Shop Update, and Cream Soap

**This recipe is intended for soapers with some experience, and please don't forget your safety gear - goggles & gloves please!. If you're new to soap, you may want to see my earlier post "Beginner's Soap"**

I have whipped up a new batch of cream soap, new recipe! I had tried a low stearic recipe, and it wouldn't hold a whip, AND had a terrible lather. It felt like lotion on the skin though, and it was a small batch (1 pound of oils), so it is all mine. I created a new formula yesterday, with the goal of LATHER. Bubbles. Froth. I still want to keep the stearic to a minimum though, so here's the recipe:

14 oz. coconut oil
10 oz. olive oil
8 oz. stearic acid
6 oz. soy oil
4 oz. castor oil
3 oz. palm oil
1 oz. cocoa butter
1 oz. mango butter
8 oz. glycerin
24 oz aloe juice
28 oz distilled water, frozen
1.4 oz NaOH
7.6 oz KOH
supercream - .4 oz stearic + .6 oz glycerin
day one additive: .2 oz germall plus, .5 oz polysorbate 80, .5 oz aloe juice

I melted together all the oils and the glycerin on low heat in my big stainless pot. Then I mixed the aloe & ice in a heavy plastic pitcher, and added the lyes slowly while stirring. Then, slowly added lye mixture to oils while blending with the stick blender, this worked very well, no stearic separation! Then I put on the lid and popped it into a 225 degree oven. Checked and stirred every 20 minutes for two hours. I no longer do a phenophthalein test, mainly because the long curing time on this soap allows it to fully saponify long before you actually use it. Then, I melted the supercream ingredients in the microwave, and used a potato masher to incorporate them into the soap. It is really stiff at this point, and very hot. Then, I turned off the oven, and just stuck the pot with lid on into the oven to sit overnight. The second pic is what was there this morning. Some liquid had separated out. I mixed in the day one additives, and with a gloved hand, squished it thoroughly until it was all mixed well. My hand was tired! After the squishing, I took the pic on the left, and now the soap needs to rot (sounds gross, but that's what the curing process for cream soaps is called). I tested a bit on my hands, and it is very bubbly! Success! I was also pleasantly surprised, it is very mild, my hands felt very soft afterwards, which is unusual on a day one test - cream soap is usually somewhat harsh before it's had a chance to mellow. I can't wait, I will be using this soap as a base for foaming scrubs as well as scented cream soap, I wish I had a time machine to age it faster! This soap needs to cure for at least a month before using, and should really be cured for six months before whipping.

And, oh yeah - the shop update! I'm having a sale in the soap shop, and also have opened a new shop for my hand knits, Knit Habit, on Etsy.