More soapy experiments

 I have been really slack with blogging lately for some reason. However, I really need to do a post about the last two batches of soap I made as I like to record what recipe I used in case it turns out to be a particularly nice soap.

Normally I just use separate moulds for my soap instead of the loaf mould but ....

...a soapmaking friend who used to sell her soap asked me to take some moulds, etc. off her hands so, of course, I couldn't say no and was amazed to find a big box sitting on my verandah a few weeks ago. I opened it to find the mould pictured above, a soap shaver, a mould for embeds and a big soap cutter which is used to cut a loaf of soap in half so that the design can be seen. 

Naturally I couldn't resist trying out a couple of the items so first up I made soap in the mould with the removable pieces and added the micas pictured above. 

This is the recipe I used for my future reference. It is an old one of Rhonda's which is in her book Down to Earth and I just tweaked it by running the amounts of oil through SoapCalc. This helps you to work out how much liquid and lye to add to a recipe. 

600g Rice Bran Oil

440g Coconut Oil

460g Olive Oil

570g Water

212g Lye

46.5g Fragrance Oil. I used Bohemian Dream, Moon Lake and Australian Lavender from Gavin's Little            Green Workshops

My next experiment six weeks later was an attempt to add embeds. When making the first lot of soap mentioned I filled up the Embed Mould to use in my next batch. I really had no idea how to add them so ended up just pushing them into the soap which was quickly thickening. It didn't turn out too badly seeing as I didn't use the 'proper' technique but nothing ever goes to plan when making soap as it can surprise you by going to a thick trace very quickly once the colours and fragrances are added. 

I made a fairly big batch in case the embedded loaf of soap was a complete failure and poured some into my favourite mould...

...and also filled up the Embed Mould to use in future experiments. As I had recently bought some Shea Butter from a local supplier Live Pure and Simple I wanted to include it in a batch of soap and have some left over to make some Lotion Bars which I have been intending to make for years and still haven't. 

This is the recipe I used:

438g Coconut Oil
500g Olive Oil
63g   Castor Oil
125g Sunflower Oil
125g Shea Butter
178g Lye
475g Water
31g Fragrance Oil (Australian Bush  and Australian Lavender) which I didn't add to the embed mould

I notice in the photos that both batches of soap have white flecks in them for some reason. I wonder why that is...does anyone know? Mind you, I can only see them if I have my glasses on. LOL!

I won't need to make soap for a few more weeks. We don't go through much ourselves but I like to take some to our Simple Living Toowoomba meet-ups to add to the share/giveaway table. 

Our annual Carnival of Flowers started yesterday as it is being held for the month of September instead of for 10 days or so. I haven't seen the gardens in the parks for a few weeks so will check them out soon before the crowds arrive. We had a little rain the last couple of days so I am sure the plants will appreciate that as the days have been quite warm. I really appreciate the cooler weather though and don't look forward to summer. 

Have a great weekend.