Tag Archives: soap

I did a few experiments yesterday, but right before I was going to post them I developed a severe allergic reaction that landed me in the ER until midnight. The doctors aren’t sure if it was an antibiotic I was on or from touching a new plant yesterday. Thankfully we ruled out an allergy to any ingredients, which was a concern since I was making soaps when the reaction occurred. While I’m on bed rest with my epi pen beside me (and a probable beard brewing under my skin from all of these steroids lol), I want to share my pictures. *smile*

I’m not overly happy with the experiments with the decoration soaps, but it’s a learning process. I had some troubles “gluing” the decorations and my tremor resulted in a few wonky angles. Lol. My tremor was particularly strong because of the allergic reaction, but some is just part of my illness, so I’ll have to figure out how to work around that. I absolutely love the little button decorations no matter where they land on the soap though! *grin* No matter how I approached cutting the trims they were consistently uneven. Lol. So no judging on the odd lengths and overlaps, please.

An overall of the decoration experiments

A closer look at some of the trim and a button to top it off.

My favorite trim. I even cut one flower out to use as a decoration.

I also worked on a coffee loaf soap. The big base is a mixture of Coffee Beans FO and Hazelnut Cappuccino FO. Sadly the mouthwatering Hazelnut is so soft that I had to add the Coffee to boost it. The second layer is Coffee Beans with actual ground coffee, for a little bit of gentle exfoliation and texture, although the soap was a little too warm and melted into the bottom a bit, so I suspect there is some ground coffee down in the bottom. Topping it all off is some Buttercream soap frosting. I wanted it really frothy and wild, which took a lot longer than expected. I really like how it looks; the different colors, the wildness of the frosting, and the decadence of it. I am really looking forward to when the frosting is fully set and I can slice it. I think it’ll have more impact when laying down. I’m debating if I should add a dark drizzle, like when you get a mocha at Starbucks. Any thoughts?

The finished bar. Smells like morning 🙂

I went to Hobby Lobby today while running errands to see if they had any containers that would be just right for the Splish Splash Duck Soaps. Although I didn’t find anything for that I found some really cute fondant molds.

I’ve been eyeing what the wholesaler calls “Deco It” molds. Basically they’re molds with several detailed and shallow patterns. You pour colored soap into the details and when they’re unmolded you “glue” them (with a little soap and alcohol) onto the surface of your main piece of soap, making it quite impressive. You can make a simple square soap into a package, scatter flowers all about, or put a fancy little border around your soap. I’ve been itching to try this since they came out on one of my wholesaler’s sites, but couldn’t justify the cost.

While looking at the fondant tools (you’d be amazed how many things can be repurposed for soap) I saw their fondant molds and realized that the “Deco It” molds are really just these fondant molds. *grin* Plus, they’re a bit cheaper, too. *small happy dance* I had a really hard time deciding, but even Larry liked this one, so I got a really cute mold.

The trim could be really cute across the top of a bar or along the border of a guest round, while I think soap buttons would be one of the cutest additions for a kid’s soap. Larry thinks the bow might be neat as an embedded soap, too. I’m so anxious to try these decorations out. I hope I have some examples to share soon, but couldn’t resist showing you.

I hope you have a great night and a happy Wednesday!

I admit that I’m morbid enough that I have the funeral march as a ringtone. I’m not in that honest of a mood to confess who earned that tone, but I have it and played it today in honor of the poor Worms in Dirt Soap. I think I’ve exhausted my troubleshooting abilities and have to call the code on it. *sad smile*

The last batch of Worm soaps have been sitting at room temperature, exposed, to make sure that they would be fine once at the consumer’s. I dreaded checking them today while working on stuff. I honestly did, with good reason. Every day something else has gone wonky or wrong and today was no different. Now the color on the worms is bleeding into the soap. Lol. I am out of solutions. I have been bested. *hits the ring tone again while hanging my head* I admit that I’ve learned a lot between them and the ducks, so it was worth it. It was a damn fine idea if I say so myself. *smile*

Ah, yes, I mentioned the ducks too…I have tried every bag that I own for packaging the ducks. Nope. I’ve had them wrapped in wax paper and big zip bags while trying to figure it out, and thankfully nothing has gone wrong with them…yet. *smart aleck wink* I decided that I have to give up the idea of bagging the ducks and tying them off with some curling ribbon though. I hate to raise the prices of anything, as you well know, but I’m going to have to add the fifty cents each box cost me and stick to boxing them. (Of course I won’t charge that to orders I all ready have, although I have no idea where to write that down for the accountant, so I guess I’ll write a note and staple it to my 2013 tax worksheet for her to figure out. Mawahahaha!) I feel a bit silly because I have taped these boxes to high heaven to try to keep the soaps as fresh as I can and it kind of feels like I’m diapering the poor things. *cracking up* Seriously! Just look at the picture! The boxes have to be folded and assembled. It seems like an origami diaper. *shaking head in amusement*

Anyway, thank you for sharing in a moment of mourning the poor worms. *grin* I never expected to ever write that…hmm. I best get out of my reclining camp chair, soaking up a bit of rare incredible weather, and craft some ducks. I hope you have some beautiful weather to enjoy this weekend and have a fun, yet safe, St. Patrick’s Day.

“But the greatest love – the love above all loves, even greater than that of a mother – is the tender, passionate, undying love of one beer drunken slob for another.” – unknown

“A toast to your coffin.
May it be made of 100 year-old oak,
And may we plant the tree together, tomorrow.” – unknown

🙂

I checked on my soaps today (they’ve been relaxing in some wax paper) to make sure everything is still going fine after a few days. Unfortunately I found one of the weirdest things that I’ve seen since first experimenting with bath stuff years back. I knew that there was a risk of an air bubble around the shads in the Dirt soap when I decided to keep them upright and the tippy top breached the surface. Yesterday there was the tiny hole, but today it’s as if the soaps completely changed. I suspect that the shads dried out and shrunk a little, because there is an air bubble completely surrounding each shad. That is kind of understandable and although the presentation won’t be as nice, it’s an easy fix with just laying them down when I embed them and using these for shreds or whatnot. The weird part is that each of them sweated.

We’re still experiencing winter temperatures and I work in a room away from the woodstove, so the temperature doesn’t get overly warm during the winter, and it hasn’t been a long time, so I’m a bit puzzled right now. A soap “sweat” is not pretty to look at, but is still completely useable. Glycerin is a humectant, which draws moisture from the air, so the surface gets a bumpy white or a beaded surface texture. I realize that the sweat around the shad is because of the soak and apparently not enough time to dry out, although they sure seemed like they were. I’m just absolutely puzzled over it having stripes of sweat. *shaking head* Thankfully it’s only the one variety of soap, but I need to do some research obviously. I guess it’s good that I have been waiting a few days to check on it before posting to my site. I’m going to experiment with a difference base and see if that’s what went wrong. Cross your fingers please!

I’m kind of stumped and would love to hear some ideas, pretty please. I’ll share my chocolate with you. Well, virtually, but the thought is there! *grin* I totally love the Worms in Dirt name, but realize that the shads/tadpoles can’t really masquerade under that name. I’ll forever be confusing customers and myself by asking if they really want a worm or the other. Sooo…Any ideas on a good name for them? I’m torn on keeping Dirt in the name, but my creativity is broken now apparently and I’m at a loss. Lol. Larry tried to be helpful, but Shads in Mud doesn’t sound too whimsical or…well…pleasant. *grin* Off on a tangent I’ll mention that I was trying to decide what pics to use to go on my site and Pinterest, which I still haven’t decided on, and the “tadpole” (can’t help myself) reminded me of a shark swimming around in the side view. Anyway, I appreciate any and all ideas!! At $2 each I think they could be a good little novelty item and want to start marketing. 😉

So you don’t have to scroll to the previous post, here are the little creepers. *grin*