February 2015 | Cold Process Fun Figures | KCK Soapery

 

These fun figures were inspired by a facebook inquiry I received.  A mom mentioned that her kid is very sensitive to commercial soaps and would like to know if I can make fun soaps for kids.  These were fragranced with Bergamot and Tarragon fragrance oil.  I can add color to make them more fun.

Ingredients include Olive Oil, Coconut Oil, Palm Oil, Castor Oil, Shea Butter and Mango Butter.

 

I made a few cold process soaps in different simple molds but not with intricate designs.  These did came out intact.  The only difference I noticed were the back of the figures.  They were not as smooth as the glycerin melt and pour soaps.

 

These are the backs and you can see the last pours are a little elevated and not as flat.  Maybe I can pour the batter earlier when they are still more liquid and not as thick for the next batch.  We shall see. 



Thank you for your interests.  If you want me to try something, please don't hesitate to let me know.  I love the challenge and it would give me such pleasure to try new things and give you fun, skin loving soaps.

Thanks for stopping by!

Glynith 



January 2015 | Caribbean Coconut | KCK Soapery

 

A friend suggested a coconut oil base soap with no colors. 

 

 

This batch was made only with Coconut Oil, Olive Oil, Palm Oil, Castor Oil, Shea Butter and Mango Butter.

 

No additional colors but with a trickle of the Caribbean Coconut fragrance oil to give off some coconut scent.  Top with a spoon swirl and cut with the wedge cutter.

 

Happy Soaping!

 

 



January 2015 | Hidden Ivy | KCK Soapery

 

First cold process soap for 2015 unmolded today.  This batch was concocted using my new favorite ingredients Olive Oil, Coconut Oil, Palm Oil, Castor Oil, Shea Butter and Mango Butter.

 

 

The design technique was inspired from Anne Marie of Bramble Berry.  Since I can't find a thicker hanger that I can easily manipulate.  I used the wire from a flower arrangement and stick a straw to make the circumference bigger.

 

 

I used woodland green, teal, brown mica and titanium dioxide for my colors.

 

 

Added more butters than my previous recipe, just to see if I can detect any difference in how the soap will behave, look and feel.

 

 

Fragranced with Mistletoe and Ivy which is described as blends of cedar leaf, Siberian fir, English holly, holiday mistletoe, cooling camphor, trailing ivy, sandalwood, vetiver, and frosted musk.

 

 

Poured the white base then the brown.

 

 

Covered the brown with another layer of white, followed by the teal which was covered and top with the green and covered again with white.

 

 

Pulled the straw wire up.

 

 

Layered the top with the leftover colors.

 

 

Swirled the top using chopstick.

 

 

Let the loaf sit for five days.  This was the longest I tried since the previous ones had been tacky when unmolded.  This came out intact but still soft enough to cut.

 

 

The delicate swirls in the middle are almost too thin in some of the bars.  The kids thought they look like little trees.

 

Happy Soaping!!!

 



December 2014 | Amazing Grace | KCK Soapery

 

Tuesday started out great, so I decided to try a new design technique using five colors for the first time.  However, it did not happen.  The soap batter hardened faster than expected and the video ran out of battery.  I ended up having an "Abstract" design.

 

 

First time using a lot of colors, Titanium Dioxide for white, woodland green, ultramarine blue, red oxide and activated charcoal for black.

 

 

The hubby can't stop sniffing at the soap, he said it has a "subtle - cool - menthol - like scent".  This was scented with "Amazing Grace" fragrance oil which is described as a blend of Italian bergamot and sparkling lemon sweetened with freshly picked citron and neroli.  A white floral jasmine, orange blossom and rose are blended with sheer musk and cedarwood. 

 

 

 The batch was made using Olive Oil, Coconut Oil, Palm Oil, Castor Oil, Shea Butter and Mango Butter.

 

 

I hope you enjoy these design.

 

Happy Soaping!!!

May 2014 | Mama's First Soap | KCK Soapery

 

After watching me making soaps for over a week now, mama decided to try her hand at soap making as well.

 

This was fragranced with Caribbean Coconut fragrance oil, and colored with titanium dioxide and neon blue raspberry.  Ingredients are from Everything Soapmaking book which is now my basic "go-to" recipe, it includes olive oil, coconut oil, palm oil and castor oil. 

 

This episode reminds me of when I started making cold process soap in January.  I was very hesitant and not sure of what I am doing or if I am doing things the right way or not.  But as you can see, my mom did a good job. 

 

 

We added more swirling design to the top using the chopstick after turning the video off.

 

 

Out of the mold waiting to be cut.  Mama was so excited that it did turned out and is actually good looking and smelled nice.  She cut the bars herself.

 

 

Every bar is different.  Really proud of my mama's first handmade soap from scratch.

 

Here is the video.  Enjoy...

 

 

 



Faux Funnel Swirl Soap

 

Project yesterday was a faux funnel swirl of titanium dioxide for white, matte cobalt blue ultramarine, neon mango madness and woodland green.  Fragranced with a blend of sunny herb garden and tangerine samples from Bramble Berry.  I saw a youtube tutorial using this swirl technique which is a modified version of a real funnel swirl and thought that it should be doable for a newbie like me.

 

Recipe used was the basic recipe in the Everything Soapmaking Book which includes Olive oil, Coconut oil, Palm oil and Castor oil.

 

I thankfully read my messages before starting this project and was able to read a comment from Jo on my previous post.  She mentioned she has read from the soap queen's blog about the tiny bubbling problems silicone molds produces during oven process.  So yesterday after pouring all the soap batter, I just insulate the mold by wrapping it in a towel.

 

 

As expected, my colors are not as vivid as I wanted to.  But then I haven't used these same color combination in an oven processed soap yet.  So I don't really have a clear comparison of results.  I might try this same colors with oven process next time.  At least I did not get any bubbling at all this time.  Thank you Jo for the information.  Now I don't have to continue the search on the cause of those pesky little bubbles. 

 

 

But as you can see in the pictures below, the soap is smooth.  I will try to do the same color combination for my next batch, oven process it and see if we can do a proper comparison.  But then the addition of the fragrance oils I used did changed the colors of this soap batter. 

 

 

The scratches on the sides were caused by my being too impatient at removing the soap out of the mold.  Otherwise, it is all smooth.

 

I showed the hubby a bar after cutting it and the first thing that he said was - wow! a smiley, was that intentional?

 

 

 

Happy Soaping!

 

  

Drop Swirl with Feathered Mantra Top

 

 

Monday spring break project.  The kids were home watching me do this.  Ingredients used were my usual Olive oil, Coconut oil, Palm oil and Castor oil.  I still have 1 oz. of the lavender 40/42 fragrance oil and decided to do the same purple drop swirl as my previous lavender soap.  But to make it different, I added a green color and instead of just mantra swirl on top, I did a feathered mantra swirl.

 

I love the color combination and my daughter love the designs the swirl created.  Each bar and every side of the bar is different from each other.  Truly loving the drop swirl technique.   As I have observed from other soapers' blogs and youtube videos.  When it comes to soaping, you can just anticipate and hope for the best every time.

 

 

I have been doing the cold process oven process technique for the past few batches, because I like how the colors are just more vivid to me.  Picture above was taken right after the soap came out of the oven.   I also know that some soapers prefer to prevent gelling by placing their molded soap in the fridge instead.  I still have to try that and see how I will like the no gelling fridge technique later.  For now, I am loving the oven process.

 

 

Out of the mold and ready for cutting.

 

 

My problem for both the previous lavender soap and this soap.  Lots of bubbles on the sides.  I thought it was due to the tea I used on the last soap.  But  I just used plain distilled water for this batch and I still get the same bubbles on all four sides of the soap.  I don't get any bubbling in the sliced sides of the soap.

 

These are all cosmetic though.  They are perfectly good handmade soap made from high quality oils.  Just need to find the cause of the bubbling.

I wonder if the culprit for all these bubbles was due to the use of mineral oil.  I did not line the mold for this and the last lavender soap instead I rubbed some mineral oil along the sides of the mold.  Maybe that is the cause.  I will check and see for the next batch.

 

 

I sprinkled some iridescent glitters on top and love the effect it gives to the soap as well.

 

Till the next project.  Thank you very much for stopping by.

 

Happy Soaping...

 





Yellow Cupcake Soaps

 

 

My project for this gloomy and snowy spring morning.  These yellow cupcake soaps just came out of the oven.  Made it this morning using olive oil, coconut oil, palm oil and castor oil.  Fragranced with Sweet Bay Rose and colored with stain glass lemon yellow.  Both fragrance oil and colorants are from Wholesale Supplies Plus.

 

 

Below is a picture of all three cupcake soaps I made so far. 

 

 

Happy  Soaping...

 



Pink Cupcake Soaps

 

 

These cupcakes were made using Olive oil, Coconut oil, Palm oil and Castor oil.  Fragrance used was China Rain and colorants neon pink and titanium dioxide for the white. 

 

The mini cupcakes were put in the oven for an hour at 170 degrees while the big cupcakes were just at room temperature.   As of the moment, the colors of the mini cupcakes are more vibrant to me.  We shall see how tomorrow will be.

 

Happy Soaping!

 

 

 



First Cupcake Soaps

 

Since I was already making soap favors yesterday.  I thought of trying my hands at making mini soap cupcakes as well.  My daughter is turning 6 soon, so these would be perfect as birthday giveaways for her classmates.

 

These are made using my usual 2 pound recipe using Olive oil, Coconut oil, Palm oil and Castor oil.  I used Baby Clean fragrance oil from Nature's Garden.  I am quite happy with Nature's Garden, their shipping process was fast and prices are good too.  Will know the quality of their products soon after these soaps cure.  The colors were supposed to be pink and white but I can't seem to get the pink I like so I added Americana Red and is happy with the result I got.  The swirl is called "in-the-pot swirl" technique.  I can't insulate them by wrapping them in towel.  So I used Cold Process Oven Process for this and they went in to the oven at 170 degress for one hour.

 

 

I had to pick the kids up from school around the time my hubby gets home, so I had to put a note that say "Don't Eat = Soaps".  Just to make sure he does not try to touch or eat them.  The above picture shows the color of the soaps spot on.

 

 

 Picture above is to show the glitters I added and the white and red swirls.  But it turned out a little brighter than I want.

 

 

I was able to make 24 mini soap cupcakes which weigh about 1 to 2 oz each and 4 regular size cupcakes about 3 to 4 oz each.

 

 Below I have 3 parts video of the process.  I had to pause the video to make it shorter but I still need to learn how to put the videos into one episode.  Sorry about the leg of the stand showing and the screen a little off where the action is. Will try to make sure I get better angle of the soaping action next time.

  





Earth Soap = 3rd Drop Swirl

 

 

These soaps were inspired by my field trip to the planetarium with my 4th grader's class.  The colors white and blue are swirled using the "in-the-pot" swirl technique and it's supposed to represent the astronauts' view of Earth from space.  Then I drop swirled a green colored melt and pour into the cold processed soap.

 

I used Bramble Berry's Santa's Spruce for this soap as this is  my goodbye winter soap.

 

 

Just out of the mold before cutting.

 

 

I like the blue swirls they almost look like Earth.

 

 

Another view of the finished products.  My 5 year old daughter said I should take picture of each of them because they all look different.

 

Here is the video of the making for Earth Soap.  The kids have a 3 day weekend and were watching me, trying to get their pet dog "Bandit" in the video and some other distractions.