Authentic Botanical Soap
Soap is my happy place in our busy world. I love to source local and organic ingredients and incorporate them into every bar. Thank you for taking an interest in Thistleberry Hill and letting me share my passion with you.
My studio for Thistleberry Hill Soaps is actually within my home on our little 3 acre "Two Brook Farm". We are located in a small, historic hamlet of Reading, VT. I craft small-batch, cold-process, plant-based soaps with local ingredients. Our soaps are vegan, made with 100% essential oils, palm free and with plant-based colorants. We use a skin-nourishing double-butter recipe as our base. There are locally sourced ingredients in every bar.
"How do you make soap?" Is a common question I am asked. Here's how I go about it:
Typically I "master-batch" my oils into lidded, glass containers all at one time for the upcoming week.
Each container makes one batch of soap. After the oils are heated to the correct temperature, I prepare the liquid for the soap and mix with the sodium hydroxide and oils in preparation for saponification. I typically soap at room temperature to keep from overheating quickly and to have a fluid workable medium.
Once we are at the correct temperature to join the lye solution with the oils we are ready to saponify and create soap! Stick-blender in and, we start combining.
Blending only takes a few minutes and we are looking for what is called “light trace”, when saponification occurs and your soap begins to thicken to a pudding-like consistency.
This is when I mix in the essential oils, natural colorants, mix-ins like organic oatmeal or coffee grinds, swirls colors as desired, and then pour my soap into the molds. My molds were all made for me by my husband and have gotten a lot of love over the years.
The fresh batches are tucked aside under a cardboard cover for a bit while it goes through what is called the “gel phase” and then sits overnight uncovered.
24 hours later each batch is hand-cut into bars and set on wooden drying racks to cure.
Thank you for your support of Thistleberryhill. Crafting soap is my passion and I am happy to share this with you.
My studio for Thistleberry Hill Soaps is actually within my home on our little 3 acre "Two Brook Farm". We are located in a small, historic hamlet of Reading, VT. I craft small-batch, cold-process, plant-based soaps with local ingredients. Our soaps are vegan, made with 100% essential oils, palm free and with plant-based colorants. We use a skin-nourishing double-butter recipe as our base. There are locally sourced ingredients in every bar.
"How do you make soap?" Is a common question I am asked. Here's how I go about it:
Typically I "master-batch" my oils into lidded, glass containers all at one time for the upcoming week.
Each container makes one batch of soap. After the oils are heated to the correct temperature, I prepare the liquid for the soap and mix with the sodium hydroxide and oils in preparation for saponification. I typically soap at room temperature to keep from overheating quickly and to have a fluid workable medium.
Once we are at the correct temperature to join the lye solution with the oils we are ready to saponify and create soap! Stick-blender in and, we start combining.
Blending only takes a few minutes and we are looking for what is called “light trace”, when saponification occurs and your soap begins to thicken to a pudding-like consistency.
This is when I mix in the essential oils, natural colorants, mix-ins like organic oatmeal or coffee grinds, swirls colors as desired, and then pour my soap into the molds. My molds were all made for me by my husband and have gotten a lot of love over the years.
The fresh batches are tucked aside under a cardboard cover for a bit while it goes through what is called the “gel phase” and then sits overnight uncovered.
24 hours later each batch is hand-cut into bars and set on wooden drying racks to cure.
Thank you for your support of Thistleberryhill. Crafting soap is my passion and I am happy to share this with you.