Happy New Year!

Happy new year, hope you enjoyed your holidays. As soon as I could I got into the kitchen and got soaping my first milk soap- coconut milk. I wanted a very mild soap so this has a high level of olive oil with a little coconut and castor for bubbles. I also wanted a small amount of exfoliation so i added tea leaves to one of the layers. I have to say I'm very pleased with it and the scent of coconut from the milk is beautiful much more pleasant than a fragrance oil. I'm also pleased with the purple I got, I've never had much luck with purple previously and the swirls made me smile too ^_^ Next time I think I would make this soap with maybe lavender fragrance or essential oil, typical purple scent hehe.

Long time, no see

Time has just seemed to have flown by this last month and I haven't had any time to soap. I'm hoping to get some soaping done today. I'm thinking of some liquid laundry soap because I don't have a lot left and I'd really like to carry on experimenting with melt and pour. I know that coconut oil is the most popular for laundry soap because of it's high cleansing properties but today I've been thinking of sunflower oil instead. It costs less than coconut and doesn't seem to make a lot of bubbles which is useful in the washing machine. Sunflower oil is used less because it turns rancid quickly but with doing at least one wash a day lately I have a feeling it won't sit on the shelf long enough to get rancid. Not sure if I'm right I haven't researched this I only thought of it this morning but I think I'll give it a go and see how it washes.


Another thing I've been wanting to post about it my framed soap, now that it's fully cured I've been using it at the kitchen sink and it truly is a beautiful bar of soap to wash with, the high cocoa butter percentage really makes a difference on my skin. During washing it feels so luxurious and soft and afterwards my hands feel really pampered. But that's not my point hehe, I have noticed that the swirl becomes much more pronounced and pretty the more I use the soap. When I first cut the batch I was disappointed with the inner swirl, thinking that it wasn't defined enough and looked more like a solid green. Now that I have used it I don't know why but the swirl gets bolder and bolder and more like what I wanted when I made it. I'll try and get a picture of it so you know what I'm talking about hehe. 


Lastly the reason I've been away for so long is that I can't tear myself away from this guy ^_^

He's growing so quickly he'll be twelve weeks on Wednesday. When I got him he wasn't in great shape but he's doing so much better now with good vet care some pampering and a good dollop of tlc ^_^

Take care all, xxx :)

First attempt: Framed soap

Yesterday I was busy trying my hand at framed soap, and today I got to cut it. Above are the photos I took. I did do a cutting video but didn't like it because I had my arm in the way most of the time - silly billy. I named this soap Autumn Grace. The photos of it in the mold are just after pouring, so the colours are a little more vibrant. I tried to do a copper and green autumnal feel but my copper was more orangey than I'd have liked it to be. I'm still proud of my top swirl and it's scented with a Chanel no. 5 type which is heavenly. I'm pretty pleased with the frame, even though it's uneven I still think it's good for a first try ^_^

This soap is completely cold process, vegan and palm free. This palm-free recipe is what I'm keeping now, I am ridiculously pleased with it hehe. I smile every time I think about my lather. I did do a lather test video today which I'll try to edit and post tonight if I'm not too tired.

Take care all :) xx

Cutting Video

Here is my first cutting video ^_^ I feel quite nervous putting it out there but I see so many and I wanted to try it too hehe. I really do need to get a better camera, I promise my kitchen isn't that yellow.

I did decide to make the bay rum soap and lotion and here is the soap. I didn't realise how much I would love this fragrance when I smelled the bottle but in the soap and lotion it's even better. In the video I just cut my soap but I do talk about my lotion too a little bit. I'm pleasantly surprised at my swirl, I didn't think it would reach that deep or that rich a colour. I did get a tiny bit of ash on the top :( but not too bad. I was prepared for this to seize up but I had a lot more time to work with than I anticipated. I could have done an in the pot swirl but now I'm glad I didn't because I've really impressed myself with this one hehe.

About the lotion, on the soap making forum I expressed my skepticism about pouring it into the bottle instead of piping. I'm glad I'm not stubborn enough to not test things because now I love pouring instead of piping. It was so much easier and faster, plus I didn't waste as much product. I actually got a fifth bottle out of my batch instead of the normal four! I would now definitely recommend pouring. The only thing you need to watch out for is your temperature, most preservatives don't handle temperatures above 50°C. In the video I mention Optiphen which can be used at or below 60°C.