my latest project

Several of you have had questions about soap making,

and as I am just a beginner, I thought I would post links to

some websites that have been helpful to me.

• Rhonda has some good soapmaking instructions and advice here.
• The Miller Soap page has a lot of great information on soap making.
•  And a great step-by-step tutorial here on blender soap making.

Now, I mentioned I had tried something new...well, we all love

Burt's Bees lip balm in this family, so when I happened upon

Renee's lip balm recipe, I couldn't wait to give it a try...

 Once I had all my materials gathered,

it was very easy and fun to make.

We've all tested it out and agree it is as good, if not better

than Burt's.  The savings are substantial since a tube cost me less

than $1 to make; the tins a bit more initially because of the cost of the tin,

but they can be cleaned and reused again & again.

I could reduce the cost even further by purchasing different lanolin--the

brand I found at the grocery store was expensive.

The tins and tubes are from Mountain Rose Herbs--they have

everything for making body care products and shipped my

order out super quick.

Thanks to Renee for sharing this recipe!

~Deb

blender soapmaking update

{From a tea towel I found recently at a seedy little flea market...isn't it very true?} 

For those who have asked how the blender soap came out,

I thought I would give an update.

From now on I will be making all my soap this way;

I like the fact that the batches are small--one pound,

the process is fast and simple,

and my first try using the Cole Brothers' blender method has resulted

in a gentle, creamy, mild soap with a nice lather.

The recipe I used was the Vegetable Soap Recipe:

10 oz olive oil

4 oz coconut oil

4 oz crisco

2.5 oz lye

7.2 oz distilled water

and I added:

1 tsp rose essential oil

I ran the recipe through a lye calculator at Soap Calc--it took me a little

time to figure how to use it and it was well worth it.

It also converted the measurements to grams,

which I needed for my scale.

One thing I think I may have done wrong,

was that I decided to add an essential oil,

but didn't run it through the calculator;

that may be why the scent is milder than I

thought it would be.

Since this went so well, I'm trying to decide on the next

soap recipe to try.

Also, I've converted part of the Hoosier cabinet in the kitchen

to hold all my 'supplies'...

And, yesterday I tried a recipe for new body care product--my family has tested it out,

and say it is a definite keeper.

{It's also going to save some of us a bit of money!}

I'll be back with more details...

~Deb

blender soap making

Did you know you could make cold process soap

using a blender??

I was doing a little research online

for soap recipes

and came across an article for making soap in

your blender.

It makes a small batch,

which I thought good for a beginner like me,

and it was a bit simpler and much quicker

than how I've done it before.

I made the simple vegetable soap--but there are

many, many recipes on the Cole Brothers' site from which to choose.

Today I unmolded it {from a quart milk carton}

and sliced it up.

I used a teaspoon of rose essential oil

at trace,

but sadly it's hard to notice

any scent--maybe I needed to use more?

 

For now, the bars are spread out on a rack

to dry for a few weeks--I can't wait to give

it a try.