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I pored over our sales reports for the last few months today. I realized that our essential oil line has been sadly underutilized in sales lately. I’m unsure if it’s because we started out as a fragrance oil company ten years ago and are mostly thought of as primarily a fragrance oil company. Or if it’s because our pricing/quality is judged as sub par. If it’s the latter, someone please put me out of my misery and tell me.

I’m half way through my certification for Medical Aromatherapy and loving the course! These are some things I’ve learned lately:

• Removing parts of the essential oil (for example, removing terpenes from essential oils to make them more friendly to perfuming) hurts the overall effect of the essential oil. The whole sum of the parts for essential oil is important to keeping their full therapeutic value.

• Famous researcher Paolo Rovestsi showed that inhaling essential oils of rose and lavender reduced feelings of depression and anxiety. Imagine combining that research with a brisk 30 minute run or walk outside to try and combat depression without prescription drugs!

• Only 1% of flowering plants produce an essential oil in any significant amount.

If you’d like to be introduced to Essential oils, Bramble Berry carries the neatest little starter essential oil starter kit. It has everything you need to start exploring the world of aromatherapy.

We also carry a huge line of essential oils, organic essential oils and synergy blends. I am currently burning the Calming Synergy Blend in my bedroom in the evenings and am loving the scent and effect.

Some ideas for improving your life through essential oils:

• put a 5 drops of Lavender Essential Oil on freshly laundered socks before tossing into the drier. Your entire load will come out smelling of calming lavender.

• fill a bowl with water. Put 15 drops of an uplifting essential oil like Peppermint, Bergamot, or Lemongrass into the water. Inhale deeply to wake yourself up and then soak a washcloth in the aromatic water. Wring the wash cloth out, toss it on the floor of your car and enjoy the fragrance all day as the washcloth dries out.

• Make a nighty-night linen spray by mixing 2 oz distilled water with 20 drops of Calming or Sleepy Time Synergy Blends. Shake well before use each and every time and of course, test on an inconspicuous place on your linens before dousing your entire bed. It’s impossible to predict which fabrics will bleed and fade.

There are many more uses for essential oils in soaps, lotions, face and body preparations and massage (to name a few!). Watch for more posts about using essential oils in your daily life. I am very inspired by my Aromatherapy Certification Course and look forward to sharing more essential oil tidbits over the next few months.

The best soap supplies on the internet are found at Bramble Berry. Click here to browse Bramble Berry.Have a question about this blog post? Come join us at Bramble Berry’s Facebook page and we can help you out with any of your soapy questions!The post Essential Oils Enhance Your Life appeared first on Soap Queen.

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Palm Oil is one of my favorite oils in soapmaking. It contributes to a harder bar and also helps Coconut Oil do its job and lather up big bubbles. Unfortunately, there are some negative repercussions from using Palm Oil to the environment.How can something natural be harmful to the environment? Demand for palm oil is the leading cause for rainforest deforestation in Malaysia and Indonesia, according to Friends of the Earth. The land occupied by palm oil plantations has doubled in the last ten years in Indonesia, endangering the habitat of the orangutan, Asian elephant and the Sumatran tiger.These planations pollute the soil and water with use of pesticides.Things that you can do if you’re a soapmaker using Palm Oil: try to use Olive, Sunflower and Canola in larger porportions in your recipe. Buy sustainably grown Palm Oil that is grown in rehabilitated agricultural areas or from smaller farms that don’t harm animal habitat and migration patterns. You can support companies that are part of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil Production, cofounded by the World Wildlife Fund.The best soap supplies on the internet are found at Bramble Berry. Click here to browse Bramble Berry.Have a question about this blog post? Come join us at Bramble Berry’s Facebook page and we can help you out with any of your soapy questions!The post Palm Oil – A mixed bag appeared first on Soap Queen.

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General Guidelines for working with essential oils

– keep away from fire or naked flame
– store in a cool place
– keep out of sunlight
– plastic bottles are a no as they allow the essential oil to evaporate and take on the plastic smell; additionally, plastic bottles generally collapse as they start to absorbe the essential oil
– expensive essential oils should be kept in the fridge
– wash your hands after using essential oils
– if you mix your essential oil with a fixed oil to make it skin safe, keep in mind that your fixed oil has a shorter shelf life than your essential oil and may go rancid. Always mix in small batches.
– essential oils can stain and also remove nail polish and furniture finish
– have an eye rinse station nearby. If you get essential oils in your eyes, use milk or a carrier oil first to help neutralize the oil and then move on to water
– essential oils are generally not soluble in water
– essential oils do not mix well with computers, pets, children, furniture, carpet and even indoor plants
– make sure your bottles are labeled correctly
– use caution when working around essential oils if you have any open cuts or wounds
– essential oils can negate the effect of sensitive homeopathy remedies
– some essential oils are photo sensitizers, like bergamot, orange eo and most citrus essential oils
– only buy your essential oils from a reputable place. If you can find rose essential oil for $5, it’s not real.
– if you are pregnant, be extra careful with essential oils during your first trimester
– when working with undiluted essential oils, keep a good air flow in the room
– always have a fire extinguisher near by. Essential oils are volatile, flammable liquids.

The best soap supplies on the internet are found at Bramble Berry. Click here to browse Bramble Berry.Have a question about this blog post? Come join us at Bramble Berry’s Facebook page and we can help you out with any of your soapy questions!The post Essential Oil Safety Guidelines appeared first on Soap Queen.

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Thank you to Two Tadpoles, Teresa, One Bubble, Amber’s Ambry, and Soapaholics Anonymous for the blog shout outs this week.

Heidi, your heat transfer method soap pictured above looks amazing. The texture really adds interest to the bar.

Teresa, the soap (pictured on right) that your boys made is adorable! I love that you are creating positive memories with your boys, utilizing this fun art form.

Thank you to the Soap Queen reader that alerted me to this YouTube video on how to felt soap.

Feedblitz subscribers, you have to go to the blog to see the video. If you make CP soap and every have ugly CP soap that you want to salvage, the video is worth watching.

The best soap supplies on the internet are found at Bramble Berry. Click here to browse Bramble Berry.Have a question about this blog post? Come join us at Bramble Berry’s Facebook page and we can help you out with any of your soapy questions!The post How to Felt Soap appeared first on Soap Queen.

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This is a candle I made with 100% Stearic Acid. Why Stearic Acid? Because I saw some candles at a high end gift shop that were made with “Palm Wax.” They were very expensive candles and I thought, “Gosh, Stearic Acid is derived from Palm Oil. I wonder if I could just use Stearic Acid for my candle?” The natural Palm Wax candle at the store had a cool, crystallized look. The candle in the photo, though difficult to see, does have a crystalline, unique look that is high end and sophisticated. Success!

I measured out 16 ounces volume of Stearic Acid for my candle. For this project, I used Stearic Acid, Carrot Cake (discontinued – see all our candle fragrances here), the cotton core WU-250 wick and a Bramble Berry’s Candle Container.

Check out what 16 ounces volume looks like melted down! This illustrates why it’s important to always use weight when making any recipes. It’s a more precise crafting method. Precision and predictability is important for crafters. You can cost better and ensure less batch variation when you weigh out products rather than using volume.

I fragranced the candle with a full .5 ounces of fragrance. I like my candles strong and use a full 1 ounce of fragrance per pound (weight) of wax. Then, I carefully poured the wax, taking care not to spill all over the table. Finally, I positioned the wick in the center, propped up the wick on either side to ensure that the wick would remain straight and waited.

The candle burns well but next time, I’ll either use the WU-150 wick or experiment with a little Soy Wax addition to soften up the wax for an easier burn. The 100% Palm Stearic Acid candle is harder than I expected so the candle isn’t burning fully out to the edges. But, overall, the experiment is a success. The candle looks unique and interesting, burns well and has excellent scent throw.

The best soap supplies on the internet are found at Bramble Berry. Click here to browse Bramble Berry.Have a question about this blog post? Come join us at Bramble Berry’s Facebook page and we can help you out with any of your soapy questions!The post Weight Versus Volume appeared first on Soap Queen.

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I have been addicted to hot oil hair treatments since I was about 12 years old. I used to warm the oil up, put it on my hair, and then rinse it out with apple cider vinegar/baking soda. I’m not sure that the last part of my hair treatment was all that healthy but I swore by it.

Well, I’m a bit older now but still addicted to hair oil for a deep conditioning treatment. I normally toss together whatever the new oil de jour is with some jojoba and essential oils (Geranium and Lavender are my standbys).Last night, I got inspired and made a more serious attempt at a conditioning hair oil.First, I infused some sesame seed oil/unrefined hemp seed oil with herbs of calendula, and Fenugreek. Fenugreek is traditionally used in India by infusing the seeds into yogurt and using the mixture as a hair conditioner. I did a luke warm infusion and simmered the oil on low for an hour with the herbs. I strained the oil with a makeshift strainer – a coffee filter lining my pasta drainer.
You can see by the oil that it is very dark after the infusion. The unrefined hemp seed oil is a natural dark green brown color to start and the infusion darkened it.The infusion was the time intensive part. The rest is easy. My recipe looks like this:

2 oz. Hemp and Seseme Infused oil2 oz. Castor Oil2 oz. Fractionated Coconut Oil1 oz. Evening Primrose Oil1 oz. Avocado Oil1 oz. Soybean OilEssential Oil Blend: .25 oz. Carrot Seed Oil, .10 oz. Frankincense CO2 Extracted, .25 oz. Basil Essential Oil, .15 oz. Cedarwood EO, .15 oz. Rosemary EOAfter I had all the oils assembled, it was a quick pour into the bottle and voila! A lovely, stimulating scalp and hair oil.

Directions for use: Massage into scalp and hair. Leave on for a minimum of 20 minutes. Wash and condition your hair like normal to rinse the hair oil out.The best soap supplies on the internet are found at Bramble Berry. Click here to browse Bramble Berry.Have a question about this blog post? Come join us at Bramble Berry’s Facebook page and we can help you out with any of your soapy questions!The post Hot Oil Hair Treatment – Recipe & Technique appeared first on Soap Queen.

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Since I started making soaps, I always wanted to take pictures of my projects. Even before I sold them online I wanted to keep an album of what I made. When I started to sell them on Etsy I realized that good photography was essential to being successful. Unfortunately I had no experience with product photography, but over the last few years I’ve learned a few things (check out my flickr account to see my online portfolio). Here are some tips for those of you who don’t feel all that comfortable with a digital camera or aren’t totally satisfied with your pictures:LightingDo you marvel at those pictures that have a completely white background with no shadows at all? Me, too. I still don’t know how to do that perfectly, but I find that natural light gives me the most realistic colors possible. I NEVER use my flash!When I set up to take a picture, I use a little mini-studio that I made. With one 12″ square piece of white foam core (found at art supply stores) as my floor, and one 12″x24″ piece (scored so it folds) as my background, I create a little area that reflects light from my window to minimize shadows. I can use it as is or put sheets of colored paper inside. To take away any distracting corners in the background, I let the paper bend up onto the back wall (as shown). See how pretty the light is?Color and composition

One concept I learned in elementary school art class that I still use today is “complimentary colors”. Here’s how I remember mine: there are 3 primary colors (blue, yellow, red). Take one (blue for example), then mix the other 2 colors (yellow + red = orange) and you have your complimentary colors. In the picture above I had an orange soap, so I used blue as the background. For whatever reason, our eye loves seeing complimentary colors together. Red and green for example! This always helps me set up my color scheme when color is important. I did that for the Energy Bar, too. The primary color was orange so I chose a blue plate. Have a stack of colored and patterned papers around and play with combinations until you find one you like.Composition is important to make your photos interesting. Try stacking them, putting one on an angle, or using props. You’re basically making a little “still life” so be creative!Cropping and touching up
When you’re done, use your photo software (I use a cheesy one from Office Max that was $9), and crop the photo tightly. You want your soap to be the focus, so don’t waste any of your viewer’s energy on empty space. If you’re selling on Etsy, crop it square. Then, if you have shadows or smudges, learn how to touch them up. To get a very bright, crisp picture, use your “brightness” and “contrast” settings to fine tune your lighting. But be careful! You don’t want it to look unrealistic.As you keep taking pictures, you’ll find your own style. I focus on color and humor, but you may want something earthy and natural. Outdoors on a branch may be your favorite setting when you get comfortable. So have fun and your work will shine!-Debbie, SoapyloveThe best soap supplies on the internet are found at Bramble Berry. Click here to browse Bramble Berry.Have a question about this blog post? Come join us at Bramble Berry’s Facebook page and we can help you out with any of your soapy questions!The post Tips on Soap Photography appeared first on Soap Queen.

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Have you tried Grapefruit Lily before? It’s a lighter, romantic fragrance with a clean finish. Though this fragrance is heavy on the Lily notes, the touch of Grapefruit makes it an intriguing scent. It’s also a fun scent to blend. I’ve included a few blends below that really make this fragrance a great one to keep in some way, shape or form year round. I hope you enjoy them and if you have any to share with your fellow Soap Queen readers, please let comment. I’d love to know what you’re doing with this fragrance.

Blend #1
3 parts Grapefruit Lily
1 part Mango Mango
1 part Ginger Lime

Blend #2
2 parts Grapefruit Lily
1.5 parts Gardenia
1.5 parts Raspberry Violet

Blend#3
2.5 parts Grapefruit Lily
2.5 parts Apricot Freesia

Blend #4
3 parts Grapefruit Lily
1 part Lily of Valley, Cybilla
1 part Romance (Discontinued)

Blend #5
2 parts Grapefruit Lily
2 parts Coconut, Cybilla
1.5 parts Sandalwood Vanilla

Blend #6
2 parts Grapefruit Lily
2 parts Vanilla Select
1 part Spearmint Essential Oil

The best soap supplies on the internet are found at Bramble Berry. Click here to browse Bramble Berry.Have a question about this blog post? Come join us at Bramble Berry’s Facebook page and we can help you out with any of your soapy questions!The post Grapefruit Lily Blends appeared first on Soap Queen.

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Big thanks to Lori Nova from The Nova Studio for this Guest Blog. Lori is going to be teaching her amazing swirl technique and colorant class at the Soap Intensive Weekend at Otion this year. Class attendees are in for a huge treat. Lori’s Guest Blog is below:

While preparing for my upcoming 2-Day Soap Making Boot Camp, I began to realize that there are some essential oils that are crucial to me for Cold Process Soap Making. Even though I occasionally use oils that are not on this list, without these oils I would be hard pressed to make amazing soap at an affordable price.

The reasons that I use/choose these oils time and time again is…

1) they smell great in CP soap,
2) they are reasonably priced and I can afford to buy a 16 ounce bottle of them, and
3) many of them blend well with each other, creating dozens or more of possible combinations.

Here’s my Top 10 List:

1: Lavender(use .7 ounces per pound of oil/fat)
2: 5-Fold Sweet Orange (use .5 ounces per pound of oil/fat)
3: Petitgrain (use .5 ounce per pound of oil/fat)
4: Lemon (use .9 ounces per pound of oil/fat)
5: Litsea Cubeba (use .5 ounces per pound of oil/fat)
6: Spearmint (use .5 ounce per pound of oil/fat)
7: Lime (use .9 ounces per pound of oil/fat)
8: Peppermint (use .5 ounce per pound of oil/fat)
9: Rosemary (use .5 ounce per pound of oil/fat)
10: Anise (use .5 ounce per pound of oil/fat)

My favorite COMBINATIONS with these ten Essential Oils:

~Lemon & Litsea Cubeba
~Lavender & Litsea Cubeba
~Lavender & Any Citrus (Orange, Lemon, Lime, etc.)
~Lavender & Any Mint
~Lavender & Rosemary
~Rosemary & Lemon
~Rosemary & Spearmint
~Lime & Spearmint (aka Mojito)
~Anise & Lavender
~Anise & Sweet Orange
~Petitgrain & Sweet Orange
~Peppermint & Lemon
~Peppermint & Spearmint (aka Doublemint)

How to figure out how much essential oils to use in Cp soap making:

Refer to “my list” above about for how much is recommended to use per pound of oil/fat.
How many pounds (of oil/fat) does your recipe have?
Let’s say you are making a 4-pound batch of oil/fats (fyi – 4 pounds = 64 ounces)
You multiply 4 x the amount of E.O. recommended.

To demonstrate, I’ll use Anise & Lavender.
Anise is recommended at .5 per pound of oil/fat.
So… 4 (lbs of oil) x .5 = 2.0 ounces of Anise (if you were using only Anise for the entire 4-lb batch).
and 4 (lbs of oil) x .7 = 2.8 ounces of Lavender (if you were using only Lavender)
Since you are using a combination of oils, divide each by 2.
So for Anise, it’s 2 divided by 2 = 1 (ounce of anise for the whole batch, in combo with lavender)
So 2.8 divided by 2 = 1.4 (ounces of lavender for the whole batch, in combo with anise).

So the end result for an Anise & Lavender Soap would be:
1 ounce of Anise AND 1.4 ounces of Lavender

Remember – these are guidelines for Cold Process Soap Making only and this is only a place to start. After making your first batch, if it comes out smelling more like one oil and you want it the other way around, feel free to adjust the amounts until you find exactly the scent you are looking for.

Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed this blog post and find it helpful in scenting your Cold Process soap.

Please feel free to post a comment below and share your favorite “can’t live without” essential oils for CP soap making and also the combinations you love the most.

The best soap supplies on the internet are found at Bramble Berry. Click here to browse Bramble Berry.Have a question about this blog post? Come join us at Bramble Berry’s Facebook page and we can help you out with any of your soapy questions!The post Lori Nova’s Top Ten Essential Oils appeared first on Soap Queen.

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Recently my good friend, Cealleigh, married the love of her life in a beautiful ceremony that took place in a gazebo overlooking a pristine California beach. I was honored to act as her Matron of Honor, and possibly even more excited when she asked me to create the favors for her reception! Cealleigh loves orchids and took cues from their colors for every facet of her wedding decor. She had the idea for some purple soap embedded in opaque soap for the favors, and I embarked on the journey to find the perfect hue for her soaps!

As I experimented with the hue I loved the range I was able to achieve, from deep blue-purples to lighter red-violets using all from Bramble Berry’s oxides and micas.

Row 1: 1 Part Ultramarine Violet | 1 Part Ultramarine Violet; 1 Part Ultramarine Pink
Row 2: 1 Part Ultramarine Violet; 1 Part Sparkle Violet | 1 Part Titanium Dioxide; 1 Part Ultramarine Violet
Row 3: 3 Parts Ultramarine Pink; 1 Part Ultramarine Violet; ½ Part Titanium Dioxide | 2 Parts Ultramarine Pink; 1 Part Ultramarine Violet
Row 4: 1 Part Titanium Dioxide; 1 Part Ultramarine Pink | 1 Part Sparkle Violet; 1 Part Ultramarine Pink
Row 5: 1 Part Red Blue Mica; 1 Part Sparkle Violet | 1 Part Mauvey Gem

Note: Sparkle Violet Mica will be discontinued when supplies run out. You can use Super Pearly White Mica instead.

Add the colorants used in these blends to your Bramble Berry shopping cart with the click of a button!

I brought all of these samples, scented with a range of my favorite florals, to her bachelorette party and Cealleigh chose the color created with equal parts Red Blue and Sparkle Violet for her special soaps. The result was (if I do say so myself) quite stunning.

The boxes were created by Cealleigh’s mother-in-law and I think the box and the soap really complement each other. Here’s to a lifetime of happiness, Ceal and Greg!

The post Finding the Perfect Purple appeared first on Soap Queen.

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Anne-Marie Note: This is a guest blog post by Alesia Lau, one of our fantastic instructors and soapsters extraordinaire at Otion – The Soap Bar. Alesia loves to explore the world of color and in her job at Otion, she gets to play with color every day! Taking this class in Bellingham was a natural extension of her desire to learn more about natural colorant options for soap. I’m excited to see her work in some of these great ideas in her upcoming soapmaking experiments.

Can you have beautiful colors without the use of synthetic colors? Naturally! I had the honor of spending a lovely Saturday learning the art of natural dye. Sandra has her studio set up in a charming little cottage behind her Bellingham home; by the end of class I understood why. This is a big task, and can take days, weeks, or months to achieve the perfect shade, hue, tint, and design to your cloth or (I hope) SOAP! A Seven hour class may seem like enough time to cover tons of dyes, but I was content and, in fact, a little intimidated by just the five to which we were introduced. One important thing to remember in natural dye making is that your color will vary just as a crop does; depending on your region, soil, PH, and hardness of water. All of these things can change the color of your dye.Here is some fun terminology: “Weight of Goods” or “WOG,” is your recipe. Basically, xgrams=dye for y grams=cloth. So you would weigh your dry cloth in grams and, depending on what kind of dye you are using, your grams of dye would change. It is similar to a lye calculator. Of course, Sandra has all of these ratios stored in her brain; I would suggest you google the ratio or invest in the Natural Dye Instruction Booklet, which is available through Eaurthues.Another piece of terminology is “Light-Fast.” This means, “How will my dye hold up?” “How long will it stay true?” You want something that will retain its color longer. You want something that hold its color under the sun and stress.The length of time and number of dips all play a role in the outcome of your colors. It’s easy to have a beautiful array of hues with just one color batch!

Now it is time to get to the fun stuff! Let’s go over the interesting dyes we created and used.

Onion Skins- This creates a beautiful golden yellow (normally) but we must have used some magic onions because came up with a gorgeous orange! All we did was cook some onion skins at a rolling boil for thirty minutes.

Weld-Very bright yellow, will make a lovely green when mixed with Indigo. most light fast yellow you will find, for this plant you use the whole plant, and the great thing is weld can be found and grown right here in WA. But be careful, it will try to take over your garden. Weld should be soaked for a few days in water and then boiled for thirty minutes.

Cochineal- This was by far my favorite! This beautiful purple-red, is actually created form a parasitic bug! This color was thought to be made from grain for hundreds of years, in fact only the Pope was allowed to wear this sacred color. Come to find out, it is a cacti-dwelling parasite! This we also boiled for thirty minutes, but because this is not made from plant material, you can re use the dye, without fear of mold.

Madder Root- This will make a lovely red-orange. It loves hard water, so for us up in the Pacific Northwest, you should add calcium carbonate to your water prior to boiling. This will ensure that your madder does not just turn brown and instead gives you that lovely, unique hue. You also need to make sure that your dye never reaches a temperature of 155F or higher and cook for 30 minutes.

Indigo- Holy Buckets! The art of indigo dyeing is a mix of religion, chemistry, patience, love, lore, tradition and gumption! Every civilization has its own unique blend for indigo, and each blend comes from wildly different sources. There is no specific indigo plant. This hue is collected from the tannins of plants. I highly recommend seeking out Sandra if you are interested in this divine colorant. Fortunately for the soapies in the group, we can just buy a powdered colorant to achieve the glorious blue.

Here are four pieces of cloth per color combination; Fine silk, silk, cotton, and linen. The dyes used are (top row, left to right) indigo, weld, cochineal, (bottom, left to right) indigo and weld, weld, madder, and cochineal with indigo.

Before we could dye our scarves and socks though, we had to make sure that our material had been through a scouring, and mordanting process; which can take weeks and a lot of know-how. Luckily, you can buy cloth that is ready to dye so you can get right to the coloring.

We had our cloth soaking in the dye for a few hours, some of the dyes were still on a low temperature; every dye has its own secret to success. After we felt that our cloth was done we rinsed and washed them in the tub and hung the items to dry; Remember your piece will always dry a few shades lighter.

Using creative techniques, you can make new pattern discoveries.

Fun Facts About Dyeing

• You can use fresh OR dried medium! Drying your plant makes for year round dyeing.
• You can make a deeper color by using less water or more plant material.
• When dyeing cloth every “dip” makes for a deeper shade.
• Your colors will change based on what material you are coloring, protein fiber vs. cellulose fiber.
• A protein fiber is anything that comes from an animal; silk, sheep wool, alpaca, mohair are all protein fibers.
• A cellulose fiber is anything that comes from a plant; cotton, linen, hemp, rayon, tencel.

The post The Art Of Natural Dye appeared first on Soap Queen.

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Welcome to another Q&A session about everything soapy and soap related. Check out our previous information product posts all about Nail Polish, Lip Balm, All Things Lotion, Preservatives, Melt and Pour Soap or Colorants. This week’s post comes to us from a few questions we’ve received from customers about maintaining clarity in Clear Melt and Pour Soap. Read on to learn more about these awesome scents that you can use in your bath and body products.

What is a water white fragrance oil?

Fragrance oils are comprised of, in some cases, hundreds of different ingredients that come together in perfect harmony to create a treat for your nose. Often, these components affect the color of the final oil, which in turn can affect the final color of your soap. A water white fragrance oil is an oil that is perfectly clear and will not affect the final color of your soap. There are a few fragrances that are crystal clear in the bottle, but may give a slightly creamy color to cold process soap due to vanillian content. For melt and pour, this means clear soap base will maintain its clarity, shade and hue. For cold process and melt and pour soap, it’s an assurance that your soap will not be discolored by a lightly tinted fragrance oil. Remember that this is not taking into consideration other discoloring factors such as Vanillan content.

Is there such a thing as water white essential oils?

When it comes to essential oils, their coloration is determined by their state in nature (which means, you’ll never see a water white pure Orange essential oil).

Take a look at these four commonly used fragrance and essential oils. The top one is Red Apple Fragrance Oil, and is water white. Next in line is Dark Rich Chocolate Fragrance Oil, which is a yellowish color out of the bottle and will discolor soap to a dark brown. Following that, Patchouli Fragrance Oil, which gets it’s orangey-yellow color from small amounts of Patchouli Essential Oil used to obtain its authentic scent. And finally, Orange 10x Essential Oil, which is distilled 10 times in order to create a super potent essential oil capable of withstanding the high pH levels in cold process soap (a well-known citrus killer).

When should I use a water white fragrance oil?

The benefit of using a water white fragrance oil is clarity. If you’re embedding objects in melt and pour and want that first layer to be pristine and clear but still scented, water white is the way to go. Check out a great example in this tutorial! It leaves you with no worries that the fragrance oil will effect the clarity of your soap. Water white fragrances work the same way any other fragrance would in your products. If using water white fragrance oils in cold process, like any other fragrance oil you’ll want to be sure to check the individual fragrance product pages for any notes about morphing or trace acceleration.

And of course, just because a fragrance oil isn’t water white doesn’t meant you can’t use it to your advantage. Remember when I made the adorable Sunshine Soap? I worked with the natural color of Orange 10x Essential oil, instead of against it, to create a great bar of soap. If you’re making a layering project and need that first layer to be clear but your project calls for a fragrance that isn’t water white, just leave the first layer unscented! Or, even better, create a blend by scenting the first clear layer with a water white fragrance oil and the next layers with your original choice.

Which of Bramble Berry’s fragrances are water white?

Here is a list of perfectly water white fragrance and essential oils: Apricot Freesia, Apple Macintosh, Baby Rose, Blackberry Sage, Fresh Snow, Ginger Ale, Green Tea, Lavender and Herb, Lavender Chamomile Huggies, Margarita Lip Flavor, Pearberry, Peppermint 2nd Distillation Essential Oil, Plumeria, Red Apple, Watermelon, Yuzu, Cherry Blossom, Cedarwood EO, Clary Sage, Cucumber Melon Flavor Oil, Crisp Apple Rose, Cucumber Melon Cybilla, Chamomile Cybilla, Cucumber Melon, English Rose, Sensuous Sandalwood, Sweetgrass, Rain Cybilla, Pink Grapefruit, Ocean Rain, Moroccan Mint, Matcha Tea, Sage and Lemongrass Candle & Soap, Hungarian Lavender EO, Eden’s Garden, Fresh Bamboo , Fresh Zucchini Flower, Ginger Ale, Sage, Dalmation, Spearmint EO, Rosemary EO, Peppermint 1st Distill, Lavender 40/42, and Bulgarian Lavender.

Fragrance oils that are water white in the bottle, with a small amount of vanillan content:

Champagne, Rice Flower & Shea Type, White Ginger & Amber Cybilla, Rise & Shine

Do you have any questions about Water White Fragrance Oils? If so, ask in the comments below!

The post What are Water White Fragrance Oils? appeared first on Soap Queen.

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Who would have guessed how entertaining a chemistry lesson on molecular structure could be. We soap makers sometimes think of ourselves as mad scientists. We get a kick out of the chemical reactions that occur during the process of saponification.

Kevin Dunn, PhD is the Elliott Professor of Chemistry at Hampden-Sydney College. He has done and continues to do research projects on the chemistry of handcrafted soap. He is the author of Scientific Soapmaking about the chemistry of cold process soap.

Dunn received a nickname at the session. He became known as Dr. McSoapy.

Hello, Dr. McSoapy!

Dr. McSoapy is an informative and entertaining speaker. For starters, he talked about molecules being like nerds and cheerleaders. As he talked about the attraction of molecules to one another, he brought in the analogy of relationships between high school nerds and cheerleaders.

While causing us to double over in laughter, he taught us about things such as:

• Hydrophilic vs. Lipophilic
• Saturated vs. Unsaturated
• Triacylglycerides, Diacylglycerides and Monoacylglycerides.

My spell check doesn’t like those last three words! Seriously, I’m not kidding. He had us laughing throughout the session. Were you there? Did you laugh?

I took lots of notes. These are just from the first few minutes.

Here’s a little of what we learned:

• A Triacylglyceride is 3 acyl molecules (pronounced with a long a) and 1 glycerin molecule. Just for the record, an acyl is a straight line of neutral molecules. The shorthand for Triacylglyceride is TAG because, as Dr. McSoapy pointed out, AAAG sounds like something is stuck in your throat.
• A Diacylglceride is 2 made up of 2 acyls and 1 glycerin. It’s called a DAG.
• A Monoacylglyceride is 1 acyl and 1 glycerin. Guess what it’s called? No peeking at the answer yet. Did you get it? Right! A MAG.

Dr. McSoapy showed us all kinds of colorful diagrams. A molecule here, a molecule there. Put them together and get something different. There’s a name for that. Stoichiometric — stoichiometric is how much of this will go with how much of that. How’s that for technical jargon? To me it’s how things go together to make a balanced equation. Mostly. He made it so easy to understand. But I’m struggling with passing along that knowledge. So you probably ought to read his book instead of relying on my secondhand rendition.

So let me tell you about some of the things I took away from the session. Things that make more sense to me than acyls and glycerin. We did an experiment. He had bottles of soapy water ready for us. He also had pipettes with either ammonia or vinegar. He had us shake the bottle to get the bubbles going.

See all those bubbles?

Then we added a few drops of vinegar. Guess what? The soapy bubbles disappeared. They ALL disappeared. Like magic. But it’s not magic – it’s soapy science.

No more bubbles!

Here’s where it gets really cool. To this bubble-less soapy water, we added a drop of ammonia. We shook the bottle. Voila! The bubbles were back (see picture of bubbles above)! Fun times.

Dr. McSoapy told us about some of his research. One very interesting finding he shared concerns lye heavy soap. You may have read/heard that cold process soap gets milder over time. To test this idea, Dr. McSoapy and his team did an experiment on a lye heavy soap and showed us the results.
A soap started out lye heavy (can you say ouch?) when it was poured. I don’t remember the exact pH, but it had too much lye in it. After 24 hours, the soap was still lye heavy. However, after 11 weeks, the soap had a pH level very close to normal for soap. The pH was at a safe level. He explained that this happens because the CO2 reacts with the leftover lye to eat it up. Well, those may not have been his exact words, but that’s what my brain heard.

Anyway, it was very interesting to me that in a relatively short amount of time, a lye heavy soap would become a safe soap. The conditions in which the soap cured may have an effect on how quickly the soap becomes safe.

If you end up with a lye heavy soap, be sure to check the pH if you plan to use it. If you make soap from scratch, you know the drill. Every soap may not reach a safe level within 11 weeks as the experimental soap did.

The other finding that I will remember most from this session? Lye Discounting (adding less lye than the oils will use) vs. Superfatting (adding an oil after trace). Based on his research, Dr. McSoapy believes the evidence suggests that superfatting and discounting lye create a similar end result. Why does he think this? Because he has this fancy doodad that can separate out and measure what fatty acids are left over in the soap. And he knows (as we can, too, if we do our research) which fixed oils contain which fatty acids and how much. The fatty acids remaining in the soap were not always from the oil added after trace. And the amounts and types of left over fatty acids were very similar between superfatted and lye discounted soaps that had been made from the same recipe.

His thoughts on why this is the case:

• Some oils react with lye more quickly than other oils do.
• Adding an oil after trace doesn’t guarantee that some of that oil will remain unsaponified. (Something of note here is that jojoba is a special case because it is a wax ester rather than an oil.)

Thank you, Dr. McSoapy for the wonderfully informative and entertaining session.

Thanks, Jean! Our other conference guest blogger, Michele of Tierra Verde Soaps, also attended this class. Get her take on it here!

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I wasn’t sure going into this how much I would comprehend. I understand the reaction of Saponification on a very basic level. I was familiar with Kevin Dunn as he is of some “fame” in the soapmaking world, so of course I wanted to hear him speak.

I was immediately at ease with Mr. Dunn’s kind and humorous nature; he is clearly comfortable in front of a crowd and his humor is delightfully refreshing. I highly recommend going to his session if you are thinking of attending a Handcrafted Soap and Cosmetic Guild Conference – he is so delightful and you’re sure to understand at least parts of his lecture.

For the first part of the presentation he spoke about:

• Lipophilic – oil/fat loving
• Hydrophilic – water loving
• Amphiphilic – loving both oil and water

This involved a colorful illustration of the relationship between oil and water utilizing the analogy of “nerds and cheerleaders” – you can just imagine, right?

Soon after the “nerd and cheerleader” analogy we performed a clever experiment with water bottles that were filled halfway with water and soap.

This was an illustration of Fatty Acid Equilibrium. First we shook the bottle up to agitate the solution causing bubbles to form. By adding the vinegar (an acid) the bubbles disappeared and there was a notable color change in the solution as well (to a slight yellow). By adding ammonia into the solution we raised the alkalinity causing the bubbles to reappear.

Shaking up the bottle

After we added vinegar

After we added ammonia

This experiment soon led us into talk of triacylglycerol, diacyglycerol, monoacylglycerol (otherwise known as tags, dags, and mags) and the stoichiometric hypothesis (huh?) – and this is where things went gray and fuzzy for me. I was lost in the mire of fatty acids, and just when I thought all was hopeless, there was a faint light at the end of the tunnel when the conversation took a turn into more familiar terms of lye discount and superfat.

We all know that a lye discount is used when we don’t want excess lye in our finished soap and the term “superfat” means to add excess fat. In conclusion and in plain non chemist terms Mr. Dunn explained…..wait for it….that whether you use a lye discount or superfat the results are the same, so for those of you who are waiting until that crucial moment to add your superfat to your soap…it really only creates more stress and work. Begin with a lye discount and you’ll never have to worry about that critical moment for adding your superfat again.

Thanks, Michele! Our other conference guest blogger, Jean of SoapArt, also attended this class. Get her take on it here!

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If you are anything like me you would much rather make soap than deal with the web related issues that go along with a business. Personally, I would rather be “pecked to death by baby ducks” than run the gauntlet of web optimization, however it is a pertinent part of running your small business. How will you ever get noticed if your website can’t be found?

Marie Gale is a soapmaker and long time supporter and honorary member of the Handcrafted Soap and Cosmetics Guild. She is a author of Soap and Cosmetic Labeling (a must have in every soapmaker’s library) and Good Manufacturing Practices for Soap and Cosmetic Handcrafters. In addition, Marie is a web programmer and has been the HSCG webmaster since 2003. The following is a brief summary of the information covered in her session on SEO.

There are several key components that you should look at within the “website” itself. We’ll begin by taking a peek at the Google Webmaster Zone where we can tick off a list of factors that can influence the success of optimization.

In terms of your server, Google looks at page load speed (your page should ultimately load in 2 seconds or less), crawl errors that should be corrected, and a “static” ip address (your very own unique # that does not change) is preferred. Robots.txt should be correct and in place along with your sitemap; it’s important to note that there is the “human” sitemap as well as the xml sitemap that Google considers for page ranking. Google looks at certain “trust factors” also such as a privacy policy on your site along with a physical address. While Google does favor a physical address as a security honor element, it is not a “deal breaker” if this address is not present. Next, take a look at your html and css coding making sure it is valid and correct and fix any broken links within the site, incoming to your site etc.

Now, on to the actual “page” content. All content should be relative, natural and not contrived. Google has wised up to duplicate content and stuffing (adding text behind images and in the same color as the background etc.). Keywords for your pages should be in relevant places such as: name of the page, title tag, description meta tag, body of the text. Use pertinent terms; for instance, in regards to soap: handcrafted, handmade, artisan, artisanal.

In regards to pictures, utilize relevant key words in alt tags describing images. Google loves images. Also use keywords in the image file name. Optimally a page should contain at least 250-300 words of text on each page. Watch out for bound links – remove “powered by” or “designed by” links. Limit outbound links; only use within text where relevant. Remove blog rolls or lists with outbound links unless they are necessary.

Off page you should utilize social media links in local listings such as Bing Local and Google Places. Encourage links to your site from relevant sites and remove links from link directories, link exchanges (or get them marked rel=’nofollow.’) Eliminate purchased links to your site. Do get listed in appropriate human- edited directories.

Marie’s session was very helpful, and even I understood a thing or two about how I can better optimize my website. I’m off to check out Google Webmaster Zone!

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Weight vs. Volume is a recurring question that many soapers, lotion makers and general crafters have grappled with in the pursuit to make the perfect product. In all my years of soaping, the weight versus volume question has been the one that I (and our customer service team) have gotten the most. Ounces, as a unit of measurement, are used to quantify both weight and volume. The difference is slight but very important!

Keep in mind that unless otherwise noted in Soap Queen tutorials (and almost all soap and toiletry recipe books), ingredients are measured by weight and not volume. For example, you’ll rarely see a tutorial call for a “cup of oil,” because oils have different densities. Some oils are heavier than others, and so to get the most accurate measurement possible, weight measurements are used. That’s why you’re much more likely to see a recipe call for “2 oz. of oil”. Below is a general guide to the difference between weight and volume, and what it means when you are purchasing and working with Bramble Berry’s products.

Weight: Weight is determined by the heaviness, or mass, of the particular item, and is measured with the use of a scale. We sell most products at Bramble Berry by weight so that you are getting the same amount every single time that you order. It’s also helpful in determining the amount of product to buy for your favorite recipes. Products sold by weight at Bramble Berry include popular items like butters, fixed oils and fragrance or essential oils.

Volume: Volume is the amount of space that an item you are measuring takes up. It’s a common measurement in food recipes and recipes where ratios are more important than precision. For example, if you’d like to make a baby oil recipe that does not require a chemical reaction (like emulsion or saponification) and the goal is to utilize the space of your packaging/containers while maintaining a specific ratio of ingredients, volume measurements are the way to go. When you’re looking for packaging, note that containers, jars, bottles, etc. are labeled by their volume measurements, or the amount of space that a product will take up within them. An 8 oz Bail Jar will hold 8 oz of product by volume, not necessarily by weight, so keep that in mind if you’re working with a hand cream recipe whose yield is measured by weight.

Here are some visuals to help you out. Let’s say you’ve ordered 6 different Bramble Berry Fragrance Oils, all in a 4 oz size. Your order might look something like this:

And you’re thinking, huh, did some of my bottles leak? Why is the Ginger Ale filled to the brim but Vanilla Select is only about 3/4?

The (literally hundreds of) components that make up individual fragrance oils can vary based on what the final scent goal is. Typically you’ll discover that sugary-sweet fragrance oils are more dense, heavy and viscous, while a citrus-based fragrance oil might be relatively light and thin in density. Hence, when your Bramble Berry fragrance order is hand-poured and weighed to order, you are getting accurate weight measurements while visually, it appears that your fragrance oils aren’t quite matching up.

Check out the difference between Green Chrome Oxide (on the left) and Titanium Dioxide (on the right). Both are weighed out to one ounce, but clearly the Green Oxide is the more dense and heavy of the two colorants. Think about the old joke “Which weighs more, a pound of feathers or a pound of bricks?” The joke being that they weigh the same, but will visually appear to have very different measurements.

Even the same exact product can vary in its volume vs. weight measurements! Below are some common fragrance and fixed oils measured by both volume and weight. The glasses on the left show 4 oz. of oil by volume while the glasses on the right show 4 oz. of oil by weight. You’ll notice that throughout the photos, the level of liquid on the left stays consistent while the level of liquid on the right fluctuates. A volume measurement will remain visually static regardless of the weight or viscosity of the article being measured. A weight measurement will vary to the eye, but not to the scale.

Wasabi Fragrance Oil by Volume/Wasabi Fragrance Oil by Weight****

Pink Grapefruit Fragrance Oil by Volume/Pink Grapefruit Fragrance Oil by Weight****

Sunflower Oil by Volume/Sunflower Oil by Weight****

Castor Oil by Volume/Castor Oil by Weight

And finally, here’s an herb that really illustrates what we mean! On the left is Calendula measured by 3 ounces of volume, and on the right there is 3 ounces by weight. Because this herb is so light and fluffy, it takes significantly more to achieve 3 ounces of it by weight. For more examples of weight vs. volume, check out this previous blog post.

Have any more questions about Weight vs. Volume? Let us know in the comments below!

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When making soap from scratch, there’s one thing you just can’t avoid: lye. Without lye, your soap just isn’t soap! Working with lye may seem daunting at first, but if you learn proper handling techniques, take precautions and follow basic safety guidelines, there is no reason to fear it. You may be familiar with Sodium Hydroxide, which is used to make solid cold process soap, but today we’ll cover Potassium Hydroxide, which is used exclusively in liquid soap. Although the rules for working with Potassium Hydroxide are similar to working with Sodium Hydroxide, it is important to understand and recognize the differences. Plus, it’s always nice to have a general lye safety refresher! To learn more on general lye safety, check out this blog post.

Potassium Hydroxide is a type of lye specifically used to make liquid soap. It is also known as potash, lye or even KOH. This is the chemical that induces saponification of the fats and oils to create liquid soap. Even though making liquid soap is different than making bar soap, it’s still vitally important that you use the correct amount of lye in your recipe. Our lye calculator makes this easy and allows you to select liquid soap as an option.

Potassium Hydroxide is hygroscopic (meaning it attracts moisture), so be sure to keep it in a sealed container in a cool dry place. If you leave it in an open container for even a day, it can attract enough moisture to throw off its weight enough to ruin a recipe. If you leave it out for an extended period of time, it can attract enough moisture from the air in the room to turn completely liquid. When handling Potassium Hydroxide, give it the same safety considerations as you would with Sodium Hydroxide. It is a hazardous material, and being educated about safe handling practices is key when handling Potassium Hydroxide. As with any other type of lye, Potassium Hydroxide will emit some fumes, so be sure to soap in a well-ventilated area.

Always add your lye to your water, and never the other way around. Adding water to lye can cause a volcano-like reaction. Unlike Sodium Hydroxide, Potassium Hydroxide reacting with water makes a faint crackling or groaning sound — a somewhat subtle version of adding milk to Rice Krispies cereal.

When working with lye water, wear goggles that protect your eyes from all sides because alkali burns can cause blindness. If you wear glasses, check your local hardware store for goggles that are big enough to fit over them. Always wear an apron and gloves. Rubber dish gloves are great, but if they’re too bulky you can use thinner latex gloves. Pair your gloves with long sleeves because the less exposed skin you have, the better. Finally, use a heat safe container to hold your lye water, and use silicone or stainless steel tools to stir (no wood). Never use any tools or bowls containing aluminum as that will create highly flammable hydrogen gases. Remember that when Potassium Hydroxide is mixed with water, it produces a reaction that heats the water up substantially, making it all the more important to mix lye in a heat safe container.

Never leave your lye water (or lye) unattended or in an place where children or pets may come in contact with it. It only takes a few seconds for an accident to happen! If you do need to leave the lye unattended for whatever reason, cover the container with a piece of plastic wrap and use a sticky note to clearly label it as a hazard.

If there is an accident:

If swallowed: Rinse mouth with water and drink one or two class of water. Do not induce vomiting! Immediately get medical attention or call your poison control center at 1-800-222-1222.

If in eyes: Immediately flush eyes with water. Remove any contact lenses and continue to flush eyes with water for at least 20 minutes. Immediately get medical attention or call your poison control center at 1-800-222-1222.

Lye water on skin: Wipe solution from skin and remove any contaminated clothing. Flush skin with plenty of water for at least 15 minutes and then wash thoroughly with soap and water. Contact a physician or call your poison control center at 1-800-222-1222.

Raw soap on skin: Even after it has been mixed with oils, lye can still be dangerous. If exposed skin comes in contact with raw soap batter, flush with water for 5 minutes and then wash thoroughly with soap and water.

Just like any tool, Potassium Hydroxide can be used safely and carefully to create wonderful liquid soaps for personal or business use. Use it responsibly.

What are you experiences working with Potassium Hydroxide? Let us know your best tips and tricks to work with it in the comments below!

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Are you excited to make your first batch of cold process soap? Make sure you prep your colorants! In this Soap Queen Short we show you what you need to prepare your colors beforehand to ensure an even pigmentation and give you more time to work with your soap. The more prepared you can be with all of your ingredients, the better your soap design will turn out. We use a few simple pigments and oxides and mix them into some of our favorite lightweight oils like sweet almond, sunflower, and canola.

Learn to Prepare Colorants for Cold Process Soapmaking from Soap Queen on Vimeo.

This link will take you to a great list of our pigments, and below you will see some of our best lightweight oils for mixing colorants:

• Sweet Almond Oil
• Canola Oil
• Sunflower Oil

We also have a battery powered 4-in-1 Mini Mixer that will make the job fast and easy.

For more information on coloring your soap consult some of our other resources like Lori Nova’s great E-Book, Color with Confidence and the Color with Confidence Starter Kit or check out Kathryn Hackney’s E-Book,Cold Process Colorant Master Class.

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I started my soaping adventures when I was young (ah, sweet 16), and have learned that not everything turns out perfectly the first time. Sometimes despite your best efforts during a soaping session, you’ll get batches that just don’t quite turn out right. It’s just an inherent (and disappointing!) part of soaping. I’m a firm believer in ‘practice makes perfect,’ and being persistent in mastering your technique will help you achieve what you want in your soap, consistently. While there are hundreds of soaping variables that can cause problems, one huge factor that can determine the success of your soaping session is the fragrance or essential oil you use.

All Bramble Berry Fragrance and Essential oils go through a thorough testing process to ensure they perform well in cold process soap.

Bramble Berry carries hundreds of fragrance and essential oils, all of which are rigorously tested multiple times in cold process soap by our product development team. We regularly receive hundreds of fragrances from top perfumers throughout the year and some of them don’t behave as well as we’d like. The following collages are great examples of the various ways fragrance oils can misbehave — and how you can still salvage the soap! Every soaping experience is a learning experience =)

Note about testing: We tested all of these (non-Bramble Berry) fragrances in 1 pound batches using our Lots of Lather Quick Mix. Each batch contained .7 oz. of fragrance oil.

Exhibit A: Acceleration

Acceleration occurs when a fragrance oil brings the batter to trace extremely quickly — sometimes too quickly to work with! In the case above, the fragrance oil thickened the batter to the consistency of pudding almost immediately after being mixed in with a spoon (notice the top right photo). Just to see how thick we could get it, we took a stick blender to it to see if it would seize, which is a more advanced form of acceleration. Seized soap is the more like the texture of Play-Doh or clay, and at that point it’s almost impossible to pour into a mold or work with at all. In this case, the fragrance got fairly thick, but we still managed to glop it into the mold. If you have a seizing or accelerating fragrance, just get that batch into the mold as quickly as you can. Be prepared for it to heat up quickly. Often there is a correlation between the acceleration/seizing and excessive, quick heat in your soap batch. On to the next one!

Note: Although we stick blended the batter for the purpose of experimentation, we generally do not recommend stick blending fragrances into your soap batter. It can cause even the most well-behaved fragrance oils to accelerate or seize up.

A closer look at accelerated soap. Notice that thickness!

The work around: Although the fragrance did accelerate trace, the batter itself was not unworkable. While it wouldn’t be suited to a design with intricate swirls, a thick batter like this would be well suited to simple soap design, such as a straightforward layered soap or a solid-colored soap.

Exhibit B: Ricing, intense discoloration

This batch was an excellent example of ricing. Ricing occurs when an ingredient in the fragrance oil binds with some of the harder oil components in the recipe to form little hard rice-shaped lumps.

Up close & personal with ricing. This batch looks like tapioca pudding!

The work around: Often, ricing can be stick blended out. However, in utilizing the stick blender to smooth your soap out, you may end up with a much thicker trace than expected. Notice the photo in the bottom right-hand corner of the collage — the soap was as thick as pudding after we stick blended the rice granules out. We managed to spoon it into the mold and it retained a relatively smooth texture.

This soap is also a great example of the discoloration that can occur as a result of vanilla content in fragrance oil. It may look like a nice creamy white in the mold, but after hardening for a few days this soap turned chocolate-y brown. Scroll down for final photos.

Exhibit C: Separation, ricing and seizing

Out of all the fragrances we tested, this one was definitely the most misbehaved. It’s hard to tell from these small photos, but the batter showed separation almost immediately. Separation occurs when the fragrance oil can’t be mixed into the soap batter, and oil slicks can start to pool on top of the batter. It looks much like cream of wheat with butter on top! Separation can look a lot like ricing, and the two sometimes occur together. The main difference between them is you can see pools of oil on the soap with separation — it almost looks like it’s falling apart.

This is from a different batch of soap, but it shows a more intense example of separation. Notice the pockets of oil where the fragrance oil is pooling around the batter.

After we stick blended this batch, the batter started to seize. This is true seizing because the texture was beyond that of pudding like the other two; at this point it almost looked like gritty Play-Doh. Yuck!

Seizing at its finest!

The work around: This batch had so many issue that it would be hard to salvage. If it’s not lye heavy, making it into rebatch is always an option (for more on rebatch, check out this tutorial or this Soap Queen TV episode). If you determine it’s lye heavy by doing a zap test or using a pH strip, consider making it into laundry detergent, which is easy to make and ensures no soap goes to waste. If the soap is fairly soft and fresh, Hot Process Hero is the way to go to salvage the batch. It’s a variation on the traditional hot process method that creates a rustic bar of soap.

The Final Soaps

So how did these three batches fare after being scooped into the mold and allowed to harden? Check it out below:

Immediately after being glopped into the molds. From left to right: Exhibit A, Exhibit B, Exhibit C

After being allowed to harden for 2 days. From left to right: Exhibit A, Exhibit B, Exhibit C

Notice that after it hardened, Exhibit A’s fragrance oil caused intense gelling in the middle of the soap. The fragrance also formed small brown spots throughout the soap. Exhibit B fared the best of the bunch, but notice how brown it turned! Finally, Exhibit C struggled the most. The texture was rough and almost crumbly.

From left to right: Exhibit A, Exhibit B, Exhibit C

Just for fun, we cut into each soap. Exhibit A went through gel phase in the center (notice that dark, oval circle) as well as discoloration from vanilla content in the fragrance oil. Exhibit B went through textbook vanilla discoloration, showing the dark brown on the outside and creamy white in the center. Exhibit C was so thick when it was poured that there were bubbles throughout — notice the small hole where an air bubble was trapped.

Bonus bad soap behavior

Alien Brain: Not only do we get fragrances to test, we get various oils and butters too. This soap was made using pumpkin seed oil, and it caused a crazy phenomenon called Alien Brain. Alien brain happens when the soap overheats, which is clearly what happened here. Notice that the entire loaf is gelled throughout! The great thing about Alien Brain though is that it is a purely cosmetic issue, and does not affect the rest of the soap. With a little steaming to get rid of the soda ash, this soap would look great!

Soap Volcano: Natural sugars (including fruit purees) and alcohol in cold process soap can super heat the soap and cause what’s known as a soap volcano. This soap had pumpkin puree in it, and the mini soapy eruption was relatively mild. Once unmolded,we simply cut a few inches off the end and the soap was perfect.

In other instances though, the sugars can super-heat the batter so much that it causes the soap to overflow out of a mold into a soapy lava flow. That’s what happened to this coconut milk soap:

With gloves on, you can scoop the soap back in as it starts to deflate. Or, Hot Process Hero the soap out when it’s fully cooled.

General tips for good soapy behavior

Although some fragrances will inevitably cause issues, there are a few things you can do to ensure you get well-behaved batter.

• First, make sure you are soaping at lower temperatures. We like to soap when the lye water and oils are about 120 degrees F. When soaping at hotter temperatures, you run the risk of accelerating trace, creating a heat tunnel or causing a soap volcano.
• Double check to be sure your recipe checks out with the lye calculator and that you are using the recommend amount of water. Water discounting can cause the batter to accelerate.
• Take the fragrance oil for the batch and mix it with an equal amount of liquid oil (you can pull it out of the regular recipe or just add extra superfatting oils) and heat the mixture up for 20 seconds in the microwave to bring the temperature of the fragrance up so it’s not quite as cold when the product is added to the soap batter.
• Whisk in fragrances and colorants after the batter reaches trace. Even the best recipes and fragrances will thicken up if you stick blend them too much.
• Using recipes with lots of soft oils, such as Olive, Sunflower or Rice Bran, tend to maintain a thinner trace longer.

Have you experienced any strange soapy phenomena? How did you handle it? I’d love more tips.

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With so many buzzwords used in beauty product marketing, sometimes it can be hard to discern what you think you’re buying versus what you’re actually getting. “Natural” and “Organic” are often thrown around to tout the purity of many beauty products — soaps especially — but the two terms mean very different things. One is a legally regulated term, and the other is much more vague. Read on to learn more about the important differences between these two labels.

Bramble Berry carries several certified organic products. From left to right: Organic Rosemary Essential Oil, Organic Melt and Pour Base and Virgin Coconut Oil.

Nat·u·ral:
existing in or caused by nature; not made or caused by humankind.

Or·gan·ic:
of, relating to, or derived from living matter.

Based on these dictionary definitions, there seems to be no difference between the terms. Do a little research though, and you’ll find that ‘organic’ is a strictly regulated term by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. According to the USDA website, “organic operations must demonstrate that they are protecting natural resources, conserving biodiversity, and using only approved substances.”

In order to be recognized as ‘organic’ product, the facility or farming operation must meet strict standards set and approved by the National Organic Program. The NOP regulates the creation, production, handling, labeling and enforcement of all USDA organic-certified products. In short, products labeled ‘organic’ did not earn the title lightly! Anything labeled organic went through a strict regulatory process, and you can feel confident that what you’re buying does not contain any synthetic additives or pesticides.

While many people may be used to seeing the ‘organic’ label on fruit, vegetables and meats on grocery store shelves, the term can also apply to products used in the beauty industry. For example, although Bramble Berry is not a certified organic warehouse, we do carry several certified organic products. They include:
Organic Oils Melt and Pour Base
Organic Lavender Essential Oil
Organic Rosemary Essential Oil
Virgin Coconut Oil

(the kit includes the Organic Melt and Pour base. The other ingredients in this kit are not organic)

If you’re still a bit confused, this summary from a USDA Organic FAQ pamphlet may clear things up for you: “Overall, if you make a product and want to claim that it or its ingredients are organic, your final product probably needs to be certified. If you are not certified, you must not make any organic claim on the principal display panel or use the USDA organic seal anywhere on the package.”

Navigating the term ‘Natural’

On the other hand, many soapers use the term ‘natural’ to denote that their soaps or products were made without synthetic dyes, oils or fragrances. The word ‘natural’ is an umbrella term that can be applied to almost anything that comes from nature. Unlike ‘organic,’ there is no legal hurdle when using the term ‘natural’. You can use ‘natural’ on your label when using many of our products from Bramble Berry.

The Brazilian Clay Sampler

Bramble Berry carries several items that can be described as ‘natural’. For example, the clays in the Brazilian Clay sampler are natural because they do not contain any artificial dyes or ingredients — the clays are those lovely colors without the added help of dyes! The same can be said of our Natural Castile Liquid Soap Base, which does not contain any artificial detergents or colors. While these products are natural, they are not organic because they did not go through the rigorous process to earn the certification through the USDA. In fact, there is no ‘Natural Police’ that guard the term or have come up with standards for what ‘natural’ is or isn’t.*

* 4/14/16 UPDATE: While there are still no guidelines or a legal definition that constitutes a “natural” product, the Federal Trade Commission (which enforces truth-in-advertising laws) charged five companies for falsely promoting their products as being “all natural” or “100% natural” when the product contained synthetic ingredients. Read more about the charges here.

From an official standpoint, the USDA only has regulations for meat, poultry and eggs labeled as natural. To earn that label, those products “must be minimally processed and contain no artificial ingredients.” However, beyond that, “there are no standards or regulations for the labeling of natural food products if they do not contain meat or eggs.”

If you’re interested in learning more about using natural colorants or natural ingredients in your own products, check out these tutorials:

• Natural Colorants for Melt & Pour
• Natural Baby Oil
• Sunday Night Spotlight: Natural Colorants

So, what does all this mean? The bottom line is that ‘natural’ is a common term in bath and beauty product marketing, and in most cases the ingredients and the products themselves really are natural, or only from nature. However, since the same stringent regulations do not exists for ‘natural’ products as they do for ‘organic’ products, it’s up to you to be an educated soaper and be aware of what you’re buying – and putting on your own labels.

The post Natural vs. Organic appeared first on Soap Queen.

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Rich, creamy and decadent, butters are a great addition to a wide variety of projects. They can be used in cold process soap, lip balms, body butters and more. They are solid at room temperature, and have varying textures. If you’re wondering what butter is right for your project, read more about mango, cocoa, coffee, shea and avocado butter below. Keep in mind that choosing a butter depends a lot on personal preference, and how you’d like your finished product to feel.

Before we look at the different kinds of butters, let’s talk about what butters have in common. Butters come from various natural sources, such as fruit trees and kernels. Some butters, such as coffee butter, are a blend of hydrogenated oils. Hydrogenation is the process of adding hydrogen to liquid oils to turn them into a solid. In general, butters are extremely skin loving and add a luxurious feel to products. In cold process soap, butters can contribute to the firmness of the bar. But, using too much butter can inhibit lather, or cause the soap to crack. In general, I like to use butters around 10%-15% or less in my recipes. To read more about various soap making oils and butters, click here.

Some butters are soft and spreadable, while others are hard and brittle. In my opinion, the softest butters are avocado butter and coffee butter. They are soft, spreadable and melt on contact with the skin. Shea butter is slightly firmer, but still soft and spreadable. The two harder butters are mango butter and cocoa butter. Both are more brittle, and need to be chopped rather than scooped. Cocoa butter is much firmer than mango, and is great for adding firmness to cold process soap. Do you have a favorite butter?

Avocado Butter

Avocado butter has a very soft and spreadable consistency. It’s manufactured from the fruit of the avocado tree, which normally grows in sub-tropical regions. Avocado butter is solid at room temperature, but melts when it comes in contact with skin. Its smooth texture and low melting point makes it easy to spread and whip, making it a great option for soft balms and whipped body butters.

In cold process soap, I recommend using avocado butter up to 12.5% of your recipe (though I tend to use it at more of a 3-5% rate max). Avocado butter will contribute slightly to the firmness of the final bar of soap, but because it’s not an extremely firm butter it does not firm the soap like coconut oil, palm oil, wax or cocoa butter. It also isn’t going to contribute much to lather which is why my preference is to use it at a lower usage rate. It has a shelf life of about 3 years. Check out the recipes below that contain avocado butter for project ideas!

Top left, clockwise: Emerald Swirl Cold Process Tutorial, Moisturizing Heel Balm, How to Make Whipped Body Butter on Soap Queen TV, Whipped Amber Bronzing Butter

Cocoa Butter (Cocoa Butter Chunks, Cocoa Butter Pastilles & Deodorized Cocoa Butter)

Cocoa butter is a vegetable fat with a creamy, chocolatey scent. It has a firm and hard texture and can be used to harden soap, lip balm, body butters and more. Cocoa butter has a melting point of approximately 95.0–97.7 °F, and a shelf life of about 1 to 2 years. At room temperature, cocoa butter is extremely hard and brittle, similar to a wax texture. It does not melt on contact with the skin.

Naturally, cocoa butter has a rich aroma, but a majority of this can be removed via steam. This process results in deodorized cocoa butter, which has a lighter smell and color. I love using cocoa butter in my cold process soap when I want to add firmness in addition to skin-loving properties. In particular, it’s a great choice when you’re making a palm-free recipe. It does not contribute much to lather so I recommend using cocoa butter around 15% or less in your cold process recipes. A higher percentage can cause the soap to crack, or feel brittle or waxy. It’s also great when formulating a firm lip product or balm.

Due to its fatty acid profile, it’s best to temper cocoa butter to avoid crystallization when making anything but soap. When the fats in cocoa butter melt and solidify at different temperatures, the fatty acids can from large clumps. This leads the final product to feel grainy. Click here to read more about tempering your butters. Check out the tutorials below featuring cocoa butter.

Top left, clockwise: Bramble Baby Belly Butter, Espresso Shot Cold Process Tutorial, Queen of Hearts Cold Process Soap, Vanilla Latte Lip Balm

Coffee Butter

Coffee butter is a soft and smooth butter. It is similar in texture to avocado butter. It has a soft brown color and a rich coffee scent. It’s a blend of hydrogenated vegetable oil and coffee seed oil. It naturally contains .5%-1% caffeine. Coffee butter has a melting point of about 104° F.

Because it’s nice and soft, it’s great for whipped butters. When using coffee butter in your skin care recipes, keep in mind that the natural smell will end up in the final product. If you love all things coffee, this is good news! I used coffee butter in both the Coffee Butter Foot Creme and and the Whipped Coffee Butter Tutorial. The butter adds a soft scent in these recipes, and contributes to a soft and smooth texture. I love the whipped texture of coffee butter so much, I also used it in the Pumpkin Spice Latte Sugar Scrub Soap Queen TV video below.

In cold process soap, I recommend using coffee butter around 3-6% of your recipe. Because of its soft texture, it does not add very much firmness or lathering properties to your recipe. Instead, it adds skin-loving conditioning properties. Coffee butter has a shelf life of about about 1 year.

Mango Butter

Mango butter has a firmer texture than shea, avocado and coffee butters, but is softer than cocoa butter. It is extracted from the fruit kernels of the mango tree, and begins to melt upon contact with the skin. Most mango butter on the market is refined and deodorized to remove scent and color. It has a melting point of about 86° F, and a shelf life of about 1 year.

The medium texture (not too soft, not too hard) makes it a go-to choice for many crafters. In soap, I recommend using it at 15% or less of the total oils in your cold process recipe. When too much is used, it can cause the soap to crack or become brittle. Mango butter contributes a small amount of firmness to soap, but not nearly as much as cocoa butter.

Due to the slightly firm texture of mango butter, I prefer to add it to products in melted form. It’s not the best butter choice if you’d like to whip the butter; I recommend melting it first and whipping it as it cools. Check out the recipes below for mango butter ideas!

Top left, clockwise: Mango Avocado Balmy Salve, Butterfly Swirl Soap Tutorial, Lime in the Coconut Milk Cold Process Tutorial, Rainbow Jojoba Bead Sugar Scrub

Shea Butter

Last but certainly not least is shea butter. Shea butter is obtained by cold pressing the seeds of the karite tree. The shea butter found at Bramble Berry is ultra-refined for a neutral smell and pale color. Shea butter has a softer texture than cocoa and mango butter, but is slightly firmer than avocado and coffee butter. It has a shelf life of about 1 year, and a melting point of about 90° F.

This skin-loving butter is usually used at 15% or less of the total oils in your cold process recipes. It contributes a bit to bar hardness and conditioning properties but does not help with lather. The soft texture makes it great for creating whipped body butters, as shown in the Easy Whipped Shea Butter. It’s also fantastic in lotion and lotion bars. Check out the tutorials below for projects using shea butter.

Top left, clockwise: Argan & Shea Lotion, Loofah Cold Process Soap Tutorial, Easy Whipped Shea Butter, Lotion Bar Love

If you’re looking for more resources and information on using butters in your products, check out the blog posts below! What is your favorite butter? If I had to choose…I think I’d go with Shea Butter. =)
Free Beginner’s Guide to Soapmaking: Common Soapmaking Oils
Soaping in the Summer Heat
Sunday Night Spotlight: Cocoa Butter
Sunday Night Spotlight: Shea Butter
How to Create Lip Product Recipes
All About the Trace

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I don’t know about you, but I’ve tried a lot of cleaning products. There are so many to choose from in the store. After countless tests, I find myself going back to natural cleaners I already have in my cupboard. They’re simple, effective and not full of unpronounceable chemicals. For the next two weeks, the blog will feature some easy handmade cleaner recipes for each room in your home.

These are some of my favorite ingredients to use when making natural cleaning products. They can be used for everything from cleaning the bathroom, kitchen and living room. If you’re looking for more natural cleaning recipes, check out this Spring Cleaning Roundup. The post includes recipes for laundry soap, wood polish and more. What is your favorite natural cleaning ingredient?

Baking SodaBaking soda, also known as sodium bicarbonate, is a great all-purpose cleaner. Because of its exfoliating properties, baking soda is great for removing scum from your bath tub, burnt food from pots and pans and scuff marks from shoes. It also helps deodorize. In the Fizzy Toilet Fresheners Tutorial, baking soda is combined with citric acid, lemon essential oil and peppermint essential oil, 2nd distillation to keep your bathroom smelling fresh. You can also mix baking soda with a bit of water and wash your refrigerator to get rid of lingering food smells. Best of all, it’s inexpensive and easy to find in stores. Find out more ways to use it in this Sunday Night Spotlight.

Baking soda is an incredibly versatile ingredient. Learn more about it here.

White VinegarIf you have stubborn stains on hard-to-clean surfaces, like windows and walls, vinegar will do the trick. It is a diluted form of acetic acid that forms through fermentation of natural carbohydrates. Mixed with water, it works wonders on rain spots, grease and more. Vinegar is used in the Crisp Orange Cleaning Spray to help remove dirt and stains from tile and glass. Vinegar is also great for removing sticky residue, cleaning shower heads and cleaning up soap scum. Just make sure not to use it on granite or marble, as it can etch it.

The Crisp Orange Cleaning Spray recipe uses vinegar to help with stubborn stains and residue.

Washing SodaWashing soda – also know as soda ash or sodium carbonate – is an amazing stain fighter. Because of its stain fighting properties, it’s ideal for handmade laundry soap. When mixed with other ingredients like shredded soap, baking soda and borax, it helps your clothes stay clean and fresh. It’s also a water softener. Click through the Three DIY Laundry Soap Recipes for more information. Washing soda can also be used to clean tough materials like grease and wax. Washing soda can cause skin irritation, so I recommend wearing gloves and long sleeves when working with it. It can also irritate the nose and throat, so you can wear a mask if you like.

Making your own laundry soap with washing soda is easy, click here to learn how.

Salts
The scrubbing power of salt is ideal for household cleaning. It can be used to scrub shower scum, clean cast iron pans and remove oven spills. Salt is very absorbent, so it can absorb grease, oil and cooking residue from burnt pans. It’s also a deodorizer and fights unpleasant smells around your house. For instance, it’s an effective way to get rid of odors from the garbage disposal. It’s very versatile! Read more about salts in this Sunday Night Spotlight.

Salt, especially epsom salt, is great for cleaning recipes and bath and beauty applications such as bath salts.

Essential OilsOne of the best things about a clean house is a fresh, crisp scent. Essential oils can be used in room sprays, like the Springtime Room Spray, or added to cleaning products. The Simple Citrus Furniture Polish is scented with a bright blend of orange valencia essential oil and lemon essential oil. Lavender 40/42 essential oil on a towel makes a great homemade dryer sheet. It will make your clothes smell delightfully floral and earthy. Some essential oils, like tea tree essential oil, are also thought to have antiseptic and antifungal properties.

Essential oils make your cleaning products smell fresh. In particular, I like lemon, orange and peppermint.

What’s your favorite household cleaning ingredient?

The post Top DIY Cleaning Ingredients appeared first on Soap Queen.

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Making liquid soap from scratch involves several stages. It requires multiple hours of cooking and diluting. If you’re interested in making your own liquid soap, I would recommend checking out the Liquid Soap Guru Kit, which includes instructions and ingredients to make liquid soap. Another option is to use a premade liquid soap base or concentrated paste. Bramble Berry carries several different varieties, see them all here. Liquid soap bases cut down significantly on time, while still allowing you to create and customize a high quality liquid soap product.

One of the important characteristics of liquid soap is the texture. Liquid soap can range from very thin to a thick gel consistency. It’s important to remember that thickness does not mean concentration or quality. There is no right or wrong consistency, it’s all about personal preference. But, the texture of liquid soap does affect packaging options, and may affect how the product is used. For example, soap that has a thin or medium consistency works well in bottles with a pump top. Soap that is too thick may not work well in pump tops, but instead are better suited for disk caps.

Some of the liquid soap bases, like the Castile Liquid Soap Paste and High Sudsing Liquid Soap Paste, need to be diluted before use. The recommended dilution rate is 4:1 water to paste. Diluting the soap is super simple. In a large pot, bring distilled water to a boil. It’s important to use distilled water, as tap water can have microbes or trace metals. When the water is boiling, add the paste and stir to combine. Keep the mixture around 160°F and stir the soap periodically until the paste is fully dissolved.That can take up to 8 hours depending on how much soap you’re diluting. When the soap is dissolved, let it cool and add fragrance and color if you like. We love using LabColors to color liquid soap with a transparent tint. Learn more about using LabColors here.

Customizing the consistency of thin liquid soap bases, such as the Stephenson Organic Liquid Castile Soap, is really easy. Made primarily of sunflower and coconut oil, this soap base is very gentle on the skin. If you love the formula of a thin soap such as the Stephenson Organic Liquid Castile Soap but want a thicker consistency, it’s easy to change. To thicken, all you need to do is create a salt water solution, and add the salt water to the base in small amounts. To make the solution, first mix 0.5 ounces of plain table salt (just the cheap stuff!) to 1.5 ounces of warm, distilled water. Stir until the salt is fully dissolved.

Want to try the Stephenson Organic Liquid Castile Soap, or other Stephenson product? receive $10 off any $20 purchase or more of Stephenson products with the coupon code: SAVETEN.

To thicken liquid soap base, first make a salt water solution.

Then, pour your soap base into a mixing container. Add a small amount of the salt water solution directly to the soap base, and stir. The amount you use will depend on how thick you want the soap to be. Adding 1 mL of the solution is usually enough to see a difference! Continue adding the salt solution (stirring in between each addition) until you reach the consistency you desire.

Add the salt solution to liquid soap base to thicken. A little goes a long way!

It is possible to add too much salt solution. The mixture will become extremely thick, similar to the texture of jelly soap! Below, 10 mL of salt solution was added to 4 ounces of soap. You can see how extremely thick it is! I could even hold it in my hand, like flubber. =)

For the sake of experimenting, I tired pouring the remainder of the 1.5 ounces of salt solution into the “flubber soap” to see if it would get even thicker. Adding that much extra liquid turned the soap into an unpleasant, watery, milky consistency. Even though it’s salt water which thickens the soap when added in small amounts, that much extra water dilutes the soap texture. Ick!

Sometimes, you don’t need to thicken soap with salt solution because your fragrance or essential oil will do the work for you. Just like cold process soap, fragrances and essential oils can cause the liquid soap to “accelerate” and become thick. Fragrance and essential oils can also affect the clarity and color of the base. I always like to make a small test batch of fragrance or essential oil in liquid soap to see how it behaves. In addition, I recommend adding your fragrance before thickening soap with salt water. After adding your fragrance, you may find it becomes thick enough.

Above, I added 3 mL of lemongrass essential oil to 8 ounces of Stephenson Organic Liquid Castile Soap. As I stirred in the essential oil, the soap base become a little cloudy and immediately began to thicken. I decided to not thicken this batch more with the salt water solution, as it became nice and thick with the essential oil. The next day, the cloudiness from the lemongrass essential oil went away, and the liquid soap looked nice and clear (shown below).

Another option to thicken liquid soap base is with liquid crothix. Crothix is easy to use; simply add it to your room temperature soap base and mix until fully incorporated. There is no heating required. Just like using salt water solution, I recommend making a small test batch to find just the right amount of crothix for your project. The recommended crothix usage rate is 1-8% of the total weight of your product.

If you have never experimented with changing the consistency of your pre-made liquid soap base, you can see it’s extremely easy! Make sure to only use table salt and distilled water, and add the solution to the liquid soap base in very small amounts. I also highly recommend adding your fragrance or essential oil to the soap base first, as doing so can thicken the soap dramatically.

Have you experimented with liquid soap base? Bramble Berry carries several different types, find them here! If you’re interested in more cleaning ideas, keep your eyes on the blog for more recipes and tutorials. In addition, a collection of cleaning ingredients are 20% off until January 29th with the code: 20PURE. Sale items include baking soda, lemongrass essential oil and more! See all the sale items here.

The post How to Use and Thicken Liquid Soap Base appeared first on Soap Queen.

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Photo by Lara Ferroni. I ❤ all of her photos. Swoon.

There are a wide variety of natural ingredients that can be used in cold process soap. From natural colorants and exfoliants to essential oils and extracts, new soapy ingredients are always popping up. Recently, adding fruit and vegetable purees to cold process soap has become extremely popular. Natural purees can add color and skin-loving properties to your bars. In addition, natural purees in bath and beauty products are fantastic from a marketing standpoint. Who doesn’t want a bar of soap made with their favorite fruit or veggie?

In general, there are no limits to what kind of natural purees you can add to soap. In my new book, Pure Soapmaking, there are recipes that include purees of blueberry, cucumber, tomato, aloe leaf, banana and potatoes. Here on the blog, you can find soap made with purees of pumpkin, strawberry, carrots and avocado. If you can blend it into a smooth consistency, you can (most likely) add it to cold process soap.

Adding purees to soap is an advanced technique. If you have never made cold process soap before, I highly recommend getting a few basic batches under your belt before using purees in your soap. It’s important to get an understanding of how soap behaves without additional sugar, water and fats. A solid grasp on how “normal” cold process soap behaves will allow you to alter your techniques and recipe accordingly when you begin to add uncommon ingredients. Remember: soapmaking is a science. Tweaking a recipe with extra ingredients (like purees) alters the chemical reactions between the lye and oils.

Purees add extra sugar, fats and water to your soap. Each type of puree will affect your soap recipe a little differently.The amount of water, fat and sugar will vary depending on the ingredient and how the puree was made. Before adding your puree, it’s important to consider the properties of the fruit and vegetable and how it will affect your batch. For example, a strawberry puree will add extra sugar and water. Using an avocado puree will add extra fats and water, but not much additional sugar. A cucumber puree (shown below) adds mostly water and a very small amount of sugar.

Each puree will add different properties to your soap. For example, cucumber puree (shown above) will add extra water to the soap, but very little sugar. Photo by Lara Ferroni. ❤❤❤.

It’s also important to consider the source of the puree and how it was created. Many soapers choose to make their purees for soaping at home, so they have complete control over the ingredients. If you are purchasing the puree from the store, read the ingredients carefully. Avoid purees with added sugar, thickeners, preservatives, colors or other additives. These extra ingredients can have unpredictable results on your soap. Look for purees that only contain the vegetable or fruit and water.

Water discounting is a great way to avoid glycerin rivers (shown above). Learn more about how to avoid glycerin rivers here, and how to water discount your soap here.

Most purees can be created by placing them into a blender or food processor until completely smooth. Some ingredients may require a small amount of additional water to achieve a smooth texture. Don’t forget to always use distilled water! If adding extra water to your ingredient to blend into a puree, I highly recommend using a water discount in your recipe. Natural fruits and vegetables contain water. If you’re adding the vegetable/fruit in addition to extra water to make a puree, all that extra water can throw your recipe off balance. Too much water is not dangerous to your recipe. But, it can increase the chances of glycerin rivers, and will increase the time your soap needs to stay in the mold and cure. Read this post to learn how to water discount your recipe, and the benefits of doing so.

Adding purees such as avocado (shown above) also adds extra water to the soap, which can cause glycerin rivers.

In the photo above, I used an avocado puree (avocado + distilled water) along with French green clay and spirulina powder for color. You can find the full tutorial here. I promoted gel phase by insulating, because I wanted the spirulina powder to be nice and bright. You can see it went through a partial gel phase in the center of the soap. Because of the extra water within the avocado puree, the soap also developed glycerin rivers. This soap is totally fine to use and actually looks pretty great! But, it wasn’t the look I was going for. I remade the soap with a steep water discount and placed it in the fridge and it turned out much better.

Once the puree has been prepared, I prefer to add it at thin trace. This makes the purees easy to incorporate with a stick blender or whisk. As a rule of thumb, if the puree contains a lot of sugar (ex: fruits), expect it to speed up trace. If the puree contains little to no sugar (ex: cucumber, avocado, tomato, pumpkin), expect it to thicken trace very slightly, or not at all. When working with a puree for the first time, I like to use a slow moving recipe to be on the safe side. I also prefer a simple design with no complicated swirls when using purees. If attempting a swirled soap with purees, have a backup plan! That way, if the puree speeds up trace you don’t have a ruined batch.

Adding sugar to cold process soap not only speeds up trace, it also increases the temperature. Ingredients such as milk, fruit juices and honey, which contain natural sugars, increase the temperature of soap. To learn more about working with honey in cold process soap, click here. Higher temperatures increase the chance of the soap going through gel phase. ‘Gelling’ and ‘gel phasing’ in cold process soap refers to a part of the saponification (soapmaking) process where the soap gets warm and gelatinous – up to 180 degrees. Click here to read more about gel phase. Gel phase is not harmful to soap. But, soap can volcano when it becomes too hot. If the puree contains a lot of sugar, I recommend soaping at cooler temperatures and placing the soap into the fridge or freezer after pouring into the mold to help it stay cool throughout the saponification process.

Just how much puree to add will depend on personal preference. A safe place to start is 1 ounce per pound of soap. Adding too much puree can throw off the balance of lye and oils. Worst case scenario, adding too much puree could cause mold and bacteria growth in the soap. If you’re worried about this, stick with a lower usage rate.

Now that the soap has been made…what about the shelf life? The pH level of cold process soap does not allow for mold and bacteria to grow. While the oils within the soap can go rancid, mold and bacteria will not grow. If oils go rancid in cold process soap, DOS (dreaded orange spots) can occur. Click here to learn more about DOS and how to avoid it. It’s hard to say exactly how fresh ingredients affect the shelf life of cold process soap, because it will vary greatly depending on the recipe and environment. Like soapmaking oils, fresh ingredients can go rancid within the soap. But, the pH level will not allow it to grow mold and bacteria unless a lot of puree is added.

Adding purees to cold process soap may affect the shelf life, but the pH of soap does not allow mold to grow.

A great example of this is the Strawberries & Cream Cold Process Soap. As you can see above, the puree started to turn brown in the soap. But, the soap is not growing mold. The pH level of the soap does not allow it to do so. The soap is still safe to use. It just doesn’t look quite as pretty as it did when it was freshly cut. In my experience, fresh purees can cause DOS more quickly in soap as well. I recommend using soap that contains fresh purees within 6 months after curing, just to be on the safe side.

I do not recommend using purees in rebatch soap or melt and pour soap. In cold process soap, the puree goes through the saponification process along with the oils and lye. The harsh pH environment of cold process soap kills the components in the fresh ingredients that could grow mold. If adding purees to melt and pour or rebatch, the puree does not go through the saponification process. Fresh purees will go bad very quickly in melt and pour and rebatch soap, and will most likely grow mold as well.

Looking for some fun puree recipes to get you started? Carrot puree was added to the Buttermilk Bastille Baby Bar on Soap Queen TV. Carrot puree is known for its antioxidant properties and gives the soap a soft yellow-ish orange color. For this recipe, I used baby food but you could certainly use handmade puree. When using purees from the store, just make sure the only ingredients are the vegetable (ex: carrot) and water.

Another popular puree in cold process soap is pumpkin. Pumpkin puree is easy to find at the store, and it behaves well in soap. Depending on how much you use, pumpkin puree gives the soap a very gentle orange color. A great example of this is the Pumpkin Spice Swirl Cold Process Soap. After adding the pumpkin puree to trace, the soap turned a soft orange hue. To help lighten the color, I added a bit of titanium dioxide. This helped the orange color in the swirl really pop. For this recipe, I used a 15% water discount to compensate for the water in the pumpkin puree. Click here to learn how to make your own pumpkin puree.

Phew! I hope this post has helped you grasp working with purees in cold process soap. Like I stated previously, I highly recommend getting a few cold process recipes under your belt first before adding purees to your soap. They affect every stage of the soaping process from recipe development and trace, to temperature and cure time. If interested in more recipes using purees, my book Pure Soapmaking is full of ideas and inspiration.

What is your favorite puree to use in cold process soap? I have a hard time choosing, but I particularly love aloe and pumpkin!

The post How to Add Purees to Cold Process Soap appeared first on Soap Queen.

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Photo by Lara Ferroni

To prepare sodium hydroxide lye for soapmaking, it needs to be dissolved in some type of liquid. The dissolved lye solution is then emulsified with oils to create soap. Distilled water is usually the liquid of choice for dissolving lye. But, some soapers prefer to use other liquids such as milk, tea or alcoholic beverages. Using alternative liquids (anything other than distilled water) in cold process soap is an intermediate to advanced soaping technique. It requires a few extra steps to prep and can affect other aspects of the soaping process.

One of the most popular types of alternative liquids for cold process soap is alcoholic beverages. This includes beer, wine and champagne. These liquids contain sugar, which give the soap a stable and fluffy lather. Alcoholic beverages can also give the soap color and are great from a marketing standpoint. Some alcoholic beverages do contain beneficial properties like antioxidants, but it is debatable whether these properties make it through the saponification process.

Making soap with alcoholic beverages poses a few challenges. They contain sugar that becomes very hot when mixed with sodium hydroxide lye. This turns the liquid a deep color due to the sugars scorching and can cause an unpleasant aroma. In addition to sugar, alcoholic beverages contain...you guessed it! Alcohol. Alcohol and the saponifcation process don’t mix very well. In addition, many alcoholic beverages such as beer and champagne are carbonated. Carbonation and the saponification process don’t mix very well either.

The key to eliminating the alcohol and carbonation is to boil the liquid prior to using it for soap. This cooks off the alcohol, leaving behind a liquid that works better in cold process soap. Adding lye to alcohol or carbonated beverages can cause an eruption, so boiling the beverage is extremely important. If using a carbonated beverage, many soapers allow the beverage to go flat for several days then boil it to remove the alcohol. I’ve prepared my alcoholic liquid both ways, with similar results.

Beer, wine and champagne all contain a smaller amount of alcohol than spirits (hard liquor). In general, I don’t recommend using hard alcohol as the liquid in your soap. It can be done, but it’s a very advanced technique. There is a lot of alcohol to boil out in hard liquor, and it will cause your soap to accelerate. If you’d like to use a spirit in your soap, I recommend using a very small amount and supplementing the remaining liquor with distilled water, beer, wine or champagne.

The key to using alcoholic beverages in cold process soap is to boil the liquid first to reduce the alcohol and carbonation.

To prepare the alcoholic liquid, first weigh how much you’ll need for the total recipe. You can substitute 100% of the recipe’s liquid with beer, wine, etc., or you can substitute a portion and use distilled water for the remainder. Just keep in mind that the more alternative liquid you use, the more natural sugars it will add to your recipe. It may also give your recipe a darker colored batter, because the liquid will darken as the lye is added and the natural sugars scorch.

I always recommend boiling more liquid than you actually need in your recipe. This is because as the liquid boils, some of it evaporates and you may end up not having enough. If this happens, you can always add more distilled water to the liquid to make up for what was lost. It’s important to have enough liquid for the recipe because the liquid acts as the very important carrier for the sodium hydroxide. For example, let’s say your recipe calls for 10 ounces of liquid. To be on the safe side, I would boil about 12-14 ounces of my alcoholic beverage to account for the volume it will lose. Once it’s done boiling, eyeball the volume measurements and weigh the liquid again to make sure you have enough. If I were to weigh my liquid and only end up with 8 ounces and from the volume measurements, it was clear I was short on liquid, I could add 2 ounces of distilled water to make up for what was lost. Or, I could just use the 8 ounces and consider it a very heavy “water” discount. Click here to learn more about water discounting.

After boiling the liquid, it will be less in volume and weight. Make sure to eyeball the volume and weight the liquid after boiling to find out how much boiled-down alcohol you’re actually working with.

Once the alcohol has been boiled to remove the alcohol and carbonation, it needs to cool. You can place the liquid in the fridge to thoroughly chill, or you can freeze it and add the lye flakes to the frozen liquid. The colder the liquid, the less the sugars in the liquid will scorch when the lye is added. Less scorching means the liquid will not turn as dark and won’t smell quite as much. But freezing the liquid prior to adding the lye won’t prevent it from discoloring entirely. Adding the lye to the cool liquid slowly also helps keep the soap temperature down and preserves a lighter color.

In my book, Pure Soapmaking, one of the recipes uses a mixture of rose wine and champagne (see the final bars here). After the mixture is boiled to help remove alcohol and carbonation, the mixture is frozen. Then, the lye is added directly to the frozen liquid. As the lye is added to the frozen wine blend, the liquid begins to melt as the temperature increases. The increase of temperature causes the sugars to burn the liquids slightly, causing the color to change from a light pink to a deep orange (see bottom right photo). If the wine blend wasn’t frozen prior to adding the lye, the lye solution would have become much hotter, which would have resulted in a darker liquid.

Freezing alternative liquids prior to adding the lye helps prevent the liquid from burning, but won’t always prevent it entirely! Photos by Lara Ferroni.

After the lye is added to the liquids, allow it to cool to appropriate soaping temperatures (we like soaping around 100-130 °F). Once the solution is cool, it’s ready to use just like lye solution made with water. Keep in mind that the lye solution made with alcoholic beverages contain sugar. This will cause your trace to move quickly. When working with alternative liquids, I prefer to use a slow moving recipe with plenty of liquid oils.

Using alcoholic liquids with sugars will cause an increase in temperature. This means the soap will be more likely to go through gel phase. This is also true for soap made with honey, milk or purees. ‘Gelling’ and ‘gel phasing’ in cold process soap refers to a part of the saponification (soapmaking) process where the soap gets warm and gelatinous – up to 180 degrees. If you’d like to learn more about gel phase, click here. If you’d like your soap to go through gel phase, keep it warm but be careful to not over insulate as too much heat could cause a volcano. If you want to prevent gel phase, I recommend soaping cooler and placing the soap in the fridge or freezer for several hours up to overnight to keep temperatures cool.

Once the soap is made, soap made with alcoholic beverages still need 4 to 6 weeks of cure time. The smell of the beverage will not last through the saponification process. Using alcoholic beverages does not affect the shelf life of the soap, as all the sugars in the liquid go through the saponification process and turn into soap. The sugars will add to a stable and fluffy lather!

If you’d like to learn more about making soap with beer or other alcoholic beverages, check out the tutorials and blog posts below! In addition, making soap with alcoholic beverages is similar to making soap with other sugary liquids like milk, so you may find those blog posts helpful as well. Bramble Beer Soap
Luck of the Green Beer (CP Tutorial)
Black and Tan Beer Soap
Advanced Oatmeal Stout CP
Guest Tutorial: Marbled Beer Soap
How to Add Lye to Milk for Cold Process Soap

The post How to Use Alcoholic Beverages in Cold Process Soap appeared first on Soap Queen.

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The most fundamental way that cold process soap can be customized is by using various combinations of soapmaking oils and butters. Each oil contributes something different to the final bar. For example, coconut oil is known for giving soap cleansing properties with a large fluffy lather. Olive oil, on the other hand, is not very cleansing, but is gentle on the skin. Using different combinations of oils at different usage rates will greatly affect the finished product. If you’d like to learn more about the properties of each soapmaking oil, check out this blog post.

Cold process soap can be made with only one oil, such as castile soap, which usually refers to soap made with 100% olive oil. Soap made with 100% olive oil is extremely gentle, but the lather is very minimal and it may initially be a softer bar. When soap is only made with one oil it may not be the most balanced bar. By adding coconut oil to the recipe, you give the bar cleansing properties. Each oil contributes something different to create a more balanced bar; this is why most cold process recipes are made with 3-6 different oils and butters. Check out the Formulating Cold Process Recipe post for more information on creating recipes, and the How to Substitute Oil in Cold Process Recipes post to learn how to swap them in existing recipes.

To take a closer look at how various oils and butters change the final bar, I created twelve bars made with 100% of one oil. Then, I let the soaps cure for a full six weeks. After they were done curing, I tested their lather. I also took note of how hard the bar was, how my skin felt after use and any other interesting characteristic.

A Look into the Process

To make each bar of 100% oil soap, a lot of oil, lye and water needed to be prepped. Each batch used 5 ounces of the oil or butter with a 0% superfat. Each batch was poured into two cavities of the 12 Bar Square Silicone Mold. No sodium lactate was used in the bars. I tried to soap with my lye and oils as close to 120 º F as possible. Once poured, the bars were not insulated or placed on a heating pad. They were left at room temperature and sprayed with 99% isopropyl alcohol to prevent soda ash.

It’s interesting to look at the lye amount in each batch; the amount of lye is surprisingly similar. Each batch called for 1.65 ounces of water and was not water discounted. You can see the recipe for each batch below.

| Oil | Sodium Hydroxide Lye | Distilled Water | Yields | | Coconut Oil | 5 oz. | 0.89 oz. | 1.65 oz. | 7.54 oz. | | Palm Oil | 5 oz. | 0.72 oz. | 1.65 oz. | 7.37 oz. | | Olive Oil Pure | 5 oz. | 0.67 oz. | 1.65 oz. | 7.32 oz | | Olive Oil Pomace | 5 oz. | 0.67 oz. | 1.65 oz. | 7.32 oz. | | Castor Oil | 5 oz. | 0.675 oz. | 1.65 oz. | 7.33 oz. | | Lard | 5 oz. | 0.69 oz. | 1.65 oz. | 7.34 oz. | | Avocado Oil | 5 oz. | 0.665 oz. | 1.65 oz. | 7.32 oz. | | Sweet Almond Oil | 5 oz. | 0.67 oz. | 1.65 oz. | 7.32 oz. | | Shea Butter | 5 oz. | 0.665 oz. | 1.65 oz. | 7.32 oz. | | Avocado Butter | 5 oz. | 0.665 oz. | 1.65 oz. | 7.32 oz. | | Cocoa Butter | 5 oz. | 0.685 oz. | 1.65 oz. | 7.34 oz. | | Jojoba Oil | 5 oz. | 0.345 oz. | 1.65 oz. | 7 oz |

For the majority of the oils, they traced and behaved like you would expect. The soft oils (olive oil pure/pomace, avocado oil and sweet almond oil) took longer to reach a trace than the hard oils (coconut oil, shea butter, avocado butter, cocoa butter). The one “hard” oil/butter that really surprised me was lard. I was expecting it to trace fairly quickly, but it took just as long as sweet almond or avocado. I’ve heard that trace and lard can be affected by the processing method for the lard.

The two oils that gave me those most trouble were castor oil and jojoba oil. Castor oil is a liquid oil that’s extracted from the Castor Bean Plant. It has a thick and rather sticky consistency. The 100% castor oil soap traced quickly, and the batter had an extremely thick, sticky and slimy consistency. After placing the castor oil batter into the mold, it was firm within the hour!

Making soap with 100% castor oil resulted in a very thick and sticky soap batter!

Jojoba oil was another oil that gave me some trouble, which makes sense because jojoba oil is not actually an oil…it’s a liquid wax! You can learn more about jojoba oil here. It took a little longer to trace, and after a few hours it separated in the mold. This oil did not seep back into the solid soap below it. Once unmolded after 6 weeks, the bar was extremely soft.

Top: Jojoba oil took quite a bit of stick blending in order to emulsify the oil and lye solution to trace.
Bottom left: After sitting in the mold, the jojoba oil separated. Right: Once removed, the solid part of the bar was extremely soft after 6 weeks.

Now, onto the lather tests! To test the soaps, I used lukewarm warm tap water. I got my hands and the soap thoroughly wet and then lathered up. I looked at a few characteristics. First, was the lather fluffy, creamy, slimy, lotion-like, etc? How did the soap feel in my hands, was it firm or very soft? Was the lather stable? A stable lather means the bubbles are long lasting and do not disappear quickly or turn extremely dense. The Bramble Berry office team also tested the twelve bars, and added their notes to mine. Check out my results below.

Olive Oil Pure-Lather: Small, dense lather. The more I lathered the bar in my hands, the more dense and slightly slimy the lather become. In the second photo, you can see the lather becoming a little sticky.
-Lather Stability: Poor
-Hand Feel: Squeaky clean

Olive Oil Pomace-Lather: Small and dense lather. Interestingly, the lather was less sticky than the lather of pure olive oil. Instead, it was more creamy and lotion-like.
-Lather Stability: Poor
-Hand Feel: Clean/normal

Coconut Oil-Lather: Large, fluffy lather.
-Lather Stability: Good. The lather stayed large and fluffy as I continued to use it in my hands.
-Hand Feel: Very squeaky clean and a little dry.

Palm Oil-Lather: Dense, slightly creamy lather. At first the soap created a few larger fluffier bubbles, but the lather got creamier the more I washed. No stickiness.
-Lather Stability: Poor
-Hand Feel: Squeaky clean

Castor Oil-Lather: Medium lather. This soap produced some bubbles.
-Lather Stability: Average/poor
-Hand Feel: Squeaky clean

Lard-Lather: Little to no lather. At first, the bar produced a few very small bubbles. The more I lathered the soap in my hands, the more creamy and lotion-y it became until there were basically no bubbles at all.
-Lather Stability: Poor
-Hand Feel: Normal

Avocado Oil-Lather: Small, very slimy lather. This may have been one of my least favorite, which is funny because I love avocado oil when used in combination of other oils. The bar hardly lathered at all, but -instead produced a very slimy, snot-like film on the skin.
-Lather Stability: Very poor
-Hand Feel: Slightly greasy, did not rinse clean.

Sweet Almond Oil-Lather: Large, fluffy lather.
-Lather Stability: Average. After lathering in my hands for a while, the lather did turn more dense and creamy.
-Hand Feel: Normal/soft

Cocoa Butter-Lather: Dense, but it did actually create some small bubbles! Surprisingly, I found the lather fluffier than 100% palm oil soap. The more I used the soap, the creamier the bubbles became.
-Lather Stability: Average/poor
-Hand Feel: Normal

Shea Butter-Lather: Very little to no lather. While it didn’t create hardly any bubbles, the lather was not slimy. Instead it was very creamy and lotion-like.
-Lather Stability: Poor
-Hand Feel: Soft/Normal

Avocado Butter-Lather: Very small and slimy lather. I found the lather to be similar to that of avocado oil.
-Lather Stability: Poor
-Hand Feel: Normal

Jojoba Oil-Lather: No lather at all. This soap did not produce bubbles. Instead it was very soft, and left a greasy film on the skin.
-Lather Stability: None
-Hand Feel: Left hands feeling very greasy.

Phew! That was a lot of washing. As you can see, my hands get more and more red and more prune-y with each lather test! =) This experiment did result in some surprises. First, I was surprised that while olive oil and olive oil pomace were very similar, olive oil pomace did product a slightly creamier lather that was not as sticky. I was not surprised that castor oil and coconut oil created the fluffiest bubbles, but I was surprised that cocoa butter soap did actually produce bubbles! I was also surprised that sweet almond oil created such a fluffy lather. Below, you can see the aftermath of lather testing all twelve soaps.

If I had to choose, I would say that my favorite soap was the sweet almond oil soap due to the fluffy lather. My least favorite was the jojoba oil soap which did not lather at all. The office seemed to agree; overall the favorite soaps based on the Bramble Berry office team’s tests was the sweet almond oil soap and the least favorites were jojoba oil and fresh olive oil soap. Many believe that 100% olive oil soap, castile soap, is best after setting and aging 12 months and I agree.

Have you ever made soap with only one oil before. What did you think? Did the results of this test surprise you at all?

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Just like food, bath and beauty ingredients have a recommended shelf life. Shelf life refers to the length of time that a product can be stored without it becoming unfit for use. If you make your own bath products, it’s important to have an understanding of shelf life to ensure your products are safe for use. This is particularly important if you give away or sell your products. You don’t want to give or sell an item that is rancid or past its prime.

Before we talk about shelf life, it’s important to understand the difference between rancidity and mold and bacteria growth. Rancidity and mold/bacteria growth in bath and beauty products are independent issues. Mold and bacteria can occur in products that contain water, such as lotion or emulsified scrubs. These products require a preservative to help prevent mold and bacteria growth. Click here to read more about preservatives, and when to use them. Preservatives will not protect fresh ingredients (purees, fresh herbs, etc.) from growing mold in products that do not go through the saponification process such as lotion or balms. This is also the case with melt and pour soap. It has already gone through the saponification process, so any additives can grow mold. Fresh additives will eventually (or even quickly) turn brown, and grow mold and bacteria. The pH level of cold process soap does not allow mold to grow, which is why fresh ingredients can be used. To learn about adding purees to cold process soap, click here.

Rancidity, on the other hand, is the deterioration of oils and fats. There are several types of rancidity, including oxidative rancidity, auto-oxidation, hydrolytic rancidity and microbial rancidity. If you’d like to learn more about the different types of rancidity, Susan Barclay-Nichols of Swift Crafty Monkey has a great blog post on rancidity here. Rancid ingredients can smell bad, change color or lose effectiveness. Rancidity is a sign of an ingredient that is past its shelf life, while mold and bacteria can occur at any time.

Mold and bacteria can grow in products that contain water, such as lotion. Mold growth is not to be confused with rancidity.

If your product contains a preservative, the product will not grow mold/bacteria, but the ingredients can still go rancid. On the flip side, mold and bacteria can grow without any rancid ingredients if the product contains water. For example, let’s say you made a lotion using excellent manufacturing practices and included a preservative. It should not grow mold or bacteria. But, the lotion also contains hazelnut oil, which has 3-month shelf life. After 3 months, your lotion may start to change color or smell unpleasant if the hazelnut oil goes rancid.

Many products and ingredients are not necessarily “unsafe” to use past their shelf life. But, rancid ingredients may smell, change color or may not be as effective. If you notice your product or ingredient starts to change color, develop a smell or change consistency, I would throw it away to be on the safe side. This is particularly true for leave on products such as lotion, or products used around the eye or lip areas like eye shadows or lip balms. On the other hand, if your product starts growing mold, throw away the product immediately. It is unsafe for use.

Figuring out the shelf life of various products can be a little tricky. This is because shelf life will vary depending on the type of product and the individual recipe. Determining the shelf life requires finding the shelf life of each individual ingredient. Some ingredients such as fragrance oils and colorants have an extremely long shelf life, while others like certain fixed oils (ex: hazelnut oil, walnut oil) may have a shelf life of several months. Once you combine ingredients into one product, the shelf life of the product becomes the same as the ingredient with the shortest shelf life.

Hazelnut oil has a shelf life of approximately 3 months. When it is added to a product, the shelf life of that product becomes about 3 months.

For example, let’s take a look at the Oat Oil Cleanser recipe for oily skin. You can see the recipe below. Each oil has a slightly different shelf life. Castor oil has a shelf life of approximately one year, hemp seed oil has a shelf life of approximately two years, sunflower oil has a shelf life of approximately 3-6 months, hazelnut oil has a shelf life of approximately 3 months. The shelf life of the product is 3 months due to the hazelnut oil. If the hazelnut oil is used past its shelf life, it may start to smell rancid, or change colors slightly within oil cleanser. This would make the entire product rancid. This oil cleanser does contain vitamin E oil which is thought to extend the shelf life of oils. But, it’s impossible to say exactly how much longer it will make the oils last.

Oat Oil Cleanser for Oily Skin (Shelf life of 3 months)
4 oz. Sunflower Oil (shelf life of 3-6 months)
2 oz. Castor Oil (shelf life of one year)
2 oz. Hazelnut Fixed Oil (shelf life of 3 months)
1 oz. Refined Hemp Seed Oil (shelf life of 2 years)
5 mL Oat Extract
2 mL Vitamin E Oil

When it comes to cold process soap, a great indicator of rancid oils (oils past their shelf life) are “dreaded orange spots.” Also known as DOS, dreaded orange spots can occur months or years after the soap has been made. Dreaded orange spots are literally orange spots on your soap. They usually appear on the corners of bars, but can also occur in the center. Several factors increase the likelihood of dreaded orange spots, but the most common is oxidative rancidity, or rancid oils. Click here to read more about the shelf life of individual oils. Vitamin E oil can be used to help extend the shelf life of oils, although it’s hard to say exactly how much longer it will make the oils last.

Soap with dreaded orange spots is still “safe” to use, but it usually smells quite unpleasant. To learn more about dreaded orange spots and how to prevent it, click here. The pH level of cold process soap does not allow mold or bacteria to grow. Because of this, the shelf life of cold process soap is essentially until the soap starts showing DOS.

Dreaded orange spots (also known as DOS) usually occur due to rancid oils. The soap above is still technically safe to use, but does not look or smell very good!

Another unique example of shelf life is bath bombs. Bath bombs are made by combining citric acid and baking soda. Over time, citric acid looses it’s potency. Citric acid will not lose its potency if it is not exposed to any air and is kept in an airtight container. This probably isn’t very feasible in most storage situations though, as humidity is fairly good at getting into the smallest and tightest spaces. I would recommend using your citric acid within 6 months of receiving it to be on the safe side. So while the other ingredients within the bath bomb (fragrance oil, colorants, fixed oil) may have a long shelf life, I recommend using bath bombs within a few months to ensure it will still fizz in the tub.

Citric acid can lose its potency when exposed to air. I recommend using bath bombs within a few months to make sure they fizz in the tub.

It’s important to keep in mind that the shelf life of ingredients is an estimate. The environment and how products are stored will also affect the shelf life of the item. Oils and other ingredients with a short shelf life can be stored in the fridge or freezer to help them last longer. I always recommend storing your products in a dark, cool and dry place to help them last as long as possible. This is particularly true for bath bombs that can begin to fizz prematurely if exposed to humidity, or lotion can that separate when exposed to high temperatures. Click here to learn more about properly storing your products. Ingredients also have natural variation, and the shelf life may slightly depending on the source.

If you want to learn more about preservatives, storing products to extend shelf life and more, check out the blog posts below!Guest Post: Perfectly Preserved + A Body Butter Recipe
Talk it Out Tuesday: Preservatives
Free Beginner’s Guide to Soapmaking: Common Soapmaking Oils
How to Store Handmade Bath Products
Dealing with Dreaded Orange Spots
How to Add Purees to Cold Process Soap

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When troubleshooting a cold process soap recipe, there are several factors to look at. For instance, if your batch accelerated or riced, it may be the fragrance oil. If the batch is taking longer than usual to trace, it may be a high amount of soft oils, like olive oil, in the recipe. Another thing to investigate is your lye. If lye is past its prime, it can do some odd things in your soap.

Lye is an inorganic compound that is commonly found in drain cleaners. It is highly caustic and can burn the skin if not handled properly. Working with lye requires long sleeves and pants, close-toed shoes, a well-ventilated room, gloves and eye protection. Before handling lye, make sure to watch this Soap Queen TV video on lye safety. The Lye Safety Guide has more information on how to work with it. You need to be fully prepared and follow every safety precaution before getting started.

Working with lye requires safety gear like goggles, gloves and long-sleeved shirts and pants.

Lye is necessary for the soapmaking process. By definition, soap is a chemical reaction between oil and lye. This reaction is called saponification. During the saponification process, the lye gets used up. That means it is not present in the bars after they’re cured. Read more about saponification in the Where’s the Lye post.

For soapmaking, lye comes in two types. Sodium hydroxide lye is used to make solid cold process soap. Potassium hydroxide lye is used to make liquid soap. Read more about potassium hydroxide here. Both types of lye are dissolved in a liquid, like distilled water or milk. Make sure to always add the lye to the liquid, not the other way around. If the liquid is added to the lye it can cause a volcano-like reaction. You can use our Lye Calculator to find out how much lye and liquid to add to your recipe.

Sodium hydroxide lye is used to make solid soap, and potassium hydroxide lye is used to make liquid soap.

To ensure the lye works properly, we recommend using it within one year of purchasing. It needs to be sealed tightly and stored in a dry place. Lye is hygroscopic, meaning it attracts moisture. If it’s exposed to moisture in the air it won’t be as effective in your recipe, and the soap may not saponify fully. The lye also needs to be kept in a cool place. It may lose its potency if stored in warmer temperatures. In the Soap Queen Lab, the lye is double sealed and stored in a box that is placed on a shelf. At home you can store it in a cupboard, in your garage, etc. Just make sure it’s clearly marked and out of reach of children.

Make sure to store your lye in a cool, dry place to extend the shelf life.

How can you tell if the lye is expired? The first clue is how it looks. Check out the photo below. The expired lye on the left is more of a gray, off-white color than the lye on the right. It is also clumping in several spots because it has absorbed moisture from the air.

Above, the expired lye is shown on the left and the fresh lye is shown on the right. Notice the color difference!

Another clue the lye is expired is how it acts when added to water. When lye is added to distilled water, it gets really hot – up to 200 ° F. Expired lye won’t get nearly as hot. Below, we added 2 ounces of fresh potassium hydroxide lye to 5.3 ounces of distilled water. The fresh lye was about 141 ° F when it was added to the water and stirred to dissolve. The expired potassium hydroxide lye only reached about 124 ° F. It also had a slightly cloudy appearance, even after thorough stirring.

If your lye solution does not get very hot, it may be expired. Above, the potassium hydroxide lye solution using expired lye only reached 124 ° F.

If you notice anything odd happening with your lye, don’t use it in cold process soap. Expired lye doesn’t saponify properly, meaning your soap may not reach trace. Read more about trace in this post. This can also happen if you accidentally use potassium hydroxide lye in a solid cold process recipe. Make sure to check the label before adding it to your batch. If the soap does trace, it may not set up properly and can be soft or sticky to the touch.

Using expired lye can mean your soap won’t reach trace.

To avoid any wasted soap, make sure to keep your lye tightly sealed in a cool, dry place. We like to mark all of our bottles in the Soap Lab with the date it is opened. That way we can replace the lye after a year to prevent it from going bad. If you used expired lye in your soap and the soap set up, great! The soap is fine to use, albeit a little extra superfatted. If you used expired lye in your soap and your soap did not set up, there is no way to save the soap because we don’t know exactly how much lye it is short. To dispose of the lye, you can mix it with distilled water and pour it down the drain. Lye is actually found in most drain cleaners. If you’re worried about your drain, you can also contact your local waste management services to find out how to dispose of hazardous materials.

How do you store your lye to ensure it stays fresh? Have you ever used expired lye in your soap before?

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At the beginning of the month, we had a Share Your Favorite Soaping Tip Contest. The tip could pertain to soap, bath bombs, lotions, or any other bath and beauty project. We received close to 400 comments, and I was so impressed with all the tips. I definitely learned some new tricks! If you’re looking for more informational posts, check out the Tips and Tricks category of the blog.

Many of the tips had similar themes including have fun, stay organized, safety first and don’t get discouraged. These tips made me smile, because they really identified what the DIY journey is all about. Creating should be fun! To make sure it’s fun, it’s crucial to stay safe and it also helps to be organized. Click here to read all the tips in the comment section.

Most frequent tips:
1. Have fun. Don’t forget that soapmaking should be a fun activity. If it’s stressing you out, take a deep breath and relax.
2. Stay organized. Keep your soaping area organized and thoroughly read over the instructions several times. This will help the entire process go smoothly.
3. Safety first. If you are making cold process soap, take proper lye safety precautions such as wearing goggles, long sleeves and soaping in an area with no children or pets nearby. Click here to learn more about lye safety.
4. Don’t get discouraged. We all have an occasional soaping mishap. If your batch doesn’t turn out perfectly, don’t get discouraged and quit. Your next batch will be better. =)

Soaping mishaps happen, but don’t get discouraged! Check out the Soap Behaving Badly and the Soapy Mess-Up Quick Guide to learn how to work through common problems.

There were so many great tips, it was hard to choose my favorites. Below are some of the tips that really stood out to me. Thanks to everybody who took the time to share a tip. The team and I had such a good time reading through them!

Tool Tips

“I know all of you probably have at least one of the reheatable bags that your oils come in from Brambleberry. I actually cut the top off across one of them to make it a open bag. It works perfectly for rebatching soap in and works even better for melting your waxes in. I use the double boiler method and it is an awesome way to melt things down in. So never never throw away. They are really useful for this purpose.” – Kristie

“To process images for water soluble paper so that you get the best, most vivid images into your soaps, select the image in Microsoft Word (or use any image editing program). Increase both color saturation and contrast, and then lower your brightness or exposure just a tiny bit (to counteract the increased contrast, which can wash out some of the subtleties in the image). This will ensure that the images underneath the clear layer of soap don’t look so “washed out” (so to speak).” – Vittoria

“My house is kept rather cold (thanks, hubby), which makes getting a good gel on my CP soap a challenge sometimes. My secret? A cheap pizza stone! I pop it in the oven at 170 while I make my soap, pull it a few minutes before I’m ready for it, then set my mold on the stone (usually I put a thin towel between the stone and mold), cover with a towel, and let it go. The heat is enough to encourage the gel, but it dissipates just at the right rate–not too fast, not too slow, so I get a perfect gel every time. I use a cheap, thin stone since I wouldn’t want to ruin a high end one, and the high end stones tend to hold their heat longer, which I don’t really want.” – Lindsey

“If you stamp your soaps and have a problem with get soap getting stuck in the stamp, place a sheet of plastic wrap over the soap before you stamp. The impression comes out fine and no soap gets on your stamp.” – Debbie

“For smaller volume soapers and hobbyists: I use those foldable & stackable cooling racks for cookies to cure my soap. They can be found 3/$10 and can fit about 5# worth of soap on each one. Plus, they are easy to carry if you are like me and have to cut and trim soap in one room cure it in another.” – Vicki

“A small shoe box is the perfect size for the Bramble Berry 10″ Silicone Mold. I like to stick my mold in the shoe box and put the lid on. It serves a dual purpose of making sure there is no bowing of the mold, and is a great insulator. Throw an extra towel on top and you get a good gel.” – Caitlin

“If you use freezer paper to line your molds, cut as many blanks at a time as you think you’ll need for several weeks. This is a tedious part of soap making, so I stack up about a dozen cut to size. Then all I have to do is fold and insert.” – Deborah

“You know those medicine cups that come packaged with children’s medicines? I don’t like just throwing them away, so I use them to mix mica with oil/glycerin and my fragrances with vanilla color stabilizer. If you don’t have a dropper, the medicine cups are great for measuring the fragrances because the milliliters are printed on the cups. Almost everybody has them piling up in their medicine cabinets.” – Madi

Fragrance/ Essential Oil Tips (for more tips, check out this post & this post)

“Have you ever had fragrance and essential oils dribble down the side of the bottle when you’re trying to measure out that last .5 oz? I did, until I thought about how I solved that same problem when pouring wine–use a “Drop Stop”! Its a round flexible disc of a heavy mylar material that you roll and stick into the bottle and it prevents any drips–you can really stop pouring at a drop! They are in most wine accessories aisles, I DO NOT own stock in them, I just love to use them because I got tired of wasting product and cleaning up a messy bottle!” – Regan

“Choose the FO/EO combination you would like to test and make sure to have a note card ready to record results. Using a pipette or dropper, drop the FO/EO one drop at a time onto the cotton square or cotton ball, making sure to record the amounts/drops used of each scent. Once you have achieved a satisfactory combination (and made sure the increments have been properly documented), put the cotton into a zip-lock baggie, seal it, attach the note card to the outside, and set it aside. Over the next few hours, or even days, you can periodically come back to the baggie to gauge the result. If you adjust the scent by adding more, or different oils, make sure you document each addition.” – Debi

“My favorite tip is a simple one…when you need to pour fragrances (and small amounts of oil) and don’t want to spill, pour it along a chop stick and it will go right into your container instead of dripping all over the place.” – Desiree

Prep Tips (for more tips, check out this post)

“When prepping and weighing oils and butters to create soap sometimes we get distracted and forget to add an oil or butter so I recommend: Gather all oils and butters and position them to the right side of your scale. After you are done with each oil or butter move it to the left of the scale. With this technique you will know for sure all your ingredients are in your soaping pot.” – Laurie

“I am always concerned to forget to add an oil when making CP soap and making my soap lye heavy. So I print a copy of the recipe. It make take a little longer, but I take out only one ingredient at a time when measuring. While my lye is cooling, I take out the first hard oil, measure it, check it off the recipe, and then I put it away immediately . I then take out the next one, weight it, mark it, and put it away. Then move on to soft oils while my hard oils are melting. Keeps my head clear and reduces clutter, which also helps avoid spilling accidents.” – Monika

“I lay down a large garbage bag on my kitchen table to measure my ingredients. This makes clean-up easy and protects my table. For my mixing with the lye, I plug my stick blender in an outlet next to my stovetop and mix there because I use the stove fan to take out any fumes.” – Andrea

Organization & Efficiency Tips (for more tips, check out this post)

“My tip: Keep a Sharpie marker & a Dry Erase marker on hand. I make several batches at a time, (not all are always the same size!), and can quickly grab a Dry Erase marker to mark pitchers of lye with the size mold it is for, or to quickly mark on any of my containers. After getting a batch in a mold, I grab the Sharpie and make notes on the essential oil bottle or on the fragrance oil bottle (A = accelerated, R = riced, etc) Then I can transfer that information to my notes later. Or leave it on larger bottles for easy reference during next use.” –Kimberly

“My tip is to keep track of the expiration dates on your oils. If you find that one of your oils is getting close to its expiration date use it up! Create a special recipe that will use that oil as the majority ingredient. Say your olive oil is about to expire. Make that the majority of your base oils then to balance out the recipe you can add coconut oil, palm kernel, cocoa butter, or shea butter.This will help your bottom line in the long run and you won’t be wasting any products. The worst thing to happen to any soaper is to spend money on gallons of oils and they expire before you get to use them!” – Alicia

“When I’m making a Taiwan or Mantra swirled or otherwise complicated soap, I increase the batter recipe a little to cover for soap lost to dividers, or if I misjudge the amount needed (better a little too much than not enough). I keep a silicone bar mold, such as Brambleberry’s 12 Bar Square Silicone Mold, ready to mold any unused soap into bars when I’m finished with the main soap. I keep track of the batch number so that I know what’s in it later when I use it for samples, embeds, or family soap. If I don’t find a need for it, I donate it with other saved soap scraps to Clean the World, a non-profit that rebatches soap into bars “that prevent millions of hygiene-related deaths each year.” – Janie

“My tip is so simple but it has helped me many times. I always place the fragrance oil and any additives I will be using inside of the mold I will be making that particular type of soap in. I have forgotten to add my fragrance oil, a clay or a some poppy seeds etc. into my soap at the appropriate times before and since I have started this simple trick I have not had it happen again.” – Lisa

“I hate to waste even a tiny bit of soap. After I’ve poured my mold and scraped as much of the batter from my pot as I can (the KitchenAid silicone spatula is my go-to), I let the pot sit and any leftover batter trace even further while I clean up. When it’s good and thick, I scrape the rest into a little pile on a piece of butcher paper. I let it cure with the rest of the batch, and that’s my own little “sample bar,” either as a sniff tester, or my own bar to use from that batch. Also makes washing the pot easier.” – Audrey

Clean-Up Tips (for more tips, check out this post)

“I spread out wax paper on my work area to keep the mess contained. Then I wipe up the containers with paper towels while they are still warm to get all of the wax out. Even just these 2 simple steps have saved me so much time cleaning things up.” – Amy

“I always use doggy pee pee pads to cover the counter so my kitchen counter top does not get ruined. When we first started out we used wax paper and quickly learned if you spill anything it tears through the paper. The doggy pads are thick and absorbent and can be reused.” – Peggy

“My biggest tip is for clean up, I bought several cotton tea towels. I wipe all my utensils and containers with the tea towels before leaving them to wash a couple days later. the towels remove the soap and dishes are easier to clean. I throw towels in wash and then they are ready to reuse. This saves on buying paper towels and washing items is a breeze.” – Joy

“Use old newspaper, magazines, or circulars to line your crafting space. It makes for a much faster clean-up, saves paper towels, and helps to quickly switch between crafting tasks.” – Kristen

“When making CP soap, I wait until the next day to clean my vessels and utensils. Saponified batter is so much easier to clean up than oily goop!” – Erika

Bath Bomb Tips (For more tips, check out this post)

“One of the best tips I ever heard about releasing bath bombs from the mold was to tap the outside of the mold with the back of a spoon all around the mold. It seems silly but it really does work. The bath bomb releases easily and stress free.” – Brittany

“Bonus tip when making bath bombs put any flowers or decorations in your mold first, then add your colorant into your spray bottle with your water (or in my case witch hazel ) it mixes in much easier.” – Candy

“For easy clean up after making body butters, mix a batch of bath bombs in the same bowl. Just be sure to add the body butter ingredients to the list of those for your bath bomb.” – Dawn

Melt and Pour Tips

“So when you clean your melt and pour cup, just let the soap dry first, and then peel it right off! Then I like to squish it into a ball, and no wasted soap-plus easy cleanup! You really don’t even have to wash it! Don’t wait too long, though, or else it won’t come out.” – Emmeline

“Use a crockpot for melt and pour! Use a crockpot for rebatching soap. I also use it to make liquid soap. The steady, even temperature makes melt and pour very easy.” –Maria

Thanks again to everybody who took the time to share a tip! I love how willing the soaping community is to help fellow soapers. If you didn’t get a chance to share one but would like to, feel free to leave your tip in the comment section below. =)

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Hypothetically, you can make cold process soap with just about any oil or fat. This includes animal fats. The most common animal fats are lard and tallow. Lard is rendered pig fat, while tallow is rendered fat from meat other than pork such as cow, lamb or goat. Tallow and lard are excellent for soapmaking. Both contribute to the firmness of the bar and a stable lather. Lard and tallow are commonly used as palm oil substitutes. If you’re interested in learning more about the benefits of tallow in soapmaking, check out the Understanding Tallow for Soaping guest post.

Lard and tallow can be purchased at the store ready to use. Or, you can render your own at home. The basic idea of rendering lard and tallow involves “cooking” the fat along with water. Then, the entire mixture is placed into a container to cool. The fat will rise to the top of the container, while the water will fall to the bottom. This process helps remove any particles within the oil. The process may vary slightly depending on what form the fat is in. For example. if you got your tallow from a butcher, you most likely have chunks of fat and meat that will need to be strained. Our local sister store, Otion, rendered tallow from a local butcher in the Crock-Pot (shown below); click here to see how they did it. They used the rendered tallow to make Mahogany Tallow Soap. This is a topic we’ve touched on before here and here.

Otion Soap Bar recently rendered chunks of tallow in the Crock-Pot for soapmaking, click here to see the process.

Recently, Bramble Berry hosted a salad bar for the entire team. Included in the bar was bacon, which was cooked by an employee at home. Cooking all that bacon resulted in a lot of bacon grease! Instead of throwing away the grease, we decided to reuse the grease to make soap. First, it needed a little TLC. You can see the lard below. It still had a lot of bacon bits, and was quite smelly.

This bacon grease can be used for soap, but it still has a lot of icky bacon bits inside. It needs to be cleaned up a little. =)

To clean up the lard, gently heat the bacon grease and place it into a saucepan. Then add about twice the amount of water. Don’t worry too much about the exact amount of water. Just make sure to not fill your saucepan up too high. You don’t want the pot to boil over (think: bacon grease + hot stove = danger Will Robinson; danger!) . Turn the saucepan on medium heat and allow the pot to come to a slow boil.

Allow the mixture of grease and water to gently boil for about 10-15 minutes. Don’t leave the pot unattended during this process. Eventually the mixture will turn a creamy color once the water and oil begin to mix.

Boiling the grease with water is the first step to remove all those bits and reduce the smell.

After about 10-15 minutes, turn off the stove and very carefully pour into a large container. Place the container in the fridge overnight to cool. The grease will rise to the top of the container and the water will fall to the bottom. Notice how icky and brown that water is! This was once in the grease, but the rendering process helps to clean it out.

Remove the hard grease from the top of the bowl, and repeat the process. Place the grease into a sauce pan, add water and allow to slowly boil for about 10 minutes. With each rendering, the grease will become more and more clean. How many times you render the grease will depend on personal preference. I recommend at least three times. I rendered this grease four times, and it still had a bit of a smell, but was not overbearing. Tina who works in our customer service department rendered her bacon grease eight times to obtain a very white, nearly odorless lard.

Once the grease and water have cooled, the lard will rise to the top. Notice all that icky brown water! That was once in the grease.

After rendering my bacon grease four times, I noticed there were still a few “bacon bits” in the grease. To get rid of them, I heated the grease in the microwave and strained it through a tea bag. This filtered all those little bits. Be careful when microwaving the grease. I found out the hard way that 90 seconds in the microwave was way too long, and ended up wiping down the inside of the microwave. ☹ At this point, I was happy with my grease and it was time to make some soap with it. Be on the lookout for that project later this week!

Have you ever used bacon grease to make soap? I would love to hear about your experience!

The post How to Prepare Bacon Grease for Soapmaking appeared first on Soap Queen.

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Do you have bottles of fragrance oil that are nearly empty, but you just can’t bring yourself to throw them away? Maybe the bottle contains just a few milliliters, or even just a few drops of oil. Even an “empty” bottle still has a little bit of fragrance oil on the inside. To use up every last bit of oil, I like to pour dry ingredients directly into the bottles to create scented bath salts, scrubs or bath bombs.

Salts and bath fizzies have a low fragrance oil usage rate because you usually don’t wash off after taking a bath. For 16 ounces of salts, you can use 0.2-0.3 ounces of fragrance oil for a light to medium scent. To check how much of your fragrance oil should be used, check out the Bramble Berry Fragrance Calculator. For this trick, I don’t measure exactly how much fragrance oil is leftover in the bottle. Just by eyeballing it, I know when there are only a few milliliters left in the bottle. If you think the amount might be over .48 ounces (which is the largest recommended usage rate for most fragrance oils in 16 ounces of salts), then I would recommend measuring out the fragrance oil to be safe.

You can use essential oils as well. The usage rates for the essential oils will be slightly different, so make sure to use the Fragrance Calculator to find out the maximum usage rate for the one you choose.

If you feel the amount of fragrance oil is small enough, add your salts directly into the bottle. I like to use a funnel for this process to avoid spills. You can measure your salts prior to pouring, or place the bottle on a tared scale and weigh the salts as you pour. Once full, place the cap back on the fragrance oil bottle and start shaking! The salts will absorb the last bits of fragrance oil in the bottle.

Pour the salt directly into the bottle to absorb the last few drops of oil.

If you’d like, you can even add a little bit of a fixed oil into the salts to add extra moisturizing properties. I added a small amount of the Beard Oil Base in the bottle, but you could use any fixed oils you prefer. You could even add extracts or colorants into your bottle. Just make sure to shake up all the ingredients in the bottle thoroughly. Once you’re done mixing, pour the salts into the containers of your choice.

You could keep the salts in your fragrance oil bottle, but I have heard of bottled bath salts building up enough pressure to cause the glass container to break (or explode). To be on the safe side, I poured the mixture into plastic bail jars to store. If some of the salts stick to the inside of your bottle, “clean out” the bottle with the running water as you fill up your tub. That way you get every last bit.

The salts absorb the last little bit of fragrance oil in the bottle, including the oil on the walls of the bottle.

You can also use this trick to create bath fizzies. Measure 1 part citric acid to 2 parts baking soda in a large bowl and break up any clumps. Funnel this mixture into the “empty” fragrance oil bottle and shake, shake, shake! Then dump the mixture back into your large bowl and add colorant, witch hazel or other preferred additives. To get the green color below, I added just a pinch of the Kelly Green Mica.

You can also use the last few drops to make a batch of bath fizzies!

You could also use this method to create scented bath oil, or even scent your soapmaking oils prior to emulsification. After all, every last drop of fragrance oil is precious. =) Do you have any tricks for using up the last few drops of fragrance oil in your bottles?

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The ability to manipulate the texture of cold process soap allows for a wide variety of techniques. For example, thick textured soap mimics the look of cupcake frosting in the Sparkling Champagne Soap Cupcakes. On the flip side, fluid soap batter is used to create complex swirls in the Clover & Aloe Spin Swirl Soap. Swirling cold process soap takes a little practice, but is well worth it. There is something about swirling soap that is satisfying and relaxing. And the final product is beautiful!

From spin swirls and drop swirls to hanger swirls and in-the-pot swirls, there are many different swirling techniques. While each technique involves a slightly different process, there are steps you can take to ensure your soap is successful. Below are five tips for creating gorgeous swirls in cold process soap.

Thoroughly Prep Ingredients and Soaping Area
When making a swirled soap, timing is key. The longer soap batter sits, the thicker it will become. Once you begin the saponifcation process, be ready to move quickly. Have your colorants mixed, fragrance weighed and all your necessary tools nearby. Thorough prepping helps the process run smoothly. There is nothing worse than running around looking for another whisk when your soap is starting to thicken up! See my tips for setting up your soaping area in this post.

Formulate Your Recipe Correctly
Cold process swirls are made with thin or medium trace soap batter. Trace is the point in the soapmaking process when oils and lye water have emulsified and will not separate. Once the soap has reached thin trace, it will continue to thicken. To learn more about trace, check out the All About the Trace blog post.

The key to soap batter that stays thin for long enough to create swirls is using plenty of “slow-moving” oils. Slow-moving oils refer to oils that do not accelerate trace. In general, slow-moving oils are liquid at room temperature. Oils that are firm at room temperature will accelerate trace in soap. Examples of oils and butters that accelerate trace are palm oil, coconut oil, all butters, palm kernel flakes, beeswax, and castor oil. Click here to learn more about common soapmaking oils and butters.

Choosing the right soapmaking oils is the first step to a successful swirled design.

Some of the most popular slow moving oils are pure olive oil, canola oil, sweet almond oil, sunflower oil, avocado oil, apricot kernel oil, rice bran oil and chia oil. Keep in mind some slow-moving oils are slower than others. For example, I would categorize rice bran oil as slow moving, but it does accelerate trace more than pure olive oil. From my experience the slowest-moving oils are canola oil, pure olive oil and sweet almond oil. To create a recipe that gives you lots of time to swirl, I recommend formulating your recipe with about 60% slow moving oils. To learn more about formulating your own cold process recipes, click here.

Looking for some recipes that are suitable for swirls? Check out the tutorials below!
Clover & Aloe Spin Swirl Cold Process Soap
Psychedelic Spin Swirl Cold Process Soap
Butterfly Swirl Cold Process Soap
Charcoal & Cedar Beer Cold Process Soap
Fall Sherbet Cold Process Soap
Galaxy Clyde Slide Cold Process Soap
Silky Berry Cold Process Soap

Soap at Slightly Cooler TemperaturesThe “average” soaping temperature is around 110-130° F. Every soaper has their temperature preference, which may vary from recipe to recipe. When soaping at higher temperatures (130° F or above), thick trace will be reached more quickly than when soaping with cooler temperatures (100° or below). Many soapers prefer to soap at room temperature when making a complex swirled soap. Even adjusting your temperatures by just 10 degrees can make a huge difference in the texture of your soap batter.

Use Your Stick Blender Sparingly
Stick blenders are the unsung hero of cold process soapmaking. They emulsify oils and lye solution within minutes, or even seconds. But, stick blenders emulsify oils and lye so quickly that it can be easy to over-emulsify to a trace unsuited for swirls. Once you over-blend your soap, there is no way to get that lovely thin to medium trace back.

Stick blending your batter for too long can lead to a thick trace which inhibits the ability to swirl.

The key to maintaining a thin trace until you’re ready to swirl is to take turns pulsing the stick blender and using it to stir the batter. Pulse the stick blender in short bursts. And remember, you can always stick blend more later! Once you reach a thin trace, I prefer to use a whisk to stir in my colorants. I also whisk in my fragrance oil last. This gives me the most time to work with my batter before it starts to thicken.

Use the Correct Fragrance/Essential OilFragrance oils can do interesting things to cold process soap batter. After all, fragrance oils can be made up of hundreds of essential oils and aroma chemicals (though most are made of a handful). Adding them in the middle of the sopp making process can produce varying results. From separation to ricing, you can see some of the negative effects of misbehaving fragrance oil in the Soap Behaving Badly post. Luckily, Bramble Berry tests all fragrance oils thoroughly to make sure they behave well in cold process soap.

If creating a swirled soap design, use a fragrance oil that does not accelerate trace. In the Electric Lemonade Column Pour Tutorial, I used Electric Lemonade Cocktail Fragrance Oil, which behaves well in cold process soap.

Acceleration is a mild form of “misbehaving” fragrance oil. A fragrance that causes acceleration will thicken the soap batter once mixed in. If the design requires a thick trace, an accelerating fragrance oil is great. But if you’re aiming for a swirled soap, avoid fragrance oils that accelerate trace. Not sure how the fragrance oil behaves? Bramble Berry includes fragrance oil testing notes on each fragrance oil product page.

My last swirling tip, and maybe the most important? Don’t give up! Even after soaping for over 20 years, some of my swirl techniques don’t go quite as planned. A great example of this is the spin swirl technique (above). This technique requires an extremely thin trace and I have a few “failed” batches of spin swirls soap under my belt. But even these “fails” still look beautiful and made wonderful soap. With every batch of soap you learn and get better. =)

Do you have any tips or tricks for creating swirled cold process soap? Do you have a favorite swirl technique? I’d love to hear them below; there is always room for improvement.

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Stick blenders are an amazing tool in the soapmaking world. They can emulsify oils and lye in a minute or less, while whisks and hand mixers can take hours. Have you ever had a recipe thicken a little bit too quickly? As in, instant pudding as soon as the lye is added? Don’t toss out that stick blender! You may be dealing with “false trace.”

Trace is the point in soapmaking when the oils and lye have started to saponify. Once the soap reaches thin trace, it will continue to thicken as you work with it. This post has more information on trace. There are two types of false trace: fake emulsification and cool soap. This blog post deals with the cool soap type of false trace. False trace looks like the soap has saponified, as it gets quite thick. However, it is actually oils like coconut or butters like cocoa in the recipe starting to harden and resolidify before the soap is fully emulsified. Below is an example of true thick trace. False trace can look and feel like thick trace, but happens very quickly after the lye and oils are combined.

False trace looks like thick trace, but the soap hasn’t fully emulsified.

What causes false trace?Temperature is the main cause of super thick fake false trace. When cold or room temperature lye water is poured into the soapmaking oils, it can cause them to harden up. While soft oils like avocado are always liquid, hard oils are solid up to a certain temperature. For instance, avocado butter starts to melt around 90 ° F. Cocoa butter is even higher at 100 ° F. Check out the Soaping in the Summer Heat post for more information on melting points. If adding cold lye to butters and oils that are solid at cooler temperatures, it can cause the oils/butters to cool and thicken on contact.

False trace happens pretty quickly. As the lye is poured in, the soap will start to thicken immediately. You may also notice it looks grainy. Solid chunks of soap can start to appear in the bowl. As you continue to pulse the soap, it will get thicker very quickly. Most likely, there will be chucks of thick soap along with liquid oils.

Coconut oil starts to melt at 76 ° F and is solid at cooler temperatures.

You can see false trace in the photos below. In this batch, the oils were around 100°F and the lye was around 70°F. The recipe is 25% palm oil, 30% coconut oil, 30% olive oil, 10% sweet almond oil and 5% castor oil. Below, the lye was added to the oils and the stick blender was pulsed a few times. Notice at the bottom, you can see soap that already looks emulsified.

After just a few more pulses with the stick blender, check out that batter! You can see the thick chunks of soap. That is false trace. The chunks appear to be at thick trace, when they have actually cooled and hardened due to the cold lye temperature.

The chunks in the soap batter after just a few pulses with the stick blender is what false trace looks like.

What do you do if your soap has false trace?If this starts to happen to you, keep stick blending! The oils and lye need to be stick blended until the batch is emulsified. The soap will get pretty thick during this process. If you were planning on a more intricate design, you may need to switch gears. A great option for unexpectedly thick soap is the spoon plop design. See how to create that technique in the Creamy Cow Milk Cold Process Tutorial. You can also create a really simple design. While the design may not be what you planned for, it will still look great!

How to prevent false traceHigher temperatures prevent false trace. Soaping around 100-130 ° F will keep the hard oils and butters in the batch melted throughout the entire process. False trace is common when making soap with milk if you are using a low temperature technique to prevent the milk from scalding. Certain ingredients may need higher soaping temperatures. For instance, beeswax has a melting point of 144-147°F. I recommend soaping around 170°F to keep it melted. Learn more about working with beeswax in this tutorial.

Adjusting the recipe can help as well. Adding more slow-moving soft oils like pure olive oil, canola oil, and sweet almond oil to the recipe will allow you more time to work with the design. They will stay liquid throughout the entire process and help prevent false trace. Read more about slow-moving oils in the 5 Tips for Swirling Cold Process Soap post. The Formulating Cold Process Recipes post has helpful information as well.

Adding more soft oils to your recipe will help prevent false trace.

Have you ever experienced false trace? When it happens to your batch, keep calm and continue to stick blend. Once your soap has been cut into bars and cured, I do recommend pH testing them just to be sure the oils and lye fully emulsified. Luckily, I have found that false trace batches have turned out just fine! =)

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When searching for effective skincare ingredients, the ground may not be the first place that comes to mind. But, clays (which are essentially types of dirt) are well known for their amazing cleansing and purifying properties. Natural clays have been used on the skin for centuries, and continue to be a popular ingredient in products today.

In general, clays are soft, fine-grained mineral substances. There are different types of clay which vary in composition depending on the origin. While the properties of each clay varies, they are most commonly used in skincare because of their absorption properties. When applied, clay pulls oil from the skin, leaving it balanced and clean.

Depending on your skin type, one clay may be better suited for your skin than another. For example, kaolin clay is a fine-grained clay with mild absorption properties, which makes it better for dry to normal skin. On the other hand, French green clay and bentonite clay have stronger absorption properties, making them a good fit for oily skin.

In general, clays are best for normal to oily skin types because they absorb moisture. If you have extremely dry skin, products containing clay can leave your skin feeling a little uncomfortable. Drier skins can still use clay products. But, it’s important to choose a milder clay. If you’re formulating skincare recipes and would like to include clay, learn which is best suited for your skin type below.

*A note about medical claims and clays – If you do a little research online about clay and skincare, you’ll find a lot of medical claims. According to the web, clays treat acne, reduce scars, treat psoriasis, regenerate skin tissue, draw out toxins from the skin and more. While it’s true that clay is great for the skin, if you sell products that include clay, you cannot claim that your product treats any skin condition. This would classify your product as a drug, which requires testing and approval from the FDA. Learn more about cosmetic vs. drug claims here. In the descriptions of each clay below, I specifically left medical claims out. While you cannot claim the products you sell treat the skin, these medical claims may affect which clay you choose and use for personal use.

Bentonite ClayBentonite clay is created from volcanic ash. The U.S. is the top producer of bentonite clay, with much of the production happening in Wyoming. In bath and beauty products, bentonite clay gives products a nice “slip.” This texture is great for shaving soaps, as it helps the razor glide over the skin. It has strong oil absorbing properties, and is able to absorb more than its mass in water. This makes bentonite clay a great choice for very oily skin.

Brazilian Clay (Natural, Dark Red, Pink, Purple, Yellow)
Brazilian clays are a type of kaolin clay, and come in a wide variety of vibrant hues. The’re naturally colored and do not contain any dyes or pigments. The various shades are achieved by variations in the minerals found in the soil in the different regions of Brazil. Bramble Berry carries five different natural clays — Natural Brazilian, Purple, Yellow, Pink, and Dark Red. Brazilian clays have an “average” amount of absorption, making them a suitable additive for a wide variety of skin types.

French Green Clay
This clay comes from France and is known for its terrific oil absorbing properties. It has a fine texture and is commonly used for color and and oil absorption in facial masks. The light green color comes from decomposed plant matter and iron oxides. It’s best suited for oily skin types.

Green Zeolite Clay
Zeolites are microporous minerals that form when volcanic rocks and ash react with alkaline groundwater. Green zeolite clay has a slightly larger texture than most clays, as well as great absorption properties. Because of the larger texture, it also has very gentle exfoliating properties. It’s best suited for normal to oily skin types.

Kaolin Clay
Kaolin clay is a very fine powdered clay, and can come in a variety of colors. The most common color of kaolin clay is off-white. The fine texture makes it easy to incorporate into a wide variety of projects. This includes eye shadows and cosmetics, as well as soap, bath bombs and more. It is a gentle clay, with less liquid absorbing abilities than most. This makes it suitable for more sensitive and dry skin. Rose ClayRose clay is considered a type of kaolin (kaolinite) clay. It has a fine texture like kaolin, and is suitable for dry skin. The clay is a light to medium pink shade, which comes from a naturally occurring iron oxide. In some projects, it can take on a deep red color or an orange hue. Rose clay makes a fantastic soap additive for both color and gentle oil absorbing properties.

Sea Clay
A dark green clay, sea clay originates from mud laid under the sea millions of years ago. It has a dark green, grayish color. It is commonly used in facial masks to cleanse the skin. It is suitable for normal to oily skin types.

Dry Skin/Normal Skin – Rose Clay, Kaolin Clay, Brazilian Clay (Natural, Dark Red, Pink, Purple, Yellow)

Normal/Oily Skin – Sea Clay, Green Zeolite Clay, French Green Clay, Bentonite Clay, Brazilian Clay (Natural, Dark Red, Pink, Purple, Yellow)

Do you have a favorite type of clay for your projects? Personally, I have combination skin that leans towards oily so I gravitate toward sea and green zeolite clay. But in soap, I love rose clay and purple Brazilian clay for the gorgeous colors. Be on the lookout for some clay inspired recipes next week!

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Facial skin varies widely from person to person. From dry and flaky to oily and shiny, everybody’s skin is a little bit different. Skin type determines which products and ingredients are the best for you. Last week, we shared three clay face mask recipes: Lavender Clay Mask, Sea Clay Mask and a Turmeric Clay Mask. Each mask is formulated for a different skin type and concern. Learn more about each mask below and find out which is right for your skin.

Not sure what type of skin you have? Think about how your skin would feel midday without a moisturizer. If your skin feels tight and uncomfortable, you have dry skin. If your skin is comfortable without a moisturizer, you are on the oilier side. If areas of your skin feel comfortable, while other areas feel dry, you have combination skin. Another good test is to run your finger across your T-zone (chin, nose and forehead) midday. Do you see oil on your finger? If so, you most likely have combination to oily skin. Keep in mind that skin type can change during the year depending on the season. You may be dry during the winter, and oily during the summer.

Lavender Clay Face Mask – This mask is formulated for dry skin. It contains the least amount of kaolin clay to lessen the oil absorbing properties. Purple Brazilian clay adds a beautiful color. The mask contains argan oil, which is well known for its intense moisturizing properties and large amounts of vitamin A and E. Evening primrose extract is wonderful for soothing dryness, making it a good choice for dry skin. Lavender 40/42 essential oil gives this face mask a soft, calming scent. If your skin is extremely sensitive, you may want to omit the essential oil from the recipe. Because this mask does not contain a large amount of clay, it will only dry on the skin if a very thin layer is applied.

Sea Clay Face Mask – The Sea Clay Mask is formulated for oily skin and contains the largest amount of clay. Equal amounts of kaolin clay and sea clay are used. Kaolin clay is a fantastic gentle clay, while sea clay adds some serious oil absorbing properties. It has a thick texture and dries completely on the face after about 15 minutes. Tea tree essential oil adds a refreshing scent, and some studies claim it has antimicrobial properties. Hazelnut oil is ideal for oily skin as it absorbs quickly with no greasy residue. This mask also contains ginseng extract, which comes from the ginseng root and is commonly used for homeopathic treatments.

Turmeric Clay Face Mask – This mask is formulated for combination to oily skin, or if you are concerned about redness or dullness. The only clay in this mask is kaolin clay, which has mild oil absorbing properties. This mask does contain enough clay to dry on the skin, giving that classic clay mask feeling. Turmeric contains curcumin, which is an anti-oxidant and is thought to have anti-inflammatory properties. Don’t worry about this mask leaving your skin yellow; it washes off cleanly with warm water. This mask contains carrot extract and carrot seed essential oil, both of which are rich in vitamins A and E.

Of course the best part about making your own skin care is being able to tweak the recipes for your skin. Feel free to swap out the essential oils, clay, extracts and more for something that may work for your skin better. A small test batch is always a good idea! Each clay post above also includes tips for recipe substitutions and changes. If you’d like to learn more about which kind of clay is best for your skin, click here.

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Have you heard of multi-masking? Essentially, it’s the process of applying different masks to various areas of your face to target specific skin care concerns. For example, let’s say you have an oily T-zone but dry cheeks. Products for oily skin on your dry cheeks wouldn’t be the best fit…but your T-zone would love them! Multi-making is a fun (and usually colorful!) way to balance your skin and give it the TLC it needs. Learn more about our clay mask recipes and the benefits of each.

Below, Lily demonstrates how to multi-mask using the Sea Clay Mask and the Turmeric Clay Mask. Lily has an oily T-zone and normal skin on her cheeks. The Sea Clay Mask contains the most clay of all the recipes, making it great for oily skin. The Turmeric Clay Mask is suitable for combination to oily skin. To get started, Lily applied the Sea Clay Mask to the oily areas of her skin. In her case, this is her chin, nose and forehead.

Then, the Turmeric Clay Mask is applied to the cheeks to address those skin concerns. Because it does not contain as much clay as the Sea Clay Mask, it won’t leave her cheeks feeling dry and uncomfortable.

Once your skin is covered in homemade clay mask goodness, it’s time to wait. And if you’re getting your photos taken during this process, that obviously involves cheesin’ for the camera!

After about 10-15 minutes, the masks will begin to dry. Wash them off with warm water. There is no need to wash your skin after, but you can if you’d like. If you are applying the Lavender Clay Mask, which contains less clay, it may not dry in 10-15 minutes. Because it does not contain much clay, it may remain a lotion-like texture. If your cheeks are dry rather than comfortable (like Lily’s), I would recommend applying the Lavender Clay Mask to your cheeks and the Sea Clay Mask to your T-zone. What’s your perfect multi-making combination?

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Activated charcoal has become a popular ingredient for skin care products in the past few years. But it’s not new – charcoal has been used in the beauty and medical industries for years. Charcoal is known for its ability to absorb and draw out oil from the skin. This makes charcoal a fantastic addition to soaps, scrubs, masks and more.

There are various types, including activated charcoal, sugar charcoal and Japanese charcoal (aka white charcoal). The different types of charcoal have various origins and production methods. “Regular” charcoal usually comes from wood, coal or peat. This type of charcoal is often used as fuel. Activated charcoal, on the other hand, is most commonly used for medical, beauty or purification processes. To become “activated,” the charcoal goes through a high temperature steam activation process. This process increases its surface area, which increases the charcoal’s ability to absorb and filter. This makes activated charcoal the proper choice for medical and cosmetic use.

In particular, activated charcoal is fantastic for oily skin. Its ability to absorb oil and dirt from pores leaves skin feeling balanced. If you have dry skin, activated charcoal may be a little bit too drying. Some use charcoal in their hair care to add volume, and some even use it in their tooth care regimen (keep in mind the charcoal at Bramble Berry is not meant to be consumed in anyway).

Want to add charcoal to your bath and body products? Interestingly, activated charcoal is not water soluble. A great example of this was in the Black Bath Bombs Test; the bath bombs made with activated charcoal left plenty of residue on the tub, because the charcoal did not want to mix with the water. A touch of Polysorbate 80 helped the activated charcoal blend in better with the water.

Activated charcoal is not water soluble, and does not work well in bath bombs without an emulsifier as shown in this post.

If you’re adding charcoal to your project, dispersing it in oil helps it mix in easier. Use 1 teaspoon charcoal to 1 tablespoon 99% isopropyl alcohol for melt and pour soap and a lightweight liquid oil for cold process soap. Activated charcoal can be added directly to melt and pour or cold process soap batter, but dispersing does help get rid of clumps. If you’d like to try adding it to emulsified projects like lotion, I recommend a small test batch first. We actually tried adding it to the clay mask recipes (which are essentially lotions) and found the charcoal did not mix in very well, even with plenty of stick blending (see photo below).

In our tests, activated charcoal did not mix in very well to emulsified clay masks.

In addition to the skin benefits, activated charcoal gives products a beautiful black color. Charcoal can create a gray lather and transfer color to a washcloth if a lot is used in a recipe. In my experience, I have not found charcoal soap stains washcloths permanently. If you use enough charcoal to create a dark black color, chances are it will give your lather a little color. For cold process and melt and pour soap, start with 1 teaspoon of dispersed charcoal per pound of soap. Add more color until you get the shade you like. A light to dark gray shade in soap will most likely not create a gray lather.

Charcoal is dispersed in oil and added to the soap batter in the Charcoal & Cedar Beer Soap Tutorial.

Now, let’s talk about handling activated charcoal. There is no way around it – this stuff is messy. It’s a very small and light powder, so it has a tendency to “poof” up into the air. If you’ve used activated charcoal, you know it can have a tendency to get everywhere. When working with it, I recommend closing windows and shutting off any fans to help avoid an unnecessary mess. If you do get charcoal on your hands while working with it, I recommend washing it off with water and soap. Once, I left activated charcoal on my knuckles for about an hour while formulating recipes. My knuckles were extremely dry for about a week! It has some serious absorbing properties.

Looking for some charcoal recipe inspiration? Check out the tutorials below, and be on the lookout for more recipes this week!

• Rose Clay & Charcoal Soap Tutorial
• Gold Mine Cold Process Soap
• Wild Leopard Print Cold Process Soap
• Honey Bee Funnel Pour Cold Process Soap
• Creamy Cow Milk Cold Process Soap
• Charcoal & Cedar Beer Cold Process Tutorial
• Rose Gold & Charcoal Heart Soap
• Honey Bee Soap Tutorial
• Dragon’s Breath Cold Process Soap
• Charcoal and Rose Clay Spa Bar
• Minty Clay Melt & Pour Bar
• Natural Colorant Taiwan Swirl

The post Activated Charcoal Skin Benefits & Tips for Use appeared first on Soap Queen.

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At first glance, kokum butter looks a bit odd. It’s crumbly and almost looks like it’s covered in soda ash. But within those pieces of butter is something really special. It’s ultra moisturizing, and leaves your hair and skin feeling soft and silky.

Kokum butter has a firm texture that’s similar to cocoa butter. It’s firmer and more crumbly than other butters Bramble Berry carries, including shea and mango. Read all about butters here. Kokum starts to melt around 90-104 ° F. So, when it comes in contact with the skin, it melts just slightly. It feels lightweight and not greasy. It can be used on its own to moisturize the skin, lips or hair. You can also use that texture in combination with other ingredients to make amazing body butter, lip balm, soap and more. Before getting started on your kokum butter creations, there are a few things to know.

The butter comes from the fruit kernels of the Indian tree, also known as Garcinia indica. It’s indigenous to the Western Ghats region of India. It has a high stearic acid content of around 40-45%. That stearic acid content does a few things. First, it adds firming properties to your recipes. It also helps thicken products like lotion and conditioner. Read more about stearic acid in this Swift Crafty Monkey post. This one on butters is pretty great too. Kokum butter is also one of the most stable vegetable butters with a shelf life of about 1-2 years. As an added bonus, kokum butter has little to no scent. That means it won’t compete with fragrance or essential oil in your handmade products.

Now that you’re completely sold on kokum butter and its amazing benefits, you’re probably wondering how to use it in your products. Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered!

Cold Process SoapKokum butter can be used in soap up to 10%. Because of that high stearic acid content, a larger amount can cause the soap to trace fairly quickly. Learn more about trace in this post. We like to use it around 5%. That gives you all the moisturizing benefits and creates a firmer bar. We added the butter to a recipe with ground pumpkin seeds and eucalyptus essential oil. Look out for that tutorial later this week. As for melt and pour, we don’t recommend adding extra butter. It can make the bases oily or soft. If you do add kokum butter to melt and pour soap, use no more than 1 teaspoon per pound of MP soap.

This cold process soap recipe featuring kokum butter, ground pumpkin seeds and eucalyptus essential oil will be up later this week.

Lotion/Conditioner
The stearic acid content of kokum butter is important to consider in emulsified products like lotion and conditioner. In higher concentrations, the butter can make the formula too thick. Using about 1-3% in your recipe will work nicely. You may also want to decrease the amount of stearic acid. It is usually recommended at 3-5%. You can drop that to 2-3%. That will give you a lotion or conditioner that’s thick and luxurious. Learn more about making lotion in this post. If you want to make conditioner, this video shows you how.

Balms
Kokum butter can be used on its own in body and lip balms, although it will be very firm. If you prefer a softer texture, you can use it at 5% and up. A traditional balm formula is 1:1:1 wax, butter and oil. Kokum butter pairs nicely with beeswax, cera bellina wax or candelilla wax. As for oil, the sky is the limit! Sweet almond, avocado or chia seed oil feel super moisturizing. Before you get started on your balm, pop a few spoons in the freezer. This is called The Spoon Trick. When you dip the cold spoons into the melted balm, it hardens instantly so you can check the texture. If it’s too soft or too firm, you can adjust from there. Learn more about formulating balms in this post.

Body ButterThe texture of kokum butter is perfect for a hydrating body butter. Because kokum butter is firm, you’ll want to melt it before whipping. On its own it will be too stiff, so you can use it at 5% or more in combination with a softer butter like coffee or avocado to make the recipe more balanced. Liquid oils like argan or meadowfoam feel nice in body butter recipes as well. They add a silky, spreadable feeling. Kokum butter would be a great addition or substitute for cocoa butter in this recipe.

Kokum would be a great addition to the Whipped Amber Bronzing Butter.

ScrubsIf you want to add moisturizing properties to your scrub, kokum butter is the way to go. On it’s own, kokum butter is too firm to mix with an exfoliant, but would be great with a liquid oil or softer butter. Give it a try in the Sparkling Snow Sugar Scrub in place of shea butter.

Bath Bombs
Oil and butter wet bath bombs, which helps them hold their shape. They also moisturize the skin. You can add about .5 oz. of melted kokum butter per 1.5 cups of fizzy mixture to start with. If you want the bath bombs wetter, you can add more from there. Get more tips in the Bath Bomb Questions and Answers post.

Have you used kokum butter before? What’s your favorite way to use it?

The post How to Use Kokum Butter appeared first on Soap Queen.

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A relaxing Hawaiian vacation is a dream for most people. If you can’t make it there any time soon, do the next best thing – bring a bit of Hawaii to you! Kukui nut oil comes from the Aleurites moluccana tree, also known as the kukui or candlenut tree. It’s the state tree of Hawaii. The oil that is cold pressed from the kukui nuts is prized for its ability to leave the skin and hair feeling smooth and silky.

What makes kukui nut oil so amazing is its unique fatty acid profile. It contains a good amount of both linoleic and oleic acid. Those fatty acids give the skin much-needed moisture. If you want to learn more about fatty acids, check out this blog post by Susan with Swift Crafty Monkey.

Another unique aspect of the oil is the texture. When applied to the skin, it absorbs quickly and doesn’t leave behind a greasy feeling. Instead, the skin feels soft. It is comparable to sweet almond and avocado oil, which have similar lightweight textures. In addition, it has a fairly long shelf life of 1-2 years. As for the smell, it has a neutral nutty odor that is very subtle in finished products. All those great qualities make kukui nut oil perfect for a variety of recipes.

Cold Process & Melt and Pour SoapYou can use kukui nut oil in soap up to 20%. We like to use it around 12-15%. It will give your bars the lovely silky properties mentioned above. Because it’s a soft oil (liquid at room temperature), it will make your soap softer and more moisturizing. This oil is ideal for intricate designs, as it won’t speed up trace. Learn more about formulating a recipe for intricate designs in this post. As for melt and pour, we don’t recommend adding extra oil. It can make the bases oily or soft. If you do add kukui nut oil, use no more than 1 teaspoon per pound of melt and pour soap.

Lotion/Conditioner
If you’re in the market for a silky lotion or conditioner, you can use kukui nut as the only oil in the batch. That would be about 23% or more, depending on your recipe. You can also pair it with another liquid oil like argan to get the beneficial properties of both. If you like a lotion or conditioner that’s a bit thicker, adding a butter like avocado or shea would be a good option. Learn more about making lotion in this post. If you want to make conditioner, this video shows you how.

Balms
A traditional body or lip balm formula is 1:1:1 wax, butter and oil. Kukui nut oil can be used at 5% and up. It pairs nicely with beeswax or candelilla wax. As for butter, the sky is the limit! Cocoa, mango or kokum butter (a new product as well!) are great options. Before you get started on your balm, pop a few spoons in the freezer. This is called The Spoon Trick. When you dip the cold spoons into the melted balm, it hardens instantly so you can check the texture. If it’s too soft or too firm, you can adjust from there. Learn more about formulating balms in this post. Look out for a moisturizing lip balm recipe made with kukui nut oil later this week.

A lip balm recipe with kukui nut oil, white beeswax and Coconut Flavor Oil will be on the blog later this week.

Body ButterKukui nut oil adds a silky, spreadable texture to your body butter recipes. You can use it at 5% or more. You can use the oil with any butter you like. The All About Butter post has more information on options for your recipe. In the Green Smoothie Whipped Body Butter Recipe, kukui nut oil would be a great addition or substitute for grapeseed oil.

ScrubsBecause kukui nut oil absorbs quickly, it’s a great option for scrubs. You can use it at 5-100% in your recipe with the exfoliant of your choice. You can also add potassium cocoate or liquid soap if you prefer a more cleansing scrub. Find scrub recipes here.

Bath Bombs
Oil and butter wet bath bombs, which helps them hold their shape. They also moisturize the skin. You can add about .5 oz. of kukui nut oil per 1.5 cups of fizzy mixture to start. If you want the bath bombs wetter, you can add more from there. Get more tips in the Bath Bomb Questions and Answers post. The oil would work really well in the Midas Touch Bath Bombs in place of or in addition to the meadowfoam oil.

Add kukui nut oil to the Midas Touch Bath Bombs for moisture.

Have you used kukui nut oil before? What do you like to use it in?

The post How to Use Kukui Nut Oil appeared first on Soap Queen.

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There are a variety of fresh ingredients that can be added to cold process soap, from honey to goat milk. They are a great way to make your soap stand out, and each ingredient adds special properties to the recipe. For example, goat milk adds skin-loving properties. Honey is great for boosting lather. Using fresh and local ingredients strengthens ties in your community and strengthens your brand identity.

If you sell your products, customers are delighted to know where the ingredients come from. This is especially true if the ingredients are from their local area! For example, here in Washington state, we are known for our coffee consumption and apple production. Adding locally roasted coffee or puree made from Washington apples in your soap is a way to showcase what the state has to offer.

Locally roasted coffee is a great way to incorporate a local ingredient in your soap.

If you’re thinking about adding fresh and local ingredients to your soap, check out the blog posts below. They have information on how to work with alternative liquids, purees and honey, as well as recipes for each. Be on the lookout for recipes this week using local ingredients for more inspiration!

Alternative Liquids (milk, beer, tea, etc.)In place of distilled water, liquids like milk, tea, coffee and alcoholic beverages can be used to make cold process soap. Using them in your recipe is a great way to highlight locally made goat milk or beer from a local brewery.

Informative Posts:

• How to Use Tea and Coffee in Soap
• How to Use Alcoholic Beverages in Cold Process Soap
• How to Add Lye to Milk

Tutorials:

• Goat Milk Soap Tutorial on Soap Queen TV
• Goat Milk & Oatmeal Cold Process Soap
• Creamy Cow Milk Cold Process Tutorial
• Buttermilk Bastille Baby Bar on Soap Queen TV
• Lime in the Coconut Milk Cold Process Tutorial
• Charcoal & Cedar Beer Cold Process Soap Tutorial
• Bramble Beer Soap Tutorial
• Black and Tan Beer Soap Tutorial
• Luck of the Green Beer Cold Process Tutorial
• Oatmeal Stout Cold Process Tutorial
• Exfoliating Green Tea Cold Process Bars

Fresh Ingredients & Purees
If a fruit or vegetable can be blended to a smooth texture, it can probably be used in cold process soap! When added to the batter, the puree goes through the saponification process along with the oils and lye solution. Fruit-based purees often add to a fluffy lather because of their natural sugar content. Additionally, many purees are great from a marketing standpoint and can add skin-loving benefits.

Informative posts:

• Purees & Fresh Ingredients in Melt and Pour Soap
• How to Add Purees to Cold Process Soap

Tutorials:

• Pumpkin Puree Cold Process Soap
• Pumpkin Spice Swirl Cold Process Soap
• Strawberries & Cream Cold Process Soap
• Avocado + Spearmint Cold Process Soap Tutorial
• Buttermilk Bastille Baby Bar on Soap Queen TV
• Lard and Loofah Cold Process Soap

HoneyHoney is a natural humectant, which means it helps draw moisture from the air to the skin. Adding honey to your products is a great way to support local beekeepers. Honey can overheat in soap, so give your soaping temperatures extra attention.

Informative Posts:

• Adding Honey to Cold Process Soap: Tips, Tricks & Recipe
• How to Use Honey in Bath & Beauty Products

Tutorials:

• Pure Honey Cold Process Soap Tutorial
• Guest Post: Thyme & Witch Hazel Facial Bar DIY

Is there a fresh and local ingredient that you like incorporating into your products? Be on the lookout for several tutorials featuring ingredients from the Pacific Northwest.

The post The Value of Fresh and Local Ingredients + Recipes appeared first on Soap Queen.

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There are a variety of fresh ingredients that can be added to cold process soap, from honey to goat milk. They are a great way to make your soap stand out, and each ingredient adds special properties to the recipe. For example, goat milk adds skin-loving properties. Honey is great for boosting lather. Using fresh and local ingredients strengthens ties in your community and strengthens your brand identity.

If you sell your products, customers are delighted to know where the ingredients come from. This is especially true if the ingredients are from their local area! For example, here in Washington state, we are known for our coffee consumption and apple production. Adding locally roasted coffee or puree made from Washington apples in your soap is a way to showcase what the state has to offer.

Locally roasted coffee is a great way to incorporate a local ingredient in your soap.

If you’re thinking about adding fresh and local ingredients to your soap, check out the blog posts below. They have information on how to work with alternative liquids, purees and honey, as well as recipes for each. Be on the lookout for recipes this week using local ingredients for more inspiration!

Alternative Liquids (milk, beer, tea, etc.)In place of distilled water, liquids like milk, tea, coffee and alcoholic beverages can be used to make cold process soap. Using them in your recipe is a great way to highlight locally made goat milk or beer from a local brewery.

Informative Posts:

• How to Use Tea and Coffee in Soap
• How to Use Alcoholic Beverages in Cold Process Soap
• How to Add Lye to Milk

Tutorials:

• Goat Milk Soap Tutorial on Soap Queen TV
• Goat Milk & Oatmeal Cold Process Soap
• Creamy Cow Milk Cold Process Tutorial
• Buttermilk Bastille Baby Bar on Soap Queen TV
• Lime in the Coconut Milk Cold Process Tutorial
• Charcoal & Cedar Beer Cold Process Soap Tutorial
• Bramble Beer Soap Tutorial
• Black and Tan Beer Soap Tutorial
• Luck of the Green Beer Cold Process Tutorial
• Oatmeal Stout Cold Process Tutorial
• Exfoliating Green Tea Cold Process Bars

Fresh Ingredients & Purees
If a fruit or vegetable can be blended to a smooth texture, it can probably be used in cold process soap! When added to the batter, the puree goes through the saponification process along with the oils and lye solution. Fruit-based purees often add to a fluffy lather because of their natural sugar content. Additionally, many purees are great from a marketing standpoint and can add skin-loving benefits.

Informative posts:

• Purees & Fresh Ingredients in Melt and Pour Soap
• How to Add Purees to Cold Process Soap

Tutorials:

• Pumpkin Puree Cold Process Soap
• Pumpkin Spice Swirl Cold Process Soap
• Strawberries & Cream Cold Process Soap
• Avocado + Spearmint Cold Process Soap Tutorial
• Buttermilk Bastille Baby Bar on Soap Queen TV
• Lard and Loofah Cold Process Soap

HoneyHoney is a natural humectant, which means it helps draw moisture from the air to the skin. Adding honey to your products is a great way to support local beekeepers. Honey can overheat in soap, so give your soaping temperatures extra attention.

Informative Posts:

• Adding Honey to Cold Process Soap: Tips, Tricks & Recipe
• How to Use Honey in Bath & Beauty Products

Tutorials:

• Pure Honey Cold Process Soap Tutorial
• Guest Post: Thyme & Witch Hazel Facial Bar DIY

Is there a fresh and local ingredient that you like incorporating into your products? Be on the lookout for several tutorials featuring ingredients from the Pacific Northwest.

The post The Value of Fresh and Local Ingredients + Recipes appeared first on Soap Queen.

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Have you ever looked in your kitchen cabinets and thought, “Huh, I wonder if I can put that in soap?” If so, you’re in good company. It’s a pretty common thought among soapmakers. Also, you are in luck – there are plenty of fresh ingredients you can use in your cold process recipes. In addition to setting your soap apart and attracting customers, fresh ingredients add something special to your recipes. For instance, avocado gives soap a luxurious feeling. Find a roundup of recipes made with fresh ingredients here. Before getting started, there are a few things to know. The tips below will ensure your experiments turn out well so you can focus on the fun part – getting creative and trying something new!

Research Before Getting Started
Each ingredient you add to your recipe will affect how the soap performs. If you add an ingredient with natural sugar, it can cause acceleration and overheating. If you add an ingredient with a lot of liquid, it can make your batch too wet. That’s why research is important. Find out how the ingredient performs beforehand so you know what to expect and can account for any quirks. The How to Add Purees to Cold Process Soap has plenty of information to help get you started.

Honey can overheat in soap and cause discoloration and bubbles, as seen in the photo above. Learn how to work with honey here.

Buy Local
Once you decide what ingredient you want to experiment with, the next step is finding it. We recommend buying local! There are so many quality ingredients at your local stores and farmers markets. For instance, at the Farmers Market here in Bellingham, there is everything from fresh coffee to juicy blueberries. They would be an amazing addition to your recipe. Not only do you support your local economy, but you can tell your customers all about the fresh ingredients and where they come from. It’s an amazing selling point and it shows off your hometown pride.

Consider a Water Discount
To help the fresh ingredients mix in smoothly, they are often pureed with distilled water. Many fresh ingredients also contain a lot of liquid. The added water can make your soap too wet. That’s where a water discount comes in – it accounts for the extra liquid you’re adding to your batch. It also helps prevent glycerin rivers. How much water you discount from your recipe depends on the fresh ingredient. For instance, cucumber is a very watery vegetable, so a higher water discount would be helpful. A good water discount to start with is 10% and adjust from there based on the additive you choose. Learn more in the Water Discounting Cold Process Soap post.

A water discount keeps your recipe balanced.

Watch Those Temperatures
Fresh ingredients with natural sugar have the potential to overheat in cold process soap. That can cause discoloration, an unpleasant smell, heat tunnels and, worst case scenario, a soap volcano. That’s why it’s important to keep your temperatures low. Soaping around 100-110 ° F will keep things cool and give you time to work with your design. If you’re using an alternative liquid, you may want to cool or freeze it beforehand to prevent scorching. Learn more about working with coffee and tea, alcohol and milk in your soap. Once the soap is in the mold, put it in the fridge or freezer for 5-24 hours. If you’re using a fresh ingredient without natural sugar, they can still cause glycerin rivers or partial gel phase. You can leave the soap at room temperature or cool it in the freezer to be extra careful.

Milk needs to be frozen before the lye is added to keep temperatures low. Learn more in this post.

Test it Out
Whatever fresh ingredient you choose to jazz up your cold process soap, make a small test batch of your recipe. If you’ve never worked with that ingredient before it can do unpredictable things. The test batch allows you to make adjustments before making a larger batch. It’s also a great time to test the bars on your skin to see what you think. If you add avocado and the bars are too soft, you can add more hard oils like coconut and palm. If the honey overheated your batch even with cooler temperatures, you can add less next time. Before you know it, you’ll be a pro at adding random cabinet ingredients to your handmade goodies!

The Avocado + Spearmint Cold Process Soap took several tries to get just right.

What’s your favorite fresh additive for cold process soap?

The post 5 Tips for Using Fresh Ingredients in Soap appeared first on Soap Queen.

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Preparing for a market can seem overwhelming. There are supplies to transport, displays to set up and potential customers to talk to. If you’re new to the market scene, we’re here to help. The following tips will help you prepare for whatever the event throws at you. Before diving in, make sure to check out the first post in this series, Are Markets Right for You? OK, let’s get started.

What to bring to the event
A list of the supplies you need is really helpful. There are quite a few things to bring, so jotting it down will help you remember each one. There are really helpful lists on Pinterest to reference, like these from StudioDax and Creative Income.

“Organization is key,” said Christie with Birchwood Botanicals. She’s been making soap and other herbal body care for about 37 years, and has been selling her lovely creations at the Farmers Market here in Bellingham since 2005.

Christie with Birchwood Botanicals showcases her products at the Bellingham Farmers Market.

Start by breaking the list into three categories – products, display supplies and miscellaneous. You can use more or fewer categories depending on your personal preference. For the first category, write down what products you plan to bring and how many. Researching the event beforehand can help you decide what to bring. A good place to start is about 5-10 each of your most popular items. As you build up your customer base, you can adjust and expand your product line to suit their needs.

Samples and testers are essential. Shoppers can touch, smell and try the products, which will help bring them back for more. We all know once you try handmade soap, it’s hard to go back to store bought!

“For years I handed out soap samples in little Ziplocs,” Christie said. “I would give kids their own little soap and it made them so happy. They would hold onto while their parents shopped around.”

The next category, display supplies, will include items like tables, a canopy, a price list, a cash box or money bag with plenty of change, debit/credit card readers, calculators, a hammer and nails, bags for your customers, etc. Christie brings several card readers and an extra phone charger. Susanne with Passionfruit Island said an apron with a zipper is really helpful. She sold her products at markets for about 7 years and is now focusing on online sales. You can carry samples, cash, business cards, etc. in the apron and hand them out easily.

Passionfruit Island‘s beautiful display at a local market.

The miscellaneous category includes anything else that’s helpful for you. That includes plenty of water, snacks, sunglasses, a hat, a coat, allergy medication, tissues, etc. Christie brings a portable office with her – that includes staplers, paper clips, extra pens, paper, tape, towels and cleaning wipes. That way she’s prepared for any possible scenario.

How to transport your products
Once you have the items you need, the next step is getting them from your house to the event. Christie recommends using clear plastic bins. It can be tempting to use cardboard boxes to cut costs, but clear bins allow you to see what products are inside so it’s easier to stay organized. As you put the items in your bins, make sure to check them off on your list so you don’t forget anything. You can use cloth, newspaper, etc. to protect your items. Susanne recommends packing the containers tightly so the products don’t jostle around in the car.

“Pack them as full as you can,” she said.

If you don’t have a lot of space in your car, you can pack your products in your displays. Susanne made shelves out of old wine boxes that were donated from a local grocery store. She was able to transport her products and display them in a fun and unique way.

Soap displays that double as storage, like these by Passionfruit Island, save space in your car.

Don’t be afraid to practice packing the items into your car so you know what to expect. You can also leave certain supplies in the car overnight. In the morning, all you have to do is load up the heat-sensitive items like soap and you’re ready to go. If you plan to sell at markets for a long time, consider investing in a trailer. Christie used to pack her items in an SUV, but now has a trailer where she keeps her props, tables, etc.

“That has made all the difference in our daily vending,” she said. “It’s kind of like a second room – we don’t have to unpack every single thing.”

How to set up your display
In many markets space will be limited, so Susanne and Christie suggest going vertical with your display.

“We cannot always spread out, but we can always go up,” Christie said.

Christie with Birchwood Botanicals creates vertical displays to showcase her products in small spaces.

Sturdy, tall shelves are a great option for market displays. Susanne recommends putting the products at eye level so people can see them easily. Group your products in sets and have an easy-to-read price list so your display is organized and inviting. Make sure to take advantage of any leftover space on your table as well. You can display your products in cute baskets or platters, and it’s also a great place to put any testers or samples. Once you have an idea of what your display will look like, set it up at home. Take notes on how long it takes you. If you notice you’re having difficulty with a certain product or you don’t have enough space, you can adjust your display until it works well for you. When you’re finished, take photos so you can reference it the next time you set up your display. Get more tips in the Selling Success at Fairs and Public Markets post. Keep in mind your display may change based on the weather.

“I always think of the weather, that’s a huge factor in how I put my display together,” Christie said. “Be prepared to reconfigure and not display certain things.”

Tips for designing your display
An eye-catching display is a great way to attract customers. The thought of designing it can be intimidating, but Susanne said it doesn’t have to be.

“One of the things I wish I had known when I first started is that it doesn’t need to cost a lot,” she said.

She recommends not investing a lot of money on trinkets. Instead, opt for simple shelves, tablecloths and baskets. Not only will your display look clean and modern, but your products will really stand out against a neutral background. You can find shelves and other display items at thrift stores and garage sales. If you’ve got a knack for DIY projects, you can find low-cost or free materials and build the shelves from scratch.

Susanne’s colorful products really stand out on a simple market display.

Christie found a lot of her display items at second-hand stores. Over the years she collected plenty of props like lamps and picture frames. She also likes to bring a a selection of flowers like Lily of the Valley from the farm. They double as an item for display and an item for sale.

“It makes a beautiful, fresh display,” she said. “Even if we don’t sell them it sure brings a lot of ambiance and nature to the booth.”

If you’re not sure where to start, Pinterest and Facebook have plenty of ideas. Instagram is also a great place for inspiration, especially the #SoapShare tag. Don’t be afraid to ask other crafters on those social media platforms. The soapmaking community is really helpful and they have tons of amazing ideas.

Designing your display doesn’t have to be a chore – it’s a great opportunity to showcase the wonderful products you worked hard to create. If it’s not exactly what you want, keep tinkering with items until it is. The more markets you go to, the more you will learn about your display and selling your products.

“One important thing is to find inspiration and start being creative,” Christie said. “You will need to be patient and consistent. Finding out who your customer base is – that takes awhile. I sat at a market for one full year. I kept going whether I made money or not. I was determined and went there every Saturday … It takes a lot of work, but I love my customers.”

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Flowers add a touch of elegance to handmade bath and beauty products. Topping cold process soap with a sprinkle of pink rose petals or scenting bath bombs with Blushing Orchid Fragrance Oil can take your recipe from good to great. Both of those products are part of the new Modern Floral Collection, which is a fresh take on the classics. Learn how to add them to your projects below.

Infused liquids
You can customize your recipes with infused liquids. There are several ways to go about that, including hot and cold methods. For the cold method, add about 1 tablespoon of dried flowers per 1 ounce of oil or a liquid like aloe. We don’t recommend using distilled water because it can mold. Place the infusion in an airtight container and let it sit at room temperature for 4-6 weeks. Learn more about this method in the How to Infuse Oil with Tea post.

For the hot method, you can use the stove or a slow cooker. It takes 20 minutes to 4 hours depending on the size of your batch. The How to Infuse Oils with a Crock-Pot post has more information on how to get started. Once the oil is ready, you can pour it through a strainer with cheesecloth and enjoy.

Flowers add skin-loving properties to the liquid, and they can also add a subtle color and scent. In the Lavender and Rose Water Toner, dried lavender is infused in aloe vera liquid to give the recipe a luxurious feeling. The Herb Infused Bath Oil is made with chamomile and marigold. You can customize both recipes with any dried flowers you like. Try new options like pink rose petals, safflower petals, or jasmine flowers.

The Herb Infused Bath Oil has a skin-loving combination of chamomile and marigold.

Floral oils and extracts
If you’re looking for a quicker way to incorporate florals, carrier oils are the way to go. Options like rosehip seed oil, sunflower oil, and lavender butter add something special to your recipe. For instance, rosehip seed oil is rich in vitamins A and C. It’s a lightweight oil that absorbs quickly and works especially well for dry or mature skin. Those properties are put to good use in the Rosehip Eye Serum.

The serum also contains evening primrose extract. Extracts are made from raw materials like vegetables and mixed with fractionated coconut oil. They’re easy to add to soap, lotion, and more – all you need is about 1 teaspoon per pound of product. Learn more about extracts in this post.

We have two new extracts, orchid and lotus flower, which help hydrate the skin. They’d be an excellent addition to the Rosehip Seed Bath Salts recipe. It’s made with fine grained Dead Sea salt, rosehip seed oil, Rose Quartz Fragrance Oil, and red rose petals.

Add Rosehip Seed Bath Salts to your tub for a relaxing experience.

Floral scents
It’s safe to say floral scents are pretty popular. We have a whole category dedicated to them and they’re a staple in most perfumes and candles. We just added four new fragrance oils – Blushing Orchid, Baby’s Breath, Wild Rose, and Daisy Chain. For a limited time you can sample 2 ounces of each scent in the Modern Floral Fragrance Oil Collection. Get it now for 40% off the retail price.

With so many options to choose from, you can find the perfect scent for your recipe. Rose Absolute adds a fresh scent to the Rose Clay Face Mask. It’s a great way to pamper yourself. The notes of lemon, winter berries, succulent, and violet in Cactus Flower Fragrance Oil inspired the design for this cold process soap tutorial.

The notes of lemon, winter berries, succulent, and violet in Cactus Flower Fragrance Oil inspired the design for this cold process soap tutorial.

Floral powders
The shades you get from natural products like yarrow flower, safflower, and rosehip powders are beautiful. The Annatto-Yarrow Soap has several natural colorants, including yarrow flower, spirulina powder, and annatto seeds. It gives the soap a rustic and unique look.

Rosehip powder is especially interesting in cold process soap. When it’s first added, the color isn’t too exciting. However, the next day the bars turn a lovely rose red. A few days after that, the color changes to a dark red that’s even prettier. See the finished color in the Beet Cold Process Soap. The color isn’t the only advantage of rosehip powder – it also has a high concentration of vitamin C and other antioxidants, and it can be used as a mild exfoliant.

The Beet Cold Process Soap gets its dark red color from rosehip powder.

Flower petals
A finishing touch of pink rose petals or safflower petals is a simple way to make your products stand out. The Soothing Floral Bath Salts are made with three different types of salt, three different types of flower petals, and a fresh combination of Orange Blossom Candle and Soap Fragrance Oil and Lavender 40/42 Essential Oil.

Jasmine flowers are the finishing touch on the Swirled Orchid Cold Process Soap. The bright color is a beautiful contrast against the purple and white design. The soap is scented with Blushing Orchid Fragrance Oil, which has notes of lemon, lime, cucumber, tuberose, and coconut.

Jasmine flowers are the finishing touch on the Swirled Orchid Cold Process Soap.

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Bramble Berry is lucky to be situated in the Pacific Northwest. The “PNW,” as we affectionately call it, is home to gorgeous forests, thrilling hikes, and, yes, many damp fern-covered fern-covered rocks. (And by “damp,” we mean, “Yes, it always rains. I’m so sorry.”) This soap is an ode to my place and the trails I hike.

Wood Grain Soap Technique Final Bars

This project is an Advanced DIY, so if you’ve never made soap before, get a solid ten (or twenty) batches under your soapmaking belt before attempting this one. It requires a solid understanding of trace and the ability to work quickly – but if you’re looking for your next soapmaking challenge, this is it.

Let’s get started!

First, suit up for safety (and if you don’t know what this means, this video is for you … enjoy the OG Soap Queen, including the haircut).

I used the Bramble Berry Swirl Quick Mix (Not sure what the Quick Mix is? Explainer post + video here but in a nutshell, Quick Mixes are a product I developed to help short-cut the soapmaking process for soapers – they’re designed so you don’t need to measure anything but one Mix that we’ve carefully measured and calculated in our Bellingham, WA production warehouse.) If you want to go rogue and use your favorite xix of oils, know that you need a solid 10 minutes for this technique (it’s a lot of tiny little pours).

Recipe:

54 ounces Bramble Berry Swirl Quick Mix

7.61 ounces Lye (Sodium Hydroxide)

17 ounces Distilled Water

Optional but recommended: 3 teaspoons Sodium Lactate

Colorants; Pick 4-6 colorants that say “wood grain” to you; mix and match it up. I used oranges, yellows, and browns and mixed and matched them. Make sure to have titanium dioxide also mixed up for a contrast color.

Fragrance: I used Sensuous Sandalwood because it doesn’t affect trace or color, and, smells woody.

Pre:

Pre Mix your colorants – 1 teaspoon of colorant into 1 Tablespoon of lightweight oil like Avocado or Sweet Almond Oil.

Pre-mix colorants to help prevent clumping

Lay out your containers for the individually-colored soaps that make up the wood grain. In this case, I used six different Bramble Berry Easy Pour containers to ensure I had enough.

Prop the soap mold on its side at roughly a 45-60-degree angle. I used the Bramble Berry Sliding Bottom Mold with the silicone liner. I used two hand towels to prop up so I could take one away at a time during the pouring process.

Instructions:

1) Measure your water (17 oz) and lye (7.61 oz) in two separate, chemical-resistant containers.

2) Carefully and slowly add the lye to the water (never the other way around). Ensure you are in a well-ventilated area with no kids or pets. Stir with your non-aluminum stirring utensil until the lye is dissolved. Set aside.

3) Heat your oils (or, in this case, your Quick Mix) to approximately 120 to 130 degrees.

4) Check your lye water for temperatures; if it’s around 120-130, it’s ready to add to your oils. Add the lye water slowly to your warm oils, slowly mixing in with a stick blender until you reach the very lightest trace (Not sure what ‘trace’ is or what the ‘very lightest’ of trace is? Some tips here or a full video of it here).

Stick blend to light trace

5) Separate the batter into 5 or 6 containers (or 7 or 8—however many colors you decided for your design) at the thinnest trace. Reserve the largest for your titanium dioxide-colored soap. It will provide the perfect contrast color for the wood grain colors.

6) Hand whisk in the colorants and fragrances until you reach the desired tone and hue. If any colors are not fully mixed in, stick blend in a short burst to incorporate the full color smoothly. Add the fragrances to the individual containers.

Add color before fragrance

7) Arrange each layer, color by color, in the order you plan to create your woodgrain design. Carefully pour the first layer down the side of the mold, followed by each successive color in the design. Alternate each color with a thin layer of white to ensure that the woodgrain design shows up. Keep pouring down the side of the mold; it’s awkward but that’s how the ‘wood grain’ design forms.

Soap is colored, fragrance and ready to pour

8) Keep alternating colors until the mold needs to be rotated down to 30 or 15 degrees. Continue pouring alternating colors until the mold is filled to the side again, and then put the mold on a flat surface. Pour the rest of the colors until the remaining soap is gone.

Multiple soap pours down the side of the mold

9) Spray the top of the mold with 99% rubbing alcohol to help prevent soda ash.

Spraying with 99% rubbing alcohol

10) Insulate your soap or put on a heat blanket to ensure the soap goes through the full gel phase (not sure what gel phase is? Full explanation here)

11) Let soap harden and dry until it is ready to cut. Cut into bars. Once cut, put in a fully ventilated area for 4-6 weeks until soap is fully cured, dried, and ready to use.

Wood Grain Soap

If you make this soap, I’d love to see it. Post your version of this and hashtag it #brambleon. I can’t wait to see what you create!

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Keeping up with trends used to mean switching on your TV or picking up a magazine in the checkout line. Now the most popular colors and designs are right at your fingertips. All you have to do is scroll through Instagram or Pinterest. That makes it easy to try new things and keep your products fresh. Learn how to incorporate trends into your designs below.

Where to find inspiration
Inspiration is everywhere you look. Instagram is a great place to start. Fellow soapmakers can help you brainstorm – the #BrambleOn tag is full of amazing designs. Seeing all the photos in one place can help you identify what people are loving at the moment. You can also search tags like #soapshare and #soapmaking, then follow your favorite makers from there.

Pinterest works in a similar way because you can follow pages that share things you’re interested in. You can also search a subject and see every DIY project under the sun.

“I love Pinterest, that’s my favorite place to go,” said Yvonne with The Snoblove Bar. “Galaxy is a thing right now. So if you type in ‘galaxy,’ it will pull up everything from painting to lipstick, and you can see all the variations of the way people look at the theme.”

Yvonne with The Snoblove Bar uses Pinterest for inspiration. These are her Geode Blossom Bars.

Other options include blogs, YouTube, magazines like Willow and Sage, and the Soap Challenge Club.

Don’t feel limited to just soap pages. Yvonne follows Pantone and interior design pages for ideas. She also loves seeing all the colors and textures in fashion shows.

Tania with Soapish follows people who make paper art, stationary, and pottery. She visits local stores and galleries to see their newest inventory. As a cake decorator, she also finds plenty of inspiration from baking techniques. For instance, you can create shapes for cookies and cakes using fondant. You can use a similar technique with soap dough.

Tania with Soapish created these adorable succulents using soap dough.

Some of our favorite bakers include SweetAmbs, who creates intricate cookie designs using a variety of tools. Lottie & Belle creates over-the-top cakes with piping and embellishments.

How to incorporate trends in your designs
Once you find a trend that speaks to you, it’s time to work it into your project. Lisa with Small Batch Soaps takes a trend like unicorns and breaks it down into key elements. That includes a horn, ears, eyes, rainbows, and glitter. She identifies which of those she’s interested in and then draws her design out on paper.

If she hasn’t tried the technique before, she heads to YouTube or other blogs for advice on how to get started. Then, she makes a small batch to see how the idea translates to soap.

“There are endless ways to interpret a trend, and I think that’s why it’s possible for anyone to incorporate trends into their products, while still staying true to their brand,” Lisa said. “For example, if you don’t feel like putting a unicorn horn on your soap is on brand for you, maybe you could try a rainbow or pastel colour palette, adding some glitter, or stamping your soap. No one knows your aesthetic better than you, so if you design it, I think people will recognize it as yours.”

Lisa with Small Batch Soaps makes several variations of these stunning unicorn bars.

Yvonne with The Snoblove Bar likes to approach trends a few different ways. The first is a more literal interpretation. For instance, she noticed people are loving flamingos right now. Options for working with that trend include a flamingo embed in the middle or on top of your bars. You can also create bright pink bars and then cut out flamingo shapes using a cookie cutter or sharp knife.

With the Daisy Cold Process Soap, we went with this method. The embeds are made with the Mini Daisy Silicone Column Mold and the soap features a classic yellow and white color palette.

The other option is a more abstract interpretation.

“Sometimes it could be the feel of it,” Yvonne said. “So maybe it’s not a flamingo embed, instead I could make feathers with cold process soap dough. I could play with the colors.”

Yvonne sometimes goes more literal with her designs, like the beautiful piped flowers on the Pretty Peach Bar.

You can play with elements of the trend rather than making it the main theme. In place of embeds, the Swirled Orchid Cold Process Soap features a purple and white swirl design topped with jasmine flowers. It’s scented with Blushing Orchid Fragrance Oil.

Staying true to your brand
It can be tempting to incorporate every trend you love into your designs. However, it’s important to ensure they still look like your products. You want people to recognize your creations and come back for more.

Yvonne kept seeing soaps inspired by Minions. She thought the bars were adorable, but she couldn’t find a way to work the theme into her line. Her brand is feminine and light. She works with pastel colors, piped flowers, and elegant embeds.

“It wasn’t the trend that would work best for my business,” she said. “You gotta know what you are, what makes you you, what makes your brand your brand.”

Tania with Soapish agrees. Her creations contain a lot of shapes, angles, lines, and layers. If she can find a way to work with a trend using those design elements, she’ll give it a try. If not, she’ll try something else.

Tania loves working with angles and layers.

“Go with what you love,” Tania said. “I think that if you love something, if you find something that speaks to you, something that you just can’t stop thinking about – translate that into your art. That’s what keeps you consistent and keeps your products aesthetically pleasing. Stick with what you love and you can’t go wrong.”

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Are there beads of liquid on your melt and pour soap, or do the bars look powdery? Are they slippery and wet to the touch? This is a common reaction referred to as “sweating” or “glycerin dew.”

In this example, the glycerin dew is concentrated around the outside of the bars.

Melt and pour soap has extra glycerin added during the manufacturing process. It makes the soap easy to work with and also acts as a humectant. When you wash with melt and pour soap, a thin layer of glycerin is left behind. That draws moisture from the air onto your skin. Learn more about what the bases are made with in this Sunday Night Spotlight.

As melt and pour soap sits on the counter, glycerin draws moisture onto the bars and forms glycerin dew. It’s more common in humid climates.

Glycerin dew has formed around the corners of this bar.

The good news is that it’s easy to prevent with the following tips.

• The Like Cold Process (LCP) Clear and LCP White bases have less glycerin, which means there’s little to no sweating. They’re a good option for extremely humid climates. We also recommend the LCP bases if you’re embedding melt and pour in cold process soap because they don’t morph or sweat as the bars cure.
• Let the soap harden and cool at room temperature. If it’s placed in the fridge or freezer for long periods of time it’s more likely to sweat.
• Wrap the bars tightly with plastic wrap and use a heat gun to shrink it on tightly. This Soap Queen TV video shows you how.
• Run a fan over the soap once it’s out of the mold. This is a good option for moderately humid climates but likely won’t work for extremely humid climates.
• Buy a dehumidifier and use it in your soaping space. It’s a good investment because it creates a dry environment for other products like cold process soap and bath bombs.
• You can also place the wrapped bars in an airtight container with rice or silica packets. Learn more in How to Store Handmade Bath Products.

Rose Quartz Melt and Pour Soap

This post was updated in March 2018.

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There are a lot of things to remember when preparing for a farmers market. Even with the best planning, there are items you may not think to bring. We reached out to makers on Instagram to find out what they recommend. Find their tips below.

Liz, Soaps & Sunflowers
The biggest help when I’m getting ready for a market is using Microsoft Excel (so boring, I know). I make numerous spreadsheets that organize the hundreds of thoughts swarming around in my head. It’s easier to plan for and then execute your ordering, production, setup, etc. when all of the details are visually laid out in front of you. The biggest thing to tackle (in my opinion) when getting ready for a market is the product quantity. You need to figure out how many products you’re going to bring, what materials you need for each product, and then how much of each material you’ll need to make that quantity of product. You can create a spreadsheet that will help you determine those amounts, plus any others. So don’t do math! Let Excel do it for you. Then you can focus more of your time on your business!

Soaps & Sunflowers’ beautiful collection of gemstone soaps.

Jessica, Carolina Islands Soap Works
One essential item that I think people don’t think about bringing to markets is a floor mat. Customer service is extremely important when you are selling your products, which means you need to be standing and engaging with people who approach your booth. The problem with that is it can be tiring on your back. So a nice long floor mat where you walk frequently helps more than anything! Personally, we use a thick yoga mat. It’s long, cushioned and very portable!

Another thing I cannot do a market without is my credit card reader – 70% of sales come from credit cards. My biggest sales 90% of the time come from people asking if I take cards because they want to be able to spend a lot. A must-have!

Kathy, Milked Artisan SoapsBring a well thought out setup, including a gorgeous sign and a few props. If your setup is organized and has a cohesive theme, it is more likely to attract more buyers. Tip: do a mock setup before you attend the event and take a picture – this significantly reduces the set-up time.

An item you may not think to bring is a power bank! If you are attending a fair that is being held outdoors, or you happen to be assigned a space that is in the middle of a room without access to a power outlet, you can find yourself in a predicament where you aren’t able to use your devices to accept payments. I learned the hard way my first event, and now I have two fully-charged power banks with me at every event.

A tip for new sellers – it is imperative to do some research on the market(s) you are attending. I’ve been to only a few selective fairs, as I needed to make sure that my investment (the vendor fee) is something that I can recoup. And how did I do that? I read tons of reviews. You will be pleasantly surprised at the amount of information that is out there, especially if you are looking to attend an already established fair.

Stunning soap tops by Milked Artisan Soaps.

Liz and Ryan, Wandering Blooms Botanics
When we are preparing for markets we like to make sure we have a nice, clean, eye-catching setup with a nice variety of products. One thing that we like to make sure we always have plenty of is samples! Giving small samples of creams and soaps is always a big hit with customers! We like to label the samples with our name and product info to make it easy for customers to find us again. Most importantly, even if it rains, our tent blows over and we forgot our samples, we try to always have a great day and meet a lot of awesome people.

Anna-Kate, Ole Tradition Soap Co.
When packing for markets, I always make sure to bring plenty of business cards! Even if someone doesn’t buy something right away, they’ll take your business card and find your online store later. Just make sure you have plenty of information about where to find you! Your cards don’t have to be anything fancy – just your company’s name, logo, and where you can be found online. I print mine right at home to keep costs low.

Ole Tradition Soap Co.’s sample packs.

Brittany, Baabbly Soap

1. Pay attention to the direction of the sun. If you have products that melt you want to make sure they aren’t in direct sunlight. Typically the set-up time at a farmers market is before the sun is fully up. Once the sun is up you are busy with customers. If you think about this early on then you won’t have to rearrange your booth mid show if you have products that are light and heat sensitive.
2. Make sure you get a tent that is easy to assemble. Don’t mess around with separate poles. You want a tent that can hold its own in the wind and not crumple under water weight. Speaking of weight – get some heavy weights so your tent doesn’t blow away. Yes, it will storm at a market – it happens to everyone. Get a can of water repellent spray and put a good couple of coats on the fabric. Make sure to put plenty along the seams and touch points where the canopy meets the frame.
3. For a sunny day it is nice to have walls up on your tent but it can get pretty hot in there without ventilation. You can pick up some pretty inexpensive sheer curtains from the home store that will provide some shade and still let the breeze through. You will want some side walls for those rainy markets though. You will want to get something easy to whip up if there is a sudden rain storm. I got some pretty economical side walls off of Amazon that had Velcro straps for easy and quick set up.
4. I recommend you get a hand cart and totes. The hand cart is a back saver and the totes will provide a sturdy, waterproof place to pack your product. You want bins that are the same size so stacking on the cart is easy. It is tempting to save some money and use cardboard boxes or canvas bags, but they can get wet and your product could get damaged and they aren’t as easy to transport on a cart. My top tip for using your cart is to make sure you strap your product down! I have experienced packing all of my totes on the cart and wheeling that cart down the sidewalk where I, inevitably, hit a crack in the sidewalk that I wasn’t prepared for and all my stuff flies off the cart! It didn’t just happen to me. I have seen this too many times to count. I went to the hardware store and got some cinch straps to tie down my totes and I haven’t spilled a cart of my product since!
5. Height is nice for your display. I use two-tiered fruit stands that I got from TJ Maxx for my bath bombs and a nice tiered shelf for my soaps and scrubs that we made from wood at home. Having product closer to eye level is a bonus for your customers. They will be able to see the product and read the labels without having to pick everything up.
6. Think about where you will be vending when planning your shoes for the day. One of my first markets was on grass and I didn’t think about how dewy the grass was going to be until I was traipsing around on it and felt how wet my socks were. Sandals are nice because your feet will dry out, but standing all day can be hard without support. I invested in some nice waterproof shoes that were made for hiking. They kept my feet dry and had a decent amount of cushion that was great for standing for hours.

Baabbly Soaps’ lovely market display.

Candice, Sunny Crab
I think one important thing to take to a show that you might not think about is a cell phone power bank. You might not have anywhere to plug in a regular charger, and all those credit card sales will drain your phone! I also recommend being prepared for wind if it’s an outdoor show. I learned this lesson the hard way when all of my signs started blowing away at one show I did. Don’t forget water! I always get so dehydrated at shows from talking so much, and not all shows have available water. My last tip is to enjoy! It really is fun to sell products that you made!

Ashlee, Affinity SoaperyI’ve found the following to be super important for me when preparing for a farmers market:

1. Count inventory that you’re bringing and create a spreadsheet with quantities of each item. When someone buys something, make a tally next to that item on your sheet. A clipboard and pencil hidden behind your table works great for this. This helps you to know in the moment what you’ve got left, and you can reconcile that at the end of the day to make sure nothing went missing.
2. Create a checklist for essential items and physically mark off the items as you load them into your car. You don’t want to drive halfway to the farmers market 30 miles away at 5 a.m. and realize you don’t have your Square reader. Ask me how I know!
3. Bring a helper; someone who can speak a bit about your product, if possible. If you need a potty break, you need the helper to watch your booth. Also, the helper can handle cash and give change while you talk up the customer, thank them for their purchase and package their items.
4. Bring water and snacks (and sunscreen). A lot of water! You’re going to be chatting all day long and your throat will get dry. If the people turn out, you won’t have time to walk away and grab lunch, so snacks are never a bad idea.
5. Put some effort into your setup. Get a sign made, or make one if you’re crafty. Practice your setup at home before the market. Also, make sure your items don’t look over-handled, dirty or otherwise dingy. This can be challenging if you load and unload a lot, so work that into your packaging if you’re planning on doing a lot of markets.

Glacier soap by Affinity Soapery.

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We love experimenting here in the Bramble Berry studio. If there are leftovers, there’s a good chance they’ll wind up in soap. We’ve made recipes with La Croix, coffee, kombucha, and more.

Bramble Berry CEO and Founder Anne-Marie has been trying all things DIY and sharing the results here. One of the first things she tried was making cheese. That process leaves you with a lot of whey, which is the watery part of milk that remains after curds are formed.

There are two types of whey. Sweet whey is the liquid that comes from making cheese with rennet, which includes cheddar and Swiss. Acid whey comes from cultured dairy products like sour cream or yogurt. Both are packed with protein, vitamins, and minerals, so we didn’t want it to go to waste.

We decided to replace the distilled water in cold process soap with sweet whey. Knowing that temperatures are important for milk products, we tested several options. The oils were around 105-110°F for all of the tests.

The temperatures shown below were taken after the lye was fully mixed in. For the 86°F bar, we placed frozen cubes of whey into a container, then placed that container in an ice bath while the lye was added. The 93°F bar had frozen whey but no ice bath. The 99°F and 110°F bars had refrigerated whey placed in a cold water bath with a few ice cubes. The 135°F bar was a slushy consistency with no water bath – basically we let the whey cubes sit at room temperature for a few hours before adding the lye.

As you can see, the natural sugar in whey scorches at higher temperatures. That causes a darker color and an unpleasant smell. After our experiments, we found the option we like most is freezing the whey and placing it in an ice bath. After the soap is in the mold, we put it in the freezer for 5-24 hours. That will give you the most neutral color to work with and the smell won’t be as bad. It’s the same method we recommend for milk.

As for the way the bars feel, we didn’t notice a huge difference between whey and distilled water. Whey does add a slightly creamy feeling and nice lather to the soap, but not as much as something like goat milk or cow milk. Basically, we enjoyed experimenting with an alternative liquid and we made sure none of the whey went to waste.

If you don’t want to use it in soap, you’re in luck – you can use it in smoothies, bread, salad dressing, etc. Find a list of 36 ways to use leftover whey in this Don’t Waste the Crumbs blog post.

How do you use leftover whey?

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The Bramble Berry customer service team gets about 2,300 emails, chats, and phone calls a week. That number jumps to more than 5,000 during the busy holiday season. They answer questions about everything from goat milk soap to starting a small business. We asked the team what posts they share most often, as well as their best advice for beginners. Find their answers below.

Tina

How long have you been with Bramble Berry?7 years in July

What blog posts do you share with customers most often?

• How to Create Homemade Lotion Recipes
• Free Beginner’s Guide to Soapmaking: Cold Process
• Business Musings category

What advice would you give to someone just starting out?Mistakes are part of the fun! Be open and okay with everything not turning out as you envisioned. Sometimes things turn out better. Also, maybe start with a basic recipe with a few ingredients first rather than jumping in with a 100% coconut oil cold process soap with a swirl design and raw honey as an additive.

Carla

How long have you been with Bramble Berry?6 years

What blog posts do you share with customers most often?

• Beginning Soaper Resource Roundup
• How to Create Homemade Lotion Recipes
• Soap Behaving Badly
• Soapy Mess-Up Quick Guide

What advice would you give to someone just starting out?Anyone can do it! Trust yourself, have patience, and pay attention to the recipe.

Terah

How long have you been with Bramble Berry?4 years

What blog posts do you share with customers most often?

• Formulating Cold Process Recipes
• Explaining and Preventing Glycerin Dew
• How to Resize Cold Process Soap Recipes

What advice would you give to someone just starting out?Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Even if you’re following a recipe, there can be some trial and error before you get into the groove of things. We’ve all had failed batches, even after we become experts!

Matt

How long have you been with Bramble Berry?2 years

What blog posts do you share with customers most often?

• Free Beginner’s Guide to Soapmaking: Common Soapmaking Oils
• Formulating Cold Process Recipes
• How to Add Lye to Milk for Cold Process Soap

What advice would you give to someone just starting out?Don’t be afraid to experiment with your creations. You don’t always have to “soap inside the lines” – learn how to formulate a recipe and make changes to it, how to resize your batches, and get creative!

Chloe

How long have you been with Bramble Berry?Almost 2 years

What blog posts do you share with customers most often?

• How to Blend Essential Oils Safely
• How to Add Lye to Milk for Cold Process Soap

What advice would you give to someone just starting out?For a beginner soapmaker my best advice would be to measure everything twice because once you make your soap you can’t go back – like baking a cake!

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Colorants add a beautiful look to handmade soap. Before getting started, it helps to know which ones work best for your recipe. Learn more about Bramble Berry colors below.

What type of colorants does Bramble Berry carry?We carry pigments, micas, LabColors, and color blocks. They’re skin safe and can be used in soap and cosmetics.

Does Bramble Berry carry natural colorants?Pigments are considered nature identical. That means they’re the exact same chemical structure as the platelet minerals found in the earth, but they’re created in a lab to remove impurities like lead and arsenic. Industrywide, they’re considered natural because they don’t contain synthetic dyes. Learn more about natural products here.

Some micas are considered natural and some aren’t – it depends on if they’re made with FD&C dyes. Coral Mica contains FD&C Red 40 Lake so it’s not considered natural, while Aqua Pearl Mica is because it’s made with mica, titanium dioxide, iron oxide, and chromium oxide green. Learn more in the Sunday Night Spotlight: Mica Colorants post.

If you want colorants that are derived straight from the earth and not synthetically created, check out the herbs and botanicals section. It includes natural options like spirulina, rose clay, tomato powder, and activated charcoal.

What is a bleeding colorant?Bleeding colorants are usually dyes or FD&C colors that migrate into other layers of your soap over time. You can work the bleeding into your design, as seen in the Layered Lavender Cold Process Soap. If you’re not a fan of that look, make sure to use non-bleeding colorants.

Pigments

Cold process

• Mix 1 teaspoon of pigment with 1 tablespoon of a lightweight oil like sweet almond or avocado. If you’re making a larger batch, you can increase that to 2 teaspoons into 2 tablespoons, or 3 into 3. Add 1 dispersed teaspoon at a time at trace until you get a color you like. We recommend about 1 dispersed teaspoon per pound of soap.

Melt and pour:

• Mix 1 teaspoon of pigment with 1 tablespoon of glycerin or 99% isopropyl alcohol. Add ¼ teaspoon of dispersed color to the melted soap until you get a color you like.
• Add shavings of color blocks to the melted soap until you get a color you like. Color blocks are essentially super concentrated melt and pour, so they incorporate more easily into soap than loose pigments.

Micas

Cold process

• Make sure to check the testing notes on each product page before use. Certain micas morph or fade in cold process soap.
• Mix 1 teaspoon of mica with 1 tablespoon of a lightweight oil like sweet almond or avocado. If you’re making a larger batch, you can increase that to 2 teaspoons into 2 tablespoons, or 3 into 3. Add 1 dispersed teaspoon at a time at trace until you get a color you like. We recommend about 1 dispersed teaspoon per pound of soap.

Melt and pour

• Add the mica straight to the melted soap and stir well. If you see bubbles forming, spritz with alcohol and continue mixing. You can use up to ½ teaspoon per pound of soap.
• Mix 1 teaspoon of mica with 1 tablespoon of 99% isopropyl alcohol. Add ¼ teaspoon of dispersed color to the melted soap until you get a color you like. This method helps the color mix in more quickly.

LabColors

Cold process and melt and pour

• They need to be diluted with distilled water and a preservative before use. Learn how to do that in this post.
• Using a dropper, add the diluted colors to fluid melt and pour or thin trace cold process soap. The usage rate depends on the color and how much it’s diluted. A good place to start is about 1/2 mL per pound of soap.
• LabColors work best with gel phase. Learn more about insulating soap here.

Natural colorants

Cold process

• Mix 1 teaspoon of the powder with 1 tablespoon of a lightweight oil. If you’re using clay, we recommend mixing with distilled water. Add 1 dispersed teaspoon at a time at trace. Check the product pages for usage rate suggestions.
• You can also infuse natural colorants. To do so, heat the colorant and the oil of your choice in a slow cooker for 1-4 hours or place in an airtight container and leave at room temperature for 4-6 weeks. Learn more about infusing in this post.

Melt and pour

• Mix 1 teaspoon of powder with 1 tablespoon of 99% isopropyl alcohol or distilled water. Add ¼ teaspoon of dispersed color to the melted soap until you get a color you like.

This post was updated in June 2018.

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Cold process soap has an amazing texture. After a few minutes of stick blending, it thickens enough to hold its shape. That means you can create any design you like – all you need is a spoon or fork.

In this short video, we show you 10 ways to texture cold process soap. Some texture requires a medium trace, while other designs benefit from a thicker trace. Learn more about trace here.

If you’re curious about the recipe in this video, find it below. The Swirl Recipe Quick Mix is specially formulated to give you plenty of time to work, so it’s perfect for creating the different textures. Rose Quartz Fragrance Oil also behaves well in cold process soap with no acceleration.

10 Easy Ways to Texture Cold Process SoapWhat You Need:
10″ Silicone Loaf Mold
33 oz. Swirl Recipe Quick Mix
4.6 oz. Sodium Hydroxide Lye
10.9 oz. Distilled Water
2 oz. Rose Quartz Fragrance Oil
1 Tbsp. Dispersed Aqua Pearl Mica

Click below to add everything you need for this project to your Bramble Berry shopping cart!

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Exfoliation is key to maintaining smooth skin. It removes oil and dead skin, which allows moisturizer to absorb more easily.

The exfoliant you choose depends on your recipe. Fine exfoliants work well for the face and large exfoliants work well for the body, especially dry areas like elbows and feet. It’s also based on personal preference – the best way to find out what you like is to experiment.

Start with 1 teaspoon of exfoliant per pound of product. For cold process soap, add medium and large exfoliants at thin trace and whisk to incorporate. Mix 1 teaspoon of fine exfoliants with 1 tablespoon of a lightweight oil or distilled water first to prevent clumps. For melt and pour, add medium and large exfoliants and stir until the soap is around 125-135F. It needs to be thick enough to suspend the particles. For fine exfoliants, mix 1 teaspoon with 1 tablespoon of 99% isopropyl alcohol.

Fine exfoliants – best for the face, need to be dispersed

Colloidal OatmealColloidal oatmeal is one of the most gentle exfoliants. It can be used in face masks, soap, and more. We added it to the Oatmeal Bath Bombs and Gentle Oatmeal Baby Soap because of its silky texture and soothing properties.

Bamboo PowderThis natural powder comes from bamboo stems. It starts as a thick liquid, then crystallizes at room temperature. Add it to handmade soap and cosmetics for gentle exfoliation. You’ll love the way it feels in the Black, White, and Gold All Over Soap.

Pumice PowderPumice powder is a fantastic gentle exfoliant created from milled volcanic glass. Its fine texture works well in the Pumice and Poppy Seed Melt and Pour Bars.

Sodium Bicarbonate (Baking Soda)Baking soda is an amazing multi-purpose product. It’s used in bath bombs, bath salts, and natural cleaning products. It’s great for scrubs as well – try it in the Sea Clay Dry Salt Scrub, Walnut Facial Scrub, or Cranberry Seed Foot Scrub.

Medium exfoliants – suitable for both the face and body

Walnut ShellsAlong with exfoliation, walnut shells add a natural brown color to handmade soap and cosmetics. We used them for the crust in the Pumpkin Pie Cold Process Soap and the dirt in the Carrot Cold Process Soap.

Salts and SugarThere are a variety of salts and sugars that can be used for scrubs, bath bombs, and more. Depending on the size, they can offer gentle or more powerful exfoliation. Salt can also be used in cold process soap – it creates really creamy lather. Learn how to use it in the Lavender and Rose Pink Salt Bars tutorial.

Jojoba BeadsThis biodegradable exfoliant is made from jojoba oil. The beads come in various sizes and colors, so there’s an option for every recipe. Try them in the Rainbow Jojoba Bead Sugar Scrub or the Cleansing Charcoal Facial Scrub. Learn more about jojoba beads in this blog post.

Shredded LoofahThis exfoliant comes from whole loofah sponges. They’re ground to a fine texture, making it easy to disperse throughout soap or scrubs. Try it in the Lard and Loofah Cold Process Soap or the Gardener Melt and Pour Soap.

Icelandic Black Sand
This product comes from a volcanic beach on the South Coast of Iceland. It has mild exfoliation and a beautiful natural color, as seen in the Coastal Rain Cold Process Soap.

Large exfoliants – best for the body

Coffee GroundsDon’t throw used coffee grounds away – they’re perfect for recipes like the Simple Coffee Soap. Used grounds are best for cold process to prevent bleeding, but we recommend dry grounds for scrubs. The DIY Coffee Body Scrub leaves your skin feeling fresh and clean.

Loofah SpongeLoofah sponge is a unique natural exfoliant. They come in long tubes that can be cut down and added to soap like the Garden Melt and Pour Bars. Their texture is great for rough areas like the feet or elbows.

Pumice Sand
This powerful exfoliant will leave your skin feeling clean. It has larger grains and a more intense exfoliation than pumice powder. Try it in the Pumice Body Scrub.

Strawberry, Cranberry, Blackberry, and Broccoli SeedsThese are great for adding intense exfoliation and a pop of color. See how to use them in the Cranberry Sugar Scrub, Wildflower Honey Sugar Scrub, and Blueberry Thyme Soap.

Poppy SeedsThis product adds such a pretty pop of color to DIY bath and beauty products. We love it as a design element as much as we love the powerful exfoliation. Try it in the Raspberry Jam Scrub, Mini Lemon Poppy Seed Melt and Pour Soap, or Lemon Poppy Seed Cold Process Soap.

This post was updated in July 2018.

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We all make mistakes – they’re part of the creative process. You can see a few of ours in this coconut milk volcano post, La Croix soap tutorial, and lilac soap post. Rather than focusing on the mistakes, we encourage people to focus on what they can improve for the next batch. You may even find the soap turned out better than you planned.

We asked members of the soapmaking community to share some of their memorable mistakes and how to fix them. Find their answers below.

Karen, Mooka Made ThisI’ve always had a problem with overmixing and working with fluid soap batter. I finally thought I poured a perfect Zebra Swirl and was doing a happy dance when I dropped my spoon right in the middle of my freshly-poured soap! I was so heartbroken I almost dumped out the whole thing. I’m happy I decided to wait it out and was quite surprised when I cut it – the best part was where I dropped the spoon into the batter.

Sometimes soap magic happens in spite of those little mishaps, and it pays to be patient.

It was such a nice soap I recently tried to recreate the same mishap!

The soap on the left is the original spoon design, the soap on the right is Karen’s recreation.

Mo and Jules, Lather & Co.
Soaping disasters?! There are near misses every day! We actually had one at our studio this week. Let’s talk about CASTOR OIL!!! It’s thick, viscous and slow to pour from the 35 lb. cube’s spigot. Impatiently waiting for my bucket to fill, I got sidetracked and… walked away. I came back to my station to find our floors gleaming with thick syrupy oil. It was EVERYWHERE!! It must have been at least 20 minutes of slow overspill.

At first I wanted to cry, but then I remembered my grandmother’s trick – baking soda!!! Luckily, we have plenty on hand, so I dumped it on the spill and using towels, rubbed it into the oil. The baking soda worked like a charm!! It absorbed the oil to the point that I was actually able to sweep it up! It was amazing. Moving forward, I will be setting a timer!!

Beautiful Kumquat Soap by Lather & Co.

Danielle, Borden Acres
One time, in the beginning of my soaping days, I was in a hurry and completely forgot to add my lye mixture!!! I was standing there with my stick blender forever, completely perplexed as to why I couldn’t reach a medium trace! It was a recipe I’ve made before, so I just couldn’t figure it out. And kept stick blending away with steam practically coming out of my ears.

That’s when I saw the lye mixture sitting on the top shelf. Hahaha! I had originally put it away in a safe place to cool. Out of sight, out of mind I guess.

Thankfully, this was a simple mistake with a simple fix. But it taught me to slow down and make sure I’m checking everything off my list. Because I was in a hurry, it ended up taking me more time in the long run. “Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast,” right?

A collection of lovely goat milk soap by Borden Acres.

Kim, Freshwater Studio
There’s a lot of trial and error that goes into learning to make soap. It’s fun to test different ingredients and additives, change batch sizes and experiment with designs. And no matter the planning you do before you start to soap, sometimes you can’t account for a bit of forgetfulness or good-old human error. Thankfully I have yet to forget any really crucial ingredients for a batch (though I’m sure that will happen some day…), but I did recently finish up a lovely batch of soap only to realize my fragrance oil was still sitting on the countertop. It never made it into the soap! And by that time it was too late to do anything about it. I was so, so frustrated with myself – that fragrance was so good!

After beating myself up for a while and thinking I’d wasted my time, I realized the best way to fix this particular mistake was just to change my mindset about it. There was no way to change what had happened, and I still had a perfectly good, albeit unscented, soap. And unscented soaps are actually great! In fact, some people prefer their soaps unscented for numerous reasons.

So, instead of being hard on myself for not making the perfect soap I had envisioned, I learned to pat myself on the back for making a soap that still turned out beautifully and that I could now offer to a broader range of customers, some of whom might not have bought my other (scented) soaps otherwise. Plus, it turned out to be just another opportunity for me to practice and perfect this particular soap recipe. And given the countless creative possibilities of cold process soapmaking, any opportunity to practice is a good one – whether or not you end up with the exact soap you had originally planned.

Freshwater Studio’s gorgeous unscented Indigo soap.

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When it comes to scenting handmade soap, the possibilities are endless. There are so many amazing scents to choose from – so many that it can be overwhelming. Learn about the difference between essential oils and fragrance oils to help you choose the best option for your recipe.

Essential oils
If you prefer natural scents, essential oils are a great choice. They’re extracted from herbs, flowers, and plants, most often through steam distillation. That involves heating the components until a gas is released, then condensing the gas back into a liquid. It’s a gentle process that ensures the sensitive compounds don’t break down.

Our essential oils are 100% pure unless otherwise stated. Learn more in our Essential Oil Philosophy.

You can choose from tea tree, lavender, peppermint, and more. Find out how much to use in your recipe with our Fragrance Calculator. If you like more complex scents, you can blend them or try these premade blends.

However, not everything in nature produces an essential oil – you won’t find strawberry or vanilla. That means there are fewer options to choose from. It’s also important to read the descriptions before use. Citrus essential oils fade in cold process soap, oils like cinnamon and clove can’t be used in leave-on products, and others like juniper berry can’t be used if you’re pregnant or if you have kidney problems.

Pros

• Natural
• 100% pure
• Choose from favorites like tea tree, lavender, peppermint
• Can create blends for more complexity

Cons

• Fewer options
• Some can fade in cold process soap, some can’t be used in leave-on products, others can’t be used with certain health conditions

Fragrance oils
Fragrance oils are synthetic. They’re created with a mix of aroma chemicals and natural ingredients like essential oils, extracts, and resins. Learn more in the Fragrance 101 post.

Just one fragrance oil can be made up of 40-80 materials – luxury perfumes are often made with 5 times that number. You can choose from more than 200 scents with multiple notes, including Champagne, Coastal Rain, and Moonstone. You’re not limited to natural sources that produce essential oils.

We choose all our fragrances based on how they smell after 6 weeks of curing in cold process soap. If the scent is too light or if they’re too hard to work with, they’re not added to our collection.

Like essential oils, make sure to read the descriptions. Some fragrances accelerate cold process soap and others discolor. Not all of them work for certain designs.

Espresso Fragrance Oil discolors, so we chose a brown color palette for this Coffee Soap.

Pros

• Come in more than 200 varieties
• More stable in cold process soap
• Skin safe and can be used in soap, lotion, bath bombs, and more

Cons

• Synthetic
• Some can accelerate or discolor in cold process soap

Which option you choose comes down to personal preference. We recommend experimenting with both – you may find you prefer one or the other, or you like using fragrance oils and essential oils.

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Just like food, bath and beauty ingredients have a recommended shelf life. Shelf life refers to the length of time that a product can be stored without it becoming unfit for use. If you make your own bath products, it’s important to have an understanding of shelf life to ensure your products are safe for use. This is particularly important if you give away or sell your products. You don’t want to give or sell an item that is rancid or past its prime.

Before we talk about shelf life, it’s important to understand the difference between rancidity and mold and bacteria growth. Rancidity and mold/bacteria growth in bath and beauty products are independent issues. Mold and bacteria can occur in products that contain water, such as lotion or emulsified scrubs. These products require a preservative to help prevent mold and bacteria growth. Click here to read more about preservatives, and when to use them. Preservatives will not protect fresh ingredients (purees, fresh herbs, etc.) from growing mold in products that do not go through the saponification process such as lotion or balms. This is also the case with melt and pour soap. It has already gone through the saponification process, so any additives can grow mold. Fresh additives will eventually (or even quickly) turn brown, and grow mold and bacteria. The pH level of cold process soap does not allow mold to grow, which is why fresh ingredients can be used. To learn about adding purees to cold process soap, click here.

Rancidity, on the other hand, is the deterioration of oils and fats. There are several types of rancidity, including oxidative rancidity, auto-oxidation, hydrolytic rancidity and microbial rancidity. If you’d like to learn more about the different types of rancidity, Susan Barclay-Nichols of Swift Crafty Monkey has a great blog post on rancidity here. Rancid ingredients can smell bad, change color or lose effectiveness. Rancidity is a sign of an ingredient that is past its shelf life, while mold and bacteria can occur at any time.

Mold and bacteria can grow in products that contain water, such as lotion. Mold growth is not to be confused with rancidity.

If your product contains a preservative, the product will not grow mold/bacteria, but the ingredients can still go rancid. On the flip side, mold and bacteria can grow without any rancid ingredients if the product contains water. For example, let’s say you made a lotion using excellent manufacturing practices and included a preservative. It should not grow mold or bacteria. But, the lotion also contains hazelnut oil, which has 3-month shelf life. After 3 months, your lotion may start to change color or smell unpleasant if the hazelnut oil goes rancid.

Many products and ingredients are not necessarily “unsafe” to use past their shelf life. But, rancid ingredients may smell, change color or may not be as effective. If you notice your product or ingredient starts to change color, develop a smell or change consistency, I would throw it away to be on the safe side. This is particularly true for leave on products such as lotion, or products used around the eye or lip areas like eye shadows or lip balms. On the other hand, if your product starts growing mold, throw away the product immediately. It is unsafe for use.

Figuring out the shelf life of various products can be a little tricky. This is because shelf life will vary depending on the type of product and the individual recipe. Determining the shelf life requires finding the shelf life of each individual ingredient. Some ingredients such as fragrance oils and colorants have an extremely long shelf life, while others like certain fixed oils (ex: hazelnut oil, walnut oil) may have a shelf life of several months. Once you combine ingredients into one product, the shelf life of the product becomes the same as the ingredient with the shortest shelf life.

Hazelnut oil has a shelf life of approximately 3 months. When it is added to a product, the shelf life of that product becomes about 3 months.

For example, let’s take a look at the Oat Oil Cleanser recipe for oily skin. You can see the recipe below. Each oil has a slightly different shelf life. Castor oil has a shelf life of approximately one year, hemp seed oil has a shelf life of approximately two years, sunflower oil has a shelf life of approximately 3-6 months, hazelnut oil has a shelf life of approximately 3 months. The shelf life of the product is 3 months due to the hazelnut oil. If the hazelnut oil is used past its shelf life, it may start to smell rancid, or change colors slightly within oil cleanser. This would make the entire product rancid. This oil cleanser does contain vitamin E oil which is thought to extend the shelf life of oils. But, it’s impossible to say exactly how much longer it will make the oils last.

Oat Oil Cleanser for Oily Skin (Shelf life of 3 months)
4 oz. Sunflower Oil (shelf life of 3-6 months)
2 oz. Castor Oil (shelf life of one year)
2 oz. Hazelnut Fixed Oil (shelf life of 3 months)
1 oz. Refined Hemp Seed Oil (shelf life of 2 years)
5 mL Oat Extract
2 mL Vitamin E Oil

When it comes to cold process soap, a great indicator of rancid oils (oils past their shelf life) are “dreaded orange spots.” Also known as DOS, dreaded orange spots can occur months or years after the soap has been made. Dreaded orange spots are literally orange spots on your soap. They usually appear on the corners of bars, but can also occur in the center. Several factors increase the likelihood of dreaded orange spots, but the most common is oxidative rancidity, or rancid oils. Click here to read more about the shelf life of individual oils. Vitamin E oil can be used to help extend the shelf life of oils, although it’s hard to say exactly how much longer it will make the oils last.

Soap with dreaded orange spots is still “safe” to use, but it usually smells quite unpleasant. To learn more about dreaded orange spots and how to prevent it, click here. The pH level of cold process soap does not allow mold or bacteria to grow. Because of this, the shelf life of cold process soap is essentially until the soap starts showing DOS.

Dreaded orange spots (also known as DOS) usually occur due to rancid oils. The soap above is still technically safe to use, but does not look or smell very good!

Another unique example of shelf life is bath bombs. Bath bombs are made by combining citric acid and baking soda. Over time, citric acid looses it’s potency. Citric acid will not lose its potency if it is not exposed to any air and is kept in an airtight container. This probably isn’t very feasible in most storage situations though, as humidity is fairly good at getting into the smallest and tightest spaces. I would recommend using your citric acid within 6 months of receiving it to be on the safe side. So while the other ingredients within the bath bomb (fragrance oil, colorants, fixed oil) may have a long shelf life, I recommend using bath bombs within a few months to ensure it will still fizz in the tub.

Citric acid can lose its potency when exposed to air. I recommend using bath bombs within a few months to make sure they fizz in the tub.

It’s important to keep in mind that the shelf life of ingredients is an estimate. The environment and how products are stored will also affect the shelf life of the item. Oils and other ingredients with a short shelf life can be stored in the fridge or freezer to help them last longer. I always recommend storing your products in a dark, cool and dry place to help them last as long as possible. This is particularly true for bath bombs that can begin to fizz prematurely if exposed to humidity, or lotion can that separate when exposed to high temperatures. Click here to learn more about properly storing your products. Ingredients also have natural variation, and the shelf life may slightly depending on the source.

If you want to learn more about preservatives, storing products to extend shelf life and more, check out the blog posts below!Guest Post: Perfectly Preserved + A Body Butter Recipe
Talk it Out Tuesday: Preservatives
Free Beginner’s Guide to Soapmaking: Common Soapmaking Oils
How to Store Handmade Bath Products
Dealing with Dreaded Orange Spots
How to Add Purees to Cold Process Soap

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Clay is a versatile ingredient for a wide variety of bath and beauty projects. It’s probably most well known for clay face masks, but can also be used in cold process soap and scrubs. It adds color and various oil absorbing properties. If you’d like to add clay to your homemade beauty projects, find out which clay is right for your skin. Then, learn how to add it to various projects below.

Clay in Cold Process Soap
Because of their ability to absorb liquid, including oil, clays are a popular additive for soap created for oily skin. If you’d like to add clay to your soap projects, keep those properties in mind; clay also absorbs moisture in soap. To compensate for the moisture clay absorbs, disperse it in distilled water (rather than oil) for cold process soap recipes. The usage rate is 1 tablespoon distilled water per teaspoon of clay. In general, a usage rate of about 1 teaspoon of clay per pound of soap is a great place to start for cold process soap recipes. Feel free to use more if you’d like, just keep in mind clays also speed up trace. The more you use, the faster your soap will become thick. Learn more about trace here. Check out the recipes below for inspiration.

The French green clay used in the Avocado + Spearmint Cold Process Soap helps give it a soft green color.

• Lavender & Lemongrass Hot Process Soap – contains green zeolite clay
• Brine and Rose Clay Cold Process Soap – contains rose clay
• Lavender and Rose Pink Salt Bars – contain rose clay
• Natural Colorant Taiwan Swirl – contains dark red Brazilian clay
• Honey Bee Soap – contains yellow silt clay, purple Brazilian clay and dark red Brazilian clay
• Avocado + Spearmint Cold Process Soap – contains French green clay
• Waves of the Sea Cold Process Soap – contains sea clay

Clay in Melt and PourClays are great for melt and pour soap as well. To help avoid clumps, disperse the clay in 99% isopropyl alcohol at a rate of 1 tablespoon alcohol to 1 teaspoon clay. They give soap great color and absorption properties. Unlike cold process soap, you don’t need to worry about it thickening the “trace” of melt and pour, but don’t use too much. Adding too much clay to melt and pour soap can make it more difficult to work with. One teaspoon of clay per pound of melt and pour soap is a great place to start. Continue adding clay to the melt and pour until you reach your desired effect.

A combination of spirulina powder and green zeolite clay create a soft green color in the Star Anise Melt & Pour Bars.

• Star Anise Melt & Pour Bars – contain green zeolite clay
• Minty Clay Melt & Pour Bars – contain green zeolite clay
• Tea Tree & Rosemary Cleansing Bar – contains green zeolite clay
• Charcoal & Rose Clay Spa Bar – contains rose clay
• Melt & Pour Clay Tutorial – contains yellow, dark red and purple Brazilian clays

Clay in ScrubsClays make a wonderful addition to body and face scrubs. This is especially true if the scrub is designed for oily skin, as clays pull oil from the skin. Because clays are fine grained, they usually don’t add much exfoliation to scrubs. But, they are fantastic additives for color and oil absorption. If your scrub is dry (does not contain any water or oil), simply add and mix the clay in with the other dry ingredients. If you’re mixing the clay into oil, keep in mind the clay can fall to the bottom of the oil and may need to be mixed up before use. In emulsified scrubs, dispersing the clay in a small amount of water or oil in your recipe can help avoid chunks, but is not completely necessary.

In the Sea Clay Dry Salt Scrub, a combination of sea clay, baking soda, salts and poppy seeds make a scrubby paste when mixed with water.

• Walnut Facial Scrub for Men – contains kaolin clay
• Sea Clay Dry Salt Scrub – contains sea clay
• Rose Clay Sugar Scrub – contains rose clay

Clay in Bath BombsClays can be added to bath bombs. Just keep in mind that clays are essentially dirt. If too much clay is added to the fizzy, it can leave a residue on the skin or the tub. Clays are great for giving bath bombs color, and can also help them hold their shape. In particular, kaolin clay is a popular clay choice due to the fine texture and neutral color. Kaolin clay can add structure and sturdiness to bath bombs. This help them hold their shape when unmolded, and is a popular additive for large bath bombs.

Because clays absorb, they can lead to a dry and crumbly bath bomb, so be careful to not use too much. This is especially true if you live in a very dry climate. A good place to start is about 1 tablespoon of kaolin clay per cup of bath bomb mixture. Add the clay to the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly prior to adding liquid ingredients to make the mixing process easier.

Pink Brazilian clay and purple Brazilian clay give the Lavender & Clay Mondo Bath Fizzy stripes of color.

• Mini Heart Bath Bombs – contain pink Brazilian clay
• Lavender & Clay Mondo Bath Fizzy – contains purple and pink Brazilian clays

Clay in Face Masks and Other ProductsBecause clay is so good at absorbing oil, it’s commonly used in products formulated for oily skin. A popular clay beauty product is clay face masks. The masks can be “dry,” meaning water is added to the powder to make a paste and applied to the skin. Clays can also be mixed with oil for a more hydrating experience, or emulsified for a lotion-like texture. If you’re designing a clay mask, find out which one is best suited for your skin here. For some clay mask recipe ideas, check out the Soap Queen TV video below.

Clays are a commonly used in shaving soaps and cream. In particular, bentonite clay is a great addition to shaving soap as it gives the soap a nice “slip,” which helps the razor glide across the skin more easily. Kaolin clay is sometimes used in cosmetic products like eye shadow and blush recipes, as it has a very fine and powdery texture. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend using clay in lotion products, as it would leave skin feeling dry. In addition, clays may not be the best choice for lip products meant to hydrate.* Shaving Soap Tutorial – contains bentonite clay * Easy Whipped Shaving Soap Recipe – contains bentonite clay * Rose Clay Exfoliating Mask – contains rose clay and kaolin clay * Rose Clay Foot Mask – contains rose clay and kaolin clay * Oatmeal Facial Scrub & Mask – contains bentonite clay

What’s your favorite way to incorporate clay into your handmade beauty projects?

The post How to Use Clay in Bath & Beauty Projects appeared first on Soap Queen.

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Soapmaking is both a science and an art. Countless variables, like temperature, can affect the look and feel of your soap. Cold process soap that gets too hot can form glycerin rivers.

They don’t affect the quality of the soap, but they do affect the way it looks. Glycerin rivers create a cracked or mottled appearance that can obscure more intricate designs. This post goes over how to prevent them.

What are glycerin rivers
Glycerin is a naturally-occurring byproduct of the soapmaking process. It adds cleansing properties and attracts moisture to the skin so it stays hydrated. In short, glycerin is one of the things that makes handmade soap so amazing.

When cold process soap gets too hot the glycerin can congeal, which makes the rivers more visible. If they’re thick or clustered in one section of soap, it can be softer than the rest.

Glycerin rivers are more visible with pigments, especially titanium dioxide. That’s because they’re more dense than micas and LabColors. Learn more about the colors we offer and how to use them in this post.

How to prevent them
The good news is glycerin rivers are fairly rare, and most people won’t notice them. However, if you want to create a smooth bar, here are a few easy steps to prevent them.

• Try a water discount of 10% or higher. Along with preventing glycerin rivers, it helps prevent soda ash and helps the soap unmold and cure more quickly.
• Mix your colorants well before adding them to soap, especially if you’re using pigments. We recommend a ratio of 1 teaspoon of colorant mixed into 1 tablespoon of a lightweight oil like sweet almond. If you’re using titanium dioxide, it helps to disperse it in oil rather than distilled water.
• Lower the temperatures of your lye water and oils by 10 degrees. If that doesn’t do the trick, you can try soaping at room temperature. Then, put the mold in the freezer for 24 hours to keep it cold.
• Certain fragrance oils can cause the soap to heat up, which can lead to glycerin rivers. Make sure to read the performance notes before getting started.

This Baby’s Breath Soap tutorial shows you how to create bright white bars with no glycerin rivers.

This post was updated in January 2019.

The post Explaining and Preventing Glycerin Rivers appeared first on Soap Queen.

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All About Gel Phase
Has your cold process soap ever looked gelatinous after a few hours in the mold? It’s likely going through gel phase. That’s a part of the saponification process where the soap gets hot – up to 180°F. It doesn’t affect the quality of the final bars, but it does affect the way they look.

You can choose whether to force gel phase based on your recipe and personal preference.

Forcing gel phase
There are a few reasons you may want to gel soap:

You want vibrant colors. Gel phase helps the colors pop and it gives the bars a slightly shiny appearance. Learn more about how to color handmade soap here.
You’re using natural colorants. Without gel phase, they can have a dull appearance and a different hue. For instance, gelled soap colored with madder root powder has a deep red hue. The ungelled version is a muted mauve. See both versions in this post.
You’re using LabColors. Gel phase makes them brighter and ensures they’re true to color. The Layered Lavender Soap goes from gray to purple after gel phase.
You’re in a hurry. Because of the higher temperatures, gelled soap hardens and unmolds more quickly. The soap still needs to cure for 4-6 weeks.

Warm temperatures are key to forcing gel phase. Start with your lye and oils around 120-130°F. Once the soap is in the mold, cover it with a cutting board and then a towel or blanket.

If your soapmaking area is cooler, you can place it on a heating pad set to medium. Check it after 30 minutes to make sure it’s not overheating – that can cause volcanoes, heat tunnels, or glycerin rivers. If it’s getting too hot, turn the heating pad off and remove the blanket. If not, leave it on for another 30-60 minutes. Then, turn the heating pad off but leave the soap on it overnight. Learn more about how to insulate soap here.

Preventing gel phase
Here’s why you might want to prevent it:

You prefer matte soap. Ungelled bars look creamy and have pastel colors that some makers love.
You’re making cold process soap with milk. It can scorch if it gets too hot, which causes discoloration and an unpleasant smell. That can also happen with alternative liquids like coffee, wine, tea, etc.
The same goes for soap made with additives like fruit or honey. We recommend keeping the temperatures low to prevent scorching.
You’re working with soap frosting. If it gets too hot it may not hold its shape.
This Pure Honey Soap is kept cold to prevent scorching.

To keep your soap cool, start with your lye and oils around 90-100°F. Once it’s in the mold, put it in the fridge or freezer for 24 hours. You can also put the soap in a cool area like a garage or basement and run a fan over it.

The third option is to leave your soap uncovered at room temperature. It may gel or not, depending on oil and lye temperatures and how warm the space is. That can sometimes result in partial gel phase, where one area of the soap (typically the middle) is slightly darker than the rest. Again, that only affects the look of the bars – they’ll still feel great on the skin.

These bars only gelled in the middle, which caused the color difference.

As with everything in soapmaking, the best way to find out what you prefer is to experiment. Try all three methods and then choose your favorite.

The post All about Gel Phase appeared first on Soap Queen.

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Waiting is one of the hardest parts of soapmaking. Cutting it into bars and seeing the design for the first time is such an amazing feeling. However, cutting too early can lead to dents and drag marks.

Patience is best when it comes to unmolding soap. But if you want to speed the process up a few days, we’ve got you covered.

Choosing the right moldWood molds tend to be the fastest option. That’s because they have good airflow and they insulate soap well, which causes it to heat up. Higher temperatures can help you unmold your batch more quickly.

Silicone molds are another good option – they’re sturdy, flexible, and easy to use. They don’t have as much airflow as wood, so unmolding can take longer. You can speed the process up with single cavity silicone molds.

Plastic molds take the longest. You can unmold the bars cleanly with a few tricks, but if you’re in a hurry we recommend wood or silicone. Learn more about choosing molds in this blog.

Formulating a hard recipeWhen it comes to unmolding, hard oils are your friend. Oils like coconut and palm are solid at room temperature and help firm the recipe. Learn more about common oils and how to work with them here.

A good place to start is around 70% hard oils. That creates a firm bar that unmolds quickly. The rest of the recipe can be moisturizing options like olive and sweet almond oil. Learn more about formulating cold process recipes in this post.

We unmolded the Pink Salt and Gold Soap after just a few days. It has 71% hard oils, as well as soft oils like rice bran that feel silky on the skin.

Another option is decreasing the superfat level. We typically use around 5%, but you can drop that to 2-4%. The less free-floating oil in the recipe, the faster it will unmold.

Using a water discountThis technique is simple – adding less water to your recipe means it won’t take as long to evaporate. The soap will unmold and cure more quickly. Water discounts also help prevent soda ash and glycerin rivers.

We usually discount around 5-10%. Higher amounts can accelerate trace and make the soap a bit trickier to work with. Learn how to get started in this post.

Using sodium lactateYou’ve probably heard us mention sodium lactate a time or two. It’s a liquid salt that helps harden cold process soap. Simply adding 1 teaspoon per pound of oils to your cooled lye water helps the soap release 1-2 days earlier.

Sodium lactate can also be used in hot process soap to make it smooth and in lotion to draw moisture to the skin. We definitely recommend having it on hand.

Using higher temperatures and forcing gel phaseGel phase is a part of the saponification process where the batch gets hot and gelatinous. It doesn’t affect the quality of the bars, but it does help the colors pop. Gel phase also helps the soap harden more quickly.

To force gel phase, we recommend having your lye and oils around 120-130°F. Then, cover the mold with a piece of cardboard and a blanket. You can also place it on a heating pad. Learn more about how to insulate soap here.

How to unmold soap
You can typically unmold soap in 2-3 days using the tips above. Once it’s firm to the touch, gently pull on one side of the mold or liner. If it releases without sticking, pull on the other sides of the mold to release the airlock. Flip the mold over and gently push the soap out.

If you still end up with drag marks, don’t worry – it happens to the best of us. We have tools that can help. The Soap Shaver removes dents, drag marks, and soda ash. If the bars are dented on the corner, try the Soap Beveller. It removes imperfections and gives the soap a polished look.

If the dents are pretty deep, you can shred or cut the soap up and use it in a variety of ways. It may not be what you originally planned, but it will still feel amazing on the skin.

The post 5 Tips for Unmolding Cold Process Soap appeared first on Soap Queen.

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Waiting is one of the hardest parts of soapmaking. Cutting it into bars and seeing the design for the first time is such an amazing feeling. However, cutting too early can lead to dents and drag marks.

Patience is best when it comes to unmolding soap. But if you want to speed the process up a few days, we’ve got you covered.

Choosing the right moldWood molds tend to be the fastest option. That’s because they have good airflow and they insulate soap well, which causes it to heat up. Higher temperatures can help you unmold your batch more quickly.

Silicone molds are another good option – they’re sturdy, flexible, and easy to use. They don’t have as much airflow as wood, so unmolding can take longer. You can speed the process up with single cavity silicone molds.

Plastic molds take the longest. You can unmold the bars cleanly with a few tricks, but if you’re in a hurry we recommend wood or silicone. Learn more about choosing molds in this blog.

Formulating a hard recipeWhen it comes to unmolding, hard oils are your friend. Oils like coconut and palm are solid at room temperature and help firm the recipe. Learn more about common oils and how to work with them here.

A good place to start is around 70% hard oils. That creates a firm bar that unmolds quickly. The rest of the recipe can be moisturizing options like olive and sweet almond oil. Learn more about formulating cold process recipes in this post.

We unmolded the Pink Salt and Gold Soap after just a few days. It has 71% hard oils, as well as soft oils like rice bran that feel silky on the skin.

Another option is decreasing the superfat level. We typically use around 5%, but you can drop that to 2-4%. The less free-floating oil in the recipe, the faster it will unmold.

Using a water discountThis technique is simple – adding less water to your recipe means it won’t take as long to evaporate. The soap will unmold and cure more quickly. Water discounts also help prevent soda ash and glycerin rivers.

We usually discount around 5-10%. Higher amounts can accelerate trace and make the soap a bit trickier to work with. Learn how to get started in this post.

Using sodium lactateYou’ve probably heard us mention sodium lactate a time or two. It’s a liquid salt that helps harden cold process soap. Simply adding 1 teaspoon per pound of oils to your cooled lye water helps the soap release 1-2 days earlier.

Sodium lactate can also be used in hot process soap to make it smooth and in lotion to draw moisture to the skin. We definitely recommend having it on hand.

Using higher temperatures and forcing gel phaseGel phase is a part of the saponification process where the batch gets hot and gelatinous. It doesn’t affect the quality of the bars, but it does help the colors pop. Gel phase also helps the soap harden more quickly.

To force gel phase, we recommend having your lye and oils around 120-130°F. Then, cover the mold with a piece of cardboard and a blanket. You can also place it on a heating pad. Learn more about how to insulate soap here.

How to unmold soap
You can typically unmold soap in 2-3 days using the tips above. Once it’s firm to the touch, gently pull on one side of the mold or liner. If it releases without sticking, pull on the other sides of the mold to release the airlock. Flip the mold over and gently push the soap out.

If you still end up with drag marks, don’t worry – it happens to the best of us. We have tools that can help. The Soap Shaver removes dents, drag marks, and soda ash. If the bars are dented on the corner, try the Soap Beveller. It removes imperfections and gives the soap a polished look.

If the dents are pretty deep, you can shred or cut the soap up and use it in a variety of ways. It may not be what you originally planned, but it will still feel amazing on the skin.

The post 5 Tips for Unmolding Cold Process Soap appeared first on Soap Queen.

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Yay! We’ve got a new video on how to make perfect charcoal lines, embed soap and, make a scraper tool.

Craft a Heartfelt Gesture with Our DIY Love Letter Soap

In the spirit of creativity and heartfelt gestures, embark on a DIY journey that combines the art of soap making with the timeless appeal of love letters. Our Love Letter Soap project is more than just a crafting endeavor; it’s an opportunity to pour your affection into a tangible form. This detailed guide will walk you through creating your batch of love-infused soap, featuring a captivating heart embed and layers of meaning in every bar.
Materials You’ll Need:
Heart Embed
Mini Heart Column Mold
4 oz. LCP Clear Soap Base
Magenta Color Block
1/4 tsp. Fine Red EcoGlitter
Lots of Lather Quick Mix
5 oz. Sodium Hydroxide
10 oz. Distilled Water (10% water discount)
1.75 oz. Love Letter Fragrance Oil
1 Tbsp. Titanium Dioxide
Activated Charcoal
10″ Silicone Loaf Mold
Creating Your Heart Embeds:
Start by cutting the LCP Clear Soap Base into small pieces and placing them in a heat-safe container alongside a chunk of Magenta Color Block. Melt in the microwave in 15-second bursts until smooth.
Stir in the Fine Red EcoGlitter, allowing the soap to cool to 125-130° F before pouring into your Mini Heart Silicone Column Mold. After about 2 hours of cooling, your embed is ready to be unmolded and set aside.
Preparing the Soap Base:
Gear up for safety with goggles, gloves, and long sleeves, ensuring a distraction-free environment.
Dissolve 5 oz. of lye into 10 oz. of distilled Water, cooling to about 110° F before combining with 35 oz. of melted Lots of Lather Quick Mix and Titanium Dioxide.
Blend to a light-medium trace, then whisk in the Love Letter Fragrance Oil, pouring into your loaf mold until it’s just full enough to fit your heart embed later on.
Sculpting Your Love Letter:
Use a custom-cut piece of cardboard to sculpt a triangular space within your soap mold, simulating the envelope flap of a love letter.
Strategically dust activated charcoal in the negative space before carefully refilling with soap, inserting the heart embed halfway through.
Finishing Touches:
After allowing your soap to set for 2-3 days, release it from the mold, cut into bars, and cure for 4-6 weeks. Whether it’s a gift for someone special or a treat for yourself, this Love Letter Soap is a testament to the beauty of handmade, heartfelt expressions.
Dive into this project enthusiastically, knowing that each bar you create is a message of love, care, and creativity. Happy soap making!

The post Make Perfect Lines + Learn to Embed: Love Letter Soap appeared first on Soap Queen.

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When diving into the world of soapmaking at 16, I began with the messiness of cold process soap, rendering fat, and navigating the challenges of a craft with scarce resources and zero instructions. The initial five batches were failures, leading me to explore the world of melt and pour soap, which, at the time, wasn’t as popular as it is today. Despite the hurdles, my passion for soapmaking grew, eventually leading me back to cold process soap. However, the introduction of lye, or sodium hydroxide, made the transition intimidating for many, including myself.

Understanding Lye:

Lye, a caustic chemical, indeed demands utmost respect and careful handling. Its reputation for causing bodily harm is honest, but working with lye becomes safe and manageable with proper precautions, like driving a car or operating a gas stove. For a detailed guide on lye safety, refer to the Lye Safety Guide.

You’ve encountered lye before in products like Drano or other drain cleaners. While these products contain sodium hydroxide, they are unsuitable for soapmaking due to additional chemicals. This underscores the importance of sourcing lye from reputable suppliers, such as Bramble Berry, which is 98% pure sodium hydroxide.

Dispelling Myths:

Contrary to dramatic portrayals, lye is not the corrosive substance depicted in movies like Fight Club. The discomfort from lye exposure typically starts with an itch and mild sting, progressing to a more intense sensation with prolonged contact. However, the immediate and severe damage portrayed in movies is not the reality.

Safety First:

When working with lye, safety precautions are non-negotiable:

1. Wear long sleeves, long pants, closed-toed shoes, protective gloves, and eye goggles.
2. Cover your entire body to minimize skin exposure.
3. Consider wearing a mask to avoid inhaling lye fumes, especially when mixing water and lye.

Addressing Lye Fumes:

The exothermic reaction between water and lye generates fumes, and while some soapmakers opt for masks, a well-ventilated room can often suffice. Mixing lye water outside or near open windows is a wise precaution, especially if you live in a small space.

Experienced Perspective:

After two decades of crafting cold-process soap, I can attest to never experiencing a severe lye burn. My worst encounter involved soap batter on a fresh cut, resulting in a stinging sensation that quickly subsided with proper care.

Parting Advice:

Embracing a healthy fear of lye is essential, but it shouldn’t hinder your exploration of cold process soap. Respect the seriousness of working with lye, follow safety guidelines diligently, and don’t let fear be a roadblock to your soapmaking journey.

For further insights and a visual guide to lye safety, refer to the OG Soap Queen TV video (different than the one embedded in this blog), where timeless information on lye safety is shared. Or head to the Bramble Berry Blog to learn more about Lye Safety here.

Remember, while lye demands caution, it’s a fundamental element in the alchemical artistry of soapmaking. With respect and knowledge, you can navigate this aspect of the craft safely and confidently.

The post Mastering Lye Safety: Overcoming Apprehensions and Embracing the Art of Soapmaking appeared first on Soap Queen.

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Embrace Moisturized, Protected Skin with DIY Cleansing Facial Balm!Unmask your natural beauty with this easy-to-make, cost-effective Cleansing Balm! Designed to seamlessly melt away makeup, this balm stands out as a practical alternative to commercial formulas. For those new to the world of solid cleansing balms, consider this your gateway to a realm of skincare enriched with nourishing ingredients.

This project is fueled with a mixture of lightweight Avocado Oil, soothing Chamomile Extract, and enchanting Natural Juicy Pear Fragrance Oil, allowing you to experience a symphony of refreshing and hydrating sensations. This formula is engineered to loosen makeup effortlessly and ensures that the balm washes away without leaving any greasy residue.

The instructional video included in this blog post is your visual companion to crafting this smooth cleansing balm, guiding you through each step with precision and clarity.

What You’ll Learn:* How to blend essential ingredients like Emulsifying Wax and Polysorbate 80 for a smooth application. * The art of incorporating scents and preserving agents, like the Natural Juicy Pear Fragrance Oil and Optiphen, to enhance the cleansing experience and ensure your product remains mold and bacteria free. * Detailed application methods focusing on areas with stubborn makeup.

Benefits of this Cleansing Balm: Holistic Care: The combination of Avocado Oil and Chamomile Extract nurtures your skin, offering a holistic cleansing experience. * Eco-Friendly & Cost-Effective: This DIY approach grants you the freedom to control the quality and quantity, proving to be an eco-conscious, economical choice. * Customizable Scent:* The recipe can be modified to include your preferred fragrance or be left unscented.

Whether you’re a seasoned skincare enthusiast or stepping into the world of DIY skincare, this cleansing balm promises a journey of creativity with a useful end product. So why wait? Dive in, create your personalized cleansing balm, and elevate your skincare routine!

Remember, once your skin is free from makeup, follow up with a DIY facial oil to lock in the freshness and let your skin breathe freely. Enjoy the path to clearer, happier skin!

The post DIY Cleansing Balm with Avocado Oil appeared first on Soap Queen.

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Ahhhh, I have been loving the DIY skin and haircare ingredients Bramble Berry has been bringing in. They’ve definitely gotten me trying new things well outside of the soapmaking realm. Yay! One of the most popular projects we launched was a solid cleansing balm which of course, got me thinking about how oils wash skin and it’s a good time to think about that because as the leaves start to fall and the air grows crisp, there’s no better time to introduce some enchanted alterations to our skincare routines.

Chamomile Cleansing Balm (recipe at Brambleberry.com)

Unlock the Magic of Fall Skincare with Oil-Based Cleansers! ✨Amidst the cozy embrace of pumpkin-spiced lattes and woolen scarves, have you ever paused to consider the secret elixir for glowing autumn skin? Look no further than oil-based cleansers, Mother Nature’s luxurious spa treat.

But why, you ask? As the air becomes drier, our skin craves extra hydration. Traditional cleansers can be overzealous, sometimes stripping skin of natural oils. Enter the world of oil-based magic. Like a protective suit of armor, these cleansers guard our skin against fall’s brisk bite. And if you ski or do outdoor winter sports? That skin mantle really needs the extra love.

Our very own Chamomile Cleansing Balm is like a potion brewed in a fairy’s cauldron. With the gentleness of chamomile – known for its hydration and anti-inflammatory properties – and the fortifying strength of Avocado Oil, it not only maintains your skin’s pH balance but also serves as a valiant knight against fine lines, aging, and rough patches.

Chamomile Cleansing Balm (recipe at Brambleberry.com)

The Microbiome: Your Skin’s Royal Guard Picture the microbiome as the majestic guard of a castle. It’s a harmonious blend of protective oils and loyal bacteria, known as microbiota, which defends our kingdom (read: body) from potential threats. As autumn winds blow, this guard ensures our fortress remains impervious to issues like dryness and acne. A oil based cleansing cream can be equally good at helping to maintain that barrier of protective oil.

While sipping on apple cider and indulging in seasonal veggies, remember to treat your skin’s outer layer. Complement your oil-based cleanser with a hydrating serum or moisturizer. For best results, use the cleansing cream or balm in the evening to thoroughly remove the day’s impurities, then seal in moisture with your favorite night cream or (bonus points) layer on the goodness with a hyaluronic acid serum (DIY recipe here or buy the pre-made base in bulk here).

Oat Shea Cleansing Cream (recipe at Brambleberry.com)

Autumn’s Call to Action As you embrace autumn’s charm, consider this: Oil-based cleansers aren’t just another product; they’re a skincare revolution! Whether you’re a skincare novice or a seasoned pro, there’s always room for a bit of DIY magic. So, when contemplating your fall skincare ritual, let oil-based cleansers lead the way to a more moisturized, protected and nourished face for fall. Find recipes + exciting cleanser formulations at Brambleberry.com here.

The post Oil’s Well That Ends Well: The Magic of Washing Your Face with Oils appeared first on Soap Queen.

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These adorable shampoo bars were inspired by the classic Valentine’s Day candy.

This recipe was created to gently cleanse while moisturizing the hair. It’s formulated with Foaming Noodles – SCI and Bubble Boost – CAPB, which are surfactants derived from coconuts. They make everything nice and sudsy. Find more surfactants for DIY soap here.

The Heart Clamshell Mold gives the bars a cute shape that fit perfectly in your hand. These molds are reusable, and can double as packaging. The color comes from Pink Quartz Crystal Dye – we recommend adding the color a drop at a time to achieve the perfect hue. Feel free to swap out different colors – find all the Liquid Crystal Dyes here.

Find the full recipe HERE!

The post Sweetheart Shampoo Bar Project appeared first on Soap Queen.

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Perfect for a hot bath on a cold night, this Pumpkin Sandalwood Soap features a Hanger Swirl in classic Halloween colors, and a bit of spooky sparkle. We mixed warm and homey Pumpkin Sandalwood Fragrance Oil with swirled Halloween colors to make this beautiful autumn soap. The Hanger Swirl technique creates an interesting and unique design […]

The post Pumpkin Sandalwood Soap appeared first on Soap Queen.

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You’re going to love the way this Murumuru Butter Balm feels on the skin. It’s super moisturizing and rich in high oleic acid. Murumuru butter has a firm texture, and it’s known for its ability to seal in moisture on the skin. Ours is wild harvested, sustainable, and sourced from a co-op in the Amazon that employs local people and […]

The post Murumuru Butter Balm Project appeared first on Soap Queen.

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This natural cold process recipe is scented with Orange 10X Essential Oil. It gives the bars a bright and cheery scent and a lovely natural color. The batch is made with Raw Shea Quick Mix. It’s a palm-free blend of oils that includes raw shea butter, babassu oil, and sweet almond oil. Our exclusive Quick Mixes make the […]

The post Citrus and Shea Soap Project appeared first on Soap Queen.

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CEO and founder Anne-Marie has been in business for over 20 years. In this video, she shares advice and tips for soap making. Don’t miss out on the lightning round at the very end to find out her favorite fragrance oil, what product she can’t live without, and her favorite flavor of ice cream. You can find […]

The post Ask Anne-Marie: Business and More appeared first on Soap Queen.

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The natural sugar in beer boosts lather in cold process soap, and it’s also great from a marketing perspective. This soap is colored with activated charcoal and titanium dioxide to create a dramatic contrasting swirl. Because Oatmeal Stout Fragrance Oil does discolor, it’s added to the charcoal portion only. Over time, the discoloration will migrate slightly […]

The post Charcoal Beer Soap appeared first on Soap Queen.

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This blog has moved to the Bramble Berry website! We heard feedback that customers wanted products and inspiration in one place, so we did just that. You can now find projects, articles, and videos on the In the Studio section. They’re the same projects you know and love, now they’re just easier to find. This blog is staying […]

The post The Blog Has Moved! appeared first on Soap Queen.

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Waiting is one of the hardest parts of soapmaking. Cutting it into bars and seeing the design for the first time is such an amazing feeling. However, cutting too early can lead to dents and drag marks. Patience is best when it comes to unmolding soap. But if you want to speed the process up […]

The post 5 Tips for Unmolding Cold Process Soap appeared first on Soap Queen.

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Nora with Nora’s Soap Shoppe is well known in the soapmaking community. Her wispy swirl designs and expert use of color are instantly recognizable when you’re scrolling social media. She’s also known for her positivity and kindness – she makes sure to let people know when she loves their creations. Learn more about how Nora got […]

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Has your cold process soap ever looked gelatinous after a few hours in the mold? It’s likely going through gel phase. That’s a part of the saponification process where the soap gets hot – up to 180°F. It doesn’t affect the quality of the final bars, but it does affect the way they look. You […]

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If you’re looking for a last-minute Valentine’s Day gift, try these Heart Lotion Bars. They’re made with sweet almond oil, cocoa butter, and Vanilla Select Fragrance Oil. The bars are solid at room temperature, but melt on contact with the skin. They’re great for extra dry patches like elbows, knees, and hands. The bars couldn’t […]

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Soapmaking is both a science and an art. Countless variables, like temperature, can affect the look and feel of your soap. Cold process soap that gets too hot can form glycerin rivers. They don’t affect the quality of the soap, but they do affect the way it looks. Glycerin rivers create a cracked or mottled […]

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