Hiatus

Hey folks,

I've been taking an extended break from my soap blog due to an unexpectedly hectic schedule in my personal and career life. I promise to keep y'all updated on my latest creations when I have a bit more free time. For now, though, feel free to check out my personal blog to see what else I've been up to.

Keeping it clean,
Rebecca

Not So Amazing Marbling

A couple weeks ago I was catching up on the Soap Queen blog and I saw her tutorial on marbling. The resulting soaps look AMAZING.

Mine, however, are not so amazing...
The best thing about melt and pour soap making is that if you don't like how your batch comes out the first time, you can always melt it down and try again!

keeping it clean...

Spearmint Lime Soaps

Mmm... I love the smell of spearmint essential oil! When my spearmint rosemary soaps were curing, coming home to my studio/apartment every day after work was a real treat. I decided to try another spin on spearmint and mixed up this batch with some lime essential oil. Among other things, spearmint essential oil is said to help with asthma, exhaustion, and headaches. Lime essential oil is also known to revitalize and uplift those suffering from exhaustion or depression. I can't make any claims about these effects, but I can tell you how absolutely, refreshingly wonderful these babies smell!

Soapy September at the Loft

Now that August and my language assessment course commitments are over, I've got more time (and money- yay!) for soaping. This month I finally made my first Etsy sale (thanks Jess!) and I've got my first bulk order for favors at a very special upcoming event (details to follow).

After spending a lovely weekend (my first free weekend in 5 weeks!) between Santa Cruz and Salinas visiting with friends and a very special new boy, I finally found some time this weekend to bust out the oils, lye and other neglected supplies and get busy experimenting with some new cold process recipes. Yesterday truly was a Super Soaping Sunday - I made 4 batches of soap, which I plan to share with you throughout the week.

I also placed a couple of exciting supply orders last week so I'm very excited to introduce some new lip balm flavors and (soap) color and fragrance options in the next few weeks.

While you're waiting on pics and more info about my new soapy adventures, don't forget to check out my Etsy store. It's a bit bare at the moment, but now that my new camera has arrived, I'll be adding more listings in the next few days. If you're following me on Twitter, you already know that I'm offering FREE SHIPPING for the month of September on all purchases over $10. To take advantage of this deal, please enter the word SEPTEMBER in the notes to seller. A refund for the shipping cost will be issued when I process the order.

Now Available: Spearmint Rosemary soap

Fragranced with essential oils of spearmint and rosemary and colored with oxides, these guys are 100% natural. They've had a nice long cure in my small home-based workshop and they're ready to be included in your daily bath/shower ritual.

Order them online and I'll throw in a free lip balm!

Where did the summer go?!?

Ok, so I guess I've been a bit busy moving apartments, working hard on a new test of spoken Dutch and teaching a course in language assessment. My regular, full-time job plus prep and execution of a college-level course at the same time. *$&#! Never. Again. Honestly, I've enjoyed teaching the course but I just had way too much on my plate to manage, like, life and stuff. The final class was last Saturday, so I'm finally in the home stretch of being a one-job woman again. Which means more time for the fun stuff... like soaping!

This summer did bring a couple really nice distractions from the super-grind, though. I had a very special birthday weekend in Santa Monica visiting with family and college buddies and checking out the amazing Accomplice: Hollywood. Then, of course, there was the bachelorette party and wedding of one of my oldest friends, Levy, earlier this month, which was truly a wonderful - and beautiful - occasion.

Although I've obviously been keeping busy, somehow I feel like it went from May to September in the blink of an eye. No camping trips, out-of-state visits, trips to the beach or any of my other usual summer escapades.

Anyone else vote for extending this year's summer?

Soapy the Germ Fighter

So many things to write, so little time...

I'm all tied up in language assessment this month and, sadly, I have no time for soaping or blogging about soaping.

However, I did come across this lovely little video and I just had to share:
Soapy the Germ Fighter!

Don't you just love cheesy outdated instructional videos? Yay for Soapy!

keeping it clean (and validly assessed)...

Only 2 left!

Last week I set aside 2 bars of my new Citrus Mint soap and listed them on Etsy. As of this weekend I have completely sold out of all the other bars from this batch, so get yours before these last 2 are gone! They are only available online but I will refund your shipping costs if you can pick them up in person.

Don't miss out!

Now Available: Citrus Mint soaps

Now curing...

Here it is, folks. My first semi-successful attempt at cold process swirling. I made this batch of intoxicating spearmint-rosemary essential oil soap using Mission Peak's Mold and SoapQuick (pre-mixed oil blend) so I wouldn't have to worry too much about measuring and mixing the ingredients while I focused on getting the timing and the trace just right for swirling. I've still got lots of practicing to do, but I think this first batch came out pretty well! Plus, my new apartment has been smelling GREAT because of this baby.


After about 2 days, I unmolded and cut the big loaf (above) into bars. These guys need to cure for about 6 weeks and they'll be ready to use/sample/sell on August 1st.


Also curing: my less successful attempt at swirling in a Citrus Mint (fragrance oil) scent. It came out looking layered because I missed the proper trace window and it was too thick to produce a real swirl. These guys are almost ready and I polished them up and hand bevelled them last week. Look out for them to hit my Etsy shop on July 15th!

The new soap lab

Home sweet home

Anyone following my twitter feed has probably already guessed that my (most) recent neglect of the blog is mainly due to the fact that I've recently moved apartments. For those keeping track, this made move number 19 in the past 10 years. I loved my last apartment and stayed there for a record 25 months (1st renewed lease in my life), but it was time to move on. I got a great deal on a cute little apartment in San Jose, so I finally have my own place - yay!

Check out the shower - it's perfect for a soap addict like myself who keeps several bars of soap in the shower at a time :)

Soap Boot Camp at the Nova Studio

A few weeks ago, I attended the 2-day Intensive Soap Making Boot Camp at The Nova Studio in Point Richmond. The boot camp includes 4 classes in two very full and incredibly inspirational days. The first day, our full class of 15 soapmakers-in-training, learned about cold process soap making, from measuring ingredients and mixing lye to fragrancing, coloring and molding the soap. These pictures (courtesy of Quiet Violet) show (above) the fabulous Lori Nova pouring "Barney Purple" raw soap into a mold and (below) the finished product, masterfully swirled with "Incredible Hulk Green". I went home after the first day feeling exhilarated and eager for more!

On Day 2, we moved on to hot process soap making with Lori in the morning. The most basic difference between cold process and hot process soap making is, obviously, the heat involved. The heat speeds up the saponification process (the reaction between the lye and fatty acids that results in soap), so that the soap is ready to use after only a couple weeks, as opposed to around 6 weeks for cold process. Lori demonstrated the hot process method using a crock pot.

The above photos (taken from my iPhone) show three different stages of the saponification process. The first picture shows Lori mixing the lye solution with the oils to achieve trace. The middle photo is mid-cook; you can see the saponified soap forming a thicker crust on top while the raw (unsaponified) soap is still liquid on the bottom. The third photo shows the finished soap - it's the consistency of mashed potatoes and ready to be colored, fragranced and molded.

In the afternoon, we learned about big batch soap making (for when the time comes...) from David Critchfield of Mission Peak Soap. David showed us a decidedly more laid-back approach to soap making (note the lack of gloves and goggles in the photos below). He also showed us some easy and inexpensive ways to make "big batches" (100+ bars) using materials you can easily find at the local hardware store. The pictures below show David's big batch method, his styrofoam mold and his wood/piano string soap cutter.













For now, I'm just making small batches (~4 pounds at a time) and I was eager for a more professional look, so I decided to invest in Mission Peak's wood soap mold and cutter, which I was able to pick up at the boot camp to save on shipping costs.

By the end of the weekend, I was loaded with handouts, soap samples and a stack of supplies, including my mold/cutting system and some SoapQuick I'd also ordered from Mission Peak for my first efforts at swirling. I also purchased a number of "trial-sized" additives from the Studio on Sunday. I was dreaming, thinking, breathing soap.

The only thing stopping me from retreating into my lair and making batch after batch of soap now was... MOVING. :(

For another description of the boot camp (with much better photos!), check out The Nova Studio Blog.

The addiction continues: Lush temptation!

Although I'd heard of it before, this weekend I had my first real Lush experience while visiting some old college friends for Memorial Day weekend down in Santa Barbara. I had a quick stop I needed to make to the mall on the way to my friend's nursing school graduation/RN pinning ceremony. Honestly, it was a sick decision on my part to only allow myself 20 minutes in one of my favorite time-sucks (aka, the mall), but I guess I'm a bit of a masochist. It caught my attention on the way back to my car to get to my friend's graduation party. LUSH!

If you haven't already checked out this store, you must immediately find the nearest location and make a point to check it out next time you're in the area. Lush is an organic, vegetarian (and mostly vegan) bath and body care store and a perfect example of what many of my dreams have been about of late :P

Of course, I didn't have time to spend more than a brief couple minutes surveying the store to see if it was worth returning for. I decided that it was definitely worth it and promptly dragged one of my friends back there with me the next day. Let me tell you, this place is HEAVEN for soap geeks and body product fiends! I've been thinking about playing around more with solid perfumes and lotion bars so I treated myself to a great massage bar, but otherwise managed to exhibit uncharacteristic willpower and didn't allow myself any of the other temptations, such as a yummy new face cleanser or bath bomb.

Blog stop

As some of my loyal attempted readers have recently noted, I have been seriously neglecting my blog lately! I've been really busy working on a new spoken Dutch test, searching for a new apartment, and a packed schedule of "extracurricular" activities. Have no fear, though. My passion for all things SOAP continues!

This week I am gearing up for the Soap Making Boot Camp at the Nova Studio in Point Richmond this coming weekend. I've been looking forward to this course for months and only waited this long to take it because the first session offered when I first heard about this workshop was already full and I had already planned to be in Portland when the next session was offered.

I'm sure I'll have lots to say about the classes this weekend, so stay tuned for some Boot Camp blog posts!

Cold Process!

It has finally begun. You might recall that I mentioned my (former) acupressure guy TJ, in a previous post. He was kind enough to introduce me to his girlfriend Talia, who is also interested in soap making. After months of emails and anticipation, we all finally met up on Sunday for our first batch of cold process soap.

I was having too much fun to remember to take lots of pictures of the first batch, but here are a couple pictures I did manage to get:

Testing the temperature of the lye solution.

Melted oils mixed with lye solution to trace, oatmeal added and poured into our makeshift mold to saponify and cure.

Oregon Soap Company

The Oregon Soap Company was the most expensive of the 4 soapers' booths I checked out at the Portland Saturday Market. Prices for a 3.75 oz bar of their certified organic soap START at $7. Ouch!

I checked out their website, though, and was pleased to read about their commitment to fighting climate change through sustainable business practices. Their pledge to plant one tree for every 10 bars of soap they sell means they do much better than just offsetting their carbon emissions - they do it several times over.

And their soap? Pricey, yes, but a great treat to use in the shower. I bought a bar of the Forest soap (pictured above), which has a very mild yet consistent lather and gently exfoliates with oatmeal and bran. This particular bar has a great unisex scent, which makes it a great treat for your favorite (male or female) tree hugger.

Portland!

I spent last weekend exploring Portland, Oregon with a couple of girlfriends. My dad moved up there last summer, so between the great deal I found on my Southwest flight and crashing at my dad's apartment, we had a wonderful recession-appropriate weekend getaway! To make up for the relative cheapness of the trip, I insisted on spending the bulk of the afternoon on Saturday exploring the Saturday Market.


I LOVE CRAFT MARKETS and this one was no exception! There were a lot of amazing artists and some incredibly unique wares being sold, but I was most interested in (surprise!) the SOAP. My market buddies thought I was crazy for spending so much time and money on something that I already have - in obsessive quantities - at home. But hey, it's market research, right? ;)

So, in lieu of my own new creations, I thought I'd devote a couple blogs this week to describing some of the soaps from the Portland Saturday Market that were worthy of my cash.

Soaps by the sea

I was recently asked by a friend who sits on the board of directors for her mother's literacy foundation to donate some soapy goodies to be auctioned off at her foundation's annual fund raising dinner coming up this summer. The theme of the event is "By the Sea" and, while it's certainly not required for the donations be theme-specific, I thought it would be a fun project to aim for.

That was the inspiration for the soaps I made last weekend:

For the first batch, I was aiming for the color to fade from light blue at the top to dark blue at the bottom, like the color of the horizon when the sky blends into the ocean. I ended up with darker hues than I had originally intended, but this way I suppose it reminds me of the colors of the ocean itself, as the light filters out at greater depths. The white lines are the waves.

I kind of like how the waves ended up sticking out of the mold on one side, adding texture. (Bonus feature: turn them upside-down after use to allow the water to drain and prevent the entire bottom of the soap from getting mushy! :P ) So far I'm the only one who likes that feature, though. What does everyone else think?

Anyway, for my second attempt at ocean/wave soaps I decided to use the tube approach:

This technique didn't allow me to get that nice color fade I was going for in the first batch, but I like how they came out anyway!

All the wave bars are scented with a combination of ocean and sea breeze fragrance oils, making these great unisex soaps.

I'm on Etsy!

I finally got around to setting up shop on Etsy. For those of you not yet familiar with this website, prepare for hours of lost productivity! The entire site is dedicated to folks like me who are looking to sell their handmade wares online. No matter what the occasion, this has quickly become my favorite place for handmade and unique gifts. I highly recommend taking some time to explore all this amazing online community has to offer.

It will probably take me a while to finish stocking my Etsy shop, but I am open for business! If you're looking to purchase some of my handmade soaps or you're kind enough to spread the word, you can find me here:

soaploft.etsy.com

Honey Lemon Eucalyptus Lip Balm

After the success of my geranium lavender lip balm, I've been looking forward to more adventures in lip balms. Now that I have my new lip balm tubes, I just need to find some free time for playing around with new recipes!

I did manage to steal some time last weekend before heading down to Salinas for Easter. I wanted to bring soap and lip balm samples down for my hosts but the geranium lavender lip balms are pretty feminine, so I decided to create a more gender neutral lip balm for the occasion.

Ben and Jenny are the biggest consumers of Emergen-C vitamin supplements I know but when you've got a cute little germ incubator (aka, toddler) running around, even vitamins can't hold off the occasional sore throat, cough or sniffles. With that in mind, I decided to create a lip balm that would provide an extra little aromatherapy boost to help with these syptoms.

Because I was in a hurry to get down there, I ended up using the same base I'd used for the geranium lavender lip balm (I already had some made up). I added a bit of honey to the base to sweeten it and went with a combination of lemon and eucalyptus essential oils, a well-known combination for fighting sore throats. (Of course this combination is usually ingested via cough drops or tea, so I'm not sure it'll really help that much as a lip balm and no, I don't recommend eating the lip balms to get the full effect.)

I've been using this lip balm for the past few days and I've decided that it needs some work. I think I'll try a different base next time and I'll definitely add a higher concentration of essential oils because the first batch was a bit weak.

Spring Holidays Part Two: Sunny's first Easter egg hunt!

I hopped on down to Salinas for a quick Easter visit with my Monterey "family" this past weekend. Ben and Jenny are two of my closest friends from grad school. In addition to their 19-month-old daughter Sunny, their family includes Lucky the dog, Lilly and Minako the cats, and hamsters, though I've stopped keeping track of their names or how many of them there are. Also there was George, Ben's coworker and another honorary family member, and a surprise new addition to the family. As usual, it was a full house and an excellent visit with wonderful friends.

Sunday morning they totally spoiled me by letting me sleep in, so that I woke up to the smell of the amazing feast they were preparing. After brunch we dyed eggs and hid them in the yard for Sunny's very first Easter egg hunt - a very amusing event! I'm not sure how many of you have witnessed a 17-month-old hunting for Easter eggs, but it goes something like this:

Spring Holidays Part One - "Gefilte fish is still gross"

Happy Easter/Passover/Spring!

I've been having a wonderful but busy week. Last Wednesday night I celebrated the first night of Passover with my friend Julie and a very nice group of her friends as she led us in a Seder. It was my first Seder in several years and the first time I recall ever being responsible for asking the Four Questions (it's generally the responsibility of the youngest person and I have a younger brother so I was generally safe).

It turned out that out of the 9 of us there, Julie and I were the only two Jews, so luckily there was no pressure to embarrass myself trying to read the questions in Hebrew. It was a lovely gathering and the Jews and "gentiles" all participated, even going so far as to try the gefilte fish. I convinced myself to try it as well, since I've spent the past several years convincing those around me to avoid it. Tastes can change, right? Wrong. As Julie's friend Sarah said, it still "tastes like something my cat would like". Thankfully, the rest of the meal was delicious :)

Thanks for including me, Julie!

Soap Geek

I already took a photo of my giant soap brick last week, but I felt it appropriate to thoroughly commemorate my first bulk order by introducing Soap around the apartment.

Soap, meet Projector. Projector, meet Soap.

Soap, meet videos.




Soap, meet Kitty Litter.




Meet couch. Meet Bailey.



Welcome.

Coming Soon...

Any requests?

Mica happy

Along with my giant soap block/salt lick, I received my new sample pack of colorful micas on Monday. Last night I finally got around to sorting through them and I mixed them all in bottles with some glycerine so that they're easier to work with later.

I can't wait to start playing around with them! Keep your eye out for some fun new colorful projects next week...

Tweet Tweet

Quick note to let y'all know that I have given in to Twitter madness. You can now find me there as rebeccaloft.

Join the conversation!

I'll still be posting here when I have time, but Twitter and Facebook are the best places to find me for some quick internet stalking tidbits (if you're into that kinda thing).

Giant soap brick arrival

Last weekend I had a fabulous visit with my old roomie from Peru (Chloe) who got into Berkeley for law school and came out from Philly for the admitted student event. Unfortunately, it seems that my hometown university put together a pretty crappy event, so I did my best to convince her to come out to Cali anyway! Keeping my fingers crossed that she is unable to resist the appeal of BOALT and moves out here in the fall despite the disorganized admit event. It's always nice to have more good friends who are local, since I'm so bad about keeping in touch with my East Coast buds :)

I have a couple new projects to share in the next day or two, but aside from having had a fairly busy weekend, I've been a bit low on soap this past week since I had to wait for the new month (and new budget) to order more supplies. Last week, I finally decided to take the plunge and ordered bulk soap base for the first time. It arrived yesterday in a single giant 25-lb. block and my housemate thinks it looks like a giant salt lick.


In addition to at least 25 more pounds worth of melt and pour soaping, I'm getting really excited to try cold and hot process soap making. I'm taking a workshop at the Nova Studio in Point Richmond next month to learn the basics and I can't wait! In the meantime, my acupressure guy put me in touch with a friend of his who is also interested in soap making. I think we're gonna be "lab partners" and meet up next weekend to make our first batch.

Anyway, I'm off to play with my new micas and lip balm flavor oils. Oh yeah, and I guess I should try to get some work done as well... :)

Plaid attempt

These soaps were inspired by Soapy Love's plaid soaps, which were featured in the Soap Queen blog last month. I was waiting on an order of my favorite soap base so I had to combine what I had left with a lesser quality base. The resulting product isn't really much of a "plaid" and you can really see the flaws in the second soap base I used (it's kind of cloudy and lumpy looking) but they get the job done and I used fresh cotton fragrance oil, so at least they smell nice!

Framed Art Soaps - Part 2

I wasn't sure how I felt about the horizontal layering lines on my first batch of framed art soaps, so I made some more stamped soaps without them :) I've also sealed the design on these new ones by pouring a layer of clear soap on top so that the design won't start to fade away the first time you use them.

Unfortunately, most of the stamps I have right now are pretty intricate, which makes this kind of design a bit tough to get right. Right now they're a bit time-intensive but I'm working on perfecting the technique a bit more. Stay tuned for further developments in framed soaps!

Essential Oil Experiments - Geranium Lavender Lip Balm

I am completely addicted to lip balm.

Just like many other lip balm junkies out there, I'm one of those people who feels completely naked without some sort of lip protection. I also tend to carry a separate tube in each purse or bag that goes out with me. My earliest memory of this little habit was using my mom's Mentholatum as a kid. Yeah, I started with the strong stuff. I just loved the tingly sensation on my lips whenever I used it and even more exciting was the sinus clearing action I experienced every time I had a stuffy nose.

I made my first small batch of lip balms last weekend. I've made a solid perfume base from shea butter, beeswax and olive oil in the past that was the perfect consistency for lip balm, so I decided to try mixing it with essential oils to create a nice multi-purpose lip balm, just like my childhood favorite.

I measured one ounce of the lip balm base and added five drops each of two different essential oils: geranium and lavender.


I chose Egyptian Geranium and Hungarian Lavender for the multitude of beneficial properties associated with each of them.

Geranium is known for soothing all sorts of skin issues, including acne, bruises, burns, cuts, and eczema. It also aids circulation, sore throat, feminine issues attributed to PMS and menopause, stress and neuralgia.

Lavender is known for a long list of beneficial properties as well. It has a very soothing, calming effect on nervous conditions, headaches, respiratory and even digestive problems. It's a natural antibacterial and antiviral, as well as a decongestant, deodorant, and sedative.

Working together, lavender and geranium also provide strengthened antiseptic, antidepressant, healing and moisturizing properties. Finally, both provide beautiful, uplifting aromas which promote calm and soothing reactions and feelings to physical and emotional stresses.

The base of the lip balm consists of shea butter, beeswax and olive oil. The shea butter is a moisturizer which promotes the healing of dry skin, acne, chapped lips, stretch marks, and many other issues. The beeswax and the olive oil act as barriers that help absorb and seal in the moisture. The combination of the moisturizing qualities of the lip balm, the healing properties of the essential oils, as well as their intoxicating fragrance make these lip balms


I've been using the lip balm all week and I love it :) Not only are my lips silky soft, but the aroma is so intoxicating that I keep catching myself puckering up to catch a whiff!

The rest of the batch is floating around as samples, and I can't wait to hear what the recipients think of it.

Thoughts on Essential Oils

One of the major elements of soap making is the aroma. Some people buy soap and other body products solely for the fragrance. There are a lot of great fragrance oils out there to choose from if you just want nice smelling products, but you can open up a whole new world of benefits if you use pure essential oils instead. I've been reading up on essential oils and aromatherapy lately and I'm sold. It's a giant world to explore, but if I can make multipurpose body products that not only serve their purposes as soaps and lotions and lip balms, etc., but also help soothe someone's cold with lemon and eucalyptus, promote healing for their damaged skin with lavender, or lift their mood with geranium, I think that's a path worth exploring.

Framed Art Soaps - Part 1

I had planned, for my first real post, to start at the beginning and talk about some of the soaps I made when I first started photographing my projects a couple months ago. I have to postpone the old projects, though, because I had a super soaping day on Sunday (yes, super soaping Sunday = bliss) and I'm pretty darn proud of the outcome:


Framed Leaves soap bars:
-hemp and goat's milk soaps
-oak moss fragrance oil
-no, your eyes are not tricking you. Those are copper (mica) leaves and BROWN (oxide) frames (...and a stain in the table runner I'm using in the background- crap!)



I'm fairly new to this whole blogging business, but since becoming a mad soaper, there are a couple blogs I've been keeping my eye on. My favorite is the Soap Queen (aka Anne-Marie Faiola of Bramble Berry). My inspiration for these framed soaps came from a Valentine's themed rubber stamping tutorial she posted last month. I really liked her final products but her stamps were a bit different from the ones I already had. Mine have a square-shaped rubber border surrounding the edges of the design which ends up making a ridge in the finished soap bar, contributing to the frame effect.












I really like the framing effect here and the way the copper (stamped) leaves shine and shimmer in contrast with the white. In that last photo especially, though, you can see that I made these bars in three separate pours. I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing, but I have to admit that I'm not a huge fan of the stripes on the side. (Mainly because the imperfections bug me.)

I have to admit I'm really proud of these two (and the Peek-a-Boo Bamboo I made at the same time). They're the first soaps I've made that really make me want to go back through all my other projects and marvel at how far I've come :P

What do you guys think?