Experiments

It has been a while since I have written about my experiments! So much going on, but that doesn’t stop me from experimenting with new things...

I understand that some people have had difficulties entering the Jenora Soaps blog lately and others have had difficulty leaving comments. So sorry but I am just not sure why. And I am not sure what can be done about it? Could it be since I changed the background? I know one follower had to search for the blog again on google instead of clicking on her saved link. That worked for her. If anyone know how glitches like this can be fixed, please let me know!

I share some photos of experiments with you...

Beer Honey Shampoo (a fave of mine)



Goat Milk Charcoal Facial Soap
This was my first experiment with Charcoal & my first experiment with Titanium Dioxide. Charcoal was very easy to work with. Titanium however, was not… Notice the white streaks? After googling it, I found whole lot of advice about how to use Titanium Dioxide. I made another attempt which was much better. However, I don’t think it does anything worthwhile to my soaps to continue using it. Slight colour difference, but nothing wow. So for my soaps, for now, I will most likely not continue using it. Pure Spearmint Essential Oil…. This soap turned out very nice on my combination skin face.



Goat Milk Charcoal Facial Soap II
No swirling this time. But other than that, a similar recipe. More charcoal. Still waiting for it to cure before trying it out.



Honey Goat Milk (no added scent)

“Save a Dog” Doggie Shampoo Bar



Aloe Vera Soap
This did not turn out very attractive. Actually the scent is not very attractive either... I was trying to get a nice green in my Aloe Vera bar. I was not going for this odd bluey/gray/purplish and I was definitely not going for the chicken pox look. At one point I got this nice green by accident:


By adding a touch of indigo to really yellow oils. I was aiming for blue and this lovely minty green came about! So I tried again with my Aloe Vera soap and got that weird looking soap! Check them out next to eachother!



Hope you enjoyed some of my latest experiments! I know I love reading about all of yours!!!!!

Xoxo
Jen

Naturalmente Mediterráneo On-line Launch!!

I am very excited to invite you all over the new Naturalmente Mediterráneo blog at http://naturalmentemediterraneo.blogspot.com/, where I am beginning by offering 4 different types of fresh, natural, hand-made soap for purchase. I will be updating with new products regularly.

Thank you so much to all of the Jenora Soap followers… what a wonderful experience this continues to be and what a supportive and encouraging group of followers!

I would love to see you over at the Naturalmente Mediterráneo blog. Please let me know what you think!!

For anyone that becomes a follower of the new blog, I would like to offer a 10% discount on your first purchase.

Thank you, Happy Soaping & Happy Showering!!
Xo
Jen

Colours - Stamped Soaps

I had a few email requests as to what I had coloured the soaps with in the stamped soap pictures so I thought I would post about it.

The first one in the picture looks green/ grey... well, oddly enough this was supposed to be another lavender soap experiment. I thought why don't I try blue? I had only ever tried the Indigo powder in a salt soap. So I added a little indigo powder at trace, but as the oils were so yellowy, it turned greenish! It looks better in real life, more minty green. I have tried to repeat this same green colour in another soap (Aloe Vera) but no... once again controlling this natural colour alludes me...

The second soap has no added colour other than honey. It is a non-scented honey soap.

I achieved the pretty purple in the third soap with Ratanjot. It does not look this purple in real life (thank you photo!!) but it is still pretty nice. I infused Castor Oil with Ratanjot and add it at trace.

The fourth photo is of my white salt soap. There is no colour added to this. Salt soaps are fabulous to colour naturally as they seem to go vibrant colours. And the white is so easy. I simply, use the clearest oils possible such as Sweet Almond and the whitest butters like Coconut Oil (tons of it).

The fifth soap is my Orange Poppyseed soap. It is coloured with Annatto powder added both to the lye solution and at trace. I do have to mention that I will be toning it down slightly becuase there is a very slight yellowy/orangy tint to the suds on this soap and I really prefer really white suds.

The final soap here is my "Save a Dog" soap. It is a dog shampoo bar and with this soap, I am going to be collaborating with the local animal charity organization to help raise funds. They are overrun with dogs. As Spain has been devastated by the recession (we call it the Crisis here), so many foreigners have returned to their countries, many leaving dogs behind. I heard at some point that some days when the volunteers arrive at the shelter, there have been up to 5 dogs tied to the front door. So sad. I hope to help somehow. There is no added colour to this soap, just some white clay and I think the Citronella Essential oil has turned it a mild yellowy-creamy colour.

I also wanted to mention something about another experiment of mine. I have been trying to get my Essential Oil scents to stick better. One of my experiments has been with Orris Root. I have concluded that in my soaps, Orris root has not really helped with scent-staying-power and I have decided I do not want it in my soaps as it is rough and scratchy. I have found other things that have helped but not Orris root. So, I wanted to let you know out there in case you were wondering about Orris Root.

I am very close to launching the Naturalmente Mediterráneo blog with a few soap soaps offered. As it will take some time to get official, I will be going ahead and offering some of my products "un-oficially". This launch should be happening within the next few days.... I am pretty excited!

New Packaging - Naturalmente Mediterráneo

I finally really like my packaging! Yippee!

I have played with a lot of different packaging, but when it came to Naturalmente Mediterráneo, it was easier than ever. I knew I wanted to play up the logo, because I love it and because that is what I want people to remember. I knew I wanted to ditch the ribbons, because they didn't seem to say Natural to me. They seemed to say cute and frufru. So here are some photos.

Originally, I just had the paper packaging band around the bare soap. You can see my half-size soaps in these photos.




I had wrapped the sea salt soap in the same paper I use for lining my moulds because they sweat...


but I had so many comments from people at a recent selling event that they loved the fully wrapped soap. Not only did it seem more hygenic and clean to have it fully wrapped but they thought it looked classier. They asked why were only the salt soaps wrapped like that?? So I have begun fully wrapping them all. This solves other issues as well. I think it keeps the Essential Oil scent in longer when they are fully wrapped.

Some other product packaging...







The packaging has really all stemmed from my logo... and I am so pleased!!!

Happy soaping! xo Jen

Soap Stamp - Naturalmente Mediterráneo

I am so pleased with my soap stamp!!! I knew I wanted my own unique soap stamp so as soon as my logo was finished, I contacted Anhoki http://www.etsy.com/shop/Anhoki, who was referred in a blog post of Lynn
http://lynnzartisansoapsandcandles.blogspot.com/2010/08/it-has-arrived-0.html.

I sent Anhoki the file to see if it were possible to have a soap stamp of my logo! I was so excited to find out that yes, she thought it would be possible. Her price was fair and working with her very easy and straight-forward. I am so pleased with the result!!! Now, I add soap-stamping to my list of favourite things to do.



One of my most favourite things to do is soap cutting… sometimes I look at those awesome soap cutters out there like “the tank” and wish longingly for a cutter like that, which would cut each bar uniformly, but then I would lose out on the pure joy of cutting each bar myself. I take advice from Sergio at Villa Fortuna when it comes to cutting soaps and now stamping soaps… put music on, take time, no rush and get into zen-cutting and zen-stamping…. all part of his “sapo-therapy”.



I asked Anhoki about stamp care and she sent back some advice as well from her blog which has helped not only with care but in getting the best stamp impression in my soaps as well. I found that the stamp comes out much more beautiful and clear if the soap is fresh, either straight after cutting or within a week. Once it is drier, it is harder to stamp. I also found that I am able to stamp my salt soaps (the white one in the group pictures above). They haven’t turned out perfect yet, but I will get better at it.

Thank you Anhoki!!

Happy soaping, cutting and stamping!!!

Xo
Jen