the feto soap blog

I love making and using this soap. I grind coffee beans, melt cocoa butter and stir in poppy seeds for exfoliation. I use a special secret mix of vanillas and it makes my whole workspace smell wonderful! This is one of the Bigger Batches of soap I made over the weekend. The log of soap is 17 and a half inches tall and currently weighs 5.8 pounds! It’s been sliced up into 17 and a half bars (the half bar will go into someone’s order as a sample).

I made this soap a few weeks ago but pulled the wrong mold, (the 5 & 6 lb mold look really similar) so I ended chopping about a 1/2 in from each bar from that log so they could fit into my boxes! Not this time! After they cure for 4 weeks they will fit perfectly into my brown kraft boxes.

I admit it. I make most of my soap in tiny two-pound batches. I do this so I can make many different scents and still have room to walk around my workspace. But this weekend I made some of my more popular soap in 5 - 6 lb batches.

One of the batches of soap I made was my Blackberry Sage Shea Butter Handmade Soap in my new 18-bar mold. This yummy smelling soap will available in a month! Cold Process Soap takes a few weeks to cure and is totally worth the wait.

I recently attended the first Houston Soapmakers Meetup. One of the questions that came up was how to rebatch soap. There are many ways to rebatch soap. I’m going to share my favorite method with you.

Supplies
Handmade Soap (either in block form or shreds)
Cheese Grater or Knife
Water or Aloe Vera Juice
Fragrance or Essential Oil (not required, but this is what adds the scent to the soap.)
Microwavable Rice Cooker
Microwave
Molds for your soap. I prefer log molds when I rebatch - more on that in a minute.
Large Spoon to scoop soap in the mold

Step 1. Shred or chop soap into tiny pieces. I use a cheese grater to get my soap into small pieces.

Step 2. Put shredded soap in a microwavable rice cooker. You don’t want to fill it all the way to the top - I wouldn’t fill it more than 3/4 of the way full. You don’t want it to overflow when it’s cooking.

Step 3. Add a small amount of water or aloe vera juice, just enough to wet the soap. (1 Tablespoon at a time) You don’t want to get it too wet or you will get warped / shrunken-head looking soap. You will need to experiment with the amount of liquid to use here.

Step 4. Microwave the soap in 3 to 4 minute bursts.  The soap will get really hot when you microwave it, so be sure to use a potholder when handling the rice cooker. Open the container slowly so the steam doesn’t burn you.  Check to see if the soap has become translucent after the first cook. If the soap looks dry and is starting to burn, you are going to need to add more water. If you add too much water, the resulting soap is going to have a sunken look too it when it dries out.  I’ve rebatched 2 lbs of soap in two 4 minute bursts on my last try. You want to cook the soap in the rice cooker until it looks semi-translucent and a homogeneous look.

Step 5. Start scooping the soap into your mold. I like using log molds with a lid because you can use the lid to smoosh it down flat into the mold.

Step 6. Unmold your soap the next day and cut into bars. Your soap is ready to use! Take a bath!

Saponifier Magazine is the educational and encouraging voice for handcrafters of soap, toiletries, cosmetics, and candles. Saponifier disseminates the news and information about the industry relevant to the interests of manufacturers and suppliers.

The July/August issue’s focus is Christmas in July.

Don’t wait until November to make plans for your holiday line up! Pick up this edition of Saponifier for tips on packaging your holiday gift sets, product ideas, recipes and more!

FEATURES
History of Bath & Body Recipes: A look back on the interesting history of bath and body recipes from the Dark Ages through today, by Tamara Dourney

FDA Globalization Act of 2008

Bonus Gift Guide Supplement: A Bonus Gift Guide of holiday recipes for all your gift giving needs- including printable gift tags!, by Tamara Dourney & Carol Schatz

COLUMNS

Toiletries
Are You Selling Drugs?, by Carol Schatz

In The Lab
Expanding Your product Line: Pets are people too, by Robert McDaniel

Showcase
A Time For Giving, by Elizabeth Carnahan

Working Smarter
Create & Implement an Effective Holiday Marketing Strategy, by Jenn Givler

Reviews
Creative Packaging - Make it your own, by Beth Byrne

Aromatic Materials
Cropwatch Takes Stock, by Tony Burfield

A Soapmakers Notebook
Herbal Monographs: Adderwort & Tansy

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If you have not participated in a swap, it is lots of fun.  A swap is where you mail items to a “co-ordinator” and then receive the same number of different items (including recipe) from other participants. A swap is a great way to show off your products and get new ideas. For WSP’s Hosted swap you send in two Full Size Homemade Products (Soaps, Lotions, Candles, Etc.) that you have made and get you two different products back! Since WSP is sponsoring this swap, you will get TEN - 2 ounce bottles of fragrance oil! (they pick which ones!)

You Send to WSP:
2 Full Size Homemade Products (Soaps, Lotions, Candles, Etc.)
2 Recipe Cards for The Above
$25 (Cash/Money Order - Made Out to Wholesale Supplies Plus)

You Receive:
2 Different Homemade Products
2 Recipe Cards for The Above
(10) 2 oz Fragrance Oils from WSP - assorted (no requests), from our newer additions

To Participate Send Your Handcrafted Items To:
Wholesale Supplies Plus, Inc.
Rita - Swap Coordinator
10035 Broadview Road
Broadview Heights, Ohio 44147

Swap Items Must Be Received By: August 14th.
Return Packages Will Be Mailed on: August 15th.

For updates and communications about this swap, log into the forum and go to the community swap board.

Board Address: http://forums.wholesalesuppliesplus.com/index.php

I’m going to send some soap in. I can’t wait to smell the TEN fragrances they will send back along with the handmade items!

My student Micky came over last night and we made three new limited edition soaps together. Lavender Essential Oil Shea Butter Soap swirled with ultramarines, a Green Tea Soap swirled with - what else, Green Tea Powder and a Salt Bar.

The Lavender Essential Oil Soap came out as planned, all swirly.

The Green Tea soap had the same kind (ok, I think they were better) of swirls going on it until I:

1. Forgot to put the dividers in my mold
2. Covered it with plastic wrap
3. Dropped the plastic wrap on top of the perfect swirls I had just finished making.

I grabbed my stirrer and did a quick “blind swirl” to fix it. It’s still a swirled soap, but they are just not very precise, which is fine. I learned a couple of things. Green Tea powder goes from a nice green to a dark brown quick in fresh soap. I added some green colorant hoping to get a dark green color out of the swirl, but it wasn’t happening. Which again is ok. It was an experiment and the deep brown color is nice, though everyone thinks these pictures of soap are some kind of dessert.

The Salt Bar

It was my first time making a salt bar. I’ve been seeing these around and curious enough to make a batch of my own. I used 50% Coconut Oil and a combination of Shea Butter, Olive Oil & Castor Oil and I used the same amount of salt as the amount of oils I had in the recipe. Normally I have to wait a few days to unmold cold process soap. Not this one. I unmolded them within an hour and a half. I scented them with a lovely coconut fragrance… and now need to wait for them to finish curing so I can use one for myself! They will be ready to use on June 26th along with the other two soaps I made yesterday. I’ll add the Salt bar picture to this post as soon as I get it photographed. I have some other soaps I want to make, so I’m going to write them down. If you have any special requests, let me know!

To make this soap I brewed up some Chai Tea from Te House of Tea and used it in place of water. The caramel color is from the tea and the fragrance oil. I’ll be making a Green Tea Soap tonight with a swirl colored with green tea powder.  The Chai Tea Soap will be ready to use on June 24th! It’s curing now.

The Limited Edition White Tea & Ginger Shea Butter Soap I made with my bud Mikey Sunday afternoon:

We added the lye to the water that had tea in it and let it brew up that way. After it cooled a bit I strained out the tea. The tea got really dark, so we added some titanium dioxide and white kaolin clay to the batch.

The soap became a tan color and I didn’t think the powdered ginger root was going to show up in contrast to the already tan colored soap, so we added Brick Red Oxide to the cup of soap we were using to swirl. The soap has lightened up a bit since setting up. More pictures to come later! This soap will need to cure for at least a month before you can use it, but it will be worth the wait! Stay tuned! More tea soaps will be coming your way!

My next soapmaking class is coming up this Sunday, May 18th. Only four spots are left!

Soapmaking–Better than Store-Bought

Discover the benefits and fun of making and using handmade soap. Not only is it better for your skin but it also allows you to be creative since you select the ingredients, colors, fragrances and shapes. Learn to overcome your fear of working with lye (an essential ingredient in all soap) as well as important safety precautions as you learn to produce a batch of soap. NOTE: Each student will take home one bar of soap.

Class Number: R1020C Sun 2-5pm May 18

To register, go to Leisure Learning Unlimited’s Website:
http://llu.com/sdc/regclass.html?class=42614

or call them at 713.529.4414 with the class number R1020C.

YouTube Link

I just love honey in soap. Honey is a natural emollient so it locks moisture into the skin. Here is a picture of my Honey Bee Soap resting in the mold. It’s got Olive Oil, Coconut Oil, Avocado Oil, Beeswax and Honey in it.

I’ve made the decision on what 10 colors to bring with me at Maker Faire. The soap you create can be yellow, pink, red, orange, green, sea foam green, neon lime, blue, tan, or purple!

http://teachsoap.com
http://millersoap.com
http://the-sage.com/recipes/recipes.php3
http://soap-queen.blogspot.com/
http://soapguild.org

What are your favorite soapmaking related websites? Leave a comment to let me know!

The Everything Soapmaking Book by Alicia Grosso
The Soapmaker’s Companion by Susan Miller Cavitch
Making Scented Soap by Linda Hamblen
Soapmaking for Fun & Profit by Maria Nerius
Designer Soapmaking by Marie Browning
& more here.

What are your favorite soapmaking books? Leave a comment and let me know!

People are always asking me, where do you get such and such to create your soap? I love to share, so here’s a list of my favorite soap supply companies:

All Supplies
http://brambleberry.com Outstanding Customer Service & Awesome Fragrance Oils (They sell Lye too!)
http://the-sage.com Great Packaging
http://texasnaturalsupply.com I get my base oils here. (They sell Lye too!)
http://wholesalesuppliesplus.com
http://fromnaturewithlove.com Great Prices
http://kangarooblue.com Packaging and Displays
http://www.ellensessentials.com
http://houstoncandlesupply.com They’re in Houston!
http://ingredientstodiefor.com
http://www.kelseiscreations.com Kelsei SlabDivider Molds - I love their 9 bar molds - I have two for test/limited edition batches but want more!
Upland Soap Factory Lined Molds

Where to get Lye and Safety Gear
http://aaa-chemicals.com They Sell Lye!

Who are your favorite suppliers, and why?