TAH

Just thought I'd share BrambleBerry's Orange Peel has survived the curing period 5 weeks now and its still quite strong. Good Orange scent. That's all I just wanted to share. 

Thanks Candybee!

Hi Everyone,

I'm trying to find a reasonably priced supplier for about 16 ounces of Lavender EO preferably 40/42. Essential Depot is not completely back up yet or I would go there. Can anyone recommend another supplier? 

Thanks you guys.

Right solvents are the way to clean oil paint.  I do use solvents, but sometimes I need to wash the brushes too.  I like the way a good CP soap is for washing my brushes.

I wish I had some pumice! I just don't want to order more soap making supplies. I like the cornmeal idea. Thanks Candybee. 

Hi,

I made soaps for awhile a year or so ago. Now I'm planning to make some CP soap to clean my brushes that I use for oil painting. I wanted a light exfoliant in the soap and I have some "ground marble" a/k/a Calcium Carbonate (the ground marble is not from my soapmaking supplies its an art supply thing). Is this a safe ingredient? I don't seem to have any other exfoliants in my collection of leftover soap making supplies except maybe colloidal oatmeal. 

3 hours ago, Candybee said:

Painting sounds like a great way to explore your creativity. I could never paint or draw very well trying out new soap recipes, colors, etc. is my way of diving into  my creativity.

 

Hope you come back to post from time to time and if you can post pics of projects that would be fun.

Thanks Candybee. I found soap making to be very creative much more so than I would have guessed before I tried it. I'll come back and post from time to time. 

1 hour ago, PhoenixFyre said:

TAH -- You just did give back because, as a newbie soaper (6 batches of CP under my belt), I appreciate the tips and experience you just shared. I hope you have great love and joy in painting and enjoy your time doing that. And I second everything you said about this forum. The people here are wonderfully generous and I hope, like you, that I too can give back one day. Take care and be happy in all you do!

Its really been fun making soap.... so fun it was well addicting. I think I'll make soap every Christmas from now till forever. 

2 hours ago, Moonstar said:

thanks ! I am for sure gonna try this - so do i melt the oils like in a body butter + slightly freeze then whip ? 

No don't melt just whip. I found stick blender too weak so I used hand mixer to whip it. Its a really simple formula to make you can do it in like 15 minutes or less. 

2 hours ago, TallTayl said:

Emulsified scrubs turn to a lotion like product when water is added. Emulsifiers also really help minimize the slippery floor when using scrubs.

 

to make the above emulsified, you can just add a typical emulsifying wax at 25% of the oils/butters by weight.

There are plenty of emulsifiers to pick from, but e-wax is easy to use, readily available and inexpensive (and reliable).

 

True what TallTayl says. I opted for the non-emulsified version because the emulsified ones I made washed off more completely and I liked the leave behind butter feeling. 

3 hours ago, kandlekrazy said:

Thanks for sharing,  I love sugar scrubs and even though I stopped making B&B I still make myself a few products and

this is one.  I love to try new recipes.  Do you use regular sugar or Turbinado sugar with the larger grains?

 I use regular sugar. I found it had for me the right amount of scrubiness. I tried brown sugar but found it sort of sticky and gooey after awhile.  

Moonstar -I envy what your daughter is doing with her life it sounds very fulfilling. I wish I had majored in art instead of being "practical". My avatar is one of my paintings. I plan to reopen an Etsy shop for my art that has been "on vacation" for almost a year now. I need to restock it first though. I sell my art for charity its just a side thing for me. 

This isn't technically an emulsified sugar scrub as there is no emulsifier added but its much like one in constancy. This formula is like a body butter with sugar added - creamy and rich. Regular sugar scrubs I've tried are more like oils and sugar. I like both but I like this formula best. Leaves a nice emollient layer on skin feels silky good afterwards.  

Just wanted to share my sugar scrub recipe in thanks for all the recipes and info everyone here has shared.

Creamy Whipped Sugar Scrub

2.5 oz Virgin Coconut Oil

4.5 oz Shea Butter

1.5 oz Sweet Almond Oil

7 grams Optiphen Plus (or other preservative for oil based product, see usage rate for your choice of preservative from your supplier) 

15 oz Sugar

8-12 ml Essential Oil or Fragrance Oil. See usage rates for your choice from your supplier. 

Tiny pinch of colorant -optional

I’m turning my attention and free time back to painting. I’ll probably continue to make soap until I use up some of my supplies, but after that I expect to only make soap Christmas gifts.  I wanted to thank everyone here for your generous sharing of information it is really rare to find such a group of folks who are both so knowledgeable and so willing to share their knowledge of their craft. I haven’t been able to give back since I’m so new to this, but I thought I could at least share what I learned here about making soap in the last 18 months with any newer soapers who are reading. Below is my list of tips to help newer soapers. 

The folks on this forum are mostly expert soap makers who are generous with their knowledge and experience so ask them if you aren’t sure about something. Soap Queen has lots of information and ideas too. See her videos for lessons on how to make soap.

Lavender is popular. Lavender Essential oil sticks better than most fragrance oils and can be found at nearly the same price if you look around.

Citrus is also very popular but almost all citrus FO and EO fade very quickly. Listea EO is a good way to get a citrusy scent that sticks. I found Listea very inexpensively from several suppliers. Check out Essential Depot for inexpensive but limited selection of essential oils.

Not all olive oils that you buy in the grocery store are really 100% olive oil. Check the expiration date on your olive oil especially if making Castile soap since you will need to age it for months even a year  and you don’t want the oil going rancid before the soap is fully ready to use. Some folks really like Castile soap and not everyone makes it probably because you need to cure it for so long.

Calendula petals are the only botanical I found that did not eventually turn brown, they stay a pretty yellow color.

Scents that stuck well in CP soap for me:

Energy – Brambleberry- strong and sticks like glue!

Bonsai – Brambleberry this one is really strong be careful not to use too much (like I did) 

Lavender EO

Tea Tree EO

Listea EO

Spearmint and Peppermint EO

Sea Glass – WSP light but really fresh clean scent

Perfect Pumpkin – WSP- mostly the cinnamon spice part stuck but it did stick

Lemon Verbena – Brambleberry & WSP 

Blood Orange & Goji Fragrance – WSP - really sticking well after 6 months 

Autumn Wreath FO – WSP - maybe not a great scent for soap but it sure stuck

Lilac in Bloom Fragrance Oil  - WSP- dead on lilac scent no fading so far 6 weeks

Honeysuckle Surplus FO - Brambleberry - sweet honey floral

Don’t be like me and waste a lot of money trying expensive oils you can make a perfectly good soap with just a handful of basic carrier oils and maybe a “butter”. There are a few formulas  on this forum that are basic and quite good. 

Don’t be like me and get all crazy buying a bunch of fragrances, just buy what you need for the next 2-3 projects.

I have my soapers choice pomace now it looks quite a bit darker than the olive oil I used to use. Should I be worried it will not make very white soap? Just add extra TD? 

I hear a lot of people mention Bitter Creek. I may give them a try too. Can you recommend any other FO or EO that sticks in CP soap from Bitter Creek? If I'm going to place an order I'd like to get more than one thing  

Good to know TallTay because I just ordered some from them. ?

Thanks you guys. I can't wait to get my order. So glad to hear good reviews about it. 

Ok I checked the abbreviation list and decided CS is Candle Science so I went ahead and ordered from them. Their prices are way better then the places I've been ordering from. Thanks again. 

Thanks Candybee! CS is candle science?

I am to make lavender wedding soap favors. I can't afford EO so I need a FO that will hold up and of course smell good. I tried Bramble Berrys but it did not hold up well. I'm running out of time to test different FOs hoping someone can point me in the right direction. 

Thanks everybody that is all good information. I may give soapers choice pomace a try.

Thanks TallTayl. It didn't sound right to me but then I thought well maybe I just don't know what pomace is.