Sudz n' Hunni Soaps Aloe Calendula Comfrey Soap

This is going to be another busy soap week!  I have several soaps that will be reaching their cure dates and be ready for sale, some have already been pre-ordered and they will all need to be wrapped and labeled and of course shipped.  My younger kids are with Grandma & Grandpa in Wickenburg Arizona this week having a good time so I'll be lonesome with out them but keeping busy too.

Lets go back to last Thursday...

I thought you might like to join me for a little soap making!

I'm using Cathy at Soaping 101 recipe to make a soap for sensitive skin using Aloe Vera Juice, a strong tea made with Calendula Petals as well as Calendula Petals and Comfrey Leaf infused in some of the soap oils.

Pictured above is the Calendula Tea infusing in heated distilled water and the bottle of Aloe Vera Juice.  After the tea was ready I used my scale to measure out the amount of liquid my recipe called for and substituted the tea and juice in place of the normal water I'd use.  Then I poured the liquids into ice cube trays and put them in the freezer over night.

  

Here's a photo of how I infused the Calendula & Comfrey into the soaping oil.  I've found using a large seal-able tea bag (or two) works nice, there's no straining the herbs out of everything later.

The next step was to make my lye solution using Sodium Hydroxide and the frozen Aloe Vera Juice and Calendula Tea.  The reason for freezing the liquid is so it doesn't burn and discolor when the lye is added.

Michael took some good pictures for me of this part of the process.  The lye will heat up as it comes in contact with the ice cubes and melt them.

So I stirred and poured a little at a time until the lye was incorporated into the ice cubes.

Most of the ice cubes melted as I added lye and stirred.  

This was kind of an unusual process for me, I'm used to waiting for the lye solution for my soaps to cool down and setting the container in an ice bath in the kitchen sink.  This time I filled the sink part way with hot water to warm up my lye solution to about 95 degrees.  I'm finding I like to soap at between 90 and 100 degrees, kinda like my sweet spot.

The soaping oils are ready and waiting, I warmed them on the stove top to 95 degrees so they'd be well mixed.

I carefully poured my lye solution into my oils and started to mix with my stick blender until it reached a nice medium trace.

Next it's time to pour the soap batter into my lined and waiting 5 pound wood mold.

Filled it to the top for a nice big bar of soap once they are cut...

I tried to give it a little fancy swirl on top before I put it in the oven to rest and go through it's gel stage.  

Did you know the oven is a good place to insulate soap right after it's poured?  

This soap is fragrance free and naturally colored with the Calendula Flowers, Comfrey Leaves and colors of the soaping oils I used.  It will be a nice simple bar of soap for sensitive skin packed full of the good things from the oils and herbs that were used to make it.

I used Cathy's recipe from her Soaping 101 You Tube channel if you'd like to make this yourself.

 If you aren't a soap maker it will be available for sale after August 20, 2013 in my Sudz n' Hunni Soaps online store, you can also leave me a message in the comments or e mail me if you'd like to pre-order some too.  My e mail address is listed in the green tabs above under "contact info".

Thanks for visiting my blog today -