Soapy Swap Update #2!

I was excited to find a package slip in my post office box this afternoon, as it meant the rest of my soapy swap soaps had arrived! As you guys know (if you're been reading), I participated in both the melt and pour AND the cold process swaps, as it was my first one, and I wanted to have a large sampling of other soaper's work to examine and analyze and pour over and sniff and USE. Because it's what I do! Yaay, OCD.

So, without further ado, the soaps!

I got a soap from QUEBEC. How cool is that!? Unfortunately, I don't speak French. :( I DO know that the name translates to The Daughter of the Sea (Yay Google!). First off, this soap is incredibly adorable! It's a very crisp rosy scent, though I don't think the fragrance is mentioned. The name of the soap is Apple and Pink, and it's made using Magdalen Island's Honey, which I've never heard of before. This bar is very sturdy, and I adore the mica swirls on top! And the little rose :O

Next up is Fresh Linen & Lavender from Joyful Sundries!  I love the simplicity of this packaging. The ribbon of cloth makes a lovely subdued compliment to the naturally colored soap. The top has hints of lavender blossoms, and the scent is definitely a keeper.

Cinnamon Ridge Fragrance Company used Cranberry Pomegranate -- which is also another favorite of mine. I used to use little car fresheners that smelled like this soap does! It's interesting to see the soaps packaged in muslin bags -- I'd never considered that one before! Maybe a packaging switch is in store in my future... 

Oh man. I could eat this. Seriously. It isn't an overpowering fragrance. They used Dark Chocolate and Cream Cheese Frosting FO, and oh my god, I think I may have found an artificial chocolate scent I enjoy. It's also naturally colored with cocoa powder, and I love that I got a round soap! I've been wanting to make some for a while, but I have no containers, except for a grits one I've been saving -- though that would make a sizeable circle. Okay, before I eat this one, I need to stop sniffing it. Or maybe just one more little one...mmmm.

And from Bubblin' Glenn, we have their Lounge Lizard soap! Love the swirls with this one -- their activated charcoal black is SO INCREDIBLY BLACK. I wonder how much they used! I need my blacks to be that dark. And stiking the label TO the soap! Very nifty idea, and probably saves a lot of time. Not sure about the scent on this one; it's musky and lightly minty, but it wasn't included in the description. :(

I've never smelled Tea Tree oil before. Cue my surprise when I took a decidedly strong sniff of this one out of the bag. COUGH. Yeah, lesson learned. :) Raven and Rain Soap Co send their Rosemary Tea Tree Oil Shampoo bars, which is EXCITING because I want to try shampoo bars but havent because I'm chicken and my scalp can decide to be -quite- flaky. So I'm very terrified to try anything that isn't Head and Shoulders or Pert Plus (do they even make this one anymore? I remember my grandad using it). Not sure if tea tree oil would do the trick for me with that one though...I do need to invest in tea tree oil, however. ITS SO DANG EXPENSIVE. It makes my soapy-trickle funds sad.

I LOVE THIS SOAP. It literally smells like I just popped open a Ginger Ale. I can't even process this! Oy! And I obviously cannot drink this one. :( Sad Ashley is sad. This soap is lovingly brought to you by Pine Place Market Soaps, and I have now decided that I need Ginger Ale Fragrance Oil IN MY LIFE RIGHT NOW. Love the sparklies on the white embeds, too.

Maitri Bath and Body LLC gave their Beau Brummel soap, scented with "a heady tobacco fragrance." Not sure if that includes marijuana, but it sounds like it. :) And this one is a Goats milk soap! Awesome! I have something to compare my goat's milk soap to. Which I'll post cut pictures of later by the way. ;)

COFFEE BEANS. I smelled them INSTANTLY. Yum! This soap is from Rustic Relevance.  While I'm not a huge fan of leather fragrance oils (yuck) I DO think that the natural coffee bean aroma compliments it nicely. Smells like my great grandfather, who loved his old leather jacket and always had that coffee-tobacco smell about him. :) Love the very low-key packaging to it. I LOVE KRAFT COLORS. There, I said it. I can be admitted now.

Mud Creek Alchemy scented their soap with Spiced Mahogany -- which smells incredibly enticing and masculine and yum. I might have to see if one of the boys wants this soap. And it's HOT PROCESS! So happy to have gotten one of these. I started with hot processed soaps myself, but they seemed so squishy. This one does have sodium lactate in it, though -- I also have to invest in that stuff, too! I'm too impatient to wait 3-4 days to unmold my soap, so I'm usually stuck cutting it out of my HDPE molds after 24 hours.

Ida Rose's soap is scented a very light Spearmint Eucalyptus. It comes off very clean, and not heavily minty.  Also enjoy the textured tops on this one, very nice and simple. 

Lavender Chamomile! Yay! I loved this Huggies scent (we use wipes to clean up the kitties sometimes) and I absolutely ADORE this packaging! Too time consuming for me personally, but very lovely. This one is made by Susan's Handmade Soap. Love the fact that the soap bar is kept simple as well, with a nicely textured top.

SO, those are my CP soaps for the CP part of my BB soap swap! So many repetitive letters, haha. :)

Thank you all for listening to my crazy ramblings, and as always, happy soaping!

Galactic Soap - First CPOP

After seeing Anne Marie's post on CPOP on her Soap Queen blog, I wanted to try it. Beautiful CP swirls but with the HP processing -- what more can a girl ask for? Especially one as impatient as I am! Before I started, I noticed my oven's lowest setting was 200F, quite a bit over the 170F that was recommended. I preheated the oven to 200, but let it sit a while off, so it cooled down. Once it was around 170-180F, I knocked it to warm. One step down!

I made up my soap, choosing to use activated charcoal, titanium dioxide, and fizzy lemonade pigments from Bramble Berry. I also wanted to try a spooning technique I saw on a blog post, though now it eludes me. :( (If anyone knows what I'm referencing, let me know and I'll give credit!)

Layering the first bit of soap. I gues the concept here is plopping it down in somewhat straight lines. Or drizzling.

Looking at the pictures, I realize I got much wider in my lines. Which explains why this didnt turn out the way I wanted it to. :(

Cant have swirled CP soap without a lovely swirled top! Kept this one simple, as I love the mantra-style swirls.

In the oven!

I left the mold and soap in there overnight, popping it out around lunchtime the next day. The colors were SO VIBRANT, especially the fizzy lemonade. It just POPPED.

However, I didnt turn off my oven for about an hour and a half, causing the top to get these little bubbles in them. It made a weird texture, but I ended up leaving it on the bars. Apparently, this happens when you bake your soap! Oops! :)

Here you can see the textured tops. Look how bright the yellow is! Wow!

I packaged this bar very simply, and I'm calling it Galactic. It's scented with SnC Cucumber Melon, but it faded/baked off a bit in the oven, so it isnt as strong. Other people don't notice, but soapmakers might. We're an odd bunch. ;)

As always, thanks for dropping by, and Happy Soaping!

Welcome to Unique Useables!

This is the new blog for Unique Useables, the bath product company created by yours truly! I can't promise things will be updated frequently -- my husband, wife, and I are trying to buy a house together (hopefully by June!), I'm trying to finish up this semester in college, I work part time, AND I make soap! I also make scrubs, bath bombs, and several other things but they are being put on hold until life becomes more manageable. Once that happens -- business in full swing! I also make handmade journals, but that is more of a hobby and is too time consuming and not messy enough for me. :) 

 So! How did Unique Useables come into being? It started over a year ago. I was taking a course on creating Handmade Journals and Artist books. What are artist books?

 

This is a page from one of mine that I finished for a project just recently.

They are handcrafted books (this is loosely defined) which focus on an idea or a message. This one was created about the abuse of women.

 After the course, I couldn't stop making blank journals! Sewing was therapeutic, and I didn't even consider it work. At the suggestion of a friend, I created an etsy page. And Unique Useables was born. The whole idea behind Unique Useables is to create unique, handmade items that are useable in people's daily lives, while being as eco-friendly as possible. Recycled papers, papers without harmful chemicals -- even papers I made myself!

 As time progressed, I found myself becoming more and more interested in soapmaking. I grew up with my grandmother, who made old fashioned lard and lye soap -- talk about harsh on the skin! I knew soapmaking could be an art, and I was intensely interested. I started with melt and pour bases, just to get the hang of dealing with fragrances and colors (small steps!) and because ordering and gathering all of the supplies I needed for cold process soapmaking was a time consuming (and costly!) process. More time elapsed, and after binders full of research, recipes, techniques, and processes -- I settled on hot process. I knew I would be too impatient to let the cold process soap cure -- so why not do hot process? Shorter cure times, cooking through saponification, rustic looking soap! Amazing! Finally, the big day: My first batch of soap! I took crappy cell phone pictures of the process (I intend to work on my pictures, guys, just so you know!)

   

 All of my items set out proudly on the counter! LETS DO THIS!

   

 Melting the oils And I got so excited I forgot to photograph again until it was in the mold.

   

 I used Sweet Pea as my first fragrance, a favorite of mine and most of my friends. I tried swirling a light pink/red color into the soap as I poured and sorted it into the mold.

   

I thought they came out nicely, and after a week's cure, packaged them. Look how amazing they are! I will always pride myself on that first successful batch. Many, many batches later, I am a very happy soaper with an amazing friend/support group locally between family, coworkers, and fellow students and professors. This is my journey.