A new leaf for a new year....

Milk, Honey & Almond Coconut Milk Soap, 6.5 oz each

 So today is the day I have chosen to break away from Etsy. It has been on my mind and 'to do' list for some time. I love Etsy, always will. I was a true blue fan long before I opened my shop with them.
Now it is time for yet another chapter in my journey, Artfire. The only thing I will be cooking for a few days are these listings. I can not wait until I can share my entire collection with you. I make over 64 different products in over 100 scent varieties, essential and synthetic.

  I strive not to use harsh chemical preservatives, SLS or Parabens. I started making soaps for my daughter and myself. I have unusually sensitive skin and Avi(age 3) suffers with severe eczema from time to time. I would leave her doctors office with three topical prescriptions that had to be put on in a certain order on the skin or it was very painful and a oral dose as well. The first night at home with those creams I couldn't remember which cream went first. Burned her skin and I had never felt like such a horrible parent as I did at that moment. I could not do that to my daughter. We ditched the 'xyz creams' as we called them because we couldn't pronounce the formal versions. I started researching and next thing you know the 'crazy candle lady' had turned into the 'crazy, but smells good, soap & candle lady'. my life as been full ever since. I owe it all to 'xyz creams'.

  When I put something on my body or especially my daughters skin, I have to know what's in it? How was it processed? Natural or GMO ingredients? Sustainable farms? What kind of testing was used to qualify it as safe? When dealing with allergies and miserable skin conditions and a conscience, those questions are important. I fear I have started a personal rant here, (easy to do with me) moving it along, I swear.

Paper glazed mosiac with stamping, sealed

   I am not saying that my products are superior. What I try and stress is that I am there through almost every process my herbs, botanical, powders, fruit extracts, milks go through. I Know. That makes a world of difference to me. When I go to shows I get to share a lot more of my process one on one to the people that feel the same way. If they do not, I offer a little information to hopefully get their wheels turning and leave it at that. I am not a pushy type. I don't want you to buy something that you truly do not want or care about. I want my customers to love my creations as much as I do and I want them to know what they are taking home. I was that way even with my soy candles. Guess that's how the "crazy" got thrown into my title:) I embrace it proudly because that crazy comes from the heart and that's the best kind of crazy if you ask me.




   No matter where I take my soaps and candles to sell them I always meet people and interact with some of the most memorable vendors and customers and families too. I do my best to carry those same type of relationships through the online market as much as I can.  I always do my best to maintain excellent customer communication because that's what I miss about doing the sale face to face. You can meet someone, talk about life and what they like in a product and I can get a feel for what it is they are after, even if they are not sure themselves. Although, I still do my craft show and fund-raisers, it took some getting used to not having that opportunity to interact with my customers on a friendly level before they dive right into the listings. I like being there for the questions, the "mmmm, that's smells good" I wonder if that will help with....?

  I have a lot of brightly colored, eye catching products when I go to my shows. After they are all laid out it almost looks like an edible buffet. I have kids come up all the time, "Oh! look, cupcakes!" or "Ma! cookies, she has cookies!" Eyes lite up with the optimism that says "those could quite possibly be the best cupcakes I would have ever tasted, and then, like clockwork here comes the same long face, when I have to tell them it's not what they think it is. "Oh, it's soap..."
  Most little girls still love it anyway, dying to be like mommy and all big girl and smelling fabulous. I think to myself "one day little lady" as I hand her a free sample of bubble bath cake or a glitter covered soap sucker just to show it's not all about the money just because I am there selling.

  Honestly, my husband makes me. I would be perfectly content giving it away but he is always ranting something about "bills" this and "homeless" that. That's a little something else that is necessary in life and love, a good sense of humor. He is the best support a gal could ask for, thanks hon.

  When it's your hearts work. It helps keep the supplies rolling in of course, but all the money in the world can not make you desire and need to create things to make other people feel good. I don't desire to be rich, I just want to do what makes me happy and if that happens to make you happy too, well, Double win for us.

Soaps from around the world, (...mainly France)

Rustic, simple and yet romantically beautiful. My soap of the year, for sure.

All of these soaps are absolute works of art. I wish I could be writing that these were of my own creation but, I can not. I hope to one day have the knowledge, patience and skill that it takes to
make a soap that just blows you away like these did for me. The first one is from Taiwan, the maker of this simply gorgeous soap with the resemblance of piano keys goes by the name of Soapworker. They have other beautiful soaps as well. I scour the net finding beautiful soaps almost daily to add to my Soap, Soap and more Soap board on Pinterest. But this little soap here is why I decided to blog about it.

 This next one I found a few weeks ago. I adore the cleanness of the lines and the color choice is beautiful. I always go for the bright colors when I soap but when it comes to finding the soaps I love, I always prefer the  neutral tones. They just go hand in hand with natural soap if you ask me. I love how the Taiwan swirl design feathers out blending all the hues. Beautiful. You can find this gem and more lovely soaps on her blog, Bbee's Soapsite. You will have choose to translate it to English up at the top left of the blog. Then you will read the recipes and inside views on the techniques themselves.
 The first black and white beauty on here I didn't have much information on. The picture did not lead me to a link so all I have is the name on the picture itself. SO, I did a search an up popped her Etsy shop. Wow. You would not believe all the unique and festive finds she makes. Enough to where I want everyone in my family to receive soap for Christmas, forever. Her shop is Kokolele on Etsy. You really should see some of her ornament soaps, top quality all the way. Perfect for stocking stuffers.

The next soap on the catwalk is from France. I could not translate the blog so I have very little to share with you other than the image of a stunning bar of soap. The look is so volcanic and beautiful. The thin layer of black to accent the ombre layering is genius. The shops name I believe, is Savonnaute. They give excellent pictures to there soap making and molds but like I said earlier, no easy way to translate it. I want one of the acrylic molds they show on that site. The clear image of the soap has to really enhance your ability to design. I still loved looking through all the soaps with or with out understanding the words. All you really need is the appreciation of work to enjoy it anyhow.
  I found the amazing looking black & white filigree soap on Pinterest as well. Followed it to an Etsy shop by the name of The Charming Frog. It is part of there black & white collection. How sophisticated, right? I am in love with this soap. So I click to see the rest of the collection and I am literally amazed at the selection. There is a soap for every occasion, mood and holiday. I also found the ornate flower soap at the bottom right too. I love the two tone contrast of the soaps. The use of activated charcoal and night black mica in soaps is something I love to see. It seems to always make the soap stand out to me. I will have to order some of these for Christmas gifts very soon. Yes, even as a soap maker I still love to buy other crafters soaps. Especially when they are this gorgeous.

I hope everyone knows just how talented they are. Excellent skill and originality as well. In this done to death world, originality is very hard to achieve.
Okay, that's all for now. There will always be amazing soap waiting to be shared. I hope that one day that mine will be this glamorous.

 

 

Use rebatch in a Cream soap?!....

The finished re-batched cream soap. Add more water for more fluff.

Put that rebatch to good use!

I have been really busy lately. I wish I could say I have spent most of my time making soap and other goodies but I have spent most of this past week trolling the internet finding a whipped soap recipe that uses re-batched soap. The soaps I make are divine. What I have found are countless from scratch CP recipes that require 5 months before it can be used. The bad thing about that is that I use whipped soap in almost everything I do. I can not afford to wait that amount of time for something that could not ever "rot" to my desired fluffy consistency. I would hate, as a novice to the cream soap world, to invest half a year in something to find out I forgot something. So I hit the crock-pot and burned a lot of midnight oil and early morning light making what I consider fabulous whipped soap. Now I am going to share this with you. I went on every forum, asked for any information from numerous people and never heard a peep until Sharon Soaper. With all her years of experience with beautiful soap shed some light on the subject for me. I could not thank her enough for sharing with me. She gave me info I couldn't find anywhere else on the web.

  Now, if you are looking for a broke down ounce to tsp. recipe your not going to find it. At least not yet. Since everything depends on preference of texture you have the chance to take these guidelines and truly make it your own.
  First off, the experiments I pulled off were all fresh goat's mill, luxury rebatch. It is such an amazing soap I could not let those shavings just sit around. I do not skimp one bit on the ingredients so to treat anything I make with it like it is second rate would be insult to my work. I have not done any of this with a run of the mill, non milk basic rebatch so you might have a slightly different outcome than my batches depending on your recipe. Less might be more in this situation so let me know how it turns out.

 Whipped Soap~ trial run:)

 I took roughly 14 to 15 oz of soap shredded it super fine with the Pampered Chef hand shredder with the crank, (uber EASY!) It makes the chore of grating down your rebatch practically a breeze and makes the shreds so thin that it melts very fast and less clumps.
  Added it to the crock pot on low, with about a half a cup of water. If you shred super fine, check often, add water as needed, stir occasionally, you know the drill. You want to keep it a stew like base. At this time I add a little extra mango butter, glycerine and safflower oil. Careful with the additives, they are going to take away from the bubble action of the end product so use sparingly. Now once it has completely melted(consistency should be around " thick gravy zone"). Let it heat thoroughly, now take you mixer and blend. You want to incorporate as much air into this as possible. I added a little cornstarch, glycerine & water mix to it and continue to whip. After about a two hour full process of adding, heating and waiting you can turn the heat off and let it set for a minimum of 8 hours. The mixture will be firm-ish again. Add a little water and start fluffing. You can add a little more oil to get the consistency you desire. This recipe doesn't give you the full on cloud type fluff I like but it is whipped and creamy and anyone would love the way it makes you feel. I read that a lot of cream soaps were very drying. I can tell you that this recipe with the butter blend goat's milk left my hands feeling amazing. So what it lacks in fluff, it makes up for in other areas. I proceeded to mix this with sugar and made an amazing all natural goat's milk sugar scrub, packaged and ready for the shop in less than 24 hours.

  Recipe 2 Courtesy of the advice of the amazing Sharon Soaper~

You grate down your rebatch, I used about 20 ounces of shredded rebatch and I added my water, a little more than last time with this recipe. I let it melt down, stirring as it melted. When it had turned to liquid , I added the Sodium Lactate, (I get mine from Bramble Berry, they have the best

batch pre- Sodium Lactate

price at the moment) I added a tbs per pound which could have been to much now that i think about it. The regular usage rate is 1tsp per pound of oils so I would try it as directed first to save yourself from wasting un-nececery product. The mix thins out after the SL is added, that's just temporary, don't worry. I proceeded to blend it until it thickened ( about 20 min.) It had risen just about to the top of the crock pot. I covered it and let it set up overnight. Checked on it 7-8 hours later and the top was perfect after a little whipping. The bottom was still a little runny so I pulled the top
layer off, mixed the bottom really good and let it set up the rest of the way. After a few hours I mixed it all back together and blended like a mad woman. Adding a little water here and there depending on the fluffy you are after. I have got to invest in a hands free mixer. Killing my arthritis:) but non the less, it was fluffy and gorgeous just what I was looking for in texture. The only thing is that it was a

little drying, That I have to fix. I think it could be I used too much SL or the fact that I added it solo without the extra helping of oil and butter. The first batch was skin pleasing all the way with the added oils and butter, lathered good too.  But I must say, I used batch number 2 as a shaving cream that same day and I had never used better. No razor burn and normally that always happens with my skin. Absolutely dreamy.
  Now a few of loose end thoughts and points that may cross your mind during this process. Don't over think it. This is a very forgiving process.

 little thin after adding SL

~If you add too much water, just cook it out by heating and stirring a little longer till the consistency gets slightly thicker. You don't want it runny but at the same time the water is necessary for the fluff so don't be stingy.
~If it turns out a little flat or not desirable looking that's okay too. You could add a little more soap to it. As long as it is a good soap you can always add some sugar and whip it that way so the fluff is not center stage. Additives are another way to make it special as well, I used ground oatmeal & jojoba beads in my last batch. I am not sure how clays will effect it but I am sure I will know soon;)

~ Color, I used titanium dioxide to counter react the tan cream of the goat's milk. The tsp I had on hand was not enough. It was enough to lighten it but didn't give it the white most people like. So add gradually till the color you want is achieved.
~Scent. Both batches held scent really well so don't go over board. It took a lot less than I would have put into an MP batch of whipped soap.
~Preservative? My thought was, I am adding all this water after the process has already been completed so surely I will need a preservative, right? I quizzed the Soap Queen on my preservative concern and she informed me that if using one, to make sure your formula is below 100 degrees when you mix it and there should be no problems adding it. Sharon Soaper says, that unless you actually have an issue, don't use it. Any unneeded ingredients can really jeopardize the lather and texture of the finished product I have left some uncovered and experimented with bacteria and none problems so far.

Whip after SL, then wait 8 hrs and whip again

~Experiment, we all have re-batch laying around normally. Play around with it. I read using aloe juice is a good sub for water and I am going to try pure coconut water in my next batch so check back with me for updates and revisions. I have only just begun with this new obsession.

 I am no expert, I am just a lady who loves making soap. I don't have vast knowledge but I learn whatever I can anyway I can. There will be updates as I find them out. Anything I learn through my trials that can shed light on this method I will share. I am shocked at the lack of info about this. I hope this helps you in the right direction. The people that do this from scratch I have to give much respect, I will achieve this myself one day but even when I began making soap, rebatch was my stepping stone.

*******UPDATE**********
I just wanted to let people know how this has held up over time.... Wonderfully. It has actually improved as far as consistency and the bubbles have increased dramatically. I have closed it up and checked on it monthly and used some to see any change. Almost seven months and I could not be more pleased.

Pumkin Souffle Goat Milk Body Butter....

Fall is officially here!! New to the shop's Fall/Winter season, Goat's Milk Body Butter with yummy Pumpkin Souffle fragrance. In a few words like, creamy, light, fluffy come to mind when I think about it but when I use it I think, luscious, rich, and..*heaven*. I have never been a fan of the heavy and greasy products that make your kids slide right out of your hands when you use it. It's even worse to use something like that during the already sticky Summer months, yuck. This butter absorbs in your skin within a few minutes to leave your skin so soft without a heavy greasy sheen. That I love! The best part is making it too. The process I use takes a good 12 hours to do it, most of it is waiting, patiently waiting for the right moment, temperature and the right texture. I use all natural ingredients to produce this lovely whip and most important is the local goat milk that goes into it. I adore using my local resources. Not all ways easy but well worth it in the end. I feel better making a product that I know all the steps those ingredients took to end up in my hands. I use an all natural secret preservative in my milk butters too. Maybe I will share one day but for now, I will remain stingy. I use the best oils, known for being light on the skin yet effective. I choose Argan and Jojoba as my main oils and grape seed as the chaser oil. Most of my products are made to order except for when I do craft shows. So my customers get a fresh scrub, butter, cleanser right off the bat. So there is not a long wait on a shelf or store room. My sizes are not so large that it will take a terribly long time to use either.
   With them being made fresh, my customers get to pick and choose just what they want and never have to settle for a second choice. With over 100 fragrance varieties, I am sure I can make something anyone could love. I can either go all natural with essential oil blends or if you want something different I have that too. The color is an lovely natural, creamy white. All around fabulous body frosting. Sample sizes available for $5 with no additional shipping charge. Check it out and many other fabulous skin loving goodies at 6th Scents Soy & Bath on Etsy. Happy Harvest time Everyone, thanks for stopping by.

Passion fruit & Pineapple "The Sea Salt Peacock"

It's getting cooler, leaves are scattered across my porch and the days are getting shorter. Fall is here and Winter is steadily making it's way to my door too. I anticipate this time of year just for the change it brings. Once I have felt the difference for a few weeks I am over it. The first time I have to walk my dog at 6a.m. and I feel like a Popsicle, I am way over it.

  Then I start the long yearning for Spring and Summer again. At least I have my fragrances, I can light a candle or take a bubble bath and the aroma's take me back. That's what this scent does for me, I instantly thing spring break, summer fun, fresh fruit all in one fruity burst of fragrance. I am in love once again, happens often in my line of work. Oh, the misery right? Another treason why I love what I do so much, It smells good. Even if I spill something and make a huge mess, It still smells good.

  Pineapple & Passion Fruit fragrance is a new oil from Wholesale Supplies Plus. I was reviewing some of there new scents to see how they performed during Cold Process soap making. I have tested three of there Pineapple fragrances so far, and Pear berry which is a dead ringer for BBW type all the way. There Pineapple scents are fabulous! The Pineapple & Mango and Passion Fruit & Pineapple are my favorite. They both have worked beautifully with my process. There is time to get in there and just let your creative side loose. And I did. I have been obsessed with sea salt this month, I guess it's another way to hold on to summer too. I was recently on a Blog based in France and was totally blown away by some of soaps that I saw. It's called BOS, Blogs Of Soap, you really need to check that out. I have oodles of ideas from amazing work on that blog. So I took an Idea with the cylinder bottles and turned it into a bright and funky soap loaf, topped off with various colored Sea salts on the top.
First off you need to cut the tops and bottoms off your smooth plastic bottles and insert either after you pour or before. I did it prior and had a little trouble with breaking the suction loose to get them out. Wait at least 12 hours before you remove the bottles. I started to decorate the top with sea salt I colored with oil locking mica powders, tweezers help. Patience too. I had no plan at first but it came together nicely.

 I let it set over night, after i removed the bottles just to give it ample time to firm up. I tend to make soap on the softer side so I need all the dry time I can get. The next morning I whipped up a one pound batch of coconut milk awesomeness to fill the holes in. I used the same micas I colored the salts with and a touch of white. Divided my batch up and poured small amounts into each hole in order until I reached the top.
   I had my extra molds ready for the excess I couldn't use and made some adorable colored sea salt hand soaps for bathroom. Just sprinkle in some on the bottom and put the soap in while it has a little body to it so it will set on top of the salts with out swallowing them completely.
  Then I was faced with the big
decision to cover the holes you see
in the picture above or leave them
showing.
 The bottom picture on the right was soon after pouring so you can actually see the outline of the holes a little. Where the ends frayed up from pulling the bottles out are not that appealing. You would want to push those down, level with the top prior to filling. I choose to push mine down with the sea salt and cover completely.

You can see on the bottom of the two on the right, when I was pulling my bottle out the suction was pulling the soap in. I am not sure how to stop that but I think using a cylinder that air can move through will fix it. Like actually cutting the top and bottom off before you use them. Now I am dying to see what it would be like without them covered up so I will be doing this again very soon. With a whole different color scheme of course. I only like to do the same thing twice if it's ordered. I love to create something new for my customers to see, it will keep them coming back just to see what you will have next. Not to mention the fact that it keeps it fun and new for myself too.
I let it set out covered for 24 hours, then I placed it in the freezer for another 24 hours. After all the waiting and anticipation I was finally ready to cut it. This is the moment I live for! That Christmas morning feeling for me every time, never gets old. And this is what it looked like. Totally made me think of a Peacock:) I hope this was helpful to someone. Take it and make it your own. If I missed something or you need any info just let me know.

natural beauty recipes

  Yes, every face is a work of the purest, most complex art ever achieved. In fact our entire body is absolutely fascinating. The way we take care of it is very important. We over look it's wonder because, well... it's our body, it's always there, old news. Most cases a person either doesn't keep up with it or they go over board. It doesn't require shelves of products or expensive salons. Your beauty regimen needs to revolve around one word. Simply. Simply clean, simply natural and most of all simply you.
 First of all be aware of what type of skin you have, know it's ticks and tocks and then spend the time and do a little research. The natural healing effects Essential oils and herbs have will blow your mind. If you just give it a shot, let me rephrase that, the right ingredients that is. Dry skin needs to stay away from Pink Grapefruit, Lemon and Eucalyptus oils and herbs such

Me + Beetroot+Love

 as nettle. Kaolin Clay is the only safe clay that you can use on your face that doesn't draw out the natural oils dry skin so desperately needs. Oily skin has it's own enemies, Medowfoam and Rosehip oil with just join in the oil producing and worsen your complexion. I could go on and on, I started this blog so I could, lol.
 I love helping people find the right ingredients for their skin type. When someone with problem skin finally have a product that works and you were the one who made it for them is a very rewarding feeling. I also know that in most cases, the simpler the better. I am going to share a few of my favorite recipes for dry skin to normal skin in this article. Most of them require ingredients you can get at an grocery store, I will do my best to keep it that way. Dry skin plagues me from time to time so I tend to focus more on that in my spare time, my apologies.

 Daily moisturizer

• 10 ounces Apricot Kernel Oil (grape seed or Olive will work too)
• 2 ounces of Cocoa Butter
• 2 ounces of Beeswax I prefer white

   Melt ingredients slowly with double boiler method. Excessive heat will burn out key nutrients so be ever so careful. Always add the beeswax first with the oils to help it melt faster. Beeswax takes much higher heat to melt than the other two ingredients. Add cocoa butter when the melted beeswax. Once melted, whisk slowly until fully blended. Pour into jars and refrigerate. You can lightly scent this with a couple drops of lavender oil if you would like. It would be an excellent addition right before bed. I find the cutest 4 ounce mason jars in the canning section of your local superstore. Wrap them up and give as gifts if you would like. This will have a shelf life of a year. Keep water out of the cream. No chemical preservatives used, and I like it that way.
 

Facial Scrub recipe

•  1 Tbs of Honey
• 2 Tbs Finely Ground Almonds
• 2 Tbs of Grape seed oil
• 1 Tbs of Brown sugar
• 1 Tbs of chopped oatmeal 

Mix all of these ingredients together and use as you would any other scrub. You can chop your oatmeal to your preference. I would recommend a little bigger than powder and the almonds should be ran through a processor of coffee grinder. Your face has delicate skin. Too coarse of a scrub can really damage your face. Brown sugar is better than regular sugar, but if regular is needed to be used, run it through a processor too. The finer the better. I sprinkle a little beetroot powder in mine for the antioxidizing properties, give a nice red color to the scrub. You can rinse immediately of let dry and rinse, pat dry. This will not keep without a preservative if you get water in the jar. Make small batches so you don't have to worry.


Simple Facial Toner (dry skin)

• Coconut water toner-

Use cotton ball or pad a smoother over face and neck. It tones your skin, treats dark spots and nourishes the skin too. It is great for all skin types, especially for normal and dry skin. I am a huge
fan of anything coconut. It's the super-fruit of the simple, natural skin and beauty care. During the summer months, I make a sugar scrub that is made out or nothing but coconut. I incorporate every part of the coconut and nothing else. Right down to ground down coconut shell and coconut sugar.

• Rose Water Facial Toner~

The video I posted below tells you how to make Rose Water. It's very easy to do and so beneficial to your skin. It balances skin’s sebum production and it is very refreshing, cooling and soothing. It can  revives tired skin. It's even gentle enough to suit most sensitive skin-types. Helps smooth & soften your skin while shrinking pore size and reduces redness. Can't beat that huh?


Vinegar Toner for dry skin~

The only other toner for dry skin is a vinegar method. I have never tried this because I despise the scent, they say it goes away but I don't even want to smell it for a second more than I have to for the occasional Lye burn. I know people swear by it for dry skin but I have also heard people talk about how it was to strong and burned their faces. Do not use if you have sensitive skin.  If you don't follow the instructions to a recipe 100% or are lacking ingredients always ask for a recommended substitute. You must get the un-filtered ACV, with the "mother".  Braggs is the name of the maker I believe. You can look up the many variations, but use with caution if your sensitive.


My go to Cold Cream recipe~

• 1  ounce Beeswax
• 7   Tbs light mineral oil
• 1.5  Tsp of Borax
• 2  Tbs Rose Water
• 2  Tbs Fresh Cucumber Juice

Juice your cucumber first and set aside. Melt your Beeswax in the mineral oil over double boiler, mix well. On another burner bring Rose Water to near boiling and then dissolve your Borax in it, stirring constantly until all Borax is dissolved, very important. Then pour the water mixture into wax and oil mixture and stir slowly. Once blended, beat vigorously until it cools. When it has cooled down you need to add your cucumber juice, and stir it in. Do not let your mixtures reach over 160 degrees while being heated, use a candy thermometer to make sure that doesn't happen.

Rose Water has many uses when it comes to skin care. It can also be used as a facial toner too. Rose Water is easy to make, here is a video to show you a few ways to make it at home.

I grew up using ponds cold cream, as well as my mother did. I always felt so grown up doing this regimen with my mom some nights. The cucumbers over the eyes, V05 Hot Oil treatment in our hair. I was so ready to be a woman so I could do those things every-night. Well those nights are few and far between now that I am an adult. We let the hustle and bustle carry us right past the good stuff in life. So slow down and slice a cucumber and wear it, and get your daughter to do it too. We have to teach them to relax just as much as teaching them how to work hard in life.

The soap meltdown

This soap was a melt and pour recipe. I love to cut tiny little square out of color coordinating mp soap and drop them in to create a lovely geometric look to my soaps. It's like Christmas morning to me when I am slicing one of these loaves. I will slice it and say "oh, Look at that one!" slice another and say "oh wow! this one is even better" till finally, I am done. I pick my favorites for photos of course. Any plain or not sticking pieces go into my bath collection and the rest are sold to my customers. The contrast is what makes this method appealing to me. I love to use it with a clear base, dyed with matte or sparkle black mica powder. The cubes just pop right out at you. Since I always use a butter base soap for my cubes, (glycerine alone is very drying in my opinion), I can never get the full effect of bright vivid colors that I aspire to see.

After the colors are chopped into cubes I put them in a larger bowl and mix the colors up as evenly as possible. I pour my melted base soap about 3/4 of the way up to my fill line. If you do not allow for the cubes, your soap will be an overflowing mess. I spritz the cubes really good with alcohol and pour them in. The timing is everything when it comes to most all soap techniques. If your pour it all in to fast they will settle on the bottom. That will look just fine, lovely in fact. If you are wanting the suspended look your going to have to wait it out a little longer.I keep stirring the soap to keep the top layer from forming. Then I add a layer then pause for short time then add some more. I also sprinkle a layer on top. Make sure you keep up with the alcohol spritzing, especially on the top layer of they will not attach to the soap properly. Now the Egyptian Amber soap. This scent is such a favorite this time of year. Out of all the amber scents I have found, Egyptian Amber has always brought me back. It goes over big with most of my warm, earthy customers too. I was going for the same effect with this layer. What I was attempting to pull off was a pyramid look going through the center of the soap. Oh, it was going to be gorgeous! But reality set in and I have two very small children who could care less about what my soaps end up looking like and I waited to long and the soaps barely sunk past the top layer. Devastated, I mashed and I pushed, and the cubes just sat there... still on top. I walked away and took a tiny break and it hit me. So I grab up my heat gun, filled up my bottle of alcohol and go at it. Careful not to burn my mold or myself of course. I would melt and spritz until the whole top layer looked marbleized. I was so pleased. At the very end I sprinkled a few more cubes to give it some depth. Wa~lah! beautiful soap. Of course torching everything that doesn't turn out is not the best advice in the world but in this case, the results were perfect. Make sure the colors contrast well too, if they are to similar they may just bleed into one.

There's a "New" cube in town...

Green Tea & Cucumber Cleansing Cubes, topped with Lemon peel & dried Blueberries. Oh! and a touch of sparkle.

Ever ordered those adorable sugar scrub cubes thinking " wow, what a neat idea, no mess, easy to use? that sounds great. Then you get them and they are so hard you can't even break it apart at all. I hated that. I looked forward to learning how to make these and most recipes I found were hard as rocks! So naturally, I made my own XD.

  My sugar cubes are not just sugar, it's a combo recipe that leaves it light and fluffy. I use butters to give it extra fluff and it is soap based (without drying out!) so you get a foaming scrub cube that is 100% useable. You feel so clean afterwards. You will love sugar cubes as you should have in the first place. I cut them all by hand so they are twice as large as your average mold cube so it will actually only take one to get the job done and done right. They come in a large 12 ounce container garnished with the best ingredients for skin cleansing and exfoliating you could ask for. So many combos and variations you will have a hard time picking a favorite. I can help you by telling you which herbs and exfoliants are right for your skin type so just send me a message and I can start building a recipe just for your skins needs. I am available most of the time for convo, you never have to wait long for a response at all. Ask all the questions you need to know you are getting exactly what you need and want.
  Hope your glad to know there are other options out there, so don't give up on the cubes yet. Check out my Etsy shop for all kinds of unique bath & body gifts for your skin. You will not be disappointed. I have something for everyone in the family too. Even baby and Daddy's. You can get these right now in Very Sexy for Him, Dragon's Blood, Cedarwood Vanilla, Shave & Haircut(my fav). I have tons of Tea Tree oil Variations for problem skin too. No additional charge for the naturals, same price no matter what oils we use. I have over 100 scent choices and combinations to choose from so go ahead, spoil yourself, you will be glad you did.

Paisley has never looked so good.

Shea & Avocado Paisley Soap

 Beautiful, the picture does not do them justice, I swear. When I spend hours making this soap and hand brushing every single detail in shimmering mica powder, deepening the shadows, highlighting the highlights. I almost think I know how an true artist feels for a fleeting second. It's a marvelous feeling. It gets even more intense when people react so positively to what you have done it becomes one of life's most intense moments that will never be forgotten. Well, I am not artist just a soap maker but I have my moments when the to paths cross and this was one of them.

 This is an avocado and Shea blend soap, detergent, paraben & SLS free. All the color is all natural mica powder. The oil blends are the best to use for what we do. The price doubles but the end result is more vivid and more depth than using a water mica. I achieved the beautiful purple color of the soap by using dried and crushed blueberries. Turned out a lovely shade of Lavender. The crushed blueberries are throughout the entire soap to give a gentle exfoliation. Crushed blueberries is the way to go to achieve a natural purple hue.
 I didn't want to even get this soap wet! but I did and it lathered beautifully. Didn't dry out my skin in the least. I only make one soap that doesn't contain butters of some kind. I love to use Shea, mango, Kokum, and Cocoa. Mango is my all time favorite butter to use in most of my formulations. So rich and creamy, excellent for bath and body. I use milk powders and fresh milk in 98% percent of my formulations as well. The benefits a way to great to just push a side. Coconut milk is my favorite, in my opinion it trumps goat's milk in every way. The texture is very creamy so you can't do a lot with the design before it sets typically. It never gets liquid thin to pour so you have to keep it simple but it's performance is all that matters. The color is lighter, it conditions and moisturizes, not to mention all the lather and clean it gives to a bar when combined with coconut oils. I am doing extensive testing on natural colorants this month with milk soaps. So be looking for the review in the coming weeks.

Cup 'o' Joe Soap

The latest coffee soap creation, definitely my favorite.

My coffee soap history, short and sweet smelling..

My experience with coffee soap has been a lot less difficult than I read it to be. I was really second guessing every recipe I came up with. I had coffee butter in my collection for nearly 5 months before I had the guts to give it a try. The first go round I did it with MP Detergent Free Shea butter base from WSP. I took whole beans and ground them up and did a 2.5 lb mold 3/4 way up with a mocha shimmer layer with the grounds mixed in. My lack of MP experience, I had no idea that most of them would float to the top. I added a layer of pale gold to the top. The fragrance blend I choose for my summer coffee loaf was Vanilla, Coconut and the coffee scent came only from the fresh ground coffee inside the soap. It was delish smelling, I highly recommend trying it. 
  As I said I added coffee grounds that had all floated to the top of my bottom layer. Well when I cut the soap it was lovely, smelled fabulous, clean lines. Even the contrast between the colors was perfect. What I did not realize at the time was that I had created a weak layer between my soap layers with the coffee grounds. It took a little while before they fell apart but they sure enough did. The layer of coffe grounds was about 3/4", way to much to be such a grainy substance.

My first coffee soap, you can see the week layer, lesson learned.

  A long time went by before I ever tried it again. My brother in law mentioned a coffee to me that he said was super rich and dark, Starbucks Sumatra. I decide if I was going to use coffee grounds and still maintain any natural coffee scent after the lye process. It would have to be intense to start with.
  I did a very small batch to start with so I was not wasting a lot of materials if it didn't pan out. I have a little 12 oz mold I use and if there is any left over I pour into whatever is around. (I use those as free samples for my customers too. when they are good that is.) So I used, Sumatra Dark blend, coffee butter, Cocoa butter and walnut shell powder as my specialty ingredients in this loaf. I did part water and part coconut milk for the lye solution. Coconut Milk soap is growing to be my all time preferred milk to use in my soaps. The benefits are amazing. The only fragrance is a touch of vanilla and the rest is only the coffee grounds I added at trace. I saved a little of the batch and added white mica to the unscented part of the batch I sat aside. I drizzled it slowly through the middle of the loaf and the chrysanthemum mold I used for the extra. I swirled it just enough to give the impression of creamer in coffee. Very simple and so suiting to the scent, that I have to say is still there and lovely as ever. I prepped my grounds prior to adding them at the end of trace too. All I did was put what I was going to use in a jelly jar and soaked it in Sweet Almond oil. Stirring frequently. I did that for an hour prior to using them.
  The grounds are throughout the loaf and give an excellent exfoliating properties along side the walnut shell. The white is still just as bright too. So now my fear of using fresh grounds with lye is over. Moderation is the key I believe. I used nearly 2 TBS for my one lb batch and that was on the high side from what the research said I had done prior. I get a lot of contradicting info on the web but all we can do is tell from our own experiences. There are so many factors to why a batch might head south. So if you try something and it ends up horribly, don't just give up, try and figure it out, ask questions and experiment. it's the only way to truly know for yourself.

Coconut Milk, Coffee Soap recipe (Sample batch)

Coconut oil 76      4oz
Avocado oil           2oz
Almond oil            2oz
Castor oil               2oz
Avocado Butter     1oz
Cocoa Butter         1oz
Coffee Butter       1.5oz

Water/coconut milk(frozen) 4.94
Lye                                         1.83

Always rerun any recipe you find to make sure it's adequate and safe. Hope you love it and make it your own. You can check out my Cup 'o' Joe soap on Etsy www.etsy.com/listing/163424753/cupojoe-soapcoffee-scrub-soapstarbucks

Palm Oil Replacements

I have always used Palm oil in almost every CP recipe I have ever created. Now the time has come for me to part with this troubling agricultural commodity. It's in so many products that we use daily it's almost staggering to think of how much of it is produced annually to satisfy our needs, lip stick, cooking oils and even bio-fuel.  At 38% of the worlds vegetable oil comes from oil palms. It far surpasses soybean oil production. What got my attention was an article I read not long ago about the deforestation and the fact that companies are taking the land by force to feed the ever growing demand for Palm Oil. People and animals are being forced from their homes for the land to grow this crop. Therefor, I want no part of this type of situation. Although I am one small consumer of the oil, I hope others join in and do our part to stop this demand from getting larger than what it already has.

I have been on the hunt recently to replace this vital oil in my oil collection for a few weeks now. I can not offer and encourage all natural products if my natural ingredients are wrecking so much havoc on our civilization. So this entry is to share what I have found to be suitable replacements for such a commonly used oil.

Tallow: the white nearly tasteless solid rendered fat of cattle and sheep used chiefly in soap, candles, and lubricants aka, animal fat. Not my cup of tea but it is an option. It is an affordable option and will produce a lovely, creamy bar of soap you are sure to love.
etsy.com/listing/69123568/2-lbs-beef-tallow-soap-candle-making

Spectrum Organic Shortening: This company makes a 100% palm oil shortening that is organic and sourced from sustainable farmers that do not have any impact on deforestation. It's in most Organic food Stores. I am totally digging this option. Cost is $7 for 1.5 lb
vitacost.com/spectrum-organic-shortening

Generic Shortenings: On the bottom shelves of the super market we all dread. Most Generics are made with hydrogenated Soybean. Always read the label and make sure.

The use of Sodium lactate(brambleberry.com) and upping your butter usage will do the trick as well. Make sure the lather is adequate in the Soap Calc. Almost any soap will get harder with time. If you are doing more detailed molds the harder your soap is the less damage it might endure getting it out. Just spend the time and play with the numbers, you will find a Palm free recipe that works for you and Malaysia.

Stuck in a rut? I always go to www.soapmakingforum.com

Easy Pumpkin Facial Mask

Pumpkin Facial Mask

• 2 teaspoons cooked or canned pumpkin

• 1/2 teaspoon of honey

• 1/4 teaspoon milk (or whipping cream, if your skin is very dry)

1. Combine ingredients and apply to a clean face with gentle circular motions, avoiding the area around your eyes.
2. Allow mask to remain on skin for 10 to 15 minutes, then rinse with warm water, pat dry, and apply your usual moisturizer.

Tips & subs: Always rinse with cool water last to close your pores. I would also suggest using yougurt (not flavored) for added benefits too. If going to use milk, try almond or buttermilk in place of whole milk. Add a little brown sugar to exfoliate your skin gently if needed.

As always, organic produce and ingredients are always the best to use.

Refrigerate the remainder and do not keep it longer than a week.

Enjoy!