Teach Soap

Can silk fiber be put into lye solution :?:

Sure. You can even use small pieces of silk fabric.

It has to be added to a lye solution that you are making fresh yourself. Silk needs both the high heat and the high pH to dissolve.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

I have silk noils, silk fabrics available to me, or do I have to purchase a hire grade like tussah? What the purpose of the silk? Thanks

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Just white raw silk noils, some white silk caps,and white silk hankies. As far as amounts in lye maybe 1/4 to 1/2 a handful? I am a hand spinner so I have a stash of fiber.

I use Tussah Silk in most of my soaps, bar my milk ones obviously!

For me it has to be added to the water before the lye, I find if you add it after the lye, by the time you have a clear lye solution it is approx 10*F cooler & the silk doesn't all dissolve. I always strain it though & you don't need much!

Hope this helps

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

I've been using tussah silk in most of my recent batches. I've found that you have to really break the silk apart as much as possible before adding it to the water and then slowly add the lye to the water directly on top of the silk while using the wisk to deliberately to mix the lye and silk /water. The resulting soap has an incredibly luxurious (I hate to use the word but...silky) lather. You will definitely notice the difference between batches with the silk and batches without.

I have also started using silk in my soaps. I have been adding it first to the water so that it soaks up a little, and then I add the lye so that it melts with the heat of the lye to water mix. I do use a strainer when I pour on my oils. You don't need much and it does give it a nice feel to the suds

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Roxana
*** Just keep trying
Follow my Soaping Journey at:

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Just a thought. Some shampoos contain hydrolysed silk, because the proteins help repair damaged hair shafts. I don't use it myself, instead I add hydrolysed keratin to get the same result. I am now wondering if it is possible to also use hair (which is keratin) in a similar way, but for soap. I.E. dissolve the hair in the lye, proceed as for silk. (You wouldn't want to use the prepared keratin solution, it is super expensive)

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.