Soap Making Recipes suitable for both Cold Process Method and Hot Process MethodThese soap making recipes are suitable for both hot process and the cold process method of making (at present only the cold process instructions are linked, hot process coming soon). These are base soap making recipes, that means the quantities of the base oils are given along with the suggested amount of caustic soda and water but there is no essential oil or fragrance suggested. This means that you can add whichever essential oil or fragrance that you wish - it is best to check out the fragrance page first to make sure that you know what you are doing. There are suggested blends for essential oils here. Presenting the soap making recipes in this way means that you can tailor them for your own specific circumstances for example if you wish to customise the recipes for a particular skintype. If you are new to soap making then it is probably best to read the formulating page. Please note all soap making recipes are in grams and liquids are measured by weight not volume (this includes the water). Small quantities may be listed in mls or teaspoons but this is just because most kitchen scales are not accurate when it comes to tiny quantities. Use ordinary kitchen digital scales and forget imperial pounds and ounces or cups, it wont take you long to get the hang of metric weights - and ultimately they are easier. All of the soapmaking recipes are designed to give you a minimum of 1 kilogram of soap, due to evaporation of water the recipes are calculated to be just over 1kg at time of making. Just so you know... there are 1,000 grams in 1 kilogram! You will find that the links on this page to the soap making instructions and formulating or fragrance pages will open a new window, to return to this page simply close the window down. 
Beginners Unscented SoapThis is probably one of my favourite soapmaking recipes it is also one of the simplest to make. If you would like it to be really special then choose extra virgin olive oil and organic coconut and palm - be aware that trace times take a little longer when using extra virgin olive oil. Even though it is unscented you will find the finished bar has a lovely fresh clean scent to it, if you have used virgin coconut you may even get a hint of coconut too.Ingredients: Coconut oil = 300grams Palm oil = 250grams Olive oil = 400grams Water = 300grams Sodium Hydroxide = 138grams If you would like to add essential oils to this recipe I would suggest you read the fragrance page too. The amount may vary, depending upon which essential oil or fragrance you use, but on average I would add 2% of the total of the oils as fragrance or essential oil. Be guided by your nose though, if the essential oil you choose is very strong then you may wish to add less. For this recipe that means 19grams - although not entirely accurate I would use a 20ml bottle of essential oil or blend to a total of 20ml in a small measuring container. Go here for full soapmaking instructions. 
Unscented Castile or All Olive oil SoapThis is one of the most simple soap making recipes, but not always the most simple to make, however don't let that put you off. It is worth having a go since this is a very gentle soap that I recommend using on your face.The Castile soap making recipe is considered one of the most inoffensive soaps and is often recommended for use by people with sensitive skin conditions or problems such as acne, psoriasis and excema. To make it very special you could use an extra virgin olive oil, however, be aware that extra virgin olive oil can take quite a while to trace. Ingredients: Olive oil = 950grams Water = 300grams Sodium Hydroxide = 122grams Full soapmaking instructions can be found here Stuck as to what fragrance to use? Would you like some suggested blends of essential oils to use with these soap making recipes? Click the above link to go to the fragrance page. "I haven't the time to read through all that!" OK... in brief...the amount of fragrance you use will vary depending upon which essential oil or fragrance you choose, but on average I would add 2% of the total of the oils as fragrance or essential oil. For this recipe that means 19grams - although not entirely accurate I would use a 20ml bottle of essential oil or blend to a total of 20ml in a small measuring container. Be guided by your nose though, if the essential oil you choose is very strong then you may wish to add less. If you would like to adjust the amount of superfat in the soap then please go to the formulation page. and read about the benefits of this and exactly how to do it. It is not advised to simply adjust the sodium hydroxide arbitrarily. 
Willy Wonka's Chocolate SoapThis is my favourite luxury soap! It is made using Venezualan Black chocolate from Mr Willy Wonka himself (those of you in the UK may have seen the Channel Four tv programme about this incredible man setting up his chocolate factory in Devon and taking on the big boys). since Mr Willy Harcourt-Cooze puts chocolate in just about everything, I thought I would put it in soap (but not too much since the chocolate is devine and its a bit of a waste!... but certainly less calories!) Oh and its also gorgeous on your skin!Ingredients: Virgin (the best you can buy!) Coconut oil = 420grams Virgin (fair trade/sustainable source) Palm oil = 290grams Extra Virgin Olive oil = 240grams Venezualan Black Chocolate = 20grams Water = 250 grams Sodium Hydroxide = 140grams You add the chocolate to the solid oils and melt them together. Otherwise follow the basic
soapmaking instructions here
Bishops Balm Soap
This is one of my soap making recipes inspired by the medieval monks who used comfrey in their healing poultices. It is not likely that they would have used it in soap, or sunflower oil and they certainly would not know about coconut oil but the beeswax in this recipe helps keep the bar nice and hard and the sunflower adds a lightness to the lather. When I first made this soap back in 2003 I scented it with two parts Bergamot to one part Lavender - you can, of course, choose whichever scent combinations you desire - or leave it unscented.Ingredients: Coconut oil = 300grams Palm oil = 250grams Sunflower = 350grams Beeswax = 50grams Green Comfrey Oil = 25grams Water = 300grams Sodium Hydroxide = 134grams Melt the bees wax with the base oils and then let the oils cool to about 45 degrees celcius or at least until the mixture becomes a bit thick and soupy. The bees wax in this soap helps speed up the rate of trace, however the sunflower oil takes longer than olive to come to trace so you may find the two cancel each other out and it behaves pretty much like the previous recipes. The Comfrey oil should be added to the soap at trace, just before pouring into the mould.
To Vary Continuing the trend for medieval inspired soap (I have a whole load of these, our village used to have an abbey, sadly one of the abbeys and monasteries abolished by Henry VIII, which celebrated it's millenium in 2005 - for this event I created a number of medieval-styled soaps) Take the same recipe and blend with the soap mixture a heaped tablespoon of green or yellow clay. Don't hang about before getting this into the mould though... it gets thick quite quickly!
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