Homemade Soap Cutter

It all started with a couple sketches on a dry erase board. I guess they didn't look much like a soap cutter, but that's how it started. And then my husband looked at some soap cutters online and began creating.

He gathered some wood and a long hinge and then ordered some 6-in-a-line guitar key tuner parts and guitar strings.

There are 2 U-shaped wooden pieces on either end connected with 4 wooden bars. The front bar has guitar key tuning pieces that are used to tighten the cutting wire (guitar strings). It's hinged at the back and the guitar strings are stretched between the front and back bars.

Attached to the bottom platform is a piece of 2x4 screwed to a taller piece of wood to make an L-shape. It acts as a lip so the soap loaf doesn't slide when the bars are cut. 

You might enjoy watching the video we made showing the structure and dimensions of the soap cutter. It's not as polished as the expensive ones offered online, but it didn't cost much to make and it works great!

Homemade Hanger Swirl Cold Process Soap - Coconut Lime Verbena with Piped Dots on Top

Have you ever searched Pinterest for creative techniques to add to your soap making repertoire? I have. While I don't spend much time on Pinterest, I do remember being inspired by a soap with diagonal dots of color on the top.

In this video, I attempt to pipe light green, dark green and black dots in a diagonal line on top of a soap loaf. The fragrance is Coconut Lime Verbena and I've used a clothes hanger to swirl the colors. The color pattern inside the soap is White (base), black, light green, dark green, light green, white, black, white.

The color pattern for the dots on top is  light green, dark green, black, dark green (repeat so that the black is surrounded by dark green on either side.)

Making Cold Process Soap with Lavender Essential Oil

Nighttime, it's when I soap.

The littles are asleep. The house is mostly quiet. And it's peaceful.

Tonight, I created a cold process soap using essential oils. And I'm in a generous mood, so I'm sharing my recipe. Please run your own lye calculations though a soap calculator to confirm. 

Oils/Fats:
20 oz beef tallow
18 oz coconut oil
18 oz palm oil
4 oz castor oil

17.51 oz distilled water
8.76 oz sodium hydroxide (lye)

2.25 oz fragrance oil or essential oil

1. Follow all safety precautions for working with lye. At a minimum, that means wearing gloves and goggles and keeping pets and people (especially children) away from the working area. Work in a well ventilated area or open a window while mixing the lye as it emits fumes.
2. Weigh the oils and melt to combine.
3. Weigh the distilled water and place in a suitable container (I use a Pyrex glass batter bowl, but a stainless steel and some plastic containers are acceptable.) Don't use aluminum.
4. Weigh the lye and add it to the distilled water. Stir briefly with a stainless steel spoon or silicone spatula.  Never pour water onto the lye. Remember the expression "it snows on the lake" -- the white lye flakes fall into the water.
5. Wait for the lye water to cool and turn clear. 
6. Add the lye solution to the melted oils.
7. Mix with a stick blender until it looks like thin pudding.
8. Add the fragrance of your choice and stir.
9. Pour into your mold(s).
10. Spray top with 91% rubbing alcohol to prevent the formation of white soda ash on the top. 
11. Next day: remove soap from mold and cut into slices.
12. Place soap on a non-aluminum surface to cure for 3-6 weeks.

Here's a video of the soap I made tonight:

This soap will be available for sale in about a month. (2/15/17)
Click here to go to Nancy's Garden Soap Co on Etsy.