CPOP Soap making
Three new recipes for this twist on CP soap making.
So what is CPOP you ask? Well first, CPOP stands for Cold Process Oven Process. It is a variation of CP or Cold Process soap making. For those who may not know, CP soap is a wonderful, creamy natural soap made by combining lye, water and oils which go through a process called saponification in which the mixture chemically changes and becomes soap.
In CPOP soap after the soap reaches trace and any colors, fragrance, or additives are mixed in, it is poured into an oven-safe mold and put in an oven that has been pre-heated to 170 degrees. The oven is left on for an hour. After that hour, the oven is turned off and the soap is left in the oven for another 11- 12 hours.
So why do CPOP? Well one of the common obstacles with CP soap is the curing time. It can take anywhere from 4-12 weeks (depending on the kind of soap) to cure. So if you need CP soap for a quick gift or need extra bars for a show, you're out of luck unless you already have some made. With oven process, it cuts the cure time down and speeds up saponification. Instead of saponification taking anywhere from 24 hours to a week, It only takes 12 hours. Also, some of the water in the soap evaporates out while in the oven so depending on the type of soap, it can cut the cure time by as much as 2 weeks (again it depends on the type of soap). How cool is that???
Here are 3 new recipe ideas using the CPOP method.
Castile Soap
Castile is a soap in which you use olive oil for at least 50% of your total oils. This is a softer soap initially and will be one with a longer cure time.
You will need:
*An oven safe mold ( I used a GLAD OVENWARE pan for this one.)
6oz palm oil
3oz coconut oil
12oz olive oil
1oz avocado oil
2oz shea butter
3.2oz lye
9oz water
3 tsp Soap Crafters fragrance
**All the other supplies you usually need for CP soap making
Follow the directions in the explanation paragraph above and have fun!
Chocolate Mint Soap
This is creamy, swirled soap that looks & smells good enough to eat!
You will need:
*An oven safe mold ( I used a GLAD OVENWARE pan for this one.)
6.1 ounces lye
18 ounces water
20oz palm oil
10oz coconut oil
10oz cocoa butter
5oz avocado oil
Soap Crafters rolling meadows oil based color
1 tsp avocado oil
3 tsp chocolate fragrance
1 ½ tsp peppermint essential oil
Follow CP soap making instructions. When it reaches trace, mix a teeny, tiny amount of the Rolling Meadows color into 1 tsp of avocado oil. Stir that and 1 tsp of the peppermint essential oil into 1 pound of the soap. Mix well; set aside. Stir the chocolate fragrance and the rest of the essential oil into the remaining soap. Pour that soap into a mold. Take the pound of colored soap and pour it into the non-colored soap. Try to pour it in as evenly as you can so there is a good equal distribution. Take a knife or spoon and swirl the colored soap into the plain soap. This is kinda like making those cream cheese brownies where you cut the cream cheese into the brownie mix. Put into your preheated oven and after 1 hour turn the oven off. Then let it stay in the oven for another 11 hours.
Fresh Cucumber
I used empty juice cans for my molds here, but you could also use pvc pipe.
You will need:
6.3oz lye
18.1oz water
31oz palm oil
12oz coconut oil
At trace add:
1oz mango butter
1oz avocado oil
1oz jojobaoil
4 tsp of the fresh cucumber blend (see recipe for blend below)
Pour into molds. Place in oven that has been pre-heated to 170. After 1 hour, turn oven off. Let it sit for another 11 hours. After it has been un-molded, use the jade green color to paint the outside of the soap. After it dries completely, use a tissue to rub off any excess color. Slice into bars.
Fresh Cucumber
2.5 oz grapefruit essential oil
1.5 oz cucumber fragrance
Make beautiful lip balms 
How to make fun soaps at home
Humidifier
"
It will melt, not dry out.
It is the same problem with a dehydrator. Many had tried and many have been really bummed out when it melted in there.
To speed up curing you can lock it in a closet with a dehumidifier.
CPOP - Recipe
Can I use any cold process recipe with the Cold Processed Oven Processed method? I am pretty new to soap making.
Betty
I haven't tried CPOP myself,
I haven't tried CPOP myself, but that is my understanding of it. Hopefully someone with experience doing it can give some hints and tricks with that.
cpop soap
would like to know if you can take any soap recipe and do the cpop with it
Thanks for catching that! I
Thanks for catching that! I have made the correction.
Pam
Is my eyesight going or is
Is my eyesight going or is the amount of lye and water you used in the chocolate swirl formulation missing? I don't see it :(
It will melt, not dry
It will melt, not dry out.
It is the same problem with a dehydrator. Many had tried and many have been really bummed out when it melted in there.
To speed up curing you can lock it in a closet with a dehumidifier.
Can you "dry" your soap in
Can you "dry" your soap in the oven if you just use the basic from scratch soap? and if you already cut it into bars?
Thanks,
Tracie
If your soap is crumbling, I
If your soap is crumbling, I would suspect it has too much lye in it.
Did you accurately weigh all your oils and lye with an electronic scale that goes to a tenth of a gram?
Did you possibly forget an oil?
Have you ph tested your soap to be sure that it is okay? It should test between 6-9 for good soap. You could probably get away with ten but it would be sort of harsh, and eleven is going to burn.
If it tests okay then you could try to melt it. But I'm kinda thinking it isn't going to.
Worse case scenario is, even if it is lye heavy, you can always use it for laundry. :) :) So it won't be wasted.
I followed the basic instructions
If you look at the recipe for the Chocolate Mint Soap it tells you to follow the instructions that you attached -- which I did, down to the end. What I was wondering is:
1) Can I use the crumbled/scented/colored soap which didn't turn out and "craft" it into other bars? Can I follow the recipe for "How to properly melt soap" and remelt this and put into new molds? Will the milk help to prevent crumbling or do I need to add more fats? Will the scent evaporate?
2) Did I use the stick blender too long in the original recipe (same recipe you sent the link to). It looked like unset pudding until I added the color and scent and then it "set."
I'd hate to waist all this soap. If I can't get the "beginner" recipe to work is there something else? Pre-beginner? ;-)
This is an advanced recipe
This is an advanced recipe for CPOP soap making.
Here are some instructions on how to make soap from scratch:
http://www.soapcrafters.com/node/67
That is where you should be getting your feet wet. :)
Make a few Cold Process soap making recipes and then try that CPOP method.
My batch didn't turn out
I am a first time CP soap maker. I've done m/p with great success but I could not get this to turn out. I followed the recipe for Chocolate Mint soap -- made sure my temp. was correct and measured accuratly but my soap turn out more like feta cheese than "Monterrey Jack." When I went to cut into it there were air bubbles and a few had an oily yellowish liquid (which I assume is a lye pocket). Can this be saved?? Did I use the stick blender too long (didn't even take 5 minutes to reach what I thought was "trace" -- like unset pudding)?? Any suggestions? Would love to start making more CP soaps.