Lavender Escapades Part 3

*waves* Hey y'all! Hope everyone is doing well! As promised here's another installment of our Lavender Escapades series. :)

Ok so I wanted to do something a little bit different this time. I thought it would be interesting if I took the lavender herb that I had on hand, and brewed it into a tea, and used goats milk. I used half of each to make the lye mixture. So here we go. :)

I decided to separate the soap batter, and only use honey in the off white section for a better contrast, instead of throughout the entire loaf.

I then poured the off white batter into the lavender colored batter in order to do a swirl...

Up close and personal...

See the swirl? ;)

I was concerned of course that with the natural sugar from the honey, and the natural sugar of the goats milk, that it may do like my first batch which was superheat and crack a bit. Fortunately I soaped at such a low temperature that it didn't happen this time. :)

I cut it open from the center to see what it looked like on the inside and it is beautiful!!

I took it outside to get better lighting. It smells yummy, and you can really smell the honey in it. Its a very creamy bar. I am looking forward to testing this when it cures.

:)

Well the first official day of summer is here and the pool has opened, so I have been spending some time with my kidlets at the pool since they got out on break, hence me being a bit scarce. Do come back for our next installment of my journey through soap making!
Stay cool out there!
Suds & Bubbles,
Soapy

Lavender Escapades Part 2

*waves* Hey y'all! Ok so y'all know I have been on this lavender kick lately, and have been making soap like there's about to be a soap shortage. lol I went on ahead and made some lavender rosemary glycerin soap mostly because I was ready to use a soap now that had the scent. lol Hey now, any reason is a good reason to use some handmade soap. *winks*

Before you say, "Soapy, you skipped some steps didn't you?" Nope, I sure didn't. I used a premade glycerin base for this and just added to it, which happened to be, yup you guessed it, water, Lavender and Rosemary and a smidge of a special ingredient. *grins*

After pouring. You know, normally it takes only a couple of hours for glycerin to really set, but it was so hot here that I had to leave it to the next morning before I unmolded it.

Here is the finished result. :) I am going to need to shave the back of the soap a little bit but overall I love it. :)

I have no idea why I have been so stuck on rosemary and lavender lately lol, but I love the combination of the two to pieces. :) Well folks, it's that time again. Getting ready to hit the hay so will see you next time!
Yes, I know, I made another soap the same day and am keeping you hanging a bit. I plan to post about it tomorrow so don't worry. lol
Y'all sleep good!
Suds & Bubbles,
Soapy

Lavender Escapades Part 1

*waves* Hey y'all! Hope everyone is managing to stay cool in all this heat. It has been sweltering here lately and rain keeps bypassing us unfortunately, but it hasn't stopped me from going out into the shop and feeding my soap addiction. So the other day I got a little lavender happy to put it mildly. lol I went to a local shop and got a bag of fresh lavender , and some rosemary oil, came home and made 3 batches of soap. It's picture time!

Bypassing the whole making the lye water, seperating the batch, coloring it, and jumping right to adding the lavender flowers.

I added it at a thick trace so that the lavender wouldn't all sink to the bottom.

I had already added just a little bit of rosemary oil to the soap batter, and poured the white into the lavender and only slightly stirred and then....

Poured into the mold. I couldn't resist doing the top because the soap was at a nice thick trace.

I love doing whipped tops like this!

Ok so I had set it aside, and went inside to do my soap dishes, came back out and this is what I found.

Eeeek! Earthquake!!! The soap had superheated, quickly hardened a little and begun to crack. So I called for the hubby panicking that my soap was likely to erupt any moment and he rushes to my rescue. Yayyy hubby! We stuck a a skewer inside the crack and found that there was thankfully no liquid in it. The hubby put the oil jugs that I had on each side to press it together since it was still a little soft in the hopes that the cracks that had formed would reseal.

So I crossed my fingers and when we went in yesterday to unmold and cut soap, this is what we found:

My hubby is my hero..Only one slightly visible crack left in this loaf of soap.

We held our breath and cut the center of the loaf and wallah! It looks fab!!

Lavender Rosemary Soap..I will rename it later. :)

Ok y'all , I just came up with another Lavender soap idea (I know, am stuck on lavender right now) so headed back out to the shop. :) Look for Lavender Escapades Part 2 later today!
Sud's & Bubbles,
Soapy

Hey Strangers!

*waves* Hey y'all! Hope this finds everyone staying cool and doing peachy! :)
I have been slightly busy lately with activities with my youngins, among other things so have had little time to post. So just wanted to update y'all.
I made a glycerin batch of soap last week and sent a batch with a friend to sell along side her handmade jewelery at one of the big flea markets. I figured why not, I had a big ol' glob of glycerin so why not put it to good use. (I also sent a few of the other soaps I had made) I added a couple of things, put it in some empty yogurt containers to set up, then sliced it into 3 1/2 oz sizes. I had Citrus Cocoa Butter Shaving Soap, and Cucumber Shea Butter soap. I did a peach orange color for the soap, and did a small swirl for the cucumber. I unfortunately was unable to get pictures though because "someone" *clears her throat and gives a pointed look to one of her kidlets* had my cell phone and that is generally how I grab my soap pictures at the moment.
I haven't made any new cold process soaps because I need some additional materials although I am considering making some Castile soap. (100% olive oil) I also need to get some scents (haha! play on words) because what I have is low now. I have however decided on my main base soap recipe based on what some of my guinea pigs have told me about their experiences with the soap samples I sent them. I pretty much had an idea of what I was going to use before sending it out, but wanted their reactions and they have all been generally saying the same thing. I just didn't want my preferences to sway their opinions.

The next big undertaking that I am planning is herbs, & clays both for their health properties and colorant properties in soapmaking. I found a local store who sells herbs and heck if it is quality and saves me on shipping then I am all for it! I seem to be very drawn to rosemary and lavender right now for some reason. We'll see how it goes.

I am also interested in trying to make liquid soaps, and making shampoo bars. I attended a festival this past weekend with one of my son's, and there was a lady selling candles, soaps and such and she had shampoo bars. I have heard in the past how shampoo bars can weigh your hair down and sometimes you need to do a vinegar rinse. Apparently it isn't such a big of an issue as I had heard. She mentioned using Jojoba which is pricey as heck. I am going to hit research mode when I get some time. I want to do some lotions and such also, but not sure summer is the best time to begin that. I am worried since the south has such hot sticky summers that it will all melt. Any thoughts on that? Anyway, I have rambled on long enough and have some things to do. Hope everyone is doing good! Until next time..

Suds & Bubbles,
Soapy