I’ve always loved learning new skills, especially ones that I can utilize in my homesteading journey or even give as gifts. As I’m sure many can relate to, our budget for Christmas gifts this year is a little tight as the cost of groceries and living in general has risen and also in preparing to welcome our newest little one. For a while I’ve wanted to learn how to make my own cold-process soap for my family and possibly to sell someday once I’ve worked out any bumps. I have a lot of breastmilk in the freezer from when I was pumping for my son which apparently lasts longer in cold-process soap and is also highly beneficial for your skin especially in those with eczema and other skin conditions. Not wanting to waste that liquid gold for my first time making soap bars, I’ve saved that for the next time around which I can update you all on once I’m brave enough to try it. For my first time making soap, I got the majority of my supplies from the company Brambleberry. So far I have been thoroughly impressed with the quality of their products, the scents I ordered are amazing, and they have many articles with information on making soap and many other crafty products.
The rest of the supplies I ordered off Amazon which I’ll link here. From Brambleberry, I ordered the premixed soap oil base quick mixes Lots of Lather, Gentle, and Swirl Recipe. They also run deals all the time so I got 10 trial scents for $20, I think my favorite scent by far is the Coffee Shop. I’ve always loved the smell of freshly brewed coffee even when I was a young girl and hated the taste. Their Christmas scents Frosted Fir and Christmas Spice make a great combo for a festive soap bar.
It is highly recommended when working with lye to do so in a well-ventilated area and wearing gloves and eye protection. Currently living in a small apartment, there’s not really a safe space away from a very energetic toddler to handle the lye. I ended up mixing the lye and water outside on our back patio. You’re also not supposed to use aluminum containers during this process as it can react with the lye and create toxic fumes. While the lye mixture was cooling, I melted the soap base in a double boiler on the stove as we don’t have a microwave. Once both reached the recommended temperatures, I combined the base with the lye using an immersion blender to get a smooth mix. From there, I added the scents and then for the Christmas bar, separated the soap into two separate containers and stirred the mica colorant in. Then I layered it into the silicone mold where it rested for over 24 hours then was removed from the molds, sliced into bars, and is now a couple weeks into the resting period to ensure a harder, longer lasting soap bar which should hopefully be ready just in time for packaging up for gifts. I followed Bramblebery’s Lye Calculator, Lye Safety Guide, and the Beginner’s Guide to Cold Process Soap. I also followed Practical Self Reliance’s Soap Making for Beginners. When learning a new skill there’s definitely quite a bit of trial and error and there’s things I’ll be doing differently next time such as being more conscious of when the soap reaches trace and how to prevent air bubbles while putting the soap into the molds. Overall, it was a quite fun process and I’m excited for my next project, I think my next thing will be learning how to make whipped tallow balm. Wish me luck!
