It's September now and all the kids are back in school. Now it is time to start making all the soap I have been thinking of for the Fall and Winter Holiday Season!
Here is the first of my Holiday Season Soaps. I think I will call it Black Magic. This soap was made with fresh goat milk from my little girls and the embeds were made with Goat milk MP Soap. I used cookie cutters to make the moon and cat shapes. The soap technique used was an ITP swirl. I was really surprised at how wicked it turned out!
I love soap stamps because it just seems to add a bit of interest in plain soap.
Now I have never been too successful with the mica and rubber stamping but I do stamp some of my soap with regular soap stamps you can find at Brambleberry. Brambleberry has quite a selection too! Now that you know about my small obsession with stamping soap,I can now get to the main reason for this short post. I can toss all the cute stamps out because this girl took the plunge and had a stamp made with my logo. Now all my soaps will have my brand stamped in. I have read many articles on the importance of branding your products and I always seem to fall a little short because I love creating new labels and packaging. Well now I can say at least my soap will have my brand. Here is a picture of my pine tar soap that I have never found the right stamp for and now it has my brand. How exciting is that??
Surprise is somewhat of an understatement. I have something to confess that concerns the two blog entries before this one....The Mantra Swirl is not an easy task for me and my soap recipes. Here's the thing, I love my soap recipes so much I am determined to make them work with any soap technique. This is not always possible as I have learned.
The Peppermint Ice Soap two entries below is the best Mantra I have made. My second attempt, although came out so much better than I had hoped is still not a true Mantra Swirl. So this weekend I decided I will give it one more shot. Why you may ask? Well, for Amy's Greatcake Soapworks Challenge! After my latest soap session I have decided my first soap will be the entry. In the video below I decided to do a simple 2 color mantra swirl with 1 accent color. Looking at the soap now you may say to yourself... Mantra Swirl? I see no Mantra Swirl. This is the reason for my latest entry ..lol. That soap was a very big surprise to me..The way it turned out was totally unexpected and I really like it. If you watch the video you will see exactly where I lost my temper with the soap...all seemed hopeless at that point so what did I do? I took a hanger to it like mad. You can now call me The Soaping Mommy Dearest.
After watching that video...Can you believe this is the same soap?
I do want to add I love doing challenges. The challenges have really helped me learn so many new techniques and really pushes me to give it my all. I would like to thank Amy and everyone else that puts together challenges. If not from learning so much I would still be making just plain old soap ;-)
If only I could soap all day and everyday I would be one happy person. I don't know about you but I tend to daydream about making soap while working my day job. I thought about this soap for days and finally made the time to make it yesterday.
I am always trying to push the boundaries of my soaping skills. This goat milk soap is a combination of several soaping techniques that I have learned. I used five colors and the techniques I used include the ITP swirl(in the pot), Mantra Swirl, Hanger Swirl and a technique called Synergy that I found on the Soaping 101 Channel on You Tube. I also used a picture for inspiration from the fragrance Oil I used...Eucalyptus Spearmint.
Today I attempted a Mantra Swirl for the first time. I made a modified Mantra using four colors instead of just three. I discounted the water and my soap ended up getting almost too thick. Note to self...Don't discount the water on a mantra swirl! I am pleased with the result overall and even made a video of my adventure!
This this technique was featured on the Soaping 101's Challenge. Here I was finally successful at this challenge. This soap was a result of my second attempt. In the video below I show you the results of the first attempt. My goat milk soap had over heated and separated in the mold. It was my fault because I was off doing other things. I tend to have to keep a close eye on my cold process goat milk soap. If the soap starts to overheating I send it to the freezer. I like to gel my goat milk soap so it gets a little tricky. I just like the texture much better than non gelled soap.
What is Sea Salt Soap? Well...sea salt soaps are very hard, hard as a rock actually. They look like they would be rough but once they get lathered up the soap takes on that smooth river rock appearance. Sea Salt soap produces a nice lotion like lather that gently exfoliates while drawing toxins out of your skin. Your skin is left feeling smooth, moisturized and refreshed. The majority of the oil used in sea salt soap is coconut oil. Some people including myself also include small amounts of other skin nourishing oils. Don't let the high coconut oil scare you. These soaps are very moisturizing. The combination of the salt and coconut oil is just magical. Sea Salt is full of great minerals such as magnesium, zinc, calcium, potassium and, among others. Sea salt offers many benefits to the body, such as reducing inflammation. The magnesium found in sea salt is useful for healing skin tissue and replenishing hydration, while bromide helps relax the muscles and calm the nerves. Sulfur and sodium work as natural disinfectants and detoxifying agents. Potassium helps in balancing moisture and releasing water retention. Calcium found in sea salt cleans the pores of the skin.
I have made sea salt soap for quite some time now but lately with the addition of goats to our family I have been incorporating more and more goat milk into my soap. Both videos below are my experiments with goat milk sea salt soap. One video is done cold process that requires a minimum of 4 weeks but with salt soap the longer you wait to use them the better they are.
The video after was a complete experiment for me I made the salt soap hot process. I wanted to see if the performance of the salt soap would be accelerated since hot process soap can be used immediately after it is cooked.
Here is the Cold Process video.
Here is the Hot Process video. I call it instant gratification!
If you have ever been in a conversation with a soapmaker, you have probably heard the saying, " The soap gremlins are at my house." They are real folks...lol. I have seen them first hand. Here is a little video of soap gremlins in action!
Yeah ok so it didn't quite turn out as planned but it is interesting and this was a fun challenge. This soap will be called Black Raspberries & Cream. I would like to thank Amy Warden for putting all these challenges together and please make sure to visit her Greatcakes Soapworks Blog here to see all the beautiful soaps artisans made during this challenge. Saturday we will have the results posted in Amy's blog from this challenge but you should really take a peak at the beautiful soaps from all the previous challenges.
I had to brag on one of my goats! Priscilla is a first time mom to two beautiful little bucklings. She is doing an outstanding job on the milk stand helping me build up a supply of high quality goat milk for my soap. Priscilla is a Pygmy/Nigerian cross and produces a very rich milk high in butterfat that makes some really awsome soap! I am of course sharing with the two kids and her production is more than I can ask for. So proud to have her! Below is a short little video of Priscilla and her two kids I hope you all enjoy!
Well here is my attempt for the week three soap challenge! My soap is fragranced in Mediterranean Olive. It is actually the Lush Dupe of Olive Branch. Love the fragrance but my colors were a little off. I wished I would have been lighter on the copper and stayed with the lighter green. I just received a bunch of new mica colors and wanted to try them all out! Well that is my excuse anyway....haha. Next time I use the technique I will let the soap thicken a bit more before I texture the top.
Well here we are with week 2! This challenge was an elemental in the pot swirl with one layer being cool colors and the second layer being hot colors. Elemental is supposed to represent earth, wind, fire and water. Mine turned out to be fire and water from the looks of it. I only had a few hiccups along the way with an unstable mica I tried to use. This soap will be called Morning Sunrise! The fragrance is a blend of lemon, grapefruit and orange, with a bit of tarragon, lavender,
mints, geranium and a hint of a musk.
Hello again everyone! I have joined yet another soap challenge! Here are my results and video from this challenge. Week 1 - Tiger Stripe. What a fun challenge that was! I look forward to this coming week!
Felting soap is a huge passion of mine. Some days I love it even more than making soap. I have been asked so many times how the process is done. I finally made a video to show you. I hope you enjoy!
Oh how excited I was when I Ghana popped up on the random county selector! Ghana is a country full of wonderful resources. I really hope you enjoy the soap I made to represent this country!
My first Country is Hungary! I didn't really know much about Hungry but learned quite a bit! This Challenge is so fun! The most interesting thing I learned was Hungary is considered the Spa Capitol of the World! I learned there are many natural Thermal Springs and Lakes all around Hungary! People flock to these waters for their natural healing benifits. Hungary is also home to the World's largest Thermal Lake, Lake Hévíz. Many Bathhouses are still in use today dating back to the ancient Roman times...wow! I found out so much about this country and made a soap I thought would represent the country of Hungary. I made a Rose Hip Tea Soap with lots of nourishing properties. I know this soap is not the most beautiful compaired to everyone elses creations but I wanted to make a natural soap to represent this country full of natural goodness. I hope you enjoy the video!
In case your not able to watch the video, here is the picture of the soap I made!
I found a YouTube soap challenge to start the New Year! Lucy SimplyRadiantSC is hosting the Challenge! Watch the video and and she has instructions to join the challenge! I look forward to seeing all of the soaps produced by all the wonderful and talented soapmakiers out there! This is a 12 month challenge and there is still time to get in on January! Have fun everyone!
