Aw, Nuts. When Good Ideas Go South

Generally, even when a batch of soap doesn't go according to design, I can salvage it somehow or another. In nearly 20 years of soaping, I've had only a couple batches totally flop, but there are countless others that fail on Plan A, and Plan B just doesn't quite come to fruition. Its a matter of chemistry, temperatures, additives, fragrance and kitchen gremlins.

When I started this new batch, I was going for dark, sultry colors to match the fragrance, which is called Black Jasmine. I knew its a floral at its root, and floral fragrances and essential oils tend to accelerate trace. (for non-soapers, that means it gets thick rapidly, almost to the point of being unpourable.) I also knew the fragrance would discolor the soap to a tan color.  I eliminated any elaborate design ideas, but figured I'd be able to squeak out a base of pinkish lavender with swirls of dark navy and dark purple. I used titanium dioxide to whiten the main batch of the soap, then added lavender mica with a little rose color mixed in. I mixed my purple and navy. According to my experience, the dark colors should have gone darker and the purple/rose should have morphed to a true lavender.

It didn't go as planned.

Where in heck did those yellow streaks come from?

As you can see, the pour wasn't consistent, that's because the soap was rapidly going thick and was pouring in clumps. I made the situation worse because I added Greek yogurt, which also caused it to thicken quickly. But that doesn't explain the bright yellow.

Two things were happening. One, the fragrance oil didn't completely disperse, so in areas it got caught up. Its not bad, its just concentrating the scent and yellow discoloration. (that's caused by Vanilla, and will tone down to tan...I hope) The other thing that happened is that some colorants behave unpredictably in alkaline environments. Blues tend to turn greenish, then will shift back to blue. Hopefully, the yellows and greens will continue to morph and return to lavender and blue.

Whatever. Its not pretty, but smells amazing and will be wonderful. Unless that yellow changes, I won't be putting this one up for sale.

Takeaway? Always do a test batch when you're using new ingredients. I'll use this fragrance again, but will go with a different color palette. The dark purple turned out really nice, so I know that worked. I knew it'll be tan in its uncolored state, and that will work pretty with browns, russets, oranges and so forth. Also, this might continue to change.

If you are working with a quick moving fragrance (usually floral) here are a few tricks: keep your design simple. This was an In the Pot Swirl and was fairly successful. Go with minimal colors, you can make gorgous single-colored soap. Soap at low temperature. I soaped at 118, I generally soap at 100 or lower. Avoid additives. Anything with sugars (usually food products) will speed trace. Avoid clays. Use less solid oils. This recipe has coconut, shea, and tallow. Solid fats set up faster. 

I do love soapmaking. Never a dull moment. LOL! If anything drastic changes, I'll share. But I'll give this fragrance another shot at another time. :)

June Test Results

I have over a dozen new soaps on the drying shelves, and most have reached the stage where I test them. How is that done? Well, first they go into the kitchen window where I wash my hands before and after cooking, or cleaning or messing with the dogs. Once it passes muster on my hands, I take the soap into the shower and wash with it. If all goes well, I then wash my face with it.

Thus far, out of dozens and dozens of batches of soap I've made over the years, two didn't pass the face washing test, and those are actually sitting in a box in my office, and I'll probably shred them for laundry soap.

What went wrong? Well, I used two different recipes I use often, but both had fragrances I purchased from one company. Both made my face feel warm. It didn't burn or dry my face, but I really didn't like the effect, so they're off the shelf. Which is too bad, they were gorgeous! I won't be buying fragrance from that company anymore.

So on to tonight's test batches.

CUCUMBER MINT

This is my favorite cucumber-yogurt recipe, all vegetable and scented with a blend of mint and rosemary, anchored with a touch of patchouli. 

This recipe is touchy to make, largely because of the yogurt. Between that and the cucumber peel, the soap turned a beautiful light yellow, and is colored with Titanium Dioxide and Green Oxide for the swirls.

This is one of my gentler soaps, good for body and face, normal to dry or sensitive skin. Its has luxurious, rich lather and the fragrance is fresh. 

This one is a total win.

MIMOSA 

A traditional soap, I don't have the recipe right in front of me but its one of my Hemp recipes. I didn't think I'd like this, its fragranced with a champagne fragrance, mixed with orange essential oil. The orange faded down just a bit, but it leaves just enough scent to give the impression of a Mimosa. Its bracing and effervescent. The soap is silky (it does have silk in it) and surprisingly mild. The later is rich and bubbly. This is good for body and face, normal to dry skin. 

 DEAD SEA MUD

This one is a mild olive-heavy soap made with Dead Sea Mud and a touch of sea salt. I was truly surprised at how pretty it turned out, I touched up the greenish brown mud with a tiny bit of green mica and it came out lovely. Its a softer soap than most I make, but will harden with time. Its scented with a mint EO blend and a touch of rosemary essential oil

This is great for normal to oily skin, face and body. (though I have dry skin and I use it on my face almost daily.) Its mildly exfolliant, largely due to the mud grains. You'll want to use a washcloth when you wash your face with this one. 

SUMMERTIME DREAM

Another silk and hemp soap. This fragrance was the first I ever bought for soaping, probably a decade ago. I loved it back then and for nostalgia's sake, I bought another small bottle just to see if it was as wonderful as I remember.

It is!

The scent is a blend of summer fruit...apples and pears and peaches. It reminds me of sitting in an orchard on a warm day. The lather is fluffy and creamy, the texture of the soap is silky and fine. Of the four I have in the shower, I reach for this one just out of pleasure. This one is good for all skin types and is very mild. Its colored with mica colorants.

That's it for tonight! Over the next couple days, I'll be posting a few others. These will be going up on Etsy soon, so keep an eye out for them!

Ethics and Ingredients in Soaping (I'm on my virtual soapbox!)

Its been a long time!
Since its a new year, I figured I should get back into the habit of posting even if I don't have new photos to share.

 Above: Honey and Leather fragrance colored with gold mica, titanium dioxide and cocoa powder. The oils in this soap resulted in a very bright white batter, and in this case, I wanted a warm tan with the brown, so I used gold mica, which morphed to tan.

Over the past few months, I did a lot of soaping for specific events and for special orders. I've experimented with a few new recipes and fragrances, and it got me to thinking about some of the decisions I face with regards to ingredients.

As you (should) know, the Holy Trinity of soaping is Coconut Oil, Palm Oil and Olive. When combined properly, they give a nice balanced bar of soap. Coconut creates bubbles, Olive is conditioning and Palm adds bubbles and stability. Other oils are added to create lather, for theraputic benefits, for hardness and so on. But the main three above are the backbone of soapmaking.

Problem is, Palm is a devil oil. The world-wide production of Palm is having a devastating effect on the environment. That's why I've been experimenting with other oils, primarily tallow and lard. Its what our grandmothers used and I've been very pleased by the results. The soap I'm producing now is far, far superior to my former recipe.

But I still wanted a vegetarian bar other than my Castiles, (100% Olive Oil) so I turned to a lovely recipe that features a medley of fine oils, including Rice Bran, Olive, Sunflower and a few others, blended with cucumber, yogurt and aloe vera juice. Its been very popular and while it isn't as hard as my other soaps, the gentle, luxurant lather is worth it. :)

Speaking of other ingredients, lets talk about some of those other devil oils. Shea oil is also exploiting natural resources as well as the laborers who harvest it. And...*sigh*...Argan Oil. Bad for the environment. Even my hairdresser has stopped carrying it.  I'm sure there are others too. I've been leaning more heavily on more sustainable oils. Hemp is my current favorite, along with sunflower. Both make incredible, luxurious lather.

I take some flack for using soap scents and colors instead of sticking with "natural" or essential oils. So here's some plain talk about fragrance and color. My priority is to create a long-lasting, gentle, ethical and safe bar of soap. 

Not all essential oils are safe. Many are not ethical.

Wintergreen oil smells lovely. Too bad it can be fatal to children.

Sandalwood costs and arm and a leg...because it's endangered. Why do you think these oils are so rare and costly? Because they're RARE.

A few years ago, Patchouli prices went out the roof because of overharvesting. As a general rule, citrus oils burn out of soap very quickly, unless they are anchored with lemongrass (which I'm not fond of) or a blend of synthetic and longer lasting essential oils. In addition, citrus oils can cause photosensitivity. Some essential oils are flat-out toxic when used improperly. Just because Nature made it doesn't mean its beneficial.

If you are going to use essential oils in any context...soap, lotion, massage oil...do your homework. One site I suggest is Robert Tisserand: http://roberttisserand.com/

Last year, a soapmaker/herbalist told me a flat-out horror story about her uncle. His wife was treating his cancer with essential oils, which resulted in a painful and grisly ending for the poor man. I'm not saying EOs are bad, I'm just saying to use caution and educate yourself. Take everything you hear with a grain of salt. Often what we hear is anecdotal and not backed up by studies.

And this all leads to the question...does any of this matter? If I put lavender oil in my soap, or astronomically expensive emu oil, do the properties of the oils carry over after the harsh chemical process of saponification? Will essential oils retain their theraputic effect?

We do not know. 

Some fragrances last. Soap fragrances are blends of essential oils and synthetics that are designed to be safe and non-toxic, to not morph during saponification. I personally believe that saponification burns out the theraputic benefits of *most* ingredients. Not all, but most. Saponification is the process of making something that is completely different than its base ingredients. That bar you're holding was made from coconut oil and lye, but that soap is no longer oil and lye. It has been transformed into something completely different.

However, I can attest to the fact that emu oil holds up very well through the process. I used it as an experiment in one batch of soap, and to my surprise, it totally eliminated a very ugly red scar on the back of my hand. (If you ever meet me, ask to see my scars! LOL!) Olive contains a high degree of unsaponifiables, which means the good stuff in olive oil carries over to the soap. (I will post more on olive oil and the special challenges it presents to soapmakers.)

Many essential oils are spectacular in soaping: lavender, patchouli, mints, eucalyptus, jasmine and others hang in their beautifully. Some are complete flops. (I'm looking at you lemon, lime, orange, tangerine and grapefruit) But before you decide on what EOs you want to use, do some research. IMO, they are only useful within the context of soaping for their fragrance. which is important. However, if some of those are like wintergreen have toxic levels, you need to know what you're doing in case it does carry over. Every one of the mints (including lavender) and tea tree are potentially irritating to the skin. I tossed an entire batch of tea tree/eucalyptus because it was TOO aromatic. The PH level was fine, but the oils burned my skin.  If you are using EOs, look carefully at the ingredients, many of the more expensive oils are already diluted in a carrier oil.

My personal favorite EO for soaping is a mint/rosemary blend I use in my cucumber yogurt soap. I purchase the blend, its too expensive and complex for my meager skills. Here's an interesting tidbit: the fragrance its based on is "All Natural." Sounds good...right? The duplicate I use is not "All Natural"...they've swapped out ambergris with a synthetic substitute. A good choice as I'd never support the whaling industry and I'm skeptical that the perfume industry used ethically sourced ambergris. 

There is an array of soap coloring, ranging from natural ingredients such as paprika, kelp, clays and various spices and herbs, to FDA approved dyes, micas and pigments. Most are safe, some are not. (particularly cinnamon, clove and other similar spices) In some naturals, the color works (I love a blend of paprika and turmeric) and others just get fugly. Greens tend to go brown. Ugh. But cocoa powder is amazing! My go-to for black is activated charcoal, made from bamboo. Its effective, natural and ethical. For white, I use titanium dioxide, or mica that's been coated with TD. (it gives a different textural effect.)

 My favorite colorants are micas, and since I go for color and design, they are generally dyed with various skin safe colors that remain true and intense for the long haul.

This soap was fragrance with a blend of Black Tea and Sandalwood fragrance oil. Sandalwood is very rare and prohibitively expensive, so the FO is made with various essential oils and some synthetic fragrance. Black Tea fragrance is also a blend of natural and synthetic fragrances that combine to make a smoky, earthy fragrance. The soap is a blend of coconut, tallow, olive, hemp an castor oil and colored only with blue mica. The white body of the soap is the natural color of the soap batter, which shows how exceptional tallow is in soapmaking.

As you can see, there are a lot of decisions to make. For me, it always boils down to responsibility...to the environment and to safety. I've been doing this a long, long time...before we were using stick blenders to speed things up. LOL! I've changed my approach several times. I've chucked wonderful recipes that wound up not lasting long enough, or that developed DOS. (dreaded orange spots) So if you wish one nugget of advice from me, here it is:

PATIENCE.

I can't say how many new soapers are selling their soap before its even cured. They are in such a rush they cut corners, literally. This isn't a craft you can rush. Your soap will not be ready to use for at least 6 weeks. (up to a year for 100% Castile) You should NEVER sell your soap without giving it months of practice and testing. On your own body. Then hand it over to a few friends to try. PH test it. Zap test it. (with your tongue) Take notes on how it changes with time.

 I made dozens of batches before I felt safe putting some up for sale. And you know what? I still have soap that's a decade old, and its still beautiful and aromatic. And every time I send soap to somebody, I'm afraid they won't like it, or will have a bad reaction or something. Its kinda scary.

Seriously. You whipped up something from oil and LYE and you're running your first batch down to the craft show? I hope you have insurance. 

Anyhow, go for it. Have fun. Share pictures with me and if you have questions, just ask. No one makes soap the same way and we all have different styles and preferences. A bad batch can sometimes be redeemed. Sometimes it goes into the trash. Even failures aren't really failures, because you learned something. (Like that time I forgot to grease the PVC pipe before pouring the soap...)

If you happen to be interested, I have a few bars of the soap above available, and some others I need to inventory before putting up on Etsy. Feel free to drop me a line if you have any requests.

I won't have anything new for Valentine's day, but will be doing some pretty florals and fruit scents for spring in general, Mother's Day in particular. I just need to find a little time to get back in the kitchen and play.

Stand Back!

I'm posting a lot of soap today! A few of these are consignment only, others will be up on my Etsy site for sale. If you live locally and would like some, let me know and I can deliver! Most of these are experimental, using ingredients and fragrance that are new to me. I'd say these are all pretty successful! When I post to Etsy, I'll include complete ingredients lists.

Blacque/Bleu

A gorgeous drop swirl fragranced with Blackberry Sage fragrance. 

 Cherry Bomb

I wanted to sample a cherry fragrance, and this one lives up to the name! POW! I love it!

 Pacifica

 This ITP swirl is fragranced with Brambleberry's Crisp Fresh Cotton. Its as fresh as the ocean.

 Rocky Mountain High

 This hemp soap has a woodsy fragrance that is just amazing. Not like cleaner, not like Christmas, this is a day in a high mountain forest.
I'm not totally crazy about the design, next time I'll kick up the colors. This is brown, red and white on the base, green and white up top. I can do better. :) But in a way, this reminds me of the Northern Lights...

 Goth Girl

 This was a consignment but I have a few bars left. This soap is fragranced with a dark, sexy blend of black tea, almond and black cherry. Smoky, sexy and sweet.

 Gothique

This one is literally the exact same soap at Goth Girl, same recipe, same fragrance blend, even the exact same colorants are used, I just changed the color saturation. Gothique is a dark purple with red and white swirls, where GG is a pink soap with dark purple and dark reddish pink swirls. I love doing color blends! Only a couple of these are available.

 Lychee 4 Me

 I might make this my signature soap! LOL! My private addiction is tea, and my favorite is a fruity Lychee blend that smells exactly like this soap. Very sweet, fruity but anchored with Rooibos fragrance. The details on top are metallic mica swirls.

Moroccan Mint

This gorgeous soap is another of my tea soaps. Its a Moroccon Mint anchored with Black Tea fragrance, which gives it a smoky, dimensional quality. One of the most visually intriguing soaps I've made so far. 

Consignment - will repeat soon

fresh citrus and kumquat blend

Guest soaps

 

 Consignment: Mint guest soaps

My Addiction...Tea!

These are all soaps with tea fragrances in the blend. The first is Lychee Red Tea. I haven't "named" the soap yet, but I'm thinking of calling it "My Addiction" since it smells like my favorite tea tastes.

The next is one I was preparing for a soap exchange. It turned out really nice...so nice I created a companion soap. The pink is "Goth Girl" and the black is "Gothique." These two have the same fragrance blend, its just done in different proportion. The pink is a dark smoky-sweet, with almond and cherry undertones. The black is a bit heavier on the black tea fragrance, which is what give the soap that smoky base.

 As to the color, the 'black' in both of these is actually a deep, deep purple mica. Looks pretty good with the pink/red to set it off!

Since these are going out, I'll have a very limited amount for the Etsy page, but I will be duplicating both! These are all unisex fragrances, and some of the best I've come across in a long time!

New Listings!

I've posted a few new soaps on my Etsy shop! Quantities are limited, so grab them now!

 Goth Girl: a sweet, smoky fragrance blend in a soft pink base.

 Honeysuckle Summer: a new, amazing fragrance! 

Hearts and Flowers: a lovely Lilac fragrance

Serious about Soap

When I started making soap (about 1998 or so) it was all pretty straightforward...mix oil and lye and you get soap. It was a marathon event, sort of like churning butter with a plastic spoon, often taking hours to get the batter to thicken and come to trace. You could add some fragrance, usually an essential oil of some sort. Color was usually limited to natural ingredients that were pretty, but limited in their variety. I mostly relied on molds to make my soap unique and pretty. Unfortunately, molds are expensive and don't last all that long.

By the time I packed my oil and molds away, we'd evolved to using stick blenders (a miracle that totally changed the game) mica and other more vivid colorants and fragrances specifically formulated for soap. Recently, I found a box of old soap, some almost a decade old, and though it was a bit faded, it still washed up beautifully. But as you can see in the photo above, it was okay, but not particularly stunning to look at.

When I started again last year, I was amazed at the advances in soap making. Artists have developed amazing new swirls and pours, colors have evolved to a stunning variety and many talented soapers are sharing their methods on You Tube. Soaping ranges the gamut from rustic to high art. But one of the biggest changes comes from the Earth itself.

When I first started, I committed myself to making vegetarian soap only. My staple oils were Olive, coconut and palm, and I sometimes added beeswax and almond oil. When I returned to soaping, something big had changed. Primarily, the wholesale rape of the rain forests.

Palm oil is the big culprit. Its one of the essentials to soap making. Back in the day, our grandparents made soap with tallow and lard, but I hesitated to use animal oils. Palm and coconut were part of the vegetarian triad. But I now find palm unacceptible to use. Though there are palm oils that are allegedly sustainable, there's no real monitoring of the source so its almost impossible to guarantee whether it truly is ethical. So the soap maker and the consumer must look for substitutions.

This brings us back to the original oils: lard and tallow.

Even some of the vegan soapers I know are turning to these oils. Why? Its a matter of choosing what has the lesser impact on the world. Animal fats are the byproduct of the meat industry, which is ongoing and allows us to make complete use of an animal. Some soapers are even "cleaning" and using oils that have been used in cooking.  Many vegetable oils, and even some essential oils, are contributing to the overall devastation of the earth.

I'm not a vegetarian and personally have no problems with the use of tallow or lard. But still, I was hesitant, mostly because I do remember Grandma's harsh, white laundry soap. A few weeks back, I tried my first lard-blend soaps. They are beautiful and the most luxurious soaps I've made, and far less expensive. The results just blow me away.

I do plan to continue vegetarian lines, primarily in my Castile soaps made with organic oils, but unless palm oil becomes universally farmed in a sustainable fashion, I'll be using it only rarely. If you happen to have a problem with animal fats being used in soaping, please check my Etsy site for the vegetarian options. If you aren't convinced about the quality of my soap, drop me a line and ask for a sample. You might be surprised...in a good way!

Lilac soap with embeds.


https://www.etsy.com/shop/Belindapendence