October 2023 | Basic Soapmaking Tools and Supplies | KCK Soapery

    I used to be an Amazon affiliate but stopped actively posting when I already took a full time job.  Now that it has been a few years and I am closing in to my retirement, I thought of getting it back up.  So I have applied to both Amazon and NurtureSoap for now.

    Soapmaking is a very addicting craft.  Once you try it and end up liking the process, there is no stopping.  In this post, I will share with you the basic products and tools you need as a beginner.

    First off, you will need a bowl to mix your oils in.  When I was just trying to see if I will like making soap, I started out with the melt and pour technique using pyrex glass measuring cups to microwave the soap. Then, I moved on to cold process soap making.  My first bowl was a gallon of ice cream container.  It held its shape for a few batches then I invested on a plastic mixing/baking bowl.   For diluting my mica and pouring soap batter, I used 4 cup capacity plastic measuring cups.  I just bought these funnel pitchers for a pouring technique I planned to do soon.  I am thinking on investing on a glass bowl just because it looks nicer on videos and watching the oils reacting with the lye solution looked mesmerizing on a glass bowl.  I also used another microwavable bowl for melting solid oils and butters.  But some soapmakers recommend against it since the blender can etch the glass and eventually break it.

    Next, you will need an immersion blender. I now use a cuisinart brand blender, but the first one I used was a Bella hand blender and it was good while it lasted.

    You will also need a weighing scale to weigh your oils and lye.  This is what I have been using for a while now.  You will need a measuring cup as well.  I use the metal ones you see in stores.  But I like the color of this Amazon measuring cup, mica powder scoops and plastic teaspoons to mix the mica powder with the oils.  I used to use a mini mixer but it did not last long.  You might get a longer-lasting mixer.

    Most of my learning was done on youtube but I bought a book as well.  A few I have on hand are: Soap Crafting and Milk Soapmaking.  Check out my youtube channel kcksoapery to see how I make my soap.  There are a lot of tutorials you can check out too!

Here is a link to nurturesoap for most soapmaking supplies.  Here is a starter kit for melt and pour and a starter kit for cold process soap.  I recommend doing the melt and pour for first timers since you won't be dealing with lye right away and you can still make it look colorful and there are lots of mold designs you can use for it.  If you want to jump right into cold process soap making, make sure you use gloves and some protective goggles (just to be on the safe side when dealing with sodium hydroxide).

Thank you so much for stopping by.

Here are the links in with the images of what they look like:

 

Enjoy your new soaping adventure!

Glynith

When you buy from any of the affiliate links I posted.

I may get a little commission from the sale of qualified products.

Thank you so much for your support.

August 2023 | "S" Grand Babies' Shower | KCK Soapery

    My friend "S" is having three grandbabies soon.  She asked if I was still making soaps. Although not in huge quantities as before, I do sporadically make mostly "melt and pour" soap and occasionally handcrafted soaps from scratch for loyal users of my soap. Then I said I would be honored to make her grandbabies' giveaways.

    I had my daughter's friend take some pictures of the different batches of soap made for her:

I sure hope everybody who received one of these would love them as much as I did making them.

Thank you for stopping by!

Glynith

March 2022 | Tea Party Bridal Shower Cupcake Soap Giveaways | KCK Soapery

 

Thank you to my friend "S" for remembering my soap for a bridal shower party she is helping organize.  These soaps were made with Olive oil, Palm oil, Coconut oil, Castor oil, and scented with "Mother's Love".  

Mother's Love is a slightly sweet and innocent scent that includes a blend of peonies, hyacinth, day lilies, apple blossoms, and soft bergamot.  The red bowl above contains the melted coconut oil and palm oil.  The white bowl contains olive oil and castor oil.  The metal measuring cup contains the fragrance oil and the plastic beaker contains the lye water.

Colors used were white, pink and blue.

I made the little teapots a few weeks ago.

I hope the party guests will like these cupcake soap giveaways.

Thank you for visiting!

March 2020 | Pure Goat's Milk Soap | KCK Soapery

My First Pure Goat's Milk Soap - No water used

Jackie's First Handmade Soap

My brave friend Jackie really wanted to learn how to make handmade soap for a while now.  She finally decided to do it when her goat "Snoopy" started producing milk! We already have this date scheduled before the coronavirus self quarantine was imposed.  So we continued with the session but did it online through facetime instead of being in our houses where kids abound and with both of us being medical laboratory scientists.  Just for precaution!

Congratulations, Jackie, for making your first handmade soap using only goat's milk for liquid. 

Meet "Snoopy"! She absolutely likes snooping. Jackie said "it is because she is always checking my sleeves for mysteries.  May have treats, maybe not.  She doesn't know but she checks them".

Thank you very much, Jackie, for Snoopy's milk.  I get to try doing all goat's milk soap without investing too much on it.

This is our set-up. This is an ice water bath to prevent the sugars in the milk from scorching.  It is always better to use cold almost slushy or even frozen milk with this recipe so the milk don't get too hot when you add the lye.  Usually I only do half milk or cream and let the lye dissolved in water first and then allow it to cool down before adding the milk/cream.  This is my first full goat's milk and no water is being added to this batch.

Jackie decided to incorporate oatmeal and poppy seed to her batch.

I kept mine plain.

We did not use any fragrance or essential oils for this batch.  This batch only included olive oil, coconut oil, goat's milk, and lye.  As you can see in the above pictures, I kept my soap plain and Jackie decided to add oatmeal and poppy seed to hers to give that pretty texture.

While the moms were making cold process goat's milk soap.  Jackie's kids also made melt and pour soap.  Look at how cute they turned out.  They used orange/lemon zest and food coloring to add color and texture to the final product.

Here is the video of our goat's milk soap making using facetime session.  Hopefully we can do this side by side next time!

Enjoy!!!