Some times, days just go as planned. Today was one of those days.
First I made another Castile soap – 100% olive oil, unscented, uncoloured – and put it in the fridge to prevent gel. It’s an identical recipe to the Castile I made on Sunday, only Sunday’s soap was insulated to encourage a fast saponification.
The differences between gelling and not gelling are endlessly interesting. Sunday’s soap hardened within two hours, gelled within six and was unmoulded and cut within 10 hours.
Today’s soap has been in the fridge for seven hours now and is still thickened liquid, similar to lotion or partially whipped cream. It took five hours before it was stiff enough to pattern the top with a chopstick and have the pattern hold.
It’s not a concern – it’s possible it will have to stay in its mould for a week before the chemical reaction has advanced enough to make everything hard enough and safe enough to handle.
I’m keeping notes. The plan was to compare the texture of an ungelled soap with a gelled soap so I know which I prefer. So far most of my soaps have gelled, now I need a control batch so I can choose.
I also probably need another half a dozen moulds and postage/couriers to be faster, but details.
Secondly, I made lip balm.
I know. BOW DOWN.
It was awesome.
I only made a small test batch, around 3 teaspoons worth, but I think I’m in love. It feels so lovely on my lips and I can’t wait to add colours and flavours and see how that changes things.
Beeswax though, man, that stuff. Nathan has been given a job as the official beeswax-hacker-into-pieces-er. It is hard stuff to hack away at. I’m glad I only needed a little bit to melt and sieve, not great chunks of it.
My beeswax is a creamy white, unlike the bright yellows of the beeswax I see for sale online. Further research (and a quick email to the Tasmanian Beekeepers Society where the wax originated from) confirmed the whiter wax is a byproduct of the flowers the bees were collecting from at the time.
Big relief. I worried for a (very short amount of) time that the wax had been chemically filtered. No.
So, soap and lip balm. All around it was a good day.
You can get beeswax pastilles online. Then, no hacking and whacking.
Yes, but to get them in Aus, they’re between $20-60/kg – whereas I have 8kg for free, and a steady supply organised for swaps. Much nicer!
I read about Castile soap last year when I did a post about soap making and I’ve wanted to try some. There is a shop here in our Central Market where it is available, but I never seem to get there. One day….
I think it was very nice of that woman to give you so much beeswax and offer a steady supply.
When you’re ready to sell, I’ll have a lip balm to try. I just need to know what flavours you’ll have to choose from.
I’ve used it and provided it is cured for long enough (left to dry out) it’s a gorgeous soap. It can be a bit low on bubbles and lotion-y (read: slimy) feeling if it’s not hard enough.
It was lovely of her. My regular supply however is coming from a neighbour who has just taken up beekeeping. Yay, community.
Not sure yet what flavours I’ll have, I have to buy flavour oils to make sure they’re safe on lips. Probably the usual chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, etc.
lolling at the BOW DOWN bit – and I totally am bowing down! I keep planning to make lip balm for xmas gifts etc but I’ve never got around to it. Maybe this year!
You should! It’s really easy. Except the clean up. Cleaning up beeswax is a PITA.
I just made chocolate lip balm as a test. I think I like it, but it’s a bit heavier. It might have been better with a lighter carrier oil – I used rice bran oil.
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