Things to buy before you can make soap

ALL THIS STUFF NEEDS TO BE USED ONLY FOR SOAP MAKING! KEEP IT SEPARATE FROM YOUR REGULAR COOKWARE THAT YOU FEED YOURSELF OR YOUR FAMILY WITH!!

Look for supplies around your house. Go to Good Will or a dollar store to find most of this. Put your money in your scale- Digital with a zero button.

1) 8-12 quart STAINLESS STEEL pot. I had one I was getting ready to give a way. Lucky me.
2) 2- 2 quart large CLEAR plastic pitchers WITH lids. (You want to be able to see what’s happening when you mix your LYE TO THE WATER! I advise two because that’s what somebody told me.) Oh…MUST BE HEAT RESISTANT. Don’t forget that. The lye gets VERY hot when you ADD THE LYE TO THE WATER!
3) Mid-size plastic containers for holding additives
4) Silicone spatulas. The process will break down wooden spoons and eventually you’ll have splintered soap and that’s not nice. (Metal spoons and chemistry makes me nervous, although lots of people use them)
5) Measuring spoons
6) Grab some cheap plastic containers to us on your scale when you measure your stuff. (Stuff. Very scientific) How this differs from #3, I have no idea.
7) Candy thermometers - 2. One for the LYE TO THE WATER! , one for the oils.
8) Rubber gloves
9) Safety goggles
10) Some kind of soap mold. They’re sending me one with my starter kit
11) A soap cutter. I’m gonna try a miter box from the hardware store
12) Butcher paper to line your mold.
13) A stick blender and not the one your son and daughter-in-law gave you for Mother’s Day.
14) A digital scale with a zero button. (to zero out your what you have previously weighed while leaving it on the scale)
15) Digital scale with a 'zero' button as mentioned at the beginning of this post.

*#8 and #9 are IMPERATIVE. I have watched videos of women making soap with no protective gear and it’s only a matter of time before they get a splash of something awful in their eyes or on their skin and don't look very pretty anymore. Being ugly at your own hands is inexcusable!　
　
Keep in mind that I have never used any of this stuff as of yet. Here’s what I know thus far about any of it:

* A stick blender is imperative unless you want to feel like you’re back on the Little House on the Prairie and stir for days. (Slight exaggeration)
* You MUST add the LYE TO THE WATER! And you will see me declare this in caps every time I write it!! Listen to this, if you do it the other way around and add the water to the lye, YOU’LL GET AN EXPLOSION AND HURT YOURSELF!!!
*DO NOT leave your lye-water solution sitting out in an unmarked container. There are stories about people and dogs/cats/pets drinking it and doing serious damage if not DYING! Put your kids and animals in their kennels and don’t let them out until you’re done. They do too make kennels for kids! If you don’t have a kennel for your kids, schlep them off on somebody else for a couple of hours. This is what grandparents and friends are for. Please don’t make soap with your kids and pets around. Thanks!

Someone suggested doing this step under your kitchen exhaust fan or outside, but I don’t like the idea of carrying the stuff around so I’m doing mine in my kitchen under the fan. *DO NOT breathe the fumes when you add the LYE TO THE WATER!

You can't lye to your friends, you can’t lye to your momma, but you always LYE TO THE WATER!!!! Heh-heh.