Adventures With The Sage

You will need:

Curls and Cutouts
Translucent Melt and Pour Soap, Scented
Soap Molds
Alcohol Spray (70% or 91% Rubbing Alcohol)

Place your mold on a flat surface. Fill your mold with your curls and cutouts. Arrange them until you are satisfied. Remember, you are looking at your soap from the bottem. Spray your curls and cutouts with alcohol so bubbles do not form on them inside your soap.

Slowly pour your cooled melt and pour soap into the mold. You will want to do it gently otherwise your carefully arranged pattern will move and you may not like the result.  Once you have filled the mold, allow the soap to cool. Now you have an incredibly classy soap. You can use it for everything from bridal showers to birthday parties!

Note: You will want to be cautious because if your melt and pour soap is too hot it will melt your curls and cutouts and make them swirl. It is an interesting effect but one you may not want.

Don’t miss Melt and Pour Mishaps, Pouring Techniques and Scientific Analysis next week!

You will need:

Melt and Pour Soap of your choice (Transparent, White and Olive)
A Baking pan or Flat Mold
Parchment, Waxed Paper or Silicon Spray
Miniature Cookie Cutters
Knife
Container for melting soap
Lavender Fields Color
Cinnamon Bear Fragrance Oil
Tooth Pick

Line your baking sheet or mold with parchment, waxed paper, or a silicon spray for easy removal. Melt the soap designated for your cutouts. Color and scent as desired. Remember, do not use a dye as it will bleed through your finished bar of soap. In this example, I used the fragrance Cinnamon Bear and the pigment Lavender Fields. Pour the soap on your baking sheet and allow to cool. Pour in enough soap to create the thickness you want your cutouts to be. Once cool and firm, you can use miniature cookie cutters, a knife, or a toothpick to create and cutout your designs. It is recommended that you cut your designs when your soap is firm.

If your soap cutouts are extremely thin, they will curl. Should you desire that effect, pour your soap so you have a small thin sheet. If you do not want it to curl, pour your soap sheet so it is thicker.

If you don’t want the trouble of trying to keep to two cookie cutter sets separate, you can trace your design on paper or directly on the surface of your soap with a knife or toothpick. Then you can cut it out. TADA! Now you are already to put your cutouts in a bar of soap.

Don’t miss the blog tomorrow for how to place curls and cutouts in soap.

Soap Curls. Wow! Where should I begin? Soap curls are fun, elegant and most of all, simple! They are used as adornments in bars of soap. They can also be used as quick one time-use soap like the soap petals made yesterday. They are adorable!

You will need:

Vegetable peeler
Pre-poured bar of melt and pour soap

Make your soap. You will need to select a mold that will give you a bar the height of your desired curls. Color and fragrance soap as desired. Allow to firm completely. Look at your beautiful soap! Now we are ready to make our curls.

Hold your bar of soap in one hand. Run the vegetable peeler along a flat side of your bar of soap. The soap will begin to curl. The thinner you peel your soap, the more it will curl. Do not put excessive pressure on the peeler. You do not want to injure yourself.

If you want to show more color, you can stripe or swirl your soap curls bar of soap. You can make event specific curls by the colors you use. You can make orange curls for Halloween, green for Saint Patricks, or blue for the Fourth of July. Just make sure you use a pigment for coloring your soap. Dyes will migrate through your finished soap. Have fun! Your imagination is the limit!

Don’t miss making soap cutouts tomorrow and how to place curls and cutouts on Thursday and Friday of this week.

Collect needed supplies for making soap petals.

Supplies for both methods:
Silk Flower Petals
Transparent Melt & Pour Soap
Spoon
Transfer Pipette
Container for melting soap and dipping petals (It is okay to have more than one container)
Fragrance Oil of your choice (I will be using Wedding Blossoms Fragrance Oil.)
Old newspaper, parchment or waxed paper to collect any possible drips of soap.

Supplies for the first method:
Tweezers
Metal Cooling Racks or Baking Sheets lined with parchment

Supplies for the second method:
Needle
Thread
Tray for dipping petals
Place to hang cooling petals

Melt the desired amount of soap and then add fragrance oil. I am going to melt one pound of Transparent Melt & Pour Soap and for a moderate scent level, I will add 7 mL of Wedding Blossoms Fragrance Oil.

First Method:
Drop several silk petals into the melted soap and stir until the petals are completely coated with the soap. Using the tweezers pull the petals out of the soap and gently shake them to allow excess soap to fall off your soap petal. Place on the cooling rack or baking sheet and allow to cool. Repeat until all petals have been removed from the melted soap. Add more petals to the soap and repeat until the melted soap is gone or you need to reheat the soap again.

Second Method:
Thread the needle with doubled thread for strength and stability while dipping the silk petals. Thread the petals onto the needle and thread. Leave adequate spacing for the petals to cool without sticking to each other. Once the petals have been threaded onto the thread, remove the needle from the thread. Make sure you have left enough room on the thread to hang the thread on place you have designated for hanging the threaded petals.

Once the petals have been threaded, dip the petals into the melted soap in the tray. If your tray is not big enough for you to dip all of the petals at once, dip all sections of petals until all petals are coated. Hang the thread horizontally to allow the petals to cool. Repeat with other strings. Once the petals have cooled, remove them from the thread.

It doesn’t matter what method of dipping petals you used, you have now reached the same point. The soap petals are completely cooled and ready to be packaged. How would you package them? There are so many different options, so here are just a few.

1) Package in a clear gusseted bag and tie with ribbon or raffia.
2) Place in a small shallow glass dish or basket and shrink film the basket.
3) Fill a small jar with petals for traveling.

Another way you can jazz up your soap petals is to add some Silver Mica or Ultrafine Iridescent Glitter to the soap before you dip your petals!

Note:
We also decided to make red petals and we scented one pound of Transparent Melt & Pour Soap and for a moderate scent level, we added 7 mL of Endless Love Fragrance Oil. However, the red petals would bleed excess dye every time we dipped them.

Have fun!

Supplies and Ingredients
White Granulated Sugar
Grapeseed Oil
Lemon Sugar Fragrance Oil
Lemon USA Essential Oil
Spearmint Essential Oil
Container for mixing
Scale
Spoon
Transfer Pipettes
Containers and caps

Since Jordan wanted a Mint Lemonade Fragrance, I needed to blend a fragrance to match her desired scent. Her first idea was Lemon Sugar with a little Spearmint Essential Oil for the mint note. I made a test with 20 drops of Lemon Sugar and 1 drop of Spearmint in a Clear Glass Dram. After I let the blend sit for an hour, I smelled it and decided that we needed to add a sharp Lemon note, because the Lemon Sugar didn’t have the tang we wanted. I added 5 drops of Lemon USA, which is our sharper Lemon Essential Oil. That fixed my Lemon notes, but there was only one person on staff who could pick up a faint mint tone to the blend. I added 1 more drop of Spearmint. I still couldn’t smell mint so I started with a new Clear Glass Dram and added 20 drops of Lemon Sugar, 5 drops of Lemon USA, and 4 drops of Spearmint. The mint note was stronger and I could finally smell the mint. This blend was very polite and I thought it was very good. I still had to go back to the drawing board to see if 8 drops of Spearmint would overpower the Lemon or not. I got a new Clear Glass Dram and tested again! I added 20 drops of Lemon Sugar, 5 drops of Lemon USA, and 8 drops of Spearmint to this dram bottle and let it sit. Wow! This blend I think was the best! There was a great balance between the mint and lemon. We didn’t want the mint to overpower the lemon, which it can do easily.

Now I have a small dilemma. I need to fragrance a batch of sugar scrub, but I don’t want to sit here all day and count out drops of fragrance oil. This is when we converted the the drops to percentages.

Fragrance Blend in Percentages
60% Lemon Sugar Fragrance Oil
15% Lemon Essential Oil, USA
25% Spearmint Essential Oil

I needed to make 1 oz of the fragrance blend for scrub testing, so I usedthe percentages to calculate how much I needed to blend enough for 1 oz.

Fragrance Blend in Weight for 1 oz
0.60 ounces Lemon Sugar Fragrance Oil
0.15 ounces Lemon Essential Oil, USA
0.25 ounces Spearmint Essential Oil

During my testing several of the staff fell in love with this fragrance blend, so I was able to persuade the New Products team to come up with pricing for this yummy blend! I currently have a price of $4.50 for 1 fl oz of the Jordan’s Mint Lemonade blend. We will release this blend shortly, so if you can’t wait you can blend it yourself. If you want us to blend this for you, check our New Products section.

Now the fragrance has been blended, we can work on making the scrub. Jordan is planning on using Grapeseed Oil as the oil in her scrub, so we just need to mix a scrub that meets our requirements. We started with 8 ounces of Grapeseed Oil and then I started adding sugar and stirring until I had a very thick sugar scrub. I ended up using 16 ounces of sugar, which means that our sugar and oil ratio is 2:1. This ratio is one of the easiest ratios to work with on sugar scrubs.

The recipe and complete directions are below.

Scrub Recipe
8 oz Grapeseed Oil
16 oz White Granulated Sugar
.24 ounces of Mint Lemonade Blend (Using the fragrance oil at a 1% rate)

Weigh the oil into the mixing container. With recipes that you weigh like this, I like to add my fragrance oil to the fixed oils before I add the sugar. Now, add the sugar and stir thoroughly. Fill containers with mixed scrub. Stir the scrub mixture frequently while filling the jars to keep an evenly filled jar.

This recipe makes about 16 fluid ounces of sugar scrub. I used a 2 oz jar for my container and I filled 8 jars.

Next week is all about finishing up the Mother’s Day Gift Baskets!

I’m once of those M&P soapers that gets jealous over the swirled soaps we made for the Cold Process Soap Week. I couldn’t stay jealous, so I decided to resolve the issue and make a swirled soap for M&P soap.

Collect needed items:
White Melt and Pour Soap
Transparent Melt and Pour Soap
Blackberry Sage Fragrance Oil
Brick Red Color
Big Bar Soap Mold
2 Containers for melting soap
Transfer Pipette
Straw or chopstick for stirring
Mixing Spoon
Measuring Spoon

In one container, measure a small amount of White Melt and Pour Soap (approximately 3 oz). Melt this soap. In the other container, melt the Transparent Melt and Pour Soap (approximately 13 oz). Once the soap is melted in both containers, add 1 mL of Blackberry Sage Fragrance Oil to the White Melt and Pour Soap, and add 4 mL of Blackberry Sage Fragrance Oil to the Transparent Melt and Pour Soap. Pour the large amount of Transparent Melt and Pour Soap into the mold, leaving some space left for the colored soap. Stir the soap while it is in the mold, so it can be cooler for the colored soap. If it is too hot, the soap will not swirl correctly. Add 1/4 teaspoon of Brick Red Color to the White Melt and Pour Soap. Stir in the color. Once the color is completely mixed into the soap, pour half into each bar mold and swirl the color with the straw. Allow to cool and then remove from the mold and cut.

Notes:
If the soap is too hot, it will mix together and you won’t have defined swirls.

Next week is all about fun with Lotion! Head to toe moisturizing and enjoying it!

Soap #1
Eucalyptus Spearmint Light Luffa Soap

Transparent Melt and Pour Soap
Eucalyptus Spearmint Fragrance Oil
Ground Luffa Fiber
Blue and Yellow Colors from January 12 2009
Oval Soap Mold
Container for melting soap
Transfer Pipette
Mixing Spoon
Measuring Spoon

Melt the Transparent Melt and Pour soap. I usually take about 2 ½ minutes in the microwave for the or 1 pound of soap I’m melting. Once the soap is mostly melted, stir the soap to melt the small chunks still in the soap. This is done to prevent the soap from getting too hot and making it so you possibly burn yourself. Once the soap is melted, add 3 drops of Blue color and 2 drops of Yellow color. Stir in color and mix until soap is colored. Add 4 mL of Eucalyptus Spearmint Fragrance Oil. Add 1/2 teaspoon of the ground luffa and stir in to the soap. Pour into the Oval Soap Mold. I had 1 ounce left after filling the molds, so I filled a small heart from the Bath Fizzy Hearts post on April 1st. Allow the soap to cool and then pop the soap out of the molds. Tada! The soap is now ready to use.

This problem can be solved by making a Blooming Bath Oil. What is a Blooming Bath Oil? A Blooming Bath Oil is a bath oil that has an emulsifier mixed with the oil, so the oil mixes with the water instead of floating on the top of the tub! This bath oil will separate into layers, so you just need to shake it up before pouring into the tub. Think of a vinaigrette salad dressing, because the oil and vinegar must be mixed together before pouring over your salad. Who would want just oil on their salad when they were expecting the vinaigrette mixture? This is how a Blooming Bath Oil works, because you don’t want just oil in your tub.

Today we are going to make a Blooming Bath Oil with Sesame Oil and Polysorbate 20. I’m using the Sesame Oil because it is an oil that is light on the skin, yet rich in great nutrients for the skin. The Polysorbate 20 is going to be used because it not likely to foam very much.

Collect needed items:
Polysorbate 20 (You can use Polysorbate 80 if you desire)
Sesame Oil
Fragrance or Essential Oil of your choice (I’m going to use Rose Fragrance Oil)
Scale
Beaker or other container for mixing (optional)
Containers for finished product (I used the 2 oz Clear PET Oval Bottle, Size 20 and 20 mm Black Non Dispensing Caps)

Recipe
1 ounce of Polysorbate 20
4 ounces of Sesame Oil
.06 ounces Rose Fragrance Oil

Weigh all ingredients into mixing container, or if you wish, you can weigh directly into a bottle of your choice. Stir ingredients together if you measured into a mixing container or you can cap and shake the bottle if you filled a bottle.

Notes:
If you don’t want to use Sesame Oil but you want to use a light oil, I would recommend giving Rice Bran Oil a try.

These Blooming Bath Oils will be included in the Mother’s Day Gift Baskets!

Next week is all about fun with Melt & Pour soap! Swirls, toys, shapes and curls! Great fun for an afternoon with the kids or for some peaceful time by yourself.

Collect your needed items:
Scale
Citric Acid
Baking Soda
Cornstarch
Fragrance Oil (I’m going to use Strawberries & Champagne.)
Purple Raspberry Spray Color made on January 19 2009.
Plain water spray
Silicone heart mold
Metal mixing bowl and metal spoon
4 x6 flat bags
ribbon

First things first.  We need to WEIGH these ingredients.  In the past we have used recipes that were done by volume, but this recipe is different.  Use your scale. If you are struggling with getting a scale, then email us for some hints.  Choosing a good scale isn’t hard, once you know what to look for.

I have now weighed the citric acid, baking soda, and cornstarch.  Mix gently with the metal spoon.

Add the fragrance oil and mix to break up all clumps.  This mixture must be a free-flowing powder before we start adding color and water.

Mist lightly with the plain water bottle.  Two to four sprays should be plenty.  We are trying to add enough water to the dry chemicals so we can compress them into the mold, we don’t want to start the fizzing reaction just yet.  Stir, or fold over, the powder to mix thoroughly and not create a dust cloud in your kitchen.

Let’s spray again.  Stir gently.

This time we will spray color.  Two to four sprays are plenty.  Mix again.  We will continue in this process of adding color or plain water to the mixture just until the whole mixture is slightly damp.  The mixture should hold together when tightly compressed.  (See the clod in my hand?)

Let’s press into the mold.  Use the back of a spoon or a tamper to compress this powder completely.  Each mold was filled with 2 tablespoons of dry/damp mixture before tamping begins.

We are using a silicone mold so removal is easy as pie.  Leave the tamped hearts to dry overnight.

In the morning we remove the mold and…. Viola!  Our hearts are ready for packaging.

I have used the 4*6 flat bags for packaging these hearts.  I have now tied with a ribbon yarn.

Now wasn’t that easy?

Notes:
If you don’t want to press the mixture into molds, you can press the mixture into a tablespoon and then lightly tap the tablespoon into your hand to release it. You can make multiple half ball fizzies and set them aside to dry where they won’t be bothered.

Next week is all about fun with Melt & Pour soap! Swirls, toys, shapes and curls! Great fun for an afternoon with the kids or for some peaceful time by yourself.

Collect needed items:
1- gallon Bubble Bath Base
1- fl oz Tahitian Vanilla Fragrance Oil
1- 38 mm pump for gallon jug
Bottle of Yellow color from January 12 2009
Containers of your choice (I’m using the 2 oz MDPE Bottles size 20 with Black Disk Top Caps in Size 20)

Remove the foil liner on the Bubble Bath Base. Empty 1 fl oz bottle of Tahitian Vanilla Fragrance Oil into base and add 3 drops of color. Cap the gallon jug and shake. Once the fragrance and color have been thoroughly mixed into the base, we are now ready to fill our containers. Fill the containers and cap.

Now that your bubble bath is finished, fill the tub with water and have a grand time!

Next week is all about fun with Melt & Pour soap! Swirls, toys, shapes and curls! Great fun for an afternoon with the kids or for some peaceful time by yourself.