Soapy Friday: Goals for 2019

Happy New Year everyone! I'm SOOOO glad the holidays are over, although I always get the "post holiday blues"...I'm glad to be rid of the mess, but I do miss all the fun and cheer. Now it's on to 2019!

This year will be very, very interesting. I'm not going to set any uber lofty goals other than officially launching an online and vendor-based business, which to be honest is a lot! We are on the fence on what to do with our current renting/living situation and may be moving again by April...and it might be out-of-state!

We shall see...

In the meantime, I am on revision cycle #3 for my soap box templates with my graphic artist. This does take a while, but it's worth it and we're close to finalizing something.

So close and yet so far

I haven't made any soap lately, as I don't want to waste ingredients if I'm producing and not selling, AND those ingredients are expensive to purchase and have expiration dates. Also, I don't want to make a lot of soap that may or may not fit in my future soap boxes.

So...I experiment with formulas. Here I've made 3 different shampoo bar samples using 3 different formulas, I'm close to getting what I want, but need to order more ingredients.

Shampoo Bar Formula Experiments

I've FINALLY found the holy grail of rock hard bath bombs that float and fizz...except now they are FLAT! Grrrr....back to the mixing bowl.

I like flat butts...said no one EVER!

Although the funny thing is I don't think I will sell them as part of my product line...they're too mainstream now and you can buy bath bombs at the Dollar General Store. I just prefer to solve the mystery and move on....I don't like to leave problems unsolved.

Soapy Friday: Planning Ahead

Happy Friday everyone! There wasn't much going on this week soap-wise...I've been playing and prepping for the upcoming holidays.

I know, I know. But when you make a product that takes 6-8 weeks to cure, you have to plan ahead.

But first...RYAN!

"Hey girl...I brought you some soaping supplies"

I ordered some highly-concentrated, cosmetic bath-and-body-safe dyes this week to play with in bath bombs. Look what I got...LOL! I love asking for pictures of Ryan Gosling whenever there is a "special request" option for online orders. LOL!

Next, onto what I'm planning to make for a Halloween-themed soap. Aren't these friggin' adorable? I made these teeny skulls out of SOAP ya'll!

3 down...1,000 to go!

Itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny, little soapy skulls for me-ny!

Soapy Friday: "Taste of Honey"

Happy Friday the 13th everyone! This week has been busy soap-wise; I've been trying a few new things and making some old-standbys.

"Taste of Honey"

My "Taste of Honey" soap, an homage to Herb Alpert, is pretty much good-to-go recipe wise. I FINALLY got all the things I wanted out of that bar of soap and it's only taken me a year-and-a-half to get there.

Loaded with skin-loving sunflower oil, cocoa butter, local Virginia honey, beeswax and an intoxicating honey-almond scent, this soap is "a-buzz" with all the good things your body wants and needs. I believed in it from the very start, and that's why I kept trying.

That gel ring tho...

Other things...

I've been back at bath bombs trying new things. My Rainbow Heart bomb is loaded with a rainbow of colors and makes very pretty bath art, although I still have a way to go with getting that right too.

Trying out Rainbow Heart in the bath

I made some Unicorn Horn bath bombs and was trying out a new theory on one of my ingredients and again, discovered something new. I won't bore you with the details, but it's pretty exciting IMO.

Love how these turned out!

Have a happy & safe 13th...stay cool out there everyone!

Soapy Friday: Bath Bomb Success!

Whenever I share or mention to someone that I now make high-quality, handcrafted body and skin care products, I’m almost always asked, “Do you have a website? Do you sell? How can I get some?”

Finally....bath bomb success!

You would think that with this foresight, I would immediately run home, build a website, put my stuff up on Etsy, and start selling, but no.

When I first started this journey, I remember reading somewhere that a person doesn’t just decide one day they are going to make and sell bath and body products and start doing it. It takes lots, and lots, and lots of time, practice, experimentation, persistence, mini-wins along the way, and failure.

Naming a dream is easy. What’s far less popular is the disciplined practice of a craft – the thousands of thankless hours it takes to become good – even great – at something before sharing it with the world.

I believe there’s no such thing as talent, only practice.

So, after almost 2 years of making bath bombs – at some point every single day – I’ve finally gotten a particular part of my bath bomb recipe down pat and they do exactly what I want them to do every time. This goes back to asking yourself, "What do I want my bath bomb to do?" If I just wanted a rock hard bath bomb that fizzed like mad, but sunk like a rock, I would have been done a long time ago.

But no, I also wanted the "fun stuff," and that meant my bath bombs had to align with what I call "The Four Fs for Bath Bomb Success":

• Form - They dry rock hard, are not crumbly, soft, or fall apart
• Fizz - They fizz and spin without "marshmallowing" out 
• Float - They float!
• Foam - They provide "bath art" with a surfactant

At some point in the future, I'll make a video of one of these in action!

Soapy Friday - Messing-Up and Oddities

Boy, things have been laugh-out-loud funny around here lately. For example, check out my broken heart bath bomb:

My heart is broken!

I was playing around with my recipe and felt my mixture was a "tad" too moist. This is what I had the next morning. LOL!

This morning, I went to unmold and cut my "Honey Soap" (version #10) and realized that I accidentally did not put the bubble wrap on with the bubble part facing DOWN!

LOL...insert sad trombone sound. The bubble wrap gives my honey soap that cool, honeycomb look, but it doesn't work if I put it on my raw soap the wrong way!!!

#sadtrombone

What's wrong with this picture?

The gel ring from my "Ravishing Citrus" soap mysteriously disappeared. I don't know why, but I'll take it!

Where did that gel ring go?

My "Rosemary Mint" soap smells AMAZING, but the minute you take it in the shower, the smell goes away. I don't know why this is either. Even my husband commented on this...hmmm.

Disappearing scent...why?

BUT, on a good note, I was experimenting with a tropical-beachy-type scent and made these cutie patootie Sea Shell Soaps. Love. The only thing I would differently next time is to have the bottom part blue instead of white in order to make it look more like water.

She sells sea shell soaps by the seashore...

Take me to the beach!

Beachy beauties

Soapy Friday: Back at Bath Bombs

While I am waiting for my new formula cold-processed soap to cure for testing, I've gone back to tweaking my bath bomb recipe.

Every day I'm hustlin'...

I've mostly liked what I've been doing for the past year with them, but they still needed some more attention to get to that "Perfect Bath Bomb". Like that "Perfect Bar of Soap," it takes time with many, many, many experiments and testing in between. I'm SO close.

Anyway, I'm also SUPER excited to use my new biodegradable shrink wrap system I got for Christmas.

Upping my shrink wrap game from 10-to-1 million

I was able to wrap 100 bars of soap in less than an hour with this baby! In the past, this would have taken me hours...like an hour just to wrap 15 bars of soap! It's especially great for bath bombs which are notoriously a pain in the arse.

100 bars of soap in 15 minutes....DONE!

On top of all that, the shrink wrap I'm using is BIODEGRADABLE! How awesome, right? I always hated the thought of making such an amazing, natural product only to package it in environment-harming PVC. Ultimately, I will be putting my soaps in boxes and this will be primarily used for bath bombs and tamper-sealing lotions, body butters, etc.

Soaping responsively for the environment

Speaking of body butters. I made a Valentine's inspired citrus soap to go with my Bombalicious Body Butter. It smells out of this world!  I made it in the same pink grapefruit, tangerine, and lemon fragrance blend.

But a funny thing called a "gel ring" happened when it was setting up. You can see where the color morphed from the right-to-the-left . It went from grapefruit pink to a natural soap/yellow color. It's all good...it actually kind of looks cool!

Gel ring from right-to-left

What it's supposed to look like...oh well

Soapy Friday - Anti-Itch Jewelweed Soap

Whew! Today is the day where we do our “last cut” of the lawn for the season and I could not be happier.

The past couple of weeks have been busy aerating, shoveling truckloads of fill dirt, topsoil, moving gravel, and purchasing grass seed, fertilizer, and lime. In the fall, we prep the lawn for overseeding in September, then we wait for that one window of opportunity for a good, steady rain (usually in the first 10 days of October) to put down seed.  

Rain is forecasted for after Saturday (thank god, we need it!) and tomorrow we seed! This all sounds very productive, but when you have a 2 acre LAWN, it’s a major undertaking every fall. We do it all ourselves, too. After we put seed down, we don't cut it until next spring.

Okay, on to soap, shall we?

First, necessity is the mother of invention. I ran out of my favorite body butter from Trader Joe’s and that means I need more. I’ve been wanting to make a real, body butter and have all the ingredients, so I guess this is now a priority.

Need to make body butter!

I made some amazing-smelling “Cinnamon Bun” soap a few weeks ago. It was originally something else, but I didn’t like how it turned out and cut the tops off. So, I just piped some white soap on top and renamed it!

"Cinnamon Bun" cold processed soap

Been making Halloween skull bath bombs w/blood-red embeds. These are so fun to make and are even more fun in the bathtub!

Every day I'm hustlin'

My pride-and-joy lately is my “Anti-Itch Jewelweed Soap” and salve. I finally got around to making a batch of jewelweed soap using jewelweed-infused olive oil and jewelweed tea. I scented one batch with tea tree and peppermint essential oil, and the other with lavender and lemon. This is not meant to be an "all over/body" soap. It's meant to be used on breakouts of poison ivy, psoriasis, eczema, etc.

Jewelweed Soap and Salve

That salve is worth its weight in gold because it works! I’ve been a life-long sufferer of the occasional flare-up of psoriasis or eczema and I put this salve on an itchy spot that I’ve had for a very long time. It’s been 2 weeks, and it’s almost completely healed and no itch! And this is after 2-3 years of dealing with this same spot with hydro-cortisone cream that didn't work. It’s made with jewelweed-infused olive oil, beeswax, tea tree essential oil and peppermint essential oil.

I can't wait for that soap to finish curing so I can share these amazing goodies with friends who also suffer from psoriasis and eczema.  I have a feeling I will be making A LOT more of this next summer!

Soapy Friday - Summer Veggies and Soap Trials

Happy Friday everyone! It's a short week for many, but they always feel longer to me as you have to try to fit 5 days of work into 3.

But first, a peek at the first summer tomatoes and eggplant from my veggie garden...

Future dinner

I didn't quite make my July 4th deadline for a ripe tomato, but that's okay. This little plate of loveliness will be grilled up and made into some yummy bruschetta for dinner tonight.

On to soap, shall we?

I gave my first shot at coffin bombs and they turned out pretty cute. The rose petals made the sides crumble off a little, but otherwise, I think it's a good start. I'm going to take them to my UPS lady today; I'm sure she'll be thrilled!

Coffin bombs...for people dying to take a bath!

I made some more 100% Olive Oil soap in "Peppermint Patchouli". I love to use peppermint soap in the summertime; it's so refreshing and cooling after a hot day outside. I'm pretty set on my Olive Oil soap ingredients and process and it's one of the most favorited soaps from my friends and family.

"Savon de la Bonne Mere Marseille" means "Soap of the Good Mother from Marseille" LOL!

I tried another batch of my "Old Faithful" 5-oil soap recipe with the 15% water discount to see if it would give me the same results and it did. I made a "Summer Melon" soap using a melon/peach blend of Fragrance Oil (FO). It turned out nice, but has a little soda ash on top.

"Summer" Melon soap

Making soap is a lot like making pickles: you don't know what you've got until they're ready, and that can take a while. So, I think I am going to hold off making more of my "Old Faithful" soaps for a while until some of the newer soaps cure and I can try them out in the shower/bath.

Need to test drive some of these soaps!

My earlier batches of soap over the past months had a tendency to be scratchy, even when I didn't add any exfoliating clays or charcoals. I think that was due to me not knowing about melting my solid oils down enough and the stearic acid within the oils wasn't dissolving.

I want to see how my newer soaps, where I've melted my oils clear, perform and feel in the shower/bath and I need to let them cure. I don't want to waste expensive ingredients on soap that doesn't measure-up.

Soapy Friday - Foxes, Fireworks, and Coffins

Happy 4th of July weekend everyone!

But first, a continuation of last week's groundhog saga...

Earlier this week, about 4 days ago, we spotted a very large, adult fox trotting across our front lawn and into the woods. This is very exciting! I think foxes are so beautiful.

Mr. or Mrs. Fox is welcome!

We have also NOT seen John G. Kennedy groundhog since last week. Coincidence? Maybe. Mr. or Mrs. fox is welcome to stay and keep the critters away, but I worry about our neighbor's cat that is let outside and wanders over here from time-to-time. :-(

Next, since it is a holiday weekend, how about some fireworks from Mother Nature? Say hello to "Ruby Spider" daylily ....isn't she gorgeous?

"Ruby Spider"

I'm ready for my close-up! 

There is a man at one of our local farmer's markets that sells the most amazeballs plants. It's hard for me to not buy from him...I've already purchased 5 daylilies (4 last year), an echinacea, and a coneflower. I'd buy more, but I need to do some garden-bed prepping first.

"Lavender Stardust"

On to soap, shall we?

This week, I received some wonderful goodies in the mail. There is a lady at my UPS store who has been begging for me to make some coffin shaped bath bombs (she likes things "goth/emo") that look like this:

Photo courtesy from The Madbombers

So, I bought this cake mold and will play around with it this week. I also bought the pink "faux bois" wood grain silicone mat to line the bottom of my soap mold for some future sandlewood-type soap.

Coffin bombs coming soon!

Wholesalesupplies.com had a sale on their large 6.5 lb. silicone soap molds, so I bought 2 for future loaves when I am comfortable with my recipe and process. Messing up a small 3 lb. loaf of soap (on left) is MUCH cheaper and less painful than it would be if it were almost 7 lbs.!

3 lb. mold on left (it's dirty in this pic) and 6.5 lb. mold on right

For example, I made a "White Tea and Ginger" soap that at 24-hours was still a little too soft to take out of the mold and it tore in the corners. I had a hunch that I needed to do a water discount, so I made another similar batch with a FO blend the next day, but with a 15% water discount.

Looks like something took a bite out of my soap!

The 2nd soap was the perfect consistency at 24 hours, BUT when I made the soap, one of the FOs that I used caused my batter to "rice" and so, the soap wasn't perfect.

Better consistency, but a naughty Fragrance Oil

I'm aiming for consistency and I'm close, but when dealing with unknown fragrance oils (FOs), always, always, ALWAYS do your research to see how it will perform. This is why I am working my craft every week.

All of these "imperfect" but perfectly usable and wonderful soaps will be shared among friends, coworkers, family, and anyone who takes a bath!

Soapy Friday - Groundhogs and Lovespell

But first...GROUNDHOG!!!!

I always say nature abhors a vacuum. Yesterday morning, I was silently musing that I hadn't had to put up my electrical wire around my tomatoes yet. Usually, by this time of year, I start to spot pecked-at green tomatoes on the ground, so up-goes-the-wire. I wondered if the evil crows who frequent this area had figured out over the years that it just wasn't worth it.

That was until I went out later that afternoon to snip some basil for the lasagna I was making for dinner. I came out the garage door to the side of the yard and went through the gate. I immediately spotted something brown darting away from the vegetable beds. At first, I thought it was a squirrel, and then a cat, but it didn't take me long to recognize the new evil that had decided to visit my garden. A GROUNDHOG!

I don't think it was there long, as nothing had been chewed on, and I don't think it came under the fence, as it was frantically ramming itself into the chainlink to find a weak spot to scamper under. It worked its way down the fenceline - ram, ram, ram - and eventually found enough giveway to squeeze under it and take off.

I just stood there, about 6-feet away, trying to decide whether to grab my pitchfork and impale the Satan's spawn on the end of it. If I had a gun with me, I would have shot it! I'm hoping that my appearance at such an impressionable moment scared the shit out of him and he wont be back. Nothing had been damaged, and I think he just got there.

Anyway, I've decided to name him John G. Kennedy (G. for groundhog), because if he makes another appearance, he's gonna get shot!

John G.'s last fatal appearance if he shows his fuzzy butt again!!!!

On to soap, shall we??

This week I had a breakthrough. The quality and consistency of my past soaps wasn't as reliable and I didn't know what I was doing wrong. I had a hunch that my process of submerging my small quarts of solid coconut oil and palm oil in hot water to melt the oils wasn't hot enough to completely melt and emulsify all of the ingredients within the oils.

The oils were melting that way, but the palm oil never melted clear. It was always a milky, creamy texture, and I had heard that you needed to melt it hot enough to make it clear for the stearic acids to completely emulsify.

So I melted my solid oils in the microwave, and viola! Clear oils that make beautiful soap!

Just Soap

This is the prettiest soap I've made to date, but the funny thing was that I was not paying attention and I forgot to add the Fragrance Oil! So, it's "Just Soap". No fragrance at all....just smells like soap.

Still, it turned out beautifully saturated and no soda ash! Sorry for the blurry soap in the front, but I wanted to show how gorgeous the rest of the loaf turned out.

Thinking I was on to something, I gave a shot at a "Lovespell" soap I had seen made on Youtube by Soapish. She's a truly gifted soaper and her version is just gorgeous.

I used a melt-and-pour, premade glycerin soap to make the heart embeds and forgot that glycerin soaps weep when it's humid. So, next time I will try again with true, cold process embeds.

Turned out pretty for the first try!

Glycerin weeping on the embed...oh well.

Also, the recipe went a little wonky on me when I realized I didn't have enough of certain oils during mixing, so I had to improvise with other oils and hope for the best. Still, it came out beautifully and I even made some bath bombs to go with it!

I will definitely give this soap another try.

Bath bombs shrink-wrapped for their protection!