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Recipe for Cocoa Butter Soap/ New venue to sell soaps
1 lb. Batch Cocoa Butter Soap
OILS 1 oz. cocoa butter (available in 1 oz. size at most pharmacies) 6 oz. coconut oil (available at asian, middle eastern markets & health food stores) 9 oz. olive oil (preferably not extra virgin) 1/2 to 3/4 oz. Fragrance or Essential Oil (Optional, must not contain any alchohol, available at health food stores) LYE/WATER 2.3 oz. 100% dry lye (Red Devil Brand 100% Lye is available at many home improvement stores, including Menards, by the drain openers) 6 oz. water (distilled or rainwater works well, hard water does not) EQUIPMENT Googles to protect eyes Long sleeve, long pants, wear shoes Rubber gloves Accurate postal scale Dishwasher safe plastic pitcher with lid (Rubbermaid works well) Dishwasher safe stir spoon, such as plastic, stainless steel or wooden Stainless steel or enameled pot to melt oils 2 glass candy or stainless steel meat thermometer, one for oil mix, one for water/lye mix Mold to pour soap into - ideas...huggie wipes box, small plastic food storage containers, round pvc pipe with an end cap on it, empty milk container. Old blanket or towels to cover soap with Important: Wear safety goggles and gloves when mixing lye and water. Use dishwasher safe plastic or 100% stainless steel containers and utensils to mix lye and water together. Keep children & animals away during the process. Do not let anything containing aluminum to come into contact with the soap mix. It will ruin the soap, turning the aluminum black. Weigh everything out and have it ready, before mixing anything. Pour dry lye into pitcher with water and stir this mix until lye is dissolved (hold your breath while doing so). Set aside, preferably with a cover (to avoid steam fumes), until this mix cools down to 100 to 120°F. It will take awhile to cool down. You can use a glass candy thermometer or a stainless steal meat thermometer to check temps. Do not breath fumes from the steam that rises. Set this mix in a safe place where it will not tip over (kitchen sink) until it cools down. It will get very hot when you add the lye to the water. Lye burns if it touchs the skin so avoid ALL skin or eye contact. The lye/water mix is the most dangerous part of soapmaking, treat it with respect, as any chemist would in a lab. While waiting for the lye and the water mix to cool down, melt the oils gently over low heat until the mix reach up to 100 to 120°F. You are trying to cool the lye while heating the oil mix up. When both mixes are within close temps of each other (5°F) and within 100 to 120°F range, you can start to slowly and carefully pour the water/lye mix into the oil mix. Continue stirring until well mixed, for at least 10 minutes. After that, you want to stir this occasionally off and on until soap reaches trace, where the oil does not separate to the top anymore and the mix thickens up. Sometimes this can happen very quickly (with cooler temps), sometimes it may take an hour or more (with higher temps). You have to watch it carefully or you could end up with soap in the pan. If you stop stirring for few minutes and see any layer of oil floating on the top, it has not reached trace. Keep stirring until there is no longer any separation. When it reaches trace you can quickly mix in the fragrance (quickly because sometimes fragrance can accelerate trace), pour the soap mix into a mold & cover with a blanket or towel to keep the heat in. Let this soap mix set covered undisturbed for 24 hours. Turn out of mold and cut into bars. Set bars apart to air out for at least 3 weeks, before use, for best results. -------------------------------------------- NEW VENUE TO SELL SOAP PRODUCTS Here is a brand new venue where soapmakers can sell their products. I think this new system will be hotter for sellers than EBAY is. If you do sign up with this, please say that lifesfun refered you. They give 5 coupons for each referal. Thank You. http://www.prizewise.com/ (lifesfun) |
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