Candle Making and Soap Making

Susan Miller Cavitch, in The Soapmaker's Companion, calls it the "million dollar question." Most soapmakers, at one time or another, will find that a white, powdery film has covered their bars of soap. It's most usually on the tops or sides - those sides exposed to the air. In the soap making world, it's called "ash." Some people believe it's sodium carbonate formed by the free sodium from the sodium hydroxide (lye) and carbon dioxide in the...