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| Honey Oatmeal
I've been busy trying to wrap my brain around
creating half a dozen new soaps while trying to perfect
some others. The honey oatmeal (shown above) has
been a booger bear to perfect. The problem lies with
the ingredients of honey and almond milk, both of which
like to heat up considerably during the saponification process. My first batch overheated and leaked oil from all directions. I was able to salvage it and most of the oils were reabsorbed, but the finished soap was not the prettiest soap. I ended up discounting it at Christmas. My second go turned out much better. I put it in the fridge to do its thing, but it was still slightly oily for my taste. So logically, I took this a step further with the 3rd batch; it went straight into the freezer. But when I cut it the next day, it had only partially gelled leaving the famed characteristic egg shape in the center of the loaf.
Though nothing was wrong with the soap.it is not
desirable in the soapmaking world. Apparently, it had
already started to gel before I got it into the freezer. My
4th batch turned out spendidly as I decided to watch it
closely until it gelled,and then place it in the fridge to
avoid over-heating. I sure hope I have this soap
mastered, once and for all. And I do have all of the 3rd
batch available for a discounted price if anyone is
interested.
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| Painted Meadows (for now) |
I haven't decided for sure, but I'm leaning toward calling this new soap Painted Meadows. My inspiration for this one came from several paintings by one of my favorite artists, Emily Carr from Victoria, B.C. I wanted it to look and smell like a pristine forest. The scent is cedarwood and fir, with a hint of sweet orange. I wasn't sure if I would like the "tree" smell, but I do. It's not overpowering at all, but fresh and reminiscent of a lovely walk through the woods. I used natural colorants of walnut hull powder for the brown and nettle leaf powder and spirulina for the greens.
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| Citrus Gardener's Scrub
The Citrus Gardener's Scrub is take II of my first Gardener's Scrub scented with Patchouli and Ylang Ylang and Lavender. The original has apricot seed meal, cranberry seeds and red raspberry seeds. I added lemon and orange peel finely grated, of course, to this scrubby soap. I added that line of charcoal in the middle. The end product --a dense hard bar of exfoliating goodness
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The Juan de Fuca (Peppermint Refreshment Soap)
I tweaked this soap to add more minty cool effect.
The secret ingredient is a touch of menthol crystals.
I took out the peppermint leaves and added woad
powder for a minty blue/green natural color. This is a great soap
for an invigorating and refreshing shower.
This soap is called Geranium Rose. I liken it to a walk through a fragrant garden. This soap also has a lovely charcoal tinted layer and rose clay in the pink layer of soap. I hesitated to make a floral soap, because usually they are obnoxiously too strong for my tastes, but this one came out really nice. I often use it on my face because I think a face deserves special treatment.
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| Sassafras Birch |
Sassafras Birch was a delightful soap to create. It smells a lot like rootbeer. I love the smell of rootbeer. I added sassafras bark powder to give this soap its natural color. It provides slight exfoliation and makes the soap a lovely purply/brown hue.
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| Lavender Goat Milk |