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).

LOTION! As promised!

Finally I made a lotion video!  Hooray!  Pretty self explanatory; the first part is an explaination of what I add to my lotions, the second is the initial mixing, and the third is adding of the goodies (proteins and extracts, and -of course- a preservative).  My recipe is a personal formulation.  

For more information on lotion crafting please head over to swiftcraftymonkey.blogspot.com and read through Susan's tutorials (she also has a book!  AWESOME BUY!).

**DISCLAIMER - I am NOT a professional lotion crafter!  I've only been making lotion for ~2 years and am not awesome enough to give out my recipes!  Please drop by Susan's (linked above) blog to learn how to make lotion!**

Vanilla-Coconut Body Cream:

Unfortunately I forgot to nab a picture of the packaged lotion before I stuffed them in packing boxes that were headed to Canada.  I was up all night packing the boxes and it slipped my mind. =(

If you have any questions about my specific recipe please drop me a message and I will answer it asap, but I won't give out the recipe!

NOTE: I didn't forget to post the cutting video last week, I've just been trying to upload the edited video since then. =/  For some reason youtube keeps giving me errors, I think that the file may have been corrupted somehow.  I'll keep trying though!

Raspberry Vanilla Graffiti; a Column Swirl Soap

This months' Soap Challenge Club challenge was to do the column swirl, or column pour technique.  I've been wanting to try this one forever!  I chose black raspberry vanilla fragrance and did a 5 colour swirl.  This time, rather than type out a list of everything I used, I just said what it was right in the video!  Will definitely be doing this technique again, was a lot of fun!

Hope everyone enjoys the video!  Going to TRY and get some lotion made tomorrow evening, along with baking a lot of cookies and doing 3 million other things!  Crossing my fingers that I have the time!

Thank you everyone!

Camera REALLY highlighted the glitter in the second shot, but the one in the bathtub is more true-to-life colour (and glitter) wise!

Suppliers used in this video:

Brambleberry [My primary supplier]

The Conservatorie [No longer use due to high minimum order value]

The Sage [Use for odds and ends, never fragrances]

Other November Soaps!

For the November Soap Challenge Club I actually made (or tried to make) 3 different soaps.  Snowfall and Cranberry Orange Swirl will be in this post, and the soap I actually entered (Lavender and Basil) is in the previous post.  I also made a couple of other batches; one for the design of the Cranberry Orange Swirl batch and a big batch of Vanilla, Oatmeal, Milk and Honey for my family for Christmas.  Here are some videos and details for those soaps!

Snowfall 2013: One of my favorites by far, and loved by everyone who I've sent a sample to!. This was the first soap I did for the November Challenge, and probably the one I SHOULD have entered!

Details:

Mold: 9 bar birch mold [Brambleberry]

Colourants: super pearly white mica, ultraviolet blue colourant [Brambleberry], coral reef blue mica [TKB], and violet mica [Conservatorie]

Fragrance: fresh snow [Brambleberry]

Notes: squeeze bottles [Sally Beauty Supply]

Next up was Orange Cranberry Swirl which was to be my second try at the squeeze bottle designs challenge.  I decided to do a small batch of citrus (see 'citrus seize') and use part of that to do the squeeze bottle design so I could let it set up while I made the main part of the soap.  As you'll see in the second video here that plan didn't work so well!

Orange Cranberry Swirl:

Details:

Mold: 9 bar birch mold [Brambleberry]

Colourants: super pearly white mica, fizzy lemonade colourant, copper sparkle mica [Brambleberry], ruby red mica [Conservatorie]

Fragrance: orange cranberry [WSP]

Citrus Seize:

Details:

Mold: 4 bar crafter's choice silicone [WSP]

Colourants: fizzy lemonade colourant, copper sparkle mica [Brambleberry], ruby red mica [Conservatorie]

Fragrance: orange 10X [Brambleberry], grapefruit essential oil, lime essential oil [Essential Depot]

It may not have gone quite as planned, but I still love the way the soap turned out, and OMG it smells YUMMY!

I also made a 5 lb batch of soap to disperse amongst my family members this Christmas.  I wanted to do something a little less fancy and a little more homey. 

Vanilla, Oatmeal, Milk and Honey:

Details:

Mold: 5lb log mold with silicone liner [Brambleberry]

Fragrance: vanilla select, oatmeal, milk and honey [Brambleberry], lime essential oil [Essential Depot]

Additives: local honey [sorry, no website for them], coconut milk powder, colloidal oatmeal [Brambleberry]

Cutting video for Orange Cranberry Swirl and Vanilla, Oatmeal, Milk and Honey to follow... as soon as it finishes "processing" with youtube!

Squeeze Bottle Designs; Followup!

Alright!  A few details on the last post:

Mold: 9 bar birch mold [Brambleberry]

Colourants: lavender mica, peak green mica, gold luster green mica [Conservatorie], fizzy lemonade colourant, super pearly white mica [Brambleberry]

Fragrance: lavender 40/42, basil essential oil [Brambleberry]

Squeeze bottles  [Sally Beauty Supply]

I mix all of my colourants in small amounts of sweet almond oil [Brambleberry/ MMS], and I always add  1-2% sodium lactate [MMS].

Up next: 4 videos and 3 detail lists!  Hopefully a video of a column pour, and some lotion soon too!

Soap Challenge Club: November! "Squeeze Bottle Designs"

Well, this month I was able to make 3, yes THREE, attempts at the challenge soap!  Hooray!  I will be posting about the other two attempts very soon, just my favorite of them for the link up today!  And ho-boy am I in a rush!  I meant to post this yesterday, and now have a very patient husband waiting for me to get it done today!  Oops!!!

The soap is a mixture of lavender and basil essential oils, with 'piped' lavender buds and basil like leaves.  I use this soap in the kitchen as I find these EOs really help remove food smells from my hands (ie: garlic).

Without further ado, or husband frustration, here is the video!  I will extrapolate on the products I used in the next post!  So sorry for the rush with this one! 

Challenge Soaps

What challenge?!  Amy Warden of Great Cakes Soapworks hosts a monthly Soap Challenge Club!  I've been able to take part in 4 of the challenges, but will only be posting pictures for 3 of them.  The 4th worked out fine as a soap, but I really don't like how it looks!

The first challenge was the Peacock Swirl [see Monday June 10, 2013 for the making of video].  Here is what it looks like today, TD specs and all!

[Peacock Swirl soap scented with 'pink sugar' from Nature's Garden, made in the Brambleberry 9 bar wood mold]

The second challenge was the Mantra Swirl, or Modified Mantra Swirl.  I went for the modified version.  Here is a PARTIAL video, unfortunately my batteries died part way through and I didn't have time to get new ones as my fragrance oil was an accelerator.

Here is the soap today:

[Modified mantra Swirl soap scented with 'tropical vacation' from Brambleberry, made in the silicone loaf mold from Wholesale Supplies Plus]

The third challenge soap I made was a 3 colour gradient soap.  I didn't get a video because I had temporarily misplaced my memory card (it was still plugged into the computer!).  I'm really quite happy with how this one turned out!

[3 colour gradient soap scented with 'mixed berries' from Aroma Haven/ Rustic Escentuals, made in the silicone loaf mold from Whole sale Supplies Plus]

And a couple group shots, just because!

[top: "Berrylicious", bottom: "Tropical Smoothie"]

[left: "Pure Sweetness", middle: "Tropical Smoothie", right: "Berrylicious"]

Next up: "Squeeze Bottle Designs" Soap Challenge Club, hopefully made tomorrow, will give spoiler pics but no video or final pics until the link up happens with the club!

Prince Soap... sort of!

This video has been sitting "in the drawer" for a while now, I wasn't sure if I would post it or not because the soap did NOT work.  I attempted this soap 3 times and finally decided that the fragrance oil simply doesn't like to work in CP soap.

This soap was made the day the Prince was born, and made in his honour.  I was SO bummed that it didn't work out!  But its the thought that counts, right?  I'm a huge Royal family fan, and just couldn't resist giving this soap a go.

Here is the video of me making the soap.  There is no video or pictures of what the soap became, all 3 times.  I was just too bummed each time to even think about snapping a picture.  Just imagine 12 bars of yellow caustic goo with a thin cake of crumbly soap floating near the bottom.  SO FRUSTRATING!!!!

Tomorrow I should have up the next post, a review of the soaps I've made for the soap challenge club.  And Thursday I HOPE to have time to make a batch for this months challenge!  I've been jonesing to get in on the new techniques!

I will do my best to make the challenge soap AND video it!  Thanks for bearing with me while I try to balance life, work, and soaping!

Recovery!

Well, partially!  I was unable to have the missing posts restored, so I shall have to redo them!  A couple months ago I -tried- to make some Dragon's Blood soap for my husband, and all seemed well... at first!

After I finished the batch, which seemed a bit smaller than usual, I located my olive and castor oil still sitting on the counter!  ACK!  Only time I've ever done that!  So I made a video of me rebatching the mess too! 

So embarrassing!  Can't believe I forgot oils!  My hubby doesn't like the rebatch as much, but it gets the job done.  Taught me to look twice before I get my lye added though!

Here are a couple of pictures of the bars today, 3 months after the initial oops; miss that green swirl!

Next up: "Prince Soap", which was a complete failure (all 3 times!), but I still made a video of it!  And pictures of the 3 soaps I've been able to do for the Soap Challenge Club (there is a fourth, but it didn't work out so well!).