Update on Thyme soap

As promised, here is the soap less than 12 hours later. It is quite a neutral colour, the way I wanted it. The sad part is that it has lost the lovely green of the Thyme as well. But, it did get through the gel stage as is visible in the second pic. I love the speckled look. Cannot wait the 6 weeks for it to cure. 

For all those who are new to the process of soap-making, this is a cold-processed soap (CP). There is no cooking involved like in hot-process. Hence it needs at least 4-6 weeks to cure, by which time, the lye would have completely reacted with the oils, allowing the saponification to complete. Also, it will allow the excess water to evaporate, thereby leaving behind a hard, mild soap. 

Love the speckled look

Will post more pics after unmoulding...........

Another batch of soap

I promised to share my clay soaps with you today. But, I just whipped up a new batch of soap and want to share that first. A month ago, I had infused some olive oil with thyme and have been wanting to use it in soap. Thyme is said to have antibiotic and anti-bacterial properties. In fact, it is believed that Thymol, which is extracted from the oil of Thyme, was used as an antibiotic before Penicillin was invented. The Egyptians discovered that it helped in preserving mummies. 

Lotion Bar

Two days ago, I had attempted my second lotion bar and used a bit of  the thyme infused olive oil. I was surprised at how nice it smelt and decided to use it in soap.  It had developed a nice green colour. Though I filtered the oil, I left a little bit of the thyme as a mild exfoliant. It would also give the soap a nice speckled look. I decided to stick to a woody smell and scented it with Juniper Berry, Cedarwood, Ylang Ylang and some Vanilla. It smells very nice. Will need to see how it turns out once it has cured. 

At light trace. 

Kept the oils simple. Apart from the olive oil and coconut oil, I added palm oil (i know, i know...palm oil again) and Rice Bran oil. The reason for these oils was to try and keep the bar as white as possible, except for the thyme. I hope I have achieved it. Tomorrow will tell. I have superfatted it at 7% and hope it will be mild. I wanted to add a couple of teaspoons of Castor oil. But, as I was clicking the photographs, it came to thick trace pretty quick and so I had to pour it into the mould. It is also my first attempt at a water discount.

In the mould

Decided to leave the top simple instead of the usual swirls. Have covered it with towels and hope it reaches gel stage. I know a lot of soap makers do not like their soaps going through the gel stage in order to maintain the opacity, but I like my soaps going through the gel stage because they add a nice translucent look to the soap. I shall post photographs of the soap tomorrow after I have unmoulded it.

The smell of first rain......

Despite complaining about palm oil earlier, I decided to try it out again in this soap since I was superfatting it at 8%. Maybe it would not be as drying as I thought it to be. I must say the smell is absolutely divine. The combination of the Vetiver, Cedarwood and Petitgrain EOs gives it the smell of earth drenched with the first showers of monsoon. 

Vetiver, cedarwood & Petitgrain

This is the first batch that I have attempted without Olive oil. I like using Olive oil in my soap because of all its wonderful qualities. I have used Sunflower oil, Rice Bran oil, castor oil and of course, coconut oil. I substituted Olive oil with Rice Bran since it is very similar to olive oil in terms of its composition and also in what it contributes to soap. This was also my first attempt at doing the in-the-pot swirl. I must say, I am pretty happy with the results. The moisture that is visible on the soaps is due to the fact that we did have a bout of very heavy rains right after I made this batch. But they are all nice and dry now. Waiting to use it. Tomorrow I shall post about my two batches of soap using the clay that I ordered...........

Back home..

I must apologize for this long break from blogging. I had the most wonderful holiday in Mumbai and Pune. DDs were going to Pune for the NH7 music fest and we decided to go along. 

Gateway of India, Mumbai

Taj Hotel, Mumbai

Unfortunately, this put my soap making on hold and have had to quickly whip up some batches since I was quickly running out of the ones I have. I took my soaps as gifts for my friends and have got really good reviews from them. In fact, I have returned with some  Christmas orders. I finally recieved my supply of Shea & Cocoa butter and also my French red & green clay and that is what I used in my new batches of soaps.

Morning after

16.10.2012 - Update on my 8% SF soap
I turned the soaps out of the moulds this morning. They are still soft. But, firm. In fact, they have a jello kind of feel to them. Wonder if it is the 8% superfat or the other superfatting oils. Will wait and see. Hope they firm up and cure. I really do like the colour and the smell is divine...

Citronella & Eucalyptus soaps curing

The smaller soap did not gel

I am not a big fan of silicon moulds for my soaps. I have noticed that silicon tends to keep the heat in for far too long and hence the soaps in these moulds do not harden at the same pace as the ones I put into plastic. Has anyone else had this problem? Please share your experiences with me. The only thing that makes me go back to them are the wonderful shapes and sizes they come in. As you can see, the smaller cake on the left was in a silicon mould. It is still too soft to the touch.

Update on Salt Bars

As promised here are my salt bars when I turned them out of their moulds this morning. The spearmint smell makes me want to dig my teeth into them. Very refreshing smell. I should probably try it in one of my sugar scrubs. I have been wanting to make a chocolate sugar scrub. A mint chocolate sugar scrub would be nice. Will share if I do...

 Salt bars made with 70% salt

Having made at least a dozen batches of soap, I realise that I do not like working with palm oil or shortening. While soaps made with palm are hard and white, I do not think they are very moisturising. Maybe I should try using them at 20% of the total oil weight. I have tried 30% in my Carrot and Coconut Milk soap, and though it turned out very nice, I thought it could do with more conditioning. I do not feel the same when I make soaps without palm oil. 

Another batch of laundry soap

Liquid laundry soap

I made a fresh batch of my laundry soap today. I seem to be running out of it pretty fast since I now use it for dishwashing as well. It is made with my non-SF soap that I had made a little while ago.

Non SF soap for laundry and dishwashing

 The proportions I have used today are a cup and a half of grated soap, a cup of washing soda and 7 ltrs of distilled water. I have scented it with tea tree and lemongrass EOs.