Soap Challenge Club July: Colour Palettes

The challenge this month was to take colour palettes provided by Amy and make soaps to match them!  We could choose either synthetic or natural colourants, but not a mixture of both.  This month we can actually enter 2 different polls this month, if we do one soap with synthetic colourants and one with natural... so naturally I did.  

The synthetically coloured soap monstrosity!

Yes, monstrosity.  I chose to do this one as an in the pot swirl and I really am not hyped about the result.  The batter was too thin and the colours mashed together too much.  It isn't terrible, but it isn't how I envisioned it.  It smells amazing though, and will still clean just as well!!

On a good note, my colours are pretty darned perfect!  EXTREMELY pleased with my colour mixing!

Light blue: magic blue mica (discontinued).

Light purple: ultramarine violet.

Dark purple: violet mica and black mica.

Very dark grey: black mica and a tiny bit of super pearly white mica.

Bright orange: Orange heaven mica, neone mango madness colourant, super pearly white mica.

Pale yellow: Strong florescent yellow and super pearly white.

Scented with "Cucumber Melon Cybilla".

The naturally coloured soap, of awesome!

ABSOLUTELY in love with this soap!!  Not only are the colours spot on, but OMG my scent blend is amazing!  This one will be hard to wait the 6 weeks for!  This soap turned out exactly how I wanted it, it is perfect!

There are a few small air pockets due to the viscosity of the batter when I poured this one (one of my fragrances is a slight accelerator), but I don't really mind air pockets.  To me, they say "Yep, I'm handmade.".

Orange: annato seed infusion, yellow clay and red clay.

Red: annato seed infusion and red clay.

Very dark brown: activated charcoal and organic cocoa powder.

Mustardy yellow: annato seed infusion.

Offwhite: tiny bit of yellow clay.

Scented with an essential oil blend... sorry, no spoilers!  Its mine!  MINE!  

Tropical Dreams; a hanger swirl soap!

This months' "Soap Challenge Club" [with Amy Warden of Great Cakes Soapworks] challenge was to make a soap using the hanger swirl technique.  We were free to do any sort of hanger swirl; "traditional" with layers and a chevron appearance, drop swirls with a wispy and light appearance, or any sort of shiny new hanger swirl.

I opted for the traditional.  I love the appearance of this technique!  I went for nice bright colours (aren't you surprised?) and a fun fruity-tropical scent.

I used the following colourants: fizzy lemonade, electric bubblegum, and super pearly white all from Brambleberry, neon green from TKB and orange heaven mica from the Conservatorie.  

The fragrance of this batch is Island Nectar from Wholesale Supplies Plus.

Kind of loving the added texture from the glycerin rivers (the "crackled" appearance).  I definitely call this soap a win!

Today's links:

Brambleberry

TKB

The Conservatorie

Wholesale Supplies Plus (mold from WSP too!)

Soap Challenge Club

Great Cakes Soapworks

It's Been a While!

Finally back in the workshop!  Decided to do some fragrance testing.  I haven't done a post on my fragrance testing procedure before so I figured I'd tack one on to the top of my results.  

Today's post will include: technique, and initial results.  Intermediate results will be posted in a few days, and final results after a 4-6 week cure.

Technique:

***I use this technique for both fragrance and colour testing (with colours I add 1/4 teaspoon of colour which I quickly disperse in ~1 teaspoon of batter before mixing it in with 150g of batter per bar).***

For these tests I use my 12 Bar Square Silicone Mold (Brambleberry).  I set up a batch basket with 11 fragrance samples and 11 pipettes.  I also set up 12 numbered cups with a plastic spoon in each. [Yes, I use disposable cups, spoons and pipettes.  I recycle all of them!]

I use my basic recipe made with 1200g of oils, I do these tests with soap made at room temperature.  I find that room temperature batter better displays signs of acceleration in these small 150g batches.

Everything set up for the pouring, mixing and molding!

I mix the batter to a light-medium trace, not emulsion.  I find it easier to test for acceleration in a thicker batter with the small portions.  I whip the fragrance in with a spoon which gives the fragrance less movement.  I've found that the thicker initial trace better displays any sings of acceleration with spoon mixing.

I pour 150g of batter into each cup.  One at a time I add 40 small drops of fragrance to a cup, mix it well for 1 minute then pour it into the mold.  The twelfth/bar cup is reserved for an unscented control bar for discolouration comparison.

Once all 12 bars are poured I tap the mold down gently and use a chop stick to draw the associated number on the bar.  I used stickers to label the bars initially but found they fell off or were damaged too easily.  inscribing the bars simply works better.

Initial Results:

1) Coconut (Brambleberry); no A, no D

2) Stud (Nature's Garden); slight A, no D

3) Green Tea and Willow (Aroma Haven, Rustic Escentuals); no A, no D

4) Fierce Male (Nature's Garden); slight A, no D

5) Black Currant Tea (Aroma Haven, Rustic Escentuals); no A, no D

6) Peach (Candle Science); no A, no D

7) Island Hibiscus (Candle Science); no A, no D

8) Coconut Lime Verbena (Candle Science); no A, no D

9) Island Coconut (Candle Science); no A, no D

10) Passionfruit and Guava (Candle Science); no A, no D

11) Lovespell (Candle Science); no A, no D

12) Control

Web Stores:

Brambleberry

Nature's Garden

Aroma Haven, Rustic Escentuals

Candle Science

Temporary absence!

I've been on vacation for a couple of weeks.  There should be a new post + video next week or the begining of the week after!  

Here is a picture of a capybura at the Biodome in Montreal Canada!  Great place to visit!

February Soap Challenge Club!

This month we were tasked to use either CP or HP as embeds in CP soap.  I had so very many ideas for this challenge!  Some that I will eventually make, but would take literally 6-7 days in the workshop to pull off, time I just didn't have right now.  My design this month was fairly simple, yet bold.  I think you folks will all agree!  I call this little masterpiece "Life".  You have your black and white cookie cutter, everyday life, then you have the funky fun party parts.  And if you look closely the "party balls" each have a golden ring to signify those special events in our lives... for me the rings are for: birthday, family, graduation from University, wedding/engagement, and a special birthstone ring that belonged to my Nanny.  The soap turned out exactly how I had planned, and I absolutely love it.

Equilibrium in "Life" and soap!

Picture of the final bars (also at the end of the video):

Next up: the valentine's day and BB soap swap videos!  They are both up on the YouTube channel ("Valentine's Flowers", and "Pineapple Salsa") but I will have accompanying posts.  One here, and one on the Facebook page!

Cut Soaps!

The soaps are finally cut and cleaned up! 3 of the batches turned out perfectly, the fourth not so much :(  Without further ado, the pictures!

First up we have 'Sweet Dusk':

Turned out super nice, apart from some drag lines caused by the cranberry seeds.  Love how it turned out!

Next up is 'Pineapple Salsa':

LOVE how this turned out!  And it smells a-maz-ing!  Turns out I'd missed my placing with the soap balls by around 3mm!  So I had to cut them individually.  There will be a making video for this once it finishes uploading. [valentines soap video uploading too!]

Next up, 'Hyper' remake:

Probably one of my favorite soaps to make, so bright and colourful!  Absolutely in love with how this one turned out!  Hooray!

Finally we have 'Highland Rainstorm', which did NOT work well:

Smells awesome, colours turned out just right... but what the heck are all of those flecks?!  Its not lye, or stearic acid, or oil pockets.  I've no idea what caused them :(  Hubby will give them a try once they're cured and see how they are.  If they're good then they will be given away.

In other news:  hoping to procure some insurance soon, so I can sell soap to more folks!  This means building up a larger stock of soap!  So I'll be accepting requests/suggestions for future batches!  Leave me a comment with what you'd like me to make!  <3

In the workshop with a guest!

Today I showed my new friend Luanne how to make CP soap!  In just a few hours we blasted out SEVEN batches!  Luanne did a great job, and learned super quickly *cheers*, her soaps showed her: gel phase, discolouration, and acceleration.  What a great start, right?  Wish I'd had someone with me when I first encountered those three!  Looking forward to the next time we get together for some soapy (or maybe candle, or scrapbooking) adventures!  Thanks for the great day Luanne!

I will post pictures of Luanne's soaps after I ok it with her first!

As for my four batches... I have pictures of three of them.  The fourth is in a vertical mold and I can't really snap a picture of it!

The first batch I did today was to try out Brambleberry's "Moonlight Pomegranate" fragrance which I got as a free sample at some point.  It is very sweet and fruity with some earthy undertones (I definitely smell musk and sandalwood in there).  In this one I used pink kaolin clay, and goats milk powder.  I did a spoon swirl with dark purple and black.  The base is a dusty rose shade with cranberry seeds.  Hoping this one turns out nicely, it is surely an accelerator!  I call it "Sweet Dusk":

[I wish I knew why blogger changes the orientation of my pictures!  GRRR!]

The second soap I made today is one for the Brambleberry soap swap.  I used pineapple cilantro fragrance oil, and named it "Pineapple Salsa".  This batch has yellow soap on top and on the bottom, with an in the pot swirl of green and white in the middle.  The balls on top are LCP MP scented with ginger ale and coloured with 24k gold mica.  LOVE this one!  Smells amazing and came out just right!  Can't wait to cut it and see how the inside looks!

The third soap I made today is in the vertical mold and I can't get a good picture from it (the top is messy, but the inside should be nice!).  This one is two shades of grey based blue-green, and is scented with BB's kentish rain.  I call it "Highland Rainstorm".  Can't wait to unmold it and see if it is full of air bubbles, this fragrance REALLY moved for me.

The last batch I made today is a remake of my "Kaleidosoap" or "Hyper", its my version of a rainbow soap.  Scented with BB's energy and coloured with 6 bright pigments/micas.  This time I did it as an ITP swirl pouring pink, purple, orange, blue and green into a yellow base.  I think it looks pretty darned nice!  I topped it with a few rainbow jojoba beads also from BB.

There will be a video posted probably next week of my valentines soap, and also one of the making and cutting of Pineapple Salsa!

Thanks folks! <3

SOAP Panel

Its that time of year again!  Bramble Berry is looking for folks to help them test out some new fragrances, and once again I am going to try and be one of those people!

The first big question for SOAP panel consideration: what is your favorite Bramble Berry product?  This is always a hard one for me... there are so many!  But If I HAD to choose just one item, one thing that I couldn't do without, it would have to be my 9 Bar Unfinished Birchwood mold (now with handy dandy silicone liner).

This mold is super versatile!  I can do plain bars, or ITM/ITP swirled bars (in the mold/in the pot).  I can also do more advanced swirls like the column pour, dream catcher swirl, or the peacock swirl.  This mold is also great for salt bars, the dividers mean no cutting required.  No more timing yourself to cut a loaf of salt soap at just the right non-crumbly moment!  As most of you folks who have seen my videos can attest, I use this mold CONSTANTLY!  

The 9 bar mold is, to me, the quintessential mold.  The one mold that you should have, especially if you can only have 1 mold!  I got mine as part of my wedding present from my husband.  Now it is well loved, soap and colourant stained, maybe the odd dent or two (I'm a klutz sometimes!) but still 100% perfect.

The second big question for SOAP panel consideration: why should you be chosen?  I'm a soap making maniac (according to my family) who spends countless hours on youtube encouraging others and enjoying their videos, and requests all gifts be in the form of Bramble Berry gift certificates so I can further feed my addiction!  We even converted one of our spare bedrooms into a workshop for me, so I can soap to my hearts content and not tie up the kitchen!  Honestly I just love making soap and other bath goodies.  I keep my friends and family WELL stocked with soap, lotion, fizzies and candles (etc etc).  

I'd love to be a part of something like the SOAP panel not only because I love making soap so much, but also because I love testing new things.  New fragrances, new colourants, new additives.  I get to use some of my hard earned laboratory skills (can we say "Holy detailed notes, Batman!") in a fun and creative way.  I also get to share my results with folks and hopefully help a few out along the way.  

Crossing my fingers and toes that maybe this year I'll be chosen!  Also wishing everyone else who wants to be a part of the panel good luck and much juju!

Here are some picture examples of my mold in use, and a few of the swirls you can do with it:

Dragon's Blood ITP swirl.

Fresh Snow ITM swirl.

Jasmine Dreams ITM swirl (w/ LCP MP embeds).

Peacock swirl (pink sugar).

Salt bar ITP swirl (pear berry).

'Black Raspberry Vanilla Graffiti' (column pour).