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

Hey Everyone! Come see how good my wire cutter looks :)

So, as I teased in my previous post, I ordered (and received) this wire cutter from Bud Haffner's Etsy Shop.  Bud was great to work with and shipped out this cutter within the time that he committed to, which I really appreciate.  It arrived within 2 days of shipment and in great condition.  It comes with some instructions and also an extra wire.

Photo taken on the day it arrived (with the shipping box in the background...)

It is his 1" wire cutter, and it cuts 12 bars.  This version allows me to cut logs that are longer than 1 foot without first splitting them into smaller sizes.  I've never used a wire cutter before, and it took me a little bit of time to figure out the tightening of the wires.

Isn't this a beauty?

This cuts magnificently straight bars!  Check out how straight each of these bars look - this is just after cutting my first loaf - an unscented and uncolored basic honey / beeswax / mango butter soap. I haven't cleaned up the edges yet.

Close up of my first bars cut with the wire cutter.  Haven't been cleaned up yet, but they are so pretty and straight!!

I've really struggled with my miter box - I cannot tell you how this happens, but the bars tend to be curved in the middle when I use my miter box. I don't have any good photos of the soaps that are curved in the middle, but you can see clearly below that I cannot cut soaps straight even vertically with my miter box. 

One of these things is not like the others...

I am beyond thrilled so far with this cutter.  It has made everything so uniform, which will be great for labeling, storing, and consistency.  I am very happy with this investment.

The only issue I have is that it seems that a few days after cutting, these bumps appear on the soaps.  

I wish I had a photo immediately after cutting - these white spots / bumps weren't there yesterday...

Someone had mentioned that it happens with wire cutters - has anyone had this happen to them?  Suggestions on how to fix it??

~Chrissy

Package in the Mail! Oil and Butter

I am so excited - late last week, I received the following soaps from Cee at Oil and Butter (blog here).  She held a contest a few weeks ago to name her Arctic Bathtime soap, and I came in second with my "Barely Clean" suggestion. Here's the photo from her website:

As a thank you, she sent me a wonderful package with the following soaps - clockwise from top left:  Arctic Bathtime, Christmas Candy, Cherry Blossom:  

Here's a better picture of the really cute tops of Christmas Candy and Cherry Blossom:

Some close-ups of each soap:

 The eyes fell off the poor polar bear when I was unwrapping.  Guess I was a little too excited to see what was in the wrapping!

I love how the Arctic Bathtime smells - a little sweet and flowery and clean.  I also love that it's a Hot Process layered soap.  I am struggling with my HP soaps (post on that to come).  The Cherry Blossom has such a beautiful swirl and embedded top.  I love the colors, and the scent is not too strong or sickeningly floral, which is something my nose is very sensitive to.  The Christmas Candy has beautiful colors and has a nice sweet candy scent, and while I normally don't choose glitter on my soaps, I love this glitter!  It's a perfect touch for this sparkly holiday soap.

Thanks, Cee - your soaps are amazing!

~Chrissy