HOW TO MAKE HANDMADE SOAP

Hi all visitors,
I am glad to see you here. I know you all search information about how to make handmade soap and found my blog. You won't disappoint if you stay & read all deep info about handmade soap I have posted here. You will fully understand how to make handmade soap , types of handmade soap , soap molds , handmade soap recipes and more...

Handmade soap (or homemade soap) is easy and enjoyable to make. It's an art craft. If you make it until you're like professional , the wonderful soap will depend on your imagine :) , so you need to know all basic steps and general info about handmade soap first which I have provided on this blog...and yeah I also posted high tips & techniques to make high quality handmade soap.

Generally , handmade soap has 3 processes to make, cold process soap , hot process soap and melt & pour soap. And there are a lot of recipes to make handmade soap - the popular soap are : castile soap , goat milk soap , black soap ,etc...

Enjoy read all handmade soap information here. If you have any questions or suggestions or anything else , just feel free to contact me. I am so friendly :)

Now I assume that you know and understand clearly about basic handmade soap making. To make your handmade soap better looking and unique you have to add some techniques to your cold process soap making. Below I will explain main techniques (how to make them) that we usually found in cold process soap.

The first technique is Swirl

Tips to make swirl soap
Swirl is the normal and easy technique in cold process soap making. To make the swirl , once you stir the soap mixture until it trace. You share some of the trace mixture to another pot , add color and mix the color dissolve well. Then you pour the un-color soap mixture into the mold first, after that slowly add the color soap mixture into the mold (around & thorough the un-color soap mixture). Use spoon gently stir soap mixture which is in the mold (don't stir too much because finally the soap's color won't look like swirl). Wrap the soap up and insulate it at least 24 hrs. or more. Once you cut it , you will get the color swirl soap!


2.Checkerboard Soap

Tips to make Checkerboard Soap
Let's start by cut the uncured soap (the fresher is better) into strips, each one must long enough for reaching fit when put it in soap mold.

Once you finished cut uncured soap into strips , set the soap strips fit to your soap mold.

Next step is depending on your soap mold style. I normally lay 3 layers. The bottom I lay 5 strips with space (fit them in the mold). The middle layer I lay 2-3 strips across the 5 below and the to player I lay 4 strips across the middle layer. (all strips fit well in soap mold).

After you finished lay the grid pattern. Warm the soap strips a little (warm with the overn or microwave).

Then you mix the new batch soap until it get thin trace , put & mix all ingredients well , after that pour it into the prepared mold (which has grid pattern strips).

Insulate and let it cures as normal. Once it's ready to cut , you get the Checkerboard Soap as you have designed!



3. Soap Curls



Tips to make soap curl.

First , Let's start by cut thin strips of soap. Using uncured soap (the fresher is better) because it's easily to cut. The strips should be as wide as the height of your soap mold.

Then roll the soap strips by using a pen (or pencil) , see picture below for more details.


Make these curls as many as your mold's size (depend on your space design). Then fill these curls into the mold.

Warm the soap mold (together with filled curls) a little (warm with the overn or microwave).

Then you mix the new batch soap until it get thin trace , put & mix all ingredients well , after that pour it into the prepared mold (which has soap curls you put inside).

Insulate and let it cures as normal. Once it's ready to cut , you get the Soap Curls style as you have designed!


4. Embed Soap Ribbons

Tips to make Embed Soap Ribbons.
This technique is similar to Soap Curls. Beginning by cut thin strips of soap. Using uncured soap (the fresher is better) because it's easily to cut. The strips can be any size, shape or colour.

Make these strips as many as your mold's size (depend on your space design). Then fill these strips into the mold...you can use less but do not use more.

Warm the prepared mold above.

Then you mix the new batch soap until it get thin trace , put & mix all ingredients well , then end with adding the soap strips you have prepared and gently stir , after that pour it into the prepared mold.

Insulate and let it cures as normal. Once it's ready to cut , you get the Embed Soap Ribbons style as you have designed!

Normally castile soap using cold process soap making process to produce. You can learn cold process soap making step by step from this post :
http://howtomakehandmadesoaps.blogspot.com/2012/10/cold-process-soap-making-process-step.html

Yeah to make castile soap - you use cold process to make it!

Castile soap making process step by step in VIDEO :

Castile soap recipes introduction
Mostly serious soap lovers may say that Castile Soap is the soap which made from 100% olive oil - yeah this can be right...but the soap which made from 100% olive oil gives not good lather...I myself think it's bad T_T

To solve the problem of lather that olive oil produced - blending of oils result in a blend of qualities. So the nice basic soap recipe should contain balancing a blending of oil properties. So now soap makers make "Castile Soap" with the blending of oils as base ingredients for the better result of lather, hardness and more...

Castile soap recipes
I would like to offer these 4 basic Castile soap recipes. You can modify them if you want.

Castile Soap Recipe #1
This recipe uses a little palm oil to make the soap bar strength and better lather and togother with a little coconut oil for some bubbly lather...but oilve oil is the main ingredient so you still get the most benefits from castile soap.

Ingredients :
- 80% olive oil
- 10% palm oil
- 10% coconut oil

For example, to make about 4.5 lbs of soap, you would use:
- 40 oz. olive oil
- 5 oz. palm oil
- 5 oz. coconut oil
- 16 oz. water
- 6.7 oz. lye
- and about 1.5 to 2.2 oz of fragrance or essential oil, according to your preference

Castile Soap Recipe #2
For the better and more lather , the palm oil and coconut oil has been added for more in this recipe...but don't worry , like the first recipe that you still get the most benefits from castile soap.

Ingredients :
- 60% olive oil
- 20% palm oil
- 20% coconut Oil

For example, to make about 4.5 lbs of soap, you would use:
- 30 oz. olive oil
- 10 oz. palm oil
- 10 oz. coconut oil
- 16 oz. water
- 7 oz. lye
- and about 1.5 and 2.2 oz of fragrance or essential oil, according to your preference

Castile Soap Recipe #3
Canola oil has bben added to this recipe for better creaminess and mildness. And also, it's rather cheap oil that's usually available in the supermarket.

Ingredients :
- 60% olive oil
- 10% palm oil
- 20% coconut oil
- 10% canola oil

For example, to make about 4.5 lbs of soap, you would use:
- 30 oz. olive oil
- 5 oz. palm oil
- 10 oz. coconut oil
- 5 oz. canola oil
- 16 oz. water
- 6.9 oz. lye
- and about 1.5 and 2.2 oz of fragrance or essential oil, according to your preference

Castile Soap Recipe #4
If you canot find palm oil , you can use coconut oil instead...the soap will have more lather (coconut oil is the best for lather in soap making)

Ingredients :
- 80% olive Oil
- 20% coconut Oil

For example, to make about 4.5 lbs of soap, you would use:
- 40 oz. olive oil
- 10 oz. coconut oil
- 16 oz. water
- 6.9 oz. lye
- and about 1.5 and 2.2 oz of fragrance or essential oil, according to your preference

Select your favourite one of the 4 recipes above and go to the next step...process to make castile soap step by step..

Castile Soap made from olive oil. We all know that olive oil is good to eat. It has many benefits for our health. Using olive oil as ingredient in soap also has benefits...it gives moisturizing to our skin, makes our skin healthy and nourished.

Moisturize
Soap which contains olive oil in recipe has hypoallergenic property which result in nourish and moisturize skin. It also retains skin surface's moisture - lead to younger looking skin and smooth skin.

Antioxidant Activity
Because olive oil has a lot amount of vitamins A and E, so it has high levels of antioxidants. It can renew and repair our skin. Using soap created using essential olive oil helps safeguard and turn back damage and facial lines triggered by exposure to the sun, pollution, smoke as well as an unhealthy diet. Furthermore, the anti-oxidants contained in cleaning soap with essential olive oil stimulate skin cells, resulting in regrowth and upkeep of healthy, firm skin.

Cleansing
Surely! , like all other soaps in the world that Castile Soap (olive oil soap) has cleansing properties...but Castile Soap has better smelling.

OK. Now we know more about Castile Soap , next post I will explain the recipes and process to make it.

This is more FAQs and facts about hot process handmade soap making.

The suitable recipe type for use in hot process soap making?

The fact is any recipes could be produced while using hot process soapmaking technique. However, some recipes contain ingredients which result in trace and saponify very rapidly. For example, recipes with a high concentration of saturated oils such as palm oil and coconut oil will get trace very quickly. Recipes which trace and saponify very slowly such as olive oil (castille soap) will take longer time to go through the stages of HP, but you will save weeks of curing time (compare to cold process soap method)

How do I HP my recipe?

First, you make your recipe as usual and bring it to trace (light trace is just fine). Next, you put the soap into a crock pot on "High", which brings the mixture to somewhat above 200 degrees.

When using HP to make soap, you need to observe the soap go through three distinct stages. Note that the appearance of these stages will depend on the oils in your recipe. The three stages are:

Separation. In this stage, it can look as though your HP has gone horribly wrong, as you will see solids separating from your liquid content. Don't worry - just keep occasionally stirring, and wait for stage 2.
Coming Together and Rising. All of a sudden, your soap will stop separating, come back together, and then start rising. The soap can rise a LOT during this stage. So, keep a close eye on it, and stir vigorously to get the air out of it and bring it back down. You do not want it to overflow! Wait for stage 3.
Greasy Mashed Potatoes, or Vaseline.In this final stage, the soap will stop rising and settle down a bit. Stir it every few minutes, and you will notice that it starts looking less bubbly and more glossy (a lot like Vaseline, actually!) as it finishes saponifying. You will know it has finished saponifying when you test the pH. After the pH is 8-10, you can add color and fragrance. You can then mold the soap.

What type of pot and utensils should I use for cooking my HP?

The crockpot seems to be the most popular cookware for HP Soapmaking. You can use it on "Low" or "High", since they both reach the same temperature, just at different speeds. You might want to use "Low" with recipes which saponify quickly or those with ingredients which burn easily (like goats' milk or honey) and "High" with all other recipes. Note: After you have thoroughly cleaned and scrubbed the crockpot from HP Soapmaking, you can safely use it for food because you are using it to make soap, and all of the lye is cooked out of the soap.

If you choose to use a container other than a crockpot to make HP Soap, make sure you use one made of stainless steel or one that will not interact with the active lye. Some soapmakers use a stainless steel double boiler to make their HP.

All of the utensils need to be heat and lye resistant made of stainless steel, wood or silicone.

It is best to use a crock pot or double boiler with a glass lid. Keep the lid ON while heating the HP Soap unless the recipe has excess water that you wish to have evaporate (in which case you will not use the lid). Most recipes are best heated with the lid on to keep them nice and moist.

What type of mold will I need for HP?

You will want to put your finished HP Soap into the mold when the soap is still rather warm, pliable, and easy to work with. Therefore, you will want to use molds for your HP which can comfortably handle temperatures near 200 degrees. Wood and silicone molds work well for this, as do some plastics. Thinner plastics will warp when exposed to the heat of HP so, be careful when using your favorite plastic molds.

What type of colorants can I use with my HP?

HP Soapamaking allows you to use a more broad range of colorss because the color is added when the pH of the soap is between 8 and 10. FD&C colorants (which normally turn brown in the presence of lye) can be used in HP, as can micas, oxides, ultramarines, glitter, herbs and spices.

What type of fragrances and essential oils can I use in my HP?

One wonderful aspect of HP Soapmaking is that it is a bit fluffier than standard CP and CPOP, and it absorbs fragrances very nicely.
When can I use my finished HP Soap?

It's best to leave the finished HP in your molds for the first 24 hours, to allow it to become hard enough to cut it without marring or warping it. Once it has been cut, it will probably benefit from another two to five days of "drying out" before usage. If you use your soap too quickly, it will dissolve rapidly - so, use your best judgment to determine when it looks fully hardened and ready to use! Enjoy!

Credit...All the above information comes from :
http://www.wholesalesuppliesplus.com/FAQ/HP-Soap-Making.aspx

I found these information is a lot useful for hot process soap making.

The benefit of hot process soap (or HP) is we can using it the next day after we finished mixing. Hot process soap doesn't need to be cured (while cold process soap should be cured about 4 weeks before we can use it).

The difference between hot process soap and cold process soap making is the saponification process. Saponification is the chemical reaction of an akali and oil/fat to form soap. For cold process soap making , saponification occurs and continue in the soap mold so we have to wait for it to finish curing...normally is about 4 months. But for the hot process we heat the soap in a mixing tank until it finishes saponifying. After the soap finishes cooking and has cooled, it's ready to use.

I will explain hot process soap making by using Double Boiler and oven as the heating resource.

Hot Process Soap Using a Double Boiler
Different from the cold process because we starting to prepare the lye solution first and melting the oil/fat comes second, and prepare all ingredients to be ready to use before starting the process because hot process soap making won't wait the lye solution and melted oil cool down before adding ingredients.

Hot Process Soap Making Using a Double Boiler - Process step by step
1. Prepare and weight your oil.

2. For larger pot, fill it with water a half height of the pot, and start boiling the water with a low heat.

3. For smaller pot, fill it with the oils/fat you weighted. Place the small pot on the stove and slowly melting it with low heat.

4. While the oil/fat is melting, during this time - prepare your lye solution. Once the oil/fat has completely melted, then turn off the heat. Caution!! Don't melting the oil/fat with high temperature, just let it get hot enough to melt.

5. Now the oils/fat has completely melted - turn off the heat. Then it's time to add the lye solution. Different from the cold process, we don't need to wait for the oil/fat or lye solution to cool. Slowly add the lye solution to the oil/fat in the pot.

6. Stir the mixture until it's well mixed.

7. Continue stir until you see a trace. You will know a trace when the soap batch becomes thick. You will find 3 stages you need to look at. In the beginning an easy trace which appears like a skinny sauce. Next a medium trace which appears like gravy and lastly a thick trace which appears like pudding. All cleaning soap undergo trace to correctly saponify.

8. Just like a side note, you need to keep stirring just in case your recipe volcanoes. Not every quality recipes is going to do this, but when you do not keep stirring or keep close track of it, the soap may crawl up and out of the pot. When your soap mixture reaches a pleasant pudding thickness, allow it to relaxation for any couple of minutes to ascertain if it volcanoes. Stir again whether it does until the soap is no more attempting to crawl up the pot.

9. Now it's time to cook the soap mixture. Place the small pot of soap mixture into the larger pot of boiling water. Remember in step 3 we started boiling the water.

10. After cooking it for any couple of minutes, you will find some separation happening. The oil and water will begin separating with the white stuff swimming in the oil. It's okay now to cover the small pot and walk away. You should check onto it every occasionally.

11. You need to stir and blend the pot completely any time you check on it. One of the thing you will find the fact that oil will slowly disappear and also the mixture will slow turn from pudding prefer to gel like. The cooking time will be different depending on the oil/fat use in the recipe. It may be 15 mins or as much as an hour or so.

12. While your mixture is cooking you can prepare mold and your addictives, colorants, herbs, essence oils,..etc. Whatever color or properties you plan on adding to your soap, now is the time to prepare it.

13. Once your soap mixture reaches a gel like blob texture it's time to add the addictives and stir.

14. Now it's time to put the soap into you molds and let it cool.

15. Once your soap cools, you can start using your soap.

Watch this hot process soap making process in video :

Hot Process Soap Using An Oven
This process is not everything not the same as the cold process method. After finishing the cold process method you pour the soap in the mold and warmth within an oven. Just make certain your mold is warmth resistant.

1. Follow the cold process method.

2. Pre-heat your oven to 170 degrees.

3. Pour your soap into your mold and place mold in oven at that temperature.

4. Cook for 4 hours and turn off oven. Leave the mold in the oven to cool.

5. Once cool, remove mold from oven and you can start using your soap.

If you make hot process soap with this technique , it means you made cold process soap with very little wait time...yeah! don't need to wait it to be cured.

These are examples of hot process soap recipes. If you don't have any HP soap recipes yet , starting by trying these recipes are good.

Hot Process Soap Recipes
1. Apple Spice Soap Recipe (Oven Hot Process)

Ingredients:

18 oz canola oil
8 oz coconut oil
18 oz olive oil
12oz distilled water
6oz lye
1Tbsp apple pie spice
1Tbsp Tumeric
2Tbsp Apple FO

2. Basic Hot Process Recipe (Moisturizing soap with a rich lather)

Ingredients:

20 oz. Palm Oil
17 oz. Coconut Oil
16 oz. Safflower Oil
8 oz. Olive Oil
3 oz. Sweet Almond Oil
24 oz. Distilled Water
9 oz. Sodium Hydroxide

3. Milk-based Shea Butter Soap Recipe (Very moisturizing soap that is difficult to make, but heaven to use!)

Ingredients:

8.6 ounces Canola Oil
8.6 ounces Coconut Oil
13.4 ounces Olive Oil
11.5 ounces Safflower Oil
5.8 ounces Shea Butter
47.0 ounces Vegetable Shortening
13.1 ounces Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH/Lye)
34.1 ounces Whole Milk
4.2 ounces Essential/Fragrance Oil
***PLEASE CONSULT A BOOK OR ARTICLE ON MAKING MILK BASED SOAPS BEFORE TRYING THIS RECIPE.

4. Stefanie's Favorite Recipe (Emu Oil Soap)

Ingredients:

16.8 oz. Olive Oil (28%)
12 oz. Coconut Oil (20%)
9 oz. Palm Oil (15%)
7.2 oz. Emu Oil (12%)
3.6 oz. Castor Oil (6%)
3 oz. Avocado Oil (5%)
2.4 oz. Cocoa Butter (4%)
2.4 oz. Shea Butter (4%)
1.2 oz. Jojoba (2%)
1.2 oz. Sweet Almond Oil (2%)
23 oz. Distilled Water
8.14 oz. Lye (6% excess fat)
Fragrance and color optional

All recipes above come from :
http://www.fromnaturewithlove.com/recipe/recipes.asp?category=8

Now we know about hot process soap making kits and recipes , it's time to learn about hot process soap making process!! , let's go to the next post...

The only different thing between hot process soap and cold process soap is "cooking". Hot process soap use the heat to speed up the saponification process, so we use the shorter time than cold process soap to cure.

Hot Process Soap Making Kits
- Oil(s)
- Pitcher
- Essence Oil
- 2 Stainless Steel Pots (big and small)
- Lye
- Fine Digital Scale
- Distill Water
- Thermometer
- Soap Safe Colorant
- Measuring Cup(s)
- Rubber Gloves
- Long-handle stainless steel spoon
- Safety Glasses
- Freezer Paper
- Soap Mold
- Wax Paper
- Stove
- Stick Blender

For hot process soap recipes and process , let's go to the next posts...

Once you have prepared all the equipments and selected the recipe. It's time to start making your melt and pour soap.

Process to make melt and pour soap step by step...

1. To start making melt and pour soap. The first step is weight & cut the melt and pour soap base. The weight depends on your recipe and your mold.

2. Melt the soap base you have weighted. By using hot plate or microwave. If you use microwave to melt the base , wrap the container first before starting the microwave - to protect the soap base from drying out when it is being heated.

3. Add essential Oil and fragrance of your recipe to the completely melted soap base...gently stir.
Tips : A good amount of fragrance is .4 ounce of fragrance per pound of soap. (Or you can use about 2-3% per weight of the soap.)

4. Then add color to the Melted Soap Base..gently stir.
Note: Ensure that you're using soap-safe dyes. If the supplier uncertain that they are soap-safe or not, avoid to use them.

5. Continue stir until all ingredients mixed well. Beware! , just gently stir - if you stir too hard the soap mixture will have a lot of bubbles in it. If this problem occured , use the light spritz of rubbing alcohol from a spray bottle to gets rid of these bubbles.

6. Pour the completely mixed melted soap mixture into the mold...beware again! - Slowly pour the soap into the mold to avoid bubbles occured in soap. Once you have poured all the soap mixture into the mold, after that about 2-3 hours , it's ready to unmold your soap. Congratulation!!! It's finished!!!

To make you more clearly understand about the process , watch this melt and pour soap making video :

This is just examples of melt and pour soap recipes. You can search more recipes on internet or you create it yourself once you have lot of experience.

Let's start with these melt and pour soap recipes...

1. Buttercream Bar Recipe (This facial cream bar smells wonderful and leaves your skin silky soft and gently fragrant)

Ingredients:

4oz goats milk melt and pour base
1 Tbsp powdered whole milk
1/2 tsp of hydrolyzed silk amino acid
8 drops of buttercream FO
8 drops of vanilla FO

2. Chocolate Chip Cookie Soap Recipe (Soap that looks like cookies!)

Ingredients:

1 lb white or clear coconut melt and pour base
Cocoa powder or brown pigment
1 lb cocoa butter
1 T Chocolate FO
Small round soap molds

3. Luxury butter and oil soap recipe (Made with Cocoa and Mango butter, Emu and Vitamin E oil)

Ingredients:

1 lb. Melt & Pour Soap Base (any)
1/4 tsp. Emu Oil, Grade A
1/4 tsp. Vitamin E Oil, 1000 IU
1 1/2 tsp. Cocoa Butter
1 1/2 tsp. Mango Butter
Fragrance or EO of choice

4. Luxury Facial Bar Recipe (This is a great facial bar to use...with luxurious oils and lots of Vitamin E to make skin feel nurtured and young again...)

Ingredients:

1 lb rosehip & jojoba melt & pour base
2 tsp French green or Moroccan red clay
1/2 tsp of avocado oil
1/2 tsp of apricot or peach kernel oil
1/2 ounce fragrance or essential oil

5. Milk & Honey Butter Bars Recipe (MILK AND HONEY WITH LIGHT SCENT)

Ingredients:

1 lb opaque melt & pour base
1/2 cup whole or goats milk
1 Tbsp honey
20 drops Vitamin E 250IU
1 Tbsp melted beeswax
1 tsp vanilla fragrance oil
1 tsp or your favorite oil

6. Milk and Honey Melt & Pour Soap Recipe (A moisturizing and healing soap)

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
2 Tablespoons Water
2 Tablespoons Milk Powder
2 Tablespoons Honey, natural not powdered
Honey, Spice or Vanilla Fragrance Oil if desired
1/2 cup melted Melt and Pour base

All the above recipes are from :
http://www.fromnaturewithlove.com/recipe/recipes.asp?category=11

Let's know the ingredients of each recipe first. Melt and pour soap making process isn't much different. If we understand the basic process , we can know how to make the soap from each recipe...Go to next step to make your melt and pour soap.

To make melt and pour soap , these are important kits (equipments) you have to have first :

1. Mixing pot
2. Heater
3. Stirring tool (or use stainless spoon) **Using only things made from stainless or wooden
4. Melt and pour soap base
5. Melt and pour soap mold
6. Colors and fragrances or any additives
7. Cutting Board
8. Measuring Spoons
9. Knife
10. Rubbing Alcohol in Spray Bottle

Melt and pour soap is the artist soap because there are plenty of amazing ideas you could add or design to the soap. The basic process to make this type of soap is the most easiest compare to the other handmade soap types.

Let's go to the next step to see how to make this soap type.

Lye calculator is one of the most important tool for cold process soap making. If you want to create your own handmade soap recipe , the lye calculator will help you to quick calculate with 100% correctly.

These are great lye calculators online I would like to recommend
1. MMS lye calculator
2. Soapcalc
3. Bramble berry lye calculator
4. Summer Bee Meadow lye calculator

**For creating your own soap recipe, firstly , let's read How oil types effect the soap properties.
**And learn more about superfat and water discounting here

List of example oils using in cold process soap making
Apricot Kernel Oil - moisturizing and conditioning properties
Avocado Oil - regenerative and moisturizing properties 
Babassu Oil - emollient
Borage Oil - conditioning and produces a stable lather in soap
Calendula Oil - regenerative and anti-inflammatory properties. 
Camellia Oil - high in vitamin E (conditioning)
Canola - conditioning  
Castor Oil - conditioning
Cocoa Butter - conditioning
Coconut Oil - hard bar, cleansing and full lather.
Corn Oil  
Crisco
Emu Oil    
Evening Primrose Oil - wonderfully conditioning
Flax (Linseed) Oil
Grapeseed Oil - conditioning
Hazelnut Oil - moisturising
Hemp Seed Oil - moisturising
Jojoba Oil - high in vitamin E (conditioning)  
Kokum Butter    
Kukui Nut Oil - conditioning
Lanolin    
Lard    
Macadamia Nut Oil - produces a stable, conditioning lather in soap.
Mango Butter - moisturizing properties
Meadowfoam Oil - wonderful moisturizing and rejuvenating properties. 
Mink Oil
Monoi de Tahiti    
Mowrah Butter    
Neem Oil - anti-bacterial, anti-septic & anti-viral and moisturizing properties.
Olive Oil - conditioning, stable lather. 
Palm Kernel Oil - a hard soap bar, cleansing bar with a full lather.
Palm Oil - often used to replace lard & tallow to make all vegetable oil soaps. produces a hard bar with a stable lather.
Plum Kernel Oil - emollient properties 
Pomegranate Oil - moisturize  
Pumpkin Seed Oil - skin healing properties.
Red Palm Oil - moisturising and healing properties. 
Rice Bran Oil - Rice bran oil is effective for keeping skin smooth. 
Rosehip Seed Oil - anti-ageing and skin rejuvenation qualities.
Safflower Oil    
Sesame Oil    
Shea Butter - promotes skin regeneration.
Sunflower Oil - moisturizing, regenerating, and conditioning. 
Sweet Almond Oil - produces a stable and conditioning lather in soap. 
Tamanu Oil
Tallow (beef)    
Walnut Oil    
Wheat Germ Oil - produces a bar with a stable, conditioning lather.

Then you select which oils you like to add to your recipe , after that use lye calculator to calculate how much lye should add to your recipe...finish!!

There are many oil types come from different sources that we use for making cold process soap. Each oil will effect different properties to the finished soap bar.

Main 4 properties are :
- Hard, stable, long lasting : (palm oil, beef tallow, lard)
- Lathering : (coconut, castor, palm kernel)
- Moisturizing/Conditioning : (olive oil, canola, sunflower, soybean)
- Luxury/Super Moisturizing : (cocoa butter, shea butter, almond oil, hemp oil, jojoba)

(Using a lot of oils in recipe will have multiple characteristics. For example, shea butter result in great moisturizing and the soap bar will be very hard ,too. Coconut oil gives us a lot of lather and also make soap bar super hard. Tallow is normally used as a base oil (hard), but it also gives us creamy and moisturizing lather...)

Good basic soap recipe should contains main 3 properties soap oils including hard bar , lathering and moisturizing.

For example , good basic recipe showing below :
- 25% palm oil
- 25% coconut oil
- 25% olive oil
- 15% canola oil
- 10% sunflower oil

Once you have oil base recipe to make soap , then you go to the lye calculator step and ready to make the handmade soap now.

There are many things to use as soap mold. I will provide you some more ideas to select any things around our daily life to use as soap mold! This isn't including the molds that we bought at high price.

(Try preparing these molds with mineral oil or add beeswax to soap recipe for easily release your soap from these molds)

Cheap soap molds ideas
- Pringles cans
- yogurt cups
- shoe boxes
- Plastic or PVC Slab Molds
- PVC Pipe
- Cream Cheese containers and other plastic food containers
- Plastic storage boxes and Tupper Ware containers
- wooden drawers
- cigar boxes
- shipping tubes

And much more...

The above list of inexpensive molds can help you to save some money for the beginning soap hobbyist. However, if you plan to make soap frequently , I think buy the standard soap mold is better.

Using natural colors to make soap is surely safe. Mostly of the natural soap colors can be found in your kitchen, the market, or from soap making suppliers.

Here are some list of natural ingredients that can use for coloring your soap :

(Note: some natural colors will change their color when they reacted with lye or oil or the soap mixture , so test the ingredients first before using them if you have created your own recipe)

Alfalfa – medium green
Alkanet – steep in oil first - deep purple to muted blue
Annatto Seed – steep in oil first - yellow orange
Beet Root – muted pinkish beige to muted pinkish dull brown.
Bentonite clay - off white to a light ivory-green
Black walnut hull - speckled purple-brown
Ground Calendula Petals - yellow
Carrots, shredded or ground - yellow to orange
Carrot juice (black) - light pinkish brown
Ground Chamomile – yellow-beige
Chamomile (German) essential oil - light pastel green
Chlorophyll - medium greens
Cinnamon - tan to brown – can be an irritant
Cloves, ground – brown
Cochineal powder – light to deep red depending on amount used
Cocoa powder– brown
Coffee/coffee grounds - brown to black
Comfrey Root – light milky brown
Cornmeal, blue - purplish-blue-brown
Cucumber – bright green
Curry powder - yellow
Elderberries – steep in lye solution – light brown
Green tea powder - brownish-greenish - speckled
Henna, ground - olive to deep drab green - brown
Indigo root - deep blues - caution, can stain
Jojoba beads - come in many colors, and add exfoliation too
Kaolin Clay - white to off white
Kelp/seaweed - green
Madder root - rosy red - purple
Milk (goats or cow's) - tan to brown, depending upon sugar & fat content
Morrocan Red Clay - Brick Red
Olive leaf powder - warm ochre/brown color
Orange juice - used in place of water for lye solution - nice pastel orange/beige
Paprika – light orange peach to orange-brown - can be an irritant
Poppy Seeds - Blue-grey to light black specks
Pumice, ground - grey
Pumpkin, pureed - lovely deep orange Example
Rattanjot – light lavender-brown to deep purplish chocolate brown
Rhassoul clay - a light speckled gray-brown
Rose Pink Clay - Brick red
Rosehip seeds, ground - light tan to deep brown
Safflower Petals- yellow to deep orange
Saffron - yellows
Sage - green
Sandalwood powder (red) - deep purplish brown - nice speckles
Spearmint - greenish brown
Spinach – light green
Spirulina/Blue-Green Algae – light pastel green to blue-green
Titanium Dioxide- bright white
Tree lichen - nice light pinkish beige - varies on type of lichen
Turmeric – golden brown to amber
Wheatgrass juice - lovely deep green
Woad powder - bluish green

The above list of natural colors for cold process soap came from :
http://candleandsoap.about.com/od/soapmakingbasics/a/natcolors.htm

First , I will talk about superfatting. Most lye calculators will superfat the recipe for you automatically. So why we should do the superfat in cold process soap recipe? - this is the reason...

Superfatting is the technique by adding an extra amount of oil into the soap recipe but keep the amount of lye the same.

Lye discounting is the technique by using the same amount of oil but less lye. For example, using 9.5 ounces of lye instead of 10 ounces would amount to 5% superfatting (5% extra oil).

Normally 5% superfatting is standard %superfat that mostly soapmakers use.

The great lye calculator site :
http://www.thesage.com/calcs/lyecalc2.php

The reasons we should do superfat
The rest of oil in the soap give us extra moisturizing...however, too much of the rest oil in the soap isn't good because the soap will be a softer bar and get rancid quickly. So the best is just small amount of oil in the soap which is 5% superfat is recommended.

Another reason to superfat is the safety. If your weighing isn't precise , Superfatting helps in the safety. Because there is a little extra oil in the recipe ensure that every one of the lye molecules will have more than enough opportunity to pair up with an oil molecule.

Normally, most lye calculators will calculate superfat 5% for you. If not, you can discount lye. For example, if your recipe calls for 10 ounces of lye and you want a 5% discount, multiply that by .95 (95%). That would give you 9.5 ounces of lye.


Discounting water
In soap recipe , more water will result in softer soap and takes longer time to mix until it trace , longer time to unmold and cure. On another hand, using less water results in soap that get trace faster and takes less time to unmold and cure.

And the same as superfat that lye calculators will calculate water discount for you. The amount of water in the recipe depends on the amount of lye (not oils). Once you know the amount of lye you will use , then you can calculate the amount of discount water by following this (in case you would like to calculate the water discount manually) :

Calculate a non-discounted water amount :
Water = Lye Amount * 73 / 27

If the recipe requires for 3 oz of lye:
Water = 3 oz lye * 73 / 27
Water = 8.1 oz

(The most common “non-discounted” lye and water solution is 27% lye and 73% water.)

For water discount , I would like to recommend a ratio of about 33% lye and 66% water.. then we can calculate easily. For example, if the recipe requires for 2.4 ounces of lye, I will use 4.8 ounces of water. (Just use this formula to calculate , The amount of discount water = 2 X the amount of lye )

However, different recipes use different discount water because some ingredients in each recipe absorb water which can result in cracking if you discount water too much. Some fragrance and additives can also react or affect trace.

I have searched cold process soap recipes on internet and found these recipes are perfect and interesting!

The below 3 recipes come from : http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/cold-process-soap/my-favorite-cold-process-recipes-2/

Lots of Lather (this is reallyhard soap bar) Soap Recipe

16 oz. Coconut
16 oz. Palm
16 oz. Olive Oil
2 oz. Castor Oil

13 – 19 oz. water
7.4 oz. lye

Recomend 3% superfat for best bubbles


Moisturizing Soap Recipe

4 oz. Avocado Oil
8 oz. Coconut Oil
1 oz. Jojoba Oil
16 oz. Olive Oil
8 oz. Palm Oil
4 oz. Shea Butter

11 – 15 oz. water
5.6 oz. lye


Nourishing Soap Recipe

2 oz. Sweet Almond Oil
2 oz. Avocado Oil
8 oz. Coconut Oil
2 oz. Hempseed Oil
16 oz. Olive Oil
8 oz. Palm Oil
4 oz. Shea Butter
2 oz. Wheatgerm
2 oz. Vitamin E

12-16 oz. water
6.0 oz. lye


The below recipes come from : http://www.fromnaturewithlove.com/

Pear-Lishish Soap Recipe (Easy to make, soothing, emollient )

6.4 oz coconut oil
1.9 oz. illipe butter
4.8 oz. kokum butter
2.2 oz lanolin
3.8 oz mango butter
6.4 oz. palm kernal oil
3.2 oz. palm oil
3.2 oz. shea butter
11.5 oz water
4.5 oz. lye
superfat with 1.1 oz meadowfoam oil and 1.1 oz of avocado oil
.7 oz to 1.0 oz pearberry fragrance


Bay Rum Sesame Oil Soap Recipe (Extra bubbly and very spicy!)

Tallow (beef) 10 oz
Sesame seed oil(untoasted)6 oz
Olive oil 6 oz
Coconut oil 6 oz
Palm kernal flakes 6 oz
Castor oil 2 oz
Rice bran oil 1 oz
Lye (at 5% discount) 5.28 oz
*Water 14 oz OR 12.6 oz(discounted)
.5 to 1 oz Bay Rum FO
*For extra skin conditioning add use half water and half Goats milk or substitute all the water for goats milk.

Bubble gum soap (kids will love to use) Recipe - (Smells so good you'll want to eat it!!!)

8 oz soft water
3 oz lye
7 oz crisco, palm oil or tallow
7 oz coconut oil
6 oz olive oil
1 oz jojoba oil
1 oz Bubble gum fragrance oil
Imperial Red Mica to color



Select one of your favourite recipe and go to make your own handmade soap following this process :
http://howtomakehandmadesoaps.blogspot.com/2012/10/cold-process-soap-making-process-step.html

Prepare your soap making kits before start making your soap :
http://howtomakehandmadesoaps.blogspot.com/2012/10/cold-process-soapmaking-kits.html

OK. That's it! You are ready to make the soap you have dreamt of now!

To start to make handmade cold process soap, the first thing is you have to ensure that you have prepared all these Cold Process Soapmaking Kits. They are :

Cold Process Soapmaking Kits
- Oils & all ingredients : depends on each recipe.

- Mixing lye-water tank. Use only mixing tank which made from wood , glass or Stainless Steel because the lye cannot make reaction with these materials. !!Warning!! , don't use aluminium tank to mix lye-water - the lye quickly burn aluminium!

- Soap mold and paper to line it.

- Safety goggles and gloves

- A Thermometer

- Glass or stainless steel mixing bowl

- Mixing tools - stick blender (for faster mixing - the soap mixture will get trace very quickly), hand mixer (in case you don't have stick blender), and/or spoons.

- Paper towels

If you don't have all or some of the above kits , you can buy them via this blog by looking on HANDMADE SOAP PRODUCTS category.

If you have prepare all necessary kits which provided above , let's go to make handmade soap following this Cold Process Soap step by step !

Cold Process or CP soap. Cold Process soap is made by mixing oils and NaOH (sodium hydroxide) solution which call "lye" ...then triggers the saponification process.

Before go to the cold process soap making , you should read these first :
Cold process soap equipment - Click
Cold process soap recipe

How to Make Cold Process Soap Step by Step

1. Once you have selected the recipe you like, prepared all necessary equipments & ingredients...weigh all ingredients by follow the recipe carefully.

2. Prepare lye solution. Weigh the amount of distilled water of your recipe. Weigh the NaOH (sodium hydroxide). Once you have weighed both, slowly add the lye to the pitcher of water...WARNING: ALWAYS add the lye to the water, not water to the lye. Adding the water to the lye can cause explosion!!!!

Gently stir the mixture until the lye is completely dissolved (this time it's very hot but continue stir until it completely dissolve). The lye will be ready to use when it cools down

3. Melt & Mixing the Soapmaking Oils. Put solid oils into the pot, then put the pot onto the stove using medium heat. Slowly melt the oils while stirring softly. Turn off the heat when the oils get to about 110 F. Keep stirring until all of the solid oils are melted...then add the room temperature liquid oils to the soap pot. This step will cool down the overall temperature. The oils' temp should be at about 100 F when you add the lye-water.

4. Slowly add the lye solution to the pot that melted oils (step 3) are in. The oils will instantly begin cloudy. While adding lye also slowly stir. The starting of the saponification process is here which means the actual soap making process begins!!

5. Continuous stir the mixed oil and lye until it get "TRACE". If you use your hand to stir the mixed oil and lye , it will take about an hour to become trace.

To test for trace, dip a spatula or spoon into the mix and dribble a bit of it back into the pot. If it leaves a little "trace" behind, you're there. It just needs to be well mixed with no streaks of remaining oil.

At "light trace" and pour into the mold, the soap is still very liquid. For a more heavy trace which means pouring the soap into the mold after trace occurred for a while, and the soap has thickened enough - you will get the harder bar soap.

6. Before the soap mixture becomes too thick, slowly add the fragrance or essential oils to the mixture (depends on your recipe). Stir until completely mix.

7. Add additives depends on the recipe you use. Stir until completely mix.

8. Add color to your soap. If you want 1 color for your soap, add color and stir until it well mix. If you would like to get swirl color , this is technique :

- Ladle a half of the mixture , add color to one of a half of the mixture and mix.
- Go to next step.

Example of swirl cold process soap

9. Pour the Soap Into the Mold. For one color soap , just pour the mixture into the mold directly. For swirl color soap, pour un-color soap mixture into the mold first , then add the color soap mixture that you have prepared on step8 around the un-color soap mixture in the mold...after that use a stainless small spoon, swirl the colored soap through the mold. !!!!Don't stir too much because color will well mix , you may endup with 1 color soap - not swirl color.

Swirl soap in the mold

Set the soap in a warm, safe place to set up and begin curing. The soap is very hot (high temperature) now because saponification process continue running.

10. Done!! Normally, It takes about 1 day for the soap to harden enough to take out of the mold and slice it. Once you have sliced it, then set it to cure..because the saponification process will stop in about 4 weeks and the soap will be safe to use, you should cure it for about 4 weeks, then it's surely ready to use.

See cold process soap making process step by step in video for more details :

Glycerin soap is known that it's different from other soaps because it's translucent, this soap type contains glycerin, a component of fat or oil. A lot of people know glycerin soap is actually transparent soap. Transparent soap is also real soap...just because it goes through a hot process by adding sugar and alcohol as "solvents" to maintain the soap crystals from becoming opaque. Without this crystallization, the soap still clear. There are many soap recipes that you can select and modify the process to make them transparent.

Some people also call "melt and pour" soap as glycerin soap. This is also true but not 100% because there are clear and opaque melt and pour soaps.

To get started to make your own glycerin soap, you'll need clear glycerin soap base, coloring (food or cosmetic grade), stirrers, soap mold. Glycerin is usually sold in large blocks at crafts stores. Melting it by cutting it into small cubes that will fit in your melting pot, slowly heat & stir it until it's completely melted. Mix liquid coloring into bowl with a stirrer. (liquid coloring is very strong, so use it sparingly.) Pour in melted glycerin in the mold. Let it cool completely, normally about 2 hours. Using a bench scraper, slice block into individual bars.

Homemade soap can also called natural soap if we use only natural ingredients to produce it. Homemade soap is easy and enjoy to make! ...before we go to deep step, let me explain about it for a little.

Types of homemade (handmade) soaps.
I have talked about it here :
http://howtomakehandmadesoaps.blogspot.com/2012/08/types-of-handmade-soap.html

Homemade Soap - Natural Soap benefits
We can design it as we like. You can select any smells you like and any recipes have their unique properties. Some recipes give a lot lathers but some give less. We also can add colors as we imagine of. So your homemade soap will be unique and good as you have designed it before making.

Example of Homemade Soap recipe
Cold Process recipe (This is an easy, mild olive oil soap, good for beginners) :
Recipe: (Makes 8 lbs.)
24 oz. olive oil
24 oz. coconut oil
38 oz. vegetable shortening (Crisco)
12 oz. lye
32 oz. distilled water
3-4 oz. any essential or fragrance oil

Melt & pour Soap recipe (Milky Rose Soap Bar) :
Recipe:
Glass Measuring cup
Metal Spoon
Mold of your choice
1/4 C. Freshly picked or dried rose petals, the more fragrant the better
16oz Clear M&P Soap base
1/8th Cup Goats Milk, may use buttermilk or other milk of choice
1/2 - 1 tsp Rose Petals Fragrance Oil
Microwave
Alcohol in spray bottle

How to make handmade soap
For the cold process soap , we mix lye with oils we prepared for each recipe first , when it trace , we add fragrance and colors...mix it well then pour into the mold. I will post more and deep details on how to make handmade soap later.

For melt and pour soap , We melt soap base first (don't let it boil) , then add all additive we have prepared for and stir well and pour into your molds...yeah! I will post more and deep details later. Please keep reading my blog :)

Soap mold is used for set the liquid soap (the soap that you already finished stir) to be solid soap. Shape attributes of soap depend on soap molds you use.

Soap mold for cold process soap usually made from wood, long rectangle shape as the picture below...

Hot precess soap can also use the same mold as cold process soap.


For melt and pour soap mold , mostly of them made from silicone...as the pictures below :



There are a lot of shape attributes soap molds available in the market today...and yeah many of them are awesome!

Handmade soap has 3 types, depend on the process of making it.

This handmade soap type is the mixing of oil and lye at room temperature.




Hot process soap is very similar to cold process soap making. It also can use the same recipe to make. The difference between the two methods is the addition of heat to 'cook' the soap in the hot method. This cooking forces the gel stage to occur faster, evaporates more water and produces a harder bar of soap faster than the cold process method.



This soap making process is melting soap base. The process differs from the cold process or hot process in that no soap is made. In the process; a melt and pour soap base acquired in commerce is melted in a direct heat melter or water jacket melting pot (large double boiler) and additional items such as fragrance, essential oils, moisturizing agents, colorants, or exfoliating agents are added. While still hot, the concoction can be poured into individual molds, tray molds, or blocks which upon cooling can be sliced.