Title: Making Soap Part 3
Categories: Crafts Herb
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** Continued from Part 2 **

HOW SOAP IS MADE

When grease and lye are heated together, a chemical reaction called Saponification occurs. The resulting product is soap. To put it in simpler terms, soap is made bv a boiling process. Cold water, Iye, and grease -- your choice of hydrogenated vegetable oils (like Crisco). tallow, or lard ~- are heated and boiled. Liquid vegetable oils also may be used. Once the mixture thickens to a gravylike texture, it is saponified and needs to be removed from the heat and cooled.

Saponification is the chemical reaction that takes place in the boiling process of soap making. What occurs is chemically complex. Simple fats do not combine with the alkali (lye) to form soap. First, they decompose (water acts as a solvent base) into fatty acids and glycerols, which then combine, forming soap.

Pour thc hot liquid into the molds before it has completely cooled. Do not let it cool too long in the pan. Soap hardens as it cools. If left in the pan, it will completely harden into one giant glob of soap, something you will not want.

Cut the soap into similarly shaped bars after you have poured it into a shallow pan. You should use a wire to cut the soap because it will be able to cut the soap evenly and make attractive cakes of similar width and length. Do not use a knife. or you might have bars that are not equal in appearance. You want people to be impressed by your homemade soaps, not to laugh at you.

Cut the soap into cakes before it has completely hardened. If you wait until after the soap has set and is hard, it will be very difficult to cut. Hard soap does not cut easily, as you can test for yourself with a bar of ordinary soap you have on hand. It splinters and forms a mess. Cut the soap while it is still pliable, just before it hardens, and it will retain its shape.

Soap making is easy, but it requires concentration to detail.. Children and pets should not be present when soap is being made. They are too distracting and likely to be unaware of the serious hazards involved in making soap. Lock the doors and keep them out of the room when making soap. If necessary, hire a babysitter, or drop the kids and pets off with mom and dad.

Be sure that there are no other distractions while you make your soap. Take the telephone off the hook and turn off the television and radio. You must give your total attention to the task at hand. That is the only safe and practical way to make soap.

There are no special skills required to make soap. However, you must follow instructions for success and for safety's sake.

A SHORTCUT TO SOAP MAKING

If you do nbot wish to handle lye, do not have wood ashes available, or do not have the time to make soap from scratch, you can still make homemade soaps. You can purchase castille granules at most drugstores. There is no need to mess with lye when using these granules. Since they are actually granulated soap, it is easy to make soap from them.

Put the granules into a kettle and add water. Instructions for use will probably be on the package. If not, use common sense in adding water. (Don't drown the granules.)

Heat the mixture at low to medium heat and stir it constantly with a large wooden spoon. The granules will dissolve.

Stir the mixture until it is smooth. Remove it from the heat and add any other ingredients or emolients that you want. Stir them in well as the soap cools.

Add perfume (if desired) as the very last ingredient. Blend it in so that the fragrance will be evenly dispersed.

Pour the mixture into molds, and let harden.

If the soap does not set (that is, if the bars do not get hard) reheat the mixture, adding more castille granules as necessary. Before it cools completely, you will need to add more perfumes because reheating the mix will release the volatile floral oils, thus destroying them.

Continued in Part 4 "Making Potpourri, Colognes and Soaps" by David A. Webb TAB Books, Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania ISBN = 0-8306-2918-1

Scanned and formatted for you by The WEE Scot -- paul macGregor

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