Soapmaking Process

what is soap?

Hi! Andrea the soap crafter here, letting my inner science geek out. Soap is the product of a chemical reaction between a fatty acid and a strong base. The reaction is called 'saponification' and it's a basic chemical reaction - when you mix an acid and a base, you get a salt. In this case, the "salt" is the soap, the acid is the triglycerides (aka fatty acids) in natural vegetable oils and nut butters, and the base is lye. All soap is made from lye (or some other alkali), but during saponification, the fatty acids and the lye molecules break apart, then form new bonds with each other to create soap and glycerin.

Triglycerides + Lye => Soap + Glycerin

If the thought of lye seems harsh, let me reassure you that there is no lye remaining in the finished soap. It all gets used up by the fatty acids of the oils. To ensure that no lye remains in any of my soaps, I always superfat in my formulas, meaning that I add an excess of fatty acids to react with every last molecule of lye. Superfatting also guarantees a luxurious soap since excess rich, skin-conditioning oils remain in your final bar of soap.

In addition to the rich oils in your bar from the superfatting, glycerin plays a major role in the skin-pampering difference you feel between handcrafted soap and commercial soaps. Commercially, glycerin is actually more valuable than the soap itself, so this key component of natural soap is usually removed and sold to the cosmetic industry. It is replaced with synthetic detergents that may dry your skin and potentially cause skin reactions, rashes, and itching. Because handmade soap retains the glycerin, it is much gentler on your skin.

how are your soaps sacred?

I craft our soaps with intention every step of the process, doing my best to make them magically potent, in the hopes that they will help you turn your attention every day (or every time you wash) to the positive energies you would like to bring into your life. I start by choosing spiritual entities that represent energies I think people would like to tap into, then create magical, healing scent blends that correspond to those energies. I also craft unique blends of base oils, herbs, and nutrients that are not only wonderful for your skin, but that best serve the soap's purpose. Finally, when I actually craft the soap, I create a sacred space in which to work, doing my best to cultivate an environment and a mindset that focus on the soap's intention, help channel the energy of the entity that inspired the soap, and preserve that positive energy in the soap.

how do you make soap?

When I tell people I'm a soap-maker, they always ask, “How do you make soap? Do you use lye?!” . So if you ever wondered that yourself, here's how! (And yes, I use lye.)

Please do not attempt to make soap using only these instructions! They are not intended to be a tutorial. You must exercise great caution when working with lye. Check out Cavitch's excellent book in the resources section if you are interested in making your own soap.

I make most of my soaps by the cold-process method, which I'm going to explain here. Cold process simply means that once you combine the oils and the lye, you pour the batter into a mold and let it sit at room temperature instead of actually cooking the soap. When you cook the soap, it's called hot process, which I also do.

To begin, I gather all of my soap making ingredients. (You can read more about some of the ingredients we use here.)

Once I've collected all of the ingredients, I set up an altar that will help me keep my mind focused on the intent of the soap and to remind me to concentrate on the energy that the soap is intended to channel. For this example, I worked with Gaia, Goddess of the Earth, and gave thanks for the abundance of gifts that the She gives us. Her altar was simple, for everything around us is Gaia, and it is not hard to be grateful. Just contemplate a flower (or a piece of pumpkin pie!) and you'll see.

Now it's time to make the soap! I start by measuring out all of my ingredients so that I'll have them ready when it's time to mix them in. It can get kind of hairy once you've added the lye to the oils, and you have to be sure you're ready for it. If you're not, you could get a bowl-shaped lump of un-pumpkin-ed, unscented soap.

Soap formulas vary quite a bit since every oil has its own wonderful properties that it lends to the soap, but most formulas include a combination of saturated and unsaturated fats. The saturated (solid) fats, like coconut and palm oils, shea butter, and cocoa butter help make the bar of soap hard while also contributing skin-conditioning yumminess. The unsaturated (liquid) oils, like olive, sunflower, avocado, and jojoba help keep the soap from being brittle. They make the soap silky, and they each have their own rich, skin-conditioning qualities.

After everything is measured, I add the sodium hydroxide to the water. The solution gets very hot, and I set it aside to cool. I melt the saturated fats and add them to the liquid oils.

I leave both the lye solution and the oils to cool for a little while. When they are both around 100 degrees, I pour the lye solution into the oils.

For the Gaia soap, which is a swirled soap, I stir the lye and oils together until they are just mixed. I remove a portion of the batter, set it aside, and add the pumpkin and essential oils to the Mother batter. I blend it quickly with a hand held stick blender to break up the lumps of pumpkin. Within seconds, it comes to what is called "trace," which means that when you drizzle some of the batter onto itself, it will leave a trail before sinking back in. Once it's at trace, the saponification process is underway and you must move quickly.

I then add pumpkin spice (ground cloves, allspice, cinnamon) to the separated portion of batter, which has also reached trace. (I couldn't get a good picture of what trace looks like - sorry! I didn't want to drop the camera into the soap mixture, and I didn't want to lose the soap either by futzing around with the camera).

The final step is pouring the soap batters into the molds (which were hand made by my AWESOME husband). Here's what it looks like, freshly poured and swirled, in the mold.

The soap will sit, covered, in the molds for about 18 hours. The saponification process creates its own heat, so the majority of saponification will take place overnight in the mold. However, because the soap is not cooked in the cold process method, saponification will not be complete for many days. I usually cut the soaps one or two days after unmolding them. They then cure in a dark, dry place with plenty of air circulation for a few weeks so that they can completely mellow out. I then test them to make sure that they are ready for use before labeling them and making them available for sale.

Hope that was helpful in answering any questions about the soap making process!