An update

I have another event coming up on the 3rd of March. I seem to be getting quite a few invites, thanks to my Facebook page. It pays to be out there. People do sit up and notice. I enjoyed my last event and it is a very heady feeling to know my soaps, that I have become so passionate about, are going to be exhibited to people I don't even know. I enjoyed the questions that came my way. Loved explaining my soap-making process  to complete strangers and hopefully have developed some repeat customers. Whilst it is very easy to make that initial sale to people who come to your stall out of curiosity and pick up a bar or two, the true test would be when I start getting repeat orders. Can't wait for that day........

Here are some of the soaps that I have not shared with you guys as yet. I hope you enjoy them..

Lavender Mint Soap with soap ball embeds

Yogurt & Aloe Vera Soap scented with Vanilla (hence the colour)

Coffee Creme Soap scented with Mint & Clove

Layered Milk & Sandalwood soap. Poppy seeds added for exfoliation

Confetti Soap made out of shavings of previous batches

Red Clay & Shea Butter Soap scented with Strawberry

Papaya with Milk Cream & Shea Butter. Smells lovely

Green Tea Soap with honey

Another Beer soap, this time with Kaolin Clay

Swirl Soap with Lemongrass

Soap for Dogs. Flea & Tick repellent

Yogurt & Clay Soap with a mild floral smell

Geranium & Cedarwood sample bars

I agree with all the soapers out there who swear by clay soaps. I love them too. Though, they have not completely cured as yet, I enjoy using them for my hands in the kitchen. My hands feel so soft and smooth. I can't wait to use them in the bath. 

I hope you enjoy all the photographs I have posted here. I would love any comments that you guys may have.

Finally......I made 8%SF soap

Finally, I got down to it. After nearly a fortnight, I did make a small batch of soap, about a pound and a half. I have been wanting to try out soap with 8% superfat. The ones I made with 5% superfat have got great reviews, and friends and family love the way it leaves their skin moisturized. But, it still does not do away with the need to use lotion. I wanted to attempt a soap which would do away with the need to use lotion. Here, in Bangalore, the weather is extremely dry. So, here goes ...........

Base oils, superfatting oils and EOs

You can see my base oils, which are paprika-infused olive oil (hence the colour), rice bran oil, coconut oil, sunflower oil and castor oil. This is the first time I am working with sunflower oil. In the foreground, on the left are my superfatting oils and honey and on the right are the EO blend of lemon grass, citronella and tea tree. 

The oils and lye at light trace

I normally mix my oils and lye at a very low temperature because I don't want to panic  with the soap coming to trace very quickly. I added by EOs first and then my superfatting oils. Since I was using honey, which accelerates trace, and Evening Primrose oil for the first time, I did not want it to either seize or come to trace quickly. Thankfully, neither happened. It was smooth sailing.  

Ready to pour into the moulds

Once I added the EOs, it did get to trace pretty fast. But, that was fine.......... I decided to use individual moulds instead of a block since it was such a small lot.

Into the moulds...........

As you can see, I managed to get only 8 square cakes (3in square) and a small silicon mould.  I absolutely love the colour. It is such a rich orange. I wish my carrot and coconut milk soaps would have turned out this colour. But, carrot goes through a colour change after saponification and that lot of soap was more yellow than orange.

6 hrs later.....

After 6 hours, I was surprised to see that the soap had got to the gel stage despite being in individual moulds and having covered it loosely with a cardboard. If you look closely, you can see the gelled soap underneath the top layer in the mould in the centre first row. In fact, I think it had a minor volcanic eruption if I am to go by the stain on the cardboard. Honey was the culprit. And expected. I can't wait to see what it will look like tomorrow. It is currently very soft. I hope I did not superfat it too much. Tomorrow will tell.

Anyway, goodnight every body. Been a fruitful day today................

My soaps....

My current crop of soaps

These are the current batch of soaps which have cured and are on sale. Left to right in the top row are clove & eucalyptus, cirusy green tea and yummy beer & honey soap . The second row has my carrot & coconut milk, olive & coconut oil with poppy seeds and lemongrass soap. The last soap is peppermint soap. The lemongrass was my first attempt and the peppermint was the second batch........not bad, right?

In the first picture the two soaps in the foreground are rebatched soaps in which I added jojoba and sweet almond oils. My DH loves them, so I have not distributed any of those and have kept them just for him. Though, he is yet to try my olive & coconut oil soap with poppy seeds for exfoliation and the beer & honey soap. I bet he will love those too.

It has been more than two weeks since I made my last batch of soap. I seriously need to make a batch today. I hope I can, considering it's a Sunday and the gang is at home. If I do, I shall try posting photographs of the process................

The start of the soaper in me

I came across soap making quite by accident, the way homeschooling happened to me 12 years ago. In my constant search for knowledge (ahem), I came across homeschooling when DH and I were toying with the idea of shifting curricula for our 3 kids. The more I read about the concept of homeschooling, the more I fell in love with it. We were away in the Middle East at that time and homeschooling was a very good option when we would eventually return to our country, India. One of the biggest drawbacks of education here has been the fact that children need to learn the state language as a compulsory subject. So, every time you shift a state, the child has to learn the language. For all those netizens out there who have quirked up an eyebrow at this bit of information, let me explain. (sorry for the long diversion from soap making). India is a very diverse country and each state has its own language. Much like you have very different accents across America or across UK. Whilst English is the most widely spoken language by far, our national language is Hindi, though Hindi is generally spoken only in the north of India and sparingly in the east and west. 

Anyway, back to soap making. So, as I was saying, soap making happened to me one night while surfing and I absolutely fell in love with the creations I saw in the different blogs. I wanted to recreate similar soaps. My first hurdle, which I realized was the fact that in soap making everything worked as per weight and not volume. Since I do not own a scale, I was wondering if it would be worth an investment considering this was only an early excitement and could fast die down. Then I came across a video on YouTube where the lady was making soap using measures instead of weights. That was all I needed to try out soap. Of course, it did not come out too well, as the lady had warned. But, that initial experiment was enough to motivate me to make some more. And off I went in search of a scale......

My first batch of cp soap