Friday, December 13, 2019

Scratching an Itch

 I've been itching to make some pure Castile soap for the longest time.



 It's not like any soap I've ever made and I was curious.



 Castile soap is made with only olive oil, distilled water and lye. I added a bit of honey to improve the lather and a few drops of lemongrass essential oil for fragrance.




 I was nervous. It either goes one way or the other. It either works or it doesn't.  It's finicky.



 So far, so good. I got it in the mold but it was still a very thin batter after blending for what seemed like forever.


 I wanted to try and do something with the tops but it wasn't getting thick enough to take a spoon to it. Think frosting. I made a little incubator with a heating pad for it in hopes some heat would move it along. It didn't.



Oh, well....the top never did get hard enough to do anything with. It just made ugly glops. I should have left it alone. I ended up putting it in the oven with the light on for the night to keep it warm and the next morning is was pretty hard so I cut it. Now it has to sit for 6 months to a year in order to make it usable. Pure olive oil soap will melt away in the tub if you don't give it a long cure.


My new stick blender did a great job. Now I can't wait to make more soap with it but it's got to wait until we get the kitchen finished. Every inch of precious space is being packed with boxes of junk at the moment.


At least the downstairs craft room has been left unscathed. I've got a lot of little holiday soaps to wrap.

10 comments:

  1. That's interesting. What a LONG cure period!! I'm not sure I could wait - lol

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  2. Missed three days of your blog because of flu but it's really good to be somewhat back into my morning routine of coffee, toast and lovely posts! Love Pup's sweater - that absolutely made my day better!

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  3. Patience is needed with that soap. I'm not sure I could wait to sample it. That last photo is pretty.
    Blessings,
    Betsy

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  4. What an interesting mixture/process. I would never have the patience to wait six months to know if it was a success. Your wrapped soaps are just lovely.

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  5. My Mom made a similar soap with a long cure period. I love it!

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  6. Make notes! It is good to try new stuff!

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  7. Interesting. I bet it'll will be so nice for dry skin next winter.

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  8. I am going to make some foaming hand soap with essential oils in January. Today I made glass cleaner, a stronger cleaner for grease and bathrooms and roller ball blends for my sister. It was so much fun!

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  9. Wow! That's a long curing time. I either wouldn't be able to stand the wait so I'd use it too early or, most likely, I'd forget it was curing and find it 15 years later. Either way, your holiday soaps are beautiful!

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  10. very interesting! I didn't know it took that long to cure!

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