How to Make Handmade Soap

Soap is made from four ingredients; fats, water, lye and fragrances. The process for making soap is simple. The main thing that you will need to be concerned with is handling the lye which is a strong acid, so gloves and goggles will be necessary. The process that occurs when making soap is called saponification � the process that occurs when fats and oils are combined with lye. You then must have a combination of fats or oils ( your acid) and sodium hydroxide or lye as it is better known (your alkali).

Equipment You Need to Make Soap:

Goggles - a must when working with lye
Gloves (rubber kitchen type will work
Drying rack (for curing the soap
Large stainless steel mixing bowl - never aluminum the lye will eat right through it
Molds - glass cake pan is ideal, never aluminum
Large wooden spoon - for stirring the soap mixture
Scale - a diet scale is the best for measure the exact amount of lye
Large glass measuring cup - this will be used to measure your fats
Saran Wrap - so that you can easily get the soap out of your molds.
pH testing strips - for testing the pH of your soap to make sure that it is ready.

Ingredients You'll Need to Make Soap:

3lbs Lard (36oz)
34oz Coconut oil
One 18 ounce bottle of Red Devil drain opener
Water
Fragrance or Essential oils

Step 1: Melting the Fats
Any type of fats or oils can be used to make soap. You can also combine these. We have found that using animal fat, which you can buy in one pound boxes at any grocery store for a dollar or less adds a richness and creaminess to the soap that is wonderful.

Do It - Melting the Fats
1. Measure 36 ounces of lard on your scale.
2. Put you lard into you large microwave safe bowl.
3. Measure 34 ounces of coconut oil on your scale.
4. Compine your coconut oil with your large in the microwave safe bowl.
5. begin melting you fats in the microwave until liquefied.

Step 2: Adding the Lye
Lye or sodium hydroxide (these terms are used interchangeably) is difficult to find in large quantities unless you go to a chemical store chemical store or pharmacy. We use Red Devil drain cleaner which is sold in most grocery stores in the cleaning supply aisle. This is 100% lye. All other drain cleaners have other additives and must NOT be used because they have added metal shavings. The most important precaution is that the lye must be added to the water. If you pour the water into the lye a violent reaction will occur much like adding water to hot oil.

Do It - Adding the Lye
1. Measure out a cup of water
2. Carefully measure out your lye using your scale
3. Pour you water into a stainless steel boil
4. Move to a well ventilated location
5. Put your goggles and rubber gloves on
6. Slowly pour the lye into the water 
7. Stir until the lye is fully dissolved into the water 
8. Slowly pour your melted fats into the lye mixture and begin 
to stir until tracing has occurred

Tracing: As you stir your fat and lye mixture together it will begin to thicken until point where it will trace. Trace means that you can run your spoon through the middle and a line will remain along the path that you moved your spoon.

Step 3: Adding Your Fragrance This is a purely personal choice for each individual and it's the fun part! You need to understand the difference between essential oils and fragrance oils. Essential oils are taken directly from the source such as the petal, the leaf, or the bark. These are much more expensive initially, but in the long run will prove to give you the best fragrance for your batch and it will last the longest. Essential oils are found mostly in specialty stores. Fragrance oils are the much less expensive alternative. These oils are synthetic and do not need to necessarily be made from a specific source, therefore giving you a wider range of scents. The one downfall to fragrance oils is they are not as powerful and long lasting and you will need to use more of them for your batch.

There are several things to remember during this extra fun part of soap making. Never use perfumes or potpourri oils. Both of these have an alcohol base and should not ever be used during the soap making process.

Step 4: Molding and Cutting Your Soap Bars You can mold your soap in almost anything as long as it is stainless steel or plastic.

Do It - Molding and Cutting Your Soap Bars
Cut you soap with a sharp knife once the bars have hardened to a point that you feel that you can make a clean cut. This will occur within 12 to 34 hours. Be carefull no to let the soap cure for to long before cutting or the soap will crumble when cutting.