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We Were In A Lather

January 21, 2015 @ 21:26 By Gavin Webber 7 Comments

Kim and I spent a good three hours doing one of our favourite things.  In a lather!

What was that, I hear you ask?  Well, we were producing homemade soap of course.  Keep your minds out of the gutter, you naughty boys and girls!

We recently paid our chemical manufacturers fee to the Government, and the great news is that we can now make soap for sale.  We last made soap about six weeks ago, which is now cured, so it was high time to make a few more kilos of soap so that we don’t run out.  Not run out in the sense that I will have to whip down the shop and buy some Imperial Leather for personal use, but because we hope (fingers crossed) that we will sell out fairly quickly.  We have more than enough handmade soap for personal use, and haven’t purchased any since we first started making it in 5 years ago.

We still stay true to our own original recipe using Olive oil, Rice Bran oil, Sunflower Oil, and Coconut oil.  Just the right mix of bubbles, lather, and hardness for us, and great on sensitive skin to prevent eczema, which I am sometimes prone to on my elbows.

Homemade Soap - Poppy Seeds mixed

Poppy Seeds mixed

The first soap was a 1 kg batch with no additives.  No fragrance or colour, only natural ingredients including Poppy seeds as an exfoliant.  This was a custom order for one of my friends at work.

Homemade Soap - Pouring the soap

Pouring the soap

Pouring it into the small 1 kg mould was a breeze.  I used the spatula to remove every last skerrick of soap from the pot.

Homemade Soap - In the mould

Soap in the mould

Once tapped level, we cover the mould with a cardboard lid and wrap it in towels to allow for the soap to cool slowly over the first 24 hours to prevent gelling and discolouration.

Thumbs up

Thumbs up

The first batch got a big thumbs up from me.  Kim didn’t even realised that I had finished as she was concentrating on preparing for the next batch.  It was to be what she calls her chunky confetti soap.

We added a little titanium dioxide to this next batch to give it a creamy colour.  We also added a fragrance called Love Spell, which does smell quite erotic!  Certainly soap for +18’s only.

Homemade Soap - Adding soap chunks

Adding soap chunks

To the batch, Kim added a bowl full of old soap chunks that she had previously cut. We find that when you first get to trace is the best time to add the confetti, just before pouring into the mould.  This eliminates any air bubbles if you were to push the chunks into the soap if it was already in the mould.  It saves a lot of hassle.

Chunky soap before topdressing

Chunky soap before topdressing

Once the chunky mixture is poured into the mould, we then level it by tapping, then add chunks of coloured soap from previous batches to top dress it.  The chunks are mainly from the ends of large blocks that we keep for such a purpose.

Homemade Soap - Top dressed chunky soap

Top dressed chunky soap

The finished product looks amazing.  We then add a cardboard top and then wrap in towels.  This larger 2 kg batch was poured into one of our larger moulds.  Good for making lots of soap in a hurry.

The final batch was a pinkish poppy-seed scrub soap, that I don’t have any photos of.  It is a surprise!  Suffice it to say, it will be up in the online shop in about six weeks time after curing.

So there you have it.  Three hours well spent.  Once cured, all that remains is saponified vegetable oils.

We love our homemade soap, made from vegetables oils, lye, and water, cured slowly and lovingly.  We will take all of these out of the mould in a couple of days, whereby I will put up a few more photos to show you how it all turned out.  And of course I took lots of video footage so that I can make a few short videos for the business blog, so watch out for that soon on the site.

How many of you have taken up soap making at home?  I bet your friends and family can’t get enough of your wonderful creations.  I know that every time our kids visit, they raid the soap storage box for a few bars!

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Related

Filed Under: Simplicity, Soap Making, Sustainable Living

← Cheese Podcast S02E01 – Welcome Back TGoG Podcast 098 – Sustainable Living Events →

About Gavin Webber

Gavin Webber's daily goal is to live a more sustainable lifestyle, in an effort to reduce his family's environmental footprint so we can all make a difference for our children & future generations to come.

Learn more about him here and connect with him on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.

Comments

  1. rabidlittlehippy says

    January 22, 2015 at 05:39

    I love my homemade soap and use your recipe too. I made 4kg as gifts for friends and family which seem to be well appreciated. We are using the odds and ends up now. I love the creamy bubbles too.

    Reply
    • Gavin Webber says

      January 22, 2015 at 09:44

      Nice one Jessie. I remember the day I gave you the soap making lesson. Nice and simple in the kitchen with a minimum of fuss x.

      Reply
      • rabidlittlehippy says

        January 22, 2015 at 12:31

        I think it was 15 minutes total? I couldn’t believe how easy it all was. And making it at home takes perhaps 20 which includes all the clean up and put away afterwards. 😀

  2. Nola Kontjonis says

    January 22, 2015 at 14:22

    Good for you both……just love my soap making and am also soooo pleased I did the basic course with you and Kim. It has become one of my favourite hobbies……luv Nola

    Reply
    • Gavin Webber says

      January 22, 2015 at 15:25

      Thanks Nola, and it was our pleasure teaching you. Great fun. x

      Reply
  3. Sarhn says

    January 22, 2015 at 21:48

    Looks good enough to eat Gav. With the ingredients you have listed, you could market your soaps to vegans. Bet you will have no trouble selling out.

    Reply
  4. Michael says

    January 23, 2015 at 05:49

    We taught secondary school students some basic soap making as part of their lab skill classes last year. The soaps worked out pretty well considering I had to tweak the basic recipe to drastically reduce the concentration of caustic soda to meet the OH&S requirements for lower secondary school students.

    The other key change I had to make was to set the soaps in filter paper rather than an impervious mould so the excess liquid from the highly diluted Caustic Soda could drain off. We still ended up with good quality patty-pan sized soaps that the students were pretty happy with. 🙂

    Reply

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About Gavin Webber

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An Ordinary Australian Man Who Has A Green Epiphany Whilst Watching A Documentary, Gets a Hybrid Car, Plants A Large Organic Vegetable Garden, Goes Totally Solar, Lowers Consumption, Feeds Composts Bins and Worms, Harvests Rainwater, Raises Chickens, Makes Cheese and Soap, and Eats Locally. All In The Effort To Reduce Our Family's Carbon Footprint So We Can Start Making A Difference For Our Children & Future Generations To Come.

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