Wet soap

Another attempt at making pink soap with my olive oil rhubarb root macerat. I didn't get to do a nice swirl because the lavender FO made it trace quite fast. I had to spoon it into the mold. I topped it with some light green mica in olive oil. I was  hoping for bright green and pink spring colors but it's more of a salmon color again.

I dug up some more rhubarb root and promised myself this time I would let it sit in the olive oil for at least 2 weeks.

Oils: olive (4 days rhubarb root infused), coconut, hazelnut, castor, wheat germ and palmpit
Liquid: water
Additives: 2 spoons of yoghurt (which might have had some influance on the rhubarb extract?)
Color: light green mica and rhubarb root extract
Scent: lavender FO

Packaging

I was playing with some paper, stickers and ribbon and packaged some soaps. I think they look quite nice but I'd love to have my own packaging designed though.

Dyeing with rhubarb

I came across this lovely blog called Nakin Soap Blog from Icelandic blogger Ambra. She does amazing things with natural dyes for soap, fabrics and wool. Being a rhubarb fan, the one I liked the most is her pink rhubarb soap.

Now if you're impatient like me, you might rush through the text and then run outside to cut off some rhubarb

stalks and put them in oil to macerate. You'd be wrong though.

Luckily, after I did that, I went back to her post and read it plus the comments more carefully. It's not the stalks you'll need for that gorgeous pink but the root.

So I ran outside again and dug up some root and put them in olive oil. The roots are yellowish but the extract will make your soap turn pink when it comes in contact with the lye.

Usually I let my macerates sit on the windowsil for at least 6 weeks. Being an impatient but adult person I actually can wait that long (but it's hard). Not this time though. After 3 hours I decided I should give it a try with a small 150 grams batch of guest soaps.

They didn't turn out pink but they definately show some very light salmon pink. I did put a tiny piece of root in the garlic press and added the juice (just 3 drops) to the soap. I think they look very promising.






Oils: olive (rhubarb root infused), coconut, rice, shea butter, castor, palmpit

Liquid: water
Additives: none
Scent: FO tea rose

Going palm free - rosemary & yoghurt soap

The good thing about palm oil is that it's cheap, it makes a nice hard bar and palmpit oil makes great lather. The bad thing about palm oil is that the expansion of palm plantations into high conservation value forests is recognized as a leading thread to critically endangered species including orangutans, elephants and tigers.

That's why I decided to stop using palm oil from now on. Of course there is sustainable palm oil available but it's so expensive I'd rather skip it altogether. Right now I am in a transition fase because I have some palm kernel oil left I need to finish first.

I made these rosemary & yoghurt bars on Friday. To compensate the lack of palm oil and hardness, I used 40% coconut oil and yoghurt. I know a lot of soapmakers say you shouldn't  use more than 30% coconut oil because it's drying to the skin. But I love my 100% coconut oil bars so how bad could a percentage of 40-50 be? I might just use a slightly higher superfatting percentage next time.

Oils: coconut, olive (rosemary infused), sunflower, castor, wheat germ, palm pit
Liquid: yoghurt and water 50/50
Additives: 3/4 green alg powder, 1/4 ghassoul clay, a splash of yoghurt mixed with the oils, 1/2 ts honey
Scent: EO rosemary, anis and juniper

The hanger swirl failed, it's still just 2 layers.

Coconutmilk & shea butter soap

Oils: olive, coconut, sunflower, sesame, castor, palmpit, shea butter

Liquid: water/coconutmilk 50/50
Additives: rhassul clay powder
Scent: FO coconut & shea (round soaps) EO eucalyptus (squares)


A while ago I made soap with coconut milk in it not knowing it would make such a lovely bar. I didn't expect much from it. But it turned out coconut milk is a great soap ingredient. The soap felt lotionlike and very smooth and creamy. So I made another batch. The two square ones are for my personal use. They are scented with eucalyptus EO, a smell I love. The others are for presents and maybe I'll try and sell some too.

New mold

My dad rocks! He made me a perspex mold for 25 pieces of 5x5 cm soap. I made four to test it, worked just fine. The deviders are a bit wobbly though, they aren't exactely squares.

Oils: olive (St. Johnsworth infused), coconut, palm, palm kernel, sunflower, sesame, castor, wheat germ
Liquid: water
Additives: green clay, spirulina, silk, zinc oxide
Scent: EO fir and juniper