Basic Supplies for Soap Making
My soap making supplies
Well when all else fails, buy new, but if you have any of these items already that you will not need in food preparation, you are ahead of the game! I love to recycle and don't forget to check out yard sales as it is almost that season again!
As I mentioned in the previous page, lye is caustic and can burn your skin, your eyes and when mixed with water, emits a gas that can burn your lungs. So I advise you to use every precaution you can to protect yourself while making soap as well as work in a well ventilated area. I would love to have a room just for making soap but I don't so for now I use my kitchen being sure to protect any surfaces as well as ventilating it as much as I can while working in it.
Basic supplies:
As I mentioned in the previous page, lye is caustic and can burn your skin, your eyes and when mixed with water, emits a gas that can burn your lungs. So I advise you to use every precaution you can to protect yourself while making soap as well as work in a well ventilated area. I would love to have a room just for making soap but I don't so for now I use my kitchen being sure to protect any surfaces as well as ventilating it as much as I can while working in it.
Basic supplies:
- Rubber gloves (rated for chemical protection)
- Goggles or eye protection of some sort
- Candy thermometer - you will need 2 of these ($3 at most stores)
- Digital Scale - this is important and I will go into more detail about this below
- Plastic Containers - recycled yogurt or cottage cheese size work great
- Heat Resistant glass containers - I found 8 cup Pyrex Measure bowls at Christmas Tree Shop for $4.00
- Stainless Steel Pot - Large soup pot - don't use teflon coated or aluminum as they will leach into soap
- Hand held food blender - or a heat resistant rubber spatula
- Soap mold or you can use old loaf pans, cat litter tray, cardboard box... anything really just need to line it with plastic wrap so you can remove the soap for cutting - I have used two silicone loaf pans that I wasn't using for baking anymore
- Old towels to use for insulating curing soap
- drying rack - I found jerky racks on sale at local store (just like cooling racks for baking)
- Knife or Slicer for cutting soap - I used a French Fry cutter so I get the wavy sides
- Lye
- Oil - fats per recipe
- Distilled Water
- Essential Oils - per recipe
- Dried flowers, oatmeal, or anything you want to use to make your soap yours - or per recipe
- Patience lots and lots of patience as when you get to the stirring part you will be there for awhile
Why do you need a digital scale?
Battery powered digital scale
Remember I mentioned that chemistry class? Well it just so happens that if you do not get the measurements correct in oil to lye to water ratio then you may end up with a soap that doesn't harden, crumbles, or separates. So it is essential that you measure everything exactly! I use old plastic containers and using the tare key on the scale (which takes off the weight of the empty container) then fill my container with the ingredient in ounces - as most of the recipes will be either in ounces or gram measurements. I purchased my scale for bread making to measure flour and as I always measure in containers I feel I am safe using it for both. They are maybe $20 for battery operated one - more for plug in. I should tell you that the battery one works good but it constantly shuts off when idol even while you are measuring which can be bothersome.
Distilled Water
Make sure the bottle says Distilled on it
Now this is where old timers disagree with new scientists in regards to what water to use. Some use their spring water some say do not as it has minerals in it that could be bad in the soap. As most recipes that I have researched called for distilled water I didn't want to push the bar so I bought distilled water and used it in my soap. Someday I will make my own but for now I used what I could find at the grocery store for about $1.30 a gallon found in the same isle as spring water - but make sure the container says distilled or it will not be much different than what you have at home already.
Hand Held Food Blender or Spatula....????
My blender and Heat resistant spatula
Here again is a choice you will need to make. Most modern soap makers use a hand held blender to mix the ingredients and bring the soap to the saponification stage (trace). Now I own one I have had for years but I so do not want to use it for soap - it is my soup blender, mash potato mixer, and ice grinder when needed. So opted for the old fashion way of stirring my soap by hand using a heat resistant rubber spatula or stainless steel spoon. Now being heat resistant is important as the lye mix gets so hot (160 degrees F +) so what ever equipment you use has to be able to stand up to hot temps! Stirring is also a long process and when I made my lavender citronella soap I literally stirred for almost 1 1/2 hours before I had trace! The power boat would have been faster I am sure but I feel like I am cheating if I buy one - so for now or until I can't stand stirring anymore I will use my handy dandy spatula!
Heat Resistant Glass Containers
I have two, but probably only really needed one. I bought 8 cup pyrex measuring bowls that work out great for soap making. Why do they need to be heat resistant? Well when you mix the lye with the distilled water it causes a chemical reaction that heats up the liquid to over 160 degrees F. Not boiling point but if the chemicals do not burn you the water will! So be careful!!! This is why you have the candy thermometer so that you can attach it along the edge of the bowl using the clip that is on them already to check the temperature. If you use plastic it will probably melt - So I recommend glass or stainless steel bowl for the hot mix.
Now lets make some soap!
Now lets make some soap!