Soap Making 101 - Part 3

The oils and the lye water are all ready, as are all the extra goodies we include in our soaps. We don our goggles and gloves again as we are about to pour our lye water into our oils. This is where a picture is worth a thousand words and we hope to have some for you soon. The minute the lye water hits the oils, all those crazy molecules start breaking down bonds and re-bonding with the oils and DA DA!!! CHEMISTRY HAPPENS! The oils begin to turn a soft creamy yellow and the consistency begins to thicken fairly quickly.

A quick note on the benefits of making soap in the 21st century. Or even the 20th century. HAND BLENDERS!!!! (Insert Crowd Roaring Approval!) Where my grandmother stirred her soaps over an open fire with a wooden paddle, and did so for the entire day until it was fully saponified, we are done in minutes by using a hand blender to mix the lye and oil together. The hand blender (which you'll never want to use on food, trust me on this) accelerates the saponification process endormously.

Once the mixture takes on the consistency of pudding or what is called "trace" we add our precious fragrances and clays. If those items went in at the beginning of the mixing, the lye would be too harsh still and the fragrances would be destroyed. After doing our fancy swirling techniques or adding oats or petals or whatever we are using, we are ready to pour our very caustic soap into the waiting mold!

Our molds are then covered with a styrofoam cover to hold the warmth in the mold. This creates an environment in the mold that supports continued saponification for the next 24 hours at least, until the mold completely cools and the soap completely solidifies.

We then go through days of cutting and trimming the 25 lb block of new soap down into our bar size. The bars are then set in a clean, dry, dehumidified room for the 2 months where the curing process takes place. The longer our soaps cure, the more water (remember the water in the lye?) disappears from our soap, making a hard, long lasting bar for you.

After a couple of months on the racks, the soaps are brought to our shop in Huntsville where we wrap them in their label and set them out on the shelf. From beginning to end, nearly a three month process. And we make approximately 600 bars a week! Makes me tired just telling you!

Soapstones Soap & Skincare is open 7 days a week until the end of December and open 12 months of the year. We are located at 4 Brunel Road, Huntsville, On. We are also online at www.soapstones.ca and can be reached at info@soapstones.ca!