Soap Makers Help!

[breconbcs]

Morgaine, those soaps look great! As for the scents, I agree with BB. If it's one you use alot of I'd see how cost effective (shipping wise) it is to buy in larger quantities. For me I have found it is cheaper, I always try to add light stuff or 1 oz "sample" amounts of new smellies to test. I do have to watch sizes though as some have to be picked up as they are not shippable.

Here are the newest soaps for me. I finally made a goat's milk/oatmeal/honey soap. Can't wait to test it!

And here is "Bahama Fantasy":

This was suppsoe to be Bergamot Mint but I didn't like how it was going nd didn't want to waste my sample of scent on it...kicking myself now. But then again I do have a colour (spinach powder) alternative for someone who needs an unscented soap:

 

[chiknwhisperer]

Quote:
Those soaps look great! I made an unscented one but my family members didn't even want an unscented soap

Of course mine doesn't look as good as yours

 

[Morgaine]

Very pretty Kim! I bet the Bahama Fantasy smells great.

Yeah I agree that shipping cost can add up fast, and I do the same thing as BB, adding and subtracting things to see what will effect the shipping price. There are only two scents that I'm going through fast enough to justify the 5# sizes. The one from BB comes in a plastic container and they reccomend transfering to dark glass. The other one is from scentworks and they ship in plastic bottes and I have always tansfered it to either mason jars or old bottles that I cleaned out. I just don't know at what point I cross over into the bigger bulk sizes. I think I could use the 5 #'s with in 3-5 months depending if I'm doing other events. Sooner if it a really big event.

 

[NanaKat]

BB asked me to post a phot of this soap after a week of curing to see if the green was retained....Well two weeks out:



The green is only slightly lighter. The Chinese 5 spice is still as dark and the Orange Julius is still the same.

 

[Backyard Buddies]

Quote:
That's waaaay cool!

So, tell us how you did it?

 

[NanaKat]

Well here is the recipe which fills a double 4 x 3 x 14 inch mold with two logs 14 inches long. (= to a 4 x 3 x 28)

Lard 90 oz x .131 = 11.78
coconut oil 15 oz x .1805 = 2.70
castor oil 5 oz x .125 = .62
EVOO 11oz x .128 = 1.40
grapeseed 8 oz x .120 = .96
canola 2 oz x .129 = .25
TOTAL OIL 131 oz Lye = 17.71 oz
X .38
Liquid 49.78
I split the liquid this way
One 15 oz can of coconut milk chilled and blended with water to weigh 18 oz. Set this aside in the fridge
I mixed the lye with 24 oz of ice and cold water and then added 8 oz of green tea that had been steeped from three bags.

Oils were heated to 105 degrees. Added the lye mixture.

At light trace, I added the coconut milk. Then because I was experimenting, I split the batch into two ice cream buckets. To one bucket I made a geranium mix.

For the green: I ground 1 cup of dried parsley flakes in my coffee grinder....it made 1/4 cup finely ground. The brand was McCormick from the grocery.
I dumped this into the bucket along with the fragrance oil and blended. then poured into the mold. It gelled and set up and was cut the next morning.

If I was making the whole batch green, I would use twice the parsley flakes.

 

[Backyard Buddies]

Thanks for the explanation NanaKat! That's a lot of parsley! If I did my math correctly, that's about a 1/4 cup parsley/ppo.

Quote:
Is this only green tea liquid or does it include the tea leaves?

 

[chiknwhisperer]

Well here it is my strawberry shampoo bar. Doesn't look like what I wanted but oh well I guess. Back to the drawing board on the looks part.

 

[NanaKat]

Quote:
Is this only green tea liquid or does it include the tea leaves?

When the cup of parsley was ground up fine it measures about 1/4 cup so it is really about 1 tablespoon per pound.
The green tea is liquid only....no grounds.

 

[Backyard Buddies]

Quote:
Is this only green tea liquid or does it include the tea leaves?

When the cup of parsley was ground up fine it measures about 1/4 cup so it is really about 1 tablespoon per pound.
The green tea is liquid only....no grounds.

Right. What Nana said. I was talking about the pre-ground phase. When I did mine, I didn't really measure it - just dumped it in my coffee grinder and let it whirl.

What is the purpose of the green tea? Does it provide something or is it just for the label?