Tag Archives: soapmaking

May 25

Soapdate

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I made another batch of soap tonight. Last week’s batch came to trace really quickly; this batch was just the opposite. It took forever, and in fact even when I poured it into the molds it was still a little looser consistency than I would have preferred.

I think the difference in consistency was because I doubled the recipe this time. The mixture held more heat, and it was a warmer day today, and I think that kept the mixture liquid even after it had started to saponify (turn into soap). The same thing happened the first time I made soap in Kenya, and the soap turned out fine.

The soap in the molds appears to have reached a proper gel stage, and so I’m hopeful for a good result this time too.

One of last week’s bars tore up a little when I unmolded it — I should probably have waited another day. But if this new batch turns out OK, I’ll have plenty to take to Kenya for Kim Lachler’s soapmaking workshop and I can keep the ugly bar for my personal use (once it cures, which will take a few weeks).

May 18

Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble

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I had the day off from work today, and this afternoon I made a batch of soap.
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As a co-leader of this summer’s LEAMIS trip to Kenya, I won’t be taking the lead role on the soapmaking workshop, or any other cottage industry workshop. But I will need to mentor the teammate who will be teaching it. And we’ll also need to take a few samples of homemade soap, since the soap we make during the workshop will be uncured and can’t be used while we’re there.

Since this is to be a simple soap, I used lard, not any frou-frou oils like palm or coconut or olive. I did add some essential oils for fragrance; in fact, I added too much of the second oil because I was expecting it to have a drip top like the first bottle I tried.

I stirred it by hand, like our Kenyan students will have to do, rather than using a stick blender, which cuts the time down to almost nothing. Even so, it came to trace pretty quickly.

I hope that my lye-to-fat ratio is OK; the inexpensive kitchen scale I had to buy is not calibrated as finely as I had intended, and I had to eyeball the correct amount of lye more than I would normally prefer. If the soap turns out badly — powdery and crumbly, indicating too much lye, or soft and squishy, indicating too much fat — I can rebatch it and add a little more of the missing ingredient.

I used the quantities from the handout from my 2006 Kenya trip, but it didn’t seem to make much. I may need to make another batch later this week, and I may double those quantities. I can’t wait too much longer, since the soap will need to have cured by the time we get to Kenya.

The bars are now insulated, in what we call “gel stage”; they should be solid enough to unmold in the next few days, and then I’ll know better whether the batch turned out correctly.

Jun 28

A week away

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I’m making progress towards being ready for the trip — but I’m not there quite yet.

Today, I was happy to get a stainless steel bowl. Depending on how the soap-making workshop is set up, I’ll need to try melting down, or “re-batching,” some soap. You do that in a double boiler. I needed a bowl large enough to rest on top of one of the two stockpots I’m bringing (one enameled, one stainless steel). I couldn’t find one at Wal-Mart the first time I looked. I bought a bowl at Kroger, but it had a non-skid rubber bottom, and I worried that it might serve as an insulator and keep enough heat from getting to the bowl. Today, I checked again at Wal-Mart, and they had some bowls in stock which weren’t there on Wednesday.

I made a batch of soap last month to give to my relatives out west. It’s now cured, and it turned out very nice; I had already started using the one bar which I held back for myself. The only reason I hadn’t sent the soap to them yet was that they’re packing up for their big move to North Carolina and asked me to wait.

When Carolyn had to pull out of the Costa Rica trip, and I became the leader of the soapmaking workshop, I asked my brother and sister-in-law if I could take the soap to Costa Rica with me instead. (I’ll make them a replacement batch soon enough.) They were quite understanding.

I’m not certain right now how the workshop will be scheduled. I may end up grating and melting soap bought in-country, and using the family soap to hand out as samples. Or I may end up grating and melting the family soap.

Originally, I was scheduled to do two devotions for our internal team meetings. I pulled one out of the file which I had written for Bolivia and never got to give. I figured I would write the other one in country, if not before then. Now, with Carolyn gone, we may have to re-draw the schedule for team meeting devotions.

I’m still trying to finish reading a book which my pastor’s wife has loaned me about the struggles faced by pastoral families, which was a topic our hosts asked us to address.

Our flight will leave at 7:05 a.m. on the 5th. Rather than drive up from Shelbyville (me), Monteagle (Megan) and Sewanee (Frank) that morning, the three of us will go to Nashville on the evening of the Fourth and spend the night at Megan’s parents’ house.

I am taking one large suitcase of my own and one duffel bag which I will borrow from my parents. I didn’t pick that up this week because I thought they might need it for a weekend trip to Louisville. I’ll get it from them tomorrow night or Monday so that I can do some packing during the week. I always use my backpack as a carry-on, and stow it under the seat instead of in the overhead compartment.

The weekend will be here before I know it.

Jun 24

Bad news

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Carolyn Schussler, one of four members of the Costa Rica team, has had a family medical emergency and is going to be unable to make the trip. Please keep Carolyn and her mother in your prayers.

I am going to have to take over teaching the soap-making workshop. I know it, I’ve done it before, but I wasn’t preparing to lead it this time, and so I’m going to have to put together the equipment and supplies I need to take.

May 20

Soapmaking recap

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I had a commenter ask about soapmaking earlier today, and — come to think of it — it’s been a while since I’ve blogged about the process, so people may not know exactly what it is or how I came to be involved.

I learned cold process soapmaking in preparation for my 2005 mission trip to Kenya, so that I could teach it as a cottage industry. Our LEAMIS trip was split that year between two different locations. Carolyn Schussler, who had taught soapmaking in 2004 in Nairobi, would teach a more advanced class in Nairobi in 2005, so someone else was needed to teach the class in Keumbu. Carolyn gave me a quick lesson during our pre-field orientation, and then I went to visit her and her husband in Bay St. Louis, Miss., just two months before Katrina devastated the area, for some followup training.

Soapmaking requires combining a fat with an alkaline substance, usually lye. Most hobbyist soapmakers learn using lard, because it’s inexpensive and makes a good, basic bar of soap. As you get into the hobby, you begin experimenting with different combinations of oils — this one for lather, that one for skin conditioning, another one for a nice hard, long-lasting bar.
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May 19

Rub. A. Dub. Dub.

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Newly-poured bar of soap, 5-19-08

Attention, west coast relatives:

The soap you have requested was made and poured into molds this evening. I cannot guarantee that the blue color (which I really like) will survive; frequently, colors added during the soapmaking process fade from the alkalinity of the lye during the next day or two, before the vast majority of the lye has had the chance to saponify. But we’ll see how it goes.

It will be about a month before the soap has cured sufficiently and I can ship it to you; by that time, you will be looking forward to your move and I will consult with you further about whether to send the soap or save it for you to pick up in Tennessee on your way.

That is all.