Making Soap with Beeswax

[luvin honey]

At the request of another poster, here's a thread on making soap with beeswax. There was an earlier thread on soapmaking, including a castile with beeswax. It was a wonderful soap!

Here's my favorite recipe so far, but keep in mind I'm new at this. I love it because it has beeswax, honey and other farm products, is beautiful and a great soap.

The original was called EIEIO, but I have revamped it a bit:

I poured mine at a thin-medium trace into a loaf pan lined with bubble wrap, bubbly side facing up, very well greased with olive oil. When I peeled the wrap off the next day, the soap had a very cool honeycomb appearance to it

EIEIO (revised from The Soapmaker's Companion, Susan Miller Cavitch)
13 oz coconut oil
13 oz olive oil (save aside 1 cup oil)
13 oz palm kernel oil
6 oz lard
5 oz corn oil
5 oz sunflower oil
2 oz beeswax
_______________
Total oil: 57 oz

4 egg yolks, room temp
1/4 cup mixture of dried oatmeal (ground), wheat germ and cornmeal
12 grams grapefruit seed extract (optional preservative that I did not use)
7 tsp pure EO or FO (optional, and I did not use)

Total liquid: 19 oz (suggestion is 6.25 oz goat's milk/12.75 oz water)
Lye: 8.25 oz

Fats and oils: 100 F
Lye solution: 85 F

Add lye to water, mix well and let cool to 85 F. Mix egg yolks into set-aside 1 cup olive oil (oil at 85 F). Heat goat's milk gently to 80 F (I did not do this but instead chilled it as much as possible) and drizzle into the lye solution. Immediately add the milk/lye mixture to the oil (100 F), beating briskly. After 1-2 min of blending, drizzle in the well-blended egg/olive oil mixture, stirring briskly the entire time to present the egg yolks from curdling. At trace, add the oats/corn/wheat germ. Enjoy!

[JackInCT]

Thank you for giving to all of us your experiences. 

I have two related questions: do you find it necessary to wear those disposable type gloves when you do the lye, AND do you wear some kind of a dust mask or perhaps a more advanced type of breathing gear when you do the lye?  Thank You.

[luvin honey]

Hi Jack--I don't wear either. I just cannot do any work well with gloves, including beekeeping or soaping.

But, I ALWAYS WEAR GOGGLES!!

I've had raw soap batter and lye water splash on my skin. It burns a bit, but I wash it off immediately and thoroughly and have no problems afterwards.

I'm not messing around where my eyes are concerned, though, and goggles are cheap and easy to use.

As for a mask, I just don't breathe in deeply over the container I'm mixing lye and liquids in. If it's really stinky, I stand off to the side and breathe away from the container. It would also be easy to mix under the vent of a stove.

[Abelistino]

I see the beeswax but not the honey in the ingredients?

[luvin honey]

I see the beeswax but not the honey in the ingredients?

Hi, abelistino, and welcome! Thank you for pointing that out. It's too late for me to edit for some reason, but I do about 1 tsp per pound of soaping oils. In this case about 3 tsp or 1 Tablespoon.

[hankdog1]

I see the beeswax but not the honey in the ingredients?

Hi, abelistino, and welcome! Thank you for pointing that out. It's too late for me to edit for some reason, but I do about 1 tsp per pound of soaping oils. In this case about 3 tsp or 1 Tablespoon.

Just pm Beemaster or Buzzbee to make the changes.  Sounds interesting i might try my hand at soapmaking and i like the idea of using products from the hive.  I'll have to get some stuff and give this recipe a try.

[Abelistino]

Thanks! Looks like a great recipe. Can't wait to try it!

[BingalingBees]

I make cold processed soap also with a little honey and beeswax in it... as already mentioned the bubble wrap adds a nice beekeeper touch. :^) I use 7 oils recipe (primary ones being coconut, palm & olive) with either corn meal or crushed rolled oats for the exfoliants. Onion goggles protect the eyes when handling/mixing lye solution to add to the oils.