My third batch of Pure Amore is on my shelves curing now.  This will actually be the first batch to be sent out, since I’ve decided to re-melt the first two.  (See my previous post.)

This batch was definitely different.  I increased the amount of coconut oil to harden the soap and boost the lather, and I changed the ratio of oils to lye to reduce the large lye discount I mistakenly introduced into my first two batches.  The soap mixed much faster than the previous batches, and was ready to pour into the mold after just a few minutes of mixing.

Patterns on the surface of batch 3

When I uncovered the mold this morning before cutting, I noticed something else.  The surface of the soap showed an interesting pattern that previous batches did not.  It appears that the curing temperature of this batch was substantially higher, introducing some swirls in the soap.  I’ve increased the contrast in the picture at right to make the patterns easier to see.  Click for a full-sized image.  I decided not to trim off the patterns, but to leave them on the bars that I’ll be sending out.  After all, that’s one of the characteristics of a hand-made product as opposed to something mass-produced: It has variations and imperfections that aren’t smoothed over by mass-production machinery.

The soap was also quite a bit firmer than the previous batches when I cut it.  I’ve produced another 50 of the mail-out sample bars.  Unfortunately, this means that the samples will be delayed until the new curing date, which will be August 8.  I’m keeping all of the self-addressed stamped envelopes I’ve received in a safe place, so as soon as the soap is ready, I’ll send it out.  If you were one of the first 50 to Like my Facebook page, and you haven’t sent me a SASE yet, you may do so at any time.

With the delay in the curing of my first good batch, it looks like I’ll have everything in place to start selling by the time it’s ready.  Within the next week, I’ll have an e-commerce package set up on this site and I’ll have my business banking set up.  My business cards will finally come in, and I’m in the process of designing my packaging and some product brochures.  And maybe by that time I’ll have finished my workbench and won’t have to use the old dining room table I’m currently using.

Starting a new business is complex, but it’s also exciting.  If you have an idea that you think you can sell, I encourage you to start planning and see if it’s viable.

I’ve been checking on my two existing batches of soap regularly, and I’ve even started testing one bar a week before it’s fully cured.  It feels great, rinses completely, and gives your skin a very smooth feeling.  But there’s a problem…

I was re-designing my recipe to improve it, to harden the soap and boost the lather, when I realized my original recipe contained a minor miscalculation.  When you make soap, you balance the oils and the lye to leave a small amount of oils left over after the saponification reaction.  I calculate my soap to leave less than 5% of the oils.  Unfortunately, my first recipe, which was closely based on a pre-existing recipe, turns out to have about 10% ‘superfatting’, which is too much.

As I said, the soap feels great, but it could be better.  So I’m re-melting the first two batches to reduce the lye discount.  Unfortunately, this means that the samples going to the Facebook group will be delayed by another four weeks, but I’d rather deliver my product late than deliver an inferior product.

Stay tuned for further news on the re-melt, and on my third batch, which will follow the new, improved recipe.

After a week of extensive renovations (which left my workshop looking much the same, but a much better soap-making environment), I mixed up my second batch today.  After a first batch that had its share of issues, today’s work went very smoothly.

Among the improvements this week are the following:

• A better scale. As I wrote last time, the first scale I bought was laughably inadequate, shutting itself off after a few seconds, requiring everything to be re-measured.  I’ve got a Starfrit scale now.  It’s battery-powered, but it uses a 9-volt battery instead of a couple of button cells, and turns itself off after two minutes, plenty of time for me to measure even the most finicky ingredients.
• An induction hot plate. Moving out of the kitchen meant I’m not mixing at the stove anymore, so I bought an induction hot plate.  If you need an additional cooking surface in your home, I highly recommend getting one.  It works by magnetically heating the pot, rather than transferring heat from a hot element.  The result is that it heats much more quickly, and shuts off instantly, giving me the fine temperature control I need.

However, there are still a couple of items I need to finish.

• My workbench. I’m using an old kitchen table while I finish designing my workbench.  It’s not the greatest because it’s too short, resulting in me leaning over while mixing, which would be a strain on my back if I were ramped up to full production.  I hope to finish my workbench in the next week or two.
• My exhaust system isn’t in place yet, so when I mix my lye solution I have to have a fan running just outside the door of my workshop.  When I get my exhaust system set up, I’ll just flip a switch and be ready to mix.

Another thing I noticed today was that my blender didn’t heat up nearly as quickly as the first time.  That could be a result of the outlet I’m using.  I live in an old house, which has been partially re-wired a few times.  The outlet I’m using now is one of the newer ones, so it’s likely my kitchen outlets aren’t giving perfect voltage.  Oh well, yet another project for a handy homeowner!

That’s the production summary for today.  Stay tuned for tomorrow’s cut.

The mold is open, ready to remove the soap

Today marked the second half of my first production run of Pure Amore soap.  After twenty-four hours, the soap was ready to take out of the mold and cut into bars.

The cutting process went very smoothly.  I opened the hinged side of my mold, removed the tape that held the freezer paper in place, and gently pulled the block of soap out.  It stuck to the freezer paper, but was easy to detach.

My block of soap was eight inches wide, so I measured it and cut it into two-inch-wide blocks.

Then I pulled out my secret weapon.  Well, not really secret, and not my idea (another idea from Miller Soap).  I bought a plastic miter box from the hardware store last week to use for cutting.  I scored marks 1/2″ and 1″ from the 90 degree cutting slot.

Cutting the soap with a miter box

Then the work began.  The small sample bars have to be light enough to go through regular mail in an envelope, so I cut them 1/2″ thick, then cut each bar in half, resulting in bars 1/2″ x 1-1/2″ x 2″.  After curing, each bar should be around twenty grams, light enough for a regular envelope.

After cutting fifty small samples, I cut the rest of the batch into larger sample bars (1/2″ x 2″ x 3″) and a few full-sized bars (1″ x 2″ x 3″).  I expect the small bars to be ready in about three weeks, with the larger bars ready for use in about a month.  They’re already soap, so they could technically be used now, but they’re still soft enough that they’d disappear in the shower very quickly.  A month from now they’ll be very firm.

With the success of this batch, it will soon be time to start another.

A comparison of the three bar sizes

The whole batch

I mixed up the first batch of Pure Amore this morning.  It mixed up well, and the soap is in the workshop curing now, but there were a few lessons to be learned along the way.

Preparation

My soap mold, lined with freezer paper

Before starting, I made sure all of my equipment and ingredients were handy.  I taped an ingredient list to the cupboard, along with a detailed procedure.  I washed everything, and set it out to dry.  Once the kids were on their way to school, it was time to start.

The first thing to prepare was the mold.  I built the mold out of wood, with hinges and clamps that will make it easier to get the soap out tomorrow.  I got this idea from Kathy Miller of Miller’s Homemade Soap.  Her site has been a great source of information, although it doesn’t look as though she’s updated in in quite a while.  To prepare the mold today, I cut a large square of freezer paper, and folded it into the mold, taping the edges.

Measuring the Lye

The first step in making the soap was to mix the lye solution.  I used a Pyrex measuring cup filled with cold water, knowing that the solution would heat up.  Measuring the lye proved to be a little more difficult.

Shea and coconut oils, partly melted

The kitchen scale I bought is battery powered, and goes a little overboard in preserving its batteries.  After placing the plastic measuring cup on the scale and zeroing it, I started to pour in the lye, slowing down as I reached the required amount.  I had almost enough when the scale shut itself off!  I turned it on again, but the On button automatically zeroes the scale.  I had to try again to measure the lye, realizing at that point that a plastic measuring cup was not the correct container for a very dry crystal powder.  The lye insisted on sticking to the inside of the cup.

I finally got the lye measured correctly, put on my goggles and mask, and started pouring it into the water.  It’s a good thing I turned on a fan and used protective equipment, because lye gives off strong fumes as it goes into solution.  After stirring it in completely, I measured the temperature: well over 150°F.  I set the lye solution aside to cool and moved on to the next step.

Measuring the Oils

All oils mixed together

Weighing out the shea butter and coconut oil was at least as frustrating as weighing the lye crystals.  Both oils are solid at room temperature, so I had to dig them out of their containers, restarting several times as the scale shut itself off.  finally, I had both oils measured to within a few grams of the required amount, and put them in the pot on the stove to melt.

Measuring the canola and olive oil was much easier because I could pour them steadily into the bowl on the scale, preventing the scale from shutting itself off.  When I hit Wal-Mart tomorrow, that scale is going back.  It’s okay for telling you how much of something you already have, but useless for measuring out materials accurately.

Mixing

I took a bit of a break before mixing to allow the ingredients to cool to the right temperature.  I wanted to have the oils and the lye between 90 and 100°F for optimum mixing.

Mixing the soap

To cool the lye, I put the measuring cup in a bowl of cold water in the sink.

Finally, I poured the lye into the oils, turned on my hand blender, and started mixing.  The soap went from transparent to a satiny opaque texture very quickly, then began to thicken slowly.  I hope my blender is up to the task of making one or two batches a day; it was getting pretty hot by the time the soap started to thicken, after about ten minutes.

Finally, I reached the point soapmakers call ‘trace’, when patterns form behind the blender and don’t immediately dissipate.  I gave it a minute or two to make sure it was thickening nicely, then poured the soap into the mold, scraping the residue out of the pot and off the foot of the blender.  I carried the mold into my workshop and covered it.  It will stay there until tomorrow, when I remove it and cut it into bars.

Pure Amore in the mold

At the time I poured it, the soap had a very nice creamy colour.  If that colour remains, the soap will be very attractive, with no need for additional colour.  The Pure Amore variety will never have any added colour anyway, but it’s good to see that I’ll have a nice looking product with its natural colour.