a Quickie

My Table at Ligonier Country Market

Can't wait to get these into the dye pot with some wool

Dried Mint harvested from the garden earlier this year

some herbs just hanging out to dry

and now the SNAPS

In my previous post I mentioned that I would post the pictures of the soap I recently made....so here are the snaps.  Enjoy!

In the molds....

The makings of some SoAp

I was having such a blast last night making some new soap I thought I'd write up a blog post about it AND I actually remembered to grab my camera.  I thought I'd try something a bit different and do a master batch of oils with each batch having their own lye solution made.  I have four wooden molds.  Three of my molds I like to use a 44oz oil recipe and the other I use a 40oz oil recipe, but I was going to superfat that one soap with some Calendula (from my garden) infused oil so I only calculated 35oz for that one.  I had a huge pot of oils all mixed and ready to go and then I separately measured out on the scale enough for each batch.  I thought it would save me some time and happy to report it did!  I just had to spend a bit of time figuring out each batch beforehand and prepping the other additions.  I grabbed my camera to document my evening adventure.  The four batches I made are...Calendula, Chocolate Mint & Cinnamon, Almond Milk & Oatmeal, and a scented batch of Ombre Charcoal.  Here are some pics.... 

The molds all wrapped and ready to go

Chocolate Mint herb from my garden which I dried and then put in my spice grinder 

Here it is ground to a fine powder

The Sunflower Calendula infused oil which was infusing for weeks in the Mason jar

The lovely orange color of the infused oil

Some dried flowers to decorate the top of the batch

I tend to use my washer and dryer as additional space while soaping.  Here are the other additions I needed.... to make the Ombre Charcoal I used Bamboo Activated Charcoal Powder & Lavender & Tea Tree Essential Oils.  The Almond Milk & Oatmeal ready for soaping ( I always use the 50/50 lye/milk method for my milk soaps) and some cinnamon and cocoa powder for the Mint & Cinnamon soap.  I ended up not using any cocoa powder.

And an in process shot of the Ombre Charcoal.  If you look closely you can see the tape I used as my 'precise' measurement for the gradient layers.  I started with the darkest layer of soap on the bottom, used half of the container, filled it with uncolored plain soap to lightened it a bit, filled half of this into the mold then repeated the process for the additional layers with each getting slightly lighter in color until I ran out of soap.  I think I got 5 or 6 layers.  It was a SLOW tracing mix so it was a bit time consuming since each layer had to harden slightly so I wouldn't lose the effect.  I ended up shaving other soaps and doing lots of clean up while waiting between each layer.  This one took a while!

That is it!  I'll post soon with some snaps of the cut bars.   Happy soaping!!

First Soaps for 2013

So I thought I'd try red wine in soap to see what type of results I'd get.  I expected red or mauve but I got brown.  That is okay since I swirled  it with some rose clay for what I'm calling Wine & Roses Soap.  Looks pretty cool.  I took some leftover spiced wine from Christmas (it was kind of gross...so no worries on the waste and not actually drinking it) boiled it for a few minutes to remove the alcohol then put it in the freezer.  I really didn't want to experience a volcano with the sugar/alcohol and lye.  I think next time I'll try the 50/50 wine/water method to see if I can keep the red color. 

Wine & Roses Soap

I then decided to do something with all of my leftover soap shavings I had sitting in a bowl...... that I'm so surprised my cat never knocked over.  I grabbed some Eucalyptus infused oil for the base and dumped in all of the shavings....gave it a good mix and then tossed in the remaining orange balls I had.  I think it looks pretty awesome....maybe one of my favorites.  It smells sooooo good too!  I just love all of the colors and the fact that I used scrapes that otherwise I'd have no clue what to do with.

Here it is in the mold

Bits & Bobs Soap

Soaping the Night Away....

Rose Clay & Bamboo Activated Charcoal Soap

Almond Milk and Oatmeal

Kitchen Coffee Lemon Balm Soap

Kelp Soap

Rhassoul Clay Soap

Double Mint Soap

Lavender Chamomile

This came out exactly as I envisioned...simplest of simple but with a gentle flair.  Smells divine just a subtle sweet scent.

Fresh Lavender buds from my garden sprinkled throughout for a middle layer

Uncut block

First cut

Lavender Chamomile!  Ready October 11

Next up.....I've got some creative ideas for a Halloween Soap and an Iced Soy Latte....what this space!  (I'm sure you will all be on the edge of your seats...I wish there was a font for sarcasm!)

Flax Grapeseed

Hanger swirl method done with Grapeseed Oil as a super fat and added ground flax seed. 

Uncut block 

 First Cut

 Super Soap!!

 Preview of whats to come......

Lavender from my garden

Made my kitchen smell sooooo good!

I bring you pictures of SOAP!!

A bit about my soap....You often wonder my someone would go out of their way to purchase handcrafted soap.  Maybe they are allergic to synthetic scents and dyes or maybe they have a new baby and want something extra gentle or maybe they want just pure clean soap.  When I decided to make soap I knew it would be pure, all natural, handcrafted soap.  I use all natural ingredients (you can eat most of them! but please don't munch on the soap) no scents and no dyes.  I infuse oils to get natural scents and colors...the closest to nature as possible.  Nothing harmful or synthetic ever!  So enjoy the pictures.....thanks for taking a peek.  I'm working on having an online shop open soon so check back often for all of the details!

Lemon Mint Soap (made with infused mint oil)

Chocolate Honey Oatmeal Soap

Gardener's Soap (made with infused sage oil and cornmeal)

Rosemary Lemon Soap (made with infused rosemary oil)

Green Tea Eucalyptus Soap (made with eucalyptus infused oil)

Banana Soap

Calendula Soap

Kitchen Coffee Lemon Balm Soap

Just Pictures

Chocolate Honey Oatmeal Soap

Coffee Lemon Balm Kitchen Soap (used Lemon Balm from my garden)

Lemon Mint Soap (used Mint infused oil) + my new soap mold