Neroli, Amber, Rose...oh my! And Mad Oils!

My first order from Mad Oils! So excited!

Over last week, I finally took the dive. I ordered some new supplies from mad Oils, and I absolutely love it! I received rosebuds, hibiscus petals, cornflower petals, and tea tree essential oil. They even included a little sample fragrance oil (It smells like Christmas in a bottle!) and a bit of sample mica. I've already used these in some soaps that you can see below!

So, first off we have my latest Amber handmade soap, scented with Amber fragrance oil from Bramble Berry, along with the cornflower petals from Mad Oils. Gorgeous!

I also made a Neroli & Shea soap, scented with Neroli & Shea Blossom from bramble Berry (I have SO MUCH of this from the samples!) and decorated with hibiscus petals and rosebuds. I love how this one came out, nice and white, no discoloration, and no acceleration. Fantastic!

I also got around to redoing my Etsy store with all my latest soaps, and you can view them here.

I do plan on ordering a bunch of new exfoliants, and I need to restock my castor oil and palm kernel -- order one and run out of two more! Oy.

I also entered Kenna's (from Modern Soapmaking) contest for Gratitude Soapery. I'm very excited for the opportunity, and if chosen will consolidate my Unique Useables with Gratitude -- and have a little leg up in the world to get everything up and going. So many things!

So, my soapy fellows -- anyone tried anything new lately? Let me know in the comments!

Warm Vanilla Sugar (And plans!)

I would like to think I've been a busy, busy bee over the last few weeks.

And in a way, I have. But I also haven't.

I did, however, make a new batch of delicious smelling soap. Warm vanilla sugar. This was actually a request from a coworker, whose face lit up when I brought her a few bars when she was in the hospital for surgery last week.

Delicate little swirls!

I love how the little sugar beads look, though they sort of melted a little bit as it heated. :(

I used the hangar swirl technique to get the white swirls with the layer on top.

I'll be working on some more batches soon enough -- right now I'm focusing on saving money for our next move, plus a week long trip to Cali for my boyfriend's cousin's wedding. Woohoo!

Soap Updates: Shaving, Salt, and Lavender!

So I've been making a lot of soap over the past few weeks -- just never got around to posting it! 

First off, here are my cut Goat's Milk bars -- scented with Clothespins, a very delicate, clean fragrance.

Also, here's the shaving soap I made, using Jenny's blog post as a guide: http://lather-be-soaping.blogspot.com/2013/01/shaving-soap-then-and-now.html

I also made a Margarita-themed Salt soap bar, using Kosher salt, with a light yellow-green swirl and kosher salt, with a limey scent

Today, after getting my supplies in, I reused two half-n-half containers, one has Cucumber Mint inside, the other, one of the Bramble blends I received -- I'm calling it Dragonfruit!

And last but not least, my latest take on my lavender soap:

Thanks for checking them out, and happy soaping!

Cherry Goat's milk

Now that I have your attention, an update on soapy progress!

A dear friend of mine's husband fell in love with a MP soap I did when I was first experimenting with soapy stuff. It's called Cherry Swirl, and it smells just like pull-and-peel Twizzlers (my girlfriend always has to have some to eat when I make soap scented with this FO, or she gets grumpy!) and literally bought all of it I had made, minus the two bars one of my Etsy buyers got. 

Cherry Swirl chillin' out on the counter after cutting

It's made with a clear glycerin base with goat's milk base swirlies in it. It's probably one of my favorite MP designs I did when I still had bases to play around with!

After a few months, her husband was dangerously low on the soap, and she inquired about a custom batch. I told her I couldn't repeat the MP soap, but I could give it a try with CP. I explained that since I hadnt made soap with it that way yet, that there was no guarantee it would stick, and if not I'd refund the money, and she could even still keep it if she wanted (as soap is soap is soap!). So I brainstormed for about a week, and made the cute little 2lb loaf!

Mica oil swirled tops!

I alternated pouring red/white/red/white high enough for it to break through and swirl nicely, and just cut the bars today:

SO happy with how they turned out! And they still smell delish, so everyone is happy!

I've also been meaning to try my hand at a goat's milk soap, so I got down to business today. Blended the frozen milk cubes and lye int he sink in a saltwater ice bath, keeping them very chill. I even melted down all my oils the normal CP way, as I usually use the room temp route. Tussah silk, however, will not dissolve in a lye solution that cool, LOL, so this soap is just goat's milk and shea butter. No fancy silk.

Trace came beautifully, though I added a heaping amount of TD to keep it a nice cream color (I bought a ton of very YELLOW shea butter, and MAN does it some through in my soap!) It's so hard to achieve a nice white with it that I may end up getting more ivory shea, as the money I saved buying the yellow I easily will spend on TD coloring it. Lesson learned, Ash. Great way to kick yourself! ;)

And I was even able to make a lovely textured top! I blended some of the dredges of the soap batter with a TINY teensy bit of liquid aqua color, to give a nice off-white look, and blended it into the creamed base, making pretty peaks. It's scented with Clothespins, a very, very brisk, clean fragrance from Rustic Escentuals. I wanted to use lavender originally, as it seemed more traditional, but I already have a lavender soap. Here's the lovely textured details!

Very fun. So how has your week been lately?

Peacocks and Coffee

So today I finally got around to making some soap!

Ten pounds worth, to be exact. I even took some pictures of the "during" to share with you guys. :)

First off, I wanted to make a odor-neutralizer soap for the kitchen sink, inspired by the gardener's soap from Soap Queen. In several books I've read about CP soapmaking, it's suggested to completely replace the water in the lye solution with double- or triple-brewed coffee. Utilizing this technique, while adding the used coffee grounds, I attempt making a kitchen soap. :)

I thought it was cute that my little ball of tussah silk perched on top of my triple-brewed (chilled) coffee. It goes into every batch, and I wouldn't have it any other way!

Pouring my (now steaming) coffee-lye mix into my oils to melt them. Room temperature soapmaking is the only way I go, just because I'm too impatient to wait for temps to stabilize.

Mostly melted, only slowly stirring with a spatula. Went ahead and added coffee grounds before stick blending, to make sure it was only a nice exfoliation that was added.

Blending! Random blue tint.

You can barely, BARELY see trace here. Time to pour!

This is after letting it sit several minutes. I wanted a textured top, but my original batter was too thin. I waited, and finally sprinkled fresh coffee grounds over the top of the soap for smell and texture. The soap is scented very lightly with RE's Morning Blend fragrance, a nice, slightly sweet coffee scent. I took a spoon and folded the coffee grounds into the soap batter to make sure they stick, and to add that lovely swirly texture. :)

Onto soap number two!

I've been wanting to do a peacock/boquet style swirl for ages. I tried once, except the scent was a floral and it accelerated way too fast, so I just dumped everything together. My second attempt had the base soap accelerate as well, though my stripes were unscented. It didnt come out as nice as I'd hoped.

I guess third time is the trick, because I certainly succeeded with this one..

Before the bouquet/feather grouping. :) I scented this one using lavender, peppermint, and eucalyptus EO (smart move, they move slower) aaaand a hint of musk. :)

I only scented the base soap again, which is a spatula-swirl style with the blue, green, and purple. Colors from the Conservatorie.

And then the dividers!

I can't wait to unmold these! :)

So, is there any technique you tried and tried at again, or one that was difficult to master?

Website Updates and Life

So I haven't had the chance to make any soap lately. Above is a yummy cherry swirl soap I made with melt and pour bases back when I was just starting out. It still smells yummy, and was my first sell-out soap.

I've been on the job hunt for a replacement day-job, so soap making has slowed, as have sales. I decided to close my Etsy shop, as doing so now means I just break even. It's a wonderful tool, however without a current income (I support my soap making craziness, letting my husband do what he will with his earnings) I just can't bite the bullet.

Being open minded, however, I decided to revamp my website and add a shop there. Totally free! Haha.

That is however the only thing I've gotten done lately. But if you'd like to visit my website and give feedback, I'd greatly appreciate it!

http://uniqueuseables.weebly.com/index.html

Soap gremlins and Mica swirls

So I wanted to try the peacock/bouquet swirl, and the above photo is the soap I got instead.

"But it isn't even close!"

No, I know. Because soap gremlins.

I HATE soap gremlins.

Granted, I was using a fragrance oil I knew accelerated, I just forgot HOW FAST. Tried adding more water, nope. Got stuck in my soap condiment bottles. Ohmygod. Dumped bottles out into soap, layered, hoped for best.

Instead, I got CRAYOLA BARF. Oy.

So I rebatched, sliced the soap up nice and thin, put it in a crock pot (it was still soft and squishy after 3 days from all the water I added) for about an hour, stirring occasionally. Plopped into mold. Still smelled of Freesia, silly white florals, and had a lovely lavender color to it:

Brushed the top with some oil-mica and glitter.

Decided to try a heavy olive oil recipe with my other planned batches for the day, to slow things down a bit. Soaped a green tea and willow silk/shea soap with french green clay, wanting to try the oil/mica swirl again. I was impressed! Soaped well, smelled beautiful, and look at the SWIRL!

This is after drying a bit. Yay!

Wanting to take the opportunity to use the gremlin-free soap time, I started on another. Purple sandalwood, colored with a purple mica and activated charcoal. Smelled yummy and odd, musky. This is BEYOND my favorite mica swirl to date:

SO PRETTY. <3 Finally, after all those tries, I got it. Took me long enough, LOL. Can;t wait to see the inner swirls with the green tea and sandalwood soaps. Exciting! I'll just have to wait longer to unmold due to extra olive oil. Here's another pic of the lovely purple swirls!

So happy with my soap results today. The gremlins were beating me down for a while.

And here's the paradise soap cut!

Love the hanger swirl, just wish the colors had come out brighter. I'll get usage rates down soon! The green and purple seemed to do fine, so we'll see. :)

Thanks for reading, and HAPPY SOAPING!

Mica Oil Swirl Experimentation

Ever since seeing everyone's lovely soaps for Amy's Great Soap Challenge 2013, I loved the mica oil swirl the most. I recently ordered new micas from The Conservatorie, and I was ready to try them out!

First off, they all blended beautifully into my sweet almond carrier oil. And I love the shimmer they have! Gorgeous. As an over achiever, I wanted to do a four-layered soap using a hanger swirl, with the mica swirled top -- repeating all four colors. I'll tell you now, lesson learned.

I scented the soap with a blend of 2 parts Almost Paradise (RusticEscentuals) to one part Just Peachy (also RE). I was keeping my fingers crossed for NO SOAPY GREMLINS.

Well. So much for that.

The soap base accelerated really fast with NO FO. Oy. It was my first time using tussah silk in my lye, however. I hope that doesnt become a common thing. I seperated my FO blend into four parts, splitting them into the colors, just in case of acceleration.

Good thing I did. I layered green, blue, orange, and then yellow -- by the time yellow was layered, it was THICK. Ugh. I grabbed my hanger, swirled really fast and swirly, then plopped droplets of the mica-oil mixtures on top. Swirl away!

 

Even with the thick batter, it didnt seem so bad for a first try/ The orange and yellow blended into the top layer anyway, and the blue is showing nicely. The green was a tad light, I think I might have been stingy with my mica, but overall I like it. I think I'll call it Summer Paradise.

Layering wise, I was thinking ground, ocean, and then a sunset-ish picture. I'm quite happy with it in the mold, I'll just have to wait until tomorrow to unmold my beauty to see if I REALLY like it.

Thanks for reading, and HAPPY SOAPING!

Lavender Mist soap!

One of the reasons for wanting to make this soap is because I ordered a 1/2 lb of lavender buds off Amazon. However, I didnt realize HOW MUCH that would be. Oh my jeez.

Armed with melt and pour soap bases, I started my journey! I mixed lavender buds in the bottom in a clear glycerin base, spritzing with alcohol.

I then colored and scented a nice light purple base, layering that on top of the glycerin  Some of the lavender buds were all floaty-around!

And more lavender.

More base.

I was trying (and failed) to swirl. Oh well. More buds!

And cut and packaged. This was actually one of my most popular soaps when I first started. The lavender mist scent went well with the natural lavender buds in the soap.

16lbs of Cut Soap!

You guys remember this lot from yesterday, right?

Oh yes. Getting all of this soap out of the molds was a challenge in itself, but cutting it -- whew! Hand cutting it, I might add. The bars arent all even (let me tell you, I LOVE my slab mold now - it does it for me!) but money is tight, so I'll have to wait for a special day to invest in one of the fancy wire cutters.

But here are the soaps!

This is my Energize bar. A nice little (no column!) swirl done in my slab mold. It's got a bit of ash on the top, and some of the bars are sweating, but it smells heavenly. Scented with a blend of yuzu and lemon verbena, it's strong citrus top notes have a nice, sweet undertone. Lovely for morning showers!

This is the batch that accelerated so much it nearly hardened in the pot! Whisper, it was meant to have a hangar swirl (which is present in like, two bars) but whatever. It smells wonderful, a nice, heavy white floral (which I know accelerates anyway, duh) with a slight tinge of perfume. The tops of these are ashed as well, though I'll be using my soap planer/beveler from Soap making Resource to clean all of these babies up!

You can see how bad the ash is really well on these.

Probably my favorite one in terms of design out of the previous bars, this is Pink Lavender. Scented with a blend of lavender and some nice light florals, it has lavender buds sprinkled along its textured top. Lavender buds are also present throughout the middle of the bar (meaning there were some streaks when cutting). I used purple labcolor from RE to color the top part with, with TD mixed into the whole batch. Not sure if it's the TD that mixed with the labcolor, or the CP method that made it turn this delightful pink color. Happy accident, yay!

And, finally, Rustic. This is scented with a blend of eucalyptus and musk, a nice manly scent. I went with a simple grey bar, dusted the top with black glitter (more manly than -- pink glitter? I don't know) and ohmygawd it smells amazing. This bar and the Pink Lavender were softer out of the molds, more sticky -- though they were 3lb batches versus the 5lb of the others, so I'll account it for a cooler saponification temp.

Yay glitter!

These are some of the more professional soaps I've made, as these will be the ones I show to a wholesale client later int he week (wish me luck!) I never would have imagined that my hobby would have evolved this fast, and I have all of you to thank for having such an amazingly insightful community of soapers for me to explore! 

Happy soaping, my lovelies -- I will be updating more past batches until I get more palm oil in, as I barely have enough for a 3lb batch!