Soap a l‘Orange

I think this will be the final batch I’m going to make for our friend to take downstate to the farmer’s market, unless I decided to do an unscented/uncolored batch.  There are other soaps I want to put together, for family, friends, and me.  There are so many recipes I want to try!  And I got some new colors, too!  But for now, I have 2 dozen soaps for him to try to sell, and I think that’s a good start.  If they sell, you can believe I will be a busy soaping bee, lol. 

For this batch I decided to use the all natural essential oil, instead of using fragrance oils like I used in the other batches.  Options, you know.  I used a bright orange matte color, and some white French clay to make a slurry. 

Yeah, that’s bright!

Fortunately, the color that resulted reminded me of a creamy orange Creamsicle. 

Yum!  They smelled so good!

Maybe I should have called them Dreamsicle bars, but I think that name is copyrighted.  Not sure. 

Anyway, which do you think is better – the top shot without flash …

Or the bottom shot with flash?

I can’t decide.

cross posted on my daily blog

Filed under: Soap Tagged: Soap, Soaping

Emerald Shimmer Bamboo

I can’t believe I didn’t post this last week!  I guess gardening, you know.  I thought this time I would try the green mica.  I knew that would be really pale, so I picked the bamboo scent I had to go with it.

Mixing the white French clay with the green mica.

It turns out like this once you make a slurry with some of the soaping oils.  Looks pretty bold and bright, doesn’t it?  And it would probably stay that way if I was using something like a clear melt and pour soap base.

But, I’m doing what’s called cold process soaping, which goes through a saponification process because I’m combing oils of my own choosing with a lye-water solution.  That process generates heat, which can impact the pigments you use.  Also, cold process soap is opaque, so things like shimmery micas don’t have any light to reflect, like the clear melt and pour soap bases do.  Still, you can get a nice light shade of soap using a mica.  That can be a good thing, because I don’t think people want to feel like their soap is going to stain their shower stall, lol.

This is how it looked going into the mold.

And this is how it looked coming out!  It’s so pretty and delicate, with a light bamboo scent.

cross-posted on my daily blog.

Filed under: Soap Tagged: Soap, Soaping