Adventures With The Sage

During the month of April we offered several Cold Process Soap Beginner classes and had a great time learning about the terminology, equipment, and a step by step guide in making our own first batches of cold process soap.

Everyone received a beginners equipment package that included a (scale, goggles, gloves, soap buckets, soap spoon, pH test strips, thermometer, and their own Soap Making Workbook “When It’s Good to be in a Lather“). They also received 4 complete 1 lb soap kits to make their own first batches of soap. We had a few students that took the class twice and for their second class they received 10 – 1 lb soap kits. Wow, this got them off learning the techniques in making cold process soap.

We did have an instance when someone had a batch of soap that took off in temperature and reached 200 degrees. I won’t name any names. This was a great opportunity for me to see how things could go wrong and best of all how to correct this from happening again. I feel like I am ready to conquer most soaps now. I have added several photos to show you how much we learned and enjoyed this class. I am really excited to be offering this new series of classes.

So are you all ready for an Intermediate Cold Process Class? I’m getting excited for this next class. Everyone will receive several batches of soap to make but I’m trying to decide what to include in this class. Some students have suggested adding multiple colors, maybe swirls, or adding different types of objects into the soap. What would you like to do? I need a few suggestions so I can finish putting this class together.

Thanks for playing!

I’m so excited to finally use some of these tinctures and infusions that I decided to show you how to use these in Melt and Pour soap. I have collected my supplies and I’m ready to start.

Supplies for Melt and Pour Soap
• Melt and Pour Soap
• Infusions that I just created with oil and dried herb
• Tinctures that I created with alcohol and dried herb
• Method of heating the Melt and Pour soap: microwave, tea kettle, etc.
• Microwavable container or pot for melting soap
• Stirring spoon or similar tool
• Containers and labels for finished product

I decided to make my soaps in the small 2.7 oz. rectangular clam-shells; this will be perfect to take to shipping so they can send out samples with the orders.

I started with smaller chunks of the Melt and Pour soap, roughly the size of a softball (not necessarily softball shaped) and placed in a large pot on the stove set at medium heat until all melted.

I added 1% infused oil into melted soap; I measured about 570 grams of soap and 6 grams of the infused oil. This allowed me to fill approximately 8 of the clamshell containers that I chose. Whatever container you choose to use you will need to do a little calculation to determine the amount of soap to infused oil to use.

Once the melt and pour soap was melted I weighed my soap and added the infused oil, then mixed well before pouring into the containers. Wow, that was easy!

I did notice that some of my soaps had a few bubbles on the top. This is the perfect time to use the tinctures! I sprayed the tincture directly on top of the soap and Voilà! the bubbles disappeared and I was able to use the tincture in my melt and pour soap!

Now that I have collected a few items, I will go over some basic supplies that are needed when making water and oil infusions.

Water infusions – I have decided to make my water infusion with Double Green Matcha Tea; I cut open four of the tea bags and used approximately 6 fluid ounces of water. I am planning on using this infusion today in a batch of soap, so there is no need for any storage of leftovers. When I want to use of this type of infusion I will just make a very strong cup of tea.

Supplies for Water Infusions
• Water
• Tea or other plant material desired
• Stirring spoon or similar tool
• Strainer – tea bags may also be used
• Method of heating the water: microwave, tea kettle, etc.
• Freezer storage container, if needed

Oil infusions – I am starting with some basic glass jars, the dried plant material and my oil of choice today (apricot kernel oil). I have chosen several of the dried botanicals available in the catalog; they are Annatto Seed Powder, Ground Hibiscus, Safflower Powder, Madder Root Powder, and Spirulina Powder.

Do you remember the ratio when making tinctures? We’re using the same ratio for making oil infusions! 9 parts oil and 1 part dried plant. You can weigh 10 grams of plant material and 90 grams of oil to make these. I placed each dried herb into its own jar and added the oil and stirred well. I microwaved for about 30 seconds each of these jars. I did make a quick infusion today and used it immediately. That infusion is the paprika oil. I allowed this to infuse for a few minutes (about 3) before adding it to a batch of soap. The color finished to a pale orange, very beautiful.

The others powders I let sit for about 1 week before filtering and bottling into 4 fl oz bottles, as shown in the photos. All I did was strain the oil through a fine strainer directly into these bottles, capped, and labeled for future use.

Supplies for Oil Infusions
• Oil
• Dried Herb
• Stirring spoon or similar tool
• Method of heating the oil: microwave, tea kettle, etc.
• Strainer
• Containers and labels for storage

The photos show the tinctures I bottled into sprayer bottles, the oil infusions I bottled into 4 oz bottles with disk tops and the Matcha Green Tea soap I made with the tea infusion. I added the lye directly to the tea infusion and that is what caused the very dark color. It lightened in the finished soap dramatically! The last photo shows the soap weeping the glycerin and tea infusion. This was just stirred back in prior to the soap setting up completely.

Tomorrow I am showing some of the soaps I made with these dried herbs. Then we will make the soaps and other products with the tinctures, infusions and LEARN how to make decoctions. We have some busy days ahead. Get out your plant materials (make sure they are dry) and create a few infusions of your own. See you tomorrow!

I just finished up making tinctures and decided that I would show you how to make some infusions, both water or oil types.

When making an infusion it is done by steeping dried plant parts (such as dried leaves, flowers, or powders) in oil or water. Simmering to boiling water is usually used, but cold water may also be used. Making a cups of herbal tea, regular tea or coffee are examples of an infusion. When making an oil infusion we place the dried leaves, flowers, or powders into the oils and let sit until desired extraction is completed. Often the oil may be heated to a more gentle temperature than water might be heated. For oils I suggest heating to 140°F. You may have reasons for heating to higher temperatures or heating to lower temperatures. Infusions are made done to extract properties of the plant material so that we can use them in making toners, soaps, lotions, bath bombs, etc.

When working with your dried materials you may notice that those beautiful dried flowers that you steeped in water came out a fabulous crimson color, yet when you put the same dried flowers into oil the color may be minimal. Why? Solubility is the reason! The color may be water soluble and not fat soluble. The odor is also either water soluble or oil soluble. So, there are reasons to make BOTH water and oil infusions. You get to decide.

When doing a water extraction please remember that you will want to use your infusions within a day or two if kept refrigerated. Any leftover infusions you want to save for a later day can be placed into a zipper bag, or other container, and kept in the freezer. Be sure to write the date and contents of the bag.

I’m going gather all my stuff and meet with you tomorrow for a more detailed how-to and supplies list. Don’t forget your EASY buttons! This is an easy project and once you see all the neat stuff I am making with my infusions, decoctions and tinctures you will wish you had been making your own along the way!

Hand sanitizer what a great item to have around, expecially this time of year. You do not want to catch a cold, so wash your hands often and when you are not able to wash with soap use a hand sanitizer. We made some great hand sanitizer gifts in our last class and I’ll explain the process.

Ingredients:
Hand Sanitizer
Fragrance Oil
Bottle and cap, we used the 4 oz boston round with a pump top and disc tops

Use Caution, Caution, and some more Caution when fragrancing this product – we used 1/2 ml or less per 4 oz of product. Fragrances are nice in room sprays but when you apply hand sanitizer to your hands you do not want any fragrance lingering about. Experience or trial and error told me that you are bound to touch that sandwhich or other finger food and trust me fragrance oils do not taste very good.

After pumping the hand sanitizer into the bottle add your fragrance, place the cap on and shake until thouroughy mixed. You may see a slight variation in color throughout the product until it is mixed together. A good tip to hold the bottle in your hand and move your hand back and forth like you are opening a door knob, do this quickly without hurting yourself for a minute or so until mixed. Apply a nice label to the bottle and you are all done!

We have a few one gallon Body Gel/Hand Sanitizer left over from a special order, this is only for will call orders. This item is not listed in the catalog so if you would like a gallon or more and you are able to pick up your order in Nibley then make sure you call the office and order before it’s all gone. If you are not able to pick up an order then you can purchase any hand sanitizer from a local store and add fragrances and bottle as you choose.

Enjoy!