I have been interested in soap making since high school when my mom got me a book on the subject. I was initially intimidated by the process since it involves using lye which is a substance that requires safety precautions, so I put my ambition on hold for many years until recently. Of course I was busy with other things like finishing my education and building a career and family, but I have finally come back around to it and I am so glad that I did. I have often gravitated towards the soap booth at craft fairs and the soap displays at specialty shops while traveling. I am fascinated by both the design and fragrance elements as well as the beauty and creativity that goes into a bar of handmade soap. Now I know there is so much more to it from the chemistry of the process to the skill of layering and swirls and the properties of ingredients that add different characteristics. To get started making soap also requires a fair amount research and investment. I am excited to be building my supplies and learning with each new batch that I make.

Soap is the result of combining an acid and a base which results in a reaction that creates a new substance which is considered a salt and that is soap. The acid in this case is oils from castor oil, which adds bubbles, to olive oil, which is a humectant and draws moisture, to coconut oil and many others. The base in this case is sodium hydroxide or lye. On top of this, fragrance and colorant are also added. When coming up with a recipe, it is important to calculate the ratio correctly so that it ends up being a gentle bar of soap. There needs to be enough oil to disburse all of the lye and extra is even better, which is a type of recipe that is termed “super fatting”. Having extra oil at the end of the process allows that oil to add additional moisture to the skin. A by-product of this process, which is called “saponification” is glycerine, which is also a humectant (draws moisture) to further benefit the skin. Many commercial cleansing bars are not able to use the term “soap” because they are either made up of detergents instead of soap or the glycerine is extracted during the process and used in other products.

The chemistry behind soap is interesting both from the standpoint of how soap is made but also how it works to remove dirt from our hands. The process of saponification is explained well in Carol Hill’s book “Soap Making Business Startup”. Here is a summary: The oils used in soap making are made up of triglycerides and the sodium hydroxide base is made up of sodium and hydrogen ions. The soap making process includes separating the triglycerides in the oil into unsaturated fats and glycerol as well as parting of sodium hydroxide into sodium and hydroxide ions. The separating of the sodium hydroxide is called ionization. Water added to the sodium hydroxide is a key medium to the process because it helps to separate triglycerides and allows for ionization. The reaction of the unsaturated fat and sodium ions create soap and the reaction of glycerol and hydroxide ion creates glycerine. The resulting soap has a molecular structure that has two ends, a polar end that binds with water and a non-polar end that binds with grease and dirt. This is why we wash our hands with soap and water. The soap clings to the dirt and the water draws it away leaving our hands clean. Now that we know how it works, let’s look at how it is made.

Preparing to make soap can be a big investment from the specialty oils like avocado oil and vitamin E oil to the tools like wooden molds and soap loaf cutters. As soon as you think you’re ready to make soap, a recipe calls for rice bran oil or glitter which are not items currently in the supply closet. Of course, a recipe can be altered a to fit the oils on hand as long it is first run through a soap calculator to ensure the ratio of oil to lye is appropriate since each oil is different in this regard. I got a few soap making books to get started and read through them before I tried making soap. I now keep those books on my soap making table and reference back to the recipes. I have also found several online resources for soap recipes and tutorials which are useful. I started with a 10 inch soap mold and my first batch was a shea butter base with a ginger scent and blue swirl. The soap turned out well, but I cut it by hand and the bars were not very even. Since then, my dad made me some soap molds so I can do two batches at once and I got a soap loaf cutter which cuts 10 bars at once.

There are a number of free soap calculators that help “soapers” build recipes and provide guidance on whether the resulting bar will be cleansing, moisturizing, bubbly or creamy. The properties of a soap are largely based on the type of oils used. Some oils are hard at room temperature like coconut oil, palm oil, shea butter and cocoa butter and others are liquid like olive oil, avocado oil and castor oil. A typical bar of soap takes 4-6 weeks to cure however a pure olive oil soap called Castille soap can take longer. It is possible to add sodium lactate or beeswax to soap to help create a harder bar of soap, but a bar of soap also hardens the longer it cures as the moisture slowly evaporates. Additional properties are also considered such as antioxidants in cocoa butter and the moisturizing elements in avocado oil and jojoba oil. Soap design can also be a factor since some oils can speed (such as shea butter or palm oil) or slow (such as canola oil or sunflower oil) trace, which is the thickening of the soap. For layered soaps, speeding up can be beneficial, but for swirl soaps, slowing trace is needed to have time for the design. You can see what happens when you use a fast trace recipe for a swirl soap. I did this in the example here and ended up doing the swirl by hand instead of by pouring.

The process of selecting a recipe, a color, a fragrance, a design and finally naming the resulting soap has been a fun exploration. So far my most popular soaps have been my full moon soap and my felted mango soap. Both of those creations came about by chance. I had made some circle soaps that set up too fast, so they weren’t smooth enough. I wondered what to do with them and remembered hearing about “imbeds” which is putting pieces of soap in another soap batch to create shapes. I thought they looked like a full moon, so decided to put them in the center of a blue swirl soap. It turned out really well and has gotten over 3500 views on my marketplace listing on Facebook. I had to hurry up and make another batch because I sold out of the first one. My felted mango soap came about because I was processing wool fiber for spinning and my step mom, Lil, mentioned I could use some of it to make felted soap. I watched some videos on the process and got hooked.

Felted soap is used like a wash cloth in the shower for gentle exfoliation. It also acts like a soap saver to keep the soap for longer as well as enhancing the lather. Wool is naturally anti-microbial an adaptation that evolved in nature as the animals are out in the elements and their coats don’t mold, which makes it perfect for the moist shower environment. Designing the felted soaps is also interesting because different colors or embellishments can be used. I posted my felted soap in a soap making group and it got 130 comments from people who either shared their designs as well or people who wanted to know how to make it and what it was used for. It’s more well known in Canada where it’s available in many of their gift shops. The felting process involves wrapping the soap and then applying heat and agitation to get the fibers to felt. Felted fibers criss cross and shrink making them into a cohesive cloth like structure that is bound together and won’t fall apart. The below video shows the great lather produced from a felted bar of soap.

I have applied to the Farmers Market in Fort Collins, CO for the summer of 2021 and hope that I get a spot so that I can have a soap and craft tent. I think that will be a great opportunity to get more feedback on what people are interested in regarding their soap. All of my soaps are all natural and vegan using no man made or animal products (except the wool for my felted soaps). They are a great alternative to the more drying commercial bars. The designs and scents appeal to many different tastes and make them fun to use. I am grateful I could turn my interest and appreciation of handcrafted soap into a business where I get to be creative and continue to learn about this amazing craft.

In 2018, I stumbled upon the art of fiber processing mostly by chance. I first got started looking into fiber processing because I was curious about some of the yarns I was purchasing for my crochet blankets. It was very expensive to buy all natural yarns as I found out on my bedspread blanket where I ended up spending $400 to get enough yarn to finish it. I thought that possibly hand spun yarn would be more economical if I was able to do the processing myself. Of course this didn’t turn out to be the case, but I have been grateful for the journey of discovery this quest has set me on. I have learned first hand about some differences between various types of fibers as well as the full process required to turn raw fiber into yarn and finally a woven pillow.

I have always had a daydream to own a small farm since I visited my great aunt’s ranch in Massachusetts and saw them tackle sheep to pour a flea bath over them. She let me wash some of the sheered wool in their barn sink, which was fascinating to me as a girl. My grandma’s family also had homestead farms in Nebraska so I grew up hearing stories about my grandma keeping carrots in her cellar and riding horses to school. Although I don’t yet have my own farm, I watched some videos on sheep and llama farms which were intriguing. I thought I could get some fiber from a local farm to practice with. Fortunately, my grandpa and his wife own two llamas, so I had the chance to visit their property a couple of years ago where I met Savannah and Lei. Savannah has the biggest dark eyes with the most beautiful eyelashes I have ever seen. My grandpa’s wife, Peggy, had just shorn them both (persevering through some painful kicks) and generously offered me their pelts to process. Peggy also gave me some wool scouring soap and a video tutorial on spinning. I thought I was ready to start making yarn, actually, I was still several steps away.

When I got home, I started by washing the fiber outside a few times, then I washed it in my bathtub a few more times. I picked out sticks and seeds and rinsed it until the water was clear. Then I set up a couple of fans and waited for it to dry, which took several days. During the process, I learned that the water temperature should be warm, but not change from hot to cold or it will risk felting the fiber. To avoid felting, water also shouldn’t run directly on the fiber and it shouldn’t be agitated too much. The llama fiber was quite long and very soft. Llamas have coarse guard hairs that should be picked out before spinning.

Once the llama fiber dried, I watched some Ashford videos on how to prepare it for spinning. I got some of their carding brushes which help put the fibers in the same direction so it can be pulled into roving that can be spun. I wanted to go faster than I could with the brushes alone so I found a diagram on how to make a drum carder and convinced my dad to help me make one in his workshop. It has carding cloth like the brushes, but it’s attached to two drums that brush together by turning the handle.

The most expensive part of the carder was the carding cloth that goes around the drum. The drum itself is a number of circles cut from plywood with a drill press and glued together. The handles were custom made by a welder who is my dad’s neighbor. The pulley is a rubber belt that sits in the groove of wooden wheels that were made with a router. The drums can be adjusted with the bolts that are held in grooves cut into small pieces of plastic. It is a very effective piece of equipment that helps to get small pieces of dirt and grass out in addition to making the fiber more pliable. I prefer to use it outside so I don’t have to clean up the dirt from my carpet.

After the fiber is processed, then it is finally ready to spin. I first tried to use a drop spindle to spin the yarn. The process helps make the fibers stronger and overlaps the shorter lengths to get a continuous yarn that can be used for weaving or rugs or pot holders or many other items, the list is endless. Again, I found the drop spindle slow and tedious, so I found a spinning wheel that was used and learned how to use it. The foot pedal was detached, so I got a replacement part and used some string I had to set up the wheel. I watched the spinning video Peggy gave me and started to practice. I have some trouble keeping the wheel going, but am getting better and have made several skeins of yarn so far.

In 2019, I had my daughter, so I spent most of the summer getting her nursery ready and getting my projects at work finished. In 2020, I was back to my project and my sister found more fiber sources for me, but this time it was wool and alpaca. The local farms in Larimer county were just the source I was looking for. I got a few bags of Alpaca seconds from the Stargazer Ranch. Seconds are shorter or dirtier fibers, but they are much more affordable. I decided to use this fiber for felted wool dryer balls. The alpaca fiber felts really well so it is easy to work with to make dryer balls. I turned my back yard into a fiber washing station over the summer and made a large drying rack to put in my yard. It was a nice way to get some outside time in the sunshine. I would take my baby monitor with me and listen to podcasts on raising a toddler or fiber arts while I washed and washed and washed.

The wool I got was from the Suarez ranch Suffolk sheep. Suffolk is a sheep raised for meat, but the wool can be spun as well. These animals didn’t wear coats, so the wool needed washed and the vegetable matter removed. I watched a couple of videos on how to pick through a pelt and how to tell the front from the back. It’s funny to see the full pelt altogether and how it resembles the shape of the animal. Some fiber artists try to keep the lock structure in place while washing the fiber, but with this volume, that was not feasible. With this wool, I have made felted soap and tried out natural dyes, but they washed out (except for turmeric), so then I tried permanent dyes which have worked better.

That has been my adventure with fiber processing so far. I know there is much more to come as I can tell from the bags of raw wool in my garage attic. Take a moment to appreciate my fiber grower pictures above – the sheep, llama and alpaca who made this journey possible. Please stay tuned for my future blog posts on wool dying, weaving and felted soap making.