Sunday, September 03, 2006

Ok, tonight I did actually get to make soap. The Monday holiday is wonderful thing! This is a double batch of a soap that I call Woods. It is scented with rosewood, Peru balsam, sandalwood, spruce, cypress, juniper berry, sweet birch, atlas cedar, Virginia cedar, fir needle, and oak moss absolute essential oils.

The first time I made it was after hike. I was thinking about how wonderful the forest smells and then I tried to make a soap that reminded me of it. Though I had originally made this batch for myself, word got out among my friends and it disappeared slowly. I squirelled away the last bar for myself (though I did cut half of it for Leslie) and since people have been requesting it and I only have half a bar...this was Woods night. Here's photo of the soap in the mold. This will be about 24 bars and there are about 5 more smaller round bars. It will be ready to use in 4-6 weeks.

To answer Johanna's question, there are plenty of scents I have made in the past and I have quite a few on hand. I also take requests or suggestions if you have ideas.

I'm going to try to list what I have over this week.

At the moment, I have have few bars left of the following:

Orange Ginger - Sweet orange and ginger essential oils, ground fresh ginger, and paprika. The paprika worked to create an orange stripe.

Summer's End - Shea butter for extra moisturizing, pureed watermelon and strawberries and the following essential oils: palmarosa, lavandin, rosewood, lemon grass, ylang ylang.

Tea Tree Rosemary (not vegan) - beeswax, tea trea and rosemary essential oils, dried nettle leaf. This works great to get rid of the itch from bug bites.

Blizzard Ylime Ylime - Shea butter and aloe vera oil for moisturizing, ylang ylang and lime essential oils, and alkanet root. The alkanet root created a beautiful blue swirl which is ironic as I made this soap during a 2+ foot blizzard we had this winter.

Lavender Rosemary - Spike lavender, lavandin, and rosemary essential oil and ground black walnut shells. The walnut shells created a beautiful dark purple swirl.

More to be listed soon...

Saturday, September 02, 2006

Ok, I've had a few more people asking about soap...so I decided to get on the ball and post a bit more here.

Wrapping soap is my least favorite part of soap making. I personally feel the wrapping is wasteful, but some people love it. I wrap with handmade papers and print my labels at home. Here is a picture of what the wrapped bars look like.

If you order soap from me and don't want wrapping please let me know. It is more sustainable to skip the wrapper!

In this photo are 3 different kinds that I have made in the past. If you happen to be interested in these bars, I have a few of each left. I'll post what they are scented with below and can provide you with a full ingredient list if interested. Beware! The chocolate mint is not vegan...it does have some milk in it. I made that flavor when I was vegetarian.

Sunflower Calendula - Clary sage and marjoram essential oils, calendula extract, calendula petals and turmeric for coloring.

Blueberry Lemon - Extra shea butter for moisturizing, pureed blueberries, and lemon essential oil.

Chocolate Mint - Cocoa butter, white chocolate, dark chocolate, peppermint essential oil, and cocoa powder.

I'll try to post other flavors a few times this week.