NATURAL SOAP MAKING WORKSHOP (PART 4)
Step Two
Now you have your oils and lye to temp. It is time to mix them together. You want to pour your lye into your oils. Pour the lye slowly and steadily to avoid splashing the lye or hot oils out of the soap pot. As you pour, you want to make sure that you are stirring rapidly to incorporate the lye into the oils. Don't stir too quickly or you run the risk of splashing the lye. It helps if you have a partner at this point, or a stick blender.
Once you have poured all the lye into the oils, be prepared to stir. You are going to be stirring in this fashion for a while. With any luck your soap will trace quickly. Most likely your first few batches it won't. Don't get discouraged; keep stirring.
Step Three: Tracing
What you are looking for is something called a Trace. Tracing is when you are able to see the traces of your spoon through the soap. It will resemble, of all things, vanilla pudding. Some soaps don't really have a noticeable trace, while others are blatant. Pure Castile soap is notorious for having a very shy trace. Soaps made from hard fats, such as coconut oil, tend to have a very distinct trace. The steps to Trace tend to be consistent in most soaps.
First you will see the soap move from a lusciously golden smooth color, to an off white, grainy, shiny liquid. You may also notice that when you lift your spoon you can see a shiny ring where the drop incorporated itself with the larger batch. This is a good thing. This indicates that you will be tracing shortly. Of course time here is relative.
Some soap will trace in less than an hour while others may take as much as 4 hours to trace. Much of it depends on the amount of solid oils you use in your recipe. A pure Castile soap may never come to a noticeable trace. Soaps made with solid oils tend to trace much more rapidly.
The next thing that will happen is called Light Trace. You will be able to see a scum develop on your spoon and the sides of the stockpot and your soap will start to thicken. This phase quickly moves into Heavy Trace.
Heavy Trace is the time your spoon will leave deep lines in the soap. At this point you want to add any fragrance oils and herbs that you had planned on putting in there.
One problem with using additives at this time is you are putting them in direct contact with the lye. This will cause some of your herbs to turn brown and your fragrances to evaporate. You will have to use about half again as much fragrance as you would on a rebatch. Some essential oils and fragrance oils will speed up tracing. So be prepared to pour your soap quickly.
Continue on to Part 5
