Ray of Sunshine Soap

'Ray of Sunshine' is not quite a suitable name for this soap but I couldn't call it what it was meant to be 'Calendula Soap with Olive Green Clay and Annato' because I forgot to add the calendulas...didn't I? I did put a few on the top though to make up for my memory lapse :-)

 I can hear you all saying 'What! More soap?' Well this batch isn't for me. 

As I have had a number of 'botched batches' lately I thought I would use an old proven recipe which was my favourite one of 2016...

....Calendula Soap with Green Clay

This was a really nice soap and, although I didn't have any of the Lemongrass and Persian Lime Fragrance Oil that scented that batch, I thought I would try one of the fragrance oils a friend gave me a while back. I haven't used it before so I wasn't sure how Mandarin Myrrh Fragrance Oil would behave. Some fragrance oils can accelerate trace and some can really darken the soap as time goes on.

The plan was to use two colours and make a diagonal design so I concocted a high tech divider to keep the colours separate :-) As I mentioned I wasn't sure how the fragrance oil would behave and whether the soap batter would start thickening too quickly so I only mixed it to a light trace to give me more time to fiddle around with the colours. I decided to use Olive Green Clay and, as the Carotino oil gives the soap a yellow tinge I thought I would enhance the yellow by adding some Annato Red which is also  used to colour some cheeses.

For those who are new to soapmaking, trace is achieved by adding the lye mixture to the oils and then stirring as well as mixing with a stick blender until a consistency like custard results. If you want to add different colours it is best not to let the mixture get too thick as you need to divide it up into separate jugs to add the colours. So I brought this batch to a light trace, poured it into two jugs to add the colours which I had prepared beforehand and then poured both colours at the same time into the mould. I didn't want the colours to mix together so I didn't bang the mould too much to get rid of the air bubbles but I didn't really have to be so careful as the colours blended anyway unfortunately. Never mind!

I was happy anyway as I was able to use the stamp on the soap the next day as it wasn't too soft as has been the issue lately and the soap looked very smooth when cut but since then the green clay section has started looking a bit bumpy so who knows how the soap will end up after it has cured.

I was looking at my soap coloured with Madder Root today and it is looking so much better than it did when I took this photo of it when it was first unmoulded. Obviously soap goes through stages when drying so don't despair if yours doesn't look too wonderful at first.

As you can tell there are lots of air bubbles but what's a few air bubbles between friends. LOL! I don't think the recipient of the soap will really mind....after all it is homemade. If anyone is interested in the recipe it is the same as for the Calendula Soap with Green Clay except that I used different colours and fragrance oil and forgot to add the calendula petals as mentioned.

Those who are interested in soap making might remember I made Goat's Milk Shampoo Bars from Jan Berry's new book during the last rain event and my soaps were very wet due to the humidity in the laundry where I store the soaps. I have since bought a trolley for the soap so can wheel it into another room if there are more rain events. Well, I used this to wash my hair the other night as it has now cured and it made my hair feel squeaky clean. An added bonus of course is that it doesn't have to be used just as a shampoo bar. You can find the recipe here as Jan has shared this recipe and others on different blogs.

Another couple from the book Simple and Natural Soap Making that I intend to make in the near future are the Simple Pumpkin Soap Recipe and Oatmeal & Honey Soap. Jan also has a recipe for beginners so if you are new to soap making check out Making Soap: A Simple How To for a Basic Bar. 

Soap making is fun so give it a try and don't be afraid of the lye. You just have to be careful with it like you would be when working with boiling water etc. You never know...you might end up being addicted! I believe there are a few of us around with the same affliction :-)