How to Stir Soap Mixture to a Trace for Homemade Soap Making

Part of the Video Series How to Make Lye Soap

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Learn how to stir your soap mixture until a trace forms in this free video on homemade soap making.

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How to Stir Soap Mixture to a Trace for Homemade Soap Making
For the next 15 minutes to an hour I am going to be slowly stirring this very gently. Just a nice figure 8 motion and allowing the 2 ingredients combine. What I will be looking for is called a trace. What we will be looking for I don’t know if you are going to see it now or not, but I will explain it. It is when you take some of the soap into the spoon and drizzle it in you will see it actually kind of sit on the top and that just immediately incorporated into the mixture so we have a way to go. This is a good time to have a movie cued up, book on the side as long as you didn’t want to get a little oil on it. This is a time for patience. You notice I am wearing gloves and goggles on the slight chance I drop the spoon or splatter it in some way. This is still a very dangerous solution. It is a good idea to set a time when you first stir these together. More often or not if you don’t see a trace within an hour, it is because of inexperience, you just don’t see it. We have been stirring this for an hour now. You can see the texture has changed. The color has changed a little bit and we can see the trace now. As I pour this across the surface, you can see the lines stay on the top. It is very light, looks good.

About the Expert

Expert: Sheryl Andrews is award-winning quilter and crafter has spent a lifetime exploring the depths of traditional home skills. Read More