Preparing for the Winter

Yay, my foam insulation box has arrived....keeping the soap warm or in room temperature is very important after you finishing making the soap, so it will keep hardening itself. The drastic change in temperature will worsen the quality of the oil, or if the humidity is too high, it will change the texture of the soap. Of course, I don't just order the foam insulation box, it comes with my favorite Omaha steak(which I only get when I have a gift card from Discover :p) I was worried the box might not be big enough since I didn't order a lot, but wow, my soap mold fit in it perfectly even with my soap cutter sitting on top :) now I have a peace in mind for upcoming winter now.

Just Keep Trying....Just Keep Trying.....

I learned that the less amount of kinds of oil I use, the more the nutritious value becomes effective in soap using, therefore, I reduced down to only 5 oil this time. I tried the swirling technique again and I think I got it this time, but still not pretty enough >< Here's what I got:

Name:

Shea Butter Avocado Lemongrass Soap

乳油木酪梨香茅手工皂

Ingredients:

Extra Virgin Olive oil

Avocado oil

Palms oil

Coconut oil

Shea butter

NaOH

H2O

Essential Oil:

100% Lemongrass essential oil

Other:

Red natural mineral clay

New Oils, New Adventure!

I'm going to keep trying the swirling technique till I get it right, this time I tried with two new oil, Avocado oil and sweet almond oil. I didn't know avocado oil is consider higher grade than olive oil, however it is a bit more pricy than olive oil, that is why using olive oil is more common in soap making while give good amount of nutrient that you need. There are two type of avocado oil, refined and unrefined, unrefined is cheaper but MORE nutritious, the natural green color will also give soap light green color. The one I got seem to be refined as my soap didn't turn out green like I wanted, and I really want to get unrefined avocado oil if I can because of it high nutritious value. I was able to mix the color in this time, but the swirl didn't turn out good because I swirl it too many time. My friend was able to show me a couple of video how to make the color propertly, I was grateful for my friend's constant support and encouragement.

Name:

Shea Butter Sweet Almond Rosemary Soap

乳油木酪梨甜杏仁迷迭香手工皂

Ingredients:

Extra Virgin Olive oil

Avocado oil

Palms oil

Coconut oil

Shea butter

Sweet almond oil

NaOH

H2O

Essential Oil:

100% Rosemary essential oil

Other:

Red natural mineral clay

Care Package

I received a care package today from my friend in Taiwan. The box is packed full of soap materials and ingredients that I can't easily get here in US, there are two natural mineral powder for coloring, two essential oils, a lot of design stickers, some flowers and herbal plant for soap making, it is so sweet of her. Inside the card she wrote: "Although these aren't very valuable as individual, but hopefully you can use your creativity and turn it into something even more valuable" I can't thank my friends enough for their constant support and encouragement, thank you!

She also bought bunch of soap stamps for me since there's a big sale going on, she paid everything up front, I really feel bad, I wish there's a good and efficient way of getting the money to her. (picture courtesy by 想想魚) however, I told her feel free to use my stamp before I go back to Taiwan and get it, I think it's a fair trade for now :)

My First Soap Impression

Since the mistake last time, I've been thinking to avoid using castor oil and use other type of oil instead, not because I'm afraid of it but because I want to make s solid color soap since depending on the ratio of caster oil will determine how transparent the soap be. I got myself some shea butter and jojoba oil this time, both are very good oil for coating the skin with oil during winter. I whisk the soap a lot longer this time for some reason even though the hardness ratio is higher due to shea butter. Instead of using water, I used the brown rice water by soaking for a period of time, brown rice is good source of vitamin B and will add extra nutrient to the soap. I also tried using spirulina powder for more defined coloring and I also wanted to try out swirling technique by pouring color on different spot, then slowly draws the pattern along the coloring spot using a wooden stick. however, the solution turned out to be too thick for color to get in, so I learned that I'm suppose to do the coloring part when the solution is still runny and just starting to get trace.


Big news for me, I was also able to put stamp on my soap successfully this time, stamp sure give the soap extra personality.

Name:

Shea Butter Jojoba Lavender Brown Rice Soap

乳油木荷荷芭薰衣胚芽米手工皂

Ingredients:

Extra Virgin Olive oil

Palm oil

Coconut oil

Jojoba oil

Shea butter

Brown Rice Water

NaOH

Essential Oil:

100% Lavender Vanilla essential oil

Other:

Sea-derived spirulina powder

Un-Stamp-able (Layering Part II)

Soap making just keeps getting more fun each time, I look forward to making soap each week to try out all these different techniques. This time I tried another type of layering soap by mixing half of the solution with mung-bean powder to give it darker color, I also tried goat milk this time instead of milk/water. After several good luck of making soap successfully, bad luck finally got to me, I was trying to put stamp on the goat milk soap, for some reason, I cannot get the imprint to look right in the center because it's still very soft. Later on I found out from my friend that it could be caused by several reason:

1. Using castor oil will make the soap more sticky and harder to manage when it comes to stamping the soap
2. Too many powder material(such as mung-bean powder) will actually obsorb more moisture from air and soap itself therefore make it difficult to stamp in the center.

I learned from this mistake and will keep trying next time!

Name:

Grapeseed Eucalyptus Goat Milk Soap

葡萄籽藍膠由加利羊奶手工皂

Ingredients:

Extra Virgin Olive oil

Palms oil

Coconut oil

Grapeseed oil

Castor oil

NaOH

Goat Milk

Essential Oil:

100% Lavender Vanilla essential oil

Other:

Flaxseed

Mung-bean powder

My Birthday Surprise!

I received a surprise birthday present from my friend in Taiwan. I always wanted a stamp for my soap but finding one here in US isn't easy, my friend heard my dilemma and bought it for me from this Taiwanese soap crafter website and shipped all the way here for me. I was so happy and can't wait to make more soap.