New Mold

The Hubs has a special cousin that is fabulous in making things...like seriously fabulous...he should be selling some of his gorgeous items. He made my soap cutter which we use A LOT!

Lately we have been looking into molds. We currently use the molds The Hubs made me over 4 years ago...absolutely nothing wrong with them...except we have to line them. Coming up on 5 years with a larger production than our hobby stage...well its getting a little old. BUT...for the amount we need we are talking $1,000 buckeroos or so...well we are still too small for that cost just yet.

So dear sweet Cousin Al and his handy hands stepped in for a possible solution...look at the gorgeous mold he has fashioned for us to try out....


So here we fill in our first batch for a test drive...


No leaks...huge plus here....

He made these tops for bowing...but it didnt bow a bit...

So our first lil baby is in the oven...the true test will be at unmolding...if it doesnt stick...well Cousin Al best get to cranking more of these babies out for us...so cross your fingers and stay tuned.
(oh and the scent is Fresh Linen...we wanted a no frills scent to try out out, and this scent needs no colors)

Hot Process Soap...

...I have to say...not really a fan.

I like the process of it, and to me it really seems a lot like the process for liquid soap. I do hate though that each time I have done the hot process method it has boiled over in my oven no matter how much I hover over it. Not a lot, but enough that will stink and smoke your house out when you forget to clean it out and your daughter comes unknowingly behind you and heats the oven up to cook pizza...P...U!!!!

What I dont like is the end result. I will just say it right here..out loud...I am a soap snob and I love cold process soap...period.

So here is my result, I really dont like the uneven feeling texture. Now yes on a previous trial in a log mold I did get a more packed soap than this one that was poured into a slab mold and smooshed down as best I could, but it just feels different....



The top of the soap which was packed into the bottom of the mold is smooth enough....but the bottom of the soap is just not finished enough for my taste...

...And I am just not a fan....so in the free bucket at work these go.

Whipped Soap

My friend and I tried a new soap making technique this past weekend. It is whipped soap, you dont melt any of the oils down, just add to the mixer and start whipping, and add very cold lye water to it. It was a fun process and I cant wait to cut the bars and see how they soap up.

Here are the hard oils being whipped. Palm Oil, Coconut Oil & Beef Tallow.



Now we add the soft oils, Olive Oil & Castor Oil.

Pouring in the lye water.

Adding the lime based essentail oil blend.

Whipping...whipping...and whipping some more....

We added a green color to match the theme of the scent and then poured it in the log. In a couple days we will cut the bars and hopefully I will have something good to show you. :)