The diary of a novice soapmaker...

No, I'm not starting my first Chick Lit novel. For the uninitiated 'trace' is to soap-making what a set is to the jam maker. Achieving trace can be a very short process or a lengthy one depending on the base oils and fats you use for your soap.Generally speaking animal fats such as lard or dripping are faster to trace than vegetable oils.

Cold process soap making is not for the faint hearted; firstly the name is misleading as you need to deal with hot oils and fats and, more worryingly, caustic soda is required in order to achieve 'saponification' - the conversion of fat into soap when mixed with an alkali.
This blog is intended as a record of my soap making experiments and I hope it will serve as a diary and a reminder of what not to do!


2nd June 2011 My first soap

Shea butter and lemon grass soap

OK, I cheated. It's out! 
I purchased a soap-making starter kit on Amazon. It was expensive but well worth the money as it contained everything I needed to make a batch (2 lbs) of soap. All the ingredients were measured exactly (an essential feature of soap making) and the only thing I needed to buy was a pair of safety goggles! The kit also contained a bar of the finished product which, to my dismay, looked most unappealing - a sludgy grey soap with brown speckles. I was told that the appearance was due to the addition of milled lavender so I chose to omit this and ended up with a simple shea butter and lemon grass soap in an attractive natural colour. Making my first batch the cheat's way has given me the confidence I needed to strike out on my own.

Cold process soap making is achieved by heating and melting a mixture of oils and fats together in a sauce pan. In another container lye is made by mixing caustic soda with water (or milk). When both liquids are the same temperature (tricky) they are mixed together and stirred. The liquid will eventually thicken to the consistency of cheese sauce and at this point fragrances and other textures and fillers are added. The soap mixture is then poured into moulds and left to set for 24 hours before being cut and then left to 'cure' for at least 3 to 4 weeks. This curing process rids the soap of its chemicals thus ensuring it is safe to use.

6th June 2011 - Dream Castile
Ignoring the sound advice of Melinda Coss (The Handmade Soap Book) and enthused with the success of my first batch of soap I decided to run before I could walk and went straight for the Dream Castile for my second soap. Castile soap is rich in olive oil and originates from the Castile region of Spain. It is deemed to be one of the most luxurious soaps in the world.

Dream Castile

This particular recipe calls for a heady (and expensive) mix of essential oils - bay, pine and rosewood. It also uses fresh goats' milk for the caustic soda dilution which is tricky to work with as it tends to curdle. Mine did! However, with thorough whisking I was able to reduce the curdled appearance although only curing time will tell whether I've made the very attractive and deliciously fragranced soap that I have aimed for.
Note: This 2lb batch makes about 20 smallish bars and took 20 - 25 mins to trace.


 7th June 2011 Kitchen soap - with coffee!

Coffee soap

A soap with a purpose! The addition of fresh coffee grounds is said to make a suitable kitchen soap as its inclusion will remove the smell of garlic and onions from your hands. My husband maintains that this isn't a benefit as he likes the smell of garlic on his hands!! I suppose you can't please everyone.
In addition, the coffee gives an interesting speckled appearance to the soap. This was reasonably easy to make using a base of tallow (dripping), coconut oil and olive oil. It traced in about 25 minutes and I used supermarket yoghurt pot holders as a mould.

I made a half quantity (1 lb) which has given six good sized round tablets. 

9th June 2011 - Patchouli and Lime

My first experiment and not a success! I used a very simple and cheap base (Tally Ho!) to which I added a blue pigment together with essential oils of patchouli and lime. I went wrong with the quantities and ended up with an amount that didn't fill the mould, hence I have a very thin slab of soap. It's back to the drawing board with this one although I plan to rebatch it after curing. Re-batching is simply a term which means melt it down and start again. It sounds easy but apparently it's not. However, I shall give it a go - I hate waste.

11th June 2011 - Lavender and Lime 

Made a half quantity of this in a newly acquired metal oblong pastry flan dish (thank goodness for charity shops). The recipe suggests that even with the blue colouring this soap will turn a pale shade of pink. So far mine hasn't but perhaps a miracle will occur. I could have done with three quarters of the recipe quantity rather than half as the soap hasn't adequately filled the mould.

It feels very soft to the touch compared with the others I've made. I'll have to keep an eye on this one. Could be another re-batch!

I'm learning that there's a great deal to be said for natural looking soap when it comes to colours. Due to the chemical processes at work, colouring soaps is not WYSIWYG.The blue lavender and lime soap was achieved with a tiny amount of blue pigment but I plan to experiment with natural colourants such as cayenne, paprika and turmeric.

12th June 2011 - Goats' Milk & Ylang Ylang

The Khandala soap kitchen never sleeps! It's a grey day and I set off our allotment but today was really only for hardened gardeners and the cold and drizzle sent me running back to the warmth and cosiness of the soap kitchen. I was keen to make use of the fresh goats' milk so opted for Goats Milk and Ylang Ylang - an exotic fragrance if ever there was one.

This is another soap where my own experience deviated wildly from the book. Recipe suggested it would take 90 minutes to trace whereas mine started to thicken after about only 10 and in fact the photo demonstrates how quick you have to be pouring it into the moulds once the setting process has begun. The first couple of moulds have a lovely even surface appearance whilst the rest of them are lumpy. This of course can be rectified at the trimming stage.

Note: 1lb made 6 round bars; at the moment they are an Imperial Leather colour, whether they will smell this good remains to be seen but I can dream!

13th June 2011 Cinnamon, honey & almond soap cakes

Cinnamon, honey & almond soap bars

This is a relatively easy soap to make, quick to trace (15 minutes) and the first time I've used a 'filler'.  In this case the filler was ground almonds, used to exfoliate the skin. Added to the mix was ylang ylang and benzoin. Benzoin is a resin, used in small quantities as a fragrance fixative especially useful with citrus oils.
The soap on being poured resembled a rich dark toffee but is drying to a paler shade, as I'm finding, is often the case. Still, it looks good enough to eat!

14th June 2011 Clary sage & geranium

My first experiment with natural colour! For the base I used 'lardy cake' as the name suggests, pure lard, and therefore a cheap soap to experiment with. I added clary sage and geranium oils at trace and half a teaspoon of turmeric. This is supposed to turn the soap yellow but curiously it looked like lentil soup but has faded dramatically overnight to a rather attractive pale apricot. I'm quite pleased with the result although it wasn't quite what I expected. I think I have a lot to learn about colouring!

16th June 2011 Mystic Soap

Mystic Soap

Another recipe from The Handmade Soap Book by Melinda Coss, a book that I would recommend above all others for novice soap-makers. The mysticism relies on that great fragrance of the swinging 60s - patchouli, added to which is a touch of lavender. I added about three drops of green colouring and I have a lovely pale green soap. Recipe suggested 90 minutes to trace but using a balloon whisk (a soap-making essential) I reduced this to about 50.

17th June 2011 Salad Days

Salad Days

I combined two recipes for this one. I used an oil mixture of dripping, palm kernel oil, coconut and olive oil and then, at trace added 7g avocado oil, 5g marjoram and 2g fennel. This was another half batch and made a pound or six good size tablets. I used the yoghurt moulds again which are very successful. Trace was achieved in about 15 minutes.The scent is amazing with only a small amount of fennel the licorice smell is fantastic and a great aid to sinuses!





19th June 2011 Experiment! Patchouli & Jasmine

For this soap I have used a base of Trex, sweet almond oil, olive oil and white beeswax. At trace I added an approximate 5g each of patchouli and jasmine and 1/2 teaspoon avocado oil. Traced in 15 minutes. In my diary notes I wrote that this didn't firm up as usual within 24 hours and i fact I left it for well over 48 hours before removing it from the mould. However, 5 days on it seems to have hardened nicely.

22nd June 2011


I tried to rebatch the Tally Ho (patchouli and lime) in Mum's crockpot. This has not turned out well. I don't think that I knew what I was looking for and have ended up with a gloopy mess. I shall put this down to experience. I understand that re-batching is quite difficult.

23rd June 2011- Lime, Basil & Mandarin - another experiment!

 Melinda Coss's coconut cream soap provided the base for this, a simple mixture of coconut oil and cocoa butter. This apparently makes a wonderfully hard soap with nice bubbles and I have to say the consistency was velvety smooth and very nice to work with. I added a small amount of red pigment before adding my oils. I've been quite experimental with the quantities here adding more than usual - about 17g in total of lime, basil, mandarin and benzoin. On pouring the soap resembled a raspberry pudding which I thought would fade overnight but it hasn't and now reminds me of Lifebuoy!! I used my new silicone mould which is excellent and well worth the money - about £12 and purchased on Ebay.


24th June 2011 Lime, clary sage & nutmeg

Lime, clary sage & nutmeg

Feeling pretty confident that I've mastered the basic soap-making technique I'm now experimenting with blends of essential oils. A pretty expensive experiment it has to be said!
Thankfully the soap-makingessentials.com website has a very useful page on oils and blends and suggests oils that blend well together, hence this rather odd combination.
I wanted to achieve a light brown colour and added half a teaspoon of cocoa powder. This has faded overnight to an Imperial Leather colour which is not bad but I would have preferred it darker. I have learnt that natural colourings will generally fade overnight whereas the colouring pigments don't appear to do the same.