Labelled

 

 

These label templates are from Bramble Berry's website.  I like the process of making soaps but is not creative enough to design logos and labels.  These are just perfect for my needs.  Thank you Bramble Berry.

 



Spoon Swirl Cold Process

This recipe came from The Everything Soap Making Book.  After reading this book and watching a few more youtube videos, I just can't wait for my first batch to cure.  The temptation to try another recipe and another swirling technique is just too much and I finally gave in. 

Ingredients:

Lye 4.8 oz.
Water 10 oz.
Olive Oil 1 lb. 2 oz.
Coconut Oil 8 oz.
Palm Oil 6 oz.
Castor Oil 1 oz.

I used up all of my Olive oil from Bramble Berry and had to add some of  my kitchen olive oil to get the weight needed for this recipe.  My excitement change to anxiety when I poured all the olive oil and still it was not enough.

Learned to line my mold in a way that my soap came out without folds this time.  It was a little tedious since I don't really know what I was doing. 



My colorants did not blend well with the oils I used to dilute them in.   So I just added more colorants to the divided traced batter instead.  The episode with the olive oil then the colorants made me forget to add the lavender essential oil I planned to add for this soap.  So this batch is going to end up being an unscented soap batch.  Hopefully it will still be as moisturizing as it should be.


Before swirling
 

After spoon swirling

First Chopstick Swirl CP Soap Sliced

  I am pretty proud with these soaps.  My first ever cold process and they turned out.  I  cut them today after about 48 hours of being insulated.  The shape held firm with every slice.  It was dry and soft enough for cutting.

 

 The blue/red mica I added just settled only on one side of the soap.  But the blue color swirls gave that  handmade look that I always admired from other online soap makers.  I also have to learn how to cover the mold yet still keep the sides smooth for a more straight/smooth sides. 
Now the waiting to see if the soap will perform as they should. Hopefully they will give lush, luxurious bubbles that easily gets wash off and leaves the skin feeling soft and moisturized.  Have to wait 3 to 4 weeks according to the instructions.  Temptations abound.  Can't wait to use them.



My First Handmade Cold Process Soap

 

My very first handmade from scratch soap.  A friend told me to just dive into the craft and make it.  So here it goes.

 

 

My mother in law used to make soaps as well and gave me her apparatus, lye and others.  Since I have been watching, reading and learning soap making from Anne Marie of Bramble Berry, I decided to buy most of my ingredients from her company.  This recipe came with the kit I bought from Bramble Berry.

 

For my very first soap my ingredients are:

 

Coconut Oil (A friend gave me a jar of extra virgin coconut oil from the Philippines) = 6 oz.

Palm Oil = 6 oz.

Olive Oil = 9 oz.

Castor Oil = 1 oz.

Water = 7 oz.

Lye = 3.0

and an ounce of Cranberry Chutney fragrance, a dash of red/blue mica and blue colorant and a sprinkling of dried lavender.

 

 

The left container contains all the measured oils and the right is the lye/water mixture.

 

 

I am not sure if this is the right trace soapmakers described, but once I get this consistency I poured the soap into two bottles with the colors.

 

 

The left is the blue and right a red and the middle just the uncolored soap.  I might need to add more colors to my next batch.  We shall see. 

 

 

 Here is my very first swirled cold process soap.  This is chopstick swirling.  I can cut them into bars within 24 to 48 hours but I have to wait up to 4 to 6 weeks to completely cure the soap for using.  Waiting is something I am not good at.  We shall soon see.

 

 

 

 



My Very First Attempt at Soap Making

Tuesday, August 27, 2013, the day I received my first soap making supplies.
Oh what excitement!  After reading a lot about soap making and watching how to videos on youtube.    I thought that it would be too difficult for me to decide which fragrance, colors and base to use for my first project and so I ordered for a kit.   After opening the package, I got into work right away, I forgot to take pictures of the supplies.

 

The company included a free half an ounce of fragrance and I can't ignore it or wait for another batch of order to use it.  So I separated a few of the base for the free fragrance and grabbed some baking molds for it.  My impatience to just go ahead and avail of  everything in the package got the best of me.

 

 

The white mold came with the kit and the blue silicone ones are from my kitchen.

 

 

As you can see in the above picture, instead of spreading the gold dust, I ended up creating a few globs of it.

 

Some of the bars broke off into two or three layers.  Definitely need to practice some more.

 

 The white top layer was sprinkled with the gold dust and the layers in between was supposed to be a pretty swirl of pink, blue and purple then a clear bottom layer.

Definitely a keeper hobby.  No needles flying all over the house whenever the machine is in trouble.  I just need to find a good supplier that ships faster than this company I am using now.  The supplies were good but this was my first and I don't have any other company to do any comparison yet.

It was great fun making it and waiting for the final result was satisfying even for a first time soap maker like me.