Giving Pink Zebra Products a try!

"Pink Zebra"

A good friend of mine recently became a Pink Zebra consultant and hosted an online FB party. I had never heard of Pink Zebra before this and since it was my first time I was very curious about their products, so I attended the party.

I am so glad that I did!!

Well let me tell you they have way more to offer than those pretty pink boxes, which I totally love.
I ended up ordering the Silver Mercury Simmering Lights wax warmer, some wax sprinkles and a bottle of Soak (which is a fragrance spray for your home, car etc.)

 The Silver Mercury simmering lights wax warmer is just Gorgeous, once it is plugged in and all lit up!!  I put about 1 TBLS. of Toasted Marshmallow sprinkles in it and the aroma was very pleasant! Can't wait to try out the other sprinkle scents as well.

 If you have never gave "Pink Zebra" a try you may want to do so, I think you will be very pleased !

Oh, and "Praisly" the Pink Zebra (Stuffed Plush)  is just the most darling thing ever !!! I am thinking that I may just order one on my next purchase!

 Here are a couple of  "Pink Zebra consultants if you would like to give it a try, just follow the links below:

https://www.pinkzebrahome.com/sprinklingdots/Order.asp?PartyID=233973

Or just click on the following link and request to join Dots very own group...
"SPRINKLING DOTS"   https://m.facebook.com/groups/120060388674300

Or contact Eva: Pink Zebra, Independent Consultant- Scents In Style

 Have you tried "Pink Zebra", If so what products did you like?

Soap Making Resources

My Favorite Soap Making Resources

There are many different calculators online, one can choose from.
Some of my favorites are below:

My favorite calculator for making bar soaps:   https://www.brambleberry.com/Pages/Lye-Calculator.aspx

Favorite calculator for making Liquid soap: http://soapcalc.net/calc/soapcalcWP.asp

Favorite calculator for making Cream Soap: http://www.summerbeemeadow.com/content/advanced-calculator-solid-cream-or-liquid-soaps

Summer Bee Meadow Soapmaking Calculators - will transfer to the new website at sbmcrafters.com once the site is up and running

Fragrance Calculator:  https://www.brambleberry.com/Pages/Fragrance-Calculator.aspx

My favorite soap making suppliers:

For molds & etc.          https://www.brambleberry.com/
For oils & Additives:  https://www.naturesgardencandles.com/
For soap making oils: https://www.soaperschoice.com/product-list-2  
All kinds of things: http://makeityourself.com/


Soap making forums:

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/

http://www.teachsoap.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=5


A few of my Favorite Soapy Blogs:

http://www.lovinsoap.com/blog/

https://auntieclaras.com/blog/

https://www.soapqueen.com/


Favorite Books:

Simple & Natural Soapmaking by: Jan Berry

Liquid Soapmaking by: Jackie Thompson

Favorite Ebooks:

Cream Soap Naturally:
http://www.creamsoapnaturally.com/cart/cream-soap-naturally-pdf-ebook-p-1.html http://www.lovinsoap.com/product-category/books-ebooks/

What are some of your favorite soapy places?

Safe Lye Handling, Precautions!!

Safe Lye Handling, Precautions!!

Lye is a caustic material and must be handled with care. Please follow the safe handling precautions when working with and handling lye.
 The following safty precautions apply when using both Sodium Hydroxide (for making bar soap) or Potassium Hydroxide (for Liquid soap making).

1.) Always wear your protective gear when handling or working with Lye.
gogles or face shield, gloves (Nitrile,Latex or rubber), long sleeves, long pants, shoes (No open toes). An apron is also nice to wear. I like ones with big pockets. A soap makers hat is a nice addition as well.

2.) Mix lye solution in a heavy duty plastic #6 container or in stainless steel (NEVER use glass and NEVER use aluminum when soap making) Stir your  lye solution with a rubber heat resistant spatula or a stainless steel utensil. The container used to mix lye solution in should always be maked with an "X" and read "Caustic" to prevent other from touching the container/lye solution and hopefully prevent accidents.

3.) DO NOT breath in lye fumes!!
Always work in a ventilated area when working with any type of lye or when mixing  your lye solution. Mixing lye solution under a running exhaust fan on your stove is a good idea. Leaving a window open works as well.
You could also mix your lye solution outdoors, then bring it in and set it in the sink or in a safe place until ready to use.

4.) Always add Lye to the water.
NEVER EVER add water to the lye, because this can create a volcano effect and burn you.
When i first started out making soap, my soap teacher helded us to remember by telling us to remember that "Snow falls on the Lake"..  Meaning you add your lye to your water and never the other way around.
(Use cold water or room temperture water, NEVER use hot water)

5.) Keep a spray bottle of White Vinegar beside you when your using lye.
Vinegar neutralizes lye.
If you have a spill (and I certainly hope you do not) spray some vinegar on the spill to neutralize it before you clean it up.
DO NOT, Neutralize lye on your skin!!! I
If you get a splash of lye on your skin rinse immediately under cold running water for 15-20 minutes. After that wash area well with warm soapy water and rinse well. Then you can spray the vinegar on your skin if you feel the need.
 If lye splashes you in the eye (hopefully this will not happen and you are wearing gogles) flush eye out immediately with cold water for 20 minutes.

* If you want to be on the safe side please call poison control and/or go see your medical Care provider.

6.) Keep out of reach of children & pets.
Please make sure children and pets are in another room out of the way when you are handling and working with lye. They could get under your feet and cause serious injury to themself or to you...

7.) Obtain and print out a (MSDS) Material Safty Data Sheet from your supplier for the type of lye that you are using in case of emergency. Keep a copy of this print out and the number to Poison Control by your telephone.

8.) Storing Lye:
Always store your lye in a cool, dark, SAFE place away from children & pets.

9.) Always run your soap recipe through a lye calculator to make sure it is accurate, No matter where the recipe came from.

10.) Always use a good working scale (make sure it is calerbrated right) to weight your ingredients.

Traditional Cream Soap

100% Pure Traditional Cream Soap

  Hello all, I thought I would talk a little bit about Cream Soap today!

 When I was attending Soap Making School, my teacher taught us to make Cream Soap using bar soaps. It turned out really nice but I then was determined to venture out on my own and learn just how to make the Traditional Cream Soap from scratch (With out the addition of using bar soaps)

 I ended up doing a lot of research but there was just not much out there on the subject. I had tried to join the Cream Soap yahoo group but they pick n choose who is allowed in and who is not and I was denied, go figure. As I kept researching I finally decided to dive in and just do it so that's just what I did!

 Below is a picture of my first cream soap that I made from scratch.

Our Cream Soap is nice and creamy, very luxurious and gentle on the skin, this soap has become all three of my daughters favorite soap. They request scrubs and face washes made with it often. Everybody who tries it just loves it!

 I see there are some really good videos on youtube on cream soap making now, some even with recipes. I also found a great ebook called Cream Soap Naturally (A Reference Guid For Formulators) and purchased it and so glad I did. There is a lot of information in it to be had, so if you are interested in making cream soaps I highly recommend this ebook you can find it at the link below:

http://www.creamsoapnaturally.com/cart/shippinginfo.html

 The E-book covers the Hot Oven Method of cooking the cream soap which I have still never done. I always cook my cream soaps in a crockpot or on the stove top. I also give my cream soap a 3-6 month rot period. (The rot period is like giving a bar soap a cure period, it helps it to relax and to get more gentle with time.) It will also get a really nice sheen to it!

 Since making my first cream soap (years ago), I have made many other batches. I am still always tweeking and seeing just what I can and can not do with cream soap making. Cream Soap is very versatile and difficult to ruin.

 You can make cream soaps for different skin types by carefully selecting your oils and your additives. You are only limited by your own imagination.

 Hopefully this post helps somebody out there get the information they need for making and formulating your own cream soap.

Soap Dough Cold Process Soap

Great Cakes Soap Challenge Club 2017

We are making Soap Dough Creations !!!

"My Lil Sheep"

Hmmm, What is Soap Dough you ask?

Soap Dough is a moldable, plyable dough that is made from a specialial formulated Cold Process recipe. Anything you can create with polymer clay (or fondant!), you can create with soap dough. After you create your Soap Dough creation, you give it some time and  it will harden just like any bar soap does.

Ever since I spotted Bea Iyata book "Enchanted Book of Peculiar Ideas and Soap Potions" and purchased it long ago, I knew I really wanted to give the Soap Dough creations a try but then I never got around to it. If you would like a good read, I sugest that you head on over to https://sorcerysoaps.com/collections/books  and pick you up one. You will be glad you did for sure, it's a fabulous book. I also had to have her second book of "Light and Shadow" as well!

Oh, ok back to the challenge.

Our guest teacher for this months challenge is Tatiana Serko of Creative Soap by Steso. Tatiana is a great Artist, Soap maker and Soap Teaher, that is just to name a few things amoung all the other things she does so well. If you haven't seen Tatianas' work go on over to  her website and check her, she does very impressive work to say the least!

For this Soap Challenge we don't have to create a practical soap, Amy told us to just create whatever is beautiful!

The Guidlines for this challenge were as follows:

1. We were to use a bar of Cold Process Soap that we had already made months earlier and use that as the base for our Soap dough creation. Soap bar was able to be any size or shape that we wanted and we had to make the Soap Dough ourselves.
2. We could use small non soap embellishments (for eyes) if needed.
3. Everybody could submit one entry into voted or juied categories.
4. The Soap entered must have been made after registration for this contest opened.
5. Entry photo must be from one batch only and have neutral background. No props, people in it and the only adjustments that can be made is lighting and color may be made only to the point of getting the best pic of what your soap looks like in real life. No other adjustmentsare allowed.

We could mimic Tatianas' Dragons Eye soap (Which is beyond Impressive) she created for the class but there was no way that I was ready for something like that, so I set out to figure out just what I though I just might be able to do.

I really wanted to create something that was truely my design instead of trying to mimic anybody so the thought process took me like forever. I though of so many things but I decided to try to create a "My Lil Sheep" so thats what I did and this is what I entered into the challenge.

Soap Dough:

For Soap Dough: I used Ronda Scorpios' recipe. It is listed in her Facebook group "Soap by Kick it up a Notch" and on her blog https://rondascorpio.blogspot.ca/2017/05/how-to-make-play-dough-cp-soap-videos.html if you would like to give it a try. It's a very good recipe but I had a little problem with it being sticky but I am sure that was an error on my part somewhere. It's very nice soap though!Dusting it with cornstarch would of helped I am sure.

I didn't have the ingredients for Tatianas' Soap Dough Recipe #4, but when the ingredience came in I rushed to my Soap Room and made me a batch. Then I came down sick and didn't get to play with it much yet except for rolling it into balls and fiddling around just a smidge. I am loving the feel and the suds of the Soap Dough though!
                                  
                                     Tatiana's Soap Dough Recipe before rolling into balls

Tatiana's Soap Dough Recipe after rolling into balls, They are nice White in color, but my lighting was not cooperating with me.

Colors :

I used Activated Charcoal from Brambleberry for the Black face.
Titanium Dioxide for the locks on the body.
Light Blue Mica for the Eyes
Pink Mica for the Bow.

I started my project out with an experimental bar of  un-coloured Ghost Swirl Soap that I just had to make after reading about it on Auntie Clara's blog . Totally love her blog, it's so hard not to spend hours and hours there reading all the interesting, Kool things she does.

I smeared a little soap dough over the un-coloured Ghost Swirl Soap bar and rolled me some little peices of the white soap dough until I thought it kinda looked like locks of wool. Next I glued the tiny pieced down with Distilled water/soap paste mixture, Boy was that ever a lot of pieces LOL.

I then rolled a ball of Black soap dough and formed her head the best that I could.
Then I finished placing pieces of white around the neck, face area until that was all done.
I let her dry for a day, then I gave her a little pink bow on the top of the ear. (Now, that I look at her in the picture though the bow looks like it could of been a bit smaller even)

I had a lot of fun with this project and will be doing a lot more with soap dough in the future. I haven't played with Play dough in so many years so I am a little (ok, A lot) rusty. I guess that just gives me an excuss to play more !  * NOTE TO SELF, Hide this blog post from my Dear Husband !!!

Thank you Tatiana for teaching this class and for the fabulous Tutorial and recipes.
I also want to

Thank You as well Amy for hosting the Soap Challenge Club and all that you do for us, You are totally Awesome! x

2017 Greatcakes Soap Challenge Secret Feather Swirl

March 2017 Secret feather swirl, hosted by Amy Warden

~ All Natural Soap ~

Hello fellow Soapers & all,

Well since I missed the last two challenges, I was determined to get a soap made to enter this month. Sometimes things just get a moving a little to fast and I'm left to wander where did all that time go. Anyway, I'm always up for some fun and learning new swirling techniques!!!

Below are the Soap Challenge Rules for this challenge:

1. Soap must be made in a log mold and made using the Cold Process method.

2. Soap design should feature the secret feather swirl or the reverse feather swirl (or both)

Non-soap embellishments  limited to natural or synthetic colorants and body safe glitter.

We can use additives that enhance the performance or recipe of our soap that may not be seen such as an alternate liquid for your lye solution, sodium lactate, silk etc. but not the texture of the soap.

3. It was our choice  to submit our soap into the all-natural or the synthetic category.

If we entered our soap in the all-natural category, it could not contain any synthetic ingredients at all. 

A list of the ingredients as you would list them on the soap label is required for all entries in the all-natural category.

4. Our soap must be made after the registration has opened.

5. Soap photo you choose to upload to the link-up should feature soap from one batch only and picture should have a neutral background. No people or props in it. The only adjustments that can be made is lighting and color can be made to better represent what the soap actually looks like in real life. No editing photos to alter the soaps appearance.

Category:
I decided to make an All-Natural soap

My choice of oils were:

Avocado oil, Coconut oil, Palm oil, and Castor oil.

Additives used:

Sugar, cream, Kaolin Clay, paprika and cocoa powder

Color Pallet:

I used Cocoa Powder for the Brown color and for the Orange color I used Paprika.

Essential Oils:

Orange and Patchouli

Mold used:

BB's Tall & skinny log mold, with handmade cardboard dividers

Secret Feather swirl technique

The “secret feather swirl” - Was named this because the swirl is not revealed until the soap is cut. There are several different variations that can be created  by changing  the colors of the feather and the thickness of the pour

I chose the variation that keeps the feathers all one color.

1. I brought the soap batter to an emulsion and started to soap at around 90 degree F.

2. Poured a little Brown colored soap base into the bottom of my mold

3. Then I put the dividers in the mold so it was divided into 1/3rds.

4. I then poured 2 stripes of orange soap batter, then I poured another layer of the Brown base color over the orange and continued in this manor until my orange colored soap was almost gone. After that I poured a top layer of Brown soap batter.

5. ,I then took my hanger tool (well, gear tie in my case) and pushed it straight down in the middle of the mold (touching the bottom.)  Next I pulled the hanger tool towards me straight across the bottom and straight up the side of the mold and out the top.

6. I then finished the top of the soap loaf, Taped it to release any air bubbles, lightly sprayed it with alcohol and put it to bed to rest.

7. after 24 HRS I cut the soap into bars. I should of waited a while longer though because the soap was a little too soft still and left drag lines.

I am trying to ignore those tiny white spots (Soda Ash)  on the soap bars.

Soap Label Info: 

Avocado oil, Palm oil, Coconut oil, Water, Sodium Hydroxide, Castor oil, Cream, Essential oils: Orange & Patchouli, Kaolin Clay, Sugar, Cocoa Powder, Paprika

My thoughts:

1. Next time I will start pouring the soap batter at just the slightest sign of a trace. (to avoid the soap batter  thickening up so much while I pour).

2. It also may have worked out better, had I had a smaller diameter of hanger tool as well.
3. I also would like to get a taller, Tall & Skinny Mold too, I think a longer bar would look great with this technique.

 If any fellow Soapers used a Tall & Skinny mold for this technique, I would love to hear your thoughts.
Over all I am pretty please with my first “secret feather swirl” soap. I don't think it turned out all the bad but needs some more practice for sure. I have found that it's a little more harder than it first appeared.

Have you done a “secret feather swirl” or one of the variations ? If so, I would love to hear about it.

Thank you for stopping by to read my blog and commenting !

Greatcakes Soap Challenge 2016 - Tiger Stripe Technique Modified

December 2016 - Soap challenge - hosted by Amy Warden

Peppermint Candy Twist

Challenge Rules:

All soaps must be made by the Cold Process method.

The majority of our soap must feature the Tiger Stripe technique. (Amy will be looking for those fine lines)

We  have the option to manipulate the soap after we pour our soap into our log mold but it must still be apparent that there are stripes throughout the soap.

Our soap must be  2 colors or more and cut normally, in vertical slices.

We may submit a photo from (1) batch only with the  only editing being for lighting and color adjustments to best represent what the soap looks like in real life.

Oils Used:

Olive oil, Coconut oil, Palm oil, Sweet Almond oil, Castor oil.

Additives used:

Kaolin Clay, Colloidal Oatmeal

Color Pallet:

White - Titanium Dioxide
Red -  A blend of Merlot Mica + Electric Bubble Gum
Purple - Electric Bubble Gum and Pink Oxide (I was going for just a light pink and was surprised with the purple)

Essential Oil:

Peppermint

Tiger Stripe Technique:

I lined my log mold, prepared my lye solution and sat it  off to the side to cool.

I heated the oils while the lye solution was cooling, then I added my additives into my oils and mixed them in well.

When my Lye solution was about 85 degree F I started to soap.

I poured my Lye solution into my oils and brought it to emulsion.

Then I divided it out into 3 containers evenly (by eyeballing)

Added my colors into each container and stirred each container to light trace.

I then layered a line of each color down in the middle of the mold the full length of my mold, alternating between colors. When I reached the top, I poured the rest of my white soap batter on the top and evened it out.

Then I took a spoon and  I started manipulating the soap. I tried to only go down about 1/2 way into the mold with my spoon. I just took the spoon put it in the soap and twisted the spoon then put it in another spot and twisted it the opposite direction and continued in that pattern until I went along the whole mold (one side to the other side) and crossed my fingers that it didn't ruin my Tiger Stripe to much.  :)

This is my first time doing the  Tiger Stripe technique.

Since I manipulated it I feel that I should go and make the Basic  Tiger Stripe soon without any kind of manipulation at all.

Thanks Amy for another fun Challenge.