Welcome to my blog!

Welcome, if you have ventured here you must be slightly interested in what I have to post about. Here I plan to post pics of my process, updates on the products in process and the new ideas brewing. 

In cold process soap making, there is a cure time of no less than four weeks in order for the soap to harden so the bars will last. I am behind with the holiday season in preparing for the next holiday, Valentines Day. I know, its only December and she is already thinking February! Well I should have been thinking February clear back in November and knowing what I know now, probably October at the latest. But here I am, wishing I could take a long rest after a whirlwind holiday season but instead I am so behind and no inventory. So I am on a big push to get product on the shelf and my ideas ready. 

Today I am making two batches of soap, Merlot and Coffee. Not my first choices for my big ideas but the only two I am ready for today. I am still awaiting fragrances to arrive, my large molds to arrive and I have prep work to do to complete some of the other soaps I have in mind. I want to get rid of the 3 oz bars all together. They are time consuming with different size labels and entering them on the website ect. So I have ordered 5 lb soap molds to raise my production level and make my bars more uniform. I am excited for those to arrive. Until then I am going to have to use what I have, that means two more batches of the mismatched molds. 

My first batch of the day is a new fragrance, Merlot. I used real merlot wine and added my usual coconut milk and kaolin clay. It should have some very nice skin qualities to it.  The fragrance was very nice and I was pleasantly surprised how much I liked it. I decided to try some of my new gold mica as swirls in it. Hopefully the fragrance doesn't discolor, I forgot to look it up to see, so it shall be a surprise on the cure. For the finishing touch I colored some course salt with the gold mica and sprinkled it on top and with that decided to call it "Merlot Gold". Here is a picture before I tucked it into bed for a gel stage.

Merlot Gold

My second soap for the day was also a new fragrance, coffee, I choose to combine it with vanilla and do a swirl. I do love swirls. I combined it with almond milk this time and it was done at a much cooler temperature which is a first for me. This allowed me a lot more time in my swirl and I am hoping for a delightfully wonderful swirl. I am choosing to call this one "Love you a Latte". Though not quite complete as I am waiting for the soap to thicken so I can do some piping on top, here is a peek at today's second project. 

Love you a Latte

Well until next time......have a good week and Happy New Year!