Amy's Soap Challenge 2013 - Final Week - Leopard Spots

I wasn't going to post my soap yet as I still have another attempt to do, but I didn't think it would be fair NOT to show my soap failure!  I still like it, but it is not at all what I planned to do.

Before I explain, I just want to say a big thank you to Amy from Great Cakes Soapworks for putting on this soap challenge!  I'm sure it was a lot of work for her (since it was for me) and I was able to learn so much from this experience.  I think it's important to grow creatively otherwise I'll end up stagnating!  This was the perfect challenge for me.

The final week was leopard spots.  Amy discovered this technique from Cee (Oil & Butter), who found this technique on a cake design video.  How creative!  So of course we all have to try this!  Check out the latest link-ups for the final challenge week here.  Oh and it was a challenge!  I saw many a people had to do this at least twice and sometimes three times!  Us soapmakers are a group of perfectionists for sure!

Everything seemed to go wrong for me.  I used a different soap recipe, which was a mistake.  It had too much palmitic and stearic acid in it along with castor oil.  Great for speeding up trace.  Then I had my lye water too hot so that was the end there!  My soap was SO thick, but at least it didn't sieze.  I colored my soap wrong.  I started coloring it pink before I separated off my colors for black and white!!!!  Ugh, so now I had to go with with light pink instead of white.  I was hoping to go with my tiger stripe theme of pink, black and white.  Oh well.  I misjudged how much batter I needed for the stripes and had way too much for the stripes.  I used a narrow mold....trying getting a hand in there!  Impossible.  But, it's soap and it smells delicious!  It's a fruity blend with pinnapple, lemon, lime, peaches, and white gardenia.  So yummy and pretty!

No fancy photography here, but here it is!

Now I am going to admire what everyone else made and plan my next attempt.  Hopefully I can do a video too!  I will just have to do the exact opposite of my last attempt and then maybe it will work!

On a side note, I got a new ideal for a soap design!  I could just pipe stripes back and forth like I did on the top and get spots that way.

Amy's Soap Challenge 2013 - Elemental Swirl

I was actually a little nervous to try the next soap challenge that Amy posted.  This one is called an elemental swirl.  Amy demonstates how to make it here.  Basically it's a cool layer and a warm layer of soap separated by a mica line.  I've never swirled this many colors before so I wanted to see if I could do it.  The most important thing for me was to make sure my recipe was a slow mover and to use a very well behaved fragrance oil.  I used Brambleberry's Energy fragrance oil since I find that it does not accelerate trace.  I just love this fragrance.  Yum!

I chose blue, green and white for the bottom and neon orange, neon yellow and white for the top.  It's not something I would ever try on my own, but it was great to see what it would look like and best of all my husband likes it!  My soap behaved perfectly and I actually think everything went very smoothly.  I also tried a new recipe without cocoa butter.  My experiment was to see if it was similar to my cocoa butter soap since I didn't stray very far from my favorite numbers in soapcalc.  Sometimes I cringe when I use my expensive cocoa butter in soap!

As usual I made videos of the making and cutting of it.  Nothing too exciting and the lighting wasn't perfect, but you'll get the idea of how I made it.  Making and watching the videos helps me improve on my soaping skills.  I finally didn't overblend my soap!

If you would like to see what everyone else made you can find it here on the link up page.

I looked on Amy's blog and it appears that next week is mica swirl tops.  I can't wait to try that one!

Thanks for looking and happy soaping!

Amy's Soap Challenge 2013 - Tiger Stripe

It's that time of year again when Amy from Great Cakes Soapworks hosts the 2013 Soap Challenge!  You can click here for all of the details of what she will be showing us each week.  Week 1 was the tiger stripe and it's demonstrated here by Amy.  I love her videos as she is very precise how she makes her soaps and I learn so much from her.  I also love her soaps as they are very silky and oh so good for my skin!     

I admit I had to take some time to think about how I would make my tiger stripe soap.  Having never attempted such a technique I didn't want to just dive into this without planning.  The hardest part was actually thinking about the color combination so I decided to just do what Amy did!  Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?  ;-) 

I did a 16 oz batch and used titanium dioxide for the white (1/2 tsp in water), activated charcoal for black (1/2 tsp in water), and then a neon pink for the pink (1/4 tsp in glycerin).  Then I emblelished the top with body safe glitter and candies.  As I was making this soap I thought for sure it wouldn't turn out.  The batter was getting thick and it wasn't pourable anymore.  That's where a spoon can become your best friend.  I think the key is to just keep alternating soap down the center of the mold (tapping down) and you will be okay!  What do you think?  I love it! 

I also created videos of the making and cutting of the soaps.  It was a big effort this time as editing was a pain, but I like to document my creations too.  I can see what I should or shouldn't be doing like overblending!  

That's all she wrote for now.  I am going to check out Amy's Tiger Stripe Link-Up page to see what everyone else created!  Stayed tuned for the next challenge that she'll be showing us:  Elemental Swirl. 

what was i thinking? formulating

Do you remember when I said I was going to start a series called "What was I thinking?"  Well, I think I'm ready.  I came up with the idea when I was organizing and delcuttering for our move from Minnesota to Oregon and was amazed at how many ingredients I had and how many notebooks of ideas and formulations I had, but yet felt like I had nothing and too much at the same time.  

Once in awhile I go through my formulating notebooks only to realize I keep trying to rediscover the same things!  I see myself trying similar formuations for lotions or soap or bath fizzies, not realizing I've done them already.  What a waste of time!  How unorganized am I?  I'm left brain, but yet I'm not.  I have a minor in chemistry, I should know how to formulate.  I do know, but sometimes it's not as fun as playing around I guess.  Restraint...I have none.

Today I discovered a bath fizzy recipe from November 2011.  I made it today and I like it.  My notes say my friend likes it.  Why did I not keep continuing to improve it?  Obviously I didn't love it if I didn't make it again.  If I combine the recipe I'm on now with this one I think I will be happy.  Maybe that's formulating.  But November 2011 to March 2013 is a long time to formulate something as simple as a bath fizzy and frankly not an earth shattering recipe either.  Oh well...I think I learned a few things.  Maybe I should come up with some rules for formulating....

The Rules of Formulating.

1.  Don't talk about formulating.

2.  Don't talk about formulating.

wait...this isn't Fight Club!

3.  Figure out what you want to make.

4.  Study ingredients and recipes.

5.  Formulate a recipe.

6.  Try it out for awhile.

7.  Figure out if you like it or not.  What do or don't you like about it?  Try to pinpoint ingredients that you like and ingredients you don't like.

8.  TAKE NOTES!!!  I want to slap myself silly on some of my recipes for not taking notes.  Luckily I take notes on the recipes I do like, which is better than nothing.  It would be nice to have more notes on things I don't like.  You always think you'll remember something, but you won't.

9.  If you want to change the recipe, don't change too much at one time.  The best way to test a recipe is to only change one ingredient at a time.  Technically you should have your control recipe and then you could maybe make 3 other recipes changing one ingredient on each one and then compare.  This way you can be sure what ingredient does what.  I felt like I could change multiple things at the same time, but in the end it just confused me.

10.  Focus on your goal.  Don't get sidetracked. 

11.  On a side note...don't be afraid to think outside the box.

12.  If the recipe is going nowhere, ditch it, and start over!  This is what I did with my body creams.

13.  Know when you're done and then pat yourself on the back.

Even though I haven't been the ideal formulator, there is a method to my madness.  I have learned so much over the years and suddenly everything is coming together.  I feel like I can formulate in an efficient manner now.  I feel like I know what each ingredient can bring to a formulation.  The perfectionist in me says it was a waste of time and money, but it was a hobby for me so it was okay to play around.  Either way, I enjoyed a lot of the products.  

I better go...I need to formulate.  I will never stop!

body cream obsession

I've been quiet because I've been formulating body creams.  It becomes an obsession because I have a look and feel that I'm envisioning.  I don't like heavy creams.  I want creamy, light, fluffy, smooth, shiny, and moisturizing.  Many failed batches and two successes.  Persistence pays off.  I'll give myself that.  I finally have two creams that I love....at least for now.  Must.not.tinker.

Green Tea Dream Cream

Lavender Martini Coconut Cream

less is more

I'm sitting here wondering what the heck I've been up to lately.....Everything?  That's what I hate about my brain sometimes.  It wants to learn and do everything.  I've actually stopped myself from experimenting with too many products and have focused on finalizing my favorites.  This only happens when I feel like I have a revelation or fantastic idea.  

My recent soaps have been my absolute favorites.  I reduced my castor oil to almost nothing and added more olive oil and suddenly I have plenty of time to play with my batter.  It has really saved me from failed batches.  I had just about given up for awhile.  The kicker is that I think it lathers better.  It has a silkiness to it that I love.  One of my favorites I'm using now is White Ginger & Amber from Brambleberry.  I find it to be a unisex and calming, subtle fragrance.  I used natural cocoa butter in this one.  

I also made another batch of my Birthday Party Cake Fun soap!  I love this one.  I don't have any photos of it cut yet, but they are just simple white bars of soap.  I have to make sure I use light oils to get a white bar (along with titanium dioxide).  Here is a photo of my previous batch.  I scented it with Green Tea from NG, which is probably my favorite fragrance right now.  It's strong, behaves, and lasts and lasts.

I was also playing around with labeling my lip balms.  Of course I had to name them after my dog, Milla!  Not sure if everyone knows how to pronounce it, but it's mela with a long e.  I randomly give these out to friends and soon my family and want them to be labeled.  I like to know that they know what they are putting on their lips.  I wasted a bunch of lip balms by trying to put the maximum amount of flavor in them, i.e. 3-4%, and I just wasn't happy.  I felt like it changed the feel of them so I reduced the amount in half and I'm happy now.  I think it just goes my whole philosophy....sometimes less is more.

On another note, spring is approaching (and sometimes retreating), but it makes me excited to get out and go mountain biking soon.  I blinged up my bike with some cute tassels!  We'll see how long they last or if they end up hitting trees or something.  Maybe people will think I'm weird?  That's okay, because I am!

Happy soaping!

It's not soap!

I've been playing around with my bath fizzy recipe and design.  I think I finally have a winner.  I've been testing various ingredients and oils and fell in love with avocado oil.  It seemed very silky in my bath water and I love that.  I also use an emulsifier because I can't stand oil floating in my bath water.  My goal is just to do simple, pretty colors.  What do you think?

Scented with Cucumber and Aloe and colored with blue glycerin dye.

Here's what the bath water looks like.  Very spa-like!

I love pink and purple!  

I thought I would also include a photo of my final salt scrub.  I've really fallen in love with this one.  My goal was to create a white scrub that looked fluffy on day 1 as well as day 30.  I chose fine sea salt instead of sugar because it seems to last in the shower, exfoliate, and make my skin glow.  The downside of salt is that it can sting if you have a cut on your skin, but it's something I can live with!  This one is scented with fluffy pink candy and it's yummy!  I may even include colored jojoba spheres to give it some extra bling of color.  I'm always working on other projects, but these are my prettiest ones so far.