I do not have many stories relating stockings by the fireplace. Fireplaces were something I used to see only in movies, since the tropical weather of El Salvador makes them unnecessary, and we were never encouraged to believe in Santa Claus so we never hung any stockings anywhere. However, my husband has a story that makes me chuckle, from his childhood in India, where he is from.
When he was little, he was encouraged to believe in Santa Claus. He would try to behave his best in the days leading to Christmas, even if this meant eating the spicy food he could not handle at the time (though now he does and enjoys it very much). One Christmas, he wanted to feel what might be in his stocking, so he got up early on Christmas morning and was dismayed to find his stocking empty. He thought he had been a bad boy, so Santa did not bring him anything. Disappointed, he went back to bed. Later, when everybody was awake, his mom told him to go check his stocking. He refused, afraid that his being in the naughty list would be discovered by all. But they insisted so he checked and was surprised to find crayons and some other toys. Perhaps that was the first clue to the doubts of the existence of Santa, but that is a story for another time.
I have a fragrance (Fireside) that has strong smoky notes, so I thought that it would be ideal for a soap that features fire like this one. When I made the mango and peach soaps, I saved the leftovers as soap dough (I wrapped it in plastic and kept in a sealed container), and I used that to make the fire embeds. Below is everything else I used:
Recipe Totals
If you are a beginner, a recipe like this one might be better. I am using a dual lye blend. If you only want to use sodium hydroxide, you will need to run this through a lye calculator, I like soapmakingfriend.com
| Liquid Required | 9.29 oz | 263.23 g |
| NaOH Weight | 4.42 oz | 125.32 g |
| KOH Weight | 0.36 oz | 10.28 g at 90% Purity |
| Lye Weight | 4.78 oz | 135.6 g |
| Oil Weight | 32 oz | 907.18 g |
| Fragrance Oil Weight | 2.3 oz | 65.2 g |
| Superfat | 2% | |
| Total Batch Weight | 48.87 oz | 1385.39 g |
| Lye Concentration | 34% | |
| NaOH / KOH Ratio | 95% / 5% |
Recipe Oils, Fats and Waxes
| Oil | % | Ounces | Grams |
|---|---|---|---|
| Olive Oil | 30 | 9.6 | 272.16 |
| Tallow Beef | 30 | 9.6 | 272.16 |
| Coconut Oil, 76 deg | 25 | 8 | 226.8 |
| Castor Oil | 8 | 2.56 | 72.57 |
| Shea Butter | 7 | 2.24 | 63.5 |
| Total | 100 | 32 | 907.18 |
Custom Additives
| Add with the Fats | |
|---|---|
| Rosemary oleoresin | 0.02 ounce |
| Add at trace | |
| EDTA mixed with distilled water (50/50) | 0.46 ounce |
For more information on these additives you can click in the links below, please note above links are affiliate ones
- Rosemary oleresin (My oils already had this added when I masterbatched the oils)
- Tetrasodium EDTA
My affiliate links:
Several of the links above/below are affiliate links, as the ones below. If you buy from them, it will not cost you any more, and I would get a tiny commission on it. As amazon associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Colorants:
1/2 tsp of activated charcoal (Nurture Soap aff link) for 12 oz of soap batter
Mold:
10″ Silicone loaf mold from Nurture Soap
Fragrance:
- 1/2 of Fireside & Marshmallows from Makeyour own
- 1/2 of Pumpkin and Brown Sugar from Brambleberry
- Next time I plan to use this to keep the fireside from being too strong. I also plan to use:
- Vanilla stabilizer
Embeds
- Soap dough (red, orange, yellow, green, white and black). I shaped them into 3 large tear drop columns and squeezed them together. The middle one was larger.
Equipment
- List of regular equipment
- Brick stamp, I made mine but this could work.
- Loaf divider. I made mine with a 3D printer. Here are some alternatives:
- Soap divider for 8″ mold
- Soap divider for 8″ loaf mold kit,
- Nurture Soap mold divider for their 2.5 lb mold.
- Brambleberry divider for 10″ mold
Safety Equipment:
- Nitrile gloves
- Facial Shield (I use either a facial shield or the goggles below)
- Safety Goggles
- Respirator (I use this when mixing the lye, I mix the lye in the window sill, window opened, with a pedestal fan blowing the fumes away, better yet, freeze your distilled water prior) I also try to wear long sleeves, pants and closed shoes. In my personal experience, most of my near misses (when I feel my skin itching or a slight burning sensation), or when I come contact with the soap batter, have happened when I am wiping down the containers, when I am almost done.
MAKING THE SOAP
- First make the fire embed I combined and rolled together the yellow, orange and red soap dough, with a little bit of the black. I shaped them into 3 large tear drop columns and squeezed them together. The middle one was larger.
- Place the fire embed at the bottom of the mold, in between the two dividers.
- To make the soap, Normally I heat up some of my masterbatched oils, weigh what I need and set it apart.
- Then I measure the masterbatched lye needed. However, if you do not masterbatch the oils or lye, I detail it below:
- In a well ventilated area (outside or by a window), add the lye gradually to the distilled water. Do not breathe the fumes. You can freeze half of the water ahead to avoid fumes, and weigh the ice cubes. You need to wear your safety gear. Lye burns! You can prepare this several hours ahead, or even days ahead, keep it properly covered. (If making it the same day, loosely cover it to allow it to cool. Once at room temperature, use an airtight lid).
- While you wait for the lye water to cool down, you can weigh and melt your oils. Weigh your fragrance oil or essential oils into a glass container or ceramic container (fragrance oils can dissolve thin plastics).
- Prepare the activated charcoal. Mix it with 1 tbs of olive oil or another clear oil. Do not mix it with water as activated charcoal does not mix well in it.
- When your oils and lye solution are at or below 105°F (37.77°C), put on your PPE (Personal protective equipment) again, and add your lye solution to the oils slowly, to avoid splatters pour it on the blender shaft. If your lye solution is cooler than this, is ok. As long as it not near freezing. (Room temperature is fine). If your oils go under 95° F, warm them up to lightly above 100° F
- Stir with the blender on Off position initially, then blend for 5-7 second periods, alternating with stirring for 10 seconds or longer, until it is emulsified. This takes about 30-50 seconds with this recipe. When a recipe reaches emulsion, everything has a uniform, lighter color than before, you do not see the darker oil swirls when blending. You could bring your soap to light trace instead, since the pour is fairly simple.
- Add the fragrance to the soap and stir for about 30 seconds. If using a vanilla stabilizer, add it to the fragrance prior.
- Divide about 12 oz of soap batter and add the activated charcoal to it and stir it in.
- Pour this black into the middle space between the dividers, while holding the dividers down with one hand, then pour the uncolored soap batter in the opposite sides.
- Once all of the black has been added (enough to cover the fire embed) remove the dividers slowly and while scraping down the sides if needed.
- Carefully, pour the rest of the uncolored batter on top. Slowly and gently (over a spatula preferably to break the fall), so that it does not alter any of the black underneath. You may prefer to wait until it has thickened up some.
- Cover the soap to help promote gel phase if desired.
- Wait 24-48 hours and remove from the mold when it peels easily from the sides.
- To cut the soap into bars I normally use a single bar cutter. Because I had waited 2 days and because of the recipe, I was able to stamp the soap right away with a brick stamp. Then I made the stockings and pressed them into it. You can check the video to see how I did it.
- Let the soap cure for at least 4 weeks in an open area protected from direct sunlight before using. (not touching any metal)
*SUPERFAT:
By now you probably know that lye (sodium hydroxide) converts oils into soap, through a process called saponification. And you probably also know that there are specific amounts needed of each for this to happen. Because each soap has a different SAPonification value, different amounts of lye are needed for each oil.
Superfatting sounds like something I like to do to myself when I keep eating after I feel full. But in the soap world, many will know it is when you either add more oils or less lye than it is required. Let’s say, hypothetically, that you need 3 oz of lye to convert 16 oz of manacao oil (totally made up oil) into soap. If you only use 2.5 oz of lye instead of 3, that means that a percentage of the manaco oil will not become soap, but will remain an oil. And this is desirable as that extra oil will cause the soap to become more gentle on your skin, by reducing its cleansing ability slightly. But if you use 4 oz of lye instead of 3, that means all 16 oz of manacao oil will become soap, and not only that, there will be extra lye floating around. That extra lye will be looking for more oil to convert to soap, that oil could be the natural skin oils, which means this soap can burn or irritate the skin.
Usually superfat of at least 3% is recommended as oils properties may change from crop to crop. But even if you had a 0% superfat soap, it would still be gentle as handmade soap creates glycerin, which is a skin humectant. (From most commercially produced soap, glycerin is removed to be sold separately).
*LYE CONCENTRATION / WATER DISCOUNT:
Most soap calculators will give you the amount of water needed to mix the lye with, based on traditional cooking methods of making soap, what we now know as hot process. This is a big percentage of water (38% of the oils) because a lot of it would evaporate through the cooking process. However, for cold process soap this is usually too much water, which can lead to a lot of soda ash or a lot of shrinkage during the cure.
This blogpost explains it better (from modern soapmaking).
Soaps by Glenda 