Step 3– You don’t have to let it cool down. Pour the lye solution into your melted oils/glycerin and blend to trace.

Step 4: Once my oils were melted I created the lye solution. I wanted it to be nice and hot. To make a lye solution weigh the water and sodium hydroxide into two separate containers. Pour the lye into the water and stir. Warning! You do use alcohol in this process so be aware of open flames or anything that might ignite the fumes. I went so far as to blow out the gas starters on my stove since I was making this in my kitchen. I opened the patio door so that I had fresh air at all times. Make sure you have a fire extinguisher on hand (a bit dramatic, but you should have one in your kitchen anyways). For more vibrant, stable colors, go for mineral colorants: ultramarines, iron or chromium oxides. These mineral colorants for soap making are still considered natural ingredients, even though they are manufactured to make the minerals safe (by removing harmful heavy metals). Not the best picture but you get the idea. It looked a bit cloudy to me so I cooked for 30 more minutes and tested again.Sugar – Sugar is a simple solvent that you can try in your transparent soap. You’ll need to make a solution before you add it to your soap. Each solution in each recipe makes more sugar solution than needed, so you’ll have a bit left over. Make sure the sugar is completely dissolved before adding the solution to your soap. White cane sugar and beet sugar work best. I tried raw sugar and brown sugar but it tinted the soap a bit. You can also try xylitol. I make a sugar solution using 1 part water to 2 parts sugar. You’ll need to heat it to a boil to make sure all of the sugar melts. As soon as it boils, stop heating or you might burn your sugar. Storing your soap Step 8– Immediately cover with Press & Seal and the lid. Set to cook. You want as little evaporation of the alcohol to happen as possible so that it remains in the soap mixture to dissolve the soap. Step 10– After two hours, test your soap for clarity. You can do this by pouring a bit of soap mixture onto a cold glass cup. When you first remove the press and seal, you’ll notice lots of foam. I simply sprayed with alcohol and it went away. Superfat –Because superfat (unsaponified oils) can cloud transparent soap, go with a 0% superfat. We do add glycerin, and that acts as a superfat in your soap. Solvents

NOTE: If you’re making a batch of high-solvent content, add half, blend until clear and then add the rest. (Do this for batch 5 & 6.) If you add all the solvents up front, it takes awhile to come together. Results: Decent lather. More clear than batch #1 and 2. Because of the high stearic, this one was a bit draggy to use and tightening to the skin. It will probably improve. But I wouldn’t make this one again… Liquid Glycerin (not glycerin soap!) – This is a great solvent to use in transparent soap. Glycerin is a humectant and moisturizer for the skin. And like I mentioned above, since we use a 0% superfat, glycerin acts as a superfat. White sugar produces the best results. You can use raw sugar but your soap will have more amber color.Step 16– After 24 hours un-mold. You can un-mold it as soon as it hardens, which is usually less than 24 hours. This is where I started. I didn’t have a good alcohol, only 70% isopropyl so didn’t expect super clear soap. I wanted to try it without a sugar solution. Use little quantities of colorant if you really want to keep your soap highly transparent. More than 1/16 of a teaspoon, depending on the colorant, and the soap becomes opaque. The best way is to add very little colorant at a time until you are satisfied with the color and soap transparency.