National Blueberry Pie Day

Blueberry Themed Soaps

I can remember going blueberry picking with family and friends. I still say they needed to weigh everyone going in and out, because the blueberries became a meal as we were picking. LOL Who couldn't resist those round, plump, delicious berries? Afterwards we would dine on fresh blueberries and make some awesome blueberry pies before freezing the rest for "later". I can remember one time my BFF didn't have enough blueberries left to make a full pie, so she combined peaches to make up the amount needed and called it a Pooberry Pie. Anyway you serve them, blueberries are the best!

In honor of this national celebration, I have the perfect blueberry treats minus the calories. All of these soapy masterpieces have been made using the cold processed method of soap making. Each blueberry hand rolled and the "cream" hand piped to give that realistic look and smell of a delectable treat.

You will find these awesome blueberry treats in our online shop ~ Blueberry Artisan Soap, Lemon Blueberry Cupcake Soaps, and Lemon Blueberry Pie Artisan Soap...just remember that while these look and smell real, it is not recommended that they be eaten. ;)

Taking A Walk on the Wild Side

Wild!

I've been a bad blogger again and finally made the time to sit down and write an update.  I've been busy creating and finally had to stop to clear out another room to accommodate the drying racks and packing station.  Additional shelving needed to be purchased and set up and now the original soap room is for production only. 

I rarely go extreme with my soap production, but this past weekend I decided to work outside my comfort zone and allow the creativity to take a walk on the wild side. 

Black, electric blue, and hot pink were the colors of choice all swirled together in the mold.  To top it off, I took some mica mixed with oil and drizzled on top, then swish, swish, swished with a chopstick to swirl the top and then I stood back and admired with absolute amazement.  And guess what?  "Wild thing, you make my heart sing...You make everything groovy, wild thing...Wild thing, I think I love you!"

Cut bars look amazing!

I was extremely anxious for this one to come out of the mold so it could be cut into bars.  After anticipation, and impatient waiting, the time had finally come to cut and reveal. 

What do you think?

36 Bars of Beautiful Soap!

Swirling action taking place in the mold

We love our new soap mold from Bramble Berry!  What to make first,?  Energy?  Chocolate?  Blackberry Sage?  Oh my, decisions, decisions!  And the final decision?  Razz Nilla was the first batch of beatiful color swirling action to land in the mold. 

Dividers in place

The inserts were a bit of a learning curve for me the first time I used them, despite the advice to be patient.  To be honest,  I was ready to heave those inserts out on the lawn. I persisted and breathed a huge sigh of relief when it was finally resting in the soap.  Although, I was seriously thinking the next time I'll cut the bars by hand. Hubby encouraged that before long I'll be slipping them in and out of soap mold like yesterday's news. 


1 of 36 bars

With much anticipation, and a lot of peeking under the lid to admire the masterpiece, it was finally time to unmold the beauty and admire it some more before removing the inserts.  The wishing, waiting, and anticipation of owning one of these amazing molds was well worth the wait, and happy to report that the bars are gorgeous! 
   

Getting all patriotic

The second batch to land in this gorgeous soap mold was a brainstorm idea I've been itching to create for months.  I've seen it in my mind,  had the game plan all mapped out, and this past weekend it all finally came together.  The mold inserts behaved for me just as hubby predicted.  Once again it was hard to resist sneaking in a peek or two, you know I've gotta babysit the soap, it's a soapers life.  ;) 

Shop Re-Opening update... we are still working on the labeling, packaging, and more so the re-opening of our online shop has been slightly delayed. Quite a few batches are fully cured, but very soon we will have a much nicer variety of soap fully cured and ready. 

My son tells me he has a growing list of co-workers and friends eager to do some Mother's Day shopping.   For local folks we'll be holding an open house on April 27.  For those who have been eager to see the soapmaking process, I will be giving some soapmaking demos during the open house. 

Fun With Blueberries...Soap, That Is!

Freshly poured Blueberry Soap

If you remember, the other day I made all of the blueberries for another fun soapy project.  Ok, more than one project, but I can't spoil all of my secrets just yet. 

On Tuesday I made one of the blueberry soapy projects rolling through my head.  With a snow day callled I had cellphone in hand and a pot of soap in the other and it was of to the soap room for some fun. 

Setting the larger half spheres in place

What I didn't show you the other day was the larger larger half sphere embeds I made to go along with this project.  To start off with, I poured a small amount of soap into the bottom of the mold and then set the larger half spheres in place. 



A sprinkle of mica on top

After I was satisfied with the way everything looked, I poured the rest of the soap overtop then sprinkled a bit of the blue mica mixture down the center that I had come up with for this project. 



Not happy with how the mica looked, I changed my mind about what I wanted to do on the top, and carefully folded the soap over the mica line with a spoon and added the blueberries to the top, as seen above. 

Cut bars of Blueberry Soap

Today was cutting day, and I was anxious to see what mysteries were hidden inside the bars.  Did all of the larger blue pieces stay down?  I didn't spoon the soap over the larger embeds, so it was likely some didn't stay at the bottom.  Did some of the embeds float up?  It didn't matter to me, because each bar has its own personality and I love each and every one of them!

I still have a ton of blueberries leftover for another project or perhaps two?  We shall see what happens this weekend!

Almost a Doozy Snowstorm Day

At least that is what our weather man says.  He has a Doozometer and we are between Bamboozy and Doozy...not quite worthy of a REAL Doozy, but we have a Snow Day from school out of the deal, so that means another soaping day for me!  We are expecting 12-18 inches of snow with this storm, and hubby is excited as this means the snowmobile season got a little boost and isn't quite over just yet. 

Hyacinth Soap

Last night I cut up the logs of soap I made on Saturday, and am delighted with the outcome of each one.  I have to say that the Hyacinth soap was a fun one to make, and I loved how it looked in the mold.  The bottom of the soap was created by swirling three colors in the pot then I created a textured top with the hyacinth blue and spring green colors, and garnished the top with iridescent glitter.  It smells heavenly.

Strawberries & Champagne Soap

Strawberries and Champagne was created with the same in the pot swirl method using two colors, and garnished with iridescent glitter and sugar pearls to give the appearance of champagne bubbles dancing on the top. 

Bay Rum Soap

Bay Rum!  I am most excited with the way this batch turned out.  The photo gives the appearance of the color brown, but it is really the color of a dried bay leaf.  I made this one by dividing the soap and coloring half the batch.  Alternating the bay leaf color and white, I poured a strip of soap down the middle of the mold over top of each other.  It took quite a bit of time to finish the pour, but it was well worth the effort as the end result is amazing! 

Pale Ale Soap

Pale Ale about killed me with the fragrance when I was working with it.  It has mellowed out in the soap now that it is cut and drying out a bit, much to my relief.  I wanted to give this one the appearance of foam on top, so I tinted the top white, and used cocoa to make the pencil line.  I will go a bit easier on the cocoa next time, as the line is sort of heavy looking to me.  Regardless, it is still and eye catcher.

Today I am going to be working with my brain idea for the blueberry embeds made over the weekend, and the rootbeer soap idea floating in my head.  A new slab mold with dividers arrived yesterday and I'm twitching to break it in.  I bought the additional dividers to make guest/favor size soaps so this will most definitely be a well used mold and with all of the ideas rolling around in my head, I may need more than one of these molds to satisfy that creativity. 

Blueberries and More!

Blueberries!

These blueberries are part of another soapy project I am working on, and is phase two of the project.  Yesterday I made the soap for the blueberries, today is turning that soap into blueberries.  The third phase of the project will make its debut soon and photos will most definitely follow. 

Strawberries & Champagne Soap

Yesterday was a full day in the Soap Room.  Aside from the blueberry soap, I made some embeds for the Rootbeer soap idea I am working over in my head.  Pale Ale, Bay Rum, Strawberries & Champagne, and Hyacinth logs of soap were made. 

Lemon cupcake, anyone? 

The last project of the day was lemon cupcake soaps.  It ended up being a very productive day for me, and I was delighted with how everything turned out.  However, the lemon cupcakes managed to work their way through the gel phase, even though I soaped at very low temps.  Needless to say I was disappointed that the "frosting" had flattened out when I looked at them this morning.  They still look nice, just not as impressive as when they were freshly made, as shown in the photo. 

Greening Up Bit by Bit

I see some green!

It doesn't take much to get me excited except when I am anxious for winter to finish melting away and discover a small patch of green slowly making its appearance. 

I have been itching all winter to go sit on the bench under the pergola we built last summer and this afternoon I trudged my way through the snow to enjoy a moment of tranquility when I discovered a small patch of green grass poking its way around the snow melting away. 

The driveway and yard is rapidly turning into a lake and mud bog.  For the first time this winter I had to lug out my boots so I can get in and out of the car without ending up with water logged feet and/or shoes being sucked off my feet by the mud.

Lilac soap cut into bars

I was so thrilled with the results of the soap I made last weekend and wanted to share how the Lilac soap turned out.   The swirls look like whispers of purple in the base of the bar and the piping adds a fancy touch befitting of the delicate lilac fragrance.  I can't wait until it warms up enough for my lilac bush to bloom.  Until then, I will be enjoying the fragrance of this soap as it finishes curing. 

Hailley and Christina saying "cheese and macaroni"

Last Sunday my oldest Grand Girlie turned four.  Seems like just yesterday that she was born, the time has flown by so quickly.  We took a road trip to celebrate the occasion, and went from needing jackets to no jackets back to needing jackets in the time we were there.  We played in the snow and mud, blew bubbles, dumped some bubble water on accident (actually a lot), and took a nice walk on the muddy back roads.  One thing for certain, I was glad I wasn't the one having to wash the multiple jackets, boots, and clothes the girls got covered in mud. 

Shimmering and Glittery Lilac Soap

Swirled Lilac soap base

The sun is shining today (yeah!!!!) and the air warming up (yippee!!).  We're getting closer to my kind of weather, come on summer!  But first, we have to get through all of the snow melt down and mud before everything dries out again.  I envision a lake of water and mud ruts in the driveway very soon, particularly with the weather predictions for the next several days.  You haven't experienced excitement until you've made it through mud season in Vermont.  It is that time of year I am so glad we live in town and on a paved road.  Dirt roads during mud season definitely tests the limits on your vehicles and nerves, to say the least. 

Hubby hit the snowy trails first thing this morning to get one last ride in and out from our yard for the year.  Any further riding for this year most likely will require trailering to other areas where the snow is a bit more plentiful in supply. 

Soap piped on top

I wanted to play around in the Soap Room this morning and practice some swirling and piping techniques.  Since Lilac is one of my favorite flowers of spring, and it feels like a nice springy kinda day, it seemed appropriate to soap in Lilac first.  I took photos of the swirled base first, then waited for the rest of the soap batter to thicken up more before I tackled the piping technique. 

Waiting ever so patiently (or maybe not LOL) for the soap to thicken up further, I decided to try a two toned piping.  Had I waited a bit longer, the two colors would have been more pronounced.  Only a few of the twirls came out white and purple, but overall I was still extremely pleased with the end result.  A sprinkle of some iridescent glitter and now we wait to see how everything looks once it finishes hardening up and I can release it from the mold. 



Today's Soapy Creations

I was inspired and went on to create two more batches of soap before cleaning up and tackling other projects that need my attention around the house. 

It's Thursday Already?

Lavender Goat Milk Soap

This week has flown by.  But of course, it is a short work week for me after being on vacation for a week, plus.  :)  I have more soapy plans for this weekend, of course. 

If you remember a few weeks ago I ended up with botched batch of Lavender soap so last week I made another batch and I am pleased to report this one turned out fabulous!  This batch has some layering of lavender throughout the base of the bar, and a textured top with lavender and green.  I was delighted with the results, and the bars smell absolutely heavenly.

My new photo light box arrived yesterday but my camera was MIA.  Ashley's camera was in my camera bag, and turns out she had mistakenly placed my camera in her bag.  Now that my camera is safely back home I have plans to play around with my new toy this weekend.   After all, I have all of these new soaps that are begging to be photographed.  :)

Not so good news about the homemade dish soap I made the other day.  It just wasn't up to my standards, so I will be reformulating and testing further. 

I have used the dish detergent a couple times and it needs to be tweaked a bit more to be comparable to what I have been using before I send it out to my testers for additional feedback.  It is close, but I'm not quite happy with the results just yet. 

However, I am happy with the laundry soap I've been testing, and I've enlisted the assistance of others to test and report back to me on how it performs for them.  I have folks that use HE machines and others that use standard washing machines so I will have a pretty good idea on how the formula performs and if any further adjustments might be necessary for optimal cleaning performance. 

Hidden Inside the Soap

The other day I mentioned that hidden inside the logs of soap I had added a pencil line of mica colorant and I wanted to show you how the bars turned out.  After a happy bubble dance around the soap room, I took a photo of the cut bars.  The rose petals on the rose scented soap stayed true on their color and didn't crumble when I cut the bars (yeah!!!)  My only regret is the lighting in the soap room does not lend itself for good photos.  Hopefully that will be remedied as I finally broke down and purchased a photo light box and will be anxiously awaiting its arrival later this week. 

Floral Bouquet Goat Milk Soap with purple mica pencil line

A Bouquet of Roses Goat Milk Soap with 24 K Gold mica pencil line

A Mother's Love Goat Milk Soap with a green mica pencil line

Today part of the day was spent on the road in search of Washing Soda for the laundry soap.  Pity I had to drive 23 miles one way to find some.  The afternoon was spent mixing up a small tester batch of laundry soap which promptly was put to good use, and so far, so good. 

We are trying very hard to eliminate household products that aren't green.  The next project of the day was mixing up dishwasher detergent.  I will let you know how that works for me in a follow up post.  While I was on a roll, I made some liquid dish soap with the addition of some Orange Essential Oil, and could barely wait for some dirty dishes to hit the sink to test it out. 

I have to admit, I am pretty much married to Dawn dishwashing liquid due to its grease cutting abilities, but I also know that the  MSDS ratings aren't the greatest, either.  My hubby absolutely hates dish liquids because not all of the soap rinses off the dishes.  He is extremely sensitive to the taste of dish soap, so I am anxious to see how the homemade version compares.  What I can tell you is that I found a really greasy dish and headed to the sink with the newly made dish soap to test it out.  My first observation is that it doesn't bubble up like Dawn, but I wasn't expecting it to.  Instead, the water turned cloudy and I was cautiously optimistic because I didn't see ANY bubbles whatsoever, but I was not going to be detered.  I know bubbles don't clean, but we have been so conditioned to believe that unless it bubbles up, it isn't cleaning.  I was astounded to see that the grease was gone, the dish clean, no soapy film left behind.  I will keep using the new soap and plan to do a follow up post in the near future. Oh, and I am about ready to test out the orange cleaner I started making a few weeks ago so I can write a follow up post about that, as well. 

I have one more day of Winter Vacation left, and have MANY soapy creations dancing in my head.  The time has gone by quickly, but I have accomplished much.  When I look around the soap room I am extremely pleased with all of the soapy creations, and my house smells absolutely AMAZING.  :)

All in the Day of a Soapers Life

Chocolate heaven in a log of soap

Yesterday I made some chocolate soap as it was feeling like one of those days.  My son was excited when he smelled the chocolate and thought I was baking.  Needless to say, he was sorely disappointed to discover the source of the chocolate smell was coming from the soap room and NOT the kitchen.  The only problem I have with this soap is that one of my son's friends thought the soap was fudge as he walked through the soap room and took a bite out of one of the bars.  He quickly found out it was NOT fudge! 

The beginnings of laundry soap

The next project of the day involved creating a soap base for some laundry soap that I will be testing in the near future.  This morning I needed hubby's help to release the soap from the mold because the arthritis in my hands is really giving me fits the past couple days.  After cutting the soap into managable chunks I grated the soap before it turned hard as a rock.  When finished, it looked like snow.  Hmmm...inspiration for a Christmas project?  Perhaps!



Oops!

Last night in my haste to get a third batch of soap poured before hubby returned from his snowmobile adventures I had a "little" issue with one of the molds.  Due to the arthritis acting up, I "thought" I had secured the bottom on one of the round molds.  I fill these molds inside of a bucket to avoid any spillage dripping all over the place.  After the first mold was filled I moved it to its resting spot, and then went about filling the second mold.  All was fine until I went to move the second mold when the bottom let loose. 

I was stunned over what had just happened and amazed that none of the raw soap got on me or my shoes!   To date that has to be the biggest mess to clean up after.  The plus side is that the floor got a good cleaning, and I was thankful the tile didn't get ruined.  It is apparent that next time I pour in these molds I plan on laying down a bunch of newspaper on the floor for easier clean up if that ever happens again. 

I had hubby make sure the bottom of the molds were secure before he headed out on the snowy trails this morning "just in case" a soapy inspiration comes over me, but my plans are to take the day for myself and putter around the kitchen.  I'm feeling like it is a good day to make some fresh baked bread to go with our dinner tonight.  If my son hasn't eaten all of my chocolate chips "in hiding", we might even have some chocolate chip cookies to enjoy. 

Saturday

Logs of soap waiting to be cut

The soap from the past two days is waiting to be cut.  Last night I mixed up two more batches of soap before calling for take out and ending my soapy fun day.  It's always fun to remove the soap from the molds, I'm like an anxious mom waiting for her baby to arrive.  Once the logs dry out a bit more I will be cutting into these beauties to see what the insides look like. 

I am running out of room on the drying racks once again so it is time to remedy that situation before I make any more soap.  Well, at least until any new batches made today need to be removed from the mold tomorrow.  ;)

Fantastic Friday

This week has really gone by quickly, as it always does when one is on vacation.  Vacation extends through Tuesday of next week due to Town Meetings in Vermont.  The weather has been absolutely splendid this week..a little snow and rain, a little sunshine, and some nice warmer winter days to melt the snow piles that have been plowed up in our yard.  I would be much happier if it were 70 degrees or warmer outside, but I will take these warmer winter days and enjoy them.  At least I have been able to enjoy them and not stuck inside all day. 

Oatmeal Soap

Last night while waiting for dinner to bake I mixed up a batch of Oatmeal Goat Milk Soap.  It smells yummy and released from the molds beautifully this morning.  I am really loving these round column molds that I got from Brambleberry.  This time I used both of the molds I purchased to hold my batch of soap instead of downsizing the batch.  After releasing from the molds this morning I realized why I had so much batter leftover the other day...it was enough to fill two molds!  Later today the molds will be holding yet another soapy creation.  I am serioulsy going to have to invest in more of these molds, I love them!

Mother's
Day Soaps

Today marks Day Seven of Winter Vacation Soaping Extravaganza and this morning I made a couple of soaps with thoughts about Mother's Day.  Two more floral scents made their debut.  From left to right we have...A Bouquet of Roses and Floral Bouquet.  If floral is not your thing, I do have some non-floral soaps in the works for Mother's Day as I know not everyone is into floral scents. 

In the winter my house is the perfect environment for drying flowers.  Ashley had given me some beautiful tea roses in the most amazing color for Valentine's Day.  After they dried out I carefully removed the petals with the thoughts of placing them on a soapy project for Mother's Day.  I am hopeful that the color of the petals don't morph during the saponification process, we'll soon find out.  The soap is a nice rosey color, which I can only hope doesn't morph into another color during the cure time as well.  Hidden inside the log is a pencil line of 24K gold mica that won't be visible until the log is released from the mold and cut into bars.  24K gold mica has also been dusted on top of the rose petals giving the soap a regal appearance. 

Floral Bouquet has a textured top of yellow and purple.  The lighting in the soap room made the yellow look more orange when I snapped the photo, but I assure you it is yellow.  Lurking below the two toned top is a nice creamy base with a pencil line dusting of purple mica hidden inside. 

Winter Vacation Soaping Extravaganza ~ Day Five and Six

Lemongrass Sage

Day Five was spent cutting a lot of soap, then making a batch of Lemongrass Sage Goat Milk soap.  This fragrance is Ashley's (DD #2) favorite fragrance.  She was more than thrilled when she stopped by on her way to work to discover the freshly made batch in the mold.  She has graciously volunteered to be quality tester for this batch. 

My soaping time was shortened with the invitation to join my favorite sister-in-law (I can safely say that because she is my only sister-in-law) for lunch.  I gladly accepted the invitation and the opportunity to clear my nose from all of the fragrances building up in the house. 

Day Six started off as the big T day....TAXES.  I am sooooo glad to have that headache behind me for another year.  Major headache because I received a very small amount of money in a class action lawsuit against an employer I had worked for like 12 years ago when we lived in Illinois.  Of course, the state taxes were paid to IL and not VT so of course, for the $5 I gave the state of IL, they took $4 and I get a whole whopping $1 back (laughing as I type).  Vermont gave me a whole whopping $2.00 more back on my return because of the tax paid to IL. 

My son got up earlier than normal and made a late breakfast for us, then we went about moving a bunch of stuff to unearth one box of soap supplies I KNEW I had, but could not find.  After we had most everything torn apart he remembered what I was looking for was in his closet the whole entire time!  I had asked him multiple times if he was sure all of my supplies had been taken out of his room when he moved back home, and he insisted it all had been.  Unbelievable!!!  I was just glad to finally find what I was looking for!

Table & Drying Rack set up

While I had my son captive, we moved a table down to the soap room and got a nice wire shelf in place to load up with curing soap.  Needless to say, you can see it is already full, but that leaves all of the other racks that all of those soaps had occupied wide open for more soapy creations. 

And now I am headed back into the soap room to turn out more soapy creations and fill up the now vacant racks.  :)

Champagne Goat Milk Soap

Freshly poured in the mold

Champange is a real sparkling, bubbly fragrance that is requested quite often around here.  I always tend to grab the 24k gold mica when working with this one because I feel there is a regal quality about champagne and gold going together. 

On this particular log I wanted to try out my piping abilities.  Now rest assured I can pipe frosting on cupcakes lickety split and can whip out 100 of them in no time flat.  I can make frosting without a recipe because I've done it so many times I know what consistency I am needing and can adjust volume just by looking at the frosting.  Working with soap batter, however was a unique challenge.  Next time I need to let the soap batter set up a bit longer before attempting to pipe, and be a bit more patient waiting for the soap batter to come into the consistency of frosting. A slight dusting of gold mica (this time I used a small sifter) really got the shimmering effect I was aiming towards.

Removed from the mold

Cut bars look like champagne bubbles on top

The side view of the log of soap shows off the piping, and you can barely see the gold swirls I was attempting to achieve throughout the log.  What amazed me is the gold swirls seemed to get lost in the mix of things, but stood out with the piped top. 

When I cut the bars I was amazed at how it looks as though there are champagne bubbles dancing on top of every bar.  The swirl might not have achieved much interest, and the piping in need of some more patience, but I was deeply pleased with the end result.  The bars have been moved to the rack to finish curing and will be available in our online store late next month.  :)

Winter Vacation Soaping Extravaganza ~ Day Three and Four

Day Three ~

To start the day off, I went about cutting all of the logs of soap made on Day One and Day Two,  then realized I had run out of room on the drying racks, so I rearranged the racks to make things a bit more organized and tidy. 

Lavender Goat Milk Soap

If you remember earlier this month I made a large bath of Lavender Goat Milk Soap just before I came down with the "Creeping Crud", which consequently did not turn out, but I didn't discover the problem until a week later when I started feeling better.  Soooooo, I made another single mold of Lavender Soap on Day Three. 

Not Good!

Apparently,when I mixed the large batch of Lavender Soap earlier this month, I "thought" it was thoroughly mixed in the 5 gallon bucket I was using, but alas, it was NOT!  I knew there was a probem when I cut the first log (after sitting for over a week) and noticed it was extremely soft.  The hidden problem was lurking in the two logs behind the first when I noticed some dripping and weeping under the drying rack from the logs behind it.  I also noticed the two remaining logs had further issues lurking on the underside. 

Dark Orange areas, a lot of soda ash (from the lye), about 1/2 inch of crumbly "soap" on the bottom, and the tops were extremely soft.  The importance of making sure you have indeed thoroughly combined the mixture prior to pouring it into the molds!!!

Day Four ~

I got a very late start to my morning due to the fact that Ashley's "baby" Emma, the Bassett Hound, which we dog sit while she is working second shift, had a rough night because she was not feeling well.  This dog has serious separation anxiety, and needs a lot of TLC when she comes to stay with us so not feeling well didn't help and made for a very long night.  I won't bore you with the details, but Ms. Moo was VERY tired and slept in this morning. 

Day Four Projects

Mr. Moo reminded me last night that he was in need of some clean clothes, so I went about starting the laundry when I heard a noise on the porch and discovered my precious package from Brambleberry had arrived!  Yippee ~ new soap molds and one of my favorite fragrance oils so it was off to the soap room we go.

I knew my soap batches were a touch too much for these molds, but I purposely did not adjust my batches because I wanted to pour some smaller soaps for future planned projects.  From left to right we have  the beginnings of a Mother's Day project (I haven't fine tuned the name yet), A grape scented soap, and Energy. I am anxious to see how the round soaps turn out in the new molds I receieved today. I poured the two round molds with more than one color and curious to see what the cut bars will look like.  As for the log for the Mother's Day project, it is a floral scent that has been added to the list of fragrances that MUST be soaped when I can have a window open.  Mr.Moo came home from work as I had just mixed up the batch and mentioned he could smell it as soon as he stepped onto the porch...outside!!!   Pretty, but extremely intense when I played with it. 

Small molds filled with excess soap

As you can see I had a lot of soap leftover from the new round molds so I had quite a few smaller molds that were filled with the excess, more than I thought.  Next time I will adjust my batch so I don't have so much leftover. 

My son's laptop is seriously misbehaving tonight, so I apologize for any oddities with spellig and/or punctuation tonight.  Argh!!!

Blackberry Sage Goat Milk Soap



 

 

Freshly poured in the mold 

Blackberry Sage is blackberry blended with sage to keep the sticky sweet smell of the berries at bay. It is also one of those fragrances that behaves very well when I soap with it, so I knew I had plenty of time to play with the raw soap. When I went about making this soap I wanted vibrant layered colors in the natural "white" soap and a textured top that I then sprinkled with 24K gold mica. I would use a cosmetic glitter next time to avoid the little clumps of mica. 

Playing with the textured top was a lot of fun.  I might have let it sit up a bit longer to achieve a deeper textured look, but all in all I was very pleased with my first attempt and the end result. 



Fresh out of the mold

You see that the color is muted after the batch hardened in the mold.  I wanted to give you a side view of the log to show you how I layered the colors in the log.



Fresh cut bars

I used the crinkle cutter on these bars, and very happy in that decision.  The layers of color turned out great, lending a true one of a kind quality to each bar.  The addition of the crinkle cut really makes these colors rock!  These bars of soap smell every bit as amazing as they look.  In fact, I think to date this has to be one of those batches of soap I am most proud of. 

The bars have been tucked on to the rack to finish curing, and will be available in our online store when we reopen later next month.  :)

Winter Vacation Soaping Extravaganza ~ Day One

We're off and running with our Winter Vacation Soaping Extravaganza!  We're testing out some techniques after drooling over the NUMEROUS You Tube videos so many other wonderful soapmakers graciously shared with the rest of the world.  Some videos were in languages I could not understand, but the universal language of soapmaking was all I needed for inspiration. 

Fresh from the soap room today (from left to right) Blackberry Sage, Champagne, and Green Irish Tweed.  A blog post is in order for each batch with closer views, the unmolded logs, and (drum roll) the reveal of what's inside after cutting them into bars. 

Brain cells are going haywire and on a major overload with soap project ideas so it is going to be a very busy week around here.  :)  Good thing a lye shipment arrived just in time (the supply was getting pathetically low), and more soaping goodies will be arriving from Brambleberry early next week! 

Down with the Creeping Crud

I haven't forgotten everyone, the soap production has come to a screeching halt until the creeping crud makes its exit out of my house.  I came down with the affliction on Friday afternoon...suddenly and swiftly it settled in, and still have not gotten over it.  My husband and son now both have it.  Today we all spent the day off work together nursing our ailments.  Since I work around kids and food for my full-time job, health regulations are that I need to be symptom and/or fever free for 24 hours before I can return to work.  As of this afternoon I am still running a 100 degree F fever.  I have an amazing team in the kitchen aat school and they do a fabulous job pulling it together in my absence so I can focus on getting better.  The plus in all of the current situation is this will behind me before winter vacation starts in 11 days! 

Loving those RazzNilla Bars!

I'm really loving the new soap formula I played with yesterday. Totally delighted with the "inside" look of the soap log when I cut them into bars, from the pour to the cut, I'm in love!. The entire downstairs is smelling like Razz Nilla, even overpowering the strong Rosemary Mint already curing, and the triple batch of freshly poured soap I made this afternoon which I will blog about tomorrow. Now the true test will be once the soap is fully cured when I can take some soap to the shower to test it out!