperatures, we mixed the soap until we reached light trace. Once the soap had reached light trace, Becky added the fragrance oil and then after blending that into the soap, the soap was quickly divided into three containers and color was added.

After the color was blended in, Becky started pouring the yellow colored soap into the mold in swirling patterns. She poured about a third of the yellow soap and then started again with the orange soap. Again, she poured about a third of the orange soap into the mold in a swirling pattern. Now she poured a third of the white soap into the mold, still keeping with the swirling pattern. This was repeated three times until the soap was all in the mold. Then, Becky took a small rubber scraper that had the tip bent and told me she used it to pull colors up as well as swirling the soap. She gently pulled the scraper through the soap until she had feathered the color enough.

Becky has been making soap for about 10 years now and it has been something her family has been involved in since the beginning. Her daughters also get to make their own soaps and sell them to promote a charity of their choice every year. I do have to admit, they have some adorable soaps of their own, including snowmen, reindeer, and artwork melt and pour soaps!

I’ve enjoyed visiting Becky’s Soap Kitchen, and I would love to visit yours!

Equipment Needed:
Mold for soap – line with freezer paper while soap is cooking
Recipe (handwritten) and a print out of the MMS Calculation for the lye, liquid & SF (Solid Form)
ALL oils, butters, Fragrance Oils or Essential Oils, colorants, additives, lye and the liquid(s) of choice – sitting on my counter so that I know I do have what my recipe calls for
Measuring spoon for colorants
Shot glass for Fragrance Oils or Essential Oils
Thermometer for oils – optional for Hot Process
Thermometer for lye solution – optional for Hot Process
Spatula – must be heat-resistant – 450° to 600°
Stick Blender
Large stainless steel pot for melting hard oils & butters
Small white towels – to lay stick blender & spatula on
Large Pyrex measuring cup (32 oz) to weigh out distilled water and individual oils
Medium Pyrex measuring cup (16 oz) for distilled water and Goat Milk Powder
Plastic cup (10 oz) for distilled water and honey
Heat resistant cutting board – for soap mold
Empty dish pan for non-lye dirty dishes
Dish pan filled half-way with water, dish soap & vinegar – for anything with lye in/on it
Packing paper for soap table
Paper towels – for cleaning spills
Spray bottle of vinegar – in case of emergency
Scale – set to grams for lye and ounces for everything else
Flat pot holders to sit hot pot of oils on and the crock pot when finished (or use bath size towels – folded 4 times)
Pen or highlighter – to check off each ingredient as it goes into the pot
Neoprene Gloves
Dust Mask
Face shield/mask
Arm socks – men’s white tube socks with the toe cut off
Pull hair back in a ponytail
Tablespoon to measure out lye
24 oz plastic cup to measure out lye
Dryer sheet – to wipe out plastic cup and measuring spoon – to stop static electricity
Flathead screwdriver – to open and close lye can
Lye pitcher and cover – I use a Kool-Aid plastic pitcher
2 Hole Spoons from MMS – one for lye solution, one for melting oils
7 x 7 x 6 Cardboard box – to sit Solution Pitcher in (outside of shop)
Piece of Freezer Paper – to cover the soap in mold to keep the dust off of it
6 Quart Crock Pot – mine has 3 settings – Warm, LO and HI

Formula:
12 oz Coconut Oil
8 oz Palm Kernel Oil
8 oz Sweet Almond Oil
2 oz Castor Oil
4 oz Hempseed Oil
24 oz Olive Oil
½ – 1 tsp of light Gold Mica – mix with melted oils

16.5 oz Distilled Water (MMS calculator calls for 15 – 22 fluid ounces)
8.2 oz Lye (6% SF)

After the cook:
2.5 oz Distilled Water and 1 Tb Honey – warmed slightly
3 oz Distilled Water and 12 Tb Goatsmilk Powder – cold & slushy, but not frozen
1 oz Cinnamon Bun fragrance oil (Note: Could have used more)

I put all of my safety gear on first then measure out my distilled water and lye solution. Stir until clear. Sit outside with the cover on it. When I make Hot Process, I always use the full amount of liquid called for on the MMS calculator. In this case, I made the decision to use 5.5 oz after the cook. You take a chance when you use less liquid because you’re cooking your soap – so it needs all of the liquid to prevent it from burning or drying out. Think of cooking a pot roast in a crock pot – you need liquid to keep it moist!

I then measure out my hard oils and melt them in a stainless steel pot. Now you’re probably wondering why I don’t use the crock pot to melt my hard oils! Well, let me tell you…I did this one time and it took f-o-r-e-v-e-r to melt the hard oils. THEN I had to wait for the crock pot to cool down before proceeding with my solution. Never again! Just use a stainless steel pot for melting the hard oils.

Once my oils are melted, I pour them into the Crock Pot and add the rest of my measured out liquid oils. Give it a good stir. Take your lye solution and pour it slowly into the Crock Pot and stir with a hole spoon. I then use my Stick Blender to bring it to trace. I like a medium to heavy trace for this process. Start time for cooking the soap is 1:50 PM. I’m sorry that I do not have pictures to show you pouring my solution into my oils…only have 2 hands!

For Crock Pot Hot Process, I cook the soap on LOW. If you use the higher setting, it’s going to dry out or worse, burn your soap.

OK, you’re probably wondering – should I stir or leave it alone while it’s cooking! I leave it alone – I do NOT stir my soap unless it’s spitting/spilling over the sides of the Crock Pot. If your soap does start spitting/spilling over the sides of your Crock Pot – first check the temp setting you put it on. If you used HIGH, it’s going to cook too quickly and it will spit/spill over the sides of the Crock Pot. Keep it on LOW and you should be fine. Also, DO NOT REMOVE the lid

See how it looks like it’s drying out around the edges of the Crock Pot? This is normal – leave it alone!

Now it looks like it’s going to start spitting/spilling over the sides of the Crock Pot. Just watch it, don’t remove the lid unless it does start spilling over the sides of the Crock Pot. You can see in the background that my Milk/Water and FO is ready. (The Honey/Water is ready also, just not in the picture)

You can see how the soap on the edges are kind of “folding over” onto itself. This is a really good sign that my soap is almost done!!

At 4:50 PM (3 hours cook time) I removed the inner crock from the pot. Please make sure you use heavy-duty, flat pot holders or a towel folded over 4 times. You don’t want to burn your counter. That inner pot is HOT, so use caution while working with it. I use heavy duty pot holders to hold the sides of the inner pot while stirring it. You will also need a folded over towel for the very hot Crock Pot lid.

The soap should look like Vaseline and mashed potatoes mixed together. I don’t know how to explain it any better than that! Once the soap in your Crock Pot has folded over onto itself – it’s done. I’ve had some recipes that only took 1 ½ hours, some 2 hours – it just depends on your recipe. This one took 3 hours total cook time.

Once you remove the inner crock from the pot, stir it to help cool it down. At this stage, you don’t want it to cool down too much because then you’ll have a very hard time glopping it into your mold. Once it cooled down (use your own judgment – I stirred for 5 minutes here) I then added my water/honey, slushy water/powdered goatsmilk and my FO. Stir Stir Stir!!! I stirred for another 5 minutes. You need to make sure that these ingredients are stirred in very well – or you’re going to end up with pockets of milk, honey or FO – not a good thing!!

Now it’s time to literally “glop” your soap into your mold! You will need a heat-resistant spatula to get it out of the Crock Pot. Do the best you can, I use the spatula to scrape the sides of the Crock Pot also. Waste not!!

You can see that I spent too much time getting the soap into the mold. Some bars are very dry looking – so work quickly getting the soap into your mold! There’s nothing wrong with the dry looking bars, they’re just not aesthetically pleasing.

Notes:
The only time I have had my Crock Pot Hot Process soap spit/spill over the sides of my 6 quart Crock Pot is when I tried to use more than 64 oz of oil and 24 oz of liquid. Oh yea – I had what looked like a volcano! I did have to remove the lid and stir it down, plus I had to watch it constantly – not very fun!

I do not use thermometers for my Solution or my melted Oils. I have found with Hot Process – it just doesn’t matter! You’re going to be cooking the soap!!

On one batch, I used liquid Goat Milk (from the grocery store) – holy cow! If you do use liquid Goat Milk – make sure you have very good ventilation. The smell of ammonia (which is normal for milk soaps) will overwhelm you. I was getting a horrible headache plus I was gagging the whole time. I only cooked it for 1 hour, then I went ahead and poured it into my mold. It was not done cooking! The next day, I had oil sitting on top of the soap. I threw it away. What I should have done at that point was cut it up, put it back into the Crock Pot, plug it in outside on the patio and let it cook another hour or so. Oh well, live and learn! I do
have pics of this batch if anyone wants to see it. Too bad we don’t have scratch & sniff, the smell was absolutely horrid! This is why I used Goatsmilk Powder/Distilled Water AFTER cooking in this batch!!

While the soap is cooking, use the time to clean up your soap table, make notes on your handwritten recipe, read a book, dance – whatever! I use the cooking time to line my mold, get my additives ready, then I clean up my area and make any notes about the batch. Do not leave your Crock Pot unattended – not even for a minute! If you need to leave (bathroom break) get your spouse or teenager to watch it for you until you come back. If you don’t have anyone to watch your Crock Pot – turn it off until you come back. A few minutes is not going to hurt it. Better to be safe than sorry.

You do not need to insulate Hot Process soap. I do use a piece of freezer paper over the mold, but that’s only to keep dust off of my soap. Also, it’s a good idea to use one of those heat-resistant cutting boards to place your mold of soap on – to protect your counter.

I unmold and cut my soap 24 hours after I’ve glopped it into my mold. Hot Process soap is ready to use once the soap is cool – usually 8 hours later. But, to prolong the use of the soap, I let it sit for a week to 10 days – to dry it out a little more. I then shrink wrap my soaps, weigh each one and place my cigar band label on them – ready for sale! (and use!)

I purchased a gallon (what was I thinking?!) of Sodium Lactate from MMS to use with my Hot Process soap batches, but haven’t tried it yet. You add it to your lye solution at .25 oz PPO. (I think you decrease your liquid by the amount of Sodium Lactate that you use) Supposedly, it keeps the batch smoother and easier to get into your mold! Instead of glopping the soap into the mold, you can actually pour it in your mold – supposedly. Like I said, I haven’t tried it!! It would be sooo nice if it’s true!

You can use any CP recipe that you’ve made – just remember to keep your oils at or below 64 oz and liquid at 24 oz for a 6 Quart Crock Pot. And always use the full amount of liquid recommended on the MMS Calculator.

Have fun
Kathy