Soap Lily

Thursday, October 23, 2014

The days are flying by, and it is almost time for the Wine Festival. We are racing to finish up several popular soaps that have almost sold out. Today we made Fresh Outdoors.

This is the second time we've used this scent. The first time we made it we used the CP method and tapped into our artistic side with a four color (sprinkled mica) hanger swirl.

Fresh Outdoors #1 - cold process with four color mica swirls.

Today you will see the difference between cold and hot process soap making. We will use the exact same ingredients, but the end result will look quite different (even though it will smell the same and cleanse the same).

We used Fresh Outdoors FO from +Natures Garden, it is the same scent

we used in the first batch only we will increase the amount this time.

To us this fragrance smells like a freshly mown field of clover.

Nature's Garden describes it as follows:

"Breezy tones of fresh ozone and bright orange oil highlight a floral blend of jasmine and lily at the heart of the blend. Clean woody elements of cedar and pine balance with a hint of spice to accent the floral accord. A clear musk undertone envelopes the outdoor sensation with shimmering sweetness."

The colors were a repeat from the first batch; all four are mica colorants from +Bramble Berry.

We mixed a 1/2 teaspoon of each color to a tablespoon of safflower oil. The two colors at the top (L) Aqua Pearl and (R) Copper Sparkle both already had shimmer added.

So we added a 1/4 teaspoon of Diamond Dust to the 1982 Blue,

and to the Fizzy Lemonade.

Now all four colors have sparkle.

We mixed up the usual suspects - lye/water with coconut, sustainable palm, olive and castor oils. Using a stick blender, we brought the combination to a medium/thick trace.

We put the lid on the batter and cooked the soap for 1-1/2 hours. We checked the soap with PH strips and then with the zap test, and then we deemed it done.

We added just over three ounces of Fresh Outdoors fragrance oil and mixed it thoroughly.

Then we tried something new. Previously we have measured out four different sections of batter, colored each one, then mixed the colored portions back into the remaining batter in the crock - the typical "in the pot swirl."

Today we tried a different method. We left all of the batter in the crock and made four indentations in it. We then poured each bowl of colored oil into a different "well" (see above). Oh, we crossed our fingers too.

Then we gently folded/stirred the colors around in the crock, trying not to over mix the batter.

Once we had mixed enough, we slung the batter into the mold

and slammed the batter down a few times to get rid of air bubbles (we hope).

See all the colors? We can, but at this point we can't tell what the center will look like.

Fast forward to Friday morning and we cut the soap.

The first thing we noticed was that the soap was hard (this is good), and the color had mellowed out a bit. Then we cut it into slices.

Wow! It's beautiful!

It might not be quite as fancy at the original, but it is still quite lovely

especially considering we made it using the HP method.

Looks like a smiling face,

Fresh Outdoors HP soap, will be ready next Friday.

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Today both of us went non stop. Alison had the thankless job of catching up on cost calculations, information we need, but she had no fun sitting at a computer for 6 hours.

While Alison slogged away at the calculations, I put together two batches of HP soap.

Both of today's soaps, Orange Rosemary Goats Milk and Peace Out, Man! (Cannabis Flower & Sweet Patchouli) were very popular at our last show, so we are replenishing our supply for the Unicoi Wine Fest coming up in a couple of weeks.

I started the batches about 30 minutes apart so I would have time to get the first batch in the mold before the next one finished cooking.

Starting with the Peace Out, Man!

We are using the same color combination as we did on the first Peace Out batch, Ultramarine Pink and Fired up Fuchsia from +Bramble Berry , and for a bit of sparkle Icicle Mica from www.rusticescentuals.com.

We mixed the colors in a tablespoon of safflower oil

which looked like this when mixed (sorry it's a little blurry)

The fragrance in Peace Out, Man! is a combination of FO's from +Natures Garden.

Cannabis Flower, described as "shimmering green fern and cannabis notes unfold

to reveal a rich floral accord of violet and gardenia in this fantasy scent. A warm

blend of cashmere wood surrounds the floralcy, while sensual undertones

of musk and golden amber soften the scent from within."

With the Cannabis Flower we mixed Sweet Patchouli which NG describes 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."

Oh boy, does this smell gooooooood!

We decided to add TD to the batter.

We hope it will lighten the batter a little and give us better definition with the colors.

We added the FO's to the batter, mixed them in really well, then removed about half the batter.

We add the mixed pink color to the batter remaining in the crock.

Adding the TD helped, the batter is a bright pink.

Now we add the reserved batter back to the pink and mix gently. We want the difference in colors to show up.

Perfectly blended

It may look like solid pink in the photo, but in person we can see

the lighter and darker colors.

Peace Out Man ready to cure for 24 hours.

Now on to batch number 2....

The Orange/Rosemary batch has 6 tablespoons of powdered Goats Milk mixed

into 3 ounces of distilled water. I placed the mixture into the freezer until

the soap finished cooking.

I cut up about 1/2 ounce of Tussah silk to dissolve it in the lye/water. I then added it to the oils (coconut, sweet almond, Castor, palm kernel flakes, olive, and avocado).

This recipe also calls for 1 TBSP honey mixed with 2 1/2 ounces of warm water. We always try to use local honey & no, Alison does not have bee hives. The name was coincidental.

The marvelous aroma in this soap comes from a mixture of EOs (essential oils) from +Lebermuth Co.

We knew the orange would color our batter a soft yellow/orange color.

A huge issue with using these two EOs in HP soaps is the Flash Point. One was 43C the other 49C (around 125F); that is really cool for HP soap.

To give our soap a hint of rosemary green, we added just a little bit of Enchanted Forest Mica from www.rusticescentuals.com

We mixed 1/2 tsp. into 1 tablespoon of safflower oil.

Once it was mixed we had that beautiful shimmer in the mixture.

Since we are all about shimmer, we added 3/4 tsp. of +Natures Garden Diamond Dust Mica to the base of the soap. We hope it will give the soap an extra dimension when cured.