Tuesday, 31 March 2009

Soaper's Supplies

Sifting through various soap suppliers on eBay I found P&P costs were going to set me back a bit but luckily  one of the shops I placed an order with sent a note with my stuff in the mail which directed me to their separate online store. Postage is flat rate £2.95 and all of my orders so far have been sent the next day. So not only is postage very reasonable but you get what you pay for on time too. 
Click here for soaper's supplies. 

Citrus 'C'

Citrusy indeed! By following an online recipe and doing a little bit of subtracting/substituting, I was able to achieve the following results:

Eight 4oz bars of soap slipped easily out of my new plastic un-photogenic mould. The darker areas are (I think) where it hasn't dried as much but if the other bars I've made are anything to go by then the colour will soon even out. No colourings were used and I don't intend to use them at-least not for a long time anyway.  I haven't quite yet decided whether I should stick with the new mould. While it makes cutting so simple and bars of equal measure, I like how the other mould creates unique bars with character. What would you prefer?


~Ingredients~ (in no order)
  • Avocado oil
  • Castor oil
  • Olive oil
  • Coconut oil
  • Shea butter
  • Lye
  • Flat Corona
  • Orris root powder
  • Lemongrass E/O
  • Sweet orange E/O
  • Palmarosa E/O

Tuesday, 17 March 2009

Palm Free Guiness


I decided to follow an online soap recipe and chose to use Guiness as the liquid. There are plenty of horror stories of people not using flat beer and I didn't want any lye volcanoes in my kitchen so two days previous, I had heated the Guiness just before boiling point and then stored it in a jar. 

Here is proof that you don't need palm oil to make soap work: 
(I tested a teensy bit)
Ingredients:
  • Avocado oil
  • Coconut oil
  • Castor oil
  • Olive oil
  • Shea butter
  • Flat Guiness
  • Lye
  • Palmarosa E/O