The Soap Kitchen

INGREDIENTS 244g of cold, clean water 95g of sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) beads or pearls 50g olive oil (preferably pomace grade but virgin or extra virgin will do) 200g coconut oil (hard variety) 400g palm oil (hard variety) 20ml Fragrance / Essential Oil Roughly 5- 10g White Titanium Dioxide Roughly 5 - 10ml Water Dispersible Red Liquid Colour

Equipment: Scales (1g increments) Jugs (heat resistant plastic or Pyrex) Whisk (Electric Whisk) Bowls Suitable for Whisking Stainless Steel Pans Measuring Spoons Silicone Spatular Goggles or Safety Glasses Rubber Gloves Pipette 1kg Mould Siliconised baking sheet to line your mould (folded, not cut)

1. 1. Firstly, line a wooden mould with the siliconised grease proof paper. When you have lined your mould fill a bowl with cold water ready for cooling the lye. (Do not over fill it as you don’t want the jug of lye to float but just sit in the water comfortably to cool).

2. Measure out all your ingredients needed in preparation for when they will be used in the recipe. This is an interesting version of a cold-process natural soap which uses whipped cold ingredients to product a light and airy soap which resembles a meringue. With experience this soap can be piped. Because this soap is made completely with cold oils you won’t need to melt anything down just have the pre-weigh hard oils ready to be mixed in a large mixing bowl.

3. Firstly you need to make up you lye. Measure out 244g of cold clean water into a jug. Accurately weigh 95g of sodium hydroxide (or as some people refer to it Caustic Soda) into a suitable container. Carefully add the sodium hydroxide to the water, stirring all the time with a spoon or spatula making sure you’re wearing the correct safety equipment such as gloves and googles. It will begin to react to create your lye, DO NOT breathe in the steam. Make sure you mix your lye in a spacious area or near to a window just to be sure. Once mixed together, place the jug into the bowl of cold water to cool. For this recipe the lye will need to be completely cold before adding to the rest of the ingredients.

4. Next add the coconut and palm oil into a bowl. Using an electric hand-held whisk start to whisk the coconut and palm oils into a creamy consistency. You then want to slowly add the 50g olive oil (which will be liquid) slowly into the mixture.

5. Once all the oils are completely mixed and whisked to a light and creamy consistency, carefully and slowly add your cold lye, continuing to whisk all the time. Add small amounts little and often to avoid any of the lye splashing when whisking.

6. Once you've added all your lye to the oils you are ready to add your fragrance or essential oils which you need to gently mix into the airy mixture. We’ve chosen to use a Strawberries and Cream fragrance oil which you can buy from us on our website.

7. For the purposes of this recipe we are dividing the mix into 3 in order to demonstrate the effects of colour and to make the strawberries and cream red and white mixed effect. So with 3 separate bowls or jugs divide out the mix.

8. For this whipped soap we coloured the 3 separate bowls a white, light pink and a red. For the white we used white titanium dioxide powder which we mixed into a small bit of water to make a paste like consistency. For the pink and the red we used a water dispersible red liquid colour and a pipette. The pink only requires a tiny but of red to make it a baby pink colour; however you can also add a bit of the white titanium dioxide to it if you make it too red to begin with or want a paler pink. Then finally the red is simply as much red you want until you are happy with the colour, remembering if you add too much colour it may come out in the lather of the soap.

9. When you are happy with your colourings, spoon the mixture into the mould. This is where you can get creative in how to place your mixture. You can add it in layers from red to pink to white or even carefully mix the colour to blend together.

We decided to spoon in the mixture in randomly filling different sections of the mould and then slowly layer them on top of one another one after the other. After we had used all the mixture we then used a fork to slightly mix the colours together but keeping the whipped airy texture.

And there you have it, your own light and lovely smelling strawberries and cream completely cold whipped soap.

Cold Process Ingredients: For 1kg Caustic Soda- 125g Water- 340g Olive Oil- 454g Coconut Oil- 284g Palm Oil – 170g ¼ tsp Grapefruit seed extract Water Dispersible Red Liquid Colour Green Liquid Colour Yellow Liquid colour White Titanium Dioxide 20 ml Essential oil / Fragrance Poppy Seeds

2/3rds of the Ingredients: Caustic Soda- 85g Water- 226g Olive Oil- 302g Coconut Oil- 165g Palm Oil – 113g 1/3rds of the Ingredients: Caustic Soda- 41g Water- 113g Olive Oil- 151g Coconut Oil- 94g Palm Oil – 56g

Equipment: Scales (1g increments) Jugs (heat resistant plastic or Pyrex) Whisk (hand whisk) Stainless Steel Pans Measuring Spoons Goggles or Safety Glasses Rubber Gloves 1kg Mould Siliconised baking sheet to line your mould (folded, not cut)

1. Firstly, line a wooden mould with the siliconised grease proof paper. When you have lined your mould fill a bowl with cold water ready for cooling the lye. (Do not over fill it as you don’t want the jug of lye to float but just sit in the water comfortably to cool).

2. Measure out the 2/3rds quantities of water and caustic soda into separate jugs, making sure you’re wearing the correct safety equipment such as gloves and googles. Mix the caustic soda into the water, all at once and whisk straight away. It will begin to react to create your lye, DO NOT breathe in the steam. Make sure you mix your lye in a spacious area or near to a window just to be sure. Once mixed together, place the jug into the bowl of cold water to cool.

3. Again measure out the 2/3rds quantities of olive oil, coconut oil and palm oil into a stainless steel pan. Most people won’t have all the oils already melted so you will just need to melt down the pre weigh oils in separate pans and then add all together in one larger pan. *The reason why this recipe has been split into 2/3rds and 1/3rd is due to the layering technique used to create the different colours and sections of the watermelon soap. The red poppy seed infused bottom of the soap needs time to gel and stiffen before pouring the white and green layers on. This is a really easy way to create exact and interesting layers in your soap loaves. 4. Add a few drops of grapefruit seed extract and whisk all the oils together; the grapefruit seed extract will bead up slightly but this will not affect your soap.

5. When your lye has cooled down slightly add it in all at once to your oils and whisk immediately. Continue to whisk until you find a trace.

6. Once you begin to see a *trace you can add your chosen oils or fragrances. Be careful to test and check what oils and fragrances work in cold process soaps as some do and some don’t, it’s always worth testing before you waste a whole batch of soap if it goes wrong. Before I tried this soap I tested the Watermelon Fragrance we stock here at The Soap Kitchen and it DOES NOT WORK!! Unless you want porridge like mess for soap do not use this. I have yet to find a watermelon fragrance that does work so instead I used Rose Geranium essential oil to be on the safe side.

Beer Soap Recipe

Prep for beer: For your beer soap to work well you firstly need to remove the alcohol and carbonation (fizz) from it by boiling the beer for about 15 minutes keeping a close eye on it ensuring it doesn’t boil over. *If you do not boil the beer and remove the alcohol it can react badly when you begin to make the lye causing a bubbling mess so make sure you are wearing rubber gloves and all your safety gear! After you have boiled the beer leave it uncovered in the fridge over night to ensure all the carbonation and alcohol has been removed. Take it out about an hour before you intend to use it in your soap. Note- When you boil your beer you will lose up to half so make sure you have enough to start with. We used two 500ml bottle of beer to be sure we had enough.

Ingredients:

50g Avocado Oil

248g Rapeseed Oil

248g Coconut Oil

198g Palm Oil

248g Olive Oil

131g Sodium Hydroxide (pearls)

370g Dark beer or ale of your choice (final prepped weight)

Optional Extra’s: 20ml (more colour can be added if necessary) White Titanium Dioxide Dispersion 20 ml Essential or Fragrance oils (ensure any fragrance oil is compatible with CP soap) ¼ tsp of Grapefruit Seed Extract (optional) 4tsp of Cinnamon (ground)

Equipment Scales (1g increments) Jugs (heat resistant plastic or Pyrex) Whisk (hand whisk) Stainless Steel Pans Measuring Spoons Goggles or Safety Glasses Rubber Gloves 1kg Mould Siliconised baking sheet to line your mould (folded, not cut)

Instructions 1) Firstly you need to prep your beer as instructed. Once beer is prepped then you can begin making your soap. Get your mould lined and ready and weigh out your ingredients that you will need.

2) To make your lye add a little sodium hydroxide at a time to the beer and stir before adding more. It will be a bit more difficult to see if the sodium hydroxide has dissolved in the dark colour of the beer so just take extra care mixing to avoid any chunks floating in your beer before adding to your oils. Make sure you are wearing the appropriate clothing and equipment before mixing. Put your lye to one side to cool slightly whilst making up the remaining ingredients. You can speed the cooling process if you wish by placing your jug of lye in a large bowl containing a shallow amount of cold water (If you do this be careful it doesn’t float).

3) Fully melt your Coconut and Palm oils and then add to your soap making pan then add your Avocado, Rapeseed Oil and Olive Oil and stir altogether. You can add Grapefruit seed extract here if you want to speed up the trace and to act as a natural antioxidant. Once oils are all mixed slowly and careful add your lye/beer mixture and start to whisk straight away and continuing until you see a light trace.

4) When you see a light trace you can add the essential oils (or fragrance oils) of your choice (ensure any fragrance will work in cold process soaps). For this recipe we chose to do both a fragranced soap and a coloured soap so you can pick which one you fancy making for your dad on father’s day.

5) For the orange and cedar soap: measure out your essential oils, we did 10ml of Sweet orange oil and 10ml of Cedar wood atlas to the mixture

For the cinnamon coloured and textured soap: Using a bit of olive oil mix in the cinnamon powder to the oil to make a paste like mixture. Use this later to naturally colour and fragrance your soap. We chose to use cinnamon as we wanted a deep brown colour to the bottom of our soap to make it as realistic as possible to a nice thick ale or beer, plus it gives the soap a nice texture and feel.

6) Once the essentials oils or colour has been added whisk your mixture until you have found its full trace (this usually looks like a hair is sat on the top of the surface when you drizzle some of the mixture back into the pan from your whisk). There’s no need to colour this mixture as the beer/ale will give it a nice natural brown colour.

7) For our beer soap we poured ¾’s of our mixture into the soap mould then continued to colour the other ¼ with a white titanium dioxide suspension. We then gently whisked this mixture slowly whilst the other ¾ of the loaf gelled slightly in the mould. This allows us time to pour the rest of the mixture on top and create a nice fun layered effect like an actual beer with a head.

8) Once you are happy with your soap and its overall look cover with a lid and wrap with towels to keep in the warmth and avoid your soap cooling too quickly. If it cools to quickly it will go chalky and white around the edges. So the better you wrap it nice and snuggly the better your soap will set.

How to make…

April and May floral spring soap- Mixing Melt and Pour soap with Cold Process

Melt and Pour Ingredients: Crystal White Melt and Pour Soap base Liquid Colours: Red, Red/blue, Green, Violet and Yellow Fragrance/ Essential Oils (optional) Equipment: Microwaveable Jug or Small saucepan for hob Pipettes for colouring Cutting utensil Spoons Silicone/Plastic Moulds

Learn how to make this beautifully intricate soap using 2 completely different techniques of soap making. To begin you will need to prep your melt and pour soaps to give them time to set and settle before using them to place in your cold process soap. Using a silicone mould or a mould of your choice melt small chunks of melt and pour crystal white soap in a jug or a small pan. You can choose to fragrance your decorative soaps but in this recipe we haven’t. We have chosen to use Crystal White melt and pour soap base as it gives the best looking result when set.  We want to create a nice range of pastel pinks, purples and yellows for this soap, so by adding the liquid colours to the white melt and pour base you can achieve this look much more effectively than if you were to use clear. Once you have prepped all your melt and pour decorations for the top of your loaf set to one side, then you can begin to measure out your ingredients for the cold process soap.

Cold Process Ingredients: For 1kg Caustic Soda- 125g Water- 340g Olive Oil- 454g Coconut Oil- 284g Palm Oil – 170g ¼ tsp Grapefruit seed extract Green Liquid Colour Yellow Liquid colour White Titanium Dioxide Ground nut shells Equipment: Scales (1g increments) Jugs (heat resistant plastic or Pyrex) Whisk (hand whisk) Stainless Steel Pans Measuring Spoons Goggles or Safety Glasses Rubber Gloves 1kg Mould Siliconised baking sheet to line your mould (folded, not cut)

1. Firstly, line a wooden mould with the siliconised grease proof paper. When you have lined your mould fill a bowl with cold water ready for cooling the lye. (Do not over fill it as you don’t want the jug of lye to float but just sit in the water comfortably to cool).

2. Measure water and caustic soda into separate jugs, making sure you’re wearing the correct safety equipment such as gloves and googles. Mix the caustic soda into the water, all at once and whisk straight away. It will begin to react to create your lye, DO NOT breathe in the steam . Make sure you mix your lye in a spacious area or near to a window just to be sure. Once mixed together, place the jug into the bowl of cold water to cool.

3. Measure out olive oil, coconut oil and palm oil into a stainless steel pan. Most people won’t have all the oils already melted so you will just need to melt down the pre weigh oils in separate pans and then add all together in one larger pan. 4. Add a few drops of grapefruit seed extract and whisk all the oils together; the grapefruit seed extract will bead up slightly but this will not affect your soap.

5. When your lye has cooled down slightly add it in all at once to your oils and whisk immediately. Continue to whisk until you find a trace.

6. Once you begin to see a *trace you can add your chosen oils or fragrances. Be careful to test and check what oils and fragrances work in cold process soaps as some do and some don’t, it’s always worth testing before you waste a whole batch of soap if it goes wrong.

Have you ever made cold process soap before?

Well, until myself (Kat) and Jo started here as a new members of The Soap Kitchen Team , neither had we! 

Our first lesson was to learn how to make all our lovely handmade products and in particular our cold process soap. After we gave it a few tries and got the hang of the basics, we began to experiment and play with new ideas, colours and ingredients.

This is what we are going to blog about and share with you all!

So we thought we would have some fun after learning the basic natural soap mix and make this cute butterfly slice soap.

Using some off cuts of soaps we cut some butterfly shapes and layered them on the bottom of a lined 1 kg mould. 

After making up the soap mix and carefully pouring it in so the pieces didn't float to the top, we left it to set. 

When the soap was set and ready to cut, we sliced it up and this was our end result.

This would be a great idea for spring/summer maybe having a specific theme and have the butterflies in different colours or shades.

Hello!

This is our first blog on Tumblr so we thought we would tell you all about us and what we do.

We are soap suppliers completely dedicated to the crafts of soap making, toiletry making and candle making. As one of the leading hand made soap manufacturers, our aim is to provide our customers with an unrivalled selection of products, services and ingredients at competitive prices and to ensure delivery is prompt and efficient. We hope you find our products and service to your satisfaction.

Originally formed in 2000 and working from our shop premises in Torrington since 2001, we have grown a great deal over the years. Now in 2014 we have made another huge leap forward to confirm our place as the best soap supplier. Having outgrown our previous warehouse premises we have moved to a much larger premises in nearby Bideford. We now have over 7100 sq ft of warehouse and office space located in it's own half-acre plot on the Caddsdown Industrial Park. This growth is entirely due to our loyal customer base growing and growing, so we have to thank all of you for your valued custom over the years. We intend to use our new available space to add more products and services and make your shopping experience even better. Please read Our Story, below.

THE SOAP KITCHEN, started in 2000 as small family run soap suppliers making quality cold process soaps from pure and natural ingredients. Over time we developed our own unique recipes as a result of lengthy experimentation which originally took place literally in the kitchen of our family home. Our original selection of quality hand made soaps were first thoroughly tested and approved by our family, friends, neighbours and their families and friends before ever being offered for sale.

In 2001, after having our soaps safety assessed, we moved into our shop premises and expanded the business to include stocking a range of soap making products, which we offered for sale to those who wanted to try the craft for themselves.

Over the years our business has grown and evolved into one of the leading suppliers of soap and toiletry making ingredients to the hobbyist and small business in Europe, but one thing remains constant and that is our commitment to customer service.

We take our business very seriously and without satisfied customers we would not be where we are today. Since starting in 2000 we have been committed to the core of our business which remains soapmaking, soap and toiletry supplies and ingredients and we now have space for large and comprehensive stocks of all the ingredients you're likely to need. Over time, our customers have suggested that we diversify into other areas and where we think they are complementary to our business we have done this, which has resulted in us now stocking a wide selection of ingredients for those looking to use more natural products for cleaning in their homes and work places. We have also taken on a wide range of products for the candle maker, which is an area we are now committed to. Many products we stock as part of our core business have many other uses and this is especially true of our large stocks of quality essential oils, which find their way into many marketplaces including aromatherapy and complementary therapy. Our large and diverse stocks of fragrances and flavours are increasingly being used far more widely than we originally anticipated.

We have shipping arrangements in place which allow us to ship virtually any quantity of our products throughout the UK, Europe and beyond at highly competitive prices.

These days, with our new larger premises, plus our investment in machinery and software, we are better placed than ever to meet the needs of our customers. We now design and manufacture our own range of soap moulds and offer our customers a bespoke service for mould making and small run bespoke label printing. This means our customers can now design their own soap moulds to include their own logos and can have their own matching labels printed to allow complete ranges of bespoke soaps and toiletries to be created at affordable prices in small quantities as required.

All our staff are completely dedicated to ensuring our customers receive the kind of service they expect and deserve. Now in our larger premises we intend to offer our customers an even larger and more diverse range of products. We are also teamed up with experienced consultants who have constructed some extremely cost-effective Safety Assessment solutions for our customers and over time will extend these and provide wider and more bespoke services where required.

Our website is responsible both directly and indirectly for almost all our incoming business, so we concentrate our efforts in encouraging our customers to shop on-line, offering preferential prices to regular shoppers and trade prices to all our business customers. To obtain these prices all we ask is you take the time to Register on our website, although we do not insist you register simply to shop with us.

We are fortunate enough to receive regular praise from satisfied customers about our levels of service and diversity of products.

Visit our website and find out more-