Making Lye Soap

Today was soap making day. We got all of our supplies and ingredients ready. We used the cold process (no cooking) recipe from Homestead Blessings DVD The Art of Soap Making. WELL worth the investment. We had our pans greased and our pot ready with the recipe written out for us.
It called for
4 c water (room temp)
48 oz lard
32 oz coconut oil
16 oz olive oil
and 12 oz lye
The lye was not easy to find. We ordered ours from Snowdrift Farms.
It is a scary process....my kids were allowed to watch, but I explained in DETAIL the dangers of lye and even the fumes. (we had vinegar standing by just incase of a splatter) What a day to make soap!!! We had 60 mph wind gusts out there and needed to open windows to ventilate the house....too late to go back. Zach ran to the garage and grabbed a mask....little stinker. The pic is blurry but it was so cute I had to show you all.
We dissolved our lye in the pot with the water. It got hot very fast and was steaming terribly. It settled down quickly though. I slowly added in the solid fats and they melted in the hot lye.
Like those flimsy gloves are going to protect me from lye!!!....I found the nice heavy ones I bought AFTER the soap was made.
Once all the fats were added, I used a stick blender to speed up the process. It began to trace nicely. See our "trails"??At this point we added in the oatmeal, essential oils, and spices. I am afraid it got too thick, but I got it in the waiting pans as fast as I could.
It smelled heavenly!!!! I put lids on them and covered them with a blanket, just as the instructions said to, and will cut them and set them to cure tomorrow.
It was an easy recipe to follow and I will certainly make more. My friend Kelley is a soap maker and I am hoping she can guide me in some more complicated recipes. Once they are cured, I will show you the finished product.
I will leave you with a conversation we had in the van today as we were leaving the supermarket.
Me: That old lady is backing out and is not even looking.
Sweetheart: She is probably thinking the same thing about you.
Me: I'm not an old lady!, she is! I have blond hair. She has gray hair.
Sweetheart: That's cause you get yours in a box.
Me: I won't have gray hair til I am 60 and then people can call me old.
Zachary: Aren't you already gonna be 60?
*Before I can answer (or slap him)* Charlotte: Mom's not 60. She's gonna be 50 and she still has some life in her.
Me: Gee. Thanks.
Have a blessed day!