Back to Nature

The last few days I've not felt well at all. Today, I've decided to just drink juiced fruits and vegetables. It seems that when I'm not feeling my best it's then, instead of before that I get serious about chucking overly processed foods and get back to wholesome ones. I'm really loving the carrot and apple juice I am sipping! I don't want to throw away the dry pulp that was strained out, so I'm thinking about some healthy baked gluten-free crackers, biscuits, or muffins...

One of the things I really like about making my own soaps is that they are also part of turning back to nature. Manufactured hand soaps, especially, have gotten so far away from anything you'd really want to put on your body if you took the time to look at the ingredients or researched to see what the chemicals did to your skin! The big thing seems to be antibacterial everything! Lets prevent super-bug infections from getting us! AAaaaahhhhhh! Lets put antibiotics in mouthwash, face wash, hand soaps, deodorants, lotions, sprays, household cleaners, ....!

Our bodies are so marvelously made! When it's healthy and supported with things that lead to a good immune system such as proper rest, nutritious food, sunlight, temperance, spirituality, clean water, fresh air, and exercise, it can fight off infections, viruses, and illnesses on its own. 

Sometimes, in our zeal to step in and make things even better, we block the bodies self defense systems already in place. There are good places for disinfectants, antibiotics, sterilization, personal protective equipment, and such like, but soap manufacturers have gone way overboard putting antibiotics in soaps and household cleaners!

One antibiotic in particular, Triclosan, an active ingredient in many antibacterial products, has proven to be a double edged sword. After continued use of products that contain Triclosan, the bacteria is disabled, but eventually develops a resistance to it. There are other adverse reactions Triclosan has, such as when it is exposed to chlorinated water, producing chloroform, a possible carcinogen. When exposed to sunlight, it forms dioxins, known to disrupt endocrine glands. Knowing this, do we still want to rub it all over our hands, hoping to kill all the nasty germs? The trade-off just isn't worth it! It's much better to wash your hands properly with natural soap and water the old-fashioned way!

It isn't a good idea to strip your hands of all bacteria, anyway. Doing so also strips your skin of the protective, natural flora and good bacteria that are needed to protect you from a nasty infection if there is a break in the skin. 

So, its back to nature! Too much of a 'good' thing might not be good at all. The natural soaps which are made with just plain and simple, wholesome ingredients like olive oil, lard, coconut oil, palm oil, and such, mixed with dissolved lye makes a very fine, natural soap that will not destroy your skins natural flora. It will, however, help wash all the bad germs down the drain and nourish you skin!

An old Irish blessing for you ~

May you have love that never ends,

Lots of money, and lots of friends
Health be yours, whatever you do
And may God send many blessings to you!

Obsessed With Soaping

Who, me? Obsessed with making handcrafted soap? Yup! Late at night, with earphones in my ear, looking intently at my laptop, my husband used to quiz me, "What are you so interested in? Don't you want to watch the blow-em-to-shreds-war-movie with me?" I would turn the laptop so he could see someone pouring lye water into a large bowl of oil on YouTube. He would get this look on his face like I'd finally slipped off the 'edge'. :)

Now, my husband just accepts it. If I start carrying jugs and buckets of oil into my kitchen, he knows I'm going to be creating another batch of soap soon. I LOVE making soap! Getting boxes of supplies in the mail is like a very special holiday! As I sniff the fragrance oils, I get visions of swirls, layers, decorative tops, special colors, or maybe a new technique I want to try, dancing in my head!

This is something only a dyed-in-the-wool type of soaper can understand! Going online, I find many others who share the same passion and get to see their beautiful creations they've made. I want to share mine as well, but just haven't mastered the video technology to get videos of my work online, yet. I'm still working on that aspect.

Working with your own homemade soap is so joyful and I'm learning the different ways to expand it into my home in other healthful ways. Tonight, I discovered that I'd completely run out of dishwasher detergent. So.... I decided that tonight would be the night I made my own dishwasher soap/hand soap from my bar of Pure and Natural Soap!

Here's how that all turned out ~

First, as 8 C of water heated in my stainless steel pot on the stove, I grated one whole 4.5 oz bar of my Pure and Natural soap, which is a natural soap made only from olive oil, coconut oil, and sodium hydroxide.

Next, I added the soap gratings to the very hot, but not boiling water.

This was optional, but I decided to add 1/2 t tea tree essential oil to the liquid soap since it's so great at germ warfare.

I whisked the mixture together, at first, then used my stick blender. This blender has so spoiled me! I remember the 'old days' when I made handmade soap and stirred and stirred and stirred .....

 

Now, the whole batch just needs to rest for 8-12 hours, stirring ever so often. Tomorrow, I'll put it into individual Mason jars. If you're following along, make sure to give your liquid soap a gentle shake before using it.

On Etsy, I've seen some really cute ways to display your homemade liquid soaps! There are even little aprons you can buy to dress up your soap bottles. Take a peek and enjoy!

Isn't this cute! I love old-fashioned things! You can find that, here.

This lovely little dish soap apron can be found on this Etsy page. Crafters and Soapmakers make our world a much lovelier place! Mass marketing may make items cheaper to buy for the majority of the populace, but they do nothing for making a home uniquely and creatively comfortable. There is so little variation of anything at Walmart. On Etsy or in your own home, if you are creative, can be found very unique and artsy products found no where else on earth. 

Soapmakers find that each batch of soap has it's own personality. It will never again look exactly the same because of all the variants. We really don't want it to. Part of the draw of making or purchasing handcrafted soap is for the uniqueness of the colors, designs, and scents. Its this that has totally drawn me in, loving to turn lose my creativity, making a batch of soap that's not only extremely healthy for what its used for, but its a new artistic delight each and every time its un-molded and sliced!

Cutting the "Mantra Swirl"

I quickly pulled the lid off of my soap mold this morning and this is how it greeted me! It's so pretty and smells so sweetly tropical! I pulled the tape away from the parchment paper and eased it up out of its mold.

I really like the Mantra Swirl design on top! I'm hoping that the green didn't bleed too much into the yellow to obscure the design inside! Inside my house, the teal green color looks more blue. It's actually a very beautiful deep teal/blue/green color. I'll see if I can capture more of the true color outside.

Here, I'm measuring the 14" loaf of soap into 1" increments on both sides, then carefully slicing each one. I wish I had a fancy soap cutter, but I just can't get one right now.

Oooh! I see a pretty inside swirl! This is the fun part ... getting to see the inside as well!

The entire loaf has been sliced. It's so fun to feel the firmness of the fresh soap, see that it swirled well, that the colors remained true, and the essence smells sooo good!!

 This is a shot from the other side. Ooops! Haven't washed my soaping dishes, yet. I've actually found they wash much easier if the soap is totally allowed to saponify before washing.

The finished soaps outside! "Tropical Paradise"! This has been very fun! I'm hoping everyone else that's joined the July Soap Challenge has/is enjoying it as much as I have! Till later! ~

My First Mantra Swirl

This is a photo depiction of me making my very first Mantra Swirl for Amy Warden's July Soap Challenge! I tried practicing with my webcam on my laptop, but my kitty heard me talking and kept getting in the way to see what was going on. I ended up chickening out video taping the entire thing, but I will post all the pictures I took along the way.

                   
This is half of my counter top space, all filled with soap-making materials.

And, here is the other side! Now, the excitement sets in! I'm am really going to tackle the "Mantra Swirl" today!

The water has been measured and is 'lying' in wait at the bottom of my lye jug. I've weighed the amount of lye I'll be using with this recipe and am adding it to the water. I have a favorite recipe that I use and if I change any of the oils, I re-calculate it with a Lye Calculator.

Stirring the lye and water together, causes such heating during the reaction that you can see the fumes/steam rising. As you can see, I have proper protective gear on, to avoid contact with the lye. After combining this mixture, it will be set aside in a safe place away from my kitties and me.

Now, on to measuring my fats and oils. I first, measure out the more solidified fats such as coconut oil, shea butter, and palm oil so they can begin melting slowly on the stove.

                                 Slowly melting the solid oils.

Next, I measure out the more liquid oils such as olive oil and sweet almond oil and set them aside until the others have melted.

Patiently awaiting her turn to be incorporated in with the other oils....

Adding the cooler oils to the hot, melted oils helps them cool more quickly to the 90 - 100 degree level I'm looking for.

Here, a snoop suddenly appeared to inspect my work. she is my "quality control inspector". I am carefully measuring the parchment paper to line my mold with and cutting it to size.

               
                   Half of the mold has been lined. This is a fourteen inch mold and I only need one side.

I cut cardboard to fit lengthwise in the mold. I got the brilliant idea of affixing two 'spacers' atop my dividers to keep them the proper distance apart. Only time will tell just *how* brilliant this idea is ....

The temperature of the lye is right at 105 and the oils are at 95. We are ready to roll! Don't need a drum roll, my heart beat will suffice!

 Yup! Oils are at the exact temperature I was waiting for! All the preparation for the "Mantra Swirl" technique took just enough time for the mixtures to cool.

I used 1 1/2 t of mica coloring for each container, mixed with a tablespoon of Sweet Almond Oil. The colors I'm using for the swirl are: Matte Teal Green Pigment Powder, Red Orange Locking Mica Shimmer, and Yellow oil Locking Mica Shimmer. I really like the vibrant colors for the type of swirl I'm planning to do today!

Not to delay any longer, I am adding the lye/water mixture to my blended oils.

                             I pulse-blend-stir the mixture a bit.

Now, I'm using my stick blender to fully incorporate all lye/water and oils. I'm blending it until light trace.

Now, I'm adding my fragrance oils. I've chosen to add 1 oz each of Yuzu Cybilla and Island Coconut. The blend of these two fragrance oils creates a remarkably new fragrance that transports you, mind and soul, to the heart of the balmy tropics, sipping on something sweet, relaxing on a hammock, listening to the waves lap gently onto the beach, a Toucan sitting in a tree overhead ... awwwww........... OH! back to soap-making! I shall call this soap "Tropical Paradise"!

Carefully, I'm dividing the soap batter into three containers with mixed colorant in the bottom of each.

Now, they have been blended with my stick blender and are at a medium trace. I believe it would be a good time to pour, but, this is the scary part! I've never done this before!! I've watched the YouTube videos and they all made it look incredibly easy. Well.... here goes......

Wow! You definitely need to be some sort of octopus or something to do the "Mantra Swirl"! I could've used another set of hands for sure! I first poured a bit of green in the middle and promptly saw it squeezing naughtily underneath into 'yellows' side! So, armed with pink and yellow pitchers, I poured them on either side of green to keep him where he needed to be. Lo and behold, my neat little cardboard things started floating! Panic! I pushed them down with one hand and finished pouring with the other. That's why there were no photos of this 'in-between' part. Phew! ...........

All of the cardboard has been carefully removed, leaving rather straight lines of colored soap which I was very pleased with and tell-tale evidences of naughty green escaping over to yellow's side. This shall be interesting soap indeed!

Now, I place my bent hanger down to the bottom side of the soap and move it along the bottom and gradually up, moving back and forth to create an inside swirl.

Next, for the swirl on the top, I am using a bamboo skewer and making a figure 8 pattern down the entire length of the soap.

Here it is! I've made my very first Mantra Swirl and I really like how it has turned out, so far! It smells awesome!

Not wanting to waste any of the soap batter, I scraped it off the cardboard dividers and bowls into one bowl. I guess this will be an example of an "in-the-pot-swirl" as well!

Here's the extra soap, making a cute little bar for me to bathe with some day!

Soap-makers, when done with their soaps, need to be removed from the kitchen and made to go do something else right away. We always try to improve our creation somehow. Well, I sprinkled some silver body glitter over the top of my soap. We shall see, later, if that actually enhanced it or not.

Nighty nite! They are both covered and resting ... waiting for the gel to happen. It would probably happen sooner, but I keep lifting the lid, sniffing my soap, and checking on it!

I hope you've enjoyed making soap with me today in my kitchen! Tomorrow, we'll un-mold my creation and see how the inside swirls came out! This is the hardest part ... trying to be patient until it sets up!

Getting My Feet Wet

I can't begin to describe to you how much I LOVE to make soap! when sales fall and it doesn't really make sense money-wise to make more soap it kind of makes me feel sad. I have so many ideas! Since all my soaps are very high end with quality, natural ingredients, they aren't cheap to produce.

When I'm not making soaps, I'm watching others make soaps on YouTube! Such fun to feel like I'm right there with them in their kitchens, practicing the "Mantra Swirl" or layers! Soap-makers are a humble, generous, loving type of people who not only share their successes, but their failures as well. We all learn from each other.

                     The original "Mantra Swirl" by Nicole Benitez

                           My first attempt at the "Hanger Swirl"

My children have great fun, laughing at and with me when I try new, technological challenges. Since I'm 53, I must've missed all the techy, geeky information as I was busy having babies, homeschooling, homesteading, and keeping house & garden! When I was in nursing school and needed to produce a Power Point presentation, my youngest son who was 13 at the time, instructed me how to set it up and put it together!

            This boy is probably telling his mom how to operate Excel

Well ... I'm about to jump in with the others and get my feet wet! I've ordered a tripod for my iPhone 4 and plan to join the July "Soap Challenge". I've never posted videos of myself making anything in my life. Sometimes I've make videos accidentally when I thought I was just taking a picture! :) We shall see how this goes!

The "Mantra Swirl" is, to me, the loveliest swirl to make in cold process soap. This and the "Peacock Swirl" are the featured types of soaps during the July Soap Challenge. I am looking forward to this so much! The only problem is that my youngest son is no longer here to help me! I'm on my own! He joined the Navy and is protecting America with his technological skills. I am so proud of him!

                           Youngest of my six children, Joseph


I'll keep you posted on my adventures with filming soap in preparation for the July Soap Challenge!!