IMPRESSION MAT SOAP CHALLENGE - THREE WISE MEN SOAP

This month's challenge was about using impression mats to texture your soap. The mats could be store bought, like the ones used to decorate cakes, or made with silicone. I lacked the time to make my own or the money to buy the ready made ones, so I used some tiny ones that I already had from another of my crafty areas of interest: polymer clay.

I initially thought of a really tiny one I have that fitted perfectly across one of the cavities of the half cylinder silicone mould. 

 

But I thought making 120 gr. of soap was not right, so I decided to make moulds for another couple of those mini impression mats.   

   

For all three of them I used the dry mica painting method:

Next time I will try to the other method, that is making the soap in two stages, first filling the concave areas of the impression mat with thick traced soap, and then placing that at the bottom of the mould and filling it up with the rest of the soap. The results of this method can be astounding, but I'm afraid I will have to exercise a lot more patience than I normally have, because I tend to ruin a lot of soap by unmoulding too early :-(  and I suspect you need to wait quite a bit to avoid leaving half the soap behind in the mat.... or maybe try to bypass the waiting by adding a fair bit of salt ;-) We'll see.

Anyway, here are the results of my attemps. The first one is very much in the Christmas spirit, scented with a blend of frankincense and myhrr essential oils and a bit of sweet orange to brighten it up (I'm not a huge fan of myhrr and like to tone it down). Coloured with activated charcoal and having the mat dry painted with gold mica, for me it just embodies the gifts presented to baby Jesus by the Three Wise Men.

The next one was coloured with lovely pink ultramarine, but I made the rookie mistake of including orange x10 in the blend, which of course turned the soap batter orange :P . But the next day it had morphed to a quite lovely salmon colour, so I'm fine with that, plus I think it's a good match for the antique silver mica I used on the mat.

And the third one is a more colourful one. I don't think it is a particularly good looking soap, but I'm happy because it meant I made peace with indigo. It is not the blue jeans blue I've always tried to achieve with indigo and failed miserably because the soap either turned an ugly dark grey or stained when used. This time I used indigo that I had been infusing in light olive oil for weeks. I knew it would not be the dark blue I've seen in other soaps and loved, but I quite like this hue and I already have a couple of projects in my mind where I will be using it. Btw, the line in the middle is not a mica line, but a very fine soap line made with leftover soap from the first one coloured with activated charcoal.

    

I feel the photos do not do justice to the Three Wise Men soap, but I have decided it will be my entry for this month's challenge because it's my personal favourite out of the three.*** 

So... It's a good thing I got up early this Sunday morning! Oh, the joys of time difference. 6:20 am my local time and I wake up to an email from Amy that my soap entry does not comply with the guidelines because it hasn't been made in a log or slab mold. With about half an hour left all I can do is hope for the tiny molds I made for the other impression mats, even though small, to be considered as such. So I change my entry to my salmon coloured soap, which I honestly have not thought of a name for yet. This is as much as I can do at the moment. Good luck everyone!

Thanks everyone! Every month I learn so much from you and I never cease to be amazed by all the talent out there.

Cheers!

Anna 

AUSSIE CHRISTMAS

I must admit that it is being REALLY difficult for me to get into the Christmas spirit this year. I am not used to Christmas in the summer. Before this year, I had only spent one Christmas in the southern hemisphere. That was almost 15 years ago and I was on holidays.

This year is different. I'm supposed to be thinking about Santa's loot for my kids at the same time I am trying to manage the end of the school year activities, special excursions, concerts, assemblies, fund risers, you name it, for four kids. Four kids who haven't even made their list to Santa yet because for them too this feels like June.... I hope this will change after we get our tree this week, although I still feel more like going to the beach than decorating a Christmas tree to be honest.

Anyway, with some discipline and the help of a calendar reminding me of the actual month of the year, I still managed to squeeze in a couple of Christmas inspired soaps. The first one I have called Aussie Christmas because, other than for the obvious reasons, I have used eucalyptus essential oil to scent it -rather than pine or fir needle- to honour the place that is now my home. But I couldn't help but adding some clove as well for a bit of warm Christmassy feeling. The colours do the rest.

The second one is part of my own tradition of making a candy cane inspired soap every Christmas. Each one has been different, both in formula and design, but I scent them all with a blend of peppermint and spearmint essential oils and colour them in red and white.

I might or might not write another post before Christmas so, just in case, Merry Christmas to y'all!!!

Anna

OCTOBER 2015 SOAP CHALLENGE - ALTERNATIVE LIQUIDS

It's been a very long time since I last participated in one of Amy Warden's soap challenges. The last few months have been kind of crazy. First acting as a de facto single mum of 4 for almost a year, then a transcontinental move to be reunited again with husband and father, and then settling down and starting a life all over again. So I guess soaping became less of a priority.

But I'm SO HAPPY to be back again.  

I now live in an area where the main produce are bananas and blueberries, and they go really nicely with coconut milk, so that would have been my firt option. But I don't know why I had in my head that we had to use a liquid that we had never used before. I must have missunderstood, but because of this I automatically ruled out just about all the animal and vegetable milks, as well as yogurt, beer, coffee, teas and aloe vera juice. (Yes, I love alternative liquids in my soaps). Don't have a juicer at the moment and didn't want to buy commercial vegetable juice, so I had to find something else.

I was determined to somehow link this challenge with the community where I live now, and that's when I remembered an awsome local small business than makes some mean ginger beer. They even have a blueberry flavored one, but unfortunately they were out when I went last week, so I had to settle for Grumpy's Double Shot Chilli ginger beer.  

Belonging to the same family as turmeric and cardamom, ginger has been widely used in cooking and medicine for thousands of years, especially in Asia. I lived in China for many years and that's where I learned my go to remedy at the early signs of a cold: crash some fresh ginger root and make an infusion. It has never failed me. You should try it!

The list of health benefits asociated with ginger is really long, so I will only name a couple with links to articles that mention a few more.

Ginger is a known anti-emetic, meaning it prevents vomiting, and it can help aleviate nausea caused by morning sickness or motion sickness. Also, thanks to its compound gingerol, ginger has been found to have anti-inflamatory properties, which in turn bring pain relief. 

But, can you get all those great benefits from ginger beer also? Well, apparently, some commercial ginger beers don't even contain any real ginger but ginger flavouring. Of course, that is not the case of Grumpy's, which is made by steeping real ginger. So my guess is you could reap some of the health benefits of ginger by drinking this awsome beverage. But most of those health benefits are asociated with taking ginger internally. And we're not going to eat the soap we made with it.   

However.... this beer is brewed for weeks, and the carbonated effect is obtained by adding yeast. And yeast has been known to have multiple skin benefits. Double win. 

Also, when used on the skin, ginger can stimulate circulation and soothe burns. So we could asume that the ginger contained in the beer is being applied on the skin when we use this soap. Still, at the level of concentration we're talking about here, I think it is safer to just consider this ingredient for its label appeal.

But to enhance all the above properties, I scented the soap with ginger essential oil in a blend with pink grapefruit and bergamot. Since ginger is also a reputed aphrodisiac, I decided to add some ylang ylang as well to create a synergy. It smells a-mazing, kind of like ginger beer, really. 

As for the process, first I let the beer go flat, but I didn't boil it because it's a non-alcoholic beer. I probably could have added the lye straight, but I chose to froze the beer first, as I do with any other liquid that is not just plain distilled water. I feel that avoiding the high temperatures better preserves the qualities, but then again, I'm sure saponification and a high ph does destroy a lot... so all I'm doing is minimizing the damage, I think. 

Another challenge within the challenge for me was the natural colourants. I have experimented with some, and actually have a  limited collection of them, but they are not my thing yet. Me and indigo are definitely not friends. And I hate the way spirulina turns brown with time. I was out of clays so, ... what to do? Well, might as well try some hot paprika, to continue with the chilli theme of the beer. Not the same thing, but close enough cousins. I really like the peachy orange colour and I decided to add the powder straight to the soap batter because I think the speckles add a certain rustic look that match nicelly with an all-natural soap. For the design I went for a simple two colour dandelion zebra swirl, a technique that is no stranger to this soap challenge.

And that's it. Thank you all so much for stopping by. 

To my fellow members of the Club, thank you for sharing your knowledge and expertise. You are all trully inspiring. 

Anna 

THE HAPPY HIPPIE

I so wish I was one of those soapmakers that have, or at least appear to have, total control of the process. They have a plan, they set out to carry it through and everything flows. 

For me, however, soaping still has a life of its own sometimes. And this was one of those times. But hey, maybe I shouldn't be so hard on myself, after all I was trying a new techique for the first time and, guess what, something else came out! Still, I quite like the result. 

Colourful, zesty and earthy. Scented, with a blend of citrus oils and patchouli, hence the name. 

Until next post!

A.

MEMORY LANE

The scent of this soap takes me back home to the Mediterranean. With essential oils of lavender, rosmary and bay laurel it would be hard not to.

The olive oil portion is 100% infused with rosmary lovingly grown and kindly donated by one of my neighbours. I infused the oil the traditional way, over the course of more than 40 days, caressed by sunlight and moonlight.

It also features cruelty-free tussah silk, which is becoming a regular ingredient in my soaps.

Bye now!

A.

IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE

This soap smells seductive, very feminine, and floral without being overly sweet. I also added some cruelty-free tussah silk fibres for a more slippery and luxurious feel.

It inspires me of passion and dreamy romance, so I decided to call it after Wong Kar-Wai's delicate movie. All I have to do is sniff it and I hear the slow, longing music of the movie's soundtrack. 

Until next post!

A.

RORSCHACH TEST

I love using all types of milks and yogurt in soap. This one features a very generous amount of greek yogurt as a partial water replacement.

What do you see in the two soaps of the first row put side by side? I see the face of a mystic creature. Maybe it was the Soap God that showed himself to me, hahaha! Pity the Photography God did not make his appearance this time :-(  

The tiny black speckles are poppy seeds. It is scented with a blend of essential oils, predominantly cedarwood and rosmary, which in my book is kind of a manly smell. Unfortunately, it was not ready for Father's Day here in Australia.

Pictured bellow are some of the washclothes that I crochet. Funny the large number of fellow soapers out there that also like to crochet, I wonder why that is. 

Bye now!

A.

PURPLE RAIN (and a few thoughts on palm oil)

"I only want to see you bathing in the purple rain"

Prince

Since coming to Oz I've decided to take the plunge and go palm oil free. When in Spain, I was always using what I purchased as sustainable organic palm oil, but somehow I felt the production and manufacturing process could not be entirely traced and, therefore, my mind was not at peace. 

There is a lot of conflicting information about palm oil and the way it is commercialized. Some suppliers say they carry 'Ecocert certified organic palm oil' but, does that mean it is also sustainable? For me, sutainable means forest and animal friendly as well as respectful of farmer's rights. Some others say that they source from Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) members. And that's a good start, but the RSPO itself has several standards. These range from 100% sustainable, with the recommendation that companies should aim at this (but, remember, this is only a recommendation), to what they call 'GreenPalm', which is untraced palm oil with a trading scheme to support equivalent certified sustainable production. And in between you can find the compromise solution of the 'mass balance certified sustainable palm oil' (a mix of certified and uncertified palm oil). So, if I'm buying from someone who sources from an RSPO member, which palm oil am I actually buying? For a very small scale soaper like me it is hard to obtain an accurate answer. I bet for some of those well-intentioned suppliers an accurate answer is difficult to obtain, too. 

So I've been struggling as to what was the best choice to make and this is where I stand at the moment: I have gone palm free in all but one of my soaps, my 'little sin'. I will post about it another day and explain why I've kept that one particular soap that is not palm oil free.

I don't intend to vilify palm oil all together. Not at all. There is a lot to be said for palm oil: it has the highest yield per hectare of all the vegetable oils. It supports the livelihood of many farmers in developing countries. And unrefined palm oil (not so widely used in the handmade soap industry) has many desirable properties to me as a soaper. I don't even agree with those who say that, as an edible oil, it is unhealthy (remember when coconut oil was one of the bad guys?). So, maybe one day, when I can be entirely sure that I'm using certified palm oil that is fully traceable, I'll use it again regularly. 

I haven't been able to bring myself to use animal fat in my soaps yet, so this also has been a decision with an economical cost attached, but I think it will be worth it, at least for the time being. 

Until next time!

A.

FAST & FURIOUS

It is almost a miracle that I managed to swirl this soap at all. The trace accelerated very quickly and by the time I turned around after pouring the bottom third and doing the pencil line, what was left in the soap pot was almost soap on a stick. I was working at a low temperature, with a not particularly fast moving recipe and, as usual, only with essential oils, none of them from spices, so the only thing I can think of was the benzoin oleoresin causing this behaviour.

Still, not a totally bad looking soap IMO, and it smells amazing! 

Bye now!

A.

JABÓN DE CASTILLA

Aunque me encanta pensar en el diseño, colores, aromas y demás aditivos de mi próximo jabón, creo que hay algo mágico en un jabón puro y simple como un jabón de Castilla, 100% oliva virgen extra, sin más. Por su suavidad, es uno de los jabones más adecuados para las pieles sensibles de los bebés y de las personas mayores.

Aquí está mi primer jabón 'Made in Australia'. Ya lleva casi 2 meses curándose y pienso dejarlo por lo menos uno o dos meses más antes de siquiera probarlo. La mayoría de los jabones ganan con el tiempo, pero esto es especialmente cierto cuando se trata de un jabón de Castilla que, con el paso de los meses, gana en dureza y produce una espuma con más burbujas.

Hasta luego!

A.

  

DECÍAMOS AYER....

Ha pasado una eternidad desde la última vez que hice un jabón, fue en diciembre de 2014 en Barcelona. Estos meses han sido tiempos de cambios profundos, y en ello seguimos, adaptándonos a una vida diferente en la otra punta del mundo. Un lugar familiar (al fin y al cabo, es el hogar original de la goanna) y a la vez desconocido. 

En muchos aspectos hemos tenido que empezar de nuevo, y los jabones no han sido una excepción. A medida que pasaban las semanas y las urgencias de la vida diaria o la propia rutina se apropiaban del tiempo, cada vez daba más pereza volver a empezar. Buscar proveedores, idear nuevas fórmulas libres de aceite de palma (algo que me rondaba hace mucho tiempo por la cabeza), buscar la inspiración, ponerse a crear.... empezar de cero otra vez. 

Confieso que en ocasiones pensé en no volver. Me intenté convencer a mi misma de que no valía la pena. Pero no pude ni queriendo. Por muchas escusas que buscara, las ganas seguían ahí asomándose de tanto en tanto. Así que un día decidí propiciar el reencuentro haciendo un simple jabón de castilla, 100% aceite de oliva y sin aromas. La mejor elección. Me permitió jugar un buen rato y poco a poco ver las diferentes fases del proceso; emulsificación, traza líquida, traza media, traza espesa.... iban llegando y las iba saludando mentalmente a la vez que imaginaba "si quisiera hacer tal técnica, tendría que parar ahora y separar una parte, si quisiera hacer tal otra cosa, tendría que llegar hasta este otro tipo de traza, si quisiera....". Enmoldé y supe que ya no había marcha atrás. Los miedos, principalmente al fracaso, ya no tenían cabida. Disfruté tanto que comprendí que tenía que seguir. Tenía que intentarlo. Porque aún si no puedo un día llegar a vivir de esto, habré disfrutado mucho, pero que mucho, en el camino. ¿Por qué renunciar al placer de todo el proceso creativo? Inspirarse, formular, diseñar, crear, desmoldar, cortar y ver el resultado, fotografiar...  

Y así, después de ese humilde jabón, llegó el que veis en la foto de más arriba y otros más que he ido creando en estos días y que iré mostrando poco a poco.

Encantada de estar de vuelta :)