Making Balsam Fir Cold-Process Soap for the Holidays!

Today I decided to make some kind of holiday-scented soap that could also be sold after the holidays as an uplifting winter scent. I picked 2 essential oils up at my local natural food store: peppermint and Balsam Fir Needle. I chose to save the peppermint oil for my bath bombs I plan on making when my citric acid arrives. So here we go!

First, we have to mix our lye and water mixture! To do this, we need several things...

We've got our lye, water, a digital kitchen scale, measuring cup, something to pour our mixture into, thick rubber gloves, safety glasses, and some kind of crazy breathing mask my dad gave me.

I got my calculation for how much lye and water I will need for my batch at Brambleberry.com. I pour my Lye into my water, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND, and leave it to sit in a WELL VENTILATED area until it cools to about 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

While I'm waiting for my lye mixture to cool, I work on mixing my oils together. In this particular soap, I am using Olive Oil, Organic Vegetable Shortening, Cocoa Butter, Shea Butter, and Sweet Almond Oil.

I know it looks kind of gross now, but it will get better!!! Now to warm it up! I put the burner on to simmer because I don't want my oils to get any hotter than 120 degrees. After a while it begins to look like.....

THIS! Still not ready yet, but getting there. And excuse my 80's brown stove/kitchen. 3 out of 4 of the burners still work so they won't get rid of it. So after a while, my mixture looks like....

My oils are evenly mixed and I've separated them into 2 batches, one of them colored, the other one not (this ended up not working out in the end, everything became one color). One both the oil and the lye mixture are around 100 degrees, I pour the Lye mixture into the oils, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND and stir with a spoon for about 10 minutes. Then, like most soap makers, I become impatient and use a stick blender to speed up the process. If I didn't have this handy tool, it may take me several hours to stir a mixture to the point of it tracing. If you make soap or are planning to give this hobby a try, make sure you are careful, or else this will happen...

Those right there are burns from my mixture splattering on me while using the stick blender. I'll be OK though!

Once my soap begins to trace (becomes thick enough) I pour it into my mold. In this batch I want to make bars, so I just use a plastic Sterilite container. After my soap hardens just a bit I take a spoon and put some "waves" into the top and add some colored sprinkles!

The final color should have a green hue to it. Can't wait to have these in my Etsy shop! Look for them soon!