Mixing lye into water.
Measuring lard.
Weighing all the fats.
Blending fats and lye.
Greasing molds with petroleum jelly.
Soap almost cured in crock-pot, without color or fragrance.
This is how much soap we got out of a tripled recipe. The balls are just the scraps all balled up. Purple is lavender, molded in a Pringles can and sliced, the pink is peppermint, molded in a heart-shaped muffin tin, and the yellow is honey-almond, molded in duck-shaped soap molds. The brown one in the back in the cake pan is chamomile, but was too soft yet to turn out or cut.
And for a close up, you may be able to see from the pink heart how lumpy it turned out. The crock-pot way really isn’t the way you should use if you want pretty results, but for a first shot, I’m happy.
For the full report of the process, go here.
November 29, 2007 at 8:28 am
They’re so pretty! If they smell even half as good as they look, they will make great gifts. (If you can bear to give them away, that is.)
November 29, 2007 at 12:43 pm
They look terrific. How ambitious you are. Hope one finds it’s way my direction.
November 30, 2007 at 12:06 pm
That soap totally rocks! What a cute Christmas gift idea! Okay so you almost have me wanting to make some.
Which is saying much for an uncrafty gal like me.
December 1, 2007 at 4:10 pm
It really does look like fun. Thanks for all the info. I think I’m going to try it after the holidays.
December 4, 2007 at 1:57 am
I got handmade soap one year for Christmas and it was one of my favorite presents ever.
December 4, 2007 at 1:15 pm
These are great! I have always wanted to make these types of soaps. I have made plenty of the glycerin soaps with embeds but nothing like you have done.
December 6, 2007 at 9:49 pm
[...] went out and bought the supplies and directions. I recently came across a blog post titled “Soap Pixies” that will give you an idea on how the soap is made and the process involved. These soaps [...]
January 24, 2008 at 9:33 am
[...] the fabulous sarah k. sent me some samples of her first batch of homemade soaps (which you can see here. I got some of the lavender soap featured in the last photo. Yummy!) And I was in hygienic [...]