Tuesday, September 7, 2014
Today we visited with Krupa Bhatt Budman, owner of Roots 'n Remedies in Clarkesville. Krupa is one of our customers; she loves our soap and sells it in her store located on the square. We timed our visit perfectly so we were able to take her out to lunch at our local farm to table restaurant. It was so much fun to spend time talking with her. During the meal we discussed providing her with an exclusive line of soaps made specifically for her store. The ingredients would be herbs, teas and natural ingredients she sells in the store. We are really enthusiastic about the idea of "soaps with a purpose" so to speak. We will have more news about this as we work up recipes, flavors, and scents.
We did need to make another batch of soap today, but we were having such a great time discussing herbs with Krupa, that we were a little late getting started. The soap we made today was a second run of Butterfly Meadows with Goats Milk. We made a batch a few weeks ago and it was such a hit at Foxfire that by the end of the day we only had one bar left. To get started, we both measured the oils, goats milk, honey and lye/water then Alison had to leave to pick up her daughter as school was out.
So I will finish this blog post about the second batch of Butterfly Meadows soap.
Right off the bat we had measured the Goats Milk then put it in the freezer to chill. We mixed the honey with warm water and set it aside until later. Then we tackled colorants and scents.
We used Fizzy Lemonade Mica from +Bramble Berry, and mixed it with
We were going with a softer shade of yellow and the Diamond Dust helped mute the brightness found in Fizzy Lemonade.
The above photo shows Fizzy Lemonade on the left and
Diamond Dust on the right. We mixed 1/2 teaspoon of each
into 1 TBSP of Safflower oil.
We love this nice soft yellow!
The scent is from +Natures Garden. We had used it once in CP soap and it seized with in six seconds. This isn't a good thing, something in the FO makes the batter basically turn to stone in seconds once it's added to the soap batter.
HOWEVER,
Butterfly Meadows smells great, and when we tried it with HP soap it worked like a dream. (remember the lessons we keep learning?). We now only use this fragrance oil in HP soap.
I mixed the lye/water and the oils (palm kernel flakes, coconut, castor, sweet almond, avocado, and olive oils), then I used the stick blender to bring it to heavy trace.
I put the lid on and let it cook on low in the crock pot. After 30 minutes
the soap wasn't quite gelled enough, so I let it go another 15 minutes before I stirred. In the picture above you can see the difference in the appearance of the center of the batter. The middle is still hard and rather solid, but we want it to be soft and gelled like the outer ring of the batter. Another 15 minutes was all it needed.
I stirred the soap in 15 minute increments until it was finished,
cooking it for 1 1/2 hours total.I performed the zap test 2 times, and
checked the PH strips. The soap was ready.
Once the soap was done, the first thing I added was the 3 ounces of honey water made using local honey and distilled water. I stirred until it was mixed in completely.
Next I got the goats milk out of the freezer; it's amazing how quickly it froze. Using a shallow dish to make a very thin layer of liquid is the key if you need the milk to freeze quickly.
Once the goats milk was workable and slushy I put it in a pile and added
it to the soap batter which was still in the crock pot.
After a minute or two the Goats Milk was completely melted and mixed into the batter.
Next I added the fragrance oil. I was so happy that I didn't forget any ingredients (yes, it has happened!)
I put 3 to 3-1/2 cups of batter into a measuring cup.
Then I poured the Fizzy Lemonade/Diamond Dust colorants into that
smaller amount of batter.
I mixed the colorants in really well.
Then I plopped the yellow batter right back into the crock pot on top of the remaining white batter.
I gently folded the two colors together. It is important not to over mix or
you loose the two-color swirl effect.
Next I plopped the batter into the mold. I stopped every few scoops to slam the soap down, trying to get rid of any potential air bubbles in the soap.
Here is the soap after I inserted the dividers.
Here is what the soap looked like after almost 24 hours curing.
Hopefully we will sell out of this great smelling bar quickly.
Butterfly Meadows Goats Milk Soap, ready to use in a week.
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