I had a glance over my blog stats page and noticed there were a lot of hits on an old entry about handling problems with hot process soap. Since it seems quite relevant at the moment, I thought I'd dig it out to make it easier for new visitors to find.
It's been a busy year so far. I've recently tested and approved eleven new fragrance oils for Gracefruit.com, and I've been working on an article for Saponifier. And of course, the market season is in full swing.
After my post about finding olive pomace a tricky soaping oil, I've had a couple of emails asking about my fragrance oil testing recipe. I used to use a recipe consisting of equal parts coconut, olive, and palm, but since giving up palm oil completely, I've developed an effective recipe which contains equal parts:
In my last post, I mentioned I had some exciting news, and here it is: I have been invited to be the Showcase Editor for The Saponifier. And of course, I've accepted! I am honoured and delighted to be a part of this fabulous magazine, and I look forward to helping them build on their international reputation as the leading trade publication for soap and candle makers.
While out shopping for Valentine's Day things, it dawned on me that today is Gracefruit.com's birthday! It was two years ago that I started my little company, and it's grown by leaps and bounds thanks to all of my wonderful customers.
The Saponifier is offering 30% off their normal subscription rates for new customers and renewal subscriptions! That's less than £12 for an entire year if you're in the UK. 
Known in soaping circles as one of the hardest working soap-makers in the business, Patti Flynn makes some of the most exclusive handmade soap in the world. From her soap studio in Cairns, Australia, Patti works tirelessly to produce her gorgeous natural soaps using traditional methods – all by hand.
I had an enquiry from a lovely soapmaker about soaping with whisky. I promised her detailed instructions on how I make boozy soaps, so I thought I’d share with everyone.
Including spirits in soap can be tricky, but using the hot process method, it’s quite simple – but it does take nerves of steel. The soap will go through some weird stages once the alcohol is added, and it may appear the batch is ruined. Never fear, though. Hot Process is the most forgiving method, and you’ll end up with great soap.
This method will work with any alcohol except beer, fizzy wine, or any other carbonated beverage.
My alcohol of choice is whisky, but you may use any spirit you like. To avoid soft soap, simply treat is as part of your water, but don’t mix it with the caustic soda or you’ll have a bubbling, caustic mess and very dangerous fumes.
Start by reducing your water by 25% and then mix up your lye solution as you normally would. In a separate container, weigh out enough whisky to make up for the 25% water you left out. Add the reduced-water lye solution to your oils and blend until medium trace. Now add your whisky.
The soap will seize immediately and probably separate as well. Don’t panic! Just use your stick blender to bring it back together. And don’t worry if your soap looks lumpy at this point. It will be smooth and gorgeous once it’s finished cooking. Allow it to cook as normal, but do keep an eye on it. I find that I need to cook mine a few minutes longer when I use whisky.
Once the soap has gelled, do a zap test. Be sure to rub the soap between your fingers to cool it before touching it to your tongue. And remember – if the soap feels at all gritty, don’t taste it! Smooth, waxy soap almost never zaps. Once you’re confident the soap has finished cooking, add your colours, fragrance, additives, etc as usual.
Alcohol soaps are fun to make, and they have great label appeal. My whisky soaps sell well for me, but you might like to use your own regional spirits in your soap.
I love milk soaps. My favourite at the moment are butter soaps, but I have an affection for sheep’s milk and buttermilk soaps as well. Nothing beats a milk soap for mildness, and the dense, creamy lather they produce is lovely on the skin.
Milk soaps can be tricky to make, even for an experienced soap maker. Caustic soda can do odd things to dairy products like cause them to curdle, separate, and give off a smell that isn’t unlike the monkey cage at the zoo. While the heavy ammonia scent does fade, curdling and separation are problems that usually result in a failed batch of soap.
To get around these issues, I like to make milk soaps using the hot process method, and I only use powdered milks. I have found there is no appreciable difference between fresh or powdered in the finished soaps, and for my purposes, powdered works much better. The secret is in the slurry.
To make a slurry, I use a couple of tablespoons of oil, either reserved from my batch or added as a superfat. This oil is mixed with the milk powder and stirred to a thin paste. Once this paste is completely smooth with no lumps, the slurry is ready. I add the slurry to the soap after it’s been completely cooked and cooled just slightly. It does take a good bit of stirring, but the end result is well worth the effort.
Making milk soaps this way helps avoid most of the major pitfalls. Because the soap is completely saponified, the milk and caustic soda never meet, so the curdling, separating, and horrible smell don’t occur. But this doesn’t mean this method is foolproof. I have burned the milk by adding it while the soap was still too hot, so allowing the soap to cool slightly is imperative.
I’m in the process of testing some exciting new soap-making ingredients. Today I worked with olive wax – a by-product of the olive oil industry. It’s similar to beeswax, but has a slightly lower melting point. It’s also a vegan product, which might make it attractive to soap and cosmetics makers who cater to that market.
Since giving up palm oil, I have been searching for a way to make my soap harder. Sodium lactate has helped some, but I still needed something to firm up the soap a bit more. Beeswax at 2% helped a great deal, but it made the bars feel a bit waxy and seemed to compromise the lather quantity and stability. I understand that it can also speed trace to an unmanageable level, which makes it less than ideal for highly-decorative soaps.
Aside from olive wax’s application in soap, it may also be used in cosmetics as a thickener. It makes a wonderful replacement for beeswax in products like lip balm, and even more importantly, can replace petro-chemical products such as paraffin.
Over the coming weeks, I will be testing other waxes like apricot wax, jojoba wax, avocado wax, and fruit waxes extracted from citrus peels. If they perform as well as the olive wax, I’ll definitely be incorporating them into my product line and adding them to the gracefruit.com site.
