Cut my Black Raspberry Vanilla soap (probably too early..)

I couldn't help myself, I had to cut my loaf of soap today. It would have been a bit more ready to cut if I'd waited a full 24 hours to cut it, but I couldn't wait. I got up this morning and got my coffee and such and went to check on my soap. I figured it would be really soft, but I'd added that Sodium Lactate to my lye so I thought.. well, maybe. I pushed a bit on the top and it was pretty hard. So I started to unmold it carefully and because I'd lined the whole mold with freezer paper (usually I only put in a slip) the mold came off quite easily. I pulled the paper off the sides (very smoothly I might add) and let it sit there for about half an hour. Then I took the paper off the bottom and put it on my drying rack back in the cure room and let it sit for about an hour. I couldn't take it anymore, I went and got it and proceeded to cut it. It's still a bit soft and needs a bit of cleaning up before I can take any pics of it. I did take a cutting video which will be up on my YouTube in a bit (after I transfer it to my computer, edit and upload it) and I probably won't post this until I'm able to take pics and update... so until then...

Ok so I got to clean them just a bit so I could take a picture.

I really love how the mica swirl turned out on top! The swirls on the inside are nice as well, I just wish I hadn't gotten partial gel =( The colors pretty much stayed true, but the black could have been darker. Overall I'm very pleased how it turned out.

Here is a close up view of the top when it was still wet.

Anyway I'm off for now, perhaps some more soaping... maybe some melt & pour today =)

Until next time,
Happy Soaping!!!

Making Video:

Cutting Video

What I've been up to the last few days

So I usually don't get a chance to soap or do much of anything on Sundays and Mondays because my husband is off work those days so we usually end up doing family things. Sometimes he does guy stuff with his friends (video games, golfing.. boring boring boring) and so then I get to soap or do soapy stuff. Anyway so on Tuesday I got my soap beveler in the mail that I have been eagerly anticipating.

I got this one and while I do have to say that their customer service leaves a bit to be desired, the beveler is great! As soon as I saw the package on my porch (sometimes the UPS or FedEx delivery person won't ring the doorbell...) I ran in and ripped the box open and squealed with delight. I was beginning to think it would never get here! As soon as I opened the box I smelled peppermint. I had a little grab bag gift in there that included a sample of peppermint leaves, eucalyptus leaves, and tussah silk. That was nice! So I ran into my cure room with the beveler and used it right away on a bar of soap I just picked at random and much to my delight it works wonderfully! I grabbed up all of my soap (took a few trips) and went out into my living room, set up my table with the beveler and an extra box (for the scraps) and set upon my soaps with the beveler. I'm still not done but I've cleaned up about 95% of them, which I've been dying to do! I'm curious if they'll stay as nice and smooth on the sides or if they'll revert back to that slightly crusty feel.. I haven't checked today but I will tomorrow. So there was that awesome surprise.

I bought one of those handheld steamer deals that's supposed to be for steaming wrinkles out of your clothes. I will be using it to get ash off my soap. The steam method works pretty well but I can't get a steady stream of steam to get it all off so I'm hoping it'll work better with this thing. I should be getting that in tomorrow (love Amazon!).

And today I finally soaped a batch. I got my order in last week from Nature's Garden (first time order from them for me) and I got some Peppermint EO, Black Raspberry Vanilla FO, Pineapple Upside-down Cake, Rain Barrel, and some Vanilla Stabilizer. I've been absolutely dying to soap that Black Raspberry Vanilla but I've been waiting for these custom berry molds to come in so I could do embeds along the top. Well I got them in the mail today, woot woot! I knew I was soaping anyway today because I needed to do my Mica Swirl challenge for Great Cakes Soapworks challenge this week. I just couldn't decide which fragrance I was going to soap so I could pick out the mica colors to swirl with.

I'd already mixed my lye when I went and checked the mail and found those molds. Of course I'm like a kid at Christmas anytime I get an order in, no matter what it is lol. I ran in and set up to make my embeds. I just made some reddish pink berries and some purple berries (Melt & Pour) and got ready to soap!

Here is my in-the-mold finished creation. The video of the making is up on my YouTube channel and I should be cutting it either tomorrow night or Friday morning. I can't wait to see what it looks like on the inside. I ended up swirling purple and silver on the top... the silver is so stunning, I will DEFINITELY be doing that again!

Well, until next time... Happy Soaping!

My soapy weekend

So, yesterday I made two batches of soap. I made my Bramble Berry Swap soap of Baby Powder fragrance oil with a blue and pink swirl (which I think the blue might have turned more purple... we'll see). I also received my Nature's Garden order on Friday which included a few fragrance oils (a first time order from NG for me) which were Rain Barrel, Pineapple Upside-down Cake (oh wow, what a yummy fragrance!) Black Raspberry Vanilla (yummy too!) and Peppermint. I just purchased some berry molds so I didn't want to go for the Black Raspberry Vanilla one yet so I decided on Rain Barrel. It smells fresh and clean... almost an Irish Spring kind of fragrance but better. So I decided to do an "in the pot" swirl with this one.. white base with green and blue swirls. It turned out ok.. I'll attach a picture below. I gelled this batch which I'm not crazy about (I don't  like gelling my soaps) and I had a lot left over so I made a sample loaf which I did not gel. I did a mica swirl on the top and while cutting it today the fragrance oil was weeping from the slices. Not a lot, just little beads of oil sweat which have already disappeared within an hour of cutting. I think I probably cut it too soon and it just needs a bit of extra cure time. Anyway here is my finished product. This is the gelled full batch... I haven't unmolded the sample loaf yet.

I haven't cut the Baby Powder one yet..I"m going to name that one Powder Puff. It's still too soft to cut, normal because it's ungelled. I will probably cut that one tomorrow. I'm not making any soap today, but I will most likely resume tomorrow. I need to make another Oatmeal Milk & Honey soap... I most likely won't record the making or cutting of that one unless something spectacular happens lol. I think I might also make another Simply Soap and that one I know I won't record because it's boring. Beyond that, I don't know what I'm going to make yet. Perhaps another soap cake.... ooh! I'll do as I usually do... make it up as I go along.

Ok so I'm loving this soap!

The scent and the way it turned out... I just love it!!! That's all I have to say right now, however here are some cut pics, and if you wanted to meander over to my YouTube channel and watch me make this soap and cut it.. please do so! Please read the rest of my posts from this week (if you haven't already) to see the scent combo I used and my thoughts in general)

http://www.greatcakessoapworks.com/handmade-soap-blog/index.php

This is where I'm getting these challenges from... if you're a soaper come join in on all the fun!!

I did it!!!

One Elemental Swirl down! I'm pretty excited that I did it without totally freaking out and I took a video of the making and didn't shut it off half way through in a panic. I'm just going to speed it up a little and play music (a first for me) throughout.

Here is a picture of the final product in the mold, and also a sample loaf I did with the rest. Smells fantastic by the way! My husband said it smells like a package of gummy bears... and yep it kinda does lol.

Elemental Swirl soap...

So I'm having a bit of an issue trying to figure out which fragrance I'm going to use for my Elemental Swirl Challenge soap (Amy Warden's Great Cakes Soapworks Challenge). I don't want to use anything that will accelerate trace, and I also don't want to use anything that will discolor my soap. I thought I would do something citrusy and sweet, however I don't want to use the same combo I used for my soap cake... because A) that would be silly; and B) the 10x Orange EO did discolor my batch to a creamy orange right away. I knew it would but still... I don't want to discolor my batch. So... I have all these sample fragrances and after a bit of research for each one I decided on the following:

BB's Red Apple - No notes about discoloring, morphing, fading, or acceleration

BB's Pearberry - Notes about forming white streaks remedied by extra stirring (no problem! plus I didn't use much lol.. about .4 oz)

BB's Blackberry - No notes about discoloring, morphing, fading, or acceleration

BB's Yuzu - Only notes were it sticks beautifull in CP soaps.. excellent!

BB's Champagne - have used before with zero side effects (plus I'm only using about .2 oz)

PFO's Citrus Blast - No notes about discoloring, morphing, fading, or acceleration

The end result of this mix being that it smells fruity, a tiny bit effervescent and very spring-like. I'm naming this one "Spring Fling" and I think it may become somewhat of a staple.. as in blending a bunch of my sample fragrances that will compliment each other in a type of Spring Cleaning of fragrances. It won't ever smell exactly like this again.. but it works I think.

I should be able to soap in about 2 hours or so.. once my lye water has cooled down. I think I'm going to use orange, pink and yellow for my "warm" colors and blue, green and purple for my "cool" colors with a black mica line. Will upload a YouTube video when it's all said and done. Reveal cutting video and pics on Saturday... can't wait!!!!


Edit: Just in case you were wondering...

BB = Bramble Berry
PFO = Pure Fragrance Oils

Welcome to Smellicious

Hi all, I thought I would start up this blog to catalog my journey into soap making and just bath and body products in general. So far I've delved into the mysterious workings of Cold Process soap making, vegetable glycerin (aka Melt & Pour) soap making, and all kinds of bath and body treats. I think my favorites to use and make would be my Bath Truffle and Cold Process soaps. They are both so much fun to make and a real treat to use.

Here are a few pictures to sort of showcase what I've been up to until now (in short order... by no means is this everything lol) and I hope you'll continue on my journey with me.

Happy Soaping..

Watermelon Bath Truffle

Bath bomb cupcakes

"In Love" soap in Crisp Apple Rose scent

Mambo Mayhem Soap with Mambo for Men scent

Twilight Woods Soap

Chocolate Espresso Soap

Embedded Heart Soap

Tattooed Soap

Oatmeal Milk & Honey Bath Truffles

Valentine Soap

Foaming Sugar Scrub

Bubble Bath Trio

Vanilla Lavender Cold Processed Soap

Oatmeal Milk & Honey Cold Processed Soap

Cucumber Melon Cold Processed Soap

(Amy Warden's Tiger Stripe Swirl Challenge week 1)

Pink Champagne Cold Processed Soap

Creamy Vanilla Latte Cold Processed Soap

Cucumber Melon Cold Processed Soap

Moonlight Path Cold Processed Soap

 Ambrosia Soap (Love Spell Type scent)

*Mythology Challenge - Soap Making Forum*

Apple Jack & Peel Cold Processed Soap

Celestial Waters Cold Processed Cupcake Soaps

Spring Berry Mimosa Cold Processed Cake Soap