Beer Soap

So earlier this week, I decided to try making soap with beer. Supposedly the soap is good for your skin, and I thought male/Air Force customers would find it amusing. Instead of boiling the beer like some people online recommended, I just let the beer get flat by leaving it out for a day. However, I did not properly research the fact that alcohol can speed up trace. My soap seized and got so thick so fast, it was crazy. I used a recipe that I've used many times before, so unless it was the oatmeal stout fragrance oil that accelerated trace, I'm pretty sure it was the beer that made the soap seize. I was planning to do a simple three-layered hanger swirl. By the time I got the last layer in and tried to do the hanger swirl, it was like cutting mousse cake, it was so thick. I knew before cutting it that there'd be a ton of air bubbles in the soap.

Overall, it turned out ok looking, aside from the air bubbles. The oatmeal stout FO discolors to a chocolate brown over time, so I left the middle layer unscented and added some titanium dioxide. I'm not sure how much I like the FO, but hopefully other people will like the smell. The FO caused the soap to darken really quickly--the top and bottom were a warm caramel color when I first made the soap and this is what it looks like now a couple of days later:

So the lesson learned from my first attempt at making beer soap: burn off the alcohol first.

On another note, here are some of the other soap bars that I've made recently:

This is a very nice rose soap in which I used the in-the-pot-swirl technique. The batter was a little thick so the swirl didn't quite work the way I wanted it too. I ended up scooping some soap from the bottom of the bowl to the top to try and even out the colors. Overall I am very pleased with how the soap turned out. It smells just like roses (I used this FO), and the dried rose petals I sprinkled on top have retained their color nicely so far. I think this soap will sell well. :)

I also just made another ombre soap using a pomegranate champagne FO. The bottom layer has brick red oxide pigment with just a dash of yellow pigment. I'm worried I didn't mix in the pigment properly, because there were these red streaks when I cut the soap? I'm hoping that's just from the cutting and after I clean up the hardened bars, the streaks will come off. 

Crossing my fingers that planing the soap will do the trick. Otherwise, I think it looks great. Doing the ombre layers was much easier the second time. I'm hoping to do multiple colored ombre soap soon, once I feel confident enough. 

Finally, on a happy note, I made my first sale on Etsy yesterday! I was super stoked since I haven't advertised my shop to anyone. Let's hope it's the first of many :)

First Ombre Attempt

Before Thanksgiving break, I crammed in several more soap loaves so that they'd be cured by Christmas. I attempted the hanger swirl and doing ombre layers (not in the same batch). My first attempt at the hanger swirl turned out decent--see the chai tea soap picture below. I tried it again with an apple scented soap (not pictured), but I didn't pour the layers correctly so my red soap punctured the white soap layer. Boo.

Anyway, I just thought I'd share how the lavender soap is looking now. Fortunately the ultraviolet pigment stands out much more and looks much more purple than gray. I was a bit worried when I first made the soap that I'd have white and gray soap.

Here is a picture of my chai tea soap and my first attempt at the hanger swirl. Everyone keeps saying this soap looks like fudge! I might try attaching wooden skewers to the hanger in the future to get more distinct lines.

Finally, I wanted to share pictures of my first ombre soap! I have to admit that I am very happy with the way it turned out. Considering that it was a small batch, it was extremely hard to measure the right amount of soap for each layer--I ended up just having to eyeball it. Hence, some of the layers in the middle all look the same hah. I did seven layers, starting with a teal pigment. Aside from some small air bubbles, I think the soap looks great, though. Hopefully my future ombre endeavors turn out this good!

Hurry up and wait

I finally got my Brambleberry package that I ordered early last week. I previously ordered their pigment sample package that comes with like 12 colors, but I found myself running out of the titanium dioxide. So, I ordered a pound of TD--hopefully that lasts me a while. :) I also bought a clean up tool, since it's hard to clean off soap crumbs with my hands. Plus, I should really bevel the sides of my soaps. The soaps that I've tried that aren't beveled tend to feel sharp during the first few uses. I caved and ended up ordered a soap planer/beveler off of Etsy yesterday, since my soap cutter smears the sides of my soap. I also ordered like another $150 worth of fragrance oils and other miscellaneous supplies this week. >.< I wish it was easier/cheaper to buy soap making materials in stores so I wouldn't have to wait for my packages. Hopefully I'll have enough materials to last me a long while. And hopefully I can actually sell my soaps one day soon!

Anyway, I made a batch of lavender soap last weekend. I followed the recipe in this soap crafting book but made a smaller batch. I didn't realize having a higher percentage of olive oil would really impact how long it takes for the soap to harden up! I made the mistake of taking the soap out of the mold too soon (after two days). I tried cutting a bar off yesterday, but the inside was still way too soft. I'll wait an extra day before I cut up the rest. Here's how the loaf looks:

Fortunately, my in-the-pot swirl actually worked this time. I want to hurry up and cut the rest of the loaf so I can see what the other bars will look like. One annoying thing about the lavender buds on top is that they drag down through the soap sometimes as you are cutting the loaf. Hence the ugly side that I tried to smooth out with my fingers. But once I get my planer, I should be able to fix that up.

The last time I attempted the in-the-pot swirl was with my pumpkin spice soap. The trace was too thick, and the white part didn't swirl very well with the amber part. All of the white soap ended up glopping into the mold first, so there is no white on the top half of the bar. I tried swirling the soap with a chopstick after the soap was in the mold, but I over-swirled. Note to self: less is more. Notice the difference in pattern from the lavender soap above?

Last night I made a batch of oats, milk, and honey soap using goat milk (with ground oats and real honey!) and this fragrance oil from Brambleberry. To my dismay, there was a crack on the top of my soap! 

You can't see the crack as well in this picture, but it definitely looked worse last night. Hopefully it won't look too bad after I cut the soap. I have no idea why soap cracks (aside from overheating) and how to prevent it. I made a similar batch last week that was unscented. Perhaps it was the fragrance oil that made the soap crack? Maybe the different combination of oils that I used? I mixed the lye mixture and oils at 100 degrees, which I thought was plenty cool enough. I had another loaf crack a few weeks ago with a similar textured top--maybe it's because of that? Unfortunately it's hard to fix the crack when the top is textured, so there wasn't anything I could do about it. In the future, though, I'll be sure to make sure I soap at lower temperatures (definitely below 120 degrees). I'll post pictures of the cut loaves later. :) Happy hump day!

Happy Veterans' Day!

Happy Veterans' Day to all my fellow military families and veterans! I wanted to document my trial and attempts at different kinds of soaps and thought a blog would be perfect. I started to really get into soaping about a month ago, and I'm eagerly awaiting the fragrance oil sale that Brambleberry will have tomorrow. I've already made a handful of cold process soap loaves that are currently curing, but I'll be sure to post pictures when they are ready to be used. I seriously want to order like a billion fragrance oils--I'm really lucky that my husband is supportive of this hobby!