Coloum Swirl

So it is challenge time again with Great cakes Soap Works and this month I registered on the first day and made my soap on the next day, sorta. I was hijacked by my assistant son. Every month He watches the video with me and then we go to my FO stash and my mica and pigments and talk about what colors we smell with each fragrance and decide together what I will do.
   This month it was the same process only not nearly as long. When he saw all the colors that Amy used and how it looked. He said that we were out of Patchouli and that is a tie-dye smell. I got busy weighing my oils, water and lye. Pause, I wanted this batch to be goat milk. we don't need water, go to the freezer and get a bag of milk and let it thaw enough to get into the container for lye mixture. While that happens lets run my oils through the soap calc. I am wanting to try a new to me oil. Rice Bran Oil. Run the numbers on how much soap we want to make for the mold we will use. Snag number 1. I need 80 oz. of oil for this mold because of the way I want to cut it. My milk has all been per-measured and frozen for a 64 oz batch.

    Solution, use amount of water needed to make my liquid weight, dissolve lye into water, while it is still hot add the frozen goat milk. Cross fingers that it doesn't scorch too much. meanwhile while I wait for lye to get to the right temp I get my pigments mixed in oil. Isaac chose purple, gold, bubble gum pink, and blue. Because goat milk tends to darken we added titanium dioxide to the main color after mixing all the other colors.
  Well I guess I am not a fast learner, because the purple morphed to pink and the blue went grey. After curing for a week I can also add that we did not add nearly enough titanium dioxide to the base. So for the next batch colors will be done a little more heavy handed. What else did I learn? Tri-angles are not very good for a column pour and that my son just might be making his own soap sooner that I had thought. He did this pour with very little help, He was very much in command of this batch. I wonder if he will let me help on the next one.





So For the next batch I used the same formula only not goat milk, My FO  was a little spicy so I was worried about trace happening too fast. I decided to only add FO to the main color and see it that would be OK.

second attempt. so far so good.

not so pretty here it looks like ash but it's not,

wow, I really like how it looks when you cut through the center. I still need to do this at least one more time before I am happy. This batch the colors started to thicken a little quicker than I wanted. and oddly the part that started to trace was unscented. This is Aura Lights. Isaac choose all the colors for this one too. I think he did well with his color choice I might have gone more blue but he made me look at images to prove to me that I could put in the orange.
  Thank you Amy for another great challenge. There are some amazing soapers out there.

squeeze bottle design

It is challenge time again. Amy Warden of Great Cakes Soapworks gave us the challenge of squeeze bottle design. Amy gave us great tips and video as always.
   Before I started soaping I was a quilter. I have been quilting since before I can remember. I was still in high school anyway I'm a quilter. I have a long arm quilting machine and I quilt for others as well as myself, So I knew that this was my chance to merge the two.

dandelion zebra swirl part 1

Has yet another month flown by without my paying attention? The soap challenge from Amy at Greatcake Soapworks is due so I guess that it has. This month for the  Challenge, we had to create a soap with what is called the dandelion zebra swirl, which is named after the very talented soaper Vinvela Ebony and explained on her blog Dandelion SeiFee. I went to her blog and forgot to turn on the translator, even in German it was informative. much more enjoyable when you turn on the translate.
  So for my soap I used Sugared Spruce from Crafter's Choice. The first thing I smell when is just a hint of orange, then the fresh woody smell of the outdoors.  I grew up a country girl and we always cut our own tree. Which means you cut what kind of tree is growing in your area, so we did not always have the "Christmas pine" most of the time we had a cedar tree. I am pretty sure that my mom was always keeping an eye on the brush that would pop up. sometimes we were allowed to clear it sometimes not. anyway back to soap. I me personally the sugared spruce smells just like Christmas tree that I grew up with.  My color choices are green and orange for my stripe. I added a little titanium dioxide to the base(should have added more).
   It was recommended that we use a slow moving formula. so I went with my formula of
  25% coconut
  30% lard
  35% olive
  10% sunflower
I mixed my oils and lye and proceeded with my soap.

 I used a piece of plexiglass cut to the width of the mold and have it at an angle to pour the green and orange soap alternately. reserving just a touch for the swirl on top.
  Then after removing the plexiglass I gently spoon the remaining base into the mold. drizzle the remaining colored soap along the top for a pretty swirl.

all swirled up and ready to get to gelling.

And here is my soap cut, what did I learn from this challenge? what will I do differently next time? I will bring the base to a little firmer trace, so that the stripe won't sink so far to the bottom. I will use a taller piece of plexiglass so the strip will have more of an angle to it, I will also make sure that it fits a little tighter. and finally I will not make soap while dinner is cooking in the oven above. I always oven process my soap and even though I had my oven temp set to 150, I feel pretty sure that the oven above made mine made the soap oven just a little warmer that I wanted it to be. The top is a bubbly mess. But on a positive note now I know how to recreate my frothy top on my stout soap next time I make it. I was wondering how that happened. To hot of an oven apparently.
    Since it is going to be a nice dry day today I think I will get started on making another dandelion zebra swirl. I am thinking fruit loop scent would be cool for this technique. Thank you Amy Warden for yet another great challenge. now to go look at all the other great entries for this month.
 

Multi-Colored Gradient Soap Challange

     Oh my Gosh! it is that time again, Where did the time go? I can not believe that not only have I not posted since the last Great Cakes Soap Works Challenge but I haven't even had time to soap let alone blog, and I don't know about you but to go that long without soaping is pretty sad.  I sure hope since fall is apon us and Farmer's Market season is over (I haven't found any of these awsome craft shows everyone goes too), I hope that I will be able to soap a little more often.
   On to this months challenge. Multi-Colored Gradient Soap. For my soap I chose my fragrance first. Wild Peach Poppies from Wholesale Supplies Plus, mostly because I have a very small supply of colorants right now so I had to find a scent that I had color to work together. When I think of Poppies I think bright Red. My husband was stationed in England,we lived there for five years, one of my favorite things were the fields full of red poppies. Boom got my first color. Peaches, easy peasy they are yellow orange and have red on the peel and around the pit.

 

My three colors waiting for soap.

 First pour according to notes from Amy's tutorial. Pour about a cup, add about 1/3 cup of the next color (the middle color).

 

Second pour, I see a slight color difference just like I want.

 

third pour also good.

 

this I think is acutally the fith pour and I forgot to take a picture of straight orange.

I also forgot to take a picture of straight red.

 

I had to add a little of the yellow for a swirl on top. I don't like to waste soap. I would have liked to do two more layers of blending but I knew that I didn't have enough room left in the mold. and as it was I had enough soap left over to fill a silicon brownie mold. I think they will be perfect for samples.

I think I will call this soap "Poppy goes the peach" ?  We will see.

 

Just cut with the flash I think the red is too dark.

 

The red is still a little too dark and could have used two more blends with the orange but without the flash on the camera you can see the yellow to orange blend quite nicely. Lesson from this challenge. if you are working with a really strong color like say red, the first addition should have been maybe 1/4 cup instead of 1/2. The color was just too strong for the orange. I have some idea for some new christamas scents that just came in. I better find some time to soap.

Holly Swirl

       So this months challenge is the Holly Swirl created by Holly Bailey of Missouri River Soap Co. It was really fun but I almost didn't get to make any in time for the deadline because life had to throw us a few curve balls and I was out of town for a week. well The first attempt was a unscented Castile. I have a goat milk Castile but wanted to add a straight Castile to my line as well. So for my first swirl I tried to use colors that to me felt like olives. I chose a black base with a green and white swirl with yellow on top.
   Well 100% olive oil takes such a long time to reach trace.  I also really should get a larger container for the in the pot swirl.

Unscented Castile Holly Swirl Soap

        Also When you make a Castile Soap it is very soft so cutting really should have waited a extra day. I can never do just one on these challenges so my next soap was a White Tea and Ginger fragrance.

  I started with a brown base did a white and green swirl with a little more brown on top and then I had some yellow shimmer mica and use some of the left over green and white soap and did a mica swirl on top.

   I also did my first video since my little guy was out of town for the night and I didn't have to worry about how to edit out back ground noise. Trust me if he is in the house there is going to be noise.

    School starts Monday so maybe I will be able to give this blog a little more attention and start posting a little more often than the day before voting closed for a challenge. I love this Swirl I Bought a biger bowl right after I finished my last batch so I see this being done a lot more in the future. Thank You Amy for the challenge.

And my finished product just cut. I am very pleased with the way this turned out. 

Mantra swirl

It's challenge time again, this month Amy Warden of Great Cakes Soapworks has challenged us with the Mantra swirl.

    We had a little longer to make and post our photos but with the Fourth of July it didn't feel like extra time.

   I use a slow moving recipe, scented with patchouli EO, I think it accelerated trace a little. I was going for a purple and green with a hot pink stripe down the center. What I got is a green and brown with a peachy center. My purple morphed. I really need to stop procrastinating and order some colorants from the conservatory.

  

When I cut it was when I discovered that my soap should have been Thankfully I can express oil olive oil oil and oil are you back in the lab and I are downloaded this way don't know why you think it's too hard to a little more fluid, it didn't swirl as much as I would have liked.

I will defiantly be giving this another try. I am also going to go to Lowe's and get a piece of plexi glass to cut to fit my mold so that I can wash and reuse the devider.

 Thank you Amy.

             My booth all set up At Moore Farmers market Saturday. The weather was wonderful. I did well enough to continue to go on Thursdays as well as Saturdays. To add to my busy schedule today is sign up day for the second challenge from Great Cakes Soapworks. This challenge will be "the Mantra swirl"

this is posted from Great Cakes Soapworks. I don't think mine will be that cool but it will be fun to learn something new.  Till next till have a bubbly day.

          Still no video of the peacock swirl, the video may never get
uploaded, it wasn't to bad but it wasn't great either. I will do my
 best to take a decent video and upload it for the next challenge.
 I learned so much I can't wait for the next one. it starts
next week so I will be busy.

   But for this week I have found a farmer's market to attend. Moore Farmer's market. The first one will be Thursday June 20th. 4-7 p.m.  I think I will go and give it a shot.
 









 Here are some bath bubble bombs that I made.
 They are scented with
Relaxation EO and FO. the
description is blue lavender and palmarosa.
I don't know what palmarosa shold smell like
but it has a fresh smell to me. These bombs not only
fizz but they bubble too.
and if that isn't enough to make you want to
take a bath they also have powdered milk
 for moisturizing.
 




Check back tomorrow for an update on how the market went. and I promise that I will leave all sharp objects at home this time.

second peacock swirl with video?

So Today is the deadline to enter our post for the "Soap Challenge Club" is today. I love Amy Warden's challenges. I have done most of them even if I only posted links a few times. I always learn so much. On this challenge for me  the challenge was about the computer much more than the soap. Main computer can't get onto the web so I am on a laptop, not a big deal but all the pictures were already on the other computer. Got a bigger memory card for the camera and took a first video. (that probably won't get posted today, didn't know it took so long to upload. But enough about not soap, on with the challenge. So My first swirl I used Pink Chiffon, My daughter Tyler's requested sent. I used a slow moving formula using oils recommended by Amy. When I close my eyes and think about this sent in a swirl I saw pink,green,and yellow with just and accent of black running through the swirls.

These are the colors I chose to use. the two green gave me the color that I needed. I mixed my colors, aware that I wanted and needed less black than the other colors.

 I think I would like it a little closer to trace? maybe, maybe not. But I think less black was still too much, it doesn't show as too much black here but trust me I already know that I am not loving the color scheme.

Ready for the bamboo comb, right now it looks like it only needs more yellow and green; nope, need a lot less black. I don't get to do many things by myself and soaping isn't one of them. My son had

to drag the comb thorough the soap. At least he let me finish. He also took all the pictures while I soaped. He is eight, better to give him jobs he can do than have him underfoot while mixing the lye.

 

 

 

Here is the finished product. not too bad, I am very happy with it I just had less black in my imaginary soap.

 

 

 

 

 

So have to do a round two. This time we filmed it and maybe someday it will get uploaded.Isaac did have fun. With shouts of "and Action" and "Cut" What I needed was a camera filming the camera filming the soap, I had an audience of Lego nijago's under the camera. They needed to watch.

The second batch was scented with Tyme/Mint EO. Love the smell

I think that it will be very popular during cold season. What I learned on this second round is that I really need to invest in a wider range of color. I used two different shades of green, white and a small accent of red. which right now the red looks kinda pink. I think that it will look better in a few weeks

as it cures. the greens will darken as will the red.

All in All I can't wait for the next challenge. I have leaned so much. what scent color combo to try next?

 

Peacock swirl

So the first challenge from Amy Warden's "Soap Challenge Club" has been issued and it is time to post our results.

    Let me begin by saying at this point the soap is the easy part of the challenge. Our home computer went down. And I am trying to learn how to blog on my phone but realize that pictures are on the home computer. Can I upload pictures to my phone? 

   But back to the soap. This is my first peacock swirl, I used a hot pink, lemon yellow, green, and black. I scented with pink chiffon. My daughter Tyler's special request scent.

        I am pretty pleased with how it turned out but I will use much less black next time. Now to go mix up some lye and oils and try this again

So I thought that I posted on my blog over the weekend with my phone. I so don't understand how this goggle+ thing works, so I will only repeat that I went to Missouri to sell soap at a swap meet at Jacob'c Cave. I didn't sell any soap. We got  there good and early. I got everything set up.

 I had my brother's knives on a display shelf as well. I took this picture before I was through setting up and this is probably the best that it looked. My Mom and Isaac went to shop, I think she was looking for some quail, leaving me to mind the booth of rabbits, knives and soap. soap being the only thing I was selling. then the wind began to pick up and the sky darken. I check the radar on my phone. it doesn't look good.  I decided to get my tent a little more secure so that when it started to rain I could get the rabbits under and keep them dry. To cut to the chase I cut my Big toe with my spider knife my brother makes.  I grabbed a make shift bandage and got some pressure on it and keep working. then the wind blew my tent and table over. soap and knives every were. I started picking up as much as I could and tossing it into the back of my car. Then the rains started. Still picking up soap, cover knives with the table(maybe it wont rain long). I struggle with the tent and get it flipped back over only it is nowhere near were it should be. it is half over my mom's car. Oh well, the rain is getting harder, my mom and son finally get back just in time to help me get rabbit in under the tent. We are all soaked to the bone. I think I cut my toe around 8:00 in the morning, I got it stitched at noon.
 I was too scared of more bad weather to stay the night as planed and cut my weekend short. But hey everyone needs a adventure once in awhile. I can say I think I am covered for a good long time.
   Now to get my peacock swirl started.

Starting a blog. So intimidating. were do you begin? what do you say?what pictures do you post? And all the profile stuff, I hate all the setup things.
    I will start with the present and a little history. I just moved to Shawnee OK., (Boxes still unpacked, just moved) from KS. from 5 acres to in town with neighbors so close if you don't keep curtains closed you can see into their house or vice versa.
    About a year ago my milk goat had an infection in her hoof and had to have penicillin shots,(my son is alergic). So no drinking the milk for a few weeks. what to do with all that milk. my first thought was soap. I did some research found several recipes. read some more and made my first batch. I knew nothing of soap calc(calculator to help determine safe amounts of lye to use with the oils that you have chosen for your formula).
   When you make Cold process soap it needs to cure for 6 to 8 weeks before you use it. I couldn't wait the full time and at 4 weeks cure I had to give it a try. Even with our hard water in Kansas I was very pleased with my soap. the rest as they say is history.
    I have been a seamstress and quilter for almost 35 years, I was an art major in college and for me fabric has always been my medium in which to work. as a quilter sometimes I will dye my own fabric to create the palate that I need. Making soap has given me a new way to play with color.
 this is my first soap. It was supposed to be a kind of lavender. That was my first lesson. use colorants made for CP (cold process

) not MP (melt and pour).