My Thoughts On Soap And Candle Making
Soap and candle making can be done at home using ordinary kitchen utensils and appliances.
Soap making is the more complicated process in soap and candle making combination. Soap has been used for centuries to clean dirt. This is done by engulfing the dirt by its bubbles. Then, this bubble-dirt combination is washed away by water. Soap is water-soluble; thus, it will dissolve in water. This is the reason why it is ideal for washing things and the human skin.
Soaps are in solid, liquid and jelly forms. Solid form is used for bath soap, clothes cleaning soap and industrial cleaning soap. Liquid soap is usually used for hands washing, clothes washing and dishes washing. The jelly soap is used for hand washing and clothes washing.
Saponification process is the main reaction that is involved in soap making. It is the esterification of vegetable oils when mixed with a base compound; like sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide. The resulting product is a jelly-like substance that hardens when it cools.
To complete saponification, the mixture of vegetable oil and the basic substance must be stirred continuously under controlled temperature. Proportion of the mixture of vegetable oil and the base substance must be precise in terms of concentration and volume. Too much vegetable oil in the mixture will result in a product that is too oily and with fewer bubbles. Too much sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide will produce a very harsh soap due to excess reactive base substance.
After complete saponification of the mixture, the jelly-like product is poured into molds to be cooled. Then, the hardened product is chopped into convenient sizes and pressed into shape.
There are two main types of soaps: the soft soap, which is basically a product of the reaction of potassium hydroxide, and the vegetable oil. This is usually used as bath soap because it is very gentle to the skin and hands. Hand soaps, beauty soaps, whitening soaps and medical surgical soaps are basically made of this soap.
Below are still some of the facts on soap and candle making.
Another kind of soap is the hard soap. This is the product of the reaction of sodium hydroxide and vegetable oil. This is used for cleaning of clothes and others. This cannot be used as bath soap because it is harsh to the skin.
Fillers are inert substances that give hardness to the finshed product. This also makes the soap product opaque instead of the jelly-like, translucent product.
Scent is a blend of essential oils; like lavender, jasmines, lemon, citronella, and other. This is added at the end of the safonification process because these oils evaporate during high temperature.
Oil soluble dyes are used to color the soap. This is added and mixed with other ingredients at the beginning of the saponification process. This is thoroughly mixed with the soap batch.
Some soaps claim that they have some special abilities to give the human skin better appearance. These are done by adding some special ingredients to the soap while in the saponification process.
The other process of soap and candle making is candle making.
In this, unlike soap making where there is chemical reaction called saponification, the process involved is just mixing and melting of ingredients. Then the melted ingredient is poured into suitable molds. The finished soap product is packed in attractive wax papers or plastic packaging.
Soap and candle making can be a hobby or it can be a profitable venture also.
