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!