Thursday, December 29, 2011

Yesterday's Soaping Adventures (Chamomile, Oceanfront and Lavender Eucalyptus Soaps)

See I kept my promise...I'm back! So like I told you all yesterday I made 3 batches of soap: Chamomile, Oceanfront, and Lavender Eucalyptus. I was so excited to be back in the kitchen soaping after a little hiatus I did all my prep work the night before so I was ready to go come 6am.  

My first batch came out wonderful! That was the Chamomile.

Isn't it pretty and soothing looking?! I put chamomile flowers throughout the entire batch and then sprinkled a few flower buds on the top. I'm pleased with the way this one came out so we'll see how it looks when I cut the bars down to size. It smells absolutely wonderful, I love Chamomile Tea and this smells just like it! Very relaxing. I'm not sure what to call this one so any suggestions would be welcomed! I wanted something more than "just" Chamomile. Maybe "Relaxing Chamomile Tea"? I don't know...let me know what you think. Either on Facebook or below in the comments section.






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OK those are lovely so on to my second batch. "Oceanfront" was inspired by my love of the beach. Especially Myrtle Beach, SC -- if you've never been you should go it's one of the best beaches IMO....but I may be a little partial :o)

Anywho back to my soap...I had a great soap planned. It was suppose to be White with blue swirls throughout (kind of ocean inspired) with a blue/white swirl on top. Not too fancy but pretty ya know. As I mixed my oils, fragrance, and lye solution together the mixture STARTED TO SEIZE!!

Now for all of you who are not soapmakers and you don't know what that means. The best way I can describe it is the soap begins to thicken up quickly (really almost instantly in this case) and it's more like the consistency of applesauce or thick mashed potatoes. Everything started to immediately separate and not blend together. You should have seen me screaming!! "Drama Queen" I know! I immediately poured it into the mold and pushed it down in there trying to smooth the top to make it look decent. Went back to check on it like 15-20 minutes later and it literally was like a mold full of oil...all separated. As you will see below I then dumped the soap out of the mold and into my crockpot. I decided to slow cook it and then put it in a round mold with the hopes that it can be salvaged somewhat. We'll see later when I unmold it how it turned out.

LESSON THAT I  LEARNED: When working with new fragrances or essential oils remember to do a "small" test batch so that you don't waste your ingredients if all doesn't go as planned. :o)

I will  make an attempt at my dream "Oceanfront" soap again. I may need to find another combination of scents though.



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So now on to my 3rd batch. I was a little nervous about mixing this one up even though I've made my Lavender Eucalyptus soap TONS of times! But I was beginning to doubt my skills. I waited about 30 minutes and then attempted it. This one came out beautiful as usual. I tried to leave most of it cream colored this time and only a small portion on the top is lavender, so I'm also anxious to see how this one turned out once the bars are cut!




So those were my soaping adventures yesterday. I will unmold and cut these down today and report back to you all! Thank you for reading and listening to my soap rambles! Until next time...

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Hiya Everyone!! I'm still around :o)

Where has the time gone?! This year has truly flown by! Wow, this is all going to take some used to again. I've been MIA  for a while now on my blog and I am so sorry to those of you who follow my blog and wonder "when in the world is she going to post something"? LOL...TODAY is the day! Yeah I'm so sad :o)
Seriously though my goal for 2012 is to at least make a blogpost once a week. Hopefully more, but for now that seems like a realistic goal to me.

Lots to do before the end of the year, which is only 3 days away. I've got lots of new things planned for 2012. We did home parties this year and plan to do the same next year as well as participate in a few more craft shows. New products, designs, changes to our website, newsletter, more youtube videos on our channel...you get the idea. I will definitely be asking for your input as we make necessary changes and I want to say to you all thank you so much for your support throughout the years. Next month will be our 7th Anniversary in this business journey and we look forward to growing a lot more!

I have soo much to tell you all, so what I'm going to do is organize everything by subject and then make seperate posts. I will start with the soaps I poured today and what I learned in that experience (hint hint:  seizing soap). I just finished making a Chamomile soap  (haven't decided on a name), Lavender Eucalyptus, and Ocean (long story on Ocean). That will all post tomorrow with pictures. Hope you all have a wonderful day. We're having beautiful weather here in SC this winter I hope it stays that way!

Myrtle Beach, SC