Lavender & Tea Tree Soap

How do you feel about tea tree oil?  I think it really stinks! 
However, some people dearly love the fragrance.  A friend of mine used it in her hand made baby wipe formula since it is good for minor skin irritations and it has antiseptic properties.  Tea tree essential oil comes from the leaves of the tea tree which is grown in Australia.  This has nothing to do with the green or black tea we drink.  Tea tree is placed on the skin (topically) and used as an antiseptic for minor cuts, burns, skin irritations, eczema, and many other things.  I am camouflaging the smell of tea tree with lavender in this batch of soap.  My home smells heavenly!  Aside for a little color, everything in this soap is natural.  Since there is no real definition of natural in soap, it may not mean much to you. lol  When I mixed the lye, I added the sea salt.  About 1/3 does not mix totally.  This does not pose a problem for me.  I use salt totally mixed into the water and the opposite way where the soap is crunchy and needs to be cut right away. As the soap cures, it will have a white film on it due to the salt. 

I visited with a lady not long ago that had a son with eczema.  She said that his eczema (on his neck) cleared up when they were on vacation and he was in the salt water at the ocean daily.  That healing could be a result of many things other than salt, including stress, food, clothing he wore, soaps and shampoos he used, laundry soap and fabric softeners, etc.  The mother thought it was the salt and salt makes my skin feel awesome.  I am not a doctor and I can't tell you what does or does not work, but I have skin issues and so do many of my friends and family members.  I would like to say that my soap is used because everyone that uses it loves it and wants his or her skin to feel great!  Unfortunately I am realistic.  Many of my friends and family members use it because it is free.  LOL

Soap Ingredients:  Coconut oil, Tallow, Water, Lye, Sea salt, Shea butter (Unrefined and organic), Sunflower Seed Oil,Cocoa butter (unrefined and organic), Grapeseed oil, Colloidal oatmeal, Lanolin,  Purple and lavender oxide

Every once in a while, handmade soap may have a problem setting up.  With this soap, I had lye pockets.  This is something that I rarely ever have.  I noticed a small hole in the soap when I cut it.  I also noticed a little hole/pocket in the bottom of the soap, almost at the bottom of the mold in another loaf of soap.  There was some liquid in these holes.  I usually cut out these areas of the soap and the bad areas become family soap, or scraps used to re-batch.  This is what lye pockets look like:

I have been spinning a little.  I will keep you posted in case I make anything with the yarn.  I am intentionally making it look like tweed.

 

Have a great weekend!!!  Dawnie

PS  Don't forget to go to my website at: https://www.slipperywhenwetsoaps.com or my website at: https://www.custercottage.com or my Etsy shop at:  https://www.etsy.com/shop/CusterCottage

Whipped body butter and my recipe

A couple years ago I made whipped body butter.  I tested a recipe or two.  My first recipe melted at room temperature during the summer months.  The last one didn't.  I wondered how people would ship this body butter around the USA and it stay looking like it did when it was placed into a container.  I asked a couple of people and they stated it will stir right back up when it is cool.  To me that defeats the purpose of whipped butter.  I like it light and airy.  I don't make this butter to ship anywhere; however I will give it to friends and family.  Why do I like whipped body butter?  My skin is dry.  I like this to use just like a lotion.  Do you have dry heels?  Elbows?  Hands?  Lotion usually soaks in and leaves my skin is dry.  Lotion has oils and butters in it, but it also has a liquid, such as water.  With whipped butters, there is no added liquid.  My recipe is below.    



Whipped Body Butter by Dawn Jones
Heat sunflower oil and coconut oil in a microwave or in a double boiler.  Pour this heated liquid over the butters. It should help melt the butters, but cocoa butter is quite hard and you may need to continue slowly melting this mixture.  Once it has liquefied, place it into a bowl which is usable with a hand or electric mixer.  I have an electric mixer dedicated to soaping. Since the butters are organic and unrefined, I had to filter the mixture twice.  Organic and unrefined butters are not necessary for use in this whip.  You can use non-organic and refined butters.  There will be a different smell in the mixture since unrefined coconut oil smells of cocoa.  Cool the mixture in the refrigerator to where the oils and butters start to harden on the outside of the bowl.

This is what nut meats or skins were strained out in the butters.

Oils hardened around the outside edge of the bowl.

When this happens, scrape the edges and start mixing with your mixer.  If the mixture does not whip after mixing on high for a few minutes, place it back in the refrigerator to cool more.  Mix/whip this mixture until it looks like soft ice cream, but with more air pockets.  Add the tapioca flour, the mica, and the fragrance while continuing to mix/whip.  Mix/whip until this heavenly mixture is completely blended and place it into jars or containers.  Tap the bottom of the jar or container on a cloth at your table or counter area.  You want to remove excess air, but not break the jar/or container.  Add more mixture if you are able to fit more into the jar or container.   If you have looked at Etsy adds, you will notice the contents are piped into the container and an extra cup of mixture is placed on the top for photographic effects.  You should get at least 9 cups of whipped butter.  If there is not enough whip or fluff in your mixture, put it back in the refrigerator for a little while. Scrape the edges when you remove it from the frig, and whip on high speed for a little longer.

10 ounces organic unrefined shea butter 
10 ounces organic unrefined cocoa butter
6 ounces sunflower oil
6 ounces coconut oil
2 teaspoons tapioca flour
2 teaspoons colloidal oatmeal 
2 teaspoons mica (Stellar White and White Russian sparkle mix)
1 teaspoon of fragrance oil or essential oil.  You may want to start with a couple of drops and fragrance as you strong as you like your lotion.  (Reminder from an asthmatic:  People do not want to smell your lotion before you get into the room.)
Mica---optional  I have used Stellar White and White Russian sparkle mix, yellow, or pink.   

Whipped Butter.

Vintage rickrack, paper roses, strips of rose sparkle fabric, and a vintage button cover adorn these jars/containers.  The two jars on the left are new jars from Ball.  I think they call them friendship jars.

Honey Soap

I made a larger batch of honey soap.  I have a wholesale order.  After the soap was made and I sat down to make sure everything was recorded, I realized that I seriously misread the water required for the soap.  I put in way too little water.  Everything came together as it should have and nothing in the batter indicated I had made a mistake.  

After a few hours, the soap was harder, but not hard enough to get out of the mold.  I will leave them on the counter to set up as I go to work.  I am so curious about what will happen.  My original expectation was that they would set up very quickly and be too hard.  That didn't happen.

I bought small amounts of two fabrics with bees on them.  One is mostly yellow, gold, and black.  The other one is aqua with white/black/gold bees, along with silver scribbles in the background.  I want to place one of these pieces of fabric behind the soap for display and for photographing the soap.  I can't make up my mind which fabric I like best, but today it is aqua.  LOL

I also purchased yellow sacks, yellow and white baker's twine to tie around the sacks containing the soap, and a bee stamp on a heart honeycomb background.  I will stamp the sacks with black ink.  Since this is a wholesale order, I need to keep the wrapping cost low, but I can't wrap the soap in my usual manner.



The soap has honey, colloidal oats, kaolin clay, shea butter, sunflower oil, coconut oil, tallow, turmeric.... I added the turmeric for a little color since the soap will probably turn brownish from the use of honey.  Oatmeal, Milk, and Honey is the fragrance.  It is a mellow sweet smell that most men and women alike will enjoy. 

I didn't notice a difference in the soap due to the lack of water I should have used.  I think it will harden faster than other soap with the full water amounts used.

                                                                           
Update:  The soap cured fine, except there were a few hairline cracks, mostly toward the bottom of the soap.  Other than that, drastically messing up on the water did not hurt the soap.

I hope your week is going well!  Dawnie

PS  Don't forget to go to my website at: https://www.slipperywhenwetsoaps.com or my website at: https://www.custercottage.com or my Etsy shop at:  https://www.etsy.com/shop/CusterCottage

 Me a couple of years ago.

Calamine and lanolin

All of us should have goals and aspirations.  I won't bore you with mine, except for two short-term soap making goals I had. They were to make a soap using calamine and a soap with lanolin.  Most of us have used calamine lotion on our itches.  We put calamine lotion on sunburn, rashes, poison ivy, poison oak, chickenpox, and insect bites.                                

Lush sums up calamine very well:  "Calamine powder is a zinc oxide, traditionally used in medicinal ointments as an antiseptic. It comes from the natural mineral deposits, which is transformed into a soft powder when milled. Calamine powder is one of the main constituents of the traditional calamine lotion that is used extensively to relieve redness, stinging and irritation of the skin. Calamine powder treats the skin with a gentle toning and antiseptic action. Historically, it's been mixed with rose water to create a soothing face mask. Beacause it's such a gentle ingredient, we use it in lots of our products for the face, where your skin is very delicate. Calamine powder has also traditionally been used in face powders, dusting powders and toothpastes. It is one of the most absorbent and soothing bases. Calamine powder is mainly zinc oxide, a white powder, combined with a dash of ferric oxide to produce a pretty, light pink powder."  
https://uk.lush.com/ingredients/calamine-powder 

Calamine is a peachy pink color and they even use the name calamine as a color name of paint. LOL

Lanolin has been used for a long time.   It is a very thick grease/oil/wax substance.  Sheep wool contains lanolin and lanolin protects the sheep and the wool from the elements.  This is best described by lanolin.com.  " Wool wax is a natural substance, designed by nature to soften both skin and wool fibres, and to protect them against adverse weather conditions.  The best known uses of refined wool wax products (lanolin and lanolin derivatives) are in medicine, cosmetics and toiletries, which take advantage of these natural protective qualities...  Lanolin is a key ingredient in some of the world’s most popular cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. Without it, they would not have the emollient qualities that protect and care for our skin and hair."

http://www.lanolin.com/lanolin-for-personal-care-and-medicine.htm  Lanolin soap is sometimes called wool fat soap.

lanolin soap

Many people choose to purchase only vegan products.  Most of the products I make are not vegan.  I use lanolin, milk, honey, eggs in my soap.  No animals were harmed in obtaining these ingredients!  Without the use of these products, people who purchase only vegan miss out on natural substances which are great for your skin!  I also use tallow and that is obtained after an animal is slaughtered. Many additives I use are natural and come from plants and the good old earth.  Out of all of my soaps, there should be one that meets everyone's need, whether it be pretty or plain, red or green, round or square.......   I am slowly adding items into a new website that only displays my soaps.  I will let you know when that site is available to view.

Since I first used colloidal oatmeal, I have continued to use it in most all of my soaps, along with the use of vegetable based glycerin, shea butter, and raw cow milk.  There is a certain texture I want in a soap, along with lather and emollient qualities.  This being said, all my soaps have to look and smell great too!!!  What do you look for in soaps that you use for yourself?

Please view my web store at:
 http://www.custercottage.com

And visit my Etsy shop at:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/CusterCottage
 

Thank you for viewing.  I hope you have a great week!  Dawnie

Dirty Hands Soap

Just out of the mold. 

Soap for People Who Get Their Hands Dirty

Shea Butter, cocoa butter, 4 types of exfoliants, colloidal oatmeal, and raw cow milk are just a few of the wonderful ingredients inside this soap.

Thank you for viewing.  

I hope you have a wonderful week!  

Dawnie

Please view my web store at:

http://www.custercottage.com

And visit my Etsy shop at:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/CusterCottage

 

 

 

A SOAP WITH NO NAME

I made a new soap this weekend.  I have enjoyed the teal green color lately, so I had to add 2 of those colors and some soap shred which is blue-green in color.  On the top I added a little oatmeal for decoration.

I also added a secret ingredient.  Can you name it?  Here is the hint:

The fragrance will probably make the soap a little darker after it cures.

The soap lightened after it was cut.  The one on the right was cut first.

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? 

?

 ?

FOX NEWS FEATURE ABOUT SOAP:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Stf8QC4cE6c&feature=youtu.be


Do you give up yet???  Well here it is:

I have been making soap since the 1980's.  I haven't used colloidal oatmeal until now?  I hope it is a great addition to my soap.  I also used tallow, raw cow milk, coconut oil, sodium hydroxide, sunflower oil, shea butter, cocoa butter, glycerin, fragrance, soap shreds, titanium dioxide, coloring, and oatmeal.

So far, the soap has no name, but it has great texture!

The fragrance I used was oatmeal, milk, and honey.  The soap shreds contained another fragrance and the fragrances blended a little.  It still has a great smell.  

Please view my web store at:

http://www.custercottage.com

And visit my Etsy shop at:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/CusterCottage

 

I hope you had a good weekend!  Thank you for reading my blog!  Dawnie