Making The Lye. Outside so the fumes from the dissolving caustic can escape. There always seems to be enough breeze to draught the caustic fumes out of harms way,
Thorny devil with the sweetest of perfumes.
Cutting Flinders Island Black soap.
Beautiful sweet smelling rose.
Baby muscovy ducklings.
A jug full of essential oil. It takes quite alot of essential oil to perfume a batch of soap.
Weighing the olive oil.
Our galic harvest.
Ingredients gathered ready to be added at the trace.
At the trace adding beautiful Tasmanian leatherwood honey it has a unique aroma really lovely.
Tasmanian Leatherwood Honey
Minced Seaweed
Sodium Hydroxide ‘Caustic Soda’ dissolved in water is known as the lye. This is cooled & stirred into the melted fats until the solution thickens & comes to what is refered to as the trace when other ingredients are added before pouring into moulds.
Adding the lye solution (caustic soda dissolved in filtered water) to the fats to make soap with minced seaweed, Tasmanian leatherwood honey, almond oil & lavender essential oil in this batch.
Calendula infused almond oil is used in Patchouli & Oaty Lavender soaps also used in balms & moisturiser.
