Mum, Soap Studio Camera & Barcelona

 (Olive Scrub Soap)

My mum arrived on Wednesday for a two week visit and I am cherishing every moment with her.  She has come to two markets with me and seen me in action, selling my soap.  She has also been able to see the soap studio right at the moment when the workmen are doing the major works… My fantasies of having a huge open work space won’t happen for now as Spanish Health and Safety require very clearly defined and separated work spaces for Raw Materials, Production, Packaging, Quarantine (Curing) and Finished Products. So it is all being divided up now.  Then after the production space is tiled, and fitted out, my husband and I will get in and paint.

 (Packaging room)

(One of the storerooms – I think this is the Quarantine Storeroom.)

As an early birthday gift, Mum has brought me a new camera … such a wonderful camera, it makes me teary eyed, thinking about her support and generosity… a Canon PowerShot SX40 HS. She has also been here for my daughter, Aurora’s 14^th birthday yesterday.

(The very first photo with my new camera - my sweet mum.)

(Second shot - a hand-made cat that my friend made for me with an old sweater of mine.)

Tomorrow morning bright and early Mum, Aurora and I are getting on a train to Barcelona!  I have travelled quite a bit around Spain but I have never been to Barcelona and have always wanted to go. We are going for 5 days and I am so excited!  Then we are taking my daughter to a theme park called Portaventura, near Tarragona. 

I am running dangerously low on products right now as I am letting them run out as they sell… and will be starting production in the studio, where I will build up stock again.

I just feel so wonderfully fortunate right now.  My life feels so full of positive things.  I don’t use the word luck because I don’t really believe much in luck… I believe a lot more in hard work.

So I hope you all have a wonderful Easter week.

Happy Soaping!

Guessing Game - Answers, Winners and Brainstorm List

Thanks everyone for your awesome guesses!  The colorants that were actually used to naturally colour these four different soaps were:

From left to right:

Soap 1) Pink Clay – fairly simple.  Added at trace.  Maybe could have mixed it in a little better and avoided the specs…. Or maybe not… maybe I like the specs?

Soap 2) Madder Root – I infused olive oil with Madder Root and used that olive oil in the main portion of the recipe.  I really like this colour and the soap is so smooth.

Soap 3) Madder Root and Alkanet Root – These are both infused in oils.  As mentioned under soap 2 – the Madder Root was infused in olive oil and added to the main part of the recipe.  The alkanet root was infused in Castor Oil and added at trace, but I don’t think the alkanet came through.  Didn’t add enough?  I was hoping for an interesting unique shade… and what are all those white specs?  Bubbles?  Not sure why this happened.

Soap 4) Red Clay – I was surprised by the result.  Simply turned the soap slightly tan!I will use more next time and see if I get a better colour.

So, as for the winners -  there were two really:
Michelle from Two Blooms Design Studio at  http://twobloomsdesignstudio.blogspot.com.es/  and Mabel Savonniere at  http://savonniere.thescarfer.net/

Michelle and Mabel - Congratulations to you both!! Please send me an email and I will send you a list of my current soaps to choose from!

The brainstorm list that we came up with together for natural shades of pink and tan in cold process soap making:

paprika

rosehip powder

ratanjot

pink or rose clay

beet juice

rose dust

cinnamon

madder root

coffee

rhubarb

strawberry

aloe juice

turmeric/ curcuma

wine

alkanet root

raspberry

chai tea spices

valley mauve clay from TKB
beetroot powder
bayberry root
yucca root

So, thank you so much for contributing, reading, following and happy soaping!!
xo
Jen

Guessing Game - Day 3

Thanks for all the marvellous guesses!  You have come up with things I haven't experimented with yet, but would now like to! Here is the list so far, with guesses from yesterday added:

paprika

rosehip powder

ratanjot

pink or rose clay

beet juice

rose dust

cinnamon

madder root

coffee

 

rhubarb

 

strawberry

 

aloe juice

 

turmeric/ curcuma

 

wine

 

alkanet root

 

raspberry

 

Okay, I will give you number 1, which most of you guessed - Pink Clay.

 

Today's Clue:  Soap Number 2 is coloured with a root.  Soap Number 3 is coloured with 2 roots.  Soap number 4 is coloured with a clay.

Guessing Game - Day 2

Thanks for all the wonderful guesses and ideas!!  Most of you guessed one of these correctly (the obvious one...).  Here are the guesses from yesterday:

paprika

rosehip powder

ratanjot

pink or rose clay

beet juice

rose dust

cinnamon

madder root

coffee

Clue for today:  One of the soaps is coloured with a combination of two of the guesses from yesterday and another of the soaps is coloured with something that has not been mentioned yet.

Keep the guesses coming!!!  What we'll end up with is a fabulous brain-storm of natural colourants for these shades!!

Happy Experimenting!!

xo

Jen

Another Guessing Game

Four different interesting shades in naturally coloured soap…

Can you guess the 4 natural colourants?

I bet that most of you can guess at least 1 of the colourants, possibly 2 but all 4?  Good luck. Let's number soaps 1 to 4 from left to right.

If anyone can guess all 4, they win a bar of my soap – the soap of your choice!

I will be posting daily clues

Let the games begin…

Xoxo

Jen

Lemony Lemon Follow Up

Amidst the hustle and bustle, I continue to find time to experiment… which I adore. In follow up to my whole lemon experiment, here are some photos.

This soap contains the entire lemon - juice, pulp, peel and all, blended up into the liquid portion. It looks unique and smells very citrusy… as I have finally achieved a nice lemony EO blend that sticks nicely in CP soap. The pH may be slightly lower than some of my other soaps – however, I don’t love it.

It’s a nice soap, don't get me wrong, but not fabulous. I can’t always explain why. Some soaps I fall in love with as soon as I try them and I keep going back to wash my hands over and over and over… then I take them to the shower and spend longer in the shower than I should, reveling in the rich lather… I keep touching my skin afterward, amazed at the feeling. Those are the soaps I repeat… but this one didn’t even make it to the shower.

Maybe it’s the texture, maybe it took longer than I like to get the suds off… I am just not sure. I do like the soap, I just didn’t fall in love with it. Well, now I know. 

Happy Soaping!!

Xo Jen 

Vera Soap Lady

I post a link to the local newspaper where I appear in this weeks issue!  Go to page 10. I guess I have become the "Vera Soap Lady"!

http://www.euroweeklynews.com/virtual-papers/costa-de-almeria/91677-costa-de-almeria-15-21-march-2012-issue-1393

Happy Soaping Everyone!!!

xoxo

Jen

Savon de Mika

The sweet, sweet Mika from Savonnerie Mika  http://savonnerie-mika-english.blogspot.com/ sent me some of her wonderful soaps as a gift.  

As you can see, their appearance is lovely and represents what Mika’s soaps are all about – truly and elegantly natural.

Using them has been a treat for my skin.  The scents are subtle yet nice. Both soaps are mild and gentle on the skin but produce beautifully rich lather. 

I love them both, however the round soap was a totally new and awesome experience for me as it has primarily sunflower oil! I continue to use both of these lovely soap in the shower.

Like me, Mika has also been carrying out experiments with different Olive Oils in soaps and Castille soaps.  She posts a lot of great information about her experiments on her blog.

She also sent me 5 pieces of different castille soaps she has made with different olive oils and I will be trying those out as well. 

What a treat! Thank you for the opportunity Mika!!

xoxo Jen

Soap Favours

Amidst the wonderful busy-ness, I continue to experiment, create, produce and sell soap.

 

I have been creating various options for soap favours - for business events, special occasions, weddings, communions, parties...

 (the insert, describing the soap)

So many ideas for upcoming posts, so little time...

- a post about some wonderful soaps I was sent from Mika at http://savonnerie-mika-english.blogspot.com/

- a post about follow up to some experiments (whole lemon, silk, castille, water discounts...)

- a post about another wonderful soap gift I received from another fellow soaper living in Spain at http://mygaliciangarden.blogspot.com/

- another studio update

- olive oil quality soap update - castille soap on my face...

- soap pricing

Happy Soaping!!!

xoxo Jen