Lavender and Eucalyptus

Embedding stars in hot process worked out a whole lot better this time. Although they're not perfect, they weren't meant to be
:-P

Found a new love

For the last 6 months I've been making cold process soap, reading books, forums, watching you tube vids and learning so much from every batch of soap I create. It's been fun to say the least and now it's time for another focus...

Yesterday I made these:



It was my first attempt at hot process soap which was a success. The colour was achieved by using an alkanet root infusion. I used a bit more alkanet than last time and I also added chopped up pieces of soap from a previous cold process batch. Because the Lavender and Eucalyptus essential oils were added after the soap was cooked, they will retain their healing properties or so I've been told. The smell is divine!

Ingredients used:

• Olive oil
• Coconut oil
• Avocado oil
• Castor oil
• Cocoa butter
• Coconut milk powder
• Water
• Sodium Hydroxide
• Lavender essential oil
• Eucalyptus essential oil
• Calendula petals

Mixin' It Up

The silicon mould arrived and it's been used pretty much non stop for the past week or so. I recommend this type of mould to any soaper. There's no lining involved and the soap just slips out in one piece :-D

Here is my first batch made using the new mould. A simple avocado and shea:

Ingredients~

• Olive oil
• Coconut oil
• Avocado oil
• Shea butter
• Castor oil
• Water
• Lye

I didn't scent this one but it still smells of something, the avocado maybe. It still smells nice and natural.

 Next up was the Newcastle Brown Ale soap:

Ingredients:

• Olive oil
• Coconut oil
• Avocado oil
• Castor oil
• Shea butter
• Newcastle Brown Ale - flat
• Orris root powder
• Palmarosa E/O

Strange reddish brown bits of colour are scattered throughout which made me think that something went terribly wrong. Oh yeah and I added 5x the original amount of castor oil I had planned to put in. Dead soap I thought. A day later, after cutting I tested a piece and didn't get irritated, nope just an immense lather. This soap is a sure winner, probably my best so far *cheesy grin*

So then I figured I'd try and conjure up some more of the most talked about soaps I'd seen recently. These were coffee and salt bars (to the left)

Salt Bar 

This one set very quickly and was cut in just 3 hours. I just couldn't wait. Next time I'll use 50% salt instead of about %90. This soap is great if you're impatient and want to make, cut and try in a day. It's also smooth on your skin and not rough in the slightest.

Ingredients~

• Coconut oil
• Castor oil
• Grape seed oil
• Water
• Lye
• Sea salt (fine)
• Orris root powder
• Lavender E/O

Coffee Bar 

The award for most additives I've ever used in a batch goes to this soap. After cutting and testing a piece (my usual ritual), I couldn't smell much coffee. What I could smell was mostly the sweet orange E/O shining through. Maybe next time adding coffee to the lye solution may help carry the coffee scent a bit. I'm pleased with  the overall outcome of this soaping episode, the happy accidents and lessons learned. Soap will keep your slippers nice and warm when landing on top of them, be grateful you are wearing them etc.

Ingredients~

• Coconut oil
• Olive oil
• Grape seed oil
• Shea butter
• Castor oil
• Water
• Lye
• Ginger E/O
• Sweet Orange E/O
• Finely ground oatmeal
• Cocoa powder
• Finely ground coffee
• Confectioners sugar
• Orris root powder

~Progress~

A few soap experiments later and I notice they seem to be getting better or at least more edible looking which can't be a bad thing. I'm saving the pics of all the sad soggy soap for a post in the future that will make you laugh *I promise*

                             And behold the latest:

                                                   ~Lavender Oatmeal and Tea Soap

Made by cold process, the bars were cut this time into thick, chunky slabs which weigh around 4.5 ounces. Maybe next time I'll strain the tea instead of adding a teaspoon full to the lye solution. On another note, it looks like something I'd eat for breakfast...

The ingredients for this batch were as follows:

• Coconut
• Olive
• Sunflower
• Macadamia Nut
• Castor
• Grape seed
• Apricot Kernel
• Lye
• Earl Grey Tea
• Lavender 
• Oatmeal