"Making Siren Handmade Soap" with Lovely By Nature (+playlist)

Ok. Here we go! LOL! After the cooked chocolate soap..... and BTW, that was a soap that I made just for my house so I won't be adding it to the shop. Ok, enough about the cooked chocolate soap lets talk about my Siren Triple Butter Soap.  It smells awesome! Umm, how would I describe the scent. Well let me first say this.... I won't be describing by saying imagine walking down a woodsy path skipping past fresh ripened juniper berries while sniffing a tree filled with sweet oranges.  Uhn Uhn! I can't do it, I won't. I'm making myself laugh right now by trying to emulate those who are that skilled at making people fantasize about aromas. Don't get me wrong, I wish that I had it in me because those people definitely make me want to buy their soaps if nothing else but to smell them.

Let me just give you the notes that are in my essential blend.  Yes this is blend of essential oils! Its spicy, citrusy, slightly fruity & sweet,  and woodsy.

Here are some pics:

Look at all of that cocoa butter for a 2 lb batch! Smells heavenly!  I used the same amount of shea butter and less mango butter (only because it was changing the outcome of the final bar of soap).

Here's a video of me making Siren:

Back To Basics - Making Soap with Ingredients from your Kitchen

Ok, it's back to basics for me. I have been thinking about making a soap using one of my very first recipes for a while now. Well that didn't go to well because I couldn't find my recipe book :( So I decided to create a new recipe that beginner soapmakers could use. A recipe where anyone could find the ingredients needed right in their kitchen (well maybe not the sodium hydroxide, but you can go to your local hardware store and purchase a can of lye. NOT drano!)

Recipe:
Olive Oil - 10 oz
Coconut Oil - 4 oz
Canola Oil - 1.5 oz
Castor Oil - .5 oz
Sodium Hydroxide - 2.1 oz
Distilled Water - 5 oz
Coconut Milk - 1 oz
Cocoa Powder - 1 tsp

Here are the things that you will need:

 

 

Goggles, gloves, smock/apron, stick blender, candy therometer, large spoon, spatula, scale and a mold

 

Olive Oil, Coconut Oil, Canola Oil, Castor Oil and Distilled Water (I've already mixed the sodium hydroxide into the distilled water)

 Coconut Milk and Cocoa Powder

 The first thing that I did was pour the coconut milk into my oils.

 And blended just to incorporate the coconut milk.

 Here I'm adding the lye water (which is the sodium hydroxide mixed into the distilled water)
*Note - Always mix and stir the sodium hydroxide slowly into the distilled water. Never the other way around (this will cause a volcanic eruption). Also, when you are mixing the lye into the water, fumes will be released, so make sure that you are in a well ventilated area and wear a mask if possible.

  

I'm mixing the oils and the lye with my stickblender just enough to emulsify it.

 

And here, I'm pouring a portion of the mixture into another container so that I can swirl my soap with cocoa.

 This is me pouring the cocoa powder into the soap.

 I'm blending the cocoa powder into the soap and it smells so yummy.

 I'm pouring the cocoa mixture into the soap so that I can do what we soapers call an in the pot swirl.

 Just swirling the soap with my spatula.

 Now I'm pouring the soap into my mold that I purchased from Joanne's Fabric Store. I wish I had use less of the cocoa mix but its still nice.

 Hmmm! Yummy! I will let it sit overnight or for at least 24 hours.

Hmmm....... Not what I expected but it's soap. Do you see all of that soda ashe on top of the soap? That's what you get when you use full water. This is another reason why I always discount my soaps because I do not like the ashe on my soaps. Well not all of them. On some of them the ashe looks kind of cool.

Sugar + Not putting the soap in the refrigerator = Overheated Soap.
LOL! This is what happens when you add to much cocoa powder and don't put your soap in the refrigerator so that the sugar doesn't overheat. I knew when I added it that it was to much but I couldn't take it back. Plus it didn't help that I didn't do a water discount. Cooked chocolate! I promise that its soap. There is no lye left in this batch.

My first ever Egg and Goat Milk Soap

Well, I finally did it! I delved into the wonderful world of soaping with eggs as an additive.  That's right, actual eggs. You know the ones that chicken's lay. Yeahhh, thoses!  I must admit it I was not sure what the outcome would be but my soap turned out awesome.  Its definitely a silky, creaming and very moisturizing soap.  I can't say enough about it.  Because I was so happy with the outcome I have decided to make more egg soaps.  I'm not kidding you, it is the bomb!

Gather supplies.

Bring two eggs to room temperature by sitting them out overnight.

Separate the yoke from the egg white.  Sorry I forgot to take pictures of the egg white.

Awww! I didn't get additional photos, however, I do have my youtube video that I can share with you. Yay!  I promise to do a better job at taking photos for my future blogs. BTW... Its a long video so if you get bored, which I don't think that you will, just fast forward.

Photos of the finished soaps.

Getting over the fear of blogging...

Hmm! Where do I start? Well, lets start from the beginning. Back in January when I first set up this blogspot I just wasn't sure where to start or even how to start. I kept asking myself, what am I suppose to write, how am I suppose to do a blog.  To be honest, I still don't know but what I do know, is that I want to talk about soap.  I enjoy talking about soapmaking.  I think that I enjoy talking about soap just as much as I enjoy making soap.  Soapmaking is awesome, its soothing and relaxing.  To me anyway! Well enough with the small talk.  I think that I might be getting the hang of this. LOL!

What are the methods that I use when making soap? Actually I use various methods, Cold Process (CP), Hot Process (HP), Cold Process Oven Process (CPOP), and Crockpot.  My favorite is the Cold Process method. I love the finish look of CP soap.  You get that smooth clean look.  With CP soap you have to let the soap cure for 4-6 weeks.  The longer you allow the soap to cure the milder and the harder the bar will be.  Then there's also the water discount, but we will talk about that some other time.

I've just figured out what I plan on blogging about.  I'm going to blog about the process in making soap, soaps that I make, and just about anything else involving natural handmade soap.  Are you ready?  I hope so because I'm going to take you on a sweet escape into my world of soapmaking:)