Bring on 2015

I know I have been quiet for a very long time, but due to personal issues, I have kept away from the public eye.

2014 has been the biggest year from hell. What started out positive with a new job quickly turned around to being a nightmare. I lost my dance teaching job thanks to my day job and my day job is the job from hell. I know we aren't supposed to like work, but working for Apple has been THE WORST experience EVER. Bullying is rife, not caring and frequently making the job harder and harder to achieve targets is getting beyond laughable (believe me, I am not laughing, quite the opposite actually).

Soaping... What I have learned so far:
1. Never underestimate the popularity of Dragons Blood
2. 10 degrees Celsius is NOT a good difference in oils/lye, especially when working with cream in the batter. Seized before I even got the fragrance in.
3. Definitely freeze your goats milk before setting off on a batch.
4. Never, ever, ever make bath bombs when it is raining, overcast or at least humid. Not happy.
5. Soap cupcakes... Why? The time and effort, are they really worth the results. Made 2 batches and I think that will be it. (2015 update, I still have most of them and can't even give the buggers away!)
6. Stick to in the pot swirls, the other techniques, whilst gorgeous, take time and time is money.
7. Lilac scent is not as popular as I thought it would be. Yep, left with LOTS.
8. No posting massage bars, exfoliating bars or bath truffles in summer. Arrive in a mess. Not happy.
9. I love my silicone mould but love my 2.5kg wooden moulds even more.
10. People have loved my soap. I am so happy I started this venture. Now to make 2015 even better.
11. Heat transfer method. Hell, no! Never again! Talk about acceleration, crap and that was before the fragrance went in!

Bright blessings everyone for an amazing 2015.
Soapy hugs
Kayla
Black Peacock Soapery

MiA & Depression

Hi everyone

Al huge apology to those who drop by my blog. In recent month, work has gotten progressively harder to deal with. I work in a form of call centre. I actually work from home and the call are routed to me. In recent month due to staff leaving in droves and managements desire to make our job even harder, my depression has returned with a vengeance and I shut all and sundry out. Everything that I enjoy becomes a chore, it is easier for me to sit and cry or sleep.

Situational depression or adjustment disorder, call it what you will. I was diagnosed with it officially around 7 years ago. My then boss sent me to a psychiatrist (yep, I worked for a Dr.) as he claimed I had anger issues (arrogant Dr. vs Gemini). The verdict, situational depression, adjustment disorder or when life gets too much, I emotionally shut down.

At present, we are living in a duplex that is falling apart as the owner and/or the estate agent refuses to repair anything (we'll do it when you move out) and on top of that, the couple who live upstairs, are hot heads and the guy especially. For years we have listened to the arguements, the beatings and aggression. We are trying to move but it has been a long process. We are near the end but still have more things to shift out from the new home (old home really, moving back to the family home as everyone is now at rest) before we can full on move it. Still hoping for early 2015.

So between crappy rental house, agro man upstairs, a slow move, issues with the dance school I used to teach for (that is another story in itself) reduced work hours and craptastic working conditions, I have gone downhill emotionally and physically over the last 6 months to the point where I am frequently sick, injuries are not healing quickly and the social isolation has really made me retract from everything. I am still making soap, just don't seem to brood over it as much as I used to. I am hoping this will pass soon, I really do.

In a nutshell, I will be back, but if I am quiet and MiA, you know why. The black dog has come around and he isn't leaving any time soon. Bring on 2015 and a brighter future.

Soapy hugs
Kayla

Neglecting My Blog, But Not My Soap!

It has been a hectic and stressful few weeks and alas my little blog was neglected even though I have made plenty of soap and have had a few hauls come in. Hectic is about to pick up again and the stress, well, in a nutshell, I am currently trapped in a crappy job and desperately trying to get out.

I have had some great sales over the last month with orders coming through from family and friends who I really cannot thank enough for their support. Here's hoping more will come in for Christmas. I have two sales gigs to go unless I have other opportunities arise.

Soap porn below!

Soapy hugs
Kayla xx

More Soap Porn and Musings

I have been posting my soaps up on Facebook for quite a while. It was only recent that I pulled a Facebook page together for the business side of things. I never believed (after other business pages of mine have never sold a thing) that I would start selling soapy goodies almost straight away. Three gift baskets later and a custom order for lemon myrtle and goats milk. Wow, hopefully I am on the right path and I can leave this soul destroying job.

Also, I have made so much soap, I am quickly running out of base ingredients!

Soapy hugs
Kayla xx

Mini Haul: Week of 8 Sept 2014

A mint hail from Natural Candle Supply. I am still not sure about the fragrances as they seem quite subtle to my nose. Here's hoping.

Soapy hugs
Kayla xx

Soap Porn Alert!

Nothing but soap porn!

Soapy hugs
Kayla xx

...And It Just Keeps Coming...

I feel blessed over the last month or so to have friends who are happy and willing to support my business. In the last month I have been offered 3 opportunites to sell my soaps as well as friends who would like some themselves or for their friends. I only hope that the markets I have been invited to will get some sales!

On anothr note, the ugly brown duckling from last week has set and finally cut. Below is the magnificent purple that the Brazillian purple clay gave and there is a little boost from some purple mica also swirled in,

Next in the mould is an all natural soap with essential oils, I have bath truffles of the same Goddess scent and will also have bath salts with hibiscus and rose petals.

Soapy hugs
Kayla xx
  

Ugly duckling now beautiful lilac scented soap

Goddess blend with Australian pink clay and hibiscus petals

 

So many soaps wrapped and more to come!

 

Bath truffles all wrapped, awaiting swing tags 

2kg Mould Soap Cut

These are finally cut and now curing.

Himalayan black tea will now be called High Tea, as for black raspberry sugar... Still out for debate...

Also, since I am running low on base oils and butters, I am scraping together a couple of simpler recipes. The most recent is lilac scented with Brazillian purple clay (ouch, went brown because of the olive oil but will hopefully come good) with a little purple mica swirl and pink Himalayan rock salt. This one will be cut on the weekend.

Soapy hugs
Kayla xx

Disaster Time

Photo below is of my plop and drop soap and here is the reason why it happened...

I decided to up the cream content in my soap from around 30g to 103g, approx. 1/3 of the water weight. With any cream or milk, it should be kept as cool as possible to avoid burning the milks. I would usually soap around 35 degrees for both oils and lye. Well, I didn't want to wait for my lye to cool down. My oils were around 38 and my lye was around 48-50. Yep, I just plonked the lye in with a 10 degree difference! Epic mistake! Everything came together well, I split the batch off to be coloured and that is where is went south. The batter accelerated that quickly I barely had a chance to mix in the micas and TD. What began as a plop and drop quickly turned to a splat and mash. The batter was quite hot and has been left uncovered to set No doubt this will have gelled!

Now, I. An hear you saying, well, it must have been the fragrance. Nope, that was impossible. I was going to split, colour THEN add scent so I didn't even get that far.

Moral of the story, when you are using cream or milks - BE PATIENT with your lye water. Mix your lye water first and allow it to cool right down. The reaction has come around because of the sugars in the cream heating up and reacting with the lye.

Soapy hugs
Kayla xx

New Moulds in Use

I bought two moulds second hand and put them to use today.

Himalayan Black Tea and Black Raspberry Sugar.  No idea what their new names will be!

Soapy hugs
Kayla xx

It's Not Just Soap Now!

It has been a VERY LONG time coming. I haven't made bath products in over 10 years, but I have returned with the beginnings of something that I loved doing - happy bath time goodness!

That's right, I am retuning with baths goodness and starting off with bath truffles! A lovely blend of bath bomb and bath melt. To please all senses I will make EO and FO blends and to start with I have made a batch of raspberry and violet of and bergamont, lemongrass and rose geranium EO. I will also be looking at other lovely blends along with shower tablets for those who prefer or only have showers. Stay tuned for 'Breathe Easy' and 'Hump Day' EO blends.

Soapy hugs
Kayla xx

Soaping & Mini Haul

Below are my four most recent creations. Alas, I keep forgetting the camera to video how I made them and give a running commentary on how the recipe is and how the scents are reacting.  It certainly doesn't help when I have half of my stuff in one house and half in another. Hopefully this will be rectified soon enough.

Lastly is of a mini haul from China with 4 silicone moulds that I am going to use for bath melts.just need more money and hours in they day to pay for everything so I can get up and running! Anyone know the winning lotto numbers?

Green Man

Ice Man Cometh

Lemon Goat

Girly Girl

Early August Super Mini Haul

Not much to report, but I did manage to find some cheap colloidal oatmeal on Ebay. I have been skeptical about buying this kind of stuff from Ebay as there are so many dodgy sellers out there. The sellers feedback wasn't too back, a couple of reports of non delivery but nothing about the quality.

Would love to hear from everyone with their favourite trustworthy Ebay seller for soapy goodness!

Soapy hugs
Kayla

Soapmaking Standstill

Alas, my soap making for the moment has ground to a halt.

Still moving from one home to another to keep my final moving cost as low as possible. But I am also slowly running out of space to store my freshly made soaps whilst they cure. I have yet to clear out the back sheds to make way for the new venture and when that is done, find the money to get the two tables that I am after from Bunnings along with drying racks and a few other storage things from Ikea, plus the sink... Oh to win the lottery, sod off this daily crap job and to soap, sew and dance all day!

Soapy hugs
Kayla

The Perfect Man Soap Video - Hello YouTube!

I really hate having my photo taken and even more being on video but I am braving my fears and putting myself out there. So, albeit a little late thanks to the slow upload speed to YouTube, I present my first ever YouTube video for soapmaking... Black Peacock Soaps - Making of "The Perfect Man".

Soapy hugs

Kayla

First Soaping Video!

Made you look!

Seriously, I have just filmed my first video. I won't post yet as I need to edit and add the finished product photos. Please excuse the arm in the way, first video, full of mistakes and can only get better from there! 

Excited and scared!

Hopefully will post it up on Sunday night my time if I have enough time get it up there.

Soapy hugs

Kayla 

Soap Swap: Anything Goes - Fail No. 2

Oh dear, where do I start... The colours after gelling are a little better but the soap is SOFT. I am going to have to leave it in the mould a bit longer. Made on Wednesday, unmould attempt No. 1 on the following Sunday, unmould attempt No. 2 on the following Wednesday, unmould attempt No. 3 coming up the following Sunday. The top is hard but the sides... Still quite mushy. I'll be bringing this one home to put in the freezer and see how I go...

Oils:  olive oil, macadamia oil and coconut oil (ran out at this stage). I ran what I had left through the soap calc and it seemed to work... Ummmmm...
Fragrance: Nature's Blush - it accelerated, not madly but pouring an ITP swirl became difficult in the end and I think it began to rice as well. It looked fine but started to get thick and looked not as it should...
Colour: TD and blue oxide. I was going for an ITP swirl... I'll try again on another recipe and in a loaf mould rather than cubes.

Soapy hugs
Kayla

No More Sneaky Soaping

So, most of my soaping stuff has moved to the other house. In between cleaning up and stripping walls of 50 year old undercoat, I am now allowed to soap.

No more hiding that I have been making soap from the other half. He is currently chunking through the first batch of soap I made, scented with Love Spell and since then I have bought him his own scent and about to make up something just for him, with something purple... I am thinking a purple ITP. I need any excuse to start working on my techniques.

So yay for being allowed to soap, but still have a while until we move. I am moving in more bags every time we go over and hopefully will have everything moved over soon enough that I can tell the estate agent where they can shove themselves for all the years of NOT repairing this place and have a home that is all my own, with my soaping shed and hopefully see the beginnings of getting away from working in a job that I loathe and into making soapy goodness.

Soapy hugs
Kayla

Soap Haul: Week of 15 June 2014

Nothing spectacular this week other than 5L of coconut oil, some colurants, glycerine, bees wax and a desperately needed cheese cutter since other cutting methods were leaving me with 'door step' soap bars that are just horrid! Next pay day will be more macadamia oil as I am now starting to run through that quickly too. On another note, when the EVOO is finished, I will be getting light EVOO as I am not liking the darker oil colour and really don't want to be using TD. 

Soapy hugs

Kayla 

 

Soap Swap: Natural

Scent: Hairloom Goddess blend (ylang, ylang, white grapefruit, sweet orange & patchouli)

Oils: EVOO, coconut and macadamia

Colour: uncoloured batter, Australian pink clay and red mica swirl

Whilst not perfect, it is made with love and good intentions. I bought a cheese cutter during the week as trying to cut a loaf of soap with a knife or the mitre box method was just not working. Today I produced 10 nearly uniform little bars of soap the are now happily curing in the kitchen of my new old home. 

Stay tuned for the next installment which will be the results of the 'anything goes' soap swap loaf...

Soapy hugs

Kayla

Soap Swap: Anything Goes - Fail No. 1

Scent: Pink Jasmine FO
Oils: EVOO, macadamia & coconut
Colour: black oxide
Embeds: clear M & P with opal white glitter

Well, the soaping gremlins have hit me. Whilst the soap itself turned out fine, my design didn't. What I had in my head and saw in a photo, did not translate into reality. A black mess with barely noticeable embeds. Yep, one for the use at home and never try again file...

In the words of many a fail meme...NAILED IT!

Soapy hugs

Kayla 

This is how I wanted the soap to look! Ahhh, yup...nailed it!

Soap Calculators and Other Useful Calculators

Since I am still very much a greenhorn in the soaping world, I am trying to make it easy on myself and hopefully other new saponifier a by brining links and resources into one place. Today's post is for,  you guessed it, online calculators! There are many out there, I will list what I have found and the comment on the couple that I find the most useful. Again, check these out for yourself and make a decision on YOUR findings.

The Majestic Mountain Sage ("The Sage")
https://www.thesage.com/calcs/index.html
This has three calculators available: a lye calc, a universal conversion and my favourite - the fragrance calc. The fragrance calc gives you a guideline on weight, percentage or liquid measurement  of either essential oil or fragrance oils for the size of your batch of oils. Brilliant! Also gives approx. how much to use dependant on if you want subtle, mid or strong scent. The other good aspect on this calculator is that you can select the type of product you are making and calculates the percentage for that product type.

I am currently using their soap calc as even though it does not give exact amounts of water, it does give you options with how much lye to use and how that translates into superfatting. Always select lye amounts I the GREEN range!

Brambleberry
http://www.brambleberry.com/Pages/Fragrance-Calculator.aspx
http://www.brambleberry.com/Pages/Lye-Calculator.aspx
Brambleberry has both lye and fragrance calculators but I have not used either.

How to Make Any Soap Recipe Palm Free
http://thenerdyfarmwife.com/how-to-make-any-soap-recipe-palm-free/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheNerdyFarmWife+%28The+Nerdy+Farm+Wife%29

Soapcalc.net
http://www.soapcalc.net/calc/soapcalcwp.asp
This is the calculator that I have previously used.

Online Conversions
http://www.onlineconversion.com
This has been my favourite site for years to convert just about anything to everything!

Australian Soapmaker
http://www.australiansoapmaker.info/ozcalc/lye.php
I have not yet used this calculator.

Soap Gulld
http://www.soapguild.org/soapmakers/resources/lye-calc.php
I have yet to use this calculator. I only wish we had a soap guild here in Australia or something between Oz and NZ.

Summer Bee Meadow
http://www.summerbeemeadow.com/content/lye-calculator-and-recipe-resizer
I have not the used this calculator.

If anyone has used any of these calculators please comment below or if you know of any that are worthy of adding to the list.

Soapy hugs
Kayla

Mini Haul: Week of 1 June 2014

Nothing major. Just a mini haul from Big Tree Supplies on fragrant oils. I am very happy with the pricing, speed of delivery and the beautiful smells that are probably going to suffocate me! I will be starting to build back up my aromatherapy/essential oil collection as money allows. They are so much more expensive!

Soapy hugs

Kayla

Soap Haul: Week of 19 May 2014 - part 2

Part two of my soaping haul for this week...

I have had a field day getting supplies ready and I am itching more and more to make soap and create something that has some substance and life, not just plain old boring, cream!

4 new silicone moulds have arrived from China. These are fairly small but I happy with the size, they are the same size as the other mould in the bamboo 'holder' that I won a few weeks ago in an auction package. By the way, I AM STILL SEEKING OLD LEGO, DUPLO OR THE LIKE...hint, hint!

I have also had a great colour haul  from Kinibug with glitter, micas and oxides. I do love it when I can get sample packs, especially as a newbie to the field so I can work out what I like and what I don't. I just wish I could get more fragrance sample packs like that. I can only find one supplier so far here in Australia.a

Also, I grabbed a tea strainer for my micas as I would love to make a soap that looks like lapis lazuli with beautiful gold pencil lines.

Last but not least, I learnt a good lesson... I have been searching in various major chain stores for small glass measuring cups, the one that are about the size of a shot glass. Nada, nothing, just the big stuff. Not what I wanted for FO's and EO's. So I went to a specialty homeware store and found them there for around $7. I really should have gone to the $2 store a few shops down (same place I got a HEAP of batter bowls with handles that are of a descent size - 3L). They had those little buggers for $1.50 each! Yep, grabbed some more. They are glass and you never know when you may drop one, or two...

Soapy hugs

Kayla

Soap Haul: Week of 19 May 2014 - part 1

First haul for the week with another to come! A huge Thanks to Kerry from Heirloom Bodycare for allowing me to slip in some last minute oils!

This haul contains some lovely mica samples along with the glitter I have been trying to locate in trustworthy format. Lilac and Dragons Blood FO's.  I really want to. Old ur my soaps with natural colors so I grabbed some alkanet root powder and FINALLY ordered charcoal! My last minute adds were macadamia oil (so hard to find in stores) and coconut oil as I didn't realize how much I would go through. I hope the other half doesn't kill me for using the good stuff? Oh well, he didn't like food cooked in it anyway!

Soapy hugs
Kayla

Love Spell All Cut!

They are all cut and I certainly I need to get the hang of the cutter! Sheesh, so many different sizes! These are all sitting on my kitchen window in the other house happily awaiting their first use.

Still searching for a name, may just stick with Love Spell. 

Hopefully the next batch will be a little more fancy!

Soapy hugs

Kayla 

Sneaky Soaping

As some of you may (or may not) know, I have been banned from making soap until we move. I have been trying to be good, even moved my soaping gear out of the current den of falling everything to the other home. I was good for about a week after moving my stuff over, but...

Let's interject with the graduate soap making course and the amazing scent of freshly made and cut soap sitting around airing itself until the day it can be used. I honestly thought I was doing the right thing by moving over my soaping gear from the current home to my new (old home) to remove the temptation to soap. Well, I could take no more and soaped today all by myself!  No watchful eyes, just me, the Lye and the oils. I know, I should have waited, but I couldn't. 

I currently have cooking, a simple batch of EVOO, coconut oil, palm oil, cocoa butter with the smallest amount of tussah silk, fragranced with Brambleberry's Love Spell (I had two x 10ml bottles). I have two brand new soap moulds being broken in and my new loaf cutter will get a workout tomorrow.

I did work out a few things for myself - need glass measuring jiggers, need a metal spoon to get out the harder butters/oils, I need to break down my cocoa butter as the chunks are still too large to melt easily, move the microwave to somewhere accessible and safe!

But, when all was said and done, I am pretty chuffed that I managed a new recipe all by myself, with no help, no assistance or me cracking wise ass comments...

So, what should I call this soap?

Soapy hugs

Kayla

For those wondering why I am using palm oil... It came as park of an auction that I won on Ebay a while ago. Rather than throwing out good ingredients, I would rather use it until it is gone.