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