Soap Challenge Week 7 - Rosemary Mint Gradient Colored Soap

Well, I just had to do one more soap and thought I'd take a shot at a gradient colored soap.  This is for Week 7 of Amy's Soap Challenge.  I decided to make another Rosemary Mint soap and try using my teal green gel color and some liquid titanium dioxide.

I decided to pour out the layers in one cup amounts to fill my taller mold.  My gradient is more bold instead of subtle and I'm glad they turned out.  I think this was very fun and a great learning experience and has given me some ideas for future soaps!  I might even go for less layers next time too.  Thanks Amy for the challenge!

Here is the making of it video....

Here is the cutting of it video...

Can't wait to see what everyone else made!

Soap Challenge Week 6 - Faux Funnel Swirl

I finally got a chance to do Amy's Soap Challenge!  This week it was a faux funnel swirl.  I have done a funnel swirl before (probably almost three years ago) and then a few faux funnel swirls after that.  I think they are fun to do and lots of fun to see them when I'm cutting the soap.

I had a few challenges this time and I'm going to blame it all on me playing with my soap recipe.  I have since tossed this soap recipe!  My first attempt was a white, pink and blue funnel swirl scented with lavender martini. I even put in some greek yogurt for silkiness.  As soon as this soap hit gel it promptly overheated and turned into soup.  It was bad.  So, I decided to try again and this time I did a video of it.  I made my own blend of lavender martini and fruit slices fragrance oils with yellow (rainbow yellow mica), pink (neon pink from NG) and orange (rainbow orange mica) for the colors.  The smell was wonderful and I was hoping it would turn out.  The citrus scent of the fruit slices compliments the citrus part of lavender martini.  My husband said it smelled like candy.  Unfortunately, it also seemed to overheat and when I cut it the next day the middle was oozing liquid.  I managed to take a few photos of it to show the swirl, but in some soaps the middle is grainy.  Boo hoo.  If I were to do this again I will stick with my main recipe and skip the yogurt just in case.

What was I thinking? - Reflection

I'm sitting here thinking about the past three years of my life.  I started soaping three years ago and it really changed my life.  It turned from a hobby into an obsession of all things bath and body.  An addiction I'm sure many of you can relate to.  My first goal...find the perfect recipe.  It has taken me this long to find my "recipe".  That seems like a long time.  If somebody else were to use it, would they just think of it as another bar of soap?  Being a soap maker I can tell what each oil brings to a bar of soap or the different types of lather and bubbles.  My skin likes it and I truly enjoy using it in the shower.  I enjoy the lather and creaminess and it makes me happy.  Goal accomplished....three years later.

I decided to start a series called "What was I thinking?" to talk about my journey these past three years.  Making soap and other products has really fulfilled my need to experiment, to formulate, and to be a chemist.  My excessive experimenting has led to many failures (and some successes) and a collection of ingredients and objects.  Now that we are moving I'm faced with ingredients to go through and my ability to collect things and be reluctant to let go of them.  I think pack rat would be a cute way to describe me.  I want to change my ways and be more focused and I think in the end that will make me a happier person.  Not to mention I'll have less clutter.  So stayed tuned for more thoughts on "What was I thinking?"

Rosemary Mint with parsley and mango butter

breakfast smoothie indulgence

I've recently changed the way I've been eating (or at least trying to) and have been drinking smoothies for breakfast.  They mostly consist of either almond milk or fruit juice, vanilla Greek yogurt, a banana, and some frozen fruit all blended together.  Couple that with my morning cup of coffee and I'm a happy girl.  I think about food a lot, especially breakfast, since it's the first thing I wake up to in the morning!  Not to mention, it's the first meal to start my day.

Of all the smoothies I've made, my favorite one has about 3/4 cup almond milk (vanilla almond milk makes it sweeter), 1/4 cup vanilla Greek or coconut yogurt, 1 banana, and 2 Tbsp sunflower butter (mine is called Sunbutter).  Yummy!  The sunflower butter adds some fat in there to make me feel full and help me last until lunch.  It almost reminds me of a peanut butter blizzard!  Oh I forgot to mention that peanut butter is one of my favorite foods (peanut butter toast to be precise), but I've recently switched to sunflower butter and love that too.

I forgot to take a picture as I gobbled it up in no time flat, but here's a smoothie I made for my husband this morning.  This one has 1/2 cup vanilla almond milk, 1/2 cup vanilla coconut yogurt, 2 bananas, and maybe a cup or more of frozen blueberries, blackberries, and mangoes.  You definitely have to brush your teeth right after drinking one of these as they are full of seeds!  Nothing like a seed in between your front teeth.  hehe!

Bubbles!

Every time I plan a soap using a slab mold I have visions of soft swirls and a perfectly rectangle bar of soap.  Dreams are nice aren't they?  I shouldn't be too hard on myself because my soap ended up turning out just fine.  Not as I envisioned, but it has glitter on top at least!  I'm too lazy to take a photo of it, but you'll be able to see it in the video that I'll add below.

What else?  Oh!  I made some foaming bath fizzies.  I have been dreaming of bubble baths lately so I thought I'd do some experimenting.  I used one of my basic bath fizzy recipes and modified it to include SLSa.  I think the bubbles were perfect, but needs a little more in the moisturizing department.  I scented them with Sandalwood Rose (lovely scent).

I will always have a soft spot for pink!

Bubbles!

I also had to put in this cute photo of my dog, Milla, after I picked her up from her grooming appointment.  Just a quick pic in the car!

Last, but not least, here is my latest video showing my soap as well as a few other things.  I got a new webcam so I had to try it out.

Happy soaping!

i need to make soap soon!

I have been crazy busy lately.  Hubby and I put the house up for sale and we actually sold it.  I can't tell you how stressful it was in this market.  We decided it was time to move on with our lives and move out west to Oregon.  We won't actually move until June, but have plenty to do before then.  I don't feel like celebrating yet because nothing is really final until we are signing paperwork at the closing!  Call me a cynic.  I won't bore you with details, but I'm very tired and have a huge urge to make soap.  Did I mention I was tired?  Yeah, I'm tired.

I have an idea what I'm going to do.  It will be a simple soap with a soft swirl in it.  I'll be using this mold that I made as a slab mold to give me 4 bars of soap.  The bottom of the mold will be the top of the soap if all goes well.  I'm also going to put some Greek yogurt in it since my trials with that have gone well and I think the soap feels creamier with it.

But first I must get to the grocery store so I can make us some beanless chili for dinner.  Food first I guess.  The good part is that I can eat and soap with the yogurt!  Honestly, the last thing I need is more soap, but this is necessary for me to do for my mind!  Wish me luck!

ice cream party cake fun soap!

Here's a fun soap I made the other week.  I just wanted it to be simple and fun!  It has greek yogurt in it for creaminess and of course cake sprinkles on top!  I made the name of the soap extra long for fun.  You're supposed to shout when you say it!