Friday 30 July 2010

Love Soap

Here is a re-make of my favourite soap that I have made to date, except with a different scent because I was out of Patchouli EO.


The original was very similar to this just with an orange heart in the middle, and I had called it Roxana as it was a gift for a friend of mine. (Pictures posted in earlier posts) Roxana was my favourite soap because of the wonderful texture, hardness, the suds, the way it left my skin, it lasted for AGES, the colour (yes strangely enough, I loved the simple natural off-white) and the scent actually stayed on my skin for a long time, which I have found very hard to do. Maybe it was the patchouli. So basically, I have been using Roxana as a base recipe for a lot of my soaps. In this one, I was trying to come up with a way to use up the UGLY soupy greeny gray Lavender-goat milk-alkanet experimental soaps I have... so I cookie cut some hearts and stuck them in.

In this one, same batch, in a separate mould, I cut some ugly experimental soupy gray soaps up and chucked the pieces in.


Note the colour in both the pictures above. 100% of the liquid in these soaps is goat milk, adding the lye to frozen goat milk. Pretty nice off-white. I took advice when questioning my goat milk soap colour variations and the secret seems to be to keep it cool. So I did not let the lye get to above 32º Celcius and I mixed the lye and oils at 27º. Then I topped the mould but didn't put the blanket over it. I took the soap out of the mould 24 hours later. You may note in the first picture that the bottom looks whiter than the top... look closely! The only difference between the bottom and top is that I divided the soap mix in half and traced the bottom part thicker, so that the hearts would stay put, then the lighter traced mix, I poured on top. I wanted it thinner so that it would fill all the gaps and not leave holes or bubbles. But it looks like thicker traced goat-milk soap stays slightly whiter?

Here is a little peak at me making it! My husband caught me...Yeah... I know... notice the faults? Gloves but short sleeves? Goggles nicely placed not on but ABOVE my eyes? Oh well... who's perfect?...

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ha...I've been soaping in short sleeves, shorts, and barefoot. I always have my gloves and eye protection though. Now watch, having said that, today will be the day I burn my leg off.

*considers this*

Polly McNamara said...

Aww Jen, these are Gorgeous. Those heart ones are beautiful, i love them. And I wear Glasses and sometimes forget to put my goggles on! Always got gloves on though.

I might have to try and use up some soap like that cos Ive got PLENTY of ugly soap (and for the record, I've not seen any of yours that are ugly).

Glad your having fun soaping again xx

Ambra said...

Love the hearts and the bits and pieces :) This is such a good way to use soap that isn't perfect. I have to admit that I never wear goggles or gloves - I know I'm not supposed to say that - DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME - but I just find it too cumbersome. I'm super careful though and have never gotten an burn (well may a tiny little one, once).

Amy W said...

I was wondering how you got those hearts in there! Great idea!! I'll admit I rarely even use goggles anymore. And I was definitely soaping with my gloves and short sleeves today. It was 94 degrees outside!!

The Soap Sister said...

Jen, what a great post! I love those hearts & what a smart way to use soap that's not your favorite! (it's beautiful imbedded in the other soap!)
Tell your hubby thanks for the candid shot of the soap-master at work!

You all are so smart to wear gloves! I do wear my safety glasses & even a mask when I pour the lye into the water...but never gloves! YIKES! I just wash the raw soap off right away when it starts to sting! Talk about "true confessions"! :)

Jennifer Young said...

Thank you for all your comments! Polly, the truth is... I've got plenty of ugly soap to use up as well. Glad to know that I am not the only one that forgets proper soaping safety from time to time... Thanks!!

Maggie said...

Jen, I used to leave goggles on the table when I soaped, but after one particular visit to my optometrist, I'm convinced that I should never soap with my eyes unprotected! I showed him a funny dot on my glasses that I could never seem to wipe off or wash off. I asked him what that could possibly be (thinking that it must be some kind of factory defects). My optometrist told me in a very certain tone, "Oh, the lance must have come to contact with something highly caustic." And guess where that dot is on the lance? Right in the center! I could've burn my eye if not for the lance!

Natural Aroma Handmade Soaps said...

Great action shot and beautiful soaps Jen, I especially love the one with the added pieces, it looks beautiful and the colour looks great. I don't wear goggles either, but I do wear normal glasses all the time, blind as a bat without them:)and I have to admit and agree with SoapSister, I don't like to wear gloves either, I know it’s not the right thing to do but I just find them so cumbersome, vinegar has come to the rescue a couple of times when I’ve managed to get a small amount of raw soap on me and not realized.

Anne-Marie said...

I love the natural color as well. Those are often some of my favorite soaps. The heart in the middles is such a sweet detail. I love it! And yes, the bottom soap does look lighter (cute by the way). Very interesting. Do you think it had to do with temperature?

Amina said...

great soaps!!! I was smiling when I saw this!!
I want to make another batch of soap!!!