Author Archives: Amanda

Converting a recipe from percentages to ounces

Posted on by
16

IMG_0975

Many times you run across recipes that are written in percentages. These are great because you can convert them into workable recipes for any size of mold or production.

Sometimes the process of converting percentages to the recipe size that you need can be confusing. Let’s walk through it.

http://www.brambleberry.com/10-Silicone-Loaf-Mold–P5199.aspx?afid=5
I’ve got this nifty silicone mold from Bramble Berry. After checking out the website I see that it holds 50 oz of soap and measures 10″ x 3 5/8″ x 2.25″. Before I convert my recipe from percentages to ounces…I need to know the amount of oil that it holds.

50 oz of soap means it holds 50 oz of finished soap (water + lye+ oils). I need to know how much oil it will hold so I can convert my percentages to ounces of oils.

I use the formula l (length) x w (width) x h (height) x .4 to determine how many ounces of oil my recipe needs to be.

So for the BB loaf mold:
10 x 3.625 x 2.25 x .4 = 32.625 oz

I like to do fluffy tops so I will add about 4 extra ounces so I have enough soap on top.

My recipe needs to contain 37 oz of oils.

My recipe in percentages looks like this:

Olive oil – 50%
Coconut oil – 32%
Shea butter – 8%
Avocado oil – 8%
Castor oil – 2%

To convert the above percentages you will multiply each ingredient’s percentage by 37 oz which is your total oils needed (or the 100%).

Olive oil – 37 x .5 = 18.5 oz
Coconut oil – 37 x .32 = 11.84 oz
Shea butter – 37 x .08 = 2.96 oz
Avocado oil – 37 x .08 = 2.96 oz
Castor oil – 37 x .02 = .75 oz

So your oils needed will be:

Olive oil – 18.5 oz
Coconut oil – 11.84 oz
Shea butter – 2.96 oz
Avocado oil – 2.96 oz
Castor oil – .75 oz

Run this through a lye calc to get the lye amount needed.

Lye – 5.28 oz (5% SF)

I double my lye amount to get my water amount. (Ignore the water amount the lye calc gives you.)

Water – 10.56 oz

So my final recipe is:

Olive oil – 18.5 oz
Coconut oil – 11.84 oz
Shea butter – 2.96 oz
Avocado oil – 2.96 oz
Castor oil – .75 oz
Lye – 5.28 oz

Water – 10.56 oz

This recipe will make a total of 52.85 oz of soap.

BB’s site states that the mold will hold 50 oz…so we’re good! I always prefer to have a bit extra than not enough.

If you want extra to make higher peaked soap…then calculate for extra soap.

Happy Soaping!
Amanda

Beauty in Haiti

Posted on by
9

 

BANNER

 

In January, Marla Bosworth and I are traveling to Haiti!  We will be teaching a group of 24 women over two days how to make soap and other beauty products including natural hair care! Their goal is to start a business to help raise funds to support themselves and their community.

Who We’re Helping

There is a group of women in Haiti, near Port Au Prince, located in a government-owned tent camp whose lives were torn apart in January 2010 after the country’s disastrous earthquake. These women are known as OFEDA (Organisation des Femmes Devouees en Action). They are a unique and independent women’s group founded after Haiti’s disastrous earthquake.

The women, who range in age from 18 to 82 years old, came together for the first time in January 2010 soon after the earthquake. They began meeting under a tree in the tent camp to support and encourage each other with hope and possibility.

These women have a dream, and we want to help them achieve it. By starting businesses together (their first being a handmade greeting card company), they hope to find a way out of the tent camps to reclaim their lives and to continue moving forward with dignity and security.

We need your help so that we can teach the OFEDA women how to make handmade soaps and natural haircare products to sell through a series of hands-on workshops in January 2013.

Please visit our campaign page!

 

Thank you for your support!

-Amanda

Custom Massage Bar Soap

Posted on by
8

Turn any bar of soap into a massage bar!  How, you ask?

You’ll need this 9 ball mold from Bramble Berry and you’ll need a base mold.  I used the bottom part only of the 4 Sphere Mold from Bramble Berry.  But you can use whatever mold you want your base shape to be.

First you’ll need to make little massage balls using the 9 ball mold.

Then melt and pour your base shapes leaving a little over 1/4 inch at the top.

Let these form a nice thick skin so it will support the next layer.

Once ready, spray the base soaps with alcohol and pour on a thin layer of soap.  (Don’t fill completely full because the balls will raise the level when you insert them.)  Spray the little massage spheres with alcohol and insert them where you want them on the bars.

And now you have cute little massage bars!  And the best part is…you can turn any bar into a massage bar using the 9 sphere mold.

-Amanda

 

Two Peas in a Pod

Posted on by
9

My sister in law is pregnant! :) She is due in January so I guess I have babies on the mind.

This is a melt & pour tutorial…and I’m sitting here thinking of what other melt & pour tutorials my blog has to offer.  Searching…searching…

NONE!  I love melt & pour.  I started my soapmaking journey with melt & pour.  I have no melt & pour tutorials on my blog!  That is just is so odd to me.  So here it is…the first one!

Two Peas in a Pod

This is a super easy and quick tutorial…perfect for a last minute shower gift or hostess gift.

You will need 16 oz clear melt & pour soap base, 3 oz white melt & pour soap base, .5 oz fragrance oil, green mica and two wash clothes.  You will also need my new favorite mold…the 4 Sphere Mold from Bramble Berry.

Chop up all of the melt & pour soap base and melt it in the microwave using 30 second bursts.

Add your green colorant and fragrance.

Pour into the sphere mold and let harden.

Take a wersh-rag (as my Granny Dot says) and fold in the sides as shown.

And place two peas on it.

Pinch up the sides like a taco and tie with ribbon or twine.

And there you have it!  Adorable peas in a pod soap!

Happy Soaping and have a great weekend!

-Amanda

 

This week in searches…

Posted on by
13

I love that my stats tell me the search strings that are being used to lead people to my blog. Some questions aren’t completely answered so I want to start a new feature where I go into more details on some of the topics searched. So…this weeks searches include:

cold process soap how long to umold in freezer

Sometimes we use molds for CP soap that can be tricky to unmold. These molds include silicone loaf molds (usually non-glossy) and individual cavity hard plastic molds such as Milky Way Molds and ELF molds from Bramble Berry.

If you find that you can not unmold from your silicone loaf mold, simply stick it into the freezer until it is frozen solid. Usually a couple of hours will work. Then pull the sides away from the soap. Turn it upside down and press on the bottom. If you find that your fingers go into the soap…it isn’t frozen enough. Put it back into the freezer.

If you use individual hard cavity molds for CP soap you might find that when you unmold your soap the details break off. Freezing can sometimes help with this. After your soap has been in the molds for 24 hours and has hardened up…place the molds in the freezer for about an hour. Remove from the freezer and set on the counter. This will cause the soap to sweat a bit. Turn the mold upside down and press on the bottom of the individual cavities to push the soap out. Hopefully the soap will come out with all of the details intact.

soap will not reach trace

Zoinks. Okay…I have to ask. Did you add your lye water? I only ask because I’ve been there…done that. I get distracted…start stick blending…nothing. I glance over to the sink and there is my lye water sitting in a cold water bath waiting patiently. Oops.

If you did add your lye water and you are still not reaching trace…take a look at your recipe. Is it high in olive? Olive oil is slow to trace…so keep mixing. If you’ve been mixing with a stick blender for more than 30 minutes then something is probably wrong.

How much water did you use for your lye solution? A recipe high in olive and a lye solution with too much water can prove almost impossible to trace or when you do trace it will un-trace. But I’m talking about 4 times the lye amount or more. You probably aren’t using that much water.

Did you find a new or maybe shady source of lye? If you are using new lye…where did it come from? Did you buy it off of Craig’s List? Maybe its not really lye. Always buy lye from a reputable supplier.

what cp oils and their percentages will create more of a white bar of soap?

Some oils that create a white bar of soap include lard, tallow, coconut oil, babassu, mango butter, refined avocado, sunflower, grade A olive (not pomice or virgin which can have green or yellow hues) and castor. Aim to have at least 70% in your recipe but it is really a matter of preference and will just take some experimentation to find your right mix.

Shea, cocoa butter, rice bran and sweet almond can lend to a yellow hue. Un-refined avocado and pomace olive can lend to a green hue.

If you are not opposed to using lard, I would recommend starting with a recipe that looks something like this: 35% lard or tallow, 20% coconut oil, 30% regular olive oil and 5% of a butter, 5% of a specialty oil such as sweet almond and 5% castor.

If you do not like using animal fats then I would recommend a recipe that looks something like this: 40% regular olive oil, 30% coconut oil, 10% sunflower, 10% refined avocado oil, 5% butter and 5% castor oil.

You can also whiten up a bar of soap by using titanium dioxide or white mica (which contains TD).

Ungelled soap is typically whiter than gelled soap. So make sure your soap does not go through gel phase to keep it white and bright. You can put your loaf into the fridge or freezer after you pour it to keep it from gelling.

oil characteristics chart soap making

Check out my chart here.

mixing lavender flowers in to soap

Awww…lavender soap.

I personally do not have issues with lavender buds in soap but I do want to mention that it can look like mouse poop. The lavender buds lose their beautiful purple/blue color and turn brown almost blackish. Just keepin’ it real. Don’t think you did something wrong…it happens to most herbs added to soap.

I like to top loaves with lavender buds as they have a better chance of keeping their color. It’s all just a matter of preference.

how to make artistic soap

Check out my tutorial selection. Also do a search for soap making on Youtube. There are some incredibly creative soapers on there that offer all types of creative videos.

cp soap troubleshooting, layer of liquid on the top

Check out my troubleshooting chart here.

Typically a layer of liquid on top of your soap in the mold can mean two things. Overheating or emulsion issues. If your soap has been in the mold for 24 hours and when you go check on it the next day it has a coating of liquid on top it could mean that the soap overheated. Let it sit and it will usually reabsorb this liquid.

If there is a large layer of oil floating on top and the bottom is mooshy like pudding then you probably have an emulsion issue. Your soap separated and fell out of emulsion. If this happens soon after molding I would dump it back into a bowl and stick blend. If you find it the next day I would dump it into a crock pot and try to HP it. As long as you measured all of your ingredients correctly…this can usually be fixed.

overheating soap

Check out my troubleshooting chart for info and pics on overheating soap.

make soap with mailing tubes

Why yes you can… and I sell the liners that you can line the mail tubes with. They make for easy to use, inexpensive molds!

how long does lard soap need to cure

I cure most of my soap for a minimum of 3 weeks…though 4+ weeks is better. Try a bar after 3 weeks, see how you like it…but keep curing and try it after 4. You might see a difference but might not…depending on how much water you used.

Soaps higher in olive oil (50% +) need a longer cure and I like to cure these for 5+ weeks.

can you pipe cp whipped soap onto m&p?

This is a great question…and I don’t really know the answer! I would assume that you could. Would it stick okay? Not sure. I would almost have to think it would because the whipped CP is moist and when you pipe it onto MP it wets the MP so that it sticks when it dries. But I haven’t tried it!

using juicer pulp in soap recipes

Check out my ginger soap that I made with ginger pulp from my juicer!

If you have any tips or thoughts on any of these topics please feel free to post in the comments!

Thanks!
Amanda

Adorable Santa Gnome – Free embed download

Posted on by
4

Remember the cute little gnome soap tutorial I did for the Soap Queen blog that uses the gnome mold and embed paper? No? Well go check it out here.  There is a free download you can get your hands on!

photo by Bramble Berry

I’ve updated the download just in time for the holidays! Now you can make adorable little Santa gnomes. Follow the tutorial on Soap Queen but use this download.

Happy Holidays!
-Amanda

Austin Texas Soap Making Bootcamp

Posted on by
6

A couple of Saturdays ago I had my first Austin, Texas Soapmaking Bootcamp where I offered both the basic class and an advanced class. It was a ton of fun. I had some repeats for the basic class so we stepped it up a bit by making a milk soap. The advanced color and swirling class was amazing. Some of the students came up with designs that were simply stunning masterpieces!

Check out the photo gallery on Facebook!

The next Austin, TX Soapmaking Bootcamp is scheduled for February 22 & 23 and will include three classes!

Basic Cold Process Soapmaking (Friday, Feb 22, 4-7pm) – Learn to make your own natural handcrafted soap! You will learn what soap is, how it’s made, oil properties, additives, coloring, molding and much more! This is a hands-on class where you’ll actually get to create, custom scent and color a two pound batch of cold process soap to take home with you. All supplies, including fragrance oils, essential oils, colors, molds, oils, botanicals and clays will be available in class so you can design your own soap! No experience necessary! You will take home two pounds (about 9 bars) of soap!

Layers, Lines and Embeds (Saturday, Feb 23, 9-noon) – Learn how to take your soap design to the next level by using unique layering and embed techniques! In this advanced cold process soap design class you’ll create a unique and funky soap using layering techniques, a mica pencil line and round embeds. All supplies, including scents, colors, molds, oils, botanicals and clays will be available in class so you can design your own stunning soap! *You must have prior cold process soapmaking experience or have completed the Basic Cold Process Soapmaking Friday class. You will take home at least two pounds of soap!

Cupcakes and Cold Process Piping Techniques (Saturday, Feb 23, 1-4pm) – Cupcakes are all the rage these days! Learn how to make adorable cold process soap cupcakes. We’ll go over piping techniques, recipe selection, coloring, decorating and more! Cupcake soaps make wonderful gifts for children, wedding showers, baby showers, teacher gifts…you name it! All supplies, including scents, colors, molds, piping tips/bags, oils, botanicals and clays will be available in class so you can design your own stunning soap! *You must have prior cold process soapmaking experience or have completed the Basic Cold Process Soapmaking Friday class. You will take home over two pounds of soap!

Get more info and sign up! These classes are limited in size because of the hands on nature of the workshops. So don’t miss your spot!

-Amanda

Felted Sweater Ball Soaps by Holly Port

Posted on by
5

Its sweater weather in Colorado and that is exactly what inspired Holly Port of Lotion Bar Cafe to make these adorable felted sweater soaps with the help of her neighbor.

She started out with soap balls from Bramble Berry’s new silicone sphere mold.  Then she felted them.  Here’s a tutorial on how to felt the balls.  Then she needle felted the cute little design onto them and strung them on some twine to hang on the Christmas tree!

You’ll need wool!  Wrap your sphere soap so that it is completely covered.

Here’s a cool technique to hold everything in place when you first start felting.  Place your soap covered with felt into the foot of knee highs.  This holds everything together and in place as you start agitating, rubbing and patting.

Dunk it into hot water and start rubbing and patting.

Once it is mostly felted take it out of the pantyhose and test the felt.  Try to pinch some off.  Do fibers easily pull away?  If so…keep felting.  If it is nice and tight and doesn’t pinch off…then it is probably ready.

Give it a quick rinse in cold water to shock it and then roll it up into a towel to squeeze the water out.

While they are still wet, start needle felting your design.  You’ll need felting needles that have the little barbs on them.  You can find them at most craft stores.

String them on some twine and hang as ornaments!  These will make great gifts!

Thanks so much, Holly!

You can find Holly at her website Lotion Bar Cafe or on Facebook.

(psst…I asked Holly if she would do a detailed tutorial on how to needle felt and she said yes!  She has some great techniques and tricks for needle felting.)

-Amanda

Fuzzy Felted Soap Balls and Bramble Berry’s spectacular GIVEMBER Promotion!!

Posted on by
8

Bramble Berry was sweet to ask if I would be interested in participating in their month of Givember which will include weekly tutorials and free gifts with purchases as a way of saying “thank you” to their customer during the month of November.  They sent a little package with some goodies including the silicone sphere mold, cranberry chutney fragrance oil and fuchsia lab color!  I immediately tried the sphere mold and loved it so I’ve already bought another one.  It makes perfectly adorable round soap balls.  So I’m going to show you how to work with the sphere mold and make adorable felted sphere soaps.

This is gonna be a long one!  But stay with me because at the end I’m going to give you an exciting coupon code to use during Bramble Berry’s Givember event.

This recipe fits nicely into two of the round sphere molds.

Apricot kernel oil – 2 oz
Avocado oil – 2 oz
Coconut oil – 8 oz
Olive oil – 9 oz
Shea butter – 1 oz

Lye – 3.17 oz
Water – 4 oz

Cranberry Chutney FO – 1.2 oz
Fuchsia LabColor (diluted) – 15 drops

If you are new to soapmaking…visit my basic tutorial first as it goes into more details on the basics.

Let’s make soap!

Make your lye solution.

Weigh out and melt the coconut oil and shea butter.  Add the liquid oils to the melted oils.

Add the fragrance oil and fuchsia color to the melted oils.

Get everything ready to go.  You should have your melted oil (with fragrance and color), the lye solution and two sphere molds.

Be sure you have on your safety gear!

Add the lye solution to the melted oils.

Check out that beautiful color!  When you reach a light trace…pour into the molds.

Let them sit overnight and unmold.  I wanted mine to gel so I put them onto a heating pad and covered with a towel until they gelled.

Unmold!

They can require a bit of cleanup.  Simply take a knife and cut off the nub.  You can then smooth it down with your finger.

Adorable!  And even more adorable felted!  So let’s make some cute felted soap balls!

Let your soap balls cure at least three weeks before you felt them.  You will need some wool roving.  Make sure its the kind that shrinks down and felts.  Look around locally and see what you can find.

Pull the wool into thin pieces as shown below if you want to create a striped pattern.  If you don’t…just use single colors similar in size as shown below.

Wrap your ball as evenly and tautly as you can.

Dunk your soap into hot water.

Bring it out after it is completely wet.  Then start squeezing and patting.  You don’t want to rub at this point or it will move your fibers around too much.  Dunk again.  Squeeze and pat some more.  It should start felting.

Now you can rub.  Alternate between squeezing, patting and rubbing your soap to felt.  You don’t want to dunk it into water too much but do it a few more times.  You can also use bubble wrap or a woven dinner mat to help with the agitation and felting.

Once you feel like you have it felted enough…where you pull on the fibers and they don’t pull up…then shock it with cold water.  This is a tip I learned from Bobbie at the Texas Soapmakers Conference.  Cold water shocks wool and causes it to felt as well.  So give it a good shock in ice cold water.

Then roll it in a towel to squeeze out the water.

And there you have it!  Adorable felted soap balls!

Cute!  And this one above came out with a little face on him.  So why felted soap?  Felted soap is a wash cloth or luffa and soap in one!  The felt causes the soap to lather like crazy and gives your skin a gentle exfoliation.  Wool dries quickly between uses and is anti-microbial so it doesn’t grow yuckies!

Are you still with me?

Remember up above when I mentioned being a part of Bramble Berry’s Givember promotion?

Enter the code GIVEMBER200 on any order when you check out at brambleberry.com to be entered into a drawing to win a $200 gift card from Bramble Berry.  This code is good on orders placed during the month of November only.  Thanks, Bramble Berry!

-Happy Soaping!

Amanda Griffin

Charcoal Facial Bar with Mango, Avocado and Babassu

Posted on by
30

I received an email recently about soaping without coconut oil. I have some recipes sans coconut oil but most are really high olive/bastille/castille type of recipes that don’t produce many bubbles. I wanted a bar that was nice and bubbly. I know that babassu is similar to coconut oil in its fatty acid makeup so I got some babassu to try.

I wanted to make a face bar with charcoal. I like to have at least one butter in every soap that I make and that butter is usually shea. I’m not a big fan personally of shea on my face…so I thought I would try mango in this recipe. I also love avocado oil in a facial bar…so included that as well.

Charcoal Facial Bar with Mango, Avocado and Babassu Recipe

Avocado oil – 4 oz
Babassu oil – 8 oz
Castor oil – 2 oz
Mango butter – 4 oz
Olive oil – 12 oz
Rice Bran oil – 2 oz
Water – 9 oz
Lye – 4.35 oz
1/2 Tablespoon Charcoal

If you are new to soapmaking…start here.

Melt the mango and babassu. 

Add all of the other liquid oils to the melted oils.  Add the charcoal to the mix as well.

Add the lye solution and mix to trace.

I added about .75 oz of tea tree oil.  Then pour it into your mold.  I prefer facial soap to be round.  Facial soap and beer soap…  I’ve always gone with round bars for those types of soaps.  So I am using a mail tube with a liner (more info on the liners).

Unmold and cut after 24 hours. Let cure for at least four weeks.

So…the verdict. Its been several weeks since I made these and I have to say that I LOVE this recipe. Its bubbles amazingly well even though there isn’t any coconut oil. The charcoal helps suck up excess oil. When I use this soap I make a nice thick lather in my hands, put it onto my face and let it sit for a minute (almost like a mask) and then rinse it off.

If you give it a try…let me know what you think!

Happy Soaping!
-Amanda

ps….  Bramble Berry sent me a goody package with some exciting products to try out!  They are running a promotion during the month of November called GIVEMBER!  (Make sure you are on their email list for the newsletter!)  And I get to be a part of the fun.  I’ll share the details with you soon! 

pss or is it pps?…. Check out the new pourable silicone from Bramble Berry!  Guess who wrote the eZine that accompanies the kit!  (MOI!)

Don’t forget SOAPMAKING CLASSES!