May 2014 | Bamboo Lotus Hidden Hanger Swirl | KCK Soapery

 

My first hanger swirl.  I can't find a hanger small enough to fit my mold.   As I was searching for something that might work, I happened upon a wire that held a flower arrangement given to me by a friend.  Thank you "A".

 

 

I love the look of freshly poured soap batter.  Too bad I usually forget to take pictures before they start drying out.

 

 

I used the same ingredients I am loving so far.  It includes coconut oil, rice bran oil, olive oil, palm oil, mango butter and castor oil.  Colored with activated charcoal, titanium dioxide, neon pink, stained glass yellow and woodland green.  It was my first time to use the Bamboo Lotus fragrance oil and it behaved very well with this batch.

 

 

Waiting to be cut.  My mom loves the look of the design.  I am happy with the way that it turned out.  I saw a youtube tutorial using this swirl technique with different color combination and it was such a beautiful batch of soap.  That was the reason why I was tempted to do my version of it.

 

Every bar is different.

Showed this to the hubby when he came home and he likes the look as well.  He told me to go lighter with the fragrance oil next time.  I am hoping that reviewers for the Bamboo Lotus were right when most mentioned that this fragrance oil fades as it cures.

 

Happy Soaping!

 

 

May 2014 | Cool Cucumber - In The Pot Swirl | KCK Soapery

 

Fragranced with Cool Cucumber, the hubby said, it smell clean and fresh.  Ingredients were coconut oil, olive oil, rice bran oil, palm oil, mango butter and castor oil.  Colored with woodland green and titanium dioxide.

 

Since the batch my mom just made also used a blue that now looked green and white, I decided to do an "in-the-pot swirl with this batch making the green as the base and made cupcakes with the batter as well. 

 

 

I popped the loaf mold and the cupcakes into the oven to get more out of the colors.  I forgot to take pictures of the soap before and after oven processing.  Afternoon soap making always end up a bit hectic. These were taken this morning before cutting.

 

 

I have to really start making my frosting as bit taller.

 

 

Happy Soaping!

 



May 2014 | Black and White 50 Shades | KCK Soapery

 



 

This batch was made using coconut oil, palm oil, olive oil, castor oil, mango butter and rice bran oil.  Fragranced with 50 Shades, which is described as unisex, very clean, fresh, sensual and seductive.  Colored with titanium dioxide and activated charcoal.

 

We practiced "tiger swirling" at the conference and so I decided to do it again with a little twist.  Instead of alternately pouring the colors on the cardboard from start to finish, I just poured black and white directly into the base then do the tiger swirl and top it with black.  Gave the top a texture using spoon and sprinkle a little white sparkle mica.

 

 

Taken after oven processing.

 

 

The leftover batter, did not oven process this.

 

 

Ready to be cut.

 

 

The difference between oven processed and not. 

 

 

 

First Recipe with Shea Butter

 

First time I used Shea butter.  Ingredients used were, coconut oil, olive oil, rice bran oil, palm oil, castor oil and shea butter.  Fragranced with China Rain.  Colored with titanium dioxide, activated charcoal, neon pink and deep purple.  The batch was oven processed for an hour at 170 degrees.

 

Just off the oven

Ready for cutting

 

 

The sprinkling of Jojoba beads did not give me the effect I was hoping for.

 

 

 

Happy Soaping!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

First Camo Soap

 

First camouflage soap made yesterday.  To make them look manly, I did not sprinkle any glitters.  I textured and swirled the soap using spoon.

 

Ingredients were Coconut oil, Olive oil, Rice Bran oil, Palm oil, Mango butter and Castor oil.  Fragranced with "shave and a haircut" blended with Peppermint essential oil.  After getting a whiff of this soap, the hubby ask me to make some for him too. Colored with Woodland green, activated charcoal, Titanium Dioxide and brown mica.

 

 

Picture above was taken right after the mold was out of the oven.

 

Pictures below were taken after a few hours of being out of the oven.   The white speckles was troubling to me so I asked the Cold Process group in facebook and was advised that they were just soda ash. 

 

Soda ash normally appear on top of handmade soaps.  Their presence just make the soap visually unappealing.  They are usually prevented by spraying alcohol after molding the soap.  I forgot to do the spraying for this batch.

 



 

Thankfully,  the soap making group advised me to either steam or rinse the soap to remove the ash.

 

Pictures below showed the soap without soda ash after the rinse.

 

I only lined the wide side of the mold and as predicted the ends of the mold including the oval mold which were not lined were bubbly. 

 

I am pretty happy with the camouflage look.  The soaps turned out as expected.

 

 

Happy Soaping!

 

 

 

 





Piping Soap Loaf Top

 

The journey continues with my trying out to formulate a very luxurious recipe by experimenting with the ingredients. I modified my last recipe by adding Avocado oil to this batch and changed Palm oil to Palm Kernel oil flakes.  This was made using Olive oil, Coconut oil, Avocado oil, Mango butter, Rice Bran oil, Palm Kernel oil flakes and Castor oil.  Fragranced with Aromatherapy Energizing fragrance oil by Nature's Garden. 

 

The presence of Avocado oil and Mango butter inspired my color choice which include Titanium Dioxide for white, Activated charcoal for black, mango madness and woodland green.

 

I've watched a lot of soapmaker's decorating the top with piping and I just had to try it.

Ready for the oven

Out of the mold ready for cutting.  The top was wider than my mitre box.  So I cut using a regular cutting board. 

 

The swirl is modified tiger swirl.
 

 

Happy Soaping!

 

 



First Flower Piping

 

Monday project includes Coconut oil, Olive oil, Rice Bran oil, Palm oil, Mango butter and Castor oil.  Fragranced with Petals of Spring.  Colors used were neon pink, woodland green, stained glass yellow and titanium dioxide.

 

 

It almost felt sad cutting into this loaf.  I did not use my wavy one inch bar cutter since I just want it to be plain on all sides except for the foliage.  Of course I realized that I can not cut straight.  I definitely have a crooked cutting hand.

 

 

I had originally planned to swirl some of the pink and yellow into the white base but the fragrance oil really set the batter up fast so I decided to just go all white.  The soap loaf and the cupcakes were oven processed as well.

 

I had been trying to formulate a recipe I can label as my very own which can also be use for soap cupcakes and so far this recipe held on to what I expected it.  We shall see how they are in a couple more weeks when it's fully cured.

 

 

I had to stop the video while waiting for the flower batters to get to piping consistency. Fragrance was not added to the colored batter and it took it's time thickening. 

 

Happy Soaping!

 



Falling In Love

 

 

Yesterday's project scented with "Falling In Love" fragrance oil.  Ingredients include Olive oil, Coconut oil, Sweet Almond oil, Avocado oil, Rice Bran oil and Castor oil.  For the colors I used, Titanium Dioxide, Matte Woodland Green, Stained Glass Yellow and Neon pink.  I also added a teaspoon of sodium lactate to harden the soap and add to the soap's moisturizing ability.

 

 

Cutting was done this morning while the hubby was home.  I asked for his opinion of the scent and he went = "hmmmmm Fresh"

 

Just out of the oven:

 

  I lined only the wide side of the mold to see if it will prevent the bubbling oven processing produced on the sides of the soap.  As you can see, that mystery is solved.  The side that was not lined have bubble marks while the lined side is smooth.

 

The cupcakes below are both still very hard and stubbornly won't come out.  I also made mini cupcakes with diplomas on top but I forced them out of the mold and were all destroyed.

  

The batter did not harden enough to make a good piping texture so the frosting is flat.  The plan was to make a higher frosting with the heart on top.

 

These two will just be perfect for my mama and mother in law for mother's day.  If they will eventually come out of the mold intact of course.

 

 

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...