Session 4 Still learning...

I've been cleaning out some cupboards and came across a box of essential oils that I previously used for making 'buzz off' spray for the horses, to keep those pesky horse flies at bay.  There's tea tree, eucalyptus, lavender, citronella and emulsifant, I could make 'buzz off' soap but that time of year has passed for us, so I guess these oils can be moved to the soaping cupboard to flesh out my soaping resources.

Being of frugal mind I reheated some planed and end pieces from previous clean up soaping sessions, I love the resulting two small bars they remind me of natural marble or granite. I had the notion to replicate these bars in a soaping session sometime soon. 

Soap 7...First Batch 29/09/2015

In session four my soap recipes included Coconut oil, Cocao Butter, Olive oil, Palm oil, Castor oil and the added luxury of Avocado oil and Mango butter along with Tea Tree and Lavender Essential oils.

 My soap top had mica dribbles and textures in silver, purple, white and black.

 In the end this batch accelerated quickly so I didn't get to play too much but it smells devine

I did mange to achieve a great texture to the top of the soap and also made blue cheese, that's really cool now I just wish I hadn't sectioned off the batter and had the blue cheese right through the bar, that would have been interesting...

Update 24/10/2015
Min net weight 130gms


Soap 8....Second Batch 03/10/2015

I let the lye mixture melt the solid oils this time, it's actually quicker than melting the oils in the microwave as you don't have to wait for the lye and oil to come to the same temperature.

Just need to cut the cocao butter into smaller pieces next time as that one oil is harder and takes longer to warm up.

All melted and smooth, photo after adding the liquid oils....

Colours used, titanium dioxide, purple, tropical green, silver and black along with Eucalyptus and Orange Essential oils blended with Kaolin clay.

Sorry, photos are a little shadowed, it was late Saturday night, I ended up rushing a little to get it done....

After around 18 hours I unmolded and left to dry off and cure for another two or three hours before cutting.

These are heavy bars weighing between 185-200grams (6.5-7oz) before curing, it will be interesting to see how much weight is lost through evaporation.

I made confetti soap and mixed it throughout the top layer.... my drop swirl in the bottom looks a little muddy but that was maybe the eucalyptus oil or the added Kaolin clay causing acceleration, which in turn made me a little flustered and rushed....

Used one of my new stamps from Omar Lopez, but only on one side.

Of course this is still not the marble colour or texture that I was talking about so I guess I will have plenty more opportunities to play again when I have more time to follow my plan....that will be fun...

I was given a lovely new soap display stand for my Birthday, it's just perfect to allow soap to carry on and cure....

Update 24/10/2015
Min net weight 175gms

Session 3, Using some colour...

Soaps made 12/09/2015 but first a few equipment updates....

Look what I found by accident in my potting shed herb boxes, perfect for soap molds.

Even with a liner full of bugs and webs.

Unfortunately when I scrubbed the boxes the writing scrubbed off too, I would have like to keep that.

I made liners out of cutting boards thanks to Iona for the tutorial on that idea. 

I also made myself a wooden mould/mold to hold my tall skinny silicone liner, yup, made it myself!

It could have been just a quarter inch taller but this was the size wood I had available and at least the bottom of the mould will keep the bottom of the loaf flat, that is, the liner isn't hanging in the mould.

Soap 5....

So, this session I wanted to add some colour and a little fragrance.  I'm still using my original, years old supply of essential oils but have added some colours to my supplies, this batch I'm using white glitter, carnival green and purple passion coloured micas and Titanium Dioxide (not shown) along with Lavender, Bergamot and Roman Chamomile essential oils.

My own dried lavender sprinkled down the middle

Update 24/10/2015

Min net weight 150gms

 Soap 6....Next batch....

Eucalyptus, Lemon and Bergamot essential oils with carnival green, tropical green, white glitter, black pearl and lemon yellow micas and Titanium Dioxide for the colours.

Making a frame to hold the towels.

Decided this time to gell my soaps up on the back of my Aga stove, they are not sitting directly on the stove but on a counter top at the back, it is warm up there but I left the soaps there overnight then moved the loaves to a cooler spot to cool down.

Un-molding the loaves after 24 hours, maybe should have waited a little longer for the lavender bar, it was still a little soft but I was impatient to see what was inside.

I made a slight modification to my naive cutter to help me cut straighter bars.

I used my own dried lavender to decorate the tops of the lilac bars, I maybe wish I hadn't as the buds oxidised but apparently this always happens, I'm going to add a bit of mica and glitter to disguise this and may rethink for next time....

I'm a bit disapointed that I didn't keep any white to brighten the tops of the green eucalyptus bars, there will be a next time.

I'm really pleased with the swirls hidden inside on both of these soaps, I think they look fabulous, I can't wait to try this technique again to see what hides inside next time.

In this session I tried out both sizes of my new moulds, the tall skinny one and the large wide bar mould to see which I like best? Verdicts in, I like them both, at first I thought the bars a little big but over the last few days I have gotten used to the size. The lavender bars wiegh in at 5-5.5oz before curing and the green eucalyptus and lemon bars weigh in at around 5oz before curing.

I will have to wait a few weeks before trying these, but don't really want to use them, I like to just look at them, I have a couple of small of cuts/samples that I could try soon......

Update 24/10/2015

Lilac and Lace Min net weight 150gms

Celtic Swirls Min net weight 130gms