Lye Soap Recipes
Overview
Making your own lye soap has become a popular craft. In fact, many people prefer to use homemade lye soap than soap bought at stores. Lye soap used to be a hard and sometimes harsh soap that didn't lather up much and was used for almost everything in day to day life. There are many different recipes for making softer and more pleasant smelling lye soap. In a little while you can have a batch of soap that will be perfect as gifts or for your own use.
Basic Lye Soap
Step 1
Set a large glass bowl on the counter and pour 2 ½ pints of distilled water into it.
Step 2
Add 1 can of lye crystals to the water and stir it with a wooden spoon until dissolved. Lye added to water heats up so there's no need to heat the water first. It's a good idea to wear gloves when mixing lye water, especially if it's your first time for doing this. Lye is caustic and can cause burns on bare skin, so care should be taken when working with it.
Step 3
Heat 5 ½ lbs. of lard in a large pan until it is just melted and then take it off the burner. Carefully pour the melted lard to a large cast iron pan and slowly add the lye water to the lard while stirring continuously with a wooden spoon. Keep stirring until the mixture is tracing. This happens when a trail is left behind the spoon when stirring.
Step 4
Line a large plastic container with either plastic wrap or wax paper. Pour the soap mixture into the container and put the lid on. Wrap a the container in some towels and put somewhere where it won't be disturbed, for about 72 hours. When they have set up remove the towels and the block of soap from container. Cut it into bars and place in a dry, cool place to harden, which should take 3 to 4 weeks.
Variations on the Recipe at Tracing
Step 1
Add 12 tbsp. of powdered oatmeal and 6 tsp. of honey when the soap mixture reaches tracing to make a batch of honey-oatmeal soap.
Step 2
Get a dropper full of cinnamon oil and add it to the soap mixture at tracing to make cinnamon-scented soap.
Step 3
Take a couple teaspoons of the melted lard and set it aside in a small glass container. Pour 1 ounce of peppermint oil into the soap mixture during tracing and stir well. Dip out a cupful of the liquid soap and set in a small bowl of warm water. Combine 1/4 c. of cocoa powder to the melted lard you set aside, mix and then pour into the main soap mixture. After pouring the soap into the mold, take the cup of liquid soap and swirl it into the mold. This will give you a chocolate peppermint scented soap.
Step 4
Make some coffee and stir a tablespoon of it in the mixture during trace to make coffee soap. This soap works well with getting food smells off of your hands.
skill
1
ingredient
Lard Lye Distilled water Cinnamon oil Honey Powdered oatmeal Large glass bowl Large cast iron pan Wooden spoon Rubber gloves Coffee Peppermint Cocoa Powder
tip
Instead of using distilled water you can always use rain water caught in a rain barrel. To make shapes without special molds for your soap, try pressing stainless steel cookie cutters down into your soap block.
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