How To Avoid Salt Ash

      I have noticed I have had several people search about salt ash.  This is a white powder thing that appears on cold process soap.  The main cause is exposure to air during the curing time.  This mostly happens the first few days.  This summer I discovered a really good solution.  Over the last two years I end up mostly making hot process.  It has a faster turn around.  I do have some soaps that need to be made cold.  A friend of mine wanted to give gifts for her sons wedding rehearsal.  We decided on a soap using a mold with a butterfly design.  This meant I could not make it hot.  Too hard to make it without air bubbles.  The first batch came out great but then the dreaded ash started I was getting nervous. I know you can gently wash the soap to get it off but I didn't want to mess up the design.  I was thinking about what to do. I decided since air was the problem that maybe if I covered the bars with the towels I had used to keep them warm after pouring that it would help.  Well, how happy was I to find that it worked.  I did that to all of my soaps after that and didn't have any more problems.  Now just to clarify any doubt.  I used regular bath towels.  Even though you are trying to cut down on oxygen it still needs to breath and dry.  I still stacked my sheets of cardboard with the soap on it.  I just put a towel over the whole thing.  Being me I still ended up washing them just to smooth out the trimming on the bottom.  I didn't want them to look like I trimmed.

This is the pink version.  I used pink kaolin Clay to get the pink color.  It's Lavender Mint.  How can you go wrong.

   

All wrapped up.  The other bars are a purple version.  I strained oil infused with alkanet root powder and added that to my oils.  To get more of a lavender color I added pink kaolin clay.  Worked out perfect.  Nature strikes again.

 I hope this helps you out.  Ash can be so frustrating.  If this doesn't work for you.  I am not sure what else to do.  Good Luck!

Long Time No Post

     It has been way too long since I put a post on here.  Not my cup of tea at times and hard to keep up at other times.  I have been busy doing shows as well as life.  I have two grand babies now.  Alexis is two and Leo is 1.   My daughter Allison is in the middle of her second semester at ECU.  So as you can see my life has expanded.

     In 2011 I decided to go full force and do a lot more shows.  I would like to say they were all successful but given the economy it was rough at times.  I really enjoyed doing the shows but it was hard  justifying all of the work of setting up and breaking down when all you did was under $100 in sales.  For those whom have seen my set up they know how much product I carry with me.  For those who don't it can take neither 2 hours to set up.  If you do craft shows you know how hard it is.  If you don't you may be thinking "She's insane".  I have to say that insane at times is my middle name, but I think you kind of have to be if you  this is what you do.  Don't get me wrong.  I love it!  I meet so many great people and when you have customers come back just for you, how could you not keep it up.

2012 will be an interesting year.  I am going to be doing a few big festivals and cutting back on some of the smaller shows that have not been very productive.  This past fall I was doing at least one show sometimes two shows every weekend.  Some may think that isn't too bad for someone that doesn't have a regular job but you add that in with making trips to WV to pick up my granddaughter at her mothers and then of course taking her back.  It's a 13 to 14 hour day each way.  I still have a son at home in High School and we can't forget all of the things I do at church.  Having my daughter away at school makes it a little tougher because that cuts back on occasional help.  Although I have to say if she isn't working a show with me I do come home with more money.   What can I say, she is my daughter and we love to shop.  I do good at shows now.  If I don't walk around and leave my tent then I am not tempted to buy.  When things are going well I do allow myself a treat every once in awhile. 

      Every year I work on improving myself.  I always want to be a better person and do better.  No exception this year.  I have already started to organize my soap room which will carry into being more organized at my shows.  I do need to adjust some of my products.  Cut back on a few recipes.  I have been doing this long enough that it is time to refine some things.  I have no choice but to keep stocked up better.  I have 5 days in between two really big shows so I can't run low on the biggest sellers.  Not enough time to in between.  Have to have some time to rest.  I can't wait though.  It is so exciting.  I will try to do better at posting more.  I have learned a few new tricks that I would like to pass on.  Also if you are on Facebook like me and you can keep up on my whereabouts.  Donna-Delights

Time to make the Lotion

     I know it's been a little while since my last post.  Of friend of mine placed an order for My Tea Tree Body Cream so I thought I would take the opportunity to put it out there for you to see.  I start out buy zeroing out my scale and setting it to grams.  When making smaller batches of lotions it is better to work in grams because you are using small amounts.  I like to use glass measuring cups when making lotions and balms.  The first reason is it is easier to pour if you have a spout.  The second reason is when you heat things up the glass keeps things warm longer than if you worked with plastic.  This is a real advantage when making balms. 

      Unlike soap making where you have to be absolutely careful about your measurements, lotion making is okay if you over measure a gram or two.  When I make my lotions I start out by measuring out my water.  I put the water in the larger measuring cup.  It is important to make sure that when you combine your water and oils that the total amount will fit with enough space for blending.  I do use my immersion blender to make sure that it is completely blended and if you don't have enough room you will have a mess.  

       I wanted this to be a thicker richer lotion so I used more butters than oils.  Originally this started as a foot cream.  It was nice so I decided to make it a body cream instead and made a few adjustments.  As Emeril says, "I kicked it up a notch!"  Boy did I hit the right spot.  The next day I had my Indie market and sold several jars.  The next day I had our Church bazaar and sold several more jars and within 2 days I started getting orders.  I know the FDA is sticky about letting you make any claims medically.  They take the fun out of it.  All I can say is people love this stuff.  It is perfect for the winter time and for anyone that has really dry skin.  It smells great also.  I use a combination of for Essential oils that is really nice. 

Starting out. 

I start out by measuring my water and then heating it in the microwave while I am measuring out my other ingredients.

 The cap on the right is my emulsion wax. This is used to stabilize the mixture.  The cap on the left is my stearic acid.  This is used to make the mixture thicker.

 In a smaller bowl I measure out the ingredients that shouldn't be added till the mixture reaches a lower temperature.  This is when I add my preservative, allantoin and essential oils.  



The FDA has approved the following statements to be used for non-prescription drug.

• For the temporary protection of minor cuts, scrapes, burns and sunburn.
• Helps prevent and temporarily protects chafed, chapped, cracked, or wind burned skin and lips.
• Relieves dryness and softens cold sores and fever blisters.
• Helps treat and prevent diaper rash. Protects chafed skin/minor skin irritation due to/associated with diaper rash and helps protect from/seal out wetness.

Allantoin is considered to be nontoxic, nonirritating and non-allergenic. Allantoin is safe and effective in the dosage range recommended (0.5 to 2.0%) as a skin protectant.

Now here is where the magic begins.  After I make sure all my oils are melted and mixed together I pour it into the heated water.

 As you pour it it quickly turns into what is best described as warm milk.  This is what the emulsion wax does.  It allows oil and water to mix.  If you didn't have an emulsifier you would have an oily water mixture that would never hold. 

 I do use my immersion blender to make sure it is all mixed well.  As you can see once the blender is going there isn't a lot of space left. 

 Before I stir in my final ingredients I add some of my oil and water mixture.  The allantoin is a powder and it helps to be able to make sure there aren't any lumps.  I don't show here but after I add it in I do give it another spin with the blender to make sure it is evenly blended.

 Now to pour into containers.  It is always best to hurry up and do this before it gets too cool.  It is much easier to pour a liquid than a solid.  To insure the proper amount I zero out the scale with the container on it and pour while it is still on the scale.  Let it sit and cool completely before you put your lids on or you will have condensation build up in the jar.



Hope you enjoyed my journey into making lotions today.  I made body scrub the same order but wasn't thinking and forgot to take pictures.      

Soap Cutting Day

     Time to cut the soap!  I know it is two days later but I was being lazy yesterday.  I did check my soap and two of the batches popped right out.  I just didn't feel like getting out the camera yesterday.  After all it wasn't going anywhere.  Things do take longer when you are trying to hold the camera with one hand and doing with the other.  

     I stuck to demonstrating with my Fireballs soap.  I am using a serrated knife but that is not necessary.  A friend gave me this knife to cut my Scrubby soap with.  I use whole loofah with that and you need the serrated knife to push right through the loofah. 

     Something I didn't tell you the other day was that I use index cards to write my recipe on.  I have learned the hard way to make a new card with every batch I make.  I keep the card with the soap till I put labels on it.  It is hard to remember which bar is what when you have a dozen or so batches to put labels on.  After a few sniffs and I have a hard time telling the difference.  Especially when you use similar essential oils.  I know this seems crazy but when I set my booth up I can smell the difference but by time the customers come I can hardly smell the soap.  People come over and tell me how good it smells.  I agree but really I can't smell anything.  

     There is a trick to getting soap out of plastic molds when it doesn't want to come out.  Stick it in the freezer for a little while.  There are times when I have forgotten it and ended up with frozen soap.  I just let it defrost and I am all set.  Like I mentioned before when you use a citrus essential oil the soap is softer and takes longer to harden up to get out of the mold.  Plastic molds are the hardest to get the soap out of.  You just have to have patience or you will loose your mind.  So save yourself the heartache and stick it in the freezer.  Of course it may be time for me to get wooden molds and make bigger batches.  I have been doing this long enough to have several popular soaps that I am making more often.  Small batches are great for testing new soaps.

                                     Well, here are the pictures.  Let's get started!

1.  Here is the soap ready to remove from the mold.  It feels firm at this time.  If it doesn't then it is not ready or something went wrong.

2.  Peel off the butcher paper.

3.  Here is the soap out of his mold and ready to cut.

4.  First step after it is out of the mold is to trim the edges.  I didn't have much to trim on these batches. 

5.  I keep a bucket just to put the trimmings in.  You can melt this down and pour into molds to make bars.  This is the an everything but the kitchen sink soap.  Good for home use. 

6.  I start cutting the in the center.  The good thing about the plastic molds is it tells you where to cut.  I love this knife because the handle is up and you can push the knife straight down without any trouble.  I also find that if your knife is longer than your soap you get a nice even cut.  You don't want to saw your soap, you want a nice even push.  The soap is firm but still soft.

7.  After the soap is cut you want to stand it up on it's edge.  This gives it maximum air exposure.  After a day or two I flip it over so that the other edge gets a chance to dry as well.  The soap needs two weeks to cure.  You want it to sit at least 4 weeks to dry well and get hard, 6 weeks is better.  If you are in a hurry you can use the first bar after two weeks, just know that it won't last as long.

8.  Here is the soap I made the other day minus the coconut soap.  I used a lot of lemon and lemongrass so it is in the freezer for half an hour.  I did want to show you my recipe cards.  Nothing special.  I list the amounts of the oils, lye, water and ingredients I put in after trace.  It is important to list the date and I always list the quality numbers for the soap.  It tells me the hardness, cleansing, conditioning, suds and etc.  It is helpful to know these numbers in case you want to tweak your recipe next time.  Good place for notes also.

9.  In this picture I just wanted to show you the color difference between soaps.  On the left is my Fungus Amungus and on the right is my Fireballs soap.  The Fungus Amungus gets this color from the Neem oil.  Neem oil is a brown color.  When I make my soap I only use natural things to get color.  Yes I know minerals are natural but I stick to clays, roots, herbs and etc.  I really enjoy the color honey gives it and you should see what cinnamon does!

 

Soap Making Day

     Finally, I am posting about making soap.  My first batches of the year.  I started out by making a double batch (4lbs) of my Fungus Amungus.  Since I am down to only one bar of soap it was necessary to make at least a double batch.  I really should make another double batch, maybe next week.  Won't be long and things will be starting to grow and the poison ivy will be out.  This soap is AWESOME when it comes to preventing poison ivy and if you don't catch it in time then it is a wonder once you have poison ivy.  Wished I was making soap about 4 or 5 years ago.  I had poison ivy as well as a reaction to Bradford Pear tree.  If you have not seen a Bradford Pear tree the branches have barbs on them.  I was out trimming things up and apparently I was poked with the barbs on my arms.  The next day I had these brown spots on my arms that I was able to scratch off but the damage was done.  By the end of the day I had swollen craters on my arms.  MISERABLE!!  Never had that happen before and don't want that to happen again.  Now I make sure I soap up exposed areas let that sit for a few minutes then rinse and no harm no foul.

     Next I made a double batch of a new soap.  I used the same base recipe as my Nutty Coconut.  I have been wanting to make more soap with the coconut milk in place of water.  I added ground oatmeal as well as Lemongrass, Lemon and Myrtle.  I know this is going to be extra lemony, but by February everybody is going to want to smell that invigorating smell of lemon in the shower.  It really is a great pick me up.

     Of course by time I was finishing the coconut soap I realized I promised to take pictures and post them.  So I made a double batch of my Fireballs soap.  I love this soap.  One of my favorite candies is the Atomic Fireball.  When I first received a bottle of Cinnamon Leaf essential oil I knew I would love it by itself in a soap.  It smells so good when your taking a nice hot shower no matter what time of the day.

     I hope you enjoy the process.  Tomorrow I take it out of the molds.



1.  Starting out, I gathered my supplies.
     Yes I am using plastic.  It works for me.








2. Next I poured my water in my container.
After that I poured my lye into my water.  Yes, I know I am pouring straight into my water.  I have tried to weigh my lye in a separate container then pour into the water but I never seem to get all my crystals out.  I worry about messing up my lye weight, so I just pour slowly and keep my eye on the scale.  I have only messed up twice and over poured.  No problem when at home I just get on the computer and change my recipe to fit my lye amount.  Always remember to add your lye to water.  Never water to lye.  It won't be pretty.



           3.  Stir the lye mixture till the crystals are dissolved.  Make sure to never breath in the fumes.  It will burn your lungs.
  

4.  Place the container in another container that has a couple inches of water in it.  If using coconut milk or any other milk it is helpful to have a small cup of ice in the water.  The sugars super heat with the lye.  Since I am using thick plastic and not glass I don't want to melt my container.

4.  This is my container of coconut oil. 






  

5.   Here are all of my oils measured out and ready to melt.








6.  I love my microwave.  With a double batch I start at 2 minutes. Because my most of my oils started out solid it takes longer. After the first 2 minutes give it a little swirl to even up the temperature a little then give it another minute.  If you get it too hot it will pop in the microwave so it pays to go slow.  If there are a few blobs left to melt go ahead and take it out.  You can stir those out.



7. You may have noticed that I never showed you a thermometer.  I have learned what 110 degrees feels like.  It doesn't have to be exact.  Summer you can go to 100 degrees, but in the winter you want to go higher.  I have read that some even do 120 degrees.  This step I am pouring my lye water into my oils.





8.  Now that everything is together I start out getting it mixed up well.








9.  Now I mix with my immersion blender.  This is another tool I love.  My first experience with soap making was stirring by hand.  We stirred for 3 hours.  That is what the person said to do at the class my mom and sister went to.  Three hours of three people keeping the spatula moving quickly.  That was a long 3 hours and to top it off we made a second batch that day. Each batch was 6 lbs each, but still!  Immersion blender less then 2 minutes.  Much better.  Worth the $2.00 I paid at a yardsale. 


10.  After mixing things have turned lighter.  When you mix this up you want to reach sapponification.  You don't want to see oil streaks in your mixture.  Let it sit a minute or so and if you don't see oil rise or streaked then you have reached sapponification.

11. Once you have sapponification you should have trace.  Trace is when you drizzle over the top of the soap and if the shape holds for a short time then you have trace.  Some soapers think you have to have it at a pudding constancy, but that is not true. A lot of times it can be very thin.  If I am adding in something in like oatmeal, coffee grounds etc. I do like it to be thicker so that they do not settle at the bottom.  When I put something in I want it to go all the way through the bar.

12.  After you reach trace this is when you want to add some of your oils, essential oils or other additives.  There are some oils that do better after trace.  Sunflower oil is one of my favorites and it prefers after trace.  Stir this together well.  No Oil Streaks!






13.  Time to scent.  I am putting in 15ml of Cinnamon Leaf.  I love this stuff.








15.  Time to pour in the molds.  Since I am using plastic I do grease it with petroleum jelly.  You can not use regular oil.  It will turn into soap.  Of course you can't coat it too thin or too thick.  Too thick and it will be sticky and will not get it off till you take a shower.






16.  Soap in the molds.












17.  Once poured into the molds cover it with butcher paper.  I put the non-shiny side down.  This helps prevent soda ash from forming on the soap.  This isn't a problem so much.  It rinses off.  Just an aesthetic issue.






18. Time to put the soap to rest.  You want to cover it up with towels or a blanket.  Wouldn't want your soap to catch a cold. You want the temperature to come down slow.  using the plastic molds you should be able to take it out of the mold within 24 hours.  When you use citrus essential oils it will take longer.

God's Work, Our Hands

     I know I promised to make entries more often.  This year I started off with spending my time doing outreach.  I am very very involved with my church.  My thinking on church is it is not a place just to show up on Sunday and sit in the pew.  God and Jesus tells us to go out and do.  So I do.  

     One of the things that I do is I am the Chairperson for our Interfaith Hospitality Network at our church.  For those who don't know "IHN" is a nation wide organization.  Their purpose is to take homeless families and help them get out of their situation and into their own homes. You know the teach to fish not give them fish.  Here in our area we have two day houses in our Network.  One in High Point and one in Greensboro.  Each house has a network of 13 churches and for a week at a time the churches house the families in the evening.  Each church has at least one or two support churches.  Our church currently has one. 

     My week started by cleaning our back building which we call "God's Garage".  This is the building our church started in and was a mechanics garage before we got it.  Now this building has many uses.  Normally during the week we let Narcotics Anonymous use the building for their daily meetings and Monday evenings Gamblers Anonymous uses the building for their meeting.  We do suspend all other use and turn God's Garage into a home.  Downstairs we set up a living room for watching TV or DVD's, we have a kitchen and dining room and two rooms for volunteers to sleep or over flow from upstairs.  Now for upstairs there is a full bathroom (tub included) and four bedrooms.  Last month we were fortunate to receive a donation of 4 twin size beds and a twin trundle which sleeps two.  Normally the guests sleep on cots so this is a real treat.  Our hope that we will be able to get real beds for all around.  The program capacity is 14 or 15 people.  

     The guests stay Sunday through Sunday.  Normally I cook the meal on Sunday and I fill in where needed depending on how many volunteers I get.  It takes a lot of people to make the week happen.  Everyday we have a morning van driver and evening van driver, people to make dinner and serve dinner and two people to spend the night.  I only had to spend the night twice.  I really enjoy doing it so it is no problem to fill in.  We have a great group of guests this rotation.  Currently there are two families for a total of 4 people.  Last night I got a call that a mom and three kids will be joining the program today.  So I need to go in today and set up three more beds and a portacrib.   Of course our supply church takes over tonight till Sunday morning.  Then it's breakdown and clean up.

     It is so uplifting to be there for others.  It is more than just making a meal, driving a van or sleeping in a bed.  It is getting to know the people, making friends and being a good listener.  So for anyone reading this, I highly recommend getting involved.  It does a body good!

     Next week I will be making soap!  So come on back and see what I make.  I will have pictures.  I know I get a lot of people looking up my Fungus Amungus.  That is first on my list.  It's such a great soap and I am down to just one bar.