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!

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.

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.

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.

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... :)