Tuesday, I (Alison) couldn't make it to our workshop early enough to help Kathy with any soap, so today Kathy said, "The stick blender is all yours!"
Hmmm. There are so many different things that I want to do, that it was really difficult to single in on one thing. It was difficult until I remembered that one of my very good friends had asked me several weeks ago if we had ever made any patchouli soap. It is his mother's favorite, and he was looking for something for her.
At the time we didn't have anything, but we ordered a sample scent not too long ago, and I decided that today would be a great day to try out the new fragrance AND make something for a good friend that his mama would love.
Because the fragrance we ordered is sample size, it is only enough for a batch that is 1/2 the size we normally make. I don't see that as a bad thing, though. I LOVE using the silicone mold, and this is a good way to make sure that the fragrance is what they are looking for before we make a bigger batch.
I assembled all of my materials and ingredients. This soap is made of olive, palm, coconut, and castor oils. I decided to add a small bit of colloidal oatmeal for its soothing qualities. I also decided that I wanted a bit of shimmer on top, so I had a small amount of mica sparkle ready as well.
In the photo above, you can see the most necessary items. Today I tried using a bucket (formerly known as the coconut oil container) for mixing the soap. It makes a deeper container for mixing smaller batches. I'll probably use it every time.
When the lye /water mixture had cooled down enough, I added it to the oils and stirred with the spatula for a couple of minutes until the two were combined. Then I used the stick blender to finish the job. If you look closely in the picture below, you can see that I had reached trace.
At trace I added the "Sweet Patchouli" fragrance oil that we had purchased from +Natures Garden.
Nature's Garden describes the fragrance as "an earthy blend of Patchouli and Green Grass intertwined with Fresh Lavender and hints of licorice with crisp notes of menthol softened by amber."
All that was left was to get the soap ready for the mold. First, I poured about a cup of the batter into a smaller container. Into the bucket I mixed the colloidal oatmeal, and then I poured the contents into the mold.
In the smaller container, I mixed about 1 tsp. of mica sparkle. Below is a closeup of the batter. See the tiny shimmery flecks?
When it was mixed evenly, I gently spread that batter on top of the oatmeal batter. Finally, I gave it a spritz with alcohol to avoid any ashy residue on the top, and the soap was ready to go into the insulating box for about 24 hours.
Below is how it looked in the mold:
Thursday, June 12, 2014
Today I unmolded the soap and cut it into bars. It is a very pretty soap.
See the small layer on top? That is the layer with the shimmer mica added.
You can also see the ground oatmeal in the body of the bar. I hope that my friend and his mom like this! It will be ready to use in about six weeks.
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