Soapmaking Notes & Tips
- milk cartons make ideal moulds
moulds
Plastic food containers are ideal to use as moulds because they are flexible, and it will be easier to remove the soap from them.
Metal containers are rigid and removing the soap from them will be difficult.
Do not ever use aluminium moulds, as the lye will react with the aluminium.
Ideal moulds for beginning soapmakers are wax coated paper milk cartons, cutlery trays, plastic takeaway food containers, or large plastic food containers which you can use for the entire soap mixture, then cut the soap into blocks later.
- tracing stage
hand held blenders
A hand held blender can significantly speed up the mixing time especially when using olive oil which is slow to trace.
Do not attempt to use any other type of bench top blender or food processor as these tend to aerate the mix.
Use the slow speed if the blender has one.
Using a tall, narrow soapmaking pot, blend the mixture in short bursts to prevent burning out the motor.
Between blending, stir the mixture manually, resting the blender for a couple of minutes at a time.
The time to trace will vary depending on the proportion and variety of soapmaking oils, and other factors such temperature. However, you can be assured, using a hand held blender will definitely speed up the process.
Most soap mixes take between five and fifteen minutes to trace, using this method.
tracing times
Some oils can take significantly longer to reach the tracing stage particularly if you are making soap entirely from olive oil (pure Castile soap).
Pure Castile soap may take many hours to trace if you are stirring by hand. Stir constantly for about an hour, then place your soap mixture into the polystyrene box to insulate.
About every six to eight hours open the box and gently stir.
Keep doing this till the oil no longer rises to the surface and the mixture is the consistency of thick custard. This could take up to two days.
