Making soap

For those of you that don't know, I am starting a business making handmade soap. In the picture above and below is the only equipment that I need for this type of soap.

Soap is made by a chemical reaction between the oils and the lye to make soap and glycerine. The best part of this soap is that the glycerine is not removed so it is really moisturizing and luxurious

I scent my soaps two ways...100% natural with essential oils (which can be quite expensive for some scents, I use only the essential oils that are a more reasonable price) and also with fragrance oils. There are so many scents available that I have been having a really hard time deciding which scents to work with.

After the soap is mixed I also add another oil to add extra moisturizing. This process is called superfatting. Currently I have been using grapeseed oil, hemp seed oil, cocoa butter and shea butter.

This is the coconut oil... it is solid under 72 degree so it usually needs to be melted before making the soap.

I just added the lye to the water. At this point I am wearing gloves and goggles...I also have the window over the sink open for the fumes to escape. You can see the fumes in the picture right below the faucet. The fumes are dangerous to breath. Adding the lye to the water causes a chemical reaction that heats the water over 180 degrees...that's as far as my thermometer goes.

To cool the lye water it sits in an ice bath for about 20 minutes or more

While the coconut oil is melting and the lye water is cooling I weight out the olive oil. Then I add the coconut oil to the olive oil.

Once all the temps are around 80-100 degrees I mix the lye water into the oils.

The oils and lye water need to be mixed until it comes to 'trace'...it should be thick like pudding.The hand blender makes what would be hours of stirring only take a few minutes...thank goodness for electricity

A few minutes later and the soap has reached trace and is ready to superfat

We wait until after the soap reaches trace to do the superfatting so that all the lye is used up by the olive oil and coconut oil. This way we can guarantee all of this special oil for superfatting is free in the soap for moisturizing

Stirring in the hemp seed oil.

There are two ways to make soap at this point...cold process and hot process. For cold process I would just pour this into my mold and cover it with blankets for insulation and leave it like that for 24 hours. Then it would be cut and stored on a shelf for 4 weeks to cure.

The hot process method is normally cooked on the stove and you need to stir a lot to make sure it doesn't bubble over. I never liked that method because it is dangerous and time consuming. I came across a way to make hot process soap with a crock pot and it is wonderful. All I do once the soap is superfatted is dump it in the crockpot on low for 5 hours.

This is what it looks like after 2 hours. The curing process that the cold process soap goes through on the shelf for 4 weeks all happens for this soap in those 5 hours in the crockpot.

About halfway through I stir it all up.

I line my mold with freezer paper to make removing the soap a lot easier. Once the 5 hours is over I stir it all up really good to make sure it is even and then I add the fragrance. It is hard to tell how much fragrance is needed because it is a lot stronger at this point than when the soap is finished. If enough fragrance isn't added then the soap won't have a strong scent.

Once it has been in the mold for 24 hours the soap is ready to remove and cut. At this point the soap is ready to use.

If anyone is interested in buying any soap you can leave me a comment. I have Rose and Sandalwood handmade soap and Lemon and Lavender 100% natural soap. Also more products coming soon!

Puppy update

Is this not the cutest thing? This is one of the male puppies at 2 weeks old

The other male puppy

This little girls is very shy...

...she was the first to open her eyes

They are such little whiners!

The whole brood. We lost one more puppy during the first week...we think he was smothered by his siblings on the bottom of the puppy pile.

Fall is here

Fall is finally here! It is my favorite season...I love to see the leaves change colors. I just wish they would last longer.

This is my creekline. Most of it doesn't look so nice any more because these trees lose their leaves early, but that one tree got such a nice color.

I took a drive the other day just to get some pictures of the trees.

This is on the way into town...the picture just doesn't do it justice...it is just so beautiful!

It seems like just after they start turning they are falling off.

The day I took this picture it was really hazy...I found out later that there was a dust storm in Oklahoma and the haze was the dust from that storm. Every picture I took looked gray and dull.

Puppies!!

On 10/8/12 we were blessed with more puppies. She had 8 girls and 3 boys. 9 lived but one died 10 days later...we think he was smothered on the bottom of the puppy pile.

This is Lizzie's third litter...she is such a good momma!

I this not the most adorable thing you have seen?

We just love having these little guys around...we have a hard time keeping our hands off of them.

These are very big puppies and then grow very fast.

Just a few hours old.

Little piggies and more

Vietnamese Pot Belly pigs

We got rid of our other pigs back in January and I have really missed having them eating all of the food scraps from the kitchen.

A friend had these little girls and after taking a few weeks to think about it I finally decided to get them...mostly just to eat the food scraps. Morgan has decided that she wants them to be hers, so she will be caring for them.

They are very shy though, so I don't think she will be able to hold them very often unless she spends lots of time with them.

On October 13th Tanner sang with a group of kids from our church at the local Pumpkin festival. They all did a great job and sounded so sweet!

Tanner went fishing with our friend Phillip at his lake. He had a blast and caught 4 fish.

He even caught this one all by himself...this was his first time catching a fish when he cast the line himself. He was so excited. And doesn't he look so grown up in this picture?  Where did my little boy go?

Early October

Six Flags Fright Fest!

 Yes we were given tickets toSix Flags on the first day of Fright Fest. The kids were so excited.

 They took their friend Amber along. This was in the line for the Scorcher...it was a very long line.We have been spoiled by the short lines at Lake Winne. They had a great time!

 Morgan wasn't really sure she wanted to get on the roller coaster.

 More pictures of us in line...we had a lot of time for that , but everyone had such a great time.

 After dark the zombies came out. Tanner wasn't really sure how he felt about that.

 Tanner got his first motorcycle ride. He had a great time and wanted to go again...doesn't he look so cute?

 This is Esme the last of the Feb pups to find her home. I had been holding her for someone and then they couldn't take her so I re-homed her with a friend. She had a long ride, but she was ready.

 Halfway there she wasn't so sure anymore. She drooled all over the dash and when I got off the interstate she vomited all over the floorboard. When I say all over I mean...'all over'. Getting it out I filled two dustpans heaping...I'm not sure where she had all that, we didn't even feed her that morning in anticipation of the drive.

 Here she is with her new best friend....I think she is going to be really happy.