If you aren’t a soapmaker, please feel free to scroll to the bottom of the post to see the pretty soaps I made this week!
For those who care, I finally got my act together and master-batched some oils! I had been slowly gathering information and equipment for several weeks. Long Leaf Soaps was a true inspiration as she shared about her set-up on Facebook. I was able to use my big bucket that my coconut oil came in from Soaper’s Choice, and bought an industrial bucket warmer, as well as a bulkhead tank fitting and spigot online. I told Hubby all we needed were some pipe fittings and some silicone, but he was adamant about not using silicone, so he found the fittings he wanted to use and put together that part for me.
Master-batch bucket for soap oils
I set it up on top of an empty 5-gallon bucket right next to my rack full of supplies. There’s an electrical outlet directly behind it so I can easily plug in the warmer, and it’s high enough I can put my scale and soap pot on the floor under the spigot to get the oils I need.
To start out, I just melted the solid oils in two large pots on my stove, then dumped them in the bucket along with the liquid oils and stirred it up – enough to make 3.5 gallons total. I figure I could have made at least another 2 gallons if I wanted to fill the bucket, but that was a good starting point. Long Leaf Soaps also recommended plugging in the warmer the night before you want to make soap. It heats up to 140 degrees, so you have to be careful not to touch it when it’s hot!
I made three batches of soap in one afternoon – it worked pretty great! I didn’t get it plugged in overnight, but it was probably 5-6 hours. The oils were between 90-95 degrees, which is my perfect soaping temp! I did not master-batch the lye solution, and probably never will. It just seems too dangerous to me to have that sitting around, since I do all my soapmaking in my kitchen.
Here are the final soaps, all cut and ready to cure:
Black Raspberry Creme Soap by Great Cakes Soapworks
Always a favorite, I figured I would bring it back in time for the holidays!
Moroccan Spice Coffee Soap by Great Cakes Soapworks
This is also a re-make, and the first time I will be offering it this year. Perfect for fall with its top notes of orange combined with every spicy note you can think of!
River Dance Soap by Great Cakes Soapworks
It’s been several years since I have made a soap with this fragrance. It’s a dupe of the popular men’s cologne Green Irish Tweed – smells absolutely wonderful! Love the way the faux funnel pour came out with the three shades of green.
All three of these soaps will be available at Greatcakessoapworks.com on October 23rd.
