Sunday 23 September 2012

Mistakes / Surprises – Rose Hip Soap

What the /&$/%&·(“?!???? happened to my rose hip soap?  My usually smooth pretty pink rose hip soap?  This speckled effect was completely unintentional… (love the natural light in this photo, the following 3 were with artificial light...)

I can’t think of anything I did differently other than make larger quantities (a full 48-bar mould) and maybe add a little more rose geranium essential oil than previously.
Right at the end as I was adding the trace ingredients, it started to set up on me in globs, actually one big glob, like a rock!!  Oh no… this is an expensive soap to make and I was determined to save it so I pleaded, attacked, sliced, blended, mixed, begged, coerced, chopped, bludgeoned, and blended and blended some more. Then I manipulated it into the mould.  Phew!
Note the irregular size logs.. hmm.. hmm.. the guitar string on my log splitter broke on me while cutting... another surprise!!
 I have some ideas on how to do thing slightly differently the next time, but in my smaller experimental moulds first.
Update:  Making making making soap again (Yippee yahoo!!!!), after a summer setting up the studio & shop, selling, packaging till the wee hours and 7 nights a week at markets. At the studio till 1am Friday and yesterday, tweaking my goat milk soap process and making tons of it… a rhassoul shampoo, a new salt soap with patchouli & geranium… with my husband near me in the packaging room, packaging away…  Both he and Aurora, my daughter, have really jumped on board this summer and have taken over most of the packaging.   And they are good at it!  I love that my work now incorporates family time.  Both are begging encouraging me to improve the packaging process – we are currently waiting on quotes and samples for customized boxes for soaps and stickers for the tins. So many things on the go, each one keeps me even more busy… WONDERFULLY BUSY.  I have never thrived on monotonous routine, as normally, I get bored easily.  I don’t even usually take my coffee the same, I change it up, sometimes with honey, sometimes with sugar, sometimes black, usually with milk, sometimes tea instead.  In university, I never understood why on the second day of class each student would go back to the EXACT same seat they had the previous day, and desperately hang on to that seat for the rest of the term… I would regularly change my seat as it was an opportunity to meet new people.
But now, I can’t seem to ever get bored doing what I do… it’s always so full of surprises and changes.
Coming up: More about my latest mistakes surprises.
Good vibes to you all.  Thanks for following!
Xo Jen

7 comments:

Jabones Aromas del Campo said...

Jennifer, me encanta leerte, eres tan natural como tus jabones! Pues ha sido una sorpresa bella, el jabón me encanta! A mi no siempre los "errores-sorpresas" me salen tan lindos como a ti. Feliz tarde de domingo y muchos besitos....

MelissaR said...

Hi Jennifer,

I've had a problem with soap seizing on me when I use Rose Geranium. Great smell, but soap sets up quickly. I've read that if you let the lye cool to 90 degrees and don't use a stick blender when mixing in the essential oil, it may not set up as quickly. I know that I have to work fast when I am using Rose Geranium E. O.

Hope the next batch is better!

Melissa

Unknown said...

Hi Jennifer, I think a big mold is to increase the temperature of the soap. it also affects the color.
bisous
Mika

Jennifer Young said...

Yohanka, Muchas gracias por tu comentario precioso. Yo también tengo "sorpresas" que son más feas que esta... Besos, xoxox Jen

Melissa, Thank you for the tip about Rose Geranium! Maybe that is the culprit? I will maybe reduce the rose geranium and increase the other oils in the blend next time? xoox Jen

Mika, yes, you are right, the big mould definitely affects the temperature. No problems with colours in my other soaps so far in the big mould. I will let you all know how the next version of my Rose Hip Soap goes. Thank you for your comment! xoxox Jen

Anonymous said...

Hola Jen,a mi me parece un jabón de lo mas original, lo importante no es el aspecto físico, lo importante es la mezcla tan exquisita de aceites, mantecas y aceites esenciales que componen este mágnifico jabón, piensa que el brawnie fue un error de un cocinero y las Cookies de chocolate también, y no son buenos? a que sí, lo mismo este jabón triunfa y te hace famosaaaaaaaa! muchos besos Isabel.

Anne-Marie said...

Even though it didn't turn out how you were expecting, I think it looks absolutely lovely!

Jennifer Young said...

Isabel, Que precioso tu comentario!!! Si algunas de las mejores cosas salen de los errores! mmmmmm cuanto me apetece un buen brownie ahora mismo... xo Jen

Anne-Marie, Thanks for your sweet comment! xo Jen