Still Soaping...

Soap #14 made 24/10/2015 best after 24/11/2015
Purple Passion

I needed to make a rebatch of some lilac coloured soaps

Coconut oil
Palm oil
Olive oil
Shea butter
Mango butter
Castor oil

Lavender & Tea tree essential oils

Colours  TD, purple passion, carnival green, glitter white, pearl black
Kaolin clay

Bar size av 169gms

Soap #15 made 24/10/2015 best after 24/11/2015
Absinthe

Heavy bars at 180 gms

I bought a batch of fragrance oils and among them was this small bottle of Absinthe.

What's the luck... arrives one day and the next I read somewhere online that this fragrance accelerates and sets like soap on a stick. I thought I might as well just use it straight away while it still seemed like a problem in my mind. I was all set to just dump it in the mold if it became a problem but sectioned off some of the batter to do a top if posible. After adding the fragrance oil I was ready and watching.... no reaction at all.... quickly added some colour, still no reaction so added the top and did a quick swirl, still no reaction.

Anyway, it turned out to be a simple soap but it didn't accelerate and has made some lovely bars....oh, and it smells great too!

Pure White soap..

Soap number 12 made 17/10/2015, ready no sooner than 17/11/2015

 There is something about pure white plain soap isn't there? I didn't take any in process photos this time. As usual lots of goodies, first time trying tallow..

Coconut Oil, Castor Oil, Olive Oil, Sustainable Palm Oil, Tallow, Cocoa Butter, Rain Water,
Sodium Hydroxide, Kaolin Clay, Tussah Silk and  Lavender, Neroli and Bergamot essential oils

Strange phenomonon going on there, if you look closely one bar has been out on display in the open while all of the others has been stored on racks in a darker room for a couple of weeks, the bar out in the open is whiter. I love the simplicity of these plain, natural but luxurious bars of soap.

Soap number 13 made 18/10/2015 ready no sooner than 18/11/2015 (but intend to keep until summer 2016)

Another white soap but this time with a citronella base so will be a very good 'bug off' soap for summer.

Coconut Oil, Castor Oil, Olive Oil, Sustainable Palm Oil, Tallow, Shea Butter, Avocado Oil, Rain Water, Sodium Hydroxide, Kaolin Clay, Tussah Silk and Lavender, Ylang Ylang, Clary Sage, Wild Tea Tree and Citronella Essential oils.

This soap needs a longer cure time but can you see the white bar standing out again, that one has been out on display for two weeks too, it will still cure the same as the others, we'll see the difference in colour in a few months time with this one...

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