Take a Leap!

It's a Leap Year!!!!  Do you know what that means???  EVERY MONTH has a 29th day!!!  Yeah...I know....crazy amount of excitement over something kinda simple huh?  But see, I have a reason....

For myself - and any one else who wants to join in - I am posting the "Leap Year" challenge.  On the 29th day of each month (hence why leap year is important cause without it February wouldn't have 29 days right?  Anyways....) on the 29th day of each month or close to it I challenge myself to "take a leap".  It can be a leap of faith, leap into something new and different in my soap, leap off the couch and get something completed I have had on hold for a while....you get the point right? Posting this one a little early so my faithful followers can tag along and have a chance to gear up and join in too!

When I realized it was a leap year I felt like doing something a little special - and I realized at the same time I am the queen of the "90% Club".  I get about 90% of many projects done and never finish them - just done enough that is to function.  I'll be posting reminders (as I remember) on instagram @nlrsoaps and on my Facebook page

So what does 2016 have in store in terms of my own personal Leaps?  Well I was thinking somewhere along the lines of this:

• January - Leap into Bubble Bars - I have had many requests for bubble bars and bath fizzies and while I've made a few and done some test runs they just haven't held my attention like the soap has ( I LOVE making soap but not always the other products as much) so January I will be leaping into that commitment.
• February - Leap into Fresh Booth Set Up - I've got this thing about reworking the booth for craft shows and keeping the set up simple yet fresh every year so this year I will be rebuilding and redesigning several elements
• March - Leap into Cheesy Goodness - I don't make cheese products for resale BUT I do make them for the house and by March there will be plenty of milk to go around so I will be expanding my cheese making skills this year....because edible yummies are just as much fun as soap sometimes!
• April - Leap into the Garden - Prayers said HOPEFULLY this year will not be so dang wet and rainy that I won't be able to get outside and get to gardening!  April is set aside for some fun outdoorsy projects because a girl needs to get her hands a little dirty from time to time in order to test her soaps right?
• May - Leap into Masculine Type Products - I have had requests for man type goodies (and made a few in small batches) but I really want to add a decent line up of male skin care before Father's Day arrives so I'll probably cheat and start on this one early.....
• June - Leap into TRAVEL! - Fingers crossed, I REALLY want to get away and visit with my West Coast Peeps....ain't been there literally in YEARS!  So maybe, just MAYBE I will dare to be gone for a while...we will see.....
• July - Leap into CHRISTMAS! - Every year I start planning Christmas season for the soap in the summer and every year I fall behind and end up scrambling a bit.  This year I REALLY want to stick with it haha!
• August - Leap into Organization - I keep a fairly tidy cluttered house during Christmas season mostly because I drop the ball on my organization, this year I hope to tackle that sooner and not let go.
• September - Leap into Balms and Butters - this year I want to add a good line up of body butters and balms with natural type aspects, I've done it in the past and dropped the ball so I would like to take the calmer month of September, once I am ahead on soap that is, and fiddle around with that some.
• October - Leap of Faith - by October show season is really starting to roll along and I tend to forget to take a little time for me and Jesus....you know, quiet reflective, calm down and slow your roll time?  So October I will be sure to stop and breath.....I need to remember to do that!
• November and December......due to Christmas Season I'm not sure 100% that I'll be able to remember anything....so Leaping into my blogging maybe?  Or leaping my rear to the post office in a timely fashion with orders?  Not sure....I'll tackle that when I get there haha!

Who else is making plans to make 2016 a better year?  Share away....maybe give someone else an idea they hadn't pondered yet to ponder!  I'll be Leaping my way through 2016 and having a blast, I just know it!  I mean, come on, we even have an extra day to achieve our goals on so it must be a good year in the works right?

FINALLY! A making of "City Slicker" video :)

I FINALLY did a video of making what I call "City Slicker for him" - it's really Black Tie by Nature's Garden and it is FANTABULOUS! I love that smell, I love how the soap comes out, it's just fun!

This is the one I do with the zebra/tiger stripes in black and white...just loving it how it goes together...

The top had a little more texture, but still overall very flat :( I don't know why - I guess it's just so dang hot, I don't feel perky and thusly my soap tops are NOT perky either lol!

I haven't cut it yet - but it's gonna look pretty much like that when I do, just love it! Elegant, but fun all at once.

Off to allow another video to upload while I do other stuffs then :P

Cannabis Flower...aka "Pimp Juice"

Okay, so to be honest, Monkey Farts was getting old - played, tired, too many reruns!  Random way to begin things when the title mentions cannabis right?  See....what had happened was....

Monkey Farts is always the soap that makes people stop and smell things...it's the name.  At markets, at the feed store, even here at the house - when people see "Monkey Farts" they ALWAYS say: "I have to smell that, what DOES a monkey fart smell like???"  And then from there they smell everything else, and especially at the market I have noticed they usually will find at least a few soaps to buy after that....When I placed the monkey farts soap right on the corner where the most traffic came from I would without fail stop a good portion of people "to see what it smelled like".

But now everyone has seen and smelled that one...lord knows I myself have smelled that one...and while it's still a nice soap, I was over it.  I wanted to do something new, something different.  Have I mentioned this before?  "Pimp Juice" was my husbands idea.  He is just nerdy enough to come up with it.  What is pimp juice you ask?  Hmmm.....let my friend Nelly tell you:
Pimp Juice - Nelly

So as we sit here one day the hubby says, "You should make a soap called pimp juice!" (keep in mind I also refer to pg600 - used to bring the goats into heat for breeding - as 'pimp juice', which is where the phrase was being used at the time and I am sure what sparked the hubby to think of using it with soap).  We talked about it, and decided that Pimp Juice the soap should smell like Cannabis Flower Fragrance oil from Nature's Garden.

So, my fragrances came, and I swear to you, as soon as I cracked the bottle open to sniff it I coughed, I giggled, I had flashbacks to younger days! Oh my goodness!   It's one of those scents that inspires you to be naughty and get in trouble like highschool style, I swear! Really - the fragrance gave me the giggles and made me hungry...I'm really having fun with this one even if it smells naughty, thought I admit, I plan to take all my receipts and such to the market with me...and a print out from their website just in case I get pulled over on the way there....ya know...to prove it's really soap.

So I split my batch three ways, and I WAS going to do the whole "mantra swirl" thing....but DANG it was hot that night, and I was all out of patience as sweat dripped in my eyes (and no one wants a bar of soap made with love AND sweat - YUCK!)  I just flopped it all in a mold and swirled it up and added a little gold mica swirl tot he top with some green sprinkles too! I was shooting for the whole Mardi Gras/Rasta/Bob Marley kinda bright and colorful thing ya know?

Not my favorite top ever - I set it down in front of a fan (not thinking) and the paper lining in the mold blew over the top and smooshed it all around a bit....not bad, my mica still shows up nicely, but the very edges look a little ugly ya know?

The house smelled of, well, smoke for a few days too - even though I had a batch of Pink Sugar AND Black Tie AND Rosemary Mint soaps all curing! I went LIGHT on this fragrance too! Thankfully no one stopped by to have to explain it to...

I know, crummy lighting right?  But I like it!  Now if only it will be my new show stopper for a while....I think I will have fun with this one....I know it still makes me giggle when I walk by and smell a bar of it!

Making Cherry Almond Goat Milk Soap

Here's the video from making my version of Cherry Almond goat milk soap, cold process style :)

It came out nicely...still a wee tidly bit soft when I went to cut it...but also still very young at that stage LOL:

I get the fragrance from Rustic Escentuals and it's one EVERYBODY loves :)

Cutting a TON of soaps!

Well, here goes I suppose.  There will be more of these for sure haha, but for now, here is the cutting of "Rosemary ROCKS!!!" a rosemary mint fragrance from Nature's Garden that I absolutely LOVE!

AND THEN....since the "making of" videos were crud...here is the one where I cut a bunch of other soaps LOL.  "Berries & Cream" which is Black Raspberry Vanilla fragrance from Nature's Garden, "Kerfluffled" which would be my name for Pink Sugar fragrance from Rustic Escentuals (the "SNC" version since they have several).

There is also a little bitty loaf of "Malibu Heat Type" also from RE - I haven't renamed it yet since it was just a test run on that one...but I am in love again :)

The true special here is "Summer Nights" which would be Moonlight Pomegranate from NG....even though it is so special it will get it's own blog post...for now it is one video and displayed as such.  I LOVE the way it came out!  Looks so neat!  Took a bit...may not be doing that again LOL....but I was amused :)

So...without furher ado yet another cutting video: 

Revenge of the Goat Milk Lotion!!!

Okay - so not really revenge - perhaps "Goat Milk Lotion strikes again" lol :)  It's not a bad thing though, just tedious with a LOT of dishes when I am done!

First of all, since I DO put milk in my lotion, I don't like to make a ton all at once and leave it sitting around.  Unlike soap which gets harder and better with time, lotion DOES have a shelf life.  So I try to only make about 50 bottles of it at a time.  I may be bumping that up a bit since it moves pretty fast at the market though...we will see....Anyways, like I was saying...

Yes, I also put a preservative in there (phenonip if you were wondering).  But still, nothing lasts forever you know?  So I don't make more than what will last me a few weeks when I make lotions. However...this leads to TONS of dishes on a lotion day!

I have a lotion for almost every soap scent I make - not every single one, but pretty close.  I have found people like having a lotion to match the soap they use....and this means 5 - 10 bottles of each fragrance every time I make more lotions.  Of course I'm not TOTALLY daft...I make a LARGE batch, then portion it out into smaller parts to scent and bottle....not a million little batches.  At least it saves me time on weighing and measuring and melting everything ya know?

So...today is a "Lotion Strikes Again" day.  It's raining anyways, so at least if the power goes out I can stop what I am doing and come back later...lotion is pretty forgiving like that :) But...I DO have about 50 bottles to get crack-a-lacking at.....

Restocking L.O.V.E. (now on video)

Oh yes...I am all video crazy now!  Sure, it seriously takes like 12 hours to get a video uploaded...first from the phone to "google +" (I think that's what it's called...idk....all I know is it's the method I have figured out - I am sure there is a better way).  Then from there to being saved to the computer, THEN on to youtube...T E D I O U S!  But..I LOVE making the videos!

So...we made a restock of L.O.V.E. (the love spell type fragrance) yesterday - I had my niece here to help run the camera and she has never been old enough yet to make soap with me.  FINALLY she is old enough AND available!  All in all it was fun :)  AND it's one of her favorites that I make!

The newest NadaLotta Camera skills on video (LOL) :

The cutting of "Billy Goat Buzz"

I am in LOVE with this fragrance!  The house still smells like yummy delicious coffee! MMMmmm :)

Made a video - used my new "soap cutter" (aka cheese slicer) - and I think even if it wasn't exactly what I was going for, this is one nice soap!  And of course I am overly proud of my cheesy videography skills :)

OH!  Had a moment at the end and cut off the camera before I got the final shots of the cut bars...here's the still photo of that:

 I was shooting for a "Holly swirl" as they call it....I over swooshed a bit...but still a nice looking bar I think :)

So...presenting the cutting of "Billy Goat Buzz":

Pink Sugar - a video experiment...

Okay...so first off this is like what, video number 4 maybe?  You know, for all that I spent all 4 years in high school VERY active in Theatre Arts, I am a freaking THESPIAN!  (No, for real, and no smart remarks ya'll, I have already heard them)...anyways, yes, a thespian I tell you and I canNOT do awesome superb videos????  What is wrong with me right???

I dunno...but I am actually fairly pleased with this one....oh yes, not the greatest, but I like it :) 

I got 2 samples of "Pink Sugar" with my latest order from Rustic Escentuals.   If I did it right, that link should show off the fact that they carry MULTIPLE options for Pink Sugar FO and ALL of them sound pretty good right? All sound pretty close, all are bath and body safe, same price...AHHHH!  So I picked 2 - SNC and their "best seller".

So far....my vote is the "SNC" copy....the best seller may sell best, but to MY nose at least it does not SMELL best!

I do think they are just absolutely GORGEOUS though! 

OH!  and what I was trying to say in the video towards the end:  When a fragrance discolors to a dark brown, it's not that people are not clever or creative with it..BUT...we are ALL stuck with that color (the brown discoloration) as part of the soap SOMEHOW right???  Which is why I haven't ever soaped this fragrance until now - I already have several brown vanilla sweet smelling soaps and I didn't know that I wanted another...but I think I see myself heading off into more cupcake type stuff with this one.  It is very delicious to sniff :)

And...what else was I gonna tell ya'll??? OOOHHHH!!!!!

So...at about the 16 minute mark....watch for the blackout!  No really, power went out for a second only...but see!  I am NOT making it up, living out here is CRAZY most days!

And there you have it:  I am going to work on getting better with the video thing...but I like making videos :)  At least I am talking to share with other people and not just talking to myself LOL :)

The Importance of Note Taking and Black Raspberry Vanilla :)

I am the world's worst person about jotting down all sorts of notes in all sorts of places!  No really...twice a year at least I find myself cleaning out this house and having to rewrite all of this valuable information into notebooks that won't be lost - and some of it is not so valuable and gets thrown out....but with a few things I am positively anal and much better.  My goats and my soaps - these things I stay on top of meticulously!

I had someone inquire the other day what they needed to start making soap and on the top of my list was "Notebook".  I wasn't always as good as I am now about taking notes and it came back to bite me a few times...

Like the time I concocted a really awesome bar of soap with an even more awesome fragrance I had mixed up out of left over bottles...yup, you guessed it, the post it notes with all that info got lost never again to resurface and I have never quite gotten it exactly right again....or the time I played with the soap calculator and THOUGHT I had an awesome recipe only to realize later that it traced too fast to do anything with...yup, you guessed...that envelope I had written it on wandered off and somehow - oh joy of joys - I DID manage to recreate that soap on a stick mess once more!  Taking notes really helps.  I recreate almost exactly the same soap I have made once before OR I can totally avoid another hot mess!

So, when I went into the Soap Room the other night, I grabbed my notebook and did a remake of Black Raspberry Vanilla...it's been a while since I made this soap and everyone loved it last time!  So, I didn't want to go changing it up entirely, I wanted something easily recognizable for what it was right?

I followed the same recipe, using the same fragrance from the same supplier and even the same colors as much as possible....I think it turned out mighty nicely :)

The lighting even cooperated for a change...well...actually, I just timed it better getting in there to take pictures haha! I think it looks like a raspberry patch with all the berries and leaves and shadows you'd see out in nature...that's what it reminds me of and it smells yummy too!

So, keep good notes and you'll be able to make more of something just the same as it was before (or avoid it completely) and don't forget to take pictures too!  I am still bad about getting photos of stuff for reference...but I'm working on it :)

Now...what should I do with myself today????

Goats Eat Oats...

Well, my goats used to eat oats - but now they eat fodder and that my friends is a whole different blog!  Actually...that's what I call oatmeal, milk and honey soap - "Goats Eat Oats" - and it's turned out just scrum-diddly-umptious!

The white is a portion I didn't put any honey or oats into because to me it represents the goat milk in it visually...that honey has a strange way of making what my husband calls "caramel soap" LOL...he really likes the color and texture of this one.  Since he is mostly color blind I figure it's a good thing he can pick out the colors and contrasts in this bar as he asks for it more than any other.  He also has wicked allergies and never asks for anything by it's proper scent and when you top that with being color blind half the time when he wants a particular bar I make him walk in the soap room and say "Just point at it!!!"  But when he says he wants my caramel soap I know he means this one.  He also calls it the "no wash cloth bar" sometimes because of the ground oat flour in it - he travels for work and some hotels he gets stuck at have crummy towels so he takes this one with him when he leaves hence "no wash cloth" is needed due to it's natural exfoliating scrubbiness.  A welder needs all the scrubbiness he can get from a bar of soap some days too, so it's a really REALLY good thing he likes this one right?

The honey comes from a local producer out of Lovelady.  A place named Lovelady HAS to make some great honey right?  I sure do like it anyways...it's hard to stay out of the honey stash when it's this good and we have a strict rule here.  If you get caught dipping in my soap honey I will get a bee hive so we ALWAYS have honey.  Hubby isn't fond of bees so he stays outta my stash...

And finally cut, edges raw, but in bar form with morning light streaming in to blind me...I need to start cutting stuff later in the day I think...just a few white swirls inside to match the top and all kinds of naturally soothing and exfoliating oatmeal goodness plus the ever present goat milk and honey! MMMMmmmm....scrum-diddly-umptious I said!

Nope, no fragrances, no froo froo colors or such.  I like my few "natural" bars that I make to be all the way natural as much as possible.  I know... I KNOW!  The oatmeal honey fragrances are delicious!  But this one really has a light, slightly oaty smell all of it's own that I love :)

I actually made this a few days ago now - been side tracked by spring cleaning the outside of the house the last few days - but I just think that this batch came out lovely with honey from Lovelady and milk from my herd  (and ground oats from WalMart because I am not that kind of farmer...) :)

Hands as Steady as a Parkinson's Patient....

No really - I say that in all honesty.  Some days I wonder about myself, but I am not that fond of doctors and in no mood for a diagnoses...but let's just say I seriously have the least steady hands of anyone I know.  I use the phrase Parkinson's Patient in the title here because it's true...my grandmother AND her sisters ALL had Parkinson's - it's something else to live with that's for sure.  So I know my slight tremor in my hands and inability to sit still without random twitches is probably a sign I am headed that way myself...

Now, what does that have to do with soap?  This:

That would be my cherry almond scented soap - yes, goat milk soap like always - look closely, closer...

You can tell the hands that piped those cherries and stems are NOT steady hands - so I added glitter :P  Sparklies cover up my shaky hands.  Well, not really, but they add a little distraction that's for sure!

It still looks pretty good, and since I am never going to have steady hands and one day it MAY get worse I'm over it.  For now, for me, it's freakin' awesome! This is also why you won't be seeing cupcake soaps here anytime soon.  I can do some piping and frosting type designs - but limited easy stuff.  If it gets too complicated my hands get all shaky, and the design turns into a blob - no bueno I declare!  I am gonna have to stick primarily to swirls and drizzles and layers and such.  Things that don't need precision are more what my hands can handle.

I got the idea from a Soap Queen blog - she did apples - but I don't really like apple scents.  I did have cherry though...totally perfect for the design with a few tweaks!

Also...I forgot to post pics of the sleepy time soap after I cut it!

I think the colors are perfectly divine versions of purples! And it came out just how I had pictured it...this how my mind is when I go to sleep with lavender in the room.  All floaty foggy purple happiness with a little fluffy cloudy dream topping!  I know - I'm so one of those crazy impressionist artists aren't I?  But, me likey :)

I'm thinking maybe this evening I want to do a fresh batch of oats, milk, and honey OR maybe black raspberry vanilla with a peacock swirly top....I dunno just yet.  Today is actually a "work outside all day" kind of day.  So tonight I may just go right to bed lol :)  We shall see....guess I better head back out tho....

Where the Buck Stops and the Soap Starts....

Above is Starmaker - our nubian buck....wee bit fat, I know.  But ain't he a looker?  Snapped that pic a while ago now, but it's still my favorite of him all happy tail wagging while he munches on yaupon...He is where my soap really begins.

Bet someone is wondering what he has to do with soap huh?  Well, without him and his bucky saanen sidekick "Crisco" I would not be making soap.  That's right, no bucks = no milk = no soap! 

For those that don't know, here's the run down (it gets a little blunt and pg13 rated for a paragraph ya'll, not that bad but - be warned)....A doe (female goat) needs to kid (give birth) in order to produce milk.  In order to do that you need a buck to do the deed....so in theory at least, my soaps and lotions start with 2 goats bumpin' uglies...it's a farm...not just soap...so a little graphic and full of the facts of life but true. Without that guy above and the udder below I probably wouldn't make soap...

Yup...my milk for my products comes from here (and a few others) twice a day, fresh as can be :)  Sure...I freeze it before I soap with it to help with the whole "lye heats it up thing" and I always pasteurize it prior to putting in a lotion or sugar scrub (gotta be sure to kill off any nasty stuff since it'll be sitting around a bit ya know?).  But we drink it fresh, chilled and raw. I also make cheese and yogurt and such...but we still have PLENTY of milk left over from that!  Sometimes, we even have baby goats to help drink it up lol...but not always and a doe can "stay in milk" (meaning she makes milk - duh right?) for at least ten months around here while baby goats are often long gone by then. We sold the last goat from the last kid crop back in January (we bottle raise - whole 'nother blog ya'll) so I have had milk, milk, and more milk for a while now totally kid free! Currently I get about 3 gallons a day from 3 does...that's a lot of creamy goat milk goodness!  If you've never had it fresh and raw you HAVE to try it out!  So so so much better than store bought goat OR cow milk!  And so many awesome benefits too!  (But that my friends is another day and another post...)

 I know a lot of others buy goat milk to put in their soaps and I think they are missing out (though I know not every one has a place to put goats)...but it makes me kind of sad because the joy of owning goats is part of the fun!  Yes, it's work too...but I love my herd! If you've never had a goat...you need a few...I'm just saying...I love having our goats, no matter how much work they make for me:

Even when they do stupid, bad things, like climb on the picnic table behind the house....

Or when the baby in that belly has a super creepy looking "Alien moment" and sticks a hoof out like that to say hello...see it poking out the side there?

Or when they reach over to steal something out of my pocket...she was taking my cell phone when I got that pic with my other camera...Lucy is nosey...

And the baby goats that take my spot at the kitchen table and crowd me out of my chair can be obnoxious....

It's all worth it for those quiet moments when you look out and they are being good and eating and doing appropriate goat things! (Plus, the baby goats are REALLY super adorable when they aren't getting into stuff!) The fresh milk is priceless too :P

This is where my milk comes from.  This is where my soap and lotions and such start...because lord knows we get enough milk lol...I have a freezer full AND a fridge full as I type!  Sure, I make cheese and such too...but it's not the same as soap making.  Cheese = cooking = work and dishes I have to wash....soap making = fun experiments and artsy stuff and dishes that practically wash their sudsy selves! You can't really go putting glitter and shimmery micas and swirls in your cheese now like you can with yout soap....it's just not the same...I mean, I guess I could, but I wouldn't want to eat cheese with glitter on top.

This ya'll, this is where the buck stops and the soap starts for me and even though most days I have a hard time finding time for evrything, I love every single minute of it when I look back. Without the herd I never would have started soaping :)

Drawing Inspiration from others...

I often draw inspiration and ideas from other soapers and their blogs and websites.  Let's be honest here:  I am crafty but not creative.  Yes, there is a difference between the 2! 

Crafty people are very good at copying patterns and recipes - they may have a bit of creativity as I feel I do and they may be able to change things up just so as to make it look a tidly bit different.  But ultimately, they draw inspiration from others and not from within.

Now, creative people are also crafty, but they have the added touch of being able to pull random, clever and original ideas out of their own minds.  I do NOT have that ability!  I do, like I said, draw my inspiration from them...take for example this one:

Oil and Butter is one of my faves to see what is going on!  I LOVE the leopard spots and want to try it in the next batch of soap...or maybe the one after it...with Love Spell as the scent.  I do want to change up the color scheme some though...just haven't decided on one yet.  But the whole blog is just so well done, with gorgeous soaps and photos!  It gives me something to try out, new and different stuff, I LOVE it!

Then there is Soaping 101 on youtube - another one I love to watch over and over lol....for someone who doesn't watch much t.v. I sure do like to watch a lot of soap making on youtube!  I saw her video on altered mica lines, happened to have a bunch of shimmery micas given to me by another soaper that weren't great IN cold process soaps, but work PERFECTLY for this technique (I discovered now that I have played with them) and I never would have thought of it if I hadn't seen her do it first!

The Soap Queen  herself is another one who pops up with great ideas that I often find myself needing to try out at least once - one of her latest is a soap with little "apples" on top...I want to do the same thing, but change it to cherries for my cherry almond soap I intend to make...and I never in a million years would have thought of that on my own...I'm just not creative, but I am crafty enough to follow directions :P

Please remember, like "Teach" says in her mica line video - give credit where credit is due!  That kinda hit me last night - I like to post pics of clever things I make, but I had been forgetting to let ya'll know where my bright ideas come from!  So...if you ever get an idea from another soaper, share the source of that idea with others. And...there's been rumors of all sorts of crazy thievery going around the internet lately.  From fodder to soap to lotions...people will stop at nothing to make a buck I tell ya!  Just keep in mind, to be blunt, karma is a BITCH!  Don't steal - it will come back to bite you in the ass when you least expect it! Trust me...I've seen it happen to dishonest people time and again...honesty is ALWAYS the best policy ya'll!

Now, go check out those links and tell me you don't get like a million zillion ideas for things you want to try yourself!  It's so hard to resist experimenting with designs after you see those lovely pictures!

On a roll...Sleepy Time is saponifying as I type...

Actually, it's a fragrance called "Bed Time Bath"....but I am undecided if I want to call it "Sweet Dreams" or "Sleepy Time".  I know some people feel you should use the original name of a fragrance as your name - but to me it's a bit like cheating when I soap a dupe (short way of saying copy of a scent) and I don't give the name a new spin.  I mean, come on now...I'm already using a scent another big name brand froo froo fancy pants place markets, the very least I can do is call it something else right?

There it is, just before I stuck it in the freezer for a bit...when I unmold and cut it I'll be sure to post pics.  On my camera you can barely see the pale lavender shimmery swirly top - it's much prettier and more vibrant in person though.  It's a Nature's Garden fragrance, smells just like the real deal, behaved pretty well in my soap too :) I'll leave ya'll guessing on how the inside looks...for now...but soon there will be a new picture! Let's just say I am keeping my fingers crossed that I managed to whip up 2 of the most perfect colors EVER and I'm keeping my toes crossed that I can get them just right like that again next time I soap this scent...because there will be a next time with this one. It's just that heavenly to smell.

I must say I love this one and anticipate it flying out of here pretty fast - it's a classic for sure and one of the few floral things I like to boot! Until next time my friends....

"Antique Rose" - a Hot Process Adventure

Yesterday afternoon I made a batch of castile soap.  Well, you could actually call it "Bastile Soap" as another soaper coined the term elsewhere.  Castile is a 100% olive oil soap and mine has a tidly bit of castor and coconut oil in it - and don't forget the goats milk!.  Castile is supposed to be very mild, lovely to use...but I feel it's a bit less bubbly than I like my soaps to be, which is why I add the other 2 oils.  I had started to make it just plain old castile soap with no scent and then I changed my mind and added the "fresh cut roses" fragrance oil from Nature's Garden.  I'm hoping that by working with a hot process soap the scent will stick a bit better since it won't have the initial battle with the lye to survive AND I had wanted to do a mild soap for this very mild scent....I always make this recipe hot process because it cures MUCH quicker - a few weeks instead of a few months.  Patience...something I can be short on :P

So...here it is. All cut into bars but still needing the edges trimmed up...

Pardon the glare from the morning sunshine...it was awful early when I went it and cut it...but you get the idea right?  I think I shall call it "Antique Rose" since it's kinda old fashioned looking. 

The adventure comes in with the fact this is a new to me fragrance...at first in the bottle I thought it was kinda weak...then when I added it to the soap it was still just kinda weak...about 5 or 10 minutes later BOOM!  For just a minute it got strong and the scent wafted through the house nicely.  Sadly, it went away and I got all worried again.  Had I added it too hot?  I had temped the soap and it was well because the flash point of the fragrance oil per their website...like 70 degrees cooler than the flash point...But the scent had gotten very faint again...Okay, so then I went to wash up the soap dishes and WOW!

The bubbles smelled WONDERFUL!  I was still kind of sad thinking my soap would not throw any scent dry.  It's pretty important that something smell like you have it labeled.  No one is going to believe that the bubbles smell when the soap doesn't right? I left my soap to cool in the mold and walked away...florals aren't my favorite, but I figured at least I could use it...

Then bright and early I cut it up and snapped a pic and walked away again.  To me it was still very weak...an hour to two later I was standing in the kitchen prepping fodder like I do each day and it kinda crept up on me...stronger and stronger the scent from the soap room grew in the kitchen!  YAY! I could smell my soap from a room away! That's normal, finally! Usually the whole house smells like whatever I am soaping and cutting (it helps that the house is small)....

So, the adventure is will the scent last or not?  I guess I should say "the adventure continues" lol :)  I'll keep ya'll posted for sure...Also, my husband thinks I should call it "Creeping Rose" because it just sneaks up on you instead of whacking you in the nostrils like other fragrances...we'll see...I kind of don't think so though...

Presenting "Rustic" and "Country Skies"...

I promised photos and photos we have!

Nothing overly special or new for me here...just a fresh batch of each to replenish my stock.  First we have "Rustic".  Right now it is creamy...but it will go as dark brown as the bar on the far left corner of the picture on the edge there...see it...barely?  Yup, it's a delightful 'vanilla oak' scent with hints of patchouli that make it smokey but sweet.  Very popular and I always sell out!  This time I added some sparkly green mica to the top and a pencil line or two really, as well.  Can't wait until it's ready to use!

Then we have what I call "Country Skies".  Its a fresh out doorsy manly type scent - very green but ozoney all in one - hard to describe but yummy to smell.  Perfect for the country boy in your life!  This bar will stay a lovely bright white with pale blue wisps through it, just like big fluffy white clouds in the sky!

Each bar weighs in between 5 and 6 ounces...most are closer to 6.  Since I am making bigger bars now prices may inch up a tad, but it's totally worth it to have more of your favorite soaps!  They both are made of olive oil, palm oil, coconut oil, castor oil, safflower oil, goat milk of course, sodium hydroxide, a touch of sodium lactate and fragrance oils and colors too...It's all really good stuff when you combine it into a bar of soap!






Until next time, stay dirty ya'll!

Why weight holds weight with me....

No, not my own weight lol...long as I don't need to buy bigger pants I don't care what I weigh :)  I mean weight in regards to soap making (and lotions and such too).  It's so important to weigh your ingredients out as you soap instead of guessing or going by volume.  A comment made the other night put this thought into my head to share...follow along if you will....

These 2 bottles pictured above are a perfect example of a few things in soap making. Weight and volume are not the same and scales are important to have!  My husband actually pointed it out which got me thinking - he does not make soap (thank goodness) - when he said "Why'd they send you half empty bottles?" as I unpacked my supply haul.  He's a "glass half empty" kinda person, can you tell? Well, I had news for him.  This is a case of the glass being half full not empty!

One bottle is glycerin (for mixing colorants) and the other is sodium lactate (for my soaps).  They each weighed over 16 ounces, which is good because that's what I paid for :P! To compare, below is a picture of the exact same packaging, but different product:

On the left is the sodium lactate (weighing in at 17.8 ounces) and on the right is a brand new bottle of avocado oil (weighing in at 18 ounces even).  Crazy, but it goes to show that weight is critical when soaping! Two different ingredients, which take up different amounts of space (or have different volumes) but weigh the same.  Kind of the difference between a ton of feathers and a ton of sand. This is why working by weight in soap making is crucial.

You need to have a fairly accurate scale and a digital one at that, one that weighs in grams and/or tenths of ounces at least to soap properly.  Especially when making smaller batches of stuff!  Being off by just a tad in a small batch can be a BIG disaster!  To me, it's like grains of rice....another dorky analogy...

If you need 4 grains of rice, but you have 5, it's a noticeable difference.  Not only can you see it, but the percentage of extra rice is 25% of what you should have.  Now, on the other hand, if you need 50 grains of rice and you have 55 you are less likely to notice the 5 extra grains aren't you? Then, when you do the math that's only 10% more than you should have - a smaller difference.  Soaping is much like that when you look at the grand scheme of things.

I have found that the bigger a batch is of something the more forgiving it is to an extra tenth of an ounce of something, but the smaller a batch is the more accurate I need to be...in comes the part about a good scale!  If your scale only measures in crude ounces or doesn't have grams as an option it becomes far harder to end up with accurate amounts of oils and such...which leads us to the next issue.  Weigh everything every time!!! Don't get all cocky and start using your measuring cups or guessing and eyeballing stuff - eventually this will blow up on you.

That's right, you heard me...WEIGH IT OUT WITH A SCALE!  Sure, there are some soapers out there who use recipes that have measurements in cups and teaspoons.  Maybe it works for them, kudos to them, and good luck.  I've even seen videos on youtube where people are making soap using what I call "kitchen measurements" - those cups and teaspoons I mentioned instead of a scale.  In my opinion they are purely lucky!  Clearly, as demonstrated by the two different products being two different VOLUMES in the same exact bottle and pictured above, one cup of sodium lactate is going to weigh more than one cup of avocado oil.  Weight and volume are not the same thing and are not interchangeable when it comes to soaping!  Take the chance when you bake a cake...not when you are making a loaf of soap....there's no caustic lye in cake batter but there is in soap batter.  See where I'm going with this?

Be patient, be accurate, and invest in a decent quality digital scale and 99% of the time your soap will turn out perfectly (there's always that oddball batch...it happens...soap gone wild and such).  But if you gamble with your weights and measurements be prepared for more failure than those of us that don't.  Accuracy and attention to detail are what make a really good soaper. We all have a bad night or a bad batch, but your odds are so much better when you are accurate!

Anyways...off my little soap box now and back to my soap room.  I shall have pictures in the next day or two of the 2 loaves of soap I cooked up this evening :) Until then my friends, stay dirty!

Experimenting with scrubs and colors...

Because I just couldn't stand it any longer I HAD to get into the soap room today and do SOMETHING! So, I got in there and made a mess :)  Actually, I made 3 different batches of goat milk sugar scrubs and one test batch of soap.  Nothing fancy, just a little color and a new oil mix. But it made me happy to finally be soaping after what feels like an eternity!

Not only did I want to run a test run on a very lovely sparkly green mica, but I am also trying to work out what I feel are a few kinks in my current cold process recipe.  It takes closer to 2 to 3 months to REALLY cure up nice and hard even though it is a VERY nice bar of soap to bathe with...so I tweaked a few bits in the recipe.  We shall see tomorrow when I unmold it what my first impression is...How about that green though?  I think for what I want it for it will be PERFECT!  Nice and bright and glitzy! Very nice indeed :P

Then there's the sugar scrub saga....I've been playing around with these scrubs recipes on paper for weeks now! Yup, just imagining how they would turn out and not having a chance to get in there and work with them.  Today I finally stole a moment and got on it!

I made 3 slight variations in the same basic recipe.  I personally notice a difference and I have my favorite already.  This is one that's gonna have to go out to my loyal test subjects...um...I mean my friends :P

Here they are, all plopped into plastic containers and cooling a bit more before I finish getting them ready for my testers...

After all the testing I already did on my own self today I think I've scrubbed a tad bit more skin off than I expected to!  I made a batch, tested it on one arm, repeated with the other arm, and was out of arms for the third batch so I started over on the first arm again...Yup...from the elbows down I am officially the cleanest, smoothest, stinkiest person in Texas tonight!  Wait, what? Stinky?  Oh yes...STINKY!

See, now, what had happened was I scented each batch differently so I could tell them apart.  Because as you can see from the picture they all look pretty much the same.  Up close in person they are a tad different...but I wasn't taking any chances. So I tossed a different scent in each one and of course took notes on it as I worked.  I then scrubbed with each one.  I now have 3 different scents wafting up from my arms and I smell somewhat like a French brothel if you ask me - fruity, floral, all mixed up - it's just plain stinky when you mix it all together! BLEH! One by one each scent is great but not to self do not mix pomegranate, cherry almond and relaxation ever into one big batch of anything! These are not scents meant to be mixed up like that I tells ya! So, yup, stinky :( It's finally wearing off though...a little...

 Also, I am still on the fence about coloring them.  In my humble opinion a nearly natural product should remain nearly natural and scrubs are even more natural than soaps.  Soap goes through saponification and what you begin with is not what you end with.  Sugar scrubs are emulsified (well, mine are anyways) but nothing really changes.  So...soaps can have a little color but I'm still not sure about the scrubs...Back to the point though, I scented rather than colored them because I don't know if I even want color in the final product, but I DO know I will have scent in it.

So, there you have it :)  Scrubs are made, soaps been put to bed and I am next! I can't wait to see which scrub is everyone's favorite because that means I get to make more of it!

Spring Supply Haul :) (one of many to come)

So, soap room complete (let's not mention the kitchen though...) I headed into town today to pick up my boxes.  They were waiting for me at my little post office store...not the boxes as much as the guy that runs the place lol.  He was outside when I walked up and said "You have a STACK of stuff!"  I knew it, I just wanted to wait until the last box had arrived before I drove 50+ miles round trip to get it all! Graciously they helped me cart it out - it took 2 of us :P I was so so excited until I got home...then I was frazzled a bit upon closer inspection...I know it wasn't my po box people because they always put my boxes up special since they are usually labeled FRAGILE...no really.  They have a few shelves and my stuff is ALWAYS up high and safe.  They know I soap, they know some of this stuff can be overwhelming to smell all day if a bottle busts, and they take care of me.  The delivery companies however CLEARLY could care less....

Now...let me just start off with this...I don't know what I ever on earth did to UPS and FedEx, but they HATE me!  Seriously, twice at least now they have flat out lied about leaving a box on my porch (once it was in a strangers mail box and the other time down at an abandoned house), and MANY times I have gotten packages in questionable shape. Today was no exception, what was I expecting right? I really think they see my name on something and it's red flagged to try to trash it....

Exhibit A:  This poor little box looked like it was part of the UPS weekend company football game - AS THE BALL!  All beat up :( Not one corner was a corner, they were all dinged in and it had what would be described on a human as multiple contusions (or if you want to say bruises of the cardboard kind you can).

Then there's Exhibit B and C:  SERIOUSLY! How many times do you need to put a sticker that says "FRAGILE" in BRIGHT RED on something before they believe it????  Apparently the answer is "7" because this box had SIX of those stickers and STILL it had HOLES in it!!!  I was seeing red and it was NOT the stickers before my eyes, it was anger I believe...Below is a picture of just one of the holes, but this poor victim had at least 2!

Do you also see the second smaller box underneath (Don't worry, I wasn't squashing it, that big box is ULTRA light and the littler one is actually twice as heavy)...anyways, do you SEE the corner on that little one? Somehow, some way, the phrase "FRAGILE Handle with CARE" in plain English and also in red translates into "delivery driver speak" for "kick this box, dent it, and pray no one catches you on camera like that dude with the TV who made the news".  Why oh why do they treat my packages like this?  I just don't get it...someone tell me I am not the only one...

Needless to say I was a tad bit concerned for the health and well being of the contents...but...drum roll ya'll.........EVERYTHING ARRIVED IN ONE PIECE!!!!! Yup, miracles DO happen other times of the year besides Christmas folks!  There were no leaks, no spills, no broken bits and each and every package was entirely there!  I sat down and emailed every supplier a thank you note too.  It takes people who are conscientious and caring in how they do their job to pack something so well that even FedEx and UPS can't destroy it!

So...I bet you wanta see what I got huh? Well...all unpacked it looks like this:

There's bottles, lids, oils, butters, fragrances, new molds, new equipment, colors...oh it's a soaping wonderland I declare! Crazy right?  You should see the price tag on that table top lol...this stuff ain't cheap! But, it is all GREAT quality and from wonderful suppliers!

Here's my quasi-replenished oil stash:

In the WAY back is my lye order that came the other day...I already put it up safe and sound last week since it was the first box to arrive :) There's still not that much there, I have a few more orders to place actually, but this is what I could get from Kroger today while I was out - they ran outta oil before I ran outta money haha!  I wanted at least one more olive oil and all they had was 2! Oh well...it'll keep me busy for a few days :P Plus I brought home some more paper towels and such I would be needing, so the trip to Kroger wasn't a total loss, even if they were running low on ginormous olive oil jugs...

There's a few scents that aren't really my favorite that I bought as samples and in smaller sizes, though they may soap better you never know, a few I just love and keep going in to smell, and some really neat samples and little bonuses :)  All in all it turned out to be a happy occasion, though to judge by the boxes they were a tad bit sad upon arrival.

So, I dare say It Begins!  Now if only I can find a minute to get creative with this stuff :P