A visitor in the soap kitchen lends a hand

Energy Hot Process Soap
#Energysoap #hotprocesssoap 

Thursday, November 13, 2014

We had a special guest today in the soap kitchen, Tabitha Nix Lathan spent the day with us.  In addition to being one of Kathy's daughter Talley's  old high school friends, Tabitha is very, very interested in becoming a soap maker, but she (exactly like we were) is a little overwhelmed with all the info out there.  Last week after we posted a picture of one or our soaps, Tabitha got in touch with me.  The end result of that conversation was her presence here today, and she was a big help to us (she jumped right in and even did a zap test!!).

Anyone who is thinking about making their own soap knows how intimidating ALL the information in books, on YouTube, on the Internet, and in blogs can be.  Alison and I were terrified when we first got started, and we had so many questions. Thankfully we had each other to bounce ideas around.  If we can give Tabitha a boost, helping hand, pay it forward or whatever you want to call it, we are happy to do so.

Today, with Tabitha's help (more about what Alison was working on in a separate blog entry), I whipped up a batch of HP Energy soap.  A fabulous friend of Kathy's decided to give Energy soap to her staff, plus several other varieties for her family. We couldn't be more pleased, but we didn't have enough on hand, so we made more.

Energy is a FO we get from +Bramble Berry; it is one of our most popular soaps. Just when we think we have enough, we get an order for multiple bars - not that we are complaining. We use basically the same colors every time we make Energy - a white base with 3 colors. All of our colors today were from Bramble Berry with the exception of the Diamond Dust Mica which we purchased from +Natures Garden.

Here are the colors

We enhanced all colors and the TD with Diamond Dust Mica from +Natures Garden 

(1 TBSP olive oil + 1 tsp colorant + 1/2 tsp diamond dust)

One of our most popular scents.
The only negative we've found is the low flash point of 140 degrees.  In HP soap making it's a pain as you have to wait for the soap to cool down before you can add the scent.  Since we need this soap quickly, HP is the only way we can go.

The Diamond Dust Mica added to the TD for a sparkly white base batter.

All of our colors, each mixed with a TBSP of O/O

Here goes the TD into the oil mixture of coconut, castor, palm, and olive.

The TD mixed into the oils, pretty isn't it?

We added the lye/silk/water to the oils and stick blended until the 

batter was at a medium to heavy trace. Then we put the lid on the crock pot and 

let it rip for 30 minutes on low temperature.

This is what the soap batter looked like at the 30 minute mark.

Overall the soap cooked for 1 hour and 45 minutes, it was probably done at 1-1/2 hrs. but to be safe we let it go another 15 min.

then we waited, and waited 

and waited

and waited

and waited

Finally about 1-1/2 hours later, the soap was right at 140 degrees - FINALLY!

As it cooled down it became harder and harder.

We quickly added the scent which cooled it down even more.

We divided the batter into four sections, and we colored three of them.

In this shot I show what the Fizzy Lemonade looks like.

In this shot is the Fired Up Fuschia

And last is Tangerine Wow.

We quickly stirred the color and batter together.

In the meantime we began slamming the white batter into our lined mold.

Then the Fired Up Fuschia

Tangerine Wow

Fizzy Lemonade

Then we attempted a swirl in the mold, but with the soap getting harder by the second the swirl isn't what we imagined.

Finally all the soap was more or less uniform in size.

Tomorrow we will remove it from the mold, let it cure for a week, and it will be ready to go.

************

Friday - time to unmold the soap

The colors are perfect!

Each and every bar has a little bit of yellow, orange, pink and white - full of Energy!

As Tabitha and I wrapped up the Energy Soap, Alison was putting together 

another test batch for Root n Remedies. Today she worked with Neem Oil, 

which turned out to be quite the experience.  For full details and photographs 

please go to the blog post titled Stink Stank Stunk.