Coconut Milk Soap

The picture above is a simplistic looking soap. No additional color was added. There are no swirls, no funky soap chunks or anything else to enhance the looks of it.

Instead of water, coconut milk was added as the sole water based liquid.

The process in which I made this soap is a bit different than what I normally do also. Most soap processing requires the soap to go through a chemical stage that causes the soap to "gel". In this process, I attempted to prevent the soap to go through that particular phase by keeping it chilled and preventing it from heating up. There are several reasons for this: by keeping the soap cooled down and preventing gel stage, the soap slows down in its chemical reaction, causing it to cure much more slowly. If any fragrance or essential oils were added to the soap, it will help to maintain the original fragrance of the oil.  Furthermore, the soap's texture is somewhat different too. It has a translucent quality to the soap which may add to some interesting effects in how the soap appears.

The fact that I used coconut milk instead of water in my soap, I suspect I won't achieve that translucency with this batch.

Mango fragrance was added to this batch of coconut milk soap. The mango fragrance is still very evident and hasn't changed or "morphed" since I made this soap three weeks ago. Even though it has been three weeks, this soap is still curing and won't be ready for another 2-3 weeks I suspect.

I sliced a small amount for soap samples this morning and it is still quite soft with slicing. The samples are placed in a bag with a hole cut in it to allow circulation and for the customer to smell the item. I attach one of my business cards and label the name of the soap on the card, then use these little slivers of soap for samples when I send off orders in the mail and when I am a vendor at arts & crafts fairs and Saturday markets.

Although this soap doesn't have some of the bling that other handcrafted soaps have, this one has a subtle beauty, elegance and the fragrance is delightful, the lather is perfect and will be the perfect accompaniment to any bathroom and body care experience.

Frankincense and Myrrh Me!

Well, Christmas is now officially over.

I still had some soaps and fragrance balms that are (sort've) related to this holiday...like frankincense and myrrh. It is always my hope that I will sell these items out by Christmas because chances are they will languish on my shelf if I don't. Sometimes, I'll put on a great sale and get them sold, or find other ways to clear out my holiday inventory.

What I like about frankincense and myrrh is that it is a wonderful year-round fragrance, but many associate it with Christmas. I find that I can sell frankincense and myrrh products throughout the year, but sales are best for it right before Christmas.

Well, this year, I came very close to selling all of my F&M scented product, but found myself with 7 F&M soaps and 5 F&M fragrance balms left over by Christmas Eve.  No worries. They will sell sometime after the season...I hope.

A close friend called me around midday on December 24th stating that she would be in town to visit the day after Christmas! Hurray! I had some frankincense and myrrh items and that happens to be one of her favorite fragrances. I told her I would set a soap and fragrance balm aside for her. She was thrilled! Then, she asked me how many I had left, and I told her.

"I'll take them all," she said. "I want to buy the rest from you because I'm having a special party and want to give them away as gifts! I need seven soap and seven balms though."

"Well," I replied, "I can make a couple extra balms for you, not a problem."

"On such short notice?"

"Certainly!"

I love Frankincense and Myrrh fragrance balm so much, I made of couple of extra, just because I want some too.

Maybe I should've made more....

Frankincense and Myrrh....

Frankincense and myrrh is just one of those fragrance combos that remind us of  Christmas because both of those are mentioned repeatedly in the Bible. These were expensive back in biblical times, used for many things. In the scriptures, it is included with gold as gifts to Jesus by the wise men, showing their importance.

"On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of frankincense and of myrrh." 

Matthew 2:11

Frankincense is a resin from a deciduous tree  that is a low twisted, thorny shrub without a central branch. Today, almost all frankincense comes from Somalia, where the trees grow along the coastline, without soil, growing out of rocks. Frankincense is harvested by a deep cut made into the bark and a 4 to 6 inch strip is peeled off. A milk-like juice exudes from the plant hardens when exposed to air into "yellowish tears". These tears are then scraped off and harvested. When burned, frankincense is very fragrant and was used in worship as an offering to God.

Myrrh is a resin also, pale yellow in color. It eventually dries to a brown/black and comes a large shrub or tree found in East Africa, Yemen and the Red Sea countries. There are ducts in the bark, which fill with a granular secretion that drips when the bark is wounded or has natural fissures. The myrrh drips from the bark, forming irregularly shaped grains of resin. Dried myrrh is hard and brittle with a bitter taste.

Myrrh was one of the ingredients of the holy anointing oil and also of incense. Myrrh was valued as a perfume as well as for its medicinal properties. It served as local anesthetic and was given to both mother and child for postnatal care, perhaps one reason the Wise Men brought it to Jesus. Jesus was also offered myrrh while being crucified on the cross.

The Wise Men brought items that had great worth. Although we don't consider these two resins as valuable in this day and age, they still have symbolic worth and smell delightful, which is one of the reasons I've included these two fragrances in one of my latest soaps.

Each soap is a generous 4 oz plus size with just a small dusting of copper and gold cosmetic mica for added elegance.

"Who is this, coming up from the desert like a column of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense..."
Song of Solomon 3:6

Enjoy!

Get ready for August! Upcoming Soaps.

Pictured above are two soaps that I've recently made. The top soap is called "Solar Energy" and the bottom picture is "Jasmine Dreams".

Solar Energy was not made using solar energy, OK? It is more of a color and fragrance thing. I wanted to emulate the colors of sunsets or fiery colors...sun related somehow and the fragrance oil I added to it is called "Energy" which is a fresh, citrusy...BAM! type fragrance. A waker-upper. Not overwhelming, but makes its presence known all at the same time. The picture was taken less than 24 hours after making the soap. I had just cut them into bars so they are still a bit rough around the edges.

The second soap is a gentle, tropical floral fragrance with just a hint of green tea in the background. Jasmine dreams has pink and white swirls throughout the entire bar. I love jasmine as a fragrance so these are a favorite of mine. Like the Solar Energy, I had just cut them into bars shortly before taking the picture.

Both of these soaps will be curing into a gentle, lathery soap over the next six weeks and will not be ready until August 27th.

An announcement will be made when they are ready and an immediate 20% discount to anyone who purchases one of these soaps in the first week they are on sale. This discount is ONLY good for those who have read this blog and mention this blog at the time of sale.

Anyone interested in reserving any or both of these soaps in advance, please let me know at either of my shop sites.


www.SoapyBlessings.etsy.com
www.SoapyBlessings.silkfair.com

Each soap is 3 1/2 oz. each and are $3.75 regular price

With 20% discount, you receive each bar for $3.00 (not including shipping of course)

Cold Process vs. Melt and Pour Soaping

For those that don't make soap, I understand that this blog entry may be a bit confusing. Soap is soap for a lot of you. What's the big deal about soap as long as you get clean, right? Right. We shouldn't forget that the main purpose for soap being soap is because if its ability to make you clean and smelling good. You wash your hands with regularly (I hope!), wash your face, and the rest of your body with soap, whether it be liquid soap, cheapo industrial made bar soaps, freebee soaps from hotels or handmade soaps like mine. But, I am already digressing from the original subject and haven't ended the paragraph yet!

Cold process soaps are soaps that are made using a specific method called "cold process" which I won't go into in great detail but it is probably the most common method of making handmade bar soaps. You add purified water, lye, oils, and then dyes and fragrances if you choose. Ta daaaaa! Handmade soap. If you read my previous blog, you already know that it isn't exactly a simple no-brainer process though. Cold process soaping (also known as CP soaps) allows the soaper to add whatever ingredients she chooses to make a great bar of soap and there are some pretty inventive and creative cold process soapers out there on etsy. You have full control over what goes into your soap product. CP soaps take awhile before you can actually use the soap. It is several weeks from start to finish so the soaper really has to think ahead of time to when the soap will be ready for use.

Melt and Pour soaping is another method that is a simpler process. In a sense, the soap itself is already made. You are simply buying the base soap product, melting it down and then remolding into another shape. During the meltdown process, you can also add other ingredients that show your creative flair such as colors, micas, fragrances, exfoliants etc. to personalize the melt and pour soap. Melt and pour soaps (also called MP soaps) lend themselves well to putting into cute molds, layering with different colors, adding imbeds etc. The process is much more instantaneous than the CP method. The soap is ready right away after being made. So, it is really a wonderful creative soaping method. The drawback is that you don't have full control of what products went into the MP soap because you are essentially purchasing already made soap.

Many sellers choose not to delve into the MP soap world because they don't have full control of products going into it. On the other hand, many soapers find also that MP soaps sell well because they can be made simply, easily, quickly, and there is so many creative things that can be done with it.

As a consumer, your decision lies as to whether you are purchasing a soap to get you clean, know what is in your product, or love fancy and visually exciting soaps. If you love different shapes, imbedded items and fun soaps, chances are you are drawn to soaps made by the MP method. If you are looking for purity of product, knowing exactly what is in your soap and just want to get clean, you may be more drawn to the CP method. There are many CP soaps that are visually interesting to look at as well. All you need to do is check out some of the many etsy sites and see the variety of soap bars available.

I tend to keep most of my soap bars simple. That is just my choice, although my next bar has a little more visual excitement than some of my previous ones. It won't be ready until next month, called Blackberry Kumquat...puple and yellow. (See one of my previous blogs regarding it. I will have a picture out shortly). I also make MP soaps and large quantity because I've found a base MP soap that is a great base from which to start.

Hopefully, some of you are now a little more informed about what soaps are out there and what are getting for your buck :)