10th ave. soapworks

I know that any color added to soap can morph into a surprise, but there is an added element of unknown when using botanicals to color my soap.  Some people jump out of planes or ski off mountains, but this is how I live on the edge these days.  Hmm.  If I weren't having so much fun, I'd be embarrassed. I recently had my first go with madder.  So....whatsa madder?  It's a root--the root of the madder. Ahem. (I love puns...) I infused 8 oz. of olive oil with 2 t. madder root powder for almost a week.  This amount worked out to be 20% of the oils in my batch. I wanted something in the way of embeds to add visual interest.   I dearly love my soap balls but I don't want to over do a good thing.  I've recently done square-shaped embeds, so this time I cut a bar of white soap into slices. I panicked a little that it wouldn't get dark enough--it was kind of a dusty peach--so I added 1/4 t. dried powder right before pouring. Madder powd...

I've always been the type that wants to do everything from scratch.  No mixes, no kits,no shortcuts. So I have always resisted melt and pour soaps.  I've seen some absolute works of art done with MP soap that can't be done with the cold process method, yet I've still held out and claimed that it wasn't for me. Some time ago, I was contemplating a soap project that involved recreating desserts in soap and I just couldn't think of a way to get the effect I needed with using melt and pour.  (I still need to do that project, but it's pretty low on the must-soap list these days.)  So I added a one pound block of MP to a soap supply order and tucked it away in a cupboard for nearly a year. I had been thinking of making little CP bells for this batch of soap, but stalled, thinking of all the work of making multiple batches, since I only had one mold.  And then one day I remembered the block of soap hidden away.   As an aside, a high quality melt and pou...

This Great Cakes challenge started off, well, challenging for me.  I had internet problems (a lack of it) and something went rather tragic in my attempt to cobble together a recipe without access to my online lye calculator crutch or a good saponification chart.  Obviously, I need to work on this skill, since my first batch of soap is still not firm enough to cut.  I've seen firmer marshmallow cream.  I'm estimating that I'll be able to cut it in a week or two or maybe three. The top came out pretty, though, didn't it? Sigh.  I wonder what the inside looks like. On to batch number 2.  I went for a winter/snowy theme this time, scented with BB's Fresh Snow fragrance. I made a small 6-bar batch.  I kept noticing that my divider (a dollar store cutting mat) didn't stay in the center but kept migrating toward the edge with every pour.  I was concerned that it would ruin the design, but it held well enough. I know this challenge was all abo...

I'm completely out of my herbal balms and I miss them!  Right now I'm infusing oils for more batches.  Arnica is the most recent herbal infusion I have brewing.  I know it's fabulously good for bruises and such, but the dried herb is rather expensive so I've never tried it before.  But recently I was wandering around my local Mexican grocery store to get one of the staples of life, corn tortillas (the real ones), and a little bag of dried arnica caught my eye.  I had never noticed the shop carried it before, probably because I'm so focused on my beloved tortillas, but it got me pretty excited.  (Really, I ask you, who else goes to a Mexican market and comes out with bath and body ingredients?) I am using the slow method of infusion, letting time and sunlight do its thing on the arnica.  I've heated infusions up on occasion, but it often leads to deep-fried calendula petals...

So what have I been up to lately?  Besides ignoring my blog, that is?  Ahem, about that....I can tend to throw all my attention to one or a few things to the neglect of everything else.  But in this case, my primary focus has been madly soaping and oh, have I been busy!  (Taking pictures as I go obviously has not been a focus!) Here are just a couple of the batches that I did get around to taking pictures of, however....  I'm a literalist when it comes to coloring soaps, but I've been making a conscious effort to avoid some of the expected colors for a change.  So for the first time, I made a batch of Energy (Bramble Berry's citrus blend) that wasn't in citrus-y colors like yellow, green, orange, and pink.  I am in love with this mustard/lavender combo!  The lavender as the main color didn't come out as strongly as I'd hoped and turned gray in this batch of Black Raspberry-Vanilla.  But I'm ...

I finally bought some colors--pop micas--so that now I can begin adding some color to my soaps. This was my first attempt and I'm pleased with how they turned out. I'm excited to try this batch out in a few weeks after it cures. I've been working on making my soaps even more moisturizing. To this batch, I added cocoa butter as well as my favorite ingredient--goat milk. I also added a touch of silk, which should add a nice feel to it, too.