Today's work schedule includes a new slab (nearly 25 pounds!) of spearmint soap!
I now make a whopping 75 bars at a time and here's how it went :)
First, I start with the lye water. Into distilled water goes sugar and citric acid. Then, I add the lye very carefully. Once in, it heats up well over 175 degrees F. It has to cool for hours because I "soap" at room temperature. While that cools, I melt all the butters and hard oils and mix them with the liquid oils.
I then set aside the essential oil scents, the buttermilk powder (there's a lot of it!) and the mica I will use for the color. Here we are all set to start the soaping process. We will use the big 5-gallon bucket for this huge batch.
The lye water and oils/butters are mixed with the immersion blender in the master batch and here I am pouring in the essential oils.
Once I bring this master batch to a slight trace (think pancake batter, where, when you lift the beaters, there is a puddle formed on the top of the batter where the beater dripped). I have separated out the part of the batch that will get the green mica and we are set to mix that mica in.
I've now got the mica mixed in and the uncolored batch was put into the huge slab mold. We are to the fun part...mixing the color in!
It's starting to look like my soap! I've drizzled the green batter all over the slab. I now just have to mix it in a bit. I use a wooden skewer to do that.
Mixed! It'll sit for a little while and then get covered with saran wrap (to keep the top from oxidizing and creating soda ash) and then covered with a plastic board to help increase temperatures of the thermal reaction that is about to take place.
The lye and the oils chemically, thermally, bond and create soap. The lye is totally consumed in the process and some of the oils are left behind as conditioners for your skin. This process takes approximately 48 hours in total. Within 24 hours, the soap will be cut.
We are 24 hours into this thermal reaction and the "soap" is ready to cut into logs. Here it is with me starting the first cut. The soap has changed colors during that thermal reaction, by the way...
Once the slab is cut into logs, the logs are then cut into bars. This is a wonderful bar cutter I bought in 2023. It's expensive, but it does such a wonderful job. It perfectly fits the log length (though I can cut longer logs) and here are 15 newly cut bars of soap.
Tomorrow, they will be stamped with my company logo. The bars of soap will now cure in bakery racks for a minimum of 4 weeks, where they will continue to shed water weight, harden, and crystalize into a lovely, creamy, bubbly soap. After that, they are ready to be planed on the edges, wrapped, labeled, and placed up for sale on my website.
Now you know how our luxury soaps are created! It's a big task, but it's very rewarding to know that this soap is loved by so many (including all of my family). Did you know it's a big christmas gift hit even here at home? Yup!
Let your skin drink in the goodness!
Have a fabulous day!