Love & Peace

Hi everyone!  Just wanted to post a few updates....

The first thing - I don't like M&P mixed with CP soap as "embeds".  Well, maybe I don't like it because I like to have my CP go through the "gel stage" where it heats up and saponification occurs.  This is when the lye is reacting with the oils to make soap and heat is generated.  Well, for M&P soap embeds in the middle of the soap loaf, they ....melt.... right?  LOL  So, while I love love love the look of this soap as a loaf, I do not like the inside that much so I'll be making some changes to it when I make the next batch.

But, here's some pics of the outside of the soap (don't you just LOVE the colors?):

The only think I would change with the top of the loaf is to add yellow as the embeds in the "frosting" instead of red.  I think a bright yellow would really show up good.... maybe even yellow, green and purple embeds that are small flowers?

Now, do realize that the pics didn't turn out very well on the slices (which didn't help them and they needed all the help they could get LOL).  The red turned out kind of orange in the 2nd pic:

But the scent in this soap is really really good.... so I'm going to list it in my Etsy shop even though it's not that pretty LOL  I'll put a good price on it and customers can get a really good deal on a very large bar of soap :-)

Love & Peace (Lush - Karma Dup)

Last night I also soaped "Love & Peace" - it's my Lush "Karma" dup...

I modified my soap recipe just a little bit and included beeswax in the oils. There are many benefits in using beeswax in your soap oils. One is that it has natural moisturizing and healing properties. Beeswax is also high in vitamin A, which is important for human cell development. Beeswax is also known to have anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial properties as well.

Beeswax will also make your cold process go to trace much faster too.... and sometimes, that's not a good thing when you're soaping! LOL I was only able to get one section on the bottom of the soap loaf swirled before I added the embeds. I had wanted to also swirl the top as well but the soap just got too thick too quickly.

I also used this loaf as a "trial" on mixing glycerin soaps as embeds into cold process soap. I've ready where others have done this successfully so I thought I would give it a try. From the information and opinions that I've read, using glycerin as embeds in CP works much better than CP embeds in glycerin soap. I thought that by using the glycerin embeds it would give me a more transparent embed that might look pretty cool. The embeds are hearts and flowers :-)

The base of the soap loaf is a beautiful blue... I hope that the color stays the same as I poured it and doesn't morph on me LOL The top is a beautiful red gloppy frosting with small red glycerin reds on top (and glitter sprinkled on top of that of course).

I checked it this morning and it seems like the soap loaf has completed going through the gel phase and is beginning to cool down. The loaf is still soft to the touch and will need more time in the mold. I will probably leave this loaf in the mold until Monday morning - just to be sure it is completely ready to slice.

Sometimes soap making is really just an experiment - with each batch you cook, you learn something new. It might be something like how adjusting or adding one additional oil or butter affects trace or it might be learning that a particular fragrance makes a soap go to a thick trace (or seize) almost immediately. But it is always so much fun when it's time to slice the soap and see what it looks like inside.

I'm hoping that my "Love & Peace" will be a cool experimental loaf :-) Here's a couple of pics of the soap in the mold:

Laundry Soap

Just to let you know what I'm soaping today.... Laundry Soap!

Yes, laundry soap - this is the soap that I personally use to make my homemade laundry detergent. Laundry soap is made from 100% lard and lye... that's it!

There are two different ways to scent your homemade laundry detergent - the first way is to start with scented "laundry soap". So, for this batch (in keeping everything natural) I scented this loaf with peppermint essential oil. This is the first batch that I've made scented with peppermint EO. So, I'm a bit anxious to see how the homemade laundry detergent that I make with it turns out :-)

The 2nd way to scent your homemade laundry detergent is to start out with unscented, plain laundry soap and add essential oil to your completed batch of laundry detergent. I don't prefer this method because it seems to take so much more essential oil than the first method.

Laundry detergent is easy to make from laundry soap, borax and washing soda. And it's a natural product that isn't filled with lots of chemical names that you can't pronounce. I've read that it's safer on septic systems and also better for the environment. An added benefit is that it is low sudsing and great for the new high efficiency washing machines!

I just checked on the laundry soap loaf and it's beginning to heat up and gel. I also poured several small sample sizes that I will be giving away as freebies in my Etsy orders about a month from now (after the soap has had time to cure out). I will also include the appropriate amount of borax and washing soda with the soap samples so that customers can make their own homemade laundry detergent and give it a try in their washing machines.

My plans for the future include offering an unscented, an essential oil scented (like the peppermint or maybe another EO) and a fragrance oil scented laundry soap. I will keep everyone updated on when these will be available in our Etsy soap store.

Tonight I have several soaps to make - first, the Christmas Sugar Cookies. I can't wait to make this soap. It's in the fragrance dup of Yankee Candles "Christmas Sugar Cookies". I LOVE LOVE LOVE that smell!

The next one that I am planning on soaping tonight is the "Iced Cranberry Citrus". I'll be doing the "mantra" swirl which I love doing. I just love how the swirls turn out. Plus, it's a fun swirl to do.

The last one (that I hope I have time to soap) is going to be our Lush "Karma" dup - which I'm calling "Love & Peace". This scent so reminds me of the 60's! I can barely remember the 60's with the "love & peace and not war" thing going on. I can remember the vivid, bright colors, the peace sign... So, I'm going to incorporate hearts and flowers into this soap loaf! I really think it's going to be a fun soap to make and I can't wait to share it with you!