Vetiver & Patchouli

I’ve had some Vetiver essential oil in my cupboard for a while now, I haven't used it before because I’ve always hated the fragrance straight out of the bottle, it's just way too strong for my liking, this is one essential oil that really packs a punch.  But I thought it was time to have a go and make some soap out of it, so I decided to calm that strong fragrance down a bit and mixed it with some Lavender and Patchouli and it smells so much better now, I'd still say it's not a fragrance for the faint heated, but for those of you who like the aroma of Patchouli, this is probably another  fragrance you just might really like. 

Just a bit of info about Vetiver essential oil, it’s known in some countries as the oil of tranquillity, it has a deep smoky, earthy aroma and is said to be good for depression and insomnia, also for acne and oily skin, cuts and wounds, sounds pretty good to me,  so here it is, my Lavender, Patchouli &Vetiver soap.

Week 4 - Leopard Spot Soap

Well, we've done it! congratulations everyone!  4 weeks of Amy's challenges and I think they've been getting harder as we've gone along:)  Sorry I'm late with this one, but we've been having a lovely holiday down the seaside, I think I really needed the rest to build up for this challenge:)

Talk about all time boo boo, this one didn't go to my plan at all, I wanted to have lots more spots, but the soap had other ideas about this.

I made the very silly decision to put the plastic bag over the container, add the soap to it and to save   time, stick blend the colour in the bag,  I know I can hear the giggles from here, but in my defence, I thought as long as I was careful to keep the blender away from the sides and bottom it'd be fine.

Anyhow I soon found out how wrong I was, when I picked up the bag to fasten the top, my soap started falling out the bottom.  So then it was a made dash to try and find another bag, which ended up being in a totally different room, scoop the soap out and put it into another bag.  You guessed it! by the time I'd done this, my soap was setting up:(  so not very happily I only managed to do a couple of spots, I wanted to have my spots small and look what I got, great big gigantic ones LOL. 

Anyway my choice of colours came from it being fragranced with Lavender and Aniseed essential oils, so I thought the purple and black would suit it best, just wish I had more spots!

Thanks so much Amy for putting this all together, I've really enjoyed participating and seeing all the other gorgeous handmade soaps.

Week 3 of Amy's Soap Challenge - Mica Swirled Tops

Well it's now week 3 of Amy's Soap Challenge, this week we have Mica Swirled Tops,I love all these lovely new techniques Amy has found for us.  

This is another new technique for me and I really love the look the Mica gives on top of the soap, it's just so pretty.

I fragranced this soap with Sandalwood and Lavender essential oils, so I wanted it to look rich and luxurious.

For my colors I used New Gold Mica, I'm really happy with how it turned out on top of the soap, but not so happy with the color it gave in the centre, it looks like a pale yellow and I was really hoping the gold would show up more.

The darker color is Umber Mica and this came out really well, it doesn't show so much here, but you can see a bit of sparkle in this darker soap layer.  OK ladies, I can't wait to see all the beautiful goodies you have made this week:)  Thank you Amy for another great challenge.

Week 2 of Amy's Soap Challenge

Well here we are for the 2^nd week of Amy’s Soap Challenge, I've been really enjoying the challenge so far, I've found lots of new blogs and looking at all the beautiful soaps have been great, we have so many talented soap makers out there, with lots of amazing soaps.    This week it’s the Elemental Swirl.  While I’ve done quite a few in-the-pot swirls before, this is the 1^st time I’ve done 2 different Elemental Swirls on top of each other and boy did this one have me hopping lol.

Amy was sure right when she said make sure we have plenty of mixing bowls handy lol, you should have been my work bench, I had  8 different cups, plus the bowl I mixed my soap in.   I wish I had have time the time for photos, but it all went very quickly with my soap starting to set up quicker than I  wanted, so there was no spare time for the photos. 

My hubby walked in and wanted to know what the heck I was doing, now really it was quite obvious:) he’s seen me make soap plenty of times before, but just not with this much mess everywhere lol.

I fragranced this soap with Eucalyptus and Mint essential oils, a really fresh and clean aroma  I love, I thought green would be the way to go to suit this fragrance best, I planned to do  dark green on the bottom and  light green on the top.

But..... when I was trying to work out the other 6 colors to add to these 2 very different green parts and trying to keep both of the halves looking different, I decided to have ½ green and the other ½ yellow as it was a bit easier selecting the colors for them. 

I divided my soap batch into 2 separate halves and worked on the bottom half first, the colors I used for this part were:

1. White
2. Bright yellow
3. Orange Mica
4. Yellow Oxide, which gave a more subdued or dirty colour yellow.

Over the top of this I sprinkled Cocoa powder.  Then I worked on the 2^nd half, by this time my soap was starting to set up and I really had to work fast,  the colours I used for this half were:

1. White
2. Green Oxide
3. Blue
4. Green again, but this time I used Green Clay which I decided looked totally horrible after I mixed it, so I ended up adding a bit of bright yellow and blue to the green clay to make it what I though was a nicer looking green.

OK, that's my Elemental Swirl soap, I hope you like it:)  Now, I'm wondering what Amy has up her sleeve  for us next week...... 

Tiger Stripe Soap Challenge

It's been quite a while since I last posted and I'm really sorry, it wasn't because I didn't want to, it's because Blogger just wouldn't let me, no matter what I tried it just wouldn't allow me to upload any photos, has anyone else had this problem?  Anyhow, I thought I'd give it one last try and hoo ray! it's finally working again.

It's come out a great time, because Amy from Great Cakes Soapworks is having another of her wonderful soap challenges and I just couldn't resist joining all the other lovely soapers this year.   The 1st challenge Amy has set for us is the Tiger Stripe technique, I haven't tried this particular one before, it's a little like the funnel or column technique, just slightly different, it's a really great technique to try.



I decided to use May Chang and Frankincense essential oils for this soap, I love pink and orange together so I thought I'd use these colours.  I was a bit worried it would turn out, it seemed to take forever to start to trace and I got a bit impatient waiting and poured earlier than I normally would, so I'm quite happy and very relieved with the result.  Thank you Amy for doing your challenge for another year:)

Desert Flower

I love the smell of this one, Desert Flower is fragranced with sweet orange, grapefruit, jasmine and geranium essential oils, it's a very soft and feminine aroma.  I don't normally use sparkles on my soaps, but I thought I'd try something new, I wanted the yellow a bit brighter, but sadly it faded a bit during the curing, I think I'll have another go at this one, but add a bit more yellow next time, but I'm liking the sparkles, what do you think?  sparkles or no sparkles?

French Lavender

Hi everyone, it's been quite a while since I last posted, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas:)  We had a lovely Christmas spent with family and a brand new puppy addition to our household.

This is French Lavender and it's fragranced with french lavender and rich, sensual patchouli essential oils to help calm and relax.  Made from Olive, Coconut and Rice Bran oils and Shea Butter.
Pure Handmade Soaps

Moroccan Sunset

I think I must have had romance on my mind when I made this one!  Wishful thinking maybe lol.

Soap Swap all the way from France!

As a lot of you lovely ladies would know, Amy from Great Cakes Soapworks organised a soap swap from soap makers all around the world.   I was very lucky to be paired with
Séverine from Les Folies Du Savon. who lives in France, how cool is that?

Well my parcel has just arrived so I've quickly taken a pic to show you my goodies.  I've very excited to try them, because both are made from Donkey Milk, wow! that is certainly a first for me, the cake shaped one has organic banana and chocolate and vanilla essential oil and sounds just lovely and the lovely big block has Macadamia Nut oil, Shea Butter and Honey added, so sounds great for my little hands:)

Thank you so much Amy for your fantastic job in organising everything and a big thanks to Séverine for swapping with me and for my goodies.  OK, I'm off to wash my hands with french soap Oh là là!

Tribal Dance

Well I promised something a bit more colourful this time, this is it!  I'm reading a series of Australian books by Peter Watt at the moment about outback Australia.   He talks about how badly our native people were treated and how the Mounted Police almost wiped out their entire race, they certainly tried their best to do so; it's just terrible how badly they were treated! 

Anyhow these books and the spirit of our Aboriginal people, gave me the inspiration for this soap.  I wanted the colours of the outback so I've used Australian clays and I've fragranced it with essential oils of Lemon Tea Tree and Lemon Eucalyptus to continue the Australian theme and added a touch of spice, not Australian but just because.  I thought Tribal Dance suited, I hope you like it:)

White Rose

Thought I'd go with something a bit plainer this time because I've got something pretty colourful coming next post..... White Rose is made with lots of Mango and Shea Butters and yes, essential oils of rose geranium.  I've changed the colour on top from pink to this apricot colour, it looks really pretty.

Nature's Garden

 A new batch of Nature's Garden's ready, I've added Mango and Shea Butters to enrich it, coloured it with oxides and micas and fragranced it with essential oils of course:)    Another faux funnel pour, I'm really loving this method, no two soaps look the same, but they all look so pretty. 

Colours, colours, what colours will I use next? so many to choose from and I sometimes get confused as to what colours go with what, but so far I've been happy with how they've turned out and colours in soaps seem to be very forgiving, most blend together nicely.   I seem to get more excited about using colours today than I did back 7 years ago when I first started.  But that's got to be a good thing, right?   well that's what I tell myself anyhow, I'm just not too sure if my hubby agrees with me lol.

Changes

I've been having a play with my soaps again, it's as good as changing the furniture around:)  They say change is as good as a holiday, well I don't know about that one..... I really think I'd rather the holiday thank you very much, but a change it has to be.  Vanilla and Spice now is a striking pink and brown number, the brown is coloured with Vanilla essential oil and I've added cocoa powder to get it nice and dark.  I've added heaps of Shea and Cocoa Butters to it, so it's going to feel, oh so good on the skin.  I love the feeling Cocoa Butter gives to soap. 

this is what it used to look like this:

and then before that, this one was coloured with red and green clays. 

Talk about totally different, but I think the new pink and brown is my favourite so far, although I do still like the middle one as well and knowing me, I could still very well go back to that down the track.

This is the new look AloeVera Soap, coloured with beautiful Mica and a sprinkling of green clay. 

and here's the old one, coloured with green clay, which looks a bit faded and greyish looking, it didn't look quite as bad in real life.   I'm definitely liking the Mica one better, the green mica looks so much nicer I think, but that's just my opinion:)

Lovin the blue!

I’m calling this one Sea Spray, can you see it?  I wasn't feel too well when I made this and the ocean always makes me feel so much better.  Just about finished curing, another week and you'll find it on the website.

The darker blue is my own mix of different blues and greens mixed together, so I’m feeling pretty happy with how it turned out.  Ahhhh the ocean……..

Some newbies!

Just a couple of pics of some newbies I made for Christmas, I know Christmas is long gone, but I still have some available, so I thought I'd show you. The top one is coloured with Green Oxide and has lots of Shea Butter added. The bottom one is called Choc Orange and I'm really happy with how the swirls turned out. Have a great weekend everyone:)

Vanilla & Spice

Well it's been quite a while since I last posted, where does the time go? I've noticed that Goggle has changed quite a bit since I last used it and boy is it taking me a while to find my way around. Never have been too good with computer stuff!  Anyhow, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year.

This is the Vanilla & Spice soap I made for the Christmas period, I added extra Apricot Kernel and Cocoa and Shea Butters on top of my normally used Olive, Coconut and Rice Bran oils.  Made from Vanilla Oleoresin and orange, clove and cinnamon essential oils, it smells really yummy.

New look Sunshine

The lure of Micas has been too strong and I’ve finally succumbed into trying some. What do I think about them? I love them! Not only do they look beautiful, I find them so much easier and less disappointing to use than natural colours. With some natural colours you can have a soap that looks gorgeous when first made, but a few weeks down the track, when the natural colour has faded, you’re left with just a plain old ordinary looking soap bar.

No, I’m not giving up natural colours, although it is tempting LOL, I still think they are better health wise, but I can see myself trying a few more of these gorgeous colours. If you like the look of Sunshine, you can find it at Natural Aroma Handmade soaps.

Lavender & Mint

Well it's been a while since I've posted, but with Christmas gaining on us very quickly I thought it was time to show a few soaps I've been busy making for Christmas.

Lavender & Mint is a lovely uplifting bar, made of course with Lavender and Mint Essential oils:) A 100% natural bar, it is coloured from Green Clay and Alkanet Root, I've added both Shea and Cocoa Butters for super pampering and it's available now from our Natural Aroma.

Twilight

So sorry I haven't posted for ages, I was sick for a while and time just seems to have gotten away from me. One of my latest soaps is Twilight, why Twilight? I just thought it looked a bit like a full moon??? I'm not very good at coming up with soap names, I find it just so hard sometimes trying to think of something original, so I hope this is OK.

I had some left over soap that I wanted to try and use up and thought I'd go with the old faithful ball, but this time I embedded some extra soap squares into the balls to try something a bit different.

I've fragranced Twilight with French Lavender, Patchouli and Cedarwood, I think maybe I could have added a touch more fragrance, but for those who don't like lots of fragrance, then this would be perfect.

OK, over and out and I'll try not to take so long to post again next time:)

Choc Mint

I must have food on my mind lately, this is the third post in a row that has handmade soaps that look, yes I have to say it, good enough to eat! I hate those dreaded words, it seems that everytime I hear them it means "No Sale".

They are the words I really don't like to hear at the markets, the how pretty, how gorgeous, how beautifuls, all mean sales, but the "it looks good enough to eat" NO sale!

So why the heck do I keep making them? don't know! I just really like the look of them and besides when you have a Natural soap that smells good enough to eat, like peppermint as above, it just seems natural to have it look that way as well.

Oh well, I'll just keep making my "Good enough to eat" soaps, there are still some customers with good taste out there, who appreciate them lol.