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Soap making is a fun and exciting hobby, full of trial and tribulations! When you create soap you are creating art, each one is different, never the same. An addicting hobby.... once you get started all you think about is what kind of soap to make next. This blog is about my soaping experience please enjoy!



Friday, October 31, 2014

Happy Halloween

Why do we call it happy when it's filled with ghosts and goblins? Weird.  Tonight I handed out Halloween Favours small guest size licorice soap bars dressed up in pretty Halloween Lace tied  in a pretty bow.  Added a biz card with instructions to wash your sticky candy afterwards.  Into a ziplock bag tied in a bow so not to get mixed up with the children's edible candy.  Listed all the ingredients in case of allergies.  So much better then candy!! A great treat to hand out and free advertising! Take a look:  
If I were the parent on the receiving end I'd be excited to get one of these ! Be safe out there all and watch your driving, keep your eyes out for those little ones running around tonight! 
Thanks Bitstrips!  
Fun

Thursday, October 30, 2014

Pringles Can Swirl Bubblegum

I pinned a slow to trace recipe on Pinterest and by slow to trace it didn't want to harden up it sat in the can for two days so I stuck it in the freezer overnight.  Took it out this morning and took the chance of taking it out.  I'm pretty happy with the fact I got it out now it's got to unfreeze and that will tell the story.  Swirled with blue, yellow, purple, gel colourants, and pink neon mica.  Looks pretty cool!
Love the bottom piece it's the eye! Next time I'll use a different receipe tho. Took too long. 
 

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Snow Taffy

I was originally going to funnel pour this soap but as soon as the fragrance oil was added it seized.  In a rush I jammed packed it into the soap mold and worried about it all night.  It was a problem turn good! I thought I was going to have to rebatch it.  Not the case. With beet root powder it turned taffy colour and white td turned caramel "ish" perfect for the fragrance in it. The only thing was these bars were huge so I trimmed off the bottom and made guest/travel sized bars.  The wonky end fits the theme  big and bulky. Like a flowerette at the top.  The trimmings I squished into soap balls.  Love them. Olive, palm, shea, hemp, crisco n/palm, castor oil, distill water, sodium hydroxide. 

Pink Lavender Swirl

So pretty.  Lavender should be purple but client wanted pink.  These are all natural coconut milk. Shea butter, olive, coconut, palm. Lavender EO and buds.  White TD and neon pink colour mica

Saturday, October 25, 2014

A Blurb about Soap


When I first started making soap back in 2010,  I was afraid of it.  I researched and read books and researched and read and bought books until I said ok..... I'm ready.  Lye scared me at first not anymore, as long as you wear long sleeves, your rubber gloves and your goggles.  You know when you have some on you it burns, it's happened to me so I learned to dress like a soaper.   Keep vinegar by your side as it will alleviate the burning if you even get a spec on your skin you will know.  By spritzing vinegar on the spot it aliviates the burn. Keep pets, food, and  children away from your workspace. The last thing you want is lye spilling or bring mistaken for drinking water.  You know kids they see they take they play.  So try to make soap in your own space with no interruptions.  Pour your lye in a ventilated area.  It doesn't smell that bad but ventilated area is best.   I pour in the back porch right by an open window and I leave it there to cool down.  You could put in your kitchen sink with window open, it's a good place to cool off your lye. As for oils I started with the basics olive, crisco, coconut and still utilize those in my soaps today.  They make a good soap foundation.  Use a soap calculator to get your measurements for your recipes.  I use soap calc, I think it's the easiest one to follow.  You can add your recipe of oils add your additives in the notes and calculate it all out and save and print.  I keep all my recipes in a binder, so I don't have to calculate them each time.  Or guess.   I look over Pinterest, Soap Queen, Teach Soap, Soaping 101, many more on You tube and learn as I watch and find inspiration then I conjure up my own to mimic what I have learned.  There are so many beautiful soaps and I have tried to achieve those looks and I will say it's not easy.  I'm still trying to perfect my soap everytime I make it and it seems to me that everyone has a different style of soapmanship. It's what makes soap unique.  I love cold process soap, I'm not a fan of melt and pour.  I like the organic side not the ready made easy way out.  I'll do melt and pour but only for specific details and for customer requests   I am happy with my results and calling it "My a Signature Style".  Here are some of my "rustic creations" 
Egyptian Nites Skin Repair, best seller! 
Caramel  Apple Cider Breakfast Bar, copycat Lush porridge bar it doesn't look like theirs but it gave me inspiration to make these! Big and Rustic too! Love them.  You can go on the Lush Website and they list what's in their soap then you can try to mimic from there.  That's what I did here. 
Cleopatra Bars, part of my Eqyptian Series. Love these.  This is melt and pour embed and cold process combined, yes it can be done, experiment and try if they don't turn out you can always rebatch it.  As you can see these are all pretty Rustic looking....but I love them. They are mine.  I hope you enjoyed reading a bit of what I know.  Thanks for reading and Happy Soaping! 

Friday, October 24, 2014

Egyptian Nites Skin Repair

My most popular seller so far with my soaps.  Contains Activated Charcoal, which is known to draw toxins from skin. I have had reviews from my customers (See past blog posts) it seems to be helping with acne, psoriasis and rosacea acne as well.  My son uses it and his skin is clear.  All natural oils of olive, coconut, palm, shea butter, coconut milk make this a hard conditioning bar of soap.  The embeds are just for contrast they come from older soaps that I wanted to use and rebatch into something else.  The embeds are unscented. I sell these for $6.50 each
The ball is from the end pieces of the loaf it is pure soap no embeds.  I love the end pieces, I call them the Mother Bar, because they are always the rustic pieces and when the ends are small a ball of soap is Fun!

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Busy Night Scrubs and Oils

Sugar scrubs.  Candy Cane Fragrance, Sugar, Organic melt and pour, coconut oil, blue gel colourant.  
They look frosty.  Sweet and Pretty.  I got twenty (2 clam shell blister pks)
Olive oil and beet root powder, full of antioxidants, contains cancer fighting agents, natural soap colourant. This will make a nice organic soap. 
Olive oil and Grapeseed oil.  Infused.  It's been sitting for at least two months with rosemary, green tea leaves, chamomile leaves and flowers, pineapple weed, chocolate and lemon mint leaves.  All from my herb garden. (Except the green tea) the green tea is from Kelly's Nutrition health food store in Thunder Bay.  It smells sweet and earthy.  Can't wait to make soap out of it!  We won't  need to add anything else to this.  Organic at it's finest. Thanks for reading 
 

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Soap embeds

These are melt and pour scented with candy cane fragrance and clean my room green and pearl white gel colourants.  I found the wreath silicone mold from Winners today.  Great find.  These are small so I will be embedding them into my Christmas Bath Bombs and using them to embellish some Christmas CP soaps.  

Sunday, October 19, 2014

Bath Bombs

These are so fun to do I am adding them into my line of bath works easy and boy you can be creative with a bomb! The following are:  Snow Taffy, green, Bubblegum, pink, Pomegranate, red, Caramel Apple Cider, yellow.  Recipe baking soda, citric acid, cornstarch, sweet almond oil, gel colour your choice or food colouring, fragrance your choice, witch hazel. Bomb moulds , 

Saturday, October 18, 2014

Organic MP Loofah Scrubs

I found my supplier carries organic base melt and pour soap base as I want to be the closest to nature as I can.  I made these loofah soaps with it.  Think they  turned out fantastic!  Fragranced them with scents for men:  Allspice , Bay Rum and Tahiti Ginger.  Men need soap too.  Lab colours of aqua, clean my room green and the allspice just went yellow.  I like that.  These sell for $6.75
Little happy faces lmao love it!

Friday, October 17, 2014

Santa's Coal

My silicone moulds made these fabulous rock soaps.  One from Santa and one from Reindeer.  MP organic base, activated charcoal with pearl white lab colour for rock specs.  Great for a stocking stuffer.  Love how they turned out!

Making your own Silicone Moulds

I watch a lot of You Tube and found a clip of how to make your silicone moulds.  I had to try it out.  Bowl of water, 1/2 bottle of blue dawn dish soap, 2 cheap silicone tubes.  Squeeze into the water scrunch into ball shape and then take whatever object dip into the water and place into the silicone ball.  Place on wax paper let them harden up.  Easy! It worked! I used pumice stones and will use them to make soap rocks.  Cool!  This would be a fun project for kids.  
Love science. 

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Updates Updates

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! 
After this weekend of thanks and good food and being with family, it was back to a regular work day  in the soap kitchen.  
I finished sewing on the buttons for the Camoflauge cloths they are packaged and ready .  What a great man gift! Perfect for a stocking stuffer, birthday gift, or I love you gift! Camoflauge Bar scented with Star Anise essential oil.  It is the true Hunters Soap. Star Anise masks the human scent  it is known for fisherman too!  Yes fish can smell so this handy pack is a must for your outdoor guy.  
10$ cdn with the cloth or $6 cdn for just the bar. 
Breakfast Bar!  My version of Lush Porridge Bar.  All natural with grapeseed oil, avocado, hemp, coconut, soybean, pure vegetable oil, shea butter, molasses, pure caramel extract, caramel-apple cider fragrance oil and steel cut oats!  A body bar bubbly and conditioning and so yummy you'll want to eat it. $6.50 each cdn. Big 4.5 oz 
I've been getting box ready to go to Totally Polished U Nail Spa.  A nice collection of soaps for Cristiene.  Along with my wooden soap dishes, made with love from my father in law Ed Wilson.  Totally handmade here!  I love Totally Polished U Nail Spa the girls make you feel so welcome here and it's beautiful inside.  I went and got my eyebrows done there today and I feel so good.  Next week I will get my nails done :)) My basket of soaps sit by her front reception desk in a beautiful leather basket.  Love it!  
My big order has arrived for bath bombs, pumice stones, fragrance oils, neons, activated charcoal, colourants, it's like Christmas for me!  I really need a big shop I'm so running out of room.  Tonight I'm off visiting friends but also checking out new products of soy candles.  New product line coming up here at Nature's   Touch Organic Soap. Soap and Candles, lotions, fragrance matches Whoo-Eee! Can't wait.  That's it for today! I think it covers a whole work day don't you. 7am to 5:30 yup till tomorrow thanks for reading.  Please leave me a comment I'd love to hear from anyone who reads my blog.  I'm very excited to see my business growing. 

Friday, October 10, 2014

Molasses Apple Cider Caramel Steel Cut oats

They smell so yummy! 
My newest creation Molasses Caramel Apple Cider and Steel Cut Oats. All natural nourishing bars.  https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=650134451772247&substory_index=0&id=560845630701130

Monday, October 6, 2014

Halloween Soaps

So pretty and so festive and most of all yummy for your skin!
Pumpkin Patch  luxurious and silky.  Hemp, olive, avocado, coconut, palm, shea, pumpkin purée, pumpkin spice, pumpkin patch fragrance.  All wrapped up in pretty Halloween Tulle I sell for $6.50 each and Dollorama has the best crafts and ribbons for this project.

Sunday, October 5, 2014

Bay Rum and Allspice Shaving Mug

With bentonite clay for a good razor slip, value village mugs " luv" cheap.  French green clay for antiseptic properties and allspice spice for scent.  Allspice active constituents are anti-inflammatory, rubefacient (warming and soothing) and anti-flatulent.  A good mix I say for that delicate man face.  They smell wonderful! 

Egyptian Series

Cleopatra Bar.  I love naming my soaps.  This is number 2 of my Egyptian Series. With pink salt from the Andes these bars are skin rejuvenating and detoxifying.  Pink salt draws toxins from your skin, it's absorbent and rejuvenates skin cells to slow down the aging process.  Embedded with a strawberry blue jewel in the centre, this bar is enchanting. All of my soaps are rustic I love the look of them.  Full of natural ingredients like olive oil, shea butter, coconut oil, palm.  They are luxurious to say the least.  I sell for. 7$ thanks for reading.   

Thursday, October 2, 2014

Customer review

"My daughter bought a black bar from you and I have been using it for 3 days. My Rosacea acne is almost clear. Amazing!"  The Egyptian Nite Skin Repair is working it's magic!  

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

A trip across the border

Used book :))) just sittin there !!

My sister came to visit from Alberta and we took a trip south of the border to Grand Marais Minnesota.  It was a soap shopping adventure.  I love thrift shopping and hit all the antique stores there.  Thrift Store was the best place.  of the trip.  Volunteer women come and run the shop and all profits go to Cook County.  Right back to the community.  I found some clothes too but that has nothing to do with soap.  Here are my best finds.  
Ball of rainbow ribbon, perfect to wrap soap with pretty bow. 
Silicone soap mould for Valentines Day.  
Another silicone mould for embeds and embellishments. 
A pretty basket for displaying my soap.  Cost of everything $13 US