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 Two

This morning I was twitching to unmold the soaps that were made yesterday.  As you can see, the logs look amazing! 

After the logs of soap were removed from the molds to dry out a bit more, it was time to line the molds and play with more bubbly fun. 

Oh, what to do!  So many ideas, not enough hours in the day...tada...today's soaping adventure brought to life (from left to right) Cool Mountain Lake, Vermont Maple Cream Pie, and Fuzzy Navel.  I must say that the Fuzzy Navel was the most challenging to pull off. 

I have enough olive oil to make one more batch of soap before the man in the brown truck pulls into the yard and delivers more.  It is scheduled to be delivered two days earlier than expected, and I am jazzed about that! As you can see there is a lot of soap to cut, and I MUST unearth the drying rack from the closet in my soaping room because I am running out of counter space for the soap to cure. 

Can hardly wait to see how today's logs turned out, and of course, I am very anxious to see the inside of the logs that were made yesterday! 

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! 

Soothing Lavender

Yesterday the school where I work had a half day and I wasted no time getting home to play in the soap room. My enthusiasm escalated with pure delight at the sight of a brown cardboard box waiting for me on the porch when I pulled in the driveway...new essential and fragrance oils! First out of the box...Lavender Essential Oil! This called for a triple batch & three molds to get through this soap making session.



Freshly poured Lavender Goat Milk Soap


Purple swirls were dancing in my head...can you tell?  These lovely logs of soap were made with Goat Milk using the same same formula I was playing with the night before.  I was taking a huge gamble by making a triple batch before knowing how the goat milk was going to factor into the soap behavior.  I love living on the edge sometimes, and this time it worked to my benefit. 

 
Here is a closer look at one of the molds full of freshly poured soap.  I love the white and purple contrast and cannot wait to see what the "inside" of the logs look like.  It will have to wait until tomorrow as I will be busy tonight and no time for soaping.  I am really holding out for a snow day tomorrow, we have not had one yet this school year and I am so ready to have one of those "unplanned" days off work.  :)   

Green Apple Goat Milk Soap Snafu

Saturday I made a second batch of soap that caused me some grief.  As soon as I poured the fragrance into the soap it immediately started seizing up and I was scrambling to get it into the mold... glob, plop, mash, mush, smush...well, you get the idea.  I did manage to get some color mixed into part of the soap before it was no longer working for me.  In the past I have used this particular fragrance with no issues, so I'm thinking the addition of the Goat Milk might have had something to do with it. I have to admit it was looking pretty bad and I had no ambition to take a photo but now I wish I had. 

To make matters worse, the soap began heating up and I was fearing the goat milk would scorch so I yanked it out of the mold, it was mostly solid going into the mold, so I didn't worry about it leaking everywhere.  Even outside the mold the soap was still slightly warm when I got up Sunday morning and I have to admit...the UGLIEST log of soap I have ever made.  It smells amazing, so I hated to see it go to waste.

Green Apple Soap Balls

What to do?  I grabbed the grater and shredded up the entire log of soap.  Dry it out?  Throw it out?  Rebatch?  As the soap was quite fresh and still warm when I grated it up I took my chances to treat it like playdough.  After donning my gloves, I squished and kneaded and had fun playing with the otherwise ugly soap...and transformed it into cute soap balls just the perfect size for keeping by the sink for hand washing. 

I guess we shall ride the storm and see what happens during the cure time.  Stay tuned for an update.

Rosemary Mint Goat Milk Soap



Freshly poured Rosemary Mint Goat Milk Soap

 Yesterday after cutting all of the Kitchen Soap I made a batch of Rosemary Mint Goat Milk Soap.  I decided this one needed some swirls, and chose to make two colors ~ green and a blue/green.  The mixture behaved very well, and I was absolutely delighted with the way it turned out after the pour. 

Today I cut the end off the slab of soap because I just couldn't wait to see what it looked like inside.  The soap needs to dry out a few more days before I continue cutting the bars, but I wanted to share what it looks like on the inside of the log. 

View inside the log of soap

It is really hard to see the two different colors.  I even had a hard time distinguishing them apart up close.  It still turned out pretty cool and I'm really liking the look.  Smells absolutely amazing!

Goat Milk Soap Success

This morning I was in a hurry to get out the door and trudge the icy roads to work.  I only had a few minutes to look at the soap before I dashed out the door and noticed the soap was quite warm in the mold.  The soap was already hardened, so I quickly pulled it out of the mold and noticed it had changed to a medium tan color.  I was pleasantly surprised to see the soap had returned to the nice creamy color like it was when I put it in the mold by the time I returned from work.  After the soap was cut into bars I am super delighted with how the soap turned out!



Orange Patchouli Goat Milk Soap



Tonight I made the must have soap in my house at all times ~ Kitchen Soap.  It has coffee and orange essential oil in the soap, making it a great bar to have by the kitchen sink to use for general handwashing but in particular after cutting onions and garlic.  This soap neutralizes the odors on your hands and is nourishing for your skin. 

Kitchen Soap



I also use this soap after I have been gardening as it cuts the grime and has just enough abrasive qualities from the coffee to remove the ground in dirt that I seem to always get on my hands despite the fact that I use garden gloves. I have mechanics that swear by this soap, and have even had one person buy it when they are making Christmas wreaths as it cuts through the pitch.

Shop Update ~ I hope to have my soap supply built up enough to reopen my shop mid to late March.  :)  Keep watch for news of our Grand Re-Opening. 

I Could Wait No Longer!

Mr. Moo helps groom the snowmobile trails and had a piece of equipment that was in need of repair tonight.  So, I wasted no time jumping into bubble mode as soon as he left...move over dinner plans until the soap is mixed and in the mold!   A short time later the first batch of goat milk soap emerged.  Yippee!!!

I must say that the new soap room is the perfect space for creating goat milk soap as it is colder than the rest of the house, and perfect for keeping the soap from heating up after going in the mold.  As I have basically only dealt with powdered goat milk in the past, working with fresh milk was a new experience for me.  I mixed the frozen milk with a bit of the lye over a bowl of ice to keep the temp down, and when that was mixed in, added more in small amounts until all of it was mixed in and the goat milk completely thawed and incorporated with the lye.  The goat milk never got too hot, and when mixed with the oils stayed a nice creamy color. 

After pouring most of the soap into the mold I decided to add some mica to the remaining soap for a swirl of color mixed into the soap. This batch is an Essential Oil mix of Sweet Orange with a touch of Patchouli.  About an hour after the pour the soap is behaving beautifully and not heating up.  When hubby came home he knew I'd been the mad scientist in the soap room as he could smell the evidence as soon as he walked in the door.  LOL 

Post to follow with the unmolded log and cut bars. 

Soaping Update

On a rare moment this past week I went on Craigslist stumbled upon a large lot of soap making supplies that a local goat farmer purchased with the intent of making soap.  After making one batch they decided soap making was not for them and decided to sell the goods.  Win, win for moi!  This was a major score as the lot contained over 200 pounds of oils and butters, along with a bunch of other soaping goodies, AND about 100 pounds of frozen goatmilk.  Needless to say, I see a lot of goat milk soap on the horizon in the near future.

After lugging the score into the house, with Mr. Moo's assistance, it was time to find a home for all of these treasures.  I had an old cupboard/counter stored in the laundry room since we remodeled the kitchen in 2007.  I had decided it finally needed to go and lugged it out on the porch on Monday.  Today it came back into the laundry room so I could store the lot of soapmaking goodies.  In a very short time the laundry room was transformed into a functional workspace, and everything is organized.  The only remaining projects include hanging a metal wire shelf to store the fragrance oils and lugging a big table from upstairs and then the soap room will officially open for production.

Every time I make a batch of soap it is my intention to write a post with photos of the soapy goodness. I need to stock pile a bunch of soap before I will be ready to reopen the shop.  I can hardly wait to get started.

 

Introducing Goat Milk Soaps ~ A new product line for 2010

This is an unscented bar of soap that has been enhanced with the addition of goat milk. No colorant has been added to this soap, the color is a natural result of the soap making process.

Goat milk protein contains essential amino acids as well as vitamins A and B and minerals such as calcium, potassium, magnesium and phosphorus. With its natural emollients, goat milk soap can relieve dryness and leave your skin feeling silky soft. Goat milk soap is often recommended by dermatologists for their patients who suffer from skin conditions such as psoriasis, eczema and acne.

Scented Goat Milk Soaps will be appearing soon!