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Elizabeth
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I want to make soap with the children. Is there a way to make soap without using lye?
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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MaryM
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I am not an expert, but have dabbled a bit in this and read quite a few books in the hope of someday actually tackling this hobby. We made soap once (with the lye step) with a friend who does this professionally and have done it on our own with the "melt and pour" bases. So to answer your question, all soaps are made with lye, you can't have soap without lye. If you don't want to use lye you can still make soap using the melt and pour glycerine base or the castile base available from the various craft stores. With these products the lye step has already been done for you. Then you just remelt this product and pour in molds. Using this glycerine base is really easy and there are still so many cool things that you can do to it to personlize it (adding color, scents, texture/additives). To the kids it feels like making soap (even if it isn't truly from scratch).
You can also "rebatch" an already made soap - like Ivory. Shred the soap and pour boiling water (and other ingredients-additives/scents) over it and mix together.
I found a couple fun books for kids at the library and we are planning on using some of the ideas to make soap for some of our Christmas gifts.
Totally Cool Soapmaking for Kids
Soapmaking: 50 Fun & Fabulous Soaps to Melt & Pour
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Elizabeth
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Thanks Mary! I used the glycerine melt and pour last year and added our own lavender buds. It was fun and easy--maybe too easy. If I rebatch, I guess I could experiment with different fats and powdered milk, etc? What is a good soap to rebatch with--I'd want something without scent and hopefully pretty gentle.
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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Lisbet
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Elizabeth,
I have done the melt and pour and with lye last year. I did the lye outside with no littles around and actually made Mothers Milk (with my milk!) and I use it on Molly.
The melt and pour I did with the littles and it was great fun. We gave them as gifts for Mothers Day!
I would imagine Ivory or Dove would be good for rebatching. I've not done this before though I'd like to try. I've got all my soap making things packed away in the basement....I guess it will have to wait till we move.
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folklaur
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Hi,
A few years back I was making a lot of soap -- use M&P and rebatching (I didn't want to work with lye.) Although I did try to use store bought bars to shred and rebatch, I never had success that way.
Although it has been a few years, I did buy from Bramble Berry (the goat's milk base)
and from Soap Crafterstoo.
For M&P, I buy from this store, but like I said, it has been awhile, but I did like their honey base.
I almost always add to my soap, whether rebatching or M&P -- a little extra glycerin, milk (powdered or liquid - usually goat's), and with M&P, if you like a sudsy bar, a little bit of a pure, unscented liquid soap base. I used to buy thay from soap wizards, but they don't sell it anymore, but I am sure you can find it other places.
Rebatching does take a long time to set up. You need to flip the soap each day, and it needs a place to dry out - unlike M&P which you can use right away. Also -- rebatch does shrink somewhat, and the colors can change on you.
So, imho, for presentation, and ease of use, M&P is the way to go. I love making loaves of it and then slicing them off to see how they look inside. I have boxes of molds I plan to sell in the garage, since I ended up mainly using loaf molds ( or rubbermaid containers.) And I can "spice up" M&P with additives to makeit nice.
However, my personal preference for the actual soap is rebatch. It takes longer, and is a little harder, but I like the soap more, I think.
HTH,
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CathinCoffeland
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A fun variation on the glycerin soap-
you can have the kids draw pics then scan them into the computer and print onto trasparency sheets.
Then trim the now clear pic to fit your mold.
Layer a layer of clear or colored glycerin when cool add the pic then layer with clear soap.
very cute and fun for the kids to give as gifts.
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monica
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we want to try out soapmaking. can i use muffin tins for molds or do i need real soap molds?
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MaryM
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Monica -  funny you should ask...we are in the middle of making a few bars of soap right now so all the equipment is out. We have only used the soap molds (which are really inexpensive, btw). One of the biggest challenges with the soap is getting it out of the mold. With the thin plastic molds, there is some flexibility and you can push from the bottom so it pops out more easily. I'm not sure how easy it is to get them out of muffin tins which don't have the same flexibility. Anyway, I'm experimenting for you. Just put some in a muffin tin - one greased with a natural oil, one not. Well see.
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as cold as it is there Mary.. after it's set you might also try setting it outside and letting it freeze some.. then maybe they'd pop out easier.. like an ice cube.
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monica
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it looks like i posted on the right day. heres another question- we are going to the melt and pour soap, probably a glycerin something (aloe vera?) i see the blocks are sold by 2lbs/ 5lbs, etc. can anyone tell me about how many soaps- regular, bar size soaps, are made per pound. this will give me an idea so i dont end up with too many or too few.
thanks
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MaryM
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JodieLyn wrote:
| as cold as it is there Mary.. after it's set you might also try setting it outside and letting it freeze some.. then maybe they'd pop out easier.. like an ice cube. |
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Soap doesn't shrink and pull from the sides when it cools. Wax does - that's why that technique does work well for candles (or making your own chunky crayons in a muffin tin). My experience with ice cubes is that they only come out because I twist the trays to flex them. Which gets me thinking, that if you are looking for an alternative to purchased soap molds, ice cube trays would work (but you'd get a small bar of soap ). Heat is actually a better technique for breaking the seal on the soap. Turn the mold upside down and run it under hot water while giving slight twist to mold.
So here is a report on my experiment. Had trouble getting them out of the muffin tins -(the one I had greased with olive oil was slightly better). But then it's been about a year since we have made soap and we had trouble getting them out of the plastic molds, too. I had to resort to the hot water method listed above for several of them, including the ones in the muffin tin. Did eventually get those out. And Jodie, I did try the freezing idea first just to see - no luck. We have never tried the silicon molds but I assume those would be the easiest for release because they are the most flexible. Which leads me to think that the silicon muffin "tins" would make a really good mold. 
monica wrote:
| i see the blocks are sold by 2lbs/ 5lbs, etc. can anyone tell me about how many soaps- regular, bar size soaps, are made per pound. |
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4 bars per lb. seems about average.
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monica
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thank you! that is so helpful. do you know if any of the soapmaking companies have "no more tears" formulas, like ones that wouldnt irritate if they got in the eyes
thanks so much for experimenting for me with the muffin tin.
monica
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monica
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one more question- well, it probably wont be my last question. what supplier do you order from? i compared a few and this place, snowdrift farm, seemed to have good prices. anywhere else?
thanks
monica
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MaryM
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I'm not familiar with that supplier. Their prices do look really good though. I have gotten some from Peak Candle Supplies because I get my candle making stuff from them and they are local so I can pick it up and save shipping charges. But as you can see the prices are higher than the site you linked. I personally get most of my soap base from the craft stores (hobby Lobby, Michaels) because I am cheap and the 40% off coupons make buying the bigger soap base packs a bargain. Now the soap bases at some of these suppliers is a better quality than the craft store so it depends on what you want. We haven't gotten into the soap making as much as the candle making so I haven't "upgraded" yet.
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I've never made soap but just thought where is Trish from saintly soaps ! I'm sure she would know the answer 
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MaryM wrote:
| Which leads me to think that the silicon muffin "tins" would make a really good mold. |
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They do!
I bought cutesy ones at the dollar store and they work great. I also have a silicon "bread pan" that I make a brick of soap in and then cut into bars.
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monica wrote:
one more question- well, it probably wont be my last question. what supplier do you order from? i compared a few and this place, snowdrift farm, seemed to have good prices. anywhere else?
thanks
monica
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Only the soap (not the molds and such yet) are available here
:)
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4Real Forums : Our Lady's Loom, Larder, and Laundry
Topic: Soap Making
