Soap making
Making soaps is a very versatile and practical art/craft. The process of soap making is called saponification. Now we take a trip back to high school chemistry lab.
Here’s how it happens:
As you combine, and stir the proper amount of fat (fatty acids and glycerol) and base together, they start to react. The triglycerides within the fat release the glycerol molecule, which turns into glycerin (a skin nourishing bonus). This allows the fatty acids to combine with the hydroxide ions within the base, forming soap. As you can see, two reactions occur.
Soap is derived from either plant oils(for example: olive, coconut, jojoba, almond, grapeseed… or animal fats: tallow, lard)
There are different approaches to soap making, the most fundamental is how the soap is made; whether the old hot process, or by cold process. The most popular soap making process today is the cold process method.
Homemade soaps are usually more skin-friendly than factory or industrial made soaps as they usually have a higher content of fat or less ratio of lye to oil.
By causing fat to react with sodium hydroxide, you will produce a soap that will become firmer and harder as it cures. However when combining fat with potassium hydroxide, the soap will be softer or liquid.
Traditionally, in old times, lye was obtained from the ashes of the bracken fern which when burned produced potash with a very high content of alkali, (potassium hydroxide). This was especially true when the fern was harvested in June-September.
More to come on soap making workshops:
