harvest time

bought the colorful mt masking tape from oaska last time, but didn't have any chance to use them.
and now they become the signature of my soap !!!
just wrote the major ingredient or scent + expiry date on each.
simple and clear, i like that.

rose lipbalm

the ingredients are generous gift from ms allen !
it's very fun in making lipbalm;
coz' unlike handmade soap, i don't have to wait for a month to test & feel it.
i can know immediately whether the scent of essential oil is enough or not.

there are still a big bag of plastic tubes and beeswax left,
i can try to make some with lavender, lemon ......next time !

about the packing, hubby eric taught me to use illustrator....
not too difficult, but not too easy tho'......hehe.....
however, the paper type is too thick, i want to get some matted transparent label for decoration...anyone know where can i buy some?

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making 3 tubes:
jojoba oil 8g
beeswax 3-4g
shea butter 2g
vitamin e oil 1 drop

melt them all in waterbath,
then + 7 drops of otto rose essential oil.

rosy rosie rose pink

i wanna to make pink soap !
the last 2 batches totally upset me in terms of color......

made rose tea water this time, putting a large amount of grounded rose hip in hot water, then chilled in the fridge before adding to the NaOH. the burgundy water was very attractive tho'.

after traced, the color was quite yuckie..... yellowish brown .... like poo poo.....haha....
i add the red clay in it anway.... hope the color will turn much much much much lighter ......<----- after 1 week, the color is still brown, sigh.....

across maggie's blog, they suggested to add rose essential oil in the oils mixture first, then the NaOH water... some said the oil particles surrounding the essential oil, which make the fragrance stay longer in the soap.... so i try this time.... ^^

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batch size: 600g

extra virgin olive oil 360g 60%
castor oil 60g 10%
palm oil 67g 10%
coconut oil 60g 10%
shea butter 53g 10%

water : 233ml
NaOH : 79g (-5%)
INS: 127

additives:
red reef clay a little <--- probably adding too much
otto rose essential oil 5ml (add before NaOH).... please stay longer
grounded coffee a little <-- making the interlayer


date: 20 Sept 2009

pine soap

i should always remember this: "to expect the unexpected" .......
it was a real exciting moment, when i saw it !
the color of the soap turned out to a pretty one !!!! <--- but 1 week later, it turns to brown again.....sigh......

see what i wrote on 180909 :
"oh my....
i planned to make green soap.....
but the color turns out so ugly....... i almost throat up.....
i now announce matcha powder is not working in making green soap... so better save them for drinking only....."

after 2 days, i was like a little girl waiting to get the exam result,
never say never..... the color turns out to be very matcha (love it love it love it).
and the top layer turns from light brownish yellow to white !!!!
phew..... i think i will get the green clay next time.. want a lighter green tho'.

but it was a little bit difficult to unmold it, maybe due to adding the jojoba oil as superfattening.... still very sticky after 2 days, so i put it in the 4C fridge for an hour or so.
the fragrance of pine is so nice.... hope it will stay longer.

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batch size: 600g

camellia oil 360g 60%
castor oil 60g 10%
palm oil 60g 10%
coconut oil 60g 10%
shea butter 60g 10%

water : 233ml
NaOH : 84g
INS: 121

additives:
jojoba oil 25ml
pine essential oil 7ml
matcha powder 1.5 tablespoon


date: 18 Sept 2009

Lavender soap

autumn is coming, want to have a gentle & moisturizing soap, so sweet almond oil is the main ingredient for this soap;
while castor and camillia oil can give a good foaming effect for cleaning.

i have some tea tree leaves grounded powder from Linda's shop,
tea tree leaves (oil) has a very good antiseptic/antibacterial function, putting the powder in the soap gives the peeling effect as well.

thinking of tea tree, i want the soap a bit more naturally green.....
so i added some matcha powder in it as well....
but the color is a bit darker than i expected though.... very disappointed....

hope it will turn lighter in color when getting more mature.
maybe it's because of the very concentrated lavender water:
i added 2 big handful of dried lavender in 210ml hot water, let it cool down to room temperature and then put in the fridge; the drained flower water is brownish......



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batch size: 600g

sweet almond oil 260g 43%
camellia oil 100g 17%
castor oil 60g 10%
palm oil 60g 10%
coconut oil 60g 10%
shea butter 60g 10%

2 handful of dry lavender buds

water : 210ml
NaOH : 84g
INS: 121

additives:
sweet almond oil 10ml
lavender essential oil 10ml
tea tree powder 5g
matcha powder 1.5 tablespoon


date: 12 Sept 2009

i love packaging

wrap & wrap

make many many small tags

i like packaging more than anything else.

the leaves stamp was bought from petite morpho in my last visit,
pretty pretty!

the weather is no good these few days, very humid.......
& i found the soap is sticky on it's surface.
so i wrap them up immediately, & put them in a dry cabinet.

little basket

bought this little basket from jusco $10 shop,
looks good with the soap.

sweet romance

想做一批帶松樹香味的皂, 上次在兆成行買了松のessential oil, 愛死它的味道, 因為嗅着也有潔淨感, so refreshing !

本來"松"應該配合綠色才對, 但我只有red clay (而且是還剩下很多?!).......

又來玩分兩層色, 深一點的紅加淺紅.

跟據上次的經驗, 顏色會隨着熟成的時間而略為變淡一點.

所以, 這次下面那層加多了許多red clay.

上層會變baby pink 就好了.

皂上面加了點上次剩下來米色的皂碎, 有點像 nuts !

因為加入castor oil, trace 的速度頗快. 好在眼明手快入摸.

batch size: 600g

ingredients :

olive oil 50%

castor oil 15%

coconut oil 15%

jojoba oil 10%

palm oil 10%

water: 189ml
NaOH: 81.5g
INS: 123

additives:

red reef clay

pine essential oil 5ml

harvest + packaging

the 1st+2nd batches of handmade soap are now ready to use, wrapped them up this afternoon.

so, i can have more space to put another batch.

eric is complaining our home turns to soap factory >.<

brownies

look at it, very pretty brown color this time !

i used the 1 liter soya milk box as the soap mold, recycle !!!!
i am so environmental friendly, ha ha!
added 3 big table spoon of godiva chocolate powder which is going to expire soon, & 1 spoonful of grounded coffee (gift from Jac) which is good for peeling !
making a relatively expensive soap this time.



first time to make 渲染皂 which means drawing curly pattern over the top,
i think it's pretty successful lae :P

the based of the soap is again 馬賽皂 containing 72% olive oil + 10% palm oil +18% coconut oil.
intentionally added a little bit of sweet almond oil as superfattening.

can't wait to use it immediately, but have to wait for 4-6 weeks of maturation.

it's an exciting moment to unmold the soap.
this time i put the soap mixture in the baking oven to keep it warm (warming is an important step). i intentionally heated up the oven twice during the first 24 hours, as the temperature over here is low during winter time.

after 24 hrs of incubation, the soap is still soft.
& i unmolded it after 48 hrs; still soft, but could be cut, at least.

when i am experimenting different step each time,
the result is sooooooo unexpectated.
maybe that's the reason i like my job.

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batch size: 600g

olive oil 500ml 72%
coconut oil 120ml 18%
palm oil 70ml 10%

water: 250ml
NaOH: 83g

additives:
sweet almond oil 5ml

take out 2/3 to mix with godiva chocolate powder + 1 tablespoon of grounded coffee