Equipment and Supplies I use

This is a list of what I normally use, and where to find them.  The amazon, Nurture Soap and Makeyourown links are affiliate links.

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.

Containers:

  • Plastic containers or buckets for mixing (Plastic #5 or #6) large enough for the lye, water, oil.  (I have a 5 quart bucket and a smaller one I got at Home depot or Lowe’s,
  • Plastic containers to hold oils.
  • Plastic containers with a secured lid (No. 5 or 6 type), to keep my lye water when I mix it ahead of time.  Exposure to the air causes the lye to be less strong, as some of it gets mixed with the air and it becomes sodium carbonate)
  • Small glass containers.  I like to go to a thrift store such as Good will and look at their glass or ceramic containers, to get small prep “bowls” to measure fragrance, or mix colorants.  I look for something that is easy to scrape with spatula, and have even gotten some pretty tea cups, that I have dedicated to soap making only.

Tools

Piping Tools:

Modeling Tools:

Most of the tools I use I bought them for polymer clay originally.  Here are the most common ones:

Appliances:

  • Hand blender  (This was my first blender, it still works but the plastic cracked)
  • Cuisinart Hand blender (My sister got it for me, I like it, however eventually I might get one of those with a detachable end)

SCALES

  •  Scale (small, affordable one) I like this one because it is easy to move around, and the auto shut off activates after 2 minutes (others are faster to shut off)
  • Larger capacity scale (you can plug this one in, and turn off the auto shut off)
  • High precision scale (0.01 g) This one allows you to weigh to the 0.01 g and it is not limited to the small capacity of jeweler’s pocket scales. It is expensive though, I bought mine used from Ebay. I use this one when making lotions (I make small quantities though)
  • Jeweler’s scale

MOLDS

EMBED MOLDS

Wedding dress

Chocolate mold

Flower mold

Jewelry mold Wilton

Ballerina molds

OILS

  • Beef Tallow:  I know tallow it is not easy or cheap to source in small quantities.  Initially I was rendering it myself, but last time I got it from  Soapers choice, I bought 50 lb I think,  (it was cheaper that way), and it has lasted me a long time.
  • Castor Seed oil  
  • Olive Oil – I buy it from Sam’s Club
  • Shea butter  (Depending on what else I need, I buy it from either Soapers choice or Bulk Apothecary)
  • Coconut oil:  When I see it, I buy it from Big Lots (the largest container they have)
  • Rice Bran Oil:  I bought it at a discount from Lowe’s, however, I am not sure that they still carry it.  I no longer have it or use it.
  • Meadowfoam Oil
  • Apricot Kernel Oil

LYE and other chemicals

lye in bulk

Sodium thiosulfate to make vanilla stabilizer

LYE CALCULATORS

I like this one:  www.soapmakingfriend.com because it gives me a visual representation of the soap bar qualities, which I find easier than just looking at numbers.  It also lets me save the recipes under my account and make them private or public.   Lyecalc is also good.

FOR PRODUCT PACKAGING & LABELING:

Blank waterproof labels

Glitters / ENVIROGLITTERS:

MICAS:

OXIDES & PIGMENTS

LAKES:

Yellow lake from TKB trading

CLAYS & Natural Colorants

Soap Base (Melt and pour)

Crystal Clear MP

Additives:

Fragrances

Cinnamon Supreme

Comfort and Joy (aff link)

Empress (one of my favorite ones, has sweet talc like notes)

Winter Wonderland

Cucumber Melon

Lunar Tides from Makeyourown

Yuzu

Lemongrass Green Tea

Bergamot and Honey

Blackberry Ambrosia