Don’t you honey me no more?

Don’t you honey me no more?

 

Another fine soap made recently is my honey soap named Don't you honey me no more?  It has honey and citrus soap shreds in it along with the usual ingredients.  On top is a fan shaped piece of beeswax honeycomb.  I sprinkled yellow mica on top of the soap.  The citrus soap shreds are golden yellow colored and show up in the base soap blending in with the yellow mica on the top of the soap. The texture on the top is also due to the soap shreds popping through.  I barely used any fragrance oil.  Just 1/2 ounce or so for 19 bars of soap.

 

lease view my web store at:

http://www.custercottage.com

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

Have a great week!

Dawnie

More impression mat soap making

I tried using impression mats again.  I used the same tall/skinny mold and the rose impression mat on the bottom.  Instead of using mica, I filled the design with soap.  I used the plain white color without any coloring or fragrance.

The bottom mold is the one I used plain white color.  The round bars I added mica after the impression mats were in the mold.

The fragrance I used in this soap was antique lace.  It smells wonderful, but it turns the soap dark brown. I get this fragrance from Natures Garden and they say the smell is "the romantic blend of jasmine and fresh vanilla beans, with a base note of musk."  After the white soap batter was placed into the impression mat, I placed about 1/2 inch of the batter with the fragrance added.  Then I added a thin layer of ground vanilla beans on top of this.  They call this a pencil line.  The last layer is an in the pot swirl of the plain color which will turn brown but it is a peachy color now, a bronze color with added mica, and yellow color with added mica.

In the round molds I used mica to color the impression mats.  


Notes:

I think it would work just as well in the future for me to use mica on the tops of the soap once it is made and out of the mold, instead of putting mica on the impression mat.

With the use of impression mats, the soap does come out of the mold a little easier.

If using mica on impression mats, do it prior to placing them in the mold so as not to get mica on the sides of the soap.

Don't make the pencil line too thick or the soap layers will not stick to each other.

I tried the impression mats made from thin plastic.  It stuck to the soap and did not leave a good impression on the soap or on me.  I will stick with silicone.

This is the kind that did not work for me.  The pattern indenture was very shallow and it pulled some of the  design off when unmolded.  If I left it in the mold longer it may have worked better.

I thought you needed some cuteness today.

Please view my web store at:

http://www.custercottage.com

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

Have a great day!  Dawnie

Lavender Rose Soap---Using an Impression Mat and Mica

First test with another soap.

Silicone lined molds.  The contest is for the log mold only.

Adding the mica,

Oils and additives ready for lye.

The color is a little pinkish.

I added a little lavender color and gave a tiny amt. of swirl.

Soap is in the mold--see the swirl in the soap.  Unfortunately the mold bows a little.

  The frosting tool 

is nice to use.

Making soap with impression mats is the December soap challenge from the great cakes soap challenge club.  My loaf soap with this technique: 

FYI:  A great website for soap makers is http://www.mariegale.com/

She answers a lot of labeling questions.

Thank you for viewing.  Have a great weekend! Dawnie

Please view my web store at:

http://www.custercottage.com

And visit my Etsy shop at:

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

Titanic Soap or Vanolia soap and Recipe

I have researched Titanic soap.  This soap was advertised to be a cold cream soap named Vanolia.  It was a  nice sized oval bar wrapped and placed into a decorated box of purple and gold.  Vanolia was also advertised at the soap for the first-class cabins on the Titanic.  It was made originally in England.  Even though the soap is still made since 1912, it has gone through a few changes.  One  change is the fragrance which is more of a spice fragrance now where it originally was a rose fragrance.  Many soap makers of today are adding rose and lemon  together trying to duplicate this soap fragrance.  I found the original (or close to original) ingredient labels which shows the following ingredients.  I broke the ingredients down for easier reading and understanding.  (Keep in mind that I am bot a chemist.):
1.sodium tallowate--tallow or rendered cow fat
2.sodium cocolate--coconut oil--it is one of the few oils that will suds in salt water
3.aqua--water
4.glycerol--glycerin--automatically made during the manufacture of true soap.  Glycerin attracts moisture through the air.
5.perfume--a fragrance, rose otto--1/8 of an ounce is $29.99 on Amazon. Most of us can not afford this essential oil.

6.sodium chloride--salt
7.mineral oil--a byproduct of petroleum and commonly used to remove make up
8.tetra-sodium EDTA--it is a cleating agent that neutralizes the metal ions in hard water and makes  water softer
9.edidrontic acid--also a cleating agent which enhances the cleaning power
10. boric acid--a mild antiseptic/anti-fungal/antibiotic  "Borax, also known as borate, sodium tetraborate, or disodium tetraborate, is an important boron compound, a mineral, and a salt of boric acid,"  Wikipedia
Much of my information came from Encyclopedia Titicaca. http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/forums/personal-hygiene/4975-soap.html

To duplicate this soap, I would start with tallow, coconut oil, water, lye (sodium hydroxide), and rose fragrance.  If the soap could turn dark due to the fragrance I use, I would then use a little titanium dioxide to help keep the soap white.  Many of the soap makers of today are placing a rose bud on the top of each bar of soap, making each bar truly upper class..

My version of this soap is:

Titanic soap

30 ounces tallow

20 ounces coconut oil

19 ounces water

7.3 ounces lye

3 ounces veg glycerin

1.5 ounces Save on Scents eternal roses fragrance oil  

2 tablespoons titanium dioxide

Optional:  18 decorations for the top such as dried rose buds or tiny pink rose erasers like mine.

Follow normal soap making rules to make this soap using the above recipe.

Yield:  Makes 18 bars of soap.  I used Crafter's Choice oval molds.  Oval which was the shape of the original Titanic soap.

Notes:   *I refrigerated this soap for one day.  It did not gel and it came out of the molds perfectly.

*This soap is snow white!  The titanium dioxide was probably not needed with this fragrance oil.

Vanolia/Titanic Soap  I used little erasers for the center rose.  Not as nostalgic as a dried rose bud.
A friend told me that it would erase the wrinkles away.  LOL

I hope you found this an interesting read.  Have a great week!  Dawnie

Please view my web store at:

http://www.custercottage.com

And visit my Etsy shop at:

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

Gift Giving

When giving gifts for all occasions, most of us look for gifts that don't cost us an arm and a leg.  I like to give soap gifts and add a washcloth or dishcloth.  I came upon something called an almost lost washcloth.  While I was searching the blog Simply Notable where this free pattern was in, she also included a mini almost lost washcloth for a facial or even for dishes.  The links to these patterns are:
http://www.simplynotable.com/2015/an-almost-lost-washcloth-tutorial/
http://www.simplynotabl.com/2014/mini-almost-lost-washcloths/

I have tried to make the mini almost lost washcloth.  The pattern calls for worsted weight cotton yarn and a size 7 or 8 set of knitting needles.  I usually have smaller weight yarn on hand, so the first one is thinner than I desire.  When I made the second one, I used two strands of cotton thread and a smaller needle.  I like the look better, but it doesn't look like her examples.  On the third mini washcloth, I used size 4 knitting needles and sport weight cotton yarn,  I liked the look of this best.

 If you want something handmade, quick to make, not so ordinary, and cheap to make, this is a perfect gift for women.

Thank you for viewing my blog. 
Have a great weekend!

Dawnie

Please view my web store at:

http://www.custercottage.com

And visit my Etsy shop at:

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

Twinkle Soap

I have practiced making soap using a new pouring technique.  It is called a tall skinny shimmy method.  Basically the soap batter is divided into 6 different containers and colored 6 different colors.  One by one, the soap is poured into a tall/skinny mold, along the long side of the mold while the mold is tilted.  The mold is moved and tilted the opposite direction with each pour.  The complete amount of each color is used when it is poured.  With this technique you get a bar of soap which is 6 different colors.  This technique is the November soap challenge for Great Cakes Soap Works Challenge.  My soap batter was a little too thick to do this method well, but the soap came out interesting.  I used mica to color the batter.  A light pink mica, a dark pink mica, a combination of both pink micas, a light green mica, a dark blue mica, and a combination of the green and the blue micas in the last one.  I also added jojoba beads in the pink colors. I swirled all of the 6 batters for some interest.  I found the green and the blue micas were not stable in cold process soap.  They came out gold colored.  Even though the colors morphed, the soap came out pretty.

 What have you been working on lately?

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 my blog.  Have a great day!!!  Dawnie