Smells Like Fennel…Part 3!

So the day after I launched into my diatribe on the pitfalls of fennel scented soap, I decided to actually use one of my bars of fennel soap for the first time.  And you know what?  I really liked it – the smell was not overpowering but had a refreshing and invigorating scent.  Another thing:  mango butter rocks.  If you recall, this was my first attempt at adding mango butter into my mix of oils and it resulted in a much less slimy bar that holds its shape integrity very well.  Then Larisa e-mails me to tell me how much she likes this soap.  Then yesterday Ursula calls and mentions how she really likes the soap and how noticeably less slimy it is.

So I think we have a keeper.  Of course, since mango butter is a tad pricey, I’m going to have to experiment with the ratios of oils to ensure I can produce a cost-effective bar that retains the pleasing effects of the mango butter.

Filed under: Uncategorized , fennel, flip flopping about fennel, mango butter

Smells like fennel…once again!

A while back I made a batch of soap using fennel, lemon, and orange.  The result yielded a very fennel-ly scented soap – really all you could smell was the fennel and while it wasn’t totally displeasing, it just didn’t quite do it for me.*  Well, so I also had ordered some anise seed essential oil, which smells very much like fennel in my mind.  So a few days ago, I had the bright idea – I’ll make some soap using a leetle bit of anise, mixed with some orange and petitgrain oils to balance it out!  The result?  Well, it smells awfully similar to that fennel batch.  Am I insane?  Why must I repeat my actions and expect a different result?  Oh, I don’t know.   For the record, this was my standard 2 pound batch, using 0.7 oz. of sweet orange oil, 0.4 oz. of petitgrain, and 0.4 oz. of anise seed.  The good news is that I’m out of essential oils that smell like fennel.  The thing is – I actually like the smell of fennel, but it’s just not working for me in a soap.  Oh, I did also add a 1/2 tbsp. of dill for color and that turned out rather attractive, with little green speckles throughout the soap.  Unfortunately the pics I took are all fuzzy and bad.  But here are some other photos for you.

First, my lemongrass and ginger soap using the nettle leaf powder.  The bars are a greenish hue, but the lighting isn’t great so….what can I say, I’m a soapmaker, not a photographer.

I likey. They smell really good!

Oh, and here’s Lucky in my bathroom sink:

Sometimes I just can't get him out of there!

*If you read my initial post about the fennel batch, you’ll notice that I didn’t think the fennel scent was overpowering at the time and that the batch smelled quite nice.  Something I’m noticing is that the citrus scents especially seem to fade a bit after the first few days – I found the same thing to be true with this anise seed batch.  At first I was like, Wowza!  Smells GOOD!  And then a few days later, the anise seed became very much overpowering.

Filed under: Uncategorized , anise seed, dill, insanity, the trouble with citrus

Lemongrass with ginja

Gosh, it’s been forever since my last post.  Where does the time go?   I finally made a new batch of soap today and it smells and looks pretty yummy!  Now in my last post way back in the Neolithic Era , I pledged NOT to use any citrus in my next batch since I use it all the time.

So technically I wouldn’t call lemongrass citrus because it’s a grass, right?  Not a fruit.  That’s my logic anyways.  So I made a standard 2 pound batch and added 1 oz. of lemongrass essential oil and 0.5 oz. of ginger oil.  Then for color I added 1/2 tablespoon of nettle leaf powder which made it an attractive rich green.

Smells really good!  

So I’m working on developing some ‘keeper’ scent combos for when I actually start selling this stuff.  I def. think this is one of them.

Yay – finally back on the soapmaking wagon – I’ll make another batch very soon.

Filed under: Uncategorized , ginger, lemongrass

Mixin’ it up with mango butter

Today I made a new batch featuring mango butter!  Using Soap Calc, I created the following recipe:

Olive oil:  15 oz.

Coconut oil: 9.6 oz.

Mango butter:  7.4 oz.

Lye:  4.5 oz.

Water 12.16 oz.

Then for scent I added 0.5 oz. fennel oil, 0.4 oz. orange oil, and 1.0 oz. of lemon oil.  Then for texture, color, and that extra oomph, I added 1/2 tbsp. of lemon peel powder and 1/2 tbsp. of ground chamomile/rose petal mix.

I was a little concerned that the fennel might be overpowering but it doesn’t seem like it it – I probably could’ve added a little more.  Another thing:  I think I need to get away from citrus for awhile – I’ve noticed every batch I’ve made lately has citrus in it.  Obviously I’m a big fan but I fear this is limiting my creativity.  I need to go outside the citrus comfort zone.  So next batch:  NO CITRUS!  Sniff, sniff….oh but I’ll miss you dear lemon, orange, grapefruit, bergamot.  Oh, and yes petitgrain, you too.  I think.  

But seriously, this batch smells really really good!

I’m curious to see how/if mango butter makes a difference.  I’ve noticed the avocado oil batch definitely have a different texture than my ‘regular’ recipe.  To me it feels silkier and more luxurious.  Well, it should considering how      f—ing expensive avocado oil is!

In farmer’s market news, I’ve been doing some research, and it appears that a number of the big markets around here (like the big Arlington Courthouse one and the ones run by Fairfax County) don’t allow non-food items, except for plants and flowers.  That blows for me.  So I’m doing further investigatin.’  Some of the other Arlington markets – like the Columbia Pike and Clarendon ones already have a soap vendor, so I wonder if there’s room for multiple soap makers?  Need to look into this and check out the competition!

Filed under: Uncategorized , mango butter

Little Stevia Wonder

Today I added some stevia leaf powder as a colorant in my soap.  I don’t know a whole lot about the stevia leaf, except that it’s recently been marketed as an alternative ‘natural’ food sweetener.  I bought it because it has an attractive green color.  Of course, you never know how it actually will look in the soap, and so I’ll withold judgment on the color until a few days have passed.  Right now it looks kind of a yellowish tint similar to a completely non-colored soap.

Anyways, I made my previous avocado-coconut-olive oil recipe, but added 2  tsp. of the stevia, plus for scent:  0.3 oz. of bergamot, 0.8 oz. of rosemary and 1 oz. (or about – why don’t I write this down earlier??) of orange oil.  I’m really into the citrus/rosemary combo. after my last batch.  It just smells fabulous.

Filed under: Uncategorized , stevia leaf powder

Soap-orific

I’ve been too lazy to post so here’s a mish-mash of thoughts before I go to bed to dream soap-laden dreams.  (Please tell me you love my post title pun!)

So today I began my investigation of potential outlets to sell my soap (and any competition that may be present).  First, I’m going to focus on farmer’s markets.  Many of these aren’t open yet – I think most around here start up in May.  But some are open year-round.  Like the big Old Town farmer’s market a short drive from my home in Alexandria.  So this morning, I got up (kind of) early and checked it out.  The verdict?  Not a whole lot going on, soap-wise (or otherwise really).  I did score some nice produce though.  There were a few crafty type stalls, but I saw no soap.  I expect this could change come May though.  So I tried.  Next week I might try one of the Arlington markets and see what’s going on there.

In other soap updates:  my gray soap is now a somewhat attractive indigo.  Perhaps not the ideal color for soap, but I’m sort of digging it, and it still smells good.  Tomorrow I plan on making a new batch, experimenting with coloring with herbs, but I haven’t decided on any specifics yet.

I’ve also purchased a new batch of essential oils that should arrive soon.  This time I purchased all organic oils (hey, gotta keep the economy going somehow).  I got them from Mountain Rose Herbs which I’ve deemed to be reputable based on their pretty web site.  I think they’ve won some awards too.  Good enough for me!

Anyways, I purchased some small quantities of these oils:

Fennel (I bet it’ll go good with some orange)

Lemongrass (I’ve found the citrus scents which I love have a tendency to fade in my soaps more so than others – maybe lemongrass will be different since it’s you know, grassy?)

Petitgrain (I think this is another citrus scent…well whatever it is, sounds cool)

Anise Seed 

Ginger

Sweet Orange

And then I got some dried lemon peel powder for coloring and some mango butter also!  Man, I totally went crazy, didn’t I??  For all you doubters, Samara is serious about her soap.

Filed under: Uncategorized , farmer's markets, Mountain Rose Herbs, organic essential oils

What the world needs now is soap, gray soap….

So yesterday I continued my experimentation with color.  I made my usual base recipe and added a 1/2 tbsp. of alkanet root powder and to scent I added 1 oz. of lemon e. o., 0.4 oz. of rosemary e. o. and 0.2 oz. of cedarwood e. o.  Now the alkanet root powder was an attractive reddish color in powder form.  Then when I added it to my soap mixture it turned …. gray.  Yes, a loverly gray.  You don’t see a whole lot of gray soap do you?  So maybe this is an untapped segment of the market – gray soap.

If I’d added more of the powder, I believe it would’ve turned blue.  

And actually, while I initially wasn’t too fond of the color it’s growing on me a little.  Not sure if this would sell, but I suppose that’s the whole point of experimentation.  Well, anyways, I have to say, it’s smells really good!  This is one of my favorite scent combos so far.

Filed under: Uncategorized , alkanet root powder, gray soap

Orange you glad my soap didn’t seize in the pan again?

So today I made another batch of soap just to make sure I can still do it.  And….success!  This time I said No Thank You to the sweet birch oil.  I think it’s prob. the culprit of my soapmaking disaster yesterday:

If soap had the plague, this is probably what it would look like...

 And I went easy on the mixing.  For the scent, I added 1 oz. of lavender oil and 0.5 oz. of orange oil (I’ve noticed that the citrus scents don’t seem to be as strong as some of the other oils in my finished soaps, so I’ve opted to use a bit more than I have been.)  Then as the piece de resistance, I added a tablespoon of annatto seed extract.  This may have been a tad too much, but it definitely changed the color of the soap – it’s kind of a deep orange/shit brownish color right now.  We’ll see how it ends up in a few days.

Orange is the color of my beloved lavender-orange soap....

Filed under: Uncategorized , coloring soap with herbs

Failure is…an option

So today I was very excited to add a little color to my soap using some annatto seed extract.  I made a standard batch recipe with the plan to add sweet birch and lemon essential oils.

So I continue to struggle at times with getting the temperature of the lye and the oils to be the same before I mix and today the oils were way too hot that I stuck ‘em in the freezer for a while,  and eventually this seemed to work.

I’ve read about soap ’seizing’ up in the pot in my books and on the web – this is when the soap literally turns into soap in the pot, resulting in a chunky nasty mess.  This can happen when using some types of scents (I think mainly fragance oils) and if you stir it too long after it reaches the trace stage.  

Do you see where this is going?

So I mix up my soap mixture, (did I mix too long? Maybe..) until trace.  Then I added the sweet birch oil and the mixture turns white where the essential oil hits it.  Immediately I knew this was bad.  I instinctively took my stick blender and tried to blend everything but it wouldn’t work – because the soap just solidified in the blades.

So I don’t know if it was just the sweet birch oil or if it also could have been overmixing.  And did my freezer method for cooling the oils somehow f— things up?

I don’t know, but I’m a tad disappointed – I was able to pour into my mold but it’s all gloppy and doesn’t smell like anything.

Maybe I’ll try again tomorrow.

 

Helloooo nasty.

Filed under: Uncategorized

Coloring with herbs: the beginning

Okay, Samara is ready to experiment with adding color!  I’ve ordered some powdered herbs and am ready to test ‘em out (once they get here):

Alkanet root powder

Annatto seed powder

Nettle leaf powder

Stevia leaf powder

Dill (in retrospect I guess I could’ve used the stuff in my spice drawer.  Oh well!)

One of my soapmaking books notes that no herb can consistently produce a given color in a soap – it depends on the amount of lye used, and other shifting variables.  That’s okay, I’m just goin’ with the flow!

Filed under: Uncategorized , adding color with herbs, herbs