Re: Group Study Exercise for June. :)
Posted: Sun Jul 15, 2018 2:46 pm
Hello everyone,
Forgive the "post necromancy" but I promised I'd do the June study group task and intend to keep my word. Therefore, now that I've finally done it, I'd like to share what I've done.
My goal was to make herbal soap (cold process). Now, I ambitiously aimed to forage all the ingredients myself (even made a foraging charm for it) but eventually decided that, rather than make it extremely complicated in terms of ingredients, I'll just keep it simple. Forage what I can, buy what I can't.
The full list of ingredients is:
[*]Coconut oil (bought)
[*]Caustic soda (bought)
[*]Distilled water (from my lab)
[*]Mugwort (foraged from the grounds around my apartment)
[*]Juniper berries (bought)
[*]Lavender (some was foraged from an overgrown garden, some from a local graveyard)
[*]Lemon peel (from bought lemons)
[*]Rosemary (bought; ground up)
[*]Activated carbon (bought)
[*]Himalayan salt (bought)
[*]Box (serves as a mould; from some cookies I bought at the London airport)
Originally, I also wanted elderflower and dead nettle but never got around to really look for it; work got busy. I did also pick some chickory and daisy flowers but ultimately decided not to use it.
Now, this can definitely be done at home, but it was much easier in the lab. Here's what I did, mostly following a Rain Country recipe:
1. Measure out 8.5oz (241g) of water in a metal pot. I also measured this amount in a pyrex bottle and shoved all the other ingredients except carbon into the bottle and heated it to extract the juice from the ingredients (creating a sort of tea, if you will).
2. Measure out 3oz (85g) of caustic soda on a tray
3. Measure out 20oz (567g) of coconut oil and heat until it is completely liquid (I know you can buy coconut oil that is already pure liquid, but I bought the type that had a 24-degrees-Celsius melting point). I was able to throw in a magnetic stirring rod and heat it on a hotplate with a built-in magnetic stirrer which saved me manual stirring.
4. Add caustic soda to water SLOWLY, in a well-ventilated area. I used the fume hood. Basic chemistry rule: ALWAYS ADD any acid or base TO WATER. Never the other way around, especially if you're working with a substance with a pH on either extreme (around 1 or 14). Explosion or extreme heat may occur due to exothermic reaction. Stir until the caustic soda is completely dissolved (solution should look like water).
5. If the solution from step 4 is too hot (I'd say over 50 degrees Celsius), wait for it to cool down to at least the same temperature as the coconut oil. I was working with around 40 degrees Celsius.
6. Slowly pour in the coconut oil (this is to avoid splashback, don't worry, no explosions for this step). Begin stirring like a motherfucker. Unless you have a stick blender, just mix it with any spoon-like utensil as long as it is metal or plastic. I do not recommend using an egg beater or the like because 1) you really can't afford flinging the mixture around, 2) Good luck cleaning that afterward.
7. When the mixture begins to thicken (you can see tiny solid molecules in the fluid rather than a pure liquid), you can add in your herbs and essential oils... or the aforementioned "tea". I poured my herbal water a little at a time, through a filter paper funnel folded in 8ths (common in labs). Stir until the entire mixture looks the same (homogenized; not striped or streaky).
8. Continue stirring until the mixture begins to thicken into a cookie dough consistency.
9. Coat the bottom of the cookie box with activated carbon powder.
10. Pour the mixture in and smoothen until it fits into the box as a solid block. sitr around and smoothen a few times to release any trapped air; the mixture will continue to release heat (though not as intensely as the caustic soda solution). This is because your soap is hardening; turning from a liquid state into a solid state which necessitates the release of heat (because the reverse, adding heat/taking in heat would be meltin: solid to liquid).
11. Press in any herbs you have to create a design that you enjoy. You can also press in stamps or draw on the soap, whatever you like. You can see what I did with mine below: 12. Let cure (leave it alone) for about 1 month for best results. You can use it before then but it will definitely make for shittier soap. Like right now, it is very good at washing metal but leaves skin very slippery. Now you may be saying "ffs, judiss that's a huge block of soap". True. You can cut it apart when it hardens.
WARNING: Caustic soda is very basic. It will corrode anything organic, including skin, flesh, and wood! Therefore, only use plastic, rubber, or metal materials when handling it. If you do get a tiny, tiny bit on your skin and it causes redness, simply rinse under cool water and wash well with soap. If the exposure is greater, treat the affected area with vinegar to neutralize the base.
Notes: This soap is meant for me to use as a replacement for the typical cleansing bath/ritual bath. I can't take baths in my tiny apartments so showering and ritual soap is definitely the way to go. That's why I have salt, lemon, and rosemary which are reputed for cleansing. I threw in lavender mostly because it's probably my favourite smell. Mugwort because it supposedly augments your psychic faculties. Juniper... because juniper water tastes good, I felt like it might smell good in soap? Carbon because it's apparently nice for cleaning your teeth and face. Show your body some love. I put it on the bottom of the box so when the soap is done and you cut it, it's got the herb design on one side and the carbon on the other. It's aesthetic, aight?
Anyway, this is my fulfillment of the June prompt. Feel free to ask me about the soap or saponification/the science aspect. I'll be glad to help out maybe.
Forgive the "post necromancy" but I promised I'd do the June study group task and intend to keep my word. Therefore, now that I've finally done it, I'd like to share what I've done.
My goal was to make herbal soap (cold process). Now, I ambitiously aimed to forage all the ingredients myself (even made a foraging charm for it) but eventually decided that, rather than make it extremely complicated in terms of ingredients, I'll just keep it simple. Forage what I can, buy what I can't.
The full list of ingredients is:
[*]Coconut oil (bought)
[*]Caustic soda (bought)
[*]Distilled water (from my lab)
[*]Mugwort (foraged from the grounds around my apartment)
[*]Juniper berries (bought)
[*]Lavender (some was foraged from an overgrown garden, some from a local graveyard)
[*]Lemon peel (from bought lemons)
[*]Rosemary (bought; ground up)
[*]Activated carbon (bought)
[*]Himalayan salt (bought)
[*]Box (serves as a mould; from some cookies I bought at the London airport)
Originally, I also wanted elderflower and dead nettle but never got around to really look for it; work got busy. I did also pick some chickory and daisy flowers but ultimately decided not to use it.
Now, this can definitely be done at home, but it was much easier in the lab. Here's what I did, mostly following a Rain Country recipe:
1. Measure out 8.5oz (241g) of water in a metal pot. I also measured this amount in a pyrex bottle and shoved all the other ingredients except carbon into the bottle and heated it to extract the juice from the ingredients (creating a sort of tea, if you will).
2. Measure out 3oz (85g) of caustic soda on a tray
3. Measure out 20oz (567g) of coconut oil and heat until it is completely liquid (I know you can buy coconut oil that is already pure liquid, but I bought the type that had a 24-degrees-Celsius melting point). I was able to throw in a magnetic stirring rod and heat it on a hotplate with a built-in magnetic stirrer which saved me manual stirring.
4. Add caustic soda to water SLOWLY, in a well-ventilated area. I used the fume hood. Basic chemistry rule: ALWAYS ADD any acid or base TO WATER. Never the other way around, especially if you're working with a substance with a pH on either extreme (around 1 or 14). Explosion or extreme heat may occur due to exothermic reaction. Stir until the caustic soda is completely dissolved (solution should look like water).
5. If the solution from step 4 is too hot (I'd say over 50 degrees Celsius), wait for it to cool down to at least the same temperature as the coconut oil. I was working with around 40 degrees Celsius.
6. Slowly pour in the coconut oil (this is to avoid splashback, don't worry, no explosions for this step). Begin stirring like a motherfucker. Unless you have a stick blender, just mix it with any spoon-like utensil as long as it is metal or plastic. I do not recommend using an egg beater or the like because 1) you really can't afford flinging the mixture around, 2) Good luck cleaning that afterward.
7. When the mixture begins to thicken (you can see tiny solid molecules in the fluid rather than a pure liquid), you can add in your herbs and essential oils... or the aforementioned "tea". I poured my herbal water a little at a time, through a filter paper funnel folded in 8ths (common in labs). Stir until the entire mixture looks the same (homogenized; not striped or streaky).
8. Continue stirring until the mixture begins to thicken into a cookie dough consistency.
9. Coat the bottom of the cookie box with activated carbon powder.
10. Pour the mixture in and smoothen until it fits into the box as a solid block. sitr around and smoothen a few times to release any trapped air; the mixture will continue to release heat (though not as intensely as the caustic soda solution). This is because your soap is hardening; turning from a liquid state into a solid state which necessitates the release of heat (because the reverse, adding heat/taking in heat would be meltin: solid to liquid).
11. Press in any herbs you have to create a design that you enjoy. You can also press in stamps or draw on the soap, whatever you like. You can see what I did with mine below: 12. Let cure (leave it alone) for about 1 month for best results. You can use it before then but it will definitely make for shittier soap. Like right now, it is very good at washing metal but leaves skin very slippery. Now you may be saying "ffs, judiss that's a huge block of soap". True. You can cut it apart when it hardens.
WARNING: Caustic soda is very basic. It will corrode anything organic, including skin, flesh, and wood! Therefore, only use plastic, rubber, or metal materials when handling it. If you do get a tiny, tiny bit on your skin and it causes redness, simply rinse under cool water and wash well with soap. If the exposure is greater, treat the affected area with vinegar to neutralize the base.
Notes: This soap is meant for me to use as a replacement for the typical cleansing bath/ritual bath. I can't take baths in my tiny apartments so showering and ritual soap is definitely the way to go. That's why I have salt, lemon, and rosemary which are reputed for cleansing. I threw in lavender mostly because it's probably my favourite smell. Mugwort because it supposedly augments your psychic faculties. Juniper... because juniper water tastes good, I felt like it might smell good in soap? Carbon because it's apparently nice for cleaning your teeth and face. Show your body some love. I put it on the bottom of the box so when the soap is done and you cut it, it's got the herb design on one side and the carbon on the other. It's aesthetic, aight?
Anyway, this is my fulfillment of the June prompt. Feel free to ask me about the soap or saponification/the science aspect. I'll be glad to help out maybe.