An age old style of pure Olive Oil soap that originated in the Castile region of Spain.
Soap making has become a serious passion of mine. I love having the creative freedom to use whatever natural ingredients and colors to make each batch of soap. Learning different styles of soap making is always fun, and there are a lot of people willing to assist online with any questions that might arise.
I would have never thought that soap making would be such an intense adventure, especially at this stage of my life. Yet for whatever reasons, I am head over heals in love with creating a soap line and opening an online shop soon. I think this just might be as much work, as when I ran a full time plant nursery years ago. You barely have a moment to yourself as there is always a variety of new soaps to make, rotating soaps during the drying process, labels to create, packaging to do and of course I still have to set up a store. Coming soon! ;-)
Here are a few pictures of two different batches of Castile soap I make 3 months ago. The curing process is actually 4 - 6 months depending on how hard a bar of soap one is looking for. I actually prefer to wait at least 5 months. I made these before I even knew I would be on Steemit, so the entire process was not photographed. Someday I will take pictures while I do each phase of soap making to give you an idea of how it is done.
Castile soap is made with only 3 ingredients: Olive oil, lye (sodium hydroxide) and distilled water. You can add a fragrance or an essential oil with your preferred scent of course, always optional. As the lye and olive oil create the chemical reaction due to the fat content in the oil, the soap goes through the saponification process (curing stage). Castile soap takes so long to cure due to the fact that Olive oil is a soft oil, meaning it is liquid at room temperature, unlike coconut oil which becomes hard.
These lovely Castile Rosette bars will be used in gift sets which I think will be perfect for Mothers Day. I think I had better get to making more now so they will be ready in time. lol
All and all, I am excited to see how this soap preforms over those I make with various oil combinations. I have another month to go before I try it for the first time and I can hardly wait!
Thank you for stopping by my post, I hope you enjoyed seeing my Castile soap.
Thank you for stopping by my post, I hope you enjoyed seeing my Castile soap.
Until next time, this is Sunscape
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wow
Thank you @sarita I love making the soap
Looks like so many are going back to basics....soap making is a really great craft. All the best with your home business.
Thank you @countrygirl I am just getting it all ready to launch. I have been making soap for months and gathering all my supplies. I love doing this and sharing with everyone!
Do you make your own lye? It's supposed to be a simple yet time consuming process.
Hi @gikitiki no I buy my lye from a soap supply company. I haven't thought about doing that yet, making the soap takes a great deal of time for me. Thank you for asking.
Can you post your instructions? I'd love to try this.
Hi @florntina are you familiar with working with Lye? I will be making a post in the near future on the step by step process. If you know how to make so already there are only 3 ingredients and an optional fragrance.
I used 28 oz of Olive oil
8.5 oz distilled water
3.68 oz of Sodium hydroxide (lye)
1.3 oz of fragrance oil
The temperature of both the oil and the lye must be the same at 110 degrees when you begin mixing them. You will have to blend them a long time to get it to thicken up some. Pour into your mold and wait 4 mos.
I hope this helps for now. I will be doing a full post soon after Christmas. :-)