New Soap Hutch Mold!!

I am so excited (does it seem to anyone else that I start many of my posts with "I am so excited"?) - I got Rich's Soap Hutch soap mold in the mail in the past week or so, and I couldn't wait to use it!!  Rich at Soap Hutch was such a pleasure to work with - we talked on the phone and emailed a number of times to make sure my mold was just right.  He has the capacity to make a custom mold for each order, and he was very interested in making sure he knew exactly what I was looking for.  After a number of conversations, we got the specs settled, and I just had to wait as patiently as possible for it to arrive.

It was definitely worth the wait.  It is such a beauty!  It's configured to make either 2 or 3 10.5-11" long logs, a 9-square divided slab, or smaller logs as I need when working on new soaps.  As he put it, it's a great mold for design and creation (and also good for general production for me based on my current soap volume!)

Here is the slab mold set up - I have pictures from previous posts on the 9-bar divider.  

Here are some photos of the log settings - The slab mold can be divided into 2 3.5"x11" logs.  

With 4" tall walls, there is plenty of room for fancy tops on these logs.

It's a little difficult to see here, but there are dividers that can divide the logs vertically into 2,3,or 4 parts.  You can set the divider at any of the 3 grooves in the end pieces.  I cannot wait to design with this :)

It also has blocks to divide the logs into smaller blocks, so I can play around with  smaller batches to try out FOs, colorants, recipes, etc.  This is going to save me a bunch of time and bucks.

The slab can also be configured to make up to 3 2.5" wide logs:

Here is the configuration for 11" long logs.

You can see here that the logs also come with vertical dividers to divide the soap logs in half, and they also come with blocks to make smaller recipes that are narrower.

In short, I love this mold!  I am so happy to be using it, and expect to see it in many pictures to come!

~Chrissy

December / Early January Soaps

Wow - I can't believe I'm writing two blog posts today!  Since it's been so long since my last one, I guess there's a lot to catch up on.

First things first - here are pictures of the cut spa-type soaps I made in December.  They both smell so lovely (the purple is an EO blend my friend and I made and the green is a Bath & Body Works Coconut Lime Verbena).  They turned out great, and I can't wait to get them into my shower rotation :)

I really loved how the swirls turned out on the sides of the soap on this one.  However, there is no yellow on the actual bar of soap - I think the lighting is just wonky today with all the snow we're getting...

My parents went to a brewery a while back and bought a bunch of fruit beers (apple, cherry, raspberry, etc) and decided they didn't like them very much.  So, into the soap they go!  I didn't stick blend this one, because I wanted to keep it as smooth as possible.  I used the apple beer they gave me, added some silk, and a little cinnamon EO to round out the scent a little bit.  The apple scent from the apple beer comes through pretty strong still.  However, I think I broke my BB column mold on this one...

I was also inspired by the blogs by Great Cakes Soapworks on rebatching soap and decided to rebatch some scraps I had around as well as my first hot process disaster.  For the soap I made using the oil-heavy lavender hot process, I did not add any extra oil to the shavings, as it was still pretty soft, but I did add a half cup of castor oil to the "other" scraps.  They turned out pretty well - see below:

This rebatch was scented with a China Rain FO, and it's probably one of my favorite scents that I've soaped with so far! Love it. And even my husband loves it, too, which is odd, because I expected him to be more partial to the one below. 

This rebatch was scented with the Green Tweed FO from NG, and I love it, but I scented it a little light.  Would add more FO next time - it seemed to fade among the scents already in the scraps.

I really enjoyed these soaps, and I'm looking forward to making more beer soaps with the other beers my parents gave me.

~Chrissy

Shaving Soap Recipe

My husband and I gave my dad a shaving set for Christmas last year.  When I started making soaps, I really wanted to learn how to make shaving soaps for him to use with his brush and razor.  These are great holiday gifts for the men (and women!) in your life - using the shaving soap with a brush not only gives a really creamy, stable lather, which is useful for shaving, but the brush makes the hairs stand up (on face, or even on legs) to get a closer shave.  I've made the soap in mugs I found at Goodwill and attached a shaving brush I found at Walgreens for a cute holiday gift for friends and family.

I make my soap in the crockpot, with a mix of sodium and potassium hydroxide.  Here's the recipe I use, found here:

165g Beef Tallow
165g Stearic Acid
100g Coconut Oil
70g Castor Oil

180g Distilled Water
65.6g Potassium Hydroxide
25.2g Sodium Hydroxide

1 Tbsp bentonite clay
1 fl oz FO - My last batch was BB Earl Grey Lemon FO, both men and women like the scent (and even one of my dogs :) )

When the oils are combined and the lye water solution is added, the soap batter gets thick quickly.  I usually use a spatula to mix, rather than my trusty stick blender.  I add the bentonite clay after the batter is thoroughly mixed, because the bentonite clay LOVES water and will thicken the batter up considerably.  Then I dump in a crock pot on low and wait for 1-3 hours until it's fully cooked. Even though these are hot-process, I like to let them cure for at least a week before using.

I have made the soap in BB's column mold, but it's extremely hard to unmold, because the soap is more of a very soft soap, almost a cream soap.  It's firm enough to keep its shape, but the users of the soap may find it easier to use if it's poured directly into a mug or saucer to make using the brush easier.

Since the bentonite clay loves water, you'll have to work a little bit and keep wetting the brush, but the lather is amazing.  Check it out :)  It will stay for a really long time on your face / legs, too!

Even my dad loves the soap:

I've been keeping myself busy the past couple days with the new Soapmaker 3 software I got for an early birthday present.  The CPA in me is really enjoying getting my inventory and recipes documented and figuring out exactly how much each of my soaps is costing me (and my wasted batches, like the lye-heavy batch from the last post).

~Chrissy