Fisher - The Complete Photo Guide to Soap Making

DAVID FISHER

I have always been a crafty person. As a child, I built models, did macram, and carved wood. As an adult, it was no surprise, then, when a craft-themed book club advertisement came in the mail, that I joined. One book I chose was on making soap, and, practically from the first pages, I was hooked. To me, soap making is this amazing blend of science, art, frugal living, craftmaking, cooking, creativity, health, emotion, and moreall combined into a product you use every day. It can be practical and functional as well as sensual and exciting, and every day when you hold it in your hand, you can say, I made that. Then it will wash down the drain and you will have to make some more.

This book covers all the major concepts and types of soap making. The projects and recipes come from years of time in the kitchen and sharing with other soap makers. But the most important thing about the techniques and information contained here is that you take them and make them your own. Start with the basics, but dont stay there. A world of inspiring ingredients, colors, scents, additives, and shapes awaits.

You are about to enter a world of more delightful and luxurious baths and showersa hobby (or business) that will inspire you for many years. You are joining a community of fellow soap-making addicts who love the craft as much as you will. You will look at the world through new glassesseeing random containers as possible molds; seeing colors or patterns in food or art and wondering how you can duplicate them in soap. Every spice in your cabinet, vegetable in your garden, and beverage in your refrigerator will be looked at differently: Can I add it (and what would it do) to a batch? Your kitchen will be messy, but your heart will be full, and your friends will secretly wonder when you are going to bring them more.

A popular soap-making legend attributes the origins of soap to Mount Sapo in Rome, where animal sacrifices would take place and the melted animal fat would mix with the wood ashes. This crude soap would then wash down the hill into the river below where the servant women discovered that it helped clean their garments better. Alas, it doesnt appear there ever was a Mount Sapo, but the gist of the story is truepeople discovering that water, ashes, and oil combine to make a substance that makes washing things easier.

Evidence of soap and soap-like materials has been found in ancient Babylon, Egypt, and Rome. (Sapo is Latin for soap.) In medieval times, there are references to the trade and manufacture of soap in the Middle East and Europe. From the fifteenth through eighteenth centuries, the production of soap increased in both factory production and through guilds of chandlers who would collect tallow and fat from butchers, or door to door, and make soap and candles from them.

The nineteenth century brought breakthroughs for the soap-making industry with the development of commercially made lyeno more need for wood ashesand the industrial revolution. Soap companies, such as Pears, Lever Brothers, B.J. Johnson, and others made soap a common, affordable household item.

The next breakthrough (or setback) for soap came because of the World Wars. Fats, like most supplies, were in short supply, especially because glycerin could be extracted from them to make nitroglycerin explosives. Synthetic detergents were developed to fill the gap and, throughout the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, became commonplace, both as household and personal cleansers.

Most soap makers mark the beginning of the modern handcrafted soap making renaissance with the publication of a small book in 1972 by Ann Bramson, simply titled Soap. Since then, the art, craft, hobby, and business of soap making has grown considerably, and people around the world are finding the same joy that those mythical washerwomen of Mount Sapo must have experienced when they discovered the delight of handmade soap.

Soap making certainly has come a long way since the days of boiling grease and ashes in giant pots outdoors. But the basic chemical equation is the same:
oils (or fats) + lye (and some water) = soap (along with some glycerina humectant thats a natural by-product of the soap-making process).
There are four basic methods you can use to make soap: two use premade soap as a starting point and two make soap from scratch.

Soaps Using a Premade Base

1. Hand-milled, or rebatched, soap

Hand-Milled, or Rebatched, Soap

Hand-milled soap (sometimes called rebatched soap) starts with a grated or chopped premade batch of either cold process or hot process soap that is slowly heated until it liquefies into a moldable mixture. Its a good method for making just a couple of bars to test a fragrance or colorant, as well as to rescue a problem batch of soap. Its like melt-and-pour soap (following) in that you start with already made soap and customize it with your own scents, colors, and additives.

Soaps Using a Premade Base

2. Melt-and-pour soap

Melt-and-Pour Soap

Melt-and-pour soap also uses a real soap base (made with oils and lye), but includes additional ingredients in the soap that allow it to melt when heated. As with hand-milled soap, you dont have to measure or mix the oils yourself, you just melt the premade base, add the colors, fragrances, and additives you want, and pour it into a mold. Think of it like a plain cake mix that you customize into your own unique creation.

The other benefits of melt-and-pour soap are the widespread availability of transparent bases, as well as how easily they liquefy, which allow for soap designs not possible with other methods.

Soaps Made from Scratch

3. Cold process soap

Cold Process Soap

Cold process is, perhaps, the most common method for making soap from scratch. Starting with melted oils and a lye solution, the soap is mixed, and additives, such as scent and color, are added. The soap is placed in a mold and set aside while saponificationthe chemical reaction that turns the soap mixture into a solidtakes place. This method is called cold process because no additional heat is added after the oils are melted.

Soaps Made from Scratch

4. Hot process soap