ashlee soaper

2 batches

2010-08-07T22:14:00.007+08:00

finally finally, after 1 whole year, i restart the engine, back to soap making !
there're always full of surprises, thanks very much dapan for answering my questionsssssss on alkanet root infused evo.
i finally got some pretty purple soap ! (photo later)

and this's my first time to work on milk, which i used to stay away from it because i believe it belongs to the advance level ......
but after this time, i think i just love working with it for many reasons !!!
no. 1 : there is less odor when adding NaOH,
no.2 : the temperature is controlled under 30C, so seems less scary compared to using water only (temperature always jump to 90C)
no.3 : less time to wait for temp dropping!

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here are my recipe :

batch size: 300g
alkanet root infused evo (2 weeks) 64% 192g
sweet almond oil 13% 39g
coco butter 15% 45g
coconut oil 8% 24g

frozen milk : 97g
NaOH : 41.7g
INS: 126

additives:
lavender essential oil (30drops)

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batch size: 500g

apricot kernel oil 17.6% 88g
castor oil 23.6% 118g
palm oil 20% 100g
coconut oil 20% 100g
shea butter 18.8% 94g

frozen milk : 167g
NaOH : 71g
INS: 143

additives:
blue clay

date: 7 Aug 2010
comment: trace really really fast ! why ? too less water ???
some ppl said when u use milk, you have to add a bit more water as fat in milk.....hum...

harvest time

2009-10-11T20:44:00.004+08:00

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

2009-10-01T17:05:00.003+08:00

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

2009-09-20T15:23:00.008+08:00

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

2009-09-18T21:23:00.008+08:00

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

2009-09-12T11:17:00.005+08:00

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

2009-02-18T14:48:00.001+08:00

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

2009-02-16T14:52:00.000+08:00

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

sweet romance

2009-02-09T14:54:00.000+08:00

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

2009-01-11T15:00:00.000+08:00

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

2009-01-05T15:01:00.001+08:00

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

bakery factory

2008-12-20T15:09:00.001+08:00

it seems that it's more fun to me to decorate the soap than anything else.

the base of the soap this time are:

avocado oil, sweet almond oil,

olive oil, coconut oil,

palm oil and shea butter.

a very gentle recipe for the skin. but the texture is comparatively soft, and need to wait for 2 days to unmold.

i used the paper tart molds which gives the lovely shape of my soap :P

and it's so much fun to play with the icing topping.

they are like the 花占餅 (a kind of biscuit that we have when we are kids.)

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batch size: 300g

avocado oil 90g 30%
sweet almond oil 60g 20%
olive oil 60g 20%
coconut oil 30g 10%

palm oil 30g 10%
shea butter 30g 10%

water: 97ml + 8ml apple vinegar + 90 ml fresh ginger juice
NaOH : 42g

sorbet

2008-12-15T15:21:00.001+08:00

st time to make the 2-layer one
i named this series "sorbet"; love the color combination.
(actually they are same as these).
the 2 color layers were made in 2 separate nights.

but i failed to cut them in perfect rectangular shape.....v. ugly @_@
& about half of them just broke when i cut them....
so, i now have many small soap bars in ivory/ pink single color !!!!...sigh....
i must experiment again to find the right time/condition to cut them.

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batch size: 300g
olive oil 72% 229g 250ml
palm oil 10% 32g 35ml
coconut oil 18% 56g 60ml

water: 107ml
NaOH: 46g

additives:
avocado oil 10ml 5%
rose fragrance 5ml
red reef clay

homemade dessert...not.... homemade soap

2008-12-09T15:27:00.000+08:00

dun dun dun dunnnnnnnn~~~~~~
unmolded last night, and added some icing on them !!!
i really love these 2 ! they look delicious !

want to buy more cake molds and make some yummy dessert soaps :P

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(icing) batch size: 200g

olive oil 153g 72%
palm oil 21g 10%
coconut oil 37g 18%

water: 71g
NaOH: 30g

savon de marseilles

2008-12-07T15:34:00.001+08:00

bought this v. good reference book last saturday.
it explains the most basic soap: marseilles soap (馬賽香皂) which composes of 72% of oliver oil; and it's variations....

have studied v. hard on it (almost 3 hrs !!!), and recorded down the details & formulation of my first batch.
i was sooooo worry that the formula was calculated wrong...
so checked and checked again... @_@

the color of savon of marseilles should be cream in color,
i added a little bit of red reef clay in it, so as to make it looks pink.
i further added about 30 drops of rose fragrance oil in it...hope the smell of rose is enough.

now wait for 2 days to unmold it..... nervous !
more pics later :P

soap making 101

2008-12-04T15:37:00.000+08:00

brought them home the other night.
still soft, so i stamped on them !!!
the brown color was due to addition of rosehip powder, pretty!

have to wait for 1 month for full maturation;
otherwise they will be too alkaline to use.
wait wait wait...

i will homemade another batch this weekend,
all the equipments + material are ready !
getting excited !

i am using the gift "ginger soap" from Linda now.
i must tell all of you that it's really different from the commercial liquid detergent,
no more itchy skin, and the foam are very creamy.
loving it, loving it !

new project

2008-11-30T15:40:00.000+08:00

attended a soap-making class on saturday night at prince edward,
this ginger soap is a gift from teacher linda & her brother-in-law.

i learned not only the chemistry of NaOH+H2O+oil=soap (hey the F.4 chem !), but also the calculation of INS, SAP values, which are v. important in soap making.

my "products" are now setting for 24hrs to become solidified,
& then 4-6 more weeks to maturation,
hope they can be ready as X'mas gifts !

handmade soaps are good for those who have itchy skin after using the shower gel,
it also good for the environment as they will be decomposed by CO2 in 24 hrs.
with the additions of different oil, essential oil or herbal powder,
the value & function of the handmade soup is added ! :P