My Review

Originally submitted at Essential Depot

Great product, i'll be buying a 2nd one!

By amainezingsoaps from Brunswick, ME on 5/11/2013

 

4out of 5

Pros: Easy to use, Easy to clean, Perfect size, Very Easy To Unmold

Cons: Bows Easy If Full

Best Uses: Hot Process Soap, Cold process soap

Was this a gift?: No

I used this product for both hot processed and cold soap making. I was very pleased at how easy the soap came out of the mold. I will be buying more. I will also get a wooden frame made for more support.

(legalese)

My 1st body Puddin!!!

They say that necessitate is the mother of all inventions. That is how I made my body Puddin. Last week I had reached the last piece of lotion using the handle of a old toothbrush to scrap the bottom insides of a favorite lotion bottle. I had purchased the bottles months ago during a sale. The store no longer carried the product. I loved the natural butters and oils used to make this product. Finding a comparable one would be pricey. So I decided to make my own.

I had all the ingredients available so after searching the Internet to view several recipes I tweaked with what I had and created a light, fragarant body Puddin. It feels great & smells wonderful. My husband has been using it and is impressed. I made 2 8 ounce containers using only 1 1/2c of olive oil, coconut oil and Shea butter. The process was quite simple, melt the ingredients, let cool & whip to a firm
Consistency and put into a container. With my handmade soap and my new body puddin my bath time has become an indulgent pleasure.

Maine is beautiful!

Maine is beautiful! The snow is gorgeous! I have walked more in the snow for enjoyment and exercise then I have in years.

1st soaps using PVC pipe for a mold

Check out my funny reaction as I unmolded the soap http://youtu.be/ei9CfYg1Erk

My 1st soap recipe!!!

I love YouTube. It has been a great tool to learn about soap making. There is so much to learn from using oils to wooden molds. I am working on mastering scenting my soaps and developing my own recipes. One of my favorite You Tubers is Kimberly of Essential Soaps. She gave a great tutorial on using the Soap Cal. It was just what I needed. I had attempted to do it myself but got no results. After watching her tutorial I was able to confidentially choose my oils based on the qualities I wanted to achieve in my soap.

 Last night I was able to create my 1st recipe using the oils I had available and the Soap Cal. I attempted to scent with 10x orange essential oil from Bramble Berry and Cinnamon spice.  I separating out a cup of my batch and added castor oil and cinnamon. Returned it to the batch and marbled the soap and poured it in a circular motion into the mold. I did the Cold Process Oven process method. The soap bake at 170 for 1 hour.  The heat was tuned off and the soap sat in the oven for 12 hours. I unmolded it and was happy about the look. The soap was smooth and firm. It has beautiful swirls of dark brown spice on a vanilla landscape. Yet the scent was a faint orgrane. I have yet to produce a good scent. I will continue this A-Maine-zing soaping adventure knowing that each batch brings me closer to my perfect batch.

Guest size soap mold

I was excited to unmold my soap today. Yesterday I made a unscented soap with olive oil, palm oil, coconut oil and castor oil for a super fat. I used the crock pot method. I like using this method it evaporates the lye so that the soap is usable the next day. I used the guest bar size soap mold I purchased from Bramble berry. I did a video when I opened the box . This is the link to view it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRmab5Z7sMU

I like the 3 sides of the soap that formed from the mold. I do not like the exposed side. Simply because of the nature of the hot process method the soap was lumpy.

The texture was firm and comfortable. The soap had a great lather and left my hands feeling moisturized. I also find the size perfect for samples.

I will definitely used this guest size soap mold again. The next time I will do the cold process method to get a completely smooth bar.

Using oatmeal in soap making

Each morning I wake up with a vision and then I step into my reality. Vision this morning was a dream of  soap bars made of oatmeal, honey and spices. The reality was gooey textured, low scented soap bars.

I made two batches using different bases but the same additives.  Batch one I used soybean oil only. I hot processed the soap using a crock pot. The soap traced beautifully.  I added castor oil, spices:cinnamon & fresh grounded cloves, and grounded oatmeal. The color is beautiful but very soft. I put it into a small Glad container to set.

 Batch two was made with palm oil, coconut oil and olive oil. I used the hot process method in the crockpot. The soap came to a beautiful trace. I added the same additives as batch one. The soap was very light and smelled like uncooked cookie dough. I put this in a Glad container to set.

In the morning I was hoping that things would be different but no luck. The darker soap made with soybean oil had a great smell, but remained soft with a low lather. The soap made with palm oil, coconut oil and olive oil was much harder, has a nice lather but smells like uncooked cookie dough.

Feeling disappointed I went online to search about scented soaps. I found a video that talked about fragrance. I liked how it was explained and decided to watch her next video which was a tutorial of the soap calculator. It was just what I needed. I am inspired to try another batch of soap. This time I will use the soap calculator and calculate the kind of soap I want.