Soaps, creams, lotions and potions by lcr soap

Another Christmas Fair

2009-11-09T20:34:00.006Z

I spent a lot of hours last week making up gift sets etc for the two day Christmas Fair on Friday and Saturday. I didn't finish pricing up etc until midnight on Thursday, up again at 6am on Friday morning, loading the car etc and setting up at the venue at 7.30am. Worn out before it even started, lolol. I took a few pictures as we were all setting up -

It was most definitely worth all the effort and taking tons of gift sets, and it was such a pleasure to see them flying off the table ( so to speak ). Both days were busy busy busy with a pretty steady stream of customers coming through. I didn't have a lot of space and I tried to cram as much as possible into the available space, I even managed to get a few vintage bits and pieces into one corner! Just as well, because I met a lovely couple that way. The gentleman was very interested in the cravats ( ascots ) I had on the stall, kept coming back to them and finally bought one, which he put on immediately and showed off proudly to everybody. He came back again after ten minutes and bought another one, a nice snazzy one, and went off happily with his wife to have lunch. After lunch, guess what? His wife came rushing to my stall asking me to show her the paisley scarves he had also been looking at. We had such a giggle picking one without him noticing and squirrelling it away for a Christmas prezzie. Bless them, they were just wonderful.

The stall holders were great, we were giggling and laughing together whenever we didn't have a customer, and the atmosphere was really lovely, so friendly and relaxed. I wish I could have spent a bit more money than I did, buying little gifts from all of them. There are so many talented people about. It was really nice seeing some familiar faces as well, stall holders I had met before. Of course one had to have a good natter about what fairs one had done etc etc.

I have only booked one more Christmas Fair, for Saturday, thats quite enough for me. I'll be making more body scrubs in those lovely vintage French jars, lip scrubs, herbal bath teas and bath bonbons for that one. Also got to get a few telephone orders ready over the next couple of days. We will be off to France soon as well, for a week or so, and after that I'll be busy preparing for our own Christmas. There are so many things I want to make this year and it all takes time.

Back soon, xx

Busy, busy, busy

2009-10-28T08:26:00.003Z

Gotta love this time of the year though. I love making up gift packs and people are certainly starting to buy for Christmas already. I haven't really made any new products over the last few months, I seem to be making more of the same all the time. Not complaining though, because its really great when soaps sell out, at least I know people like them.

So, last week I made 4 soaps, all restocks - Laventine ( lavender ), Aveline ( sapmoss ), Clementine ( citrus ) and Gigi ( geranium )

I have orders to fill this week as well, and today I am making salt soap bars, as they are all sold out as well. The last two, which I had hoarded for myself, went to my almost-daughter-in-law. She asked me for them the last time they came over. She loves them and swears its the only thing which helps combat her outbreaks. Isn't that sweet?

Back to the pleasurable task of making up gift packs, yay! xx

Two-day Market

2009-09-30T13:34:00.004+01:00

I know, I know, I should have posted about this last week, but somehow I only seemed to have had a few mins here and there to quickly check some of my favourite blogs and leave a comment. I really had the best intentions, but......... usual story, lol.

I really didn't know what to expect of this two-day market. I hadn't done a market before, and I hadn't even known about this one until this year. Boy, did I get a pleasant surprise! The market stalls were all set up for the traders, proper traders licences were handed out first thing Saturday morning and displayed prominently, and then we could arrange our goods. I had enough space at the sides of the market stall to put tables up, and I had brought some of my antique French linens and other vintage bits and pieces with me on the off chance. So, on one side of the stall I hung some really pretty French 19th C tops, nighties and..... yep, bloomers, along with a display of vintage French and German linen towels, some laces and buttons, and on the other side of the stall I had a quirky mix off all sorts of vintage stuff.

It worked out brilliantly. The market was so well attended, there was a constant flow of customers. I got to chat with lots of ladies about the wonderful linens I had with me ( I get very enthusiastic about these things ) while my son was doing his bit selling the soaps ( and getting very good at explaining about them as well ). And quite amazingly, I had people queuing up quite frequently when my DS toddled off and I was on my own. It was the by far the best event I have had so far, and despite a very wet start on Sunday morning, it turned out as good as Saturday. Everything sold really well, sold out of quite a few soaps and skincare products again, Lavender soap being the first to go of course. French antique nighties, buttons and tins, as well as vintage bits and pieces from 1950s cocktail fork sets to 1960s art glass soap dishes and snakeskin wallets, all sold so well.

Not much in the way of photos, we didn't get the chance really. But here are a few

These were the new soap designs which I took with me for the first time. They were very well received -

Now I have to get my butt into gear and make a load of soap batches, new shaving oils and facial serums, start planning new gift packs etc, basically get ready for the Xmas fairs which are coming up soon.

And back to work we go....

2009-09-08T16:04:00.006+01:00

We got back from our summer holiday in France on Sunday night, and I am trying to get myself back into work mode. Well, making soap and skincare products isn't exactly like daily-grind-work for me yet, I love doing it, and its most definitely not a dreaded chore, but getting back into the swing of things after a few weeks away is not easy.

I have some fairs coming up, so I need to go through my stock, replace damaged labelling, make a list of products I am running out of, take out anything which is approaching BBE soon and perhaps organise a bargain bin for it, hmmm. And then there are the now well cured soaps on the rack, which need wrapping and labelling ( ah yes, I need to design new labels as well, as these are new soap designs ) -

I know I have to make loads more of the Cleopatra's Decadent Milk Bath, I sold out of that one, again! I need to make more bath melts, my last few, errrmm, well, melted at a recent outdoor fair during some very hot weather ( which is ok, because I get to use them muyself, woohoo ).

I also want to start on gift packs, I know its still too early really to mention the X word, but one has to get organised in good time, right? So there are men's gift sets to be made up with these gorgeous Wade shaving jars -

oh, and I got these gorgeous little cups in France, I would dearly make some cup candles with them, perhaps again for a gift set, with a soap in the matching fragrance -

I hope I manage to get my butt into gear, and don't just stop at making lists! Which is what often happens with me, sigh. Feel free to give me a kick up the backside, if I am not getting my act together within the next couple of days. xx

Recovering

2009-08-03T13:58:00.007+01:00

Don't worry, not recuperating from swine flu, just recovering from a very hectic weekend. I tell ya, outdoor fairs are, lets say, interesting, lol. We had a two day fair booked this weekend, and although the event had been held for many years, it was all completely new because it was at a different venue. So, I thought perhaps it might be a good idea to set up the day before.

We decided just to take the gazebo, no stock, for a quick in and out. Yeah, right, lol. The venue was enormous, we are talking square miles, lol, absolutely HUGE, and not exactly flat, in fact you could have held a dozen or two simultaneous ski jumping events there, if there had been snow of course. Also, it felt like driving over corrugated iron, lol, my poor car was making very strange noises. Plus, the wheat (?) had only been cut 3 days before, so it was definitely trainers and long trousers, otherwise you could have gotten prickled like crazy by the stalks.

As soon as we got there in the morning, we were shooed into a field and told to wait until they found out where to put us. Errrmmmm. Ok. We parked the car, toddled off to where we could see tents, marquees and gazebos going up, and were slightly surprised to see that everything was extremely higgledypiggledy, there were no marked out pitches, no rows, people were setting up, it seemed, all over wherever they fancied and with huge empty spaces between them. Back to the car again, check with the organisers, still no news where to set up. An hour later, same thing, give us another 5 mins, bla bla bla. Sigh. At last, 1 1/2 hours after arriving we were finally told where we could go, so we put up the gazebo, made it safe, and made our escape.

Saturday morning was lovely. We were absolutely amazed at how things had changed, the whole site was a hive of activity, the empty spaces were filling up somewhat, although still very haphazardly, and there was a really good buzz in the air. People started pouring in nice and early, although as the grounds were so vast, it took a couple of hours before it actually looked busy. I had no idea how vast the place actually was until I had a quick womble about. There was a whole Red Indian village, an area set aside for the helicopter rides, arenas for the demonstrations ( shire horses, dancing horses, birds of prey ), vintage tractors galore, an oldfashioned fun fair for the little ones, loads of traders, huge charity marquees, beer tent, refreshments, a large stage for the band.... just so many things to see and take part in, and no time to see/do it all. I took loads of photos during my quick womble. I'll post some more on my lululizinlalaland blog later and will put the rest on photobucket, there are way way way too many to put on a blog, lol, but here are a couple of the gazebo -

Some of my vintage bits and pieces -

Sales were good, customers were not exactly queuing up, but there was a steady flow and things were going well until about 2ish in the afternoon, when the heavens opened. OMG, you have never seen so much mud! It didn't take long to turn the whole site into a quagmire. We were right opposite the beer tent, which, not surprisingly, was jam packed within seconds of the rain starting. Our gazebo only has two sides, but we had some plastic dust sheets with us. You would have creased up watching us frantically trying to use the plastic sheets to cover another side, lolol, it must have been quite hilarious. But it make the gazebo quite cosy. We had dragged a hay bale into it as well ( basically to weigh down the bottom of the plastic sheet wall, lol ), which made an excellent seat, and we spent a couple of hours in there, with the occasional very brave customer strolling in. Packing up in the pouring rain is not fun, and we got absolutely soaked securing the gazebo in case it got stormy during the night, as the forecast was not very good. It was looooooooovely to get home, have a nice cup of tea and a bath.

It rained, A LOT, during the night, and although Sunday morning looked lovely and sparkling and promising, I had a very bad feeling about the show, remembering how many cars and vans had gotten stuck trying to get out of the field the afternoon before. And that was just after 2 or 3 hours of rain! So it was with some slight trepidation that we drove to the fair. Quite frankly I was VERY worried. Not without good reason, it turned out. The sort of lane which had been flattened out for traffic to get through the first field into the site proper was impassable. We had to drive right across the "corrugated iron" field and then park up, while they were " trying to sort out a few things ". This was just before 9 with the fair scheduled to open at 10. So we left the car, and tried to get to our gazebo. OMG, I was having kittens just trying to walk through the very slippery mud, down the slopes and up the slopes, it was a nightmare. At least we could get the gazebo all ready for whenever we were allowed to or rather able to bring the car up with the stock.

Finally people were given the go ahead to try and get the cars/vans/lorries to where the pitches were. OH BOY! Cars and vans were getting stuck all over the place, tractors were towing goodness knows how many, lol. The main "lane" was impassable for anything other than the toughest 4 wheel drive mean machines and tractors, so once again it was right across a field, down the slope, and up the slope, which was VERY scary, with wheels spinning and sliding, and the occasional push required from my darling son. But we made it.

I had dreadful visions of the general public coming in and slipping and falling all over the place in all that churned up mud, but, quite miraculously, within an hour or so the wonderful sunshine started drying out the ground quite nicely and by lunchtime it was almost back to normal! Hurrah! It was a glorious day, blue skies, sunshine, what seemed like thousands of people, and a great day for sales as well. The atmosphere was fabulous, I loved being there, I just wished I had had a little bit more time to have a look around myself. I did manage to pick up a couple of gorgeous things though, more of that on the other blog. As it was, my darling son did all the looking for me, lol, I hardly saw him that day, there was just so much for him to watch and do. The highlight of his day was when he had his photo taken with an EAGLE on this wrist!!! What an experience that was. A word of warning, never let your son loose with a camera, lol, he took well over 300 pics ( mostly of the dancing horses, oh, and the "fit bird" riding one of them, lol ). How on earth am I going to decide which ones to keep, which ones to delete, and which ones to post???

So, all in all, it was a fabulous weekend, good atmosphere, good sales, really really enjoyable. Once again, sales were a good mixture of soaps and skincare products, a bit of most things really, plus I had to part with quite a few of the vintage things I had taken along. But they all went to really good homes and very appreciative new owners.

Just a few general pics -

Fun fair

Red Indian village

Look at these beautiful creatures -

One of the dancing horses and "fit bird"

This owl was the most gentle creature, we stroked it, and it didn't mind at all, but look at those eyes!

And this is the majestic eagle Nick had on his wrist -

Cleopatra's Decadent Milk Bath

2009-07-30T21:33:00.003+01:00

I usually sell the milk bath in a cello bag with three sachets and a little cotton bag, but at the fair last Saturday, I completely sold out and only had two single sachets left, which I had kept just to show people what it looked like. But even those two single sachets went, when a couple stopped by, saw them, had a sniff at the tester and said they loved the scent so much, they had to have them!

So today I have been preparing more of this really quite decadent mix, which includes sheeps milk powder, buttermilk powder, yoghurt powder, fruit powder, honey powder, oats and wheatbran, plus of course a gorgeous fragrance.

I have just finished filling the little baggies, printing the ingredients labels and front labels and am now debating whether I should take a pic of them tonight. Arrghh, decisions, decisions. A post without pics is boring, so I suppose I ought to really.

There you go, pretty poor photo but then its 10pm, I oughta be in bed and not trying to take pics, lol.

Tomorrow I'll be making more clay,yoghurt and fruit face mask trios, I sold out of those as well.

Weather forecast is still not good for the weekend, sigh, it is not going to be pleasant if its chucking down. Ah well, fingers crossed and hope for the best, eh?

So many fairs!

2009-07-28T11:11:00.007+01:00

It seems that lately I have been spending most of my weekends doing fairs. Actually, I love doing them because I love talking to people about my products. Saturday was a brilliant day. I was at a huge two-day fair, sharing a large outdoor space with three others. I could only do the Saturday, as it was my granddaughter's Christening on Sunday, but it was so worth it!

The space was shared with three jewellery makers. I was quite amazed at how different their styles were. Mind you, I could have easily bought a piece or two from each of them, they all made such exquisite necklaces etc. I only managed to take a pic of one of them though, somehow there were always people to talk to, lol -

This was my corner -

Whenever I have a large outdoor space, I try and take some other stuff with me as well. I love love love vintage fabrics, so I usually take my box of vintage and antique French and German linen towels with me. I also had a basket with lavender hearts and brooch pillows made from 19th Century French fabrics as well as rosy vintage fabrics, and a basket with those crocheted flower brooches which I have been making. And you can probably spot the eiderdown, quilt and crochet blanket in the background as well ( oh, bad news for you, Joy, I actually sold the eiderdown which you liked so much, sorry ).

It was incredibly busy, it took me 5 or 6 attempts to get a drink from the van opposite us where they were selling ice cold water. Everytime I just got into the queue, there were people picking up the soaps, the serums, the gift packs etc at my stall so I had to rush back. Not that I am complaining, lol, it was great to see so much interest.

It was a successful day, the soaps sold well, as did the facial polish, and alls sorts of other things as well, like the Pampered Feet packs for example. Lavender hearts, crocheted flower brooches, french linen towels, French vintage buttons, ah yes, and the eiderdown, all sold nicely. What a nice change to sitting in a huge hall with just a few people aimlessly drifting about not even looking at the stalls.

Just to finish this off, have a look at this fella, you do get some characters at these shows, lol

Fun at the Village Fair

2009-07-12T17:17:00.021+01:00

It really wasn't a great start to the day, it was drizzling, there wasn't a speck of blue or ray of sunshine to be seen in the sky anywhere, just big dark clouds, sigh. I was feeling a wee bit apprehensive as we were putting the gazebo in the car, remembering Purplesparkle's adventures with her gazebo last year. Although her writings made us all laugh, it really wasn't very funny, having your gazebo blown away and I was starting to have visions of my gazebo going the same way. And even if the gazebo behaved itself and stayed put, would there be any customers if the weather was going to be foul all day?

Still, as we were going to a village fair I was hopeful that people weren't going to be put off by bad weather, villagers always seem to support their local events come rain or shine. Half way to the fair, it stopped drizzling and my spirits rose. Perhaps the gods would smile on us after all, eh?

The grounds where the fair was being held were huge! And there was so much planned for the day! Dog shows, dance displays, animal displays, hog roast, bar tent, a little funfair for the kiddies and of course lots of stalls. The atmosphere was fabulous, you really can't beat village fairs for that, the stall holders were friendly, the organisers were very nice, the only criticism I have is that everything was too spread out, there were huge areas of nothing.

The morning was slow, every now and then there was a little moisture ( alright, drizzle, sigh ) in the air, and I was beginning to think that perhaps this would be the first time that I would make a loss. I was so wrong! After midday, things really started to take off, despite the lack of sunshine, and the atmosphere was just fabulous. So many happy families about, people making such lovely comments about my products, and buying, lol, and not allowing me much time to have a look at the other stalls or events which were taking place in the arena. It turned out to be the best fair yet for me. The best thing, and which made us all laugh out loud, was when I had a bunch of friends in my gazebo fighting over the last bar of hair soap, and one saying in desperation " I need it more than you do "! It is really quite worrying how many people these days suffer with skin/scalp problems. So far, the hair soap has proven to be of tremendous help in soothing the scalp, calming itching and reducing flaking and patches of psoriasis. In conjunction with the scalp oil, it certainly clears my husband's scalp problems.

I really wanted to take photos of some of the events, but in the end I had to ask my DS to go and take some, as I was constantly talking with customers. Just look at these totally adorable doggies, the brown Newfoundland looks just like a huge cuddly teddy bear -

Debbie and Mike organise craft fairs as well, in Tunbridge Wells, and we also seem to be at the same fairs quite often. They are such lovely people, so I was really pleased that they were next door but one to me.

We had such a laugh during the day, Debbie had a naughty glint in her eyes most of the time, lol, and she is quite the little daredevil. Just look at what she got up to! You wouldn't get me doing that, even if you paid me, I'd be spewing for the rest of the day, lol -

Just look at her, she is still smiling after all that, and she didn't even stagger when she got out of that contraption!

Debbie creates really lovely, elegant and classy jewellery, not your run-of-the-mill strung together cheap beads. Her beautiful necklaces feature Swarovski crystal and semi precious stones, and her designs are so imaginative. These photos, taken with my very ancient digital camera really don't do them justice -

The next few photos are for our very special friends in France, Frank and Christine. Well, mostly for Frank really, he is a bit of a tractor collector, especially the beautiful old Petit Gris tractors ( Petit Gris is the Little Grey ), the old Fergusons. I believe he has just been and got himself two more!

So here you are Frank, for you, some photos of lovely old tractors, aren't they just so handsome?

They are so incredibly well looked after, just look at that last one, pretty impressive, isn't it?

Well, there really wasn't very much about soapmaking in the post, lol, more about soap selling and the pleasures that (sometimes, lol) go with it. So, just to make it a teeny bit more of a soap post, here is a picture of the hair soap which those lovely ladies fought over ( in a very friendly and funny manner of course ). Hmm, obviously not this particular bar, just thought I point that out, lol.

Oh, I should add really that I have made a big big batch of hairsoap this afternoon, which will be ready in about 4 weeks time. That should keep a few people happy.

Cubist phase?

2009-06-16T14:39:00.003+01:00

It seems I am having a love affair with cubes in soaps at the moment, the three latest ones all seem to feature cubes. I have even made a plain orange soap ( with annatto seed infusion ) so that I could make more cubes in yet another colour. The rebatch with the salmon coloured cubes I have already shown you in the last post, here are the other two soaps, which I have made this week -

I am quite fond of these soaps, they are kinda modern and funky and they also smell rather good, lol. It seems once I get started, I can't stop making soap, so I am planning another one for this afternoon/evening. Cubes again? Well, lets see, perhaps not this time, one can have too much of a good thing. Maybe a nice plain soap, just subtly coloured with clay would be nice for a change.

And here we go again,

2009-06-13T09:47:00.003+01:00

another rebatch, sigh. It is so frustrating, you sniff your way through your cupboard, pick a fragrance which you think is ideal for the soap you had in mind, and your notes say that this FO is meant to behave well and discolour to brown. Great! Layered soap, with brown main part and cream top layer with pink cubes, should be a doddle.

I used my normal recipe, prepared for the two different batches, added the FO to the main batch and gently stirred. And it started ricing. And clumping. Terrific, this is behaving well??? So I stickblended it like mad to beat it into submission and ended up with something almost resembling fairly normal soap batter. Scooped it into the mould and went to get the small batch for the top layer ready. Ok, the bottom layer had set, no changes that I could see, it looked ok-ish, if not totally smooth. Poured on the top layer, added the pretty pink cubes, and put it to sleep.

The next morning I was greeted with............ a soap loaf sitting in a huge puddle of fragrance oil, which of course went everywhere as soon as I had undone the mould. I had to spend ages cleaning up, mopping up ££ of FO and throwing it away. And of course the soap was holy, and lumpy, and ugly. Nothing for it but to try and rescue that lot by rebatching it. And sooner rather than later.

Fortunately, the soap was still quite soft, so chopping it up was easy. Into the cooking pot it went with a little bit of water, and it melted down quite easily with some rigorous and continuous stirring -

The cubes, which were from an older soap specifically made for cubing and shredding didn't melt, which was a bonus, and perhaps there was a glimmer of hope that the rebatch wouldn't turn out totally butt ugly. Well, that was two days ago, the rebatch has been cut, and is sitting on the drying rack, and is still looking very creamy. No sign of any brownness creeping in yet. Wonder why that is, I would have expected it to discolour at least a little bit by now. Ah well, I'd be quite happy if it stayed this pretty creamy toffee colour with pink cubes. All in all, I think it was a successful rebatch, could have been worse.

Love Lavender?

2009-06-08T12:56:00.003+01:00

It seems everybody really loves lavender, and there is no question of it being an elderly lady's fragrance, as people used to think. I had another craft fair on the weekend, and once again, the lavender soap was selling really well, to customers of all ages. For example, I had a lovely young girl tell me that she REALLY loved lavender, and used a lavender room spray all the time.

So here I am, having just made yet another batch of lavender soap, and I will probably make a few more this week. This is the current one, just starting to gel in the mould -

The house is filled with the gorgeous lavender scent now. Sigh, I love soapmaking.

All the fun of the fair

2009-06-01T18:27:00.004+01:00

I had a couple of very interesting days at the craft fair. The setting was stunning, Bewl Water is a superb location, and the weather was beautiful -

The visitor centre was packed with a really good mixture of craft stalls, manned by the nicest people you could wish for. Opposite me was Helen from www.leaftradingpost.co.uk. She had the most wonderfully soft fleeces on her stall, as well as antlers, jewellery made from bone and semi precious stones, natural dye stuff and a variety of other cool things

Next to her was Suzanne's stall, which very much appealed to me. It was full of delightful vintage bits and pieces and beautifully sewn handbags, made with fab vintage fabrics

Space was very tight so I couldn't spread and also had to restrict what I put out, but somehow that was quite nice actually, because as people bought things, we had to refill the empty spaces, and that felt really good.

The new soaps went down really well, and so many people commented on the Art Nouveau style labels. That really surprised me, and it certainly made my son happy, as he spends so much time designing the labels with me.

Overall, it was a pretty good weekend for me, although I heard from other traders that not everybody was so lucky. I am looking forward to the next fairs now, although have to make more stock for those, as a couple of soaps nearly sold out.

New soapies all wrapped up

2009-05-29T15:08:00.004+01:00

There's nothing like a tight deadline to get the creative juices flowing, is there? Nick and I spent a couple of days designing and printing the labels for the new soaps, and we finally finished wrapping them, all ready for the two day fair starting tomorrow.

Here are just a few pics which we took as we were wrapping the soapies, longingly looking at the sunshine outside, listening to fab dance music and jiggling about to it, lol -

New labels

2009-05-27T16:21:00.004+01:00

As usual, we have left things to the last minute, my fault really for spending way too much time crocheting, boot fairing and blogging, lol. But at long last, my wonderful son and I have made the new labels for the facial polish, just in time for the two day fair at the weekend.

As you can see, I am still going with the Art Nouveau theme, I just love those designs, and however much I admire other styles, I keep coming back to this one. The photo is pretty naff, but the weather is horrid today, very grey, stormy, raining, so the light is awful, and I really don't like flash very much.

Ingredients info, batch No., addy etc are on one side of the main pic, the How to Use info is on the other side of the label. I was quite pleased to be able to get it all onto one large label. Do let me know what you think, please, or point out anything which might need changing.

2009-05-14T08:00:00.003+01:00

I am all soaped out for the moment, I have plenty of stock now for the upcoming fairs, but I think I need to restock on some of the bath products as well. I love making bath melts, the fragrances don't change like they sometimes do in soap, you don't have to wait 4-6 weeks for them to cure and of course the best bit is trying them out myself for, well, errmm, quality control reasons, of course. Sigh, bathroom bliss.

Also, I will have to bribe my son again to help design and print the labels for the new soaps and of course for the new tall cylinder packaging for the facial scrub. Yikes, I hope Cosmo will do the trick again.

At the moment, I also spend quite a bit of time crocheting, it is such a therapeutic thing to do early in the mornings when the dogs decide to get me up at 6am or in the evenings, whilst watching telly or chatting with the girls online. Also blogging seems to have me by the scruff of my neck, lol, I can't seem to stop posting silly things on my other blog - http://lululizinlalaland.blogspot.com/, come and visit and have a giggle, you may even see a picture of Her Majesty the Croapqueen!

Thats it for now, I am getting my bath melt ingredients ready, I'll probably spend half hour or so sniffing my way through all the beautiful fragrance oils in my cupboard, or maybe I'll come up with a new essential oil blend....

The bestest thing.........

2009-05-08T18:15:00.002+01:00

is a full drying rack! It is so satisfying to see a whole lot of cut soap curing on the rack, and as an added bonus, the room smells absolutely delicious day in day out.

I am really itching to make more soap, I don't know whats wrong with me, lol, but I would have to find space for yet another drying rack somewhere. That could be a tad difficult, as every inch of the house seems to be filled with my various collections of bits and bobs. Maybe nobody would mind if I put a rack or two in the dining room, next to all the boxes with the goodies for the fairs, or next to the trolley with the beads.........

Yay, new cosmetic packaging

2009-05-07T15:28:00.004+01:00

I had sold out of my facial polish in those lovely tins and had been trying to source some more, without much luck though. Either they were too small, too large, out of stock or just way too expensive. So I was delighted when I finally found these great aluminium containers, they are perfect for just shaking a little of the scrub into your hand without having to use a tiny boomerang spoon.

My son is going to hate me though, because it means we have to design new labels, lol! He will be back from France in a few days, and I will then break it to him gently, lol. In the meantime, here are the containers minus label -

Sparkly Precious Pretties

2009-05-06T10:26:00.003+01:00

I am a bit of a fan of anything vintage, and I love pretty little things for the dressing table. So, whenever I come across a sweet little powder bowl at a boot fair or in a junk shop, I snap it up. I am planning to use them for a limited edition of body dusting powder in these one off, beautifully sparkling bowls. Here is just a little taster -

Sigh, when will I learn patience

2009-05-05T11:01:00.005+01:00

My darling dogs got me up at 6 am again, and of course I just couldn't resist checking out the soap from yesterday. It was still soft, very soft actually, and I ought to have left it alone, but could I? Nope, I really really really wanted to see what it looked like inside. So out of the mould it came, and I sliced a bit off the end. Note to self - don't slice a soft soap with soap shreds on top, lol, because they get dragged down and leave lovely big tracks down the soap, grrr. Second note to self - if you just can't wait, then turn the loaf upside down so that the shreds are underneath, lolol, that worked when I sliced another bit of the other end!

Well, the sea green I was hoping for buy mixing the annatto seed infusion with UM blue is more of a sea mud, and of course the top layers aren't layers at all, but all in all, it could have been worse, its quite a funky looking soap. And who knows, it might still go greener, anything is possible with soap after all.

Soap will never cease to amaze me

2009-05-04T17:01:00.002+01:00

Just when you think you got it all sussed, it bites you on the bum, lol.

I had a three layer soap planned, incorporating an experiment, to see whether I could get a decent sea green colour by mixing annatto seed infusion with ultramarine blue. The bottom layer was going to be blue, the middle layer hopefully a sea green and the top layer a nice egg yolk yellow. I also wanted to use up some FOs I had in the cupboard. I do love vanilla rose combos, so thats what I was going for. Rose FO, being a floral, was supposed to accelerate badly, so I was going to use that in the bottom layer to get it to set up real quick. Yeah right, sigh. Would you believe that this English Rose FO soaped absolutely beautifully? No sign of acceleration, however much I stickblended it, lol. Sod's law, of course, when you want it set up quick, it will give you the finger, lol, and stay liquid, lol.

So there I was, with the other two thirds of the soap, at very thin trace, sitting in two separate jugs, waiting to be dealt with. I had already coloured the two lots with annatto seed infusion. One was to stay that colour, the other one I was going to add UM blue to, to get a sea green colour. I didn't want to start stickblending the UM blue into the second layer, until the first had set up, and of course that was taking its time. Finally it seemed firm enough to pour the second layer on, so I quickly blended the UM into the yellow soap................ and blended............... and blended some more. Would that wretched soap thicken up? Nope, of course not, not at all, not after oodles of stickblending. Sigh. Ah well, nevermind, I thought, pour it onto the bottom layer, it will firm up nicely once its in the mould, and as the second FO, Vanilla Bean wasn't mean to accelerate at all, it seemed like a good plan. So on it went, and off I went to add the FO to the last third of soap. Stirred it in gently, and waited for the second layer to set............ and waited............ and waited some more. Would it ever set? Like heck it would, but of course the last third with the Vanilla Bean FO did, in the pot, lol. By now it was like a very thick custard, and I had to use it, or lose it.
I globbed it on, and the still thin middle layer squidged around and over it. So much for my lovely layers, lol. Ah well, it might still turn out ok-ish, fingers crossed. Topped it off with some plain cream soap shreds to hide the messy top, lol. Its happily gelling away now. I just wish I could see what it looks like inside, grrr, having to wait til tomorrow is soooooooooo hard.

More restocking

2009-05-02T20:40:00.003+01:00

I had to make another batch of Oriane today, as it has proved very popular at craft fairs. I made the essential oil blend a couple of days ago to give it time to develop properly, and then spent most of today with the bottle glued to my nose, sniffing the heady fragrance. I do so love that particular blend, sigh. I make this one in a slab mould ( great old wooden tray from a boot fair, was all of 50p) so that I can swirl the top properly. Thankfully, the soap behaved beautifully and let me have enough time to swirl. It is gelling nicely at the mo. Didn't get a chance to take a pic straight after pouring and swirling, so the pic shows it half gelled -

Another update,

2009-04-29T12:30:00.002+01:00

this time on the tree blossom soap. It has darkened to a light brown, quite a lovely sort of caramel shade. Not sure whether it will darken any further, I was expecting it to from the FO description. Doesnt matter though, I am quite happy with this colour, even though its lighter than expected.

Update on the soap experiment

2009-04-29T07:24:00.004+01:00

I was being a very good, patient girl this morning, I didn't jump out of bed when Andy got up at 5am this morning, I didn't even get up to check the soap when I got my cup of tea, mostly really because the two doggies were lying across my legs and I wouldn't have been able to move even if I had wanted to, lol. But 7am is a respectable getting up time ( I know, JJ would dispute that and argue very hotly ), but it just had to be done.

Both soaps had ashed, was the FO responsible for that perhaps? I don't often get ash, hmmm. Actually mine had ashed more than hers did. I took the soaps out of the mould, and peeled off the liner. Big difference there, mine came off cleanly, hers was sticky and left residue on the liner, more on the bottom than on the sides. It wasn't really bad though, and the difference was probably due to her using full water at 38 and me dropping mine to 35. Her soap felt stickier and was therefore more awkward to cut, i got the heavy drag on the knife, but despite that, it was a fairly clean cut. Because my soap didn't have that stickiness, it was easier and cleaner to cut.

Colourwise there isn't much in it anymore, mine is still a wee bit lighter and yellower than hers, which is slightly darker and more beige. We'll see how that will change over the course of the day.

So, quite frankly, I am a bit stumped now, making allowances for the full water, her recipe itself didn't turn out too badly after all, although it requires more patience, lol. I NEED PATIENCE now to see how the soaps develop over the next days and weeks, arrgghh, this is the really hard part of the experiment, lol. In the meantime, I think perhaps her mould and lining has something to do with her problems of getting the soaps out in the first place. Perhaps a little tweak of the recipe, together with a decent wooden mould and a liner would solve her problems.

Another thought just occurred to me. I believe that usually she doesn't take temps of the oils and the lye water, this time she did, and soaped at around 90F, that might have something to do with it as well. I am totally anal about taking temps, I have to admit, I always check the temps of both the oils and the lye water, and usually soap at around 85 or 90F.

Wet Monkey Farts

2009-04-28T20:50:00.003+01:00

Honestly, its not what you might think, and it sounds much worse than it really is. I suppose I oughta explain really.

A dear friend of mine who shall remain nameless ( see, JJ, I can be trusted after all ), keeps complaining about her soaps not coming out of her moulds, being soft, bla bla bla, you know the sort of thing. So, as I knew she was coming over to visit, I proposed a little experiment - we would make soap together, she would use her recipe, the way she always does her CP soaping, I would use my recipe, and make it the way I always do. We would both use the same FO, the same appliances, ie stick blender, and also the same mould. I made a partition in my wooden mould for that, so that the conditions would be exactly the same for the both of us. Oh, apropos FO, thats where the title of this post comes from, lol, the FO is actually called Monkey Farts, lol, and we thought we put a little twist on it, twisted broads that we are, and use some coloured shreds to simulate, errmm, well, wet ( or follow through, as Joy called them ) monkey farts.

It was great fun weighing out our oils, lye etc together, all dressed up in the proper gear of course with hairnets, gloves, sleeves, looking oh so pretty pretty, teeheeee. Ain't gonna post no pics though, sorry, I have VERY strict instruction to keep those well and truly off the net, lol.

We both poured our soaps at the same time, well within seconds of each other anyway, and she thought she could already detect a difference, she was convinced my soap looked smoother in the mould than hers, her surface was slightly uneven, couldn't really call it lumpy. We covered both halves of the mould with same weight towels, and then waited................ all of half hour, lol, before we had to check the progress of the soaps. We were immediately struck by the difference in colour, my soap had gone quite yellow, hers ( sorry, can't use her name, I promised ) had gone beige. Also mine was getting quite warm, hers was cold. The difference in colour is much more pronounced than in the photos, darned flash washed out the colours a bit.

We checked again an hour later, my soap was nicely warm, so was hers. Yay. Looked fine so far. A while later we checked again, my soap was still quite warm, hers had gone cold again. Hmm, that was slightly odd. Checked again an hour or so ago, and my soap had cooled down, and hers, well hers was hot hot hot, lol, and perspiring like mad! That was really weird, seeing all that condensation on her side of the mould. I think you may to click on the pic to enlarge it, to see the condensation properly, taking pics with a flash at night is a bitch, lol.

So now, the towels are off both soaps, I am hoping that the moisture will get absorbed by her soap again. Having just looked at the soaps again, mine is now developing a slight case of ash in the middle only, and hers, well hers is still sweating. Hmm.

I so wish I could unmould the soaps tonight and cut them, to see whether HERS ( sorry, dear, really hate having to say hers all the time instead of JJ's ) is really as problematic as she says they sometimes are. I hate having to wait, waahh, bit I guess I can't jeopardise our fabulous little experiment, lol. It is really strange seeing how differently our soaps are behaving, and it can only be the recipe, everything else was exactly the same.

I'll update tomorrow morning, as soon as I have unmoulded and cut the soaps. Darn, I wish Madam was here as well to witness it, sigh, its such a heavy responsibility, lol.

Royal Visit

2009-04-26T17:17:00.003+01:00

Omg, I have to dust off the red carpet, shampoo it and fragrance it, the Queen is coming for a visit on Tuesday!! Yes, you read that correctly, the Queen is coming in person to visit my humble abode. Now before you get too excited and start camping outside my front door with your cameras at the ready, I had better tell you that it is the Croap Queen who is coming for a visit, lol. Still, She does warrant the red carpet treatment, because She is of course a right Royal .... in the .... ( you may insert whatever first springs to mind, lol ) at times. When she moans and groans about her croapings, for example, or her croilies, or the dozen other things she is trying out and won't even tell about, because they may not work out.

Just in case you cannot resist the lure of Royalty in any shape or form, here is a sneakily snuck photograph of the Queen in all her finery. What a magnificent croap crown!

Trees in blossom

2009-04-26T15:42:00.002+01:00

Whenever I step outside the house, I see trees in blossom everywhere. Isn't it just the prettiest sight? Tiny bits of the lightest spring greens and bunches and bunches of the most gorgeous shades of pink, anything from almost white to a deep deep pink. And on a glorious day like today, with the sky a deep and rich blue and everything bathed in warm sunshine, it is also a very inspiring sight.

I was sniffing my way through my smellies collection when I came across a bottle of Sapmoss from Gracefruit. It is a wonderful, unisex sort of fragrance, really lovely and fresh, not too floral, not too spicy, to me it is like a fresh warm breath of wind blowing through the woods. It is supposed to discolour to a woody brown, so I thought it would make a great base for a tree blossom soap, with very light green and pink cubes scattered through and on top of the soap. Here it is, just poured, and looking very pale still, so please keep your fingers crossed for me that it really will darken to a woody brown.

Had to happen sooner or later

2009-04-22T08:13:00.005+01:00

Sigh, I had a bit of a soaping disaster yesterday. All my own fault, I should have known better. You see, I have this love/hate relationship with FOs, and in particular this one, I adore the scent but its a bitch to soap. I had used it once before and it was instant soap on a stick. It did hold its fragrance through the rebatching, so all was not lost. But, it went to the back of the cupboard as a soaping no-no.

Yesterday I thought I would try and reduce my stash of FOs, and picked this one, the fragrance was just too irresistible. I remembered that it didn't discolour too badly, only to a sort of cream/light tan. I thought that perhaps by soaping at room temperature and with full water, it might behave itself a bit better. No such luck, sigh, even though I only stirred the fragrance in by hand, not with a stick blender. As I poured, it started to rice, and by the time the last bit of soap was in the mould, it had set rock hard. So much for doing a pretty swirl on top along the middle. It was heating up as I was still trying to get some sort of pattern onto the top, and just a few mins after putting it to bed, it was gelling like crazy. And thats when the trouble really started. It started splitting and cracking all over the place, and oozing the fragrance oil. I just left it in disgust and resigned myself to the fact that a rebatch was pretty imminent.

My soaping room smelled so good this morning, and I was so hoping that overnight the FO might have been reabsorbed into the soap................. NOPE, it was still sitting on top in little puddles. Well, I decided to cut it anyway, it would have to be chopped up for rebatching or for shredding/cubing, anyway, so it didn't really matter what I did to it. Surprisingly, the soap is actually quite smooth inside, the two halves are holding together very nicely, and the cracks seem to have mostly closed up. What a real bummer about the puddles though, eh? I have decided to wait another day before I take drastic action, I am forever hopeful, the FO might still get absorbed back in the soap, lol.

This is it, just after pouring it, you can see the ricing, cracking and splitting quite well -

And this is it just cut, you can see the FO still puddling on top, in what was supposed to be a graceful, delicate little white swirl, hahahaha -

The offending FO has been put back into the cupboard with a firm note attached to it, only to use it for scrubs and bath melts and such like. No more soap, ever, humph.

Natalie has a new frock!

2009-04-19T10:16:00.004+01:00

Being a nettle soap, the last batch of Natalie had a very spiky top to represent the sting of the nettle. This time round, Natalie has gone all soft and is wearing a golden frock! The sharp spikes were very awkward when storing or transporting the soap, so I opted for a softer look. The top is now gently sculpted and the " posh frock " is a little bit of gold mica brushed on.

I love natural colours. Now, green is notoriously difficult to get and most greens tend to fade to a sludgy browny grey, but this nettle soap keeps its colour astonishingly well. It does lighten a little over the months, but thats all, the lovely green colour is still very much in evidence. Unrefined avocado and unrefined hemp oil help enormously with the lovely deep green colour, and brewing the organic nettles ( from Gracefruit ) in the lye water does the rest. I have used a mostly herbal blend of essential oils for this soap, with just a hint of a sweet floral to soften it.

GIGI cut

2009-04-17T14:56:00.004+01:00

This is such a very girlie soap, white with a delicate light pink swirl, and with that divine smell of rose geranium. I love that crackle effect you get when you use rather more TD than necessary really, it adds such an interesting feature to the soapies. Because I used the full water amount, the soap is still quite soft and I haven't cleaned it up yet, so it does look rather raggedy round the edges. Ah well, patience, Lizzie, a few more days and then I can deal with it properly.

Whats next on the agenda? Nettle soap, I think, I need something green on the drying rack to go with all the yellows, pinks and lilacs. Dark green oils like unrefined avocado and unrefined hemp, together with organic dried nettle from Gracefruit should do the trick nicely. The last batch sold really well at the fairs.

PS - I am beginning to miss my beads, I might just have to take a day off from soaping tomorrow and play with them for a wee while. Need to work on a couple of requests, thats my excuse anyway, lol.

La vie en rose - GIGI

2009-04-16T16:24:00.005+01:00

This is another single scent soap, this time rose geranium. Of course I had to use pink in that soap, the geraniums I had in my hanging baskets last summer were a lovely shade of rose pink. I hope that this pink turns out to be a similar shade of gentle rose pink. Rose geranium is an awesome scent, I love it pure and I love it in essential oil blends. Maybe the next soap will be a new blend, hmmm.

My darling son has just reminded me that I am supposed to make new batches of soaps which I am running out of, not lots of new ones, lol. He is worried that he will have to help me with the design of labels for the new soapies, teehee. Mind you, it always costs me dearly, I have to take him out to Cosmo for an oriental buffet in return for his help.

Lavendine cut

2009-04-16T08:39:00.003+01:00

The temptation was too great, I had to cut it first thing this morning. Fortunately, I had reduced the water, so the the soap cut very nicely. I am pleased with the two shades of lavender, they are pretty much what I was hoping for. Of course I have no idea how much of each UM I had used to achieve those colours, lol, it was more a case of - a little bit of this, and a little bit of that, and that looks about right -

Anyway, here is the cut soap, it does smell rather good, I had forgotten how nice Lavender on its own really is.

Lavendine

2009-04-15T15:51:00.004+01:00

It seems I can't stop soaping at the moment, must be the beautiful spring weather! People keep asking me for single scent soaps at craft fairs, so I made a lavender soap today. I have to admit that I much prefer blending essential oils, it is so very fascinating, but I don't mind making a few with just one essential oil. Rose geranium next, yum, I love that gorgeous fragrance, so I am quite looking forward to making that one. Now, what other essential oils would be good for a single scent bar? It is really difficult for me to pick just one essential oil, I just wanna grab a few of my bottles and blend, blend, blend.

As I couldn't be creative with the scent, I decided to be creative with the look, blended the colours ( blue, pink and purple UMs ) to produce a (hopefully ) lavender colour, and used plain shredded soap to liven things up a bit as well. Fingers crossed, I hope it turns out ok.

Here is the Lavendine soap, just poured. It is now sleeping under its blanket, and I have to practice being patient again, sigh, I suppose there is no way I can unmould it until tomorrow.

Midnight flower garden

2009-04-14T20:08:00.003+01:00

I found this absolutely gorgeous vintage necklace the other day at a boot fair. The beads are firepolished AB crystals in a very dark blue, and they sparkle like crazy. I couldn't bring myself to take it apart and use the beads for something else, so I decided to embellish it with lucite flowers and leaves. It is one of my favourites so far.

Heaven or Hell?

2009-04-14T08:02:00.003+01:00

Well, you have probably realised by now that I am MILDLY interested in beads, BEADS, sigh, those glorious, smooth, tactile, shiny, tiny little things which come in hundreds and hundreds of beautiful and totally irresistible colours. It was a lovely morning yesterday, so hubby and youngest son accompanied me ( somewhat under protest, and only with the promise of the pub afterwards to make it more palatable ) to a boot fair. I had my usual slow womble through, picking up an old necklace here and there for "recycling" and thoroughly enjoying the atmosphere. All was well until, nearly at the end of the womble, I came across a stall which made me gasp............. BEADS!! Glorious beads, hundreds of packets of beads in all the colours of the rainbow, and in all shapes and sizes! They had come from the workshop of a professional beader, who had worked on dresses for the stars for many many years.

It was heaven for a while, picking up bags and studying the contents, rummaging through boxes, piling up goodies which just had to be bought. The stall holder very thoughtfully provided me with a tray when my hands couldn't hold my treasures any longer, lol. And then I began to realise it wasn't heaven after all, it was sheer hell, because I had to leave so many gorgeous beads behind!!! I was very strict with myself and had set myself a limit on how much I would spend, so I constantly had to make heart wrenching decisions which baggie to put down again, because I had just found an absolute must-have. But in the end, I did walk away with a lovely stash of seed and bugle beads and a HUGE grin on my face. So here they are, in all their glory, I would say that was a fiver well spent ( and I am not trying to wind up JJ, honestly!!! )

Amelie's secret revealed

2009-04-12T17:30:00.000+01:00

Being the very patient person that I am, ahem, I actually lasted til about 6.30am this morning, but that was it, I just had to cut the soap to find out whether it was anywhere near what I was hoping for, before I set off to do the Craft Fair. I was pleasantly surprised, it is not far off what I had imagined, I am really quite pleased with the look. I had hoped for something similar to the crackle effect of the Mignonette soap, and it worked out well, the kind of crackle seems to surround the soap shreds in the blue. Also, the shade of blue is pretty much what I was hoping for as well.

The Fair went really well, but I have some serious soapmaking to do this week to restock, I almost sold out of at least 4 different soaps and most of the others are running quite low as well.
The "Lovliest Customer of the Day Award " has to go to a gentleman who stopped at the stand with his lady wife(?) and spent, oh probably half an hour, very enthusiastically sniffing his way through all the soaps, back and forth, and making the most wonderful comments. I have never seen a guy so happy to sniff soaps, and chatting with him was so much fun. He walked away very happy with with soap purchases. The nicest thing about doing a craft fair, or market for that matter, is that you can actually talk to your customers and explain about your soaps etc., and it makes me feel so good when people show a real interest in how soaps or serums are made, and what the various ingredients do etc.

Amelie's Secret

2009-04-11T16:16:00.000+01:00

Spring is most definitely in the air and seems to have done a good job of getting me off my butt and soaping again. Two soaps in two days, woohoo! And another one already planned out for Monday ( would do it tomorrow, but I am doing an Easter Fair ). This one is called Amelie and does indeed harbour a little secret, but you ( and I, dangnabit ) will have to wait until tomorrow evening before I can reveal it. Maybe even longer, as I didn't reduce the water amount. I HATE WAITING, WAAHHH. And this one I am really curious about, I so wanna get it out of the mould and cut ASAP!

PS - I have been such a good girl, haven't touched any beads!!! Well, might have touched some, cos they are smooooooooooth and shiny, and luverly, but haven't spent ages making anything, so there.

Spring has sprung.......

2009-04-10T15:55:00.000+01:00

the grass has ris,
I wonder where them oilies is

teeheee

The lovely sunshine this morning had motivated me to make soap today. It had to be a new batch of Clementine, of course, a) because of the gorgeous sunshine yellow colour and fresh citrus scent, and b) because it is almost sold out, I only have one bar left!

This is it, freshly poured and swirled, hopefully I will be able to cut it tomorrow.

PS - Haven't touched my beads in days! See, not addicted at all.

Pretty in Pink

2009-04-04T20:13:00.000+01:00

Yes, yes, alright, I know what you are going to say, this is a soap blog, so whats more jewellery doing on here? Thing is, I can do this sort of thing in the evening, sitting in the family room with my darlings, sort of watching telly, so it is not something I am doing INSTEAD of making soaps and all the other goodies, it is just something I am doing IN ADDITION to all that.

I had promised my almost-daughter-in-law to make her another "rattly"ring, this time in pretty pinks, and here it is, made with the sweetest little lucite flowers, imitation pearls rescued from a broken 1950s necklace, baby pink beads from broken 1960s necklace and various other little beauties -

Thats it for now, there are a few more pics of other bits of jewellery knocking about somewhere, but I'll leave those for another day.

Couldn't help myself,

2009-03-31T21:01:00.000+01:00

I just had to have a little play with the beads earlier, they were calling me, honest! My almost-daughter-in-law loves funky jewellery which "rattles", lol, so I thought I make her a ring to go with the orange necklace I made for her a while ago. Darned fiddly, trying to get loads of teeny weeny beaded pins hooked onto the ring base, and I may have used some unladylike language once or twice, but.......... "rattle" it does, and she totally adores it! Now it seems I have to make a girlie pink version of it as well, lol.

Wow, sold out again!

2009-03-31T10:17:00.001+01:00

It always amazes me how quickly the facial polish and facial serum sell out at fairs and just through repeat custom. It is immensely satisfying to have customers come back asking for more and obviously really liking the effect it has on their skin. So I am making new batches today, as I am completely out of the facial polish ( love, love, love it ) and most of the facial serums as well. And because Spring is in the air and the sun is shining, I decided to take a couple of new pics as well. Here they are -

One of the facial serums

and the much loved facial polish

Spring is so inspiring, I find, I have so many ideas for new products, for new soapies, and yes, for new jewellery as well ( darnit, beads are way too addictive, they oughta carry a warning!!! ). Now all I have to do is turn those ideas into actual products................. yeah, right, lol, I need somebody to give me a mighty kick up the rear again....... where are you, JJ???

My beautiful doggies are full of the joys of spring as well, boy, do they keep me on my toes! This week is particularly difficult, as Andy and Nick have taken the car to France and the doggies can't go nuts in the Firehills or on the beach. So they go nuts in the garden and the house instead, lol. Hector is turning out to be a right little Houdini as well. I put him in the indoor kennel crate while I did some food shopping, and left Poppy in the family room, only to come back and find them both greeting me very enthusiastically at the door! He had taken the crate door and side off the hinges and squeezed through!

Butter wouldn't melt in their mouths, right? -

Heads up! Hair Soap

2009-03-14T21:04:00.000Z

Although my family has been using this soap for 3 years, I hadn't added it to my range before as it is not suitable for vegetarians. However, I come across so many people who have the same sort of scalp problems as my husband, for whom this soap was originally formulated, that I have decided that it is time to let others experience the benefits of this soap as well.

My husband had been suffering with psoriasis and eczema for 20 odd years, and his itchy, flaky and angry red skin used to drive him nuts. For his skin he now uses my LCR Balm, facial serum, shaving soap and shaving oil, as well as any soap he can pinch from my stock cupboard, and for his long suffering scalp he uses nothing but this amazing soap and ( now only occasionally ) the specially formulated scalp oil. I cannot make any medical claims because these products have not been tested in medical trials, but I can certainly speak from my husband's and many friends' experiences. My hubby's skin is smooth, free from red, itchy patches and his scalp is itch and flake free.

A carefully selected blend of essential oils, which include tea tree, rosemary and eucalyptus amongst others, helps to combat the symptoms ( again, speaking from personal experience, not medical trials ) alongside the very special oils used in this soap. One of the ingredients, however, is emu oil, which makes this soap unsuitable for vegetarians, but it is such a vital part of the formulation that it cannot be left out.

The soap may make your hair feel a little heavier and thicker, and it will take a few washes before your hair and scalp get used to such a radical change. On his short hair, my husband doesn't ever use a conditioner or rinse, I only use conditioner occasionally on my longish hair. On rather longer hair it might be best to use a lemon water rinse and/or conditioner to remove the feel of heaviness. Something else I have noticed after using this soap for a few years now - I don't get split ends anymore! My hair is very slow growing and I am not very fond of hairdressers, so I only have it cut every two or three years and it used to break and split terribly. It has been over two years now since I last had it cut, and amazingly, still no split ends, can't be bad, eh?

Do I really need another hobby?

2009-03-10T21:13:00.001Z

I really blame a very dear friend for the latest hobby, well almost addiction, of course I can't name names, I'll just say that her initial is JJ, surely that won't give anything away, could be almost anybody, right?

This, ermm, hobby is so very tactile, it involves a lot of fondling and stroking, and NOOOOOOOOOO, its not that at all, get your mind out of the gutter! I am talking about jewellery making, and I can tell ya, handling those beautiful beads is something else. The smooth finish of semi precious stones, the wonderful sheen of freshwater pearls, the sparkle of Swarovski crystal......... sigh, you just can't help playing with the beads. So I made a few things, like bracelets and necklaces, for prezzies. Probably enough for at least a year's worth of pressies for female friends and family members, but once you start, its impossible to stop. They are all pretty simple pieces, but they are so much fun to plan and make.

This necklace, with Japanese seed beads and lucite flowers and leaves, was made for my (almost) daugher- in-law, to go with an orange jumper she loves -

This was the first "dangly" bracelet I made, again for my (almost) daugher-in-law -

The beautiful beads in the "dangles" are rhodonite rounds, mother-of-pearl hearts and tiny round beads, rose quartz heishis, Prehnite baroque beads, freshwater rice pearls, fire polished crystal beads and Japanese seed beads.

The next one was made as a birthday present for a girl friend, a three strand twisted necklace with rose quartz focals and chips, and a variety of delicate green and pink beads, offset with silver round beads -

I love using vintage beads, and the following necklace, bracelet and earring set was made using vintage beads covered with the finest strands of pink silk, together with light pink freshwater pearls ( also from a broken vintage necklace ), faceted crystal bicones and beautiful light pink howlite tear drops -

Oh, and then I got some absolutely mouthwateringly delicious lemonstone beads! The colour of those stones is just gorgeous, and I couldn't help myself, I had to make three necklaces to see how the lemonstone beads would look combined with different beads -

The first two necklaces were made with lemonstone rectangles and a big oval pendant drop. One is contrasted with ( black ) hematite beads, for the other one I used Prehnite baroque beads and faceted amethyst crystals -

The third lemonstone necklace is a three strand one, with 2 strands of peridot chips and tiny silver beads, and of course one strand with those beautiful lemonstone rectangles, interspersed with faceted green crystals -

Phew, I think thats quite enough for now, otherwise you could think I really was somewhat addicted to this jewellery making lark, lol. I'll save the pics of the others for another day.

Doesn't Time Fly?

2009-03-10T20:24:00.000Z

Goodness, I can't believe it has been nearly 5 months since I last posted on this blog! Well, a few things have kept me somewhat busy. I did a couple of Christmas Fairs in November and December. I was petrified to start with, as I had not done a craft fair before, but it was a great experience. Being able to talk to the customers directly and being able to explain in a bit more detail what my products are all about was immensely satisfying. Here are a couple of pics of the stand with my products -

So, there you have it, weeks of preparations for the very first fair kept me well and truly busy.

In November, our beautiful granddaughter Grace was born, and made Christmas even more special. She is such a gorgeous little chubbycheeks, she was just a few weeks old in this photo -

In January, our faithful companion of 14 years, Harry, died, and left a huge empty space in our family. Poppy missed him so much, and desperately needed company, so we started looking for a new friend for her. Finally, after weeks of searching, we found another Ridgeback, a boy this time, again through the Northern and Midlands Rhodesian Ridgeback Rescue. And so Hector joined our family. He is almost the same age as Poppy, and the two of them hit if off immediately. They are inseparable now, and are the bestest doggies anybody could ever wish for, even though they keep me busy 24/7. I wish I had just a tenth of their energy, they are forever playing tug-o-war with their toys, which usually entails racing up and down the stairs, bouncing off the walls and the settees and generally creating havoc!

Well, I guess thats enough of an update for now, the post would really get way too long if I didn't stop myself from going on and on. I'll save blogging about the latest hobby for another time.......... now, its back to labelling 100 lip balms for a wholesale order.

Lipsmackingly good!

2008-10-29T15:55:00.000Z

I am one of those people who can't live without lip balm, no matter what time of the year it is, summer or winter. Especially on a car journey I have to apply lip balm, otherwise my lips dry out so much and even crack. And now that the central heating has finally come on, I need it even more, because the dry air does horrible things to my lips. The dollop of shea butter in the lip balm certainly helps a lot to keep my lips soft.

I have now added lip balms to the range as well, in a variety of flavours, peppermint for that lovely tingly cool feeling, sweet and lushious strawberry and delicious chocolate.

For the labels I have once again gone with the Art Nouveau theme. It was not easy getting all the information you have to list, as well as a little Art Nouveau design, onto such a tiny label, but I think this one works quite well.

So here you go, the La Croix Rosion Strawberry Lipsicle!

All wrapped up

2008-10-29T14:52:00.000Z

Some of the soaps I have made over the last few months are perhaps a little more unusual than the normal run-0f-the-mill plain bars. Nothing wrong at all with plain bars, they are fabulous, but every now and then I get the urge to do something different.

The Le Satyre soap, which looks as if it is topped with spilled quicksilver is one example, the funky funnel soaps I made are another. So I decided to make a bit of a feature of them and put them into these cute little window cardboard baggies.

Let me know what you think of the packaging, please! Are they attractive enough for little prezzies/stocking fillers?

2008-10-16T18:28:00.000+01:00

Goodness, how time has flown! I haven't updated my blog in ages, so I'll try and write up at least a few of the things which have happened since the last post.

The Saponifier is a long established and very popular American online soapmaking magazine, so I was absolutely delighted when I was approached by their Showcase Editor about an article on the La Croix Rosion soaps, and in particular their unusual style of labelling. Anybody who knows me will know that I love everything Victorian and in particular the Art Nouveau style, and the labels for my products reflect this, of course. It was nerve wrecking waiting for the Sept./Oct. 2008 issue to come out, and when it finally arrived in my inbox, I was soooo excited! And there, on the contents page was a picture of one of my soaps, Clarisse, and in the Showcase, a wonderful article written by Elizabeth Carnahan and more photos. I was simply gobsmacked, was she really talking about me, lol, little me?

These are the photos which were shown in the article -

And here is the article, written by Elizabeth Carnahan for The Saponifier -

When Valentine’s Day rolls around again, thoughts are set to turn to love, romance and, in the case of soap makers everywhere, preparing your business for the big day.Of course, you’ll want your packaging to reflect this great elebration of romance, and hearts, chocolates, flowers and teddy bears might be just the job. But what if you want something just a little more sophisticated, something designed to set you and your products apart from the sea of sameness that has invaded the holiday? This issue’s featured soap maker has created a line of packaging that does just that. Liz Waring has taken her love of romantic style and built her entire business around it, from her passion for the sensuous style of Art Nouveau to her love of life in France.

Liz, who operates under the name La Croix Rosion, splits her time between Hastings (of 1066 fame) in England and her 150-year-old farmhouse in Burgundy, France. “The name of the company is taken from the old name of our cottage in France, and that dictated the names of my soaps,” reveals Liz. “To me the French language is the most romantic in the world and perfectly suits the sensuous Art Nouveau style,” she continued. “Therefore, they are all old fashioned French girls’ names- with the occasional boys’ name for the soaps for the men in our lives.” Those names give only a hint of the seductive soaps underneath Liz’s lovingly-crafted packaging. ‘Natalie’, contains hemp and avocado oils with nettle; ‘Clementine’ boasts lashings of shea butter and a bright citrus fragrance, while ‘Oriane’ is a luxurious concoction of silk and a delicious cocktail of essential oils. La Croix Rosion’s best-selling ‘Clarisse’ contains cherry kernel oil and luxurious mango butter.

Alongside the soaps, the company’s tempting range of products includes facial serums, masks, scrubs and balms – all created and packaged with the same keen instinct for visual impact and sensual effect. Ironically, this unity of style comes from Liz’s magpie nature. When staying in France, she loves shopping at the Vide Greniers, the French equivalent of a flea market. “I am a terrible hoarder of weird, wonderful, and romantic old objects,” she said. “I love anything made of fabric, and have a huge collection of Eiderdowns, Durham quilts, beautiful old linens and laces and embroideries.”

Particularly in evidence in France are the luscious lines of Art Nouveau, which has been a strong influence on Liz’s creativity. “That has to be my favourite period,” she says. “I find the art of that period so very romantic, with the beautifully flowing, sinuous floral and female forms. This period has been the inspiration for the labels on my products.” Drawing on such a rich source of inspiration certainly sets Liz’s creations apart. When asked about the difference between her product design and others, she replied, “I do realise that I am bucking the trend, everywhere you look the clean, sharp, minimal modern look is very much in evidence, but I have to be true to my romantic self, so for me the only style possible is Art Nouveau.”

Teddy bears, hearts, chocolates and bouquets may have cornered the market as visual symbols for
romance, but there’s still plenty of room for something a little different – even if the roots of the idea are firmly in the past. Liz’s labels are something special – far from your typical hearts and flowers. Liz’s creations can be found at her web site, www.lcrsoap.co.uk. Or if you’d like a bit more information about Liz and her company, please visit her blog at lcrsoapcompany.blogspot.com/.

(photo credits Liz Waring)

LA CROIX ROSION website !!!

2008-08-30T10:32:00.000+01:00

I have finally been able to pursuade/blackmail/bribe my DS to give me a hand with the temporary website - www.lcrsoap.co.uk - and we have managed to get at least a few things up. Not many products are listed yet, and it won't have online payment facilities as yet, this is something we will install on the permanent website in the future, but of course anybody who would like to purchase some of the products can pay by Paypal or in the UK by cheque or postal order.

Sigh, setting up a website certainly is a major undertaking and there are so many things to remember, every day something else crops up, so my notebook is rapidly filling up with reminders. I hope the wonderful people who have bought products in the past despite the lack of a decent website are going to be patient for a little while longer.

Today, Saturday, I need to make the most of the little bit of sunshine we are enjoying at the moment and take some more product photos outdoors. Keep your fingers crossed that the sunshine will last more than just half hour or so, lol! And then I have to think of something to bribe my DS with again, so that he can add a few more product pictures to the website.

If any of you who are reading this blog and have also looked at the website have any comments or suggestions, I would be really grateful if you could let me know.

Thats it for now, I am off to do my David Bailey bit!

Two new soapies, Coquilles de Mer and Mon Petit Bijou

2008-08-16T16:56:00.000+01:00

I wanted to create something just that little bit different to add to the current soap range, and this is what I have come up with, Coquilles de mer, Seashells, and Mon petit bijou, literally My Little Jewel, but more often used to call somebody your little darling or pet.

Coquilles is of course decorated with real seashells and Bijou is finished with glass beads and/or antique French diamante, which I found at a Brocante last year.

Le Satyr

2008-08-08T12:12:00.000+01:00

This batch didn't quite turn out the way I had envisioned it, but people seem to like the abstract raised design of this soap. It is certainly a little out of the ordinary, lol, and although its colouring, design and scent was intended for men, women seem to find it rather attractive as well. I suppose in a modern bathroom it will look rather cool.

New Salt Bars

2008-08-06T14:30:00.000+01:00

I needed to make more salt bars as the last batch is now sold out, and I decided to make these a little more girlie looking. So here are the two new batches. The first one looks like a slice of delicious raspberry ripple icecream. The second one is scented with peppermint and is that lovely white and pink of peppermint sweets I remember from my childhood.

Just Soap Pics

2008-07-27T19:24:00.000+01:00

I have been playing around with some soaps to get some photos for the website. So no big write up this time, just some pics.

Nettle Soap

2008-07-26T12:21:00.000+01:00

I made my first nettle soap a couple of years ago, and was absolutely delighted with it. I felt it was about time I made another one, and this time I wanted a really deep green. So instead of water, I used a strong nettle infusion, I used ( amongst other oils ) unrefined hemp and avocado oils as well as deep green virgin olive oil, again to intensify the green I wanted. Together with a goodly amount of ground dried nettle to give it deep deep green flecks, it produced this soap:-

I am keeping my fingers crossed that this gorgeous green won't fade. It is scented with Sweetgrass FO, Rosemary and Lavender, yummy sweet herby smell.

Oriane and Clementine

2008-07-22T12:09:00.000+01:00

I have been soaping a bit more lately, these two are the latest ones.

Oriane is coloured with UM Pink in the base, with a UM Purple and TD swirl. I keep sniffing this one constantly, I think I am addicted to the EO mix, it is awesome - Palmarosa, Geranium YlangYlang are just some of the EOs used. Oriane was done in a slab mould.

Clementine was only made last night. I have just unmoulded and cut it, couldnt restrain myelf any longer, lol, the beautiful citrus scent was driving me nuts! The FO is from Gracefruit, my favourite oil and FO supplier and it was an absolute dream to soap, no accelation at all. I coloured the base with an Annatto seed infusion and swirled with TD. The colour is glorious, a rich orangey yellow. This will fade after a while if the soap isn't stored in the dark, but if it is kept out of bright light, it will keep its colour for quite some time.

Looking after mum-to-be with BBB Oil

2008-07-20T11:40:00.000+01:00

No. 2 son and his partner are expecting their daughter towards the end of this year, and of course we are all absolutely delighted. I wanted to do something for my lovely daughter in law, because so often friends and family concentrate on the baby when buying treats and gifts and forget that mum-to-be needs a bit of pampering during her pregnancy. So, amongst other things, I have formulated a very special oil for her to try and reduce the risk of stretch marks. I could have gone for a belly balm but the idea of an oil appealed to me more. The oil contains a number of butters and oils specially selected for their abilities to nourish and soften the skin and improve elasticity and suppleness. Raspberry seed oil, plum kernel oil, rosehip oil as well as shea butter, mango butter and orchid complex are some of the ingredients used, along with a few drops of essential oils, like lavender, rosemary, rose geranium, ylang ylang and rose.

This particular batch was scented mostly with an amber infusion, which I have had brewing for nearly a year now. The scent is just awesome. I liked the oil and the way it sank into the skin so quickly without leaving the slightest bit of stickiness so much that I made a batch for myself as well. I am using it as a body oil and my skin feels so very smooth and velvety. I have to say I prefer this to a body lotion or body milk. This is definitely something I will be adding to the range of products as soon as possible.

Clarisse for Sue

2008-07-06T19:09:00.000+01:00

Three more weeks and my DS Nick will have finished his tree surgery course at college, and then I will be able to pester him to get the website finished! In the meantime, this is a special " For Sue " post to enable her to re-order the right soap, lol, which we think was this one, Clarisse.

This limited edition soap was enriched with skin loving oils like Cherry Kernel, Hazelnut and Rice bran, with a good dollop of rich Mango butter on top of the usual ingredients. Tussah silk ( Tussah is a humane silk, gathered after the moth has emerged from the cocoon ) was added for that extra luxurious touch. It was swirled with a natural alkanet root infusion ( the purple ) and ultramarine pink. To get get the crackle effect, Titanium Dioxide ( whitener ) was added.

Update on the Soap Fairies Visit

2008-06-29T11:01:00.000+01:00

Well, the soap fairies certainly seemed to have enjoyed the visit to our house, because they decided to come back! Remember the poisonous looking yellow soap, which I had to cook and shred to save it? And my lovely plans for it? Well.............. the soap fairies had other ideas, LOL.

I decided on a well used recipe for the base soap, to which I wanted to add the shreds and also top it with shreds. But as the scent of the shreds wasn't all that strong, I thought it a good idea to add a little fragrance to the base soap as well. BAD IDEA! I wanted something to compliment the scent of the soap shreds and sniffed my way through all my FOs, and of course I just had to pick another one from a batch bought which I hadnt used before. Guess what? Yep, soap fairies spat in it. It set up very quickly, but I managed to handstir the shreds in and top the log as well, but...... after alittle while it separated again and a huge oil lake appeared on the top of the soap. It started absorbing back into the soap a little over the next couple of days, but I didn't hold out much hope, I feared for the worst again.

So yesterday I finally unmoulded it, with oil dripping everywhere and yes, as I had feared....... poisonous yellow splotches all around the bottom. I was not a very happy bunny. So what to do? Sling it in the bin? Waste all those oils and fragrances ( which, btw still smelled delicious in the soap, darnit )? The soap didn't have any zap so it would definitely be ok to use, but oh boy, those yellow bits were gross. Sigh, it was majorly frustrating. The only thing I could do was yet another rebatch. Fortunately ( and I have no idea why ) the yellow areas were all round the bottom, so I cut these areas off, chunked up the rest of the soap and chucked it in the cooking pot.

Added a little water and stirred like crazy while it heated up, until it was all melted down nicely to a kind of soft mashed potato consistency. Slopped it into the mould, had a few words with it, basically to tell it to b...dy well behave itself or else, and left it overnight.

And lo and behold, just this once my stern words must have had some effect on it, because when I took the soap out of the mould this morning, it was............. normal looking soap, hurrah! Not the prettiest of soaps but it looks kind of wholesome in a rustic sort of way, LOL, it smells great and has lovely lather. It is still very soft, because of the added water, but I am confident that in a few weeks time this will be a lovely soap to use.

I just hate waste and if there is ever any chance of saving a batch, I'll give it a go. They might not be as beautiful as other soaps, but they are special, because they have been given a second ( or third, lol ) chance and survived despite all the hiccups.

Hurrah, new soaps!

2008-06-28T09:10:00.000+01:00

It has been a long while, because I have been busy formulating other things, but I finally couldn't resist the urge any longer and picked up the soaping spoon again. It was great getting back to planning, measuring, stirring, colouring, pouring etc etc, and putting the babies to bed under a nice warm blanket. And finally, two fresh soapies resting on the drying rack now. IT FEELS GOOD !

Visits from the Soap Fairies

2008-06-24T15:20:00.000+01:00

Even the most experienced soapers report visits from the soap fairies occasionally. And these are not the nice fairy godmothers who'd leave you with wonderful goodies, help you create the most wonderful soaps and generally make you feel good, but the nasty variety, the ones that spit in your soaping oils, poison your fragrances causing them to misbehave and drop your equipment on the floor.

I have had my fair share of visits, resulting in hissy fits, sudden hair loss ( due to pulling ) and frantic rescue attempts. Have a look at the following examples:

For this one, I used a recipe which I had used many times before, but I used a new fragrance oil. As soon as I added the FO, the soap turned a violent kind of sickly yellow and seized instantly. I just about managed to squash it into a mould, where it started separating after a little while! Oh boy, what a total mess. However, I can't just chuck "soap" out without at least trying to rescue it, and this FO smelled sooooo good!

Only thing to do was cutting it into chunks and melting it down and hoping for the best. I just added a little water and kept stirring the chunks until they were all dissolved and a very heavy gooey consistency.

The kind of ochre/yellow colour didn't change for the better, it just got deeper, the texture was somewhat rough but the delicious smell of the FO had survived! These poor little soapies were beyond ugly, but...... my thinking was, they could be shredded and the shreds added to a nice creamy soap along with calendula petals.

So yet another kitchen gadget found its way into the soaproom, lol, and I spent half an hour or so shredding the uglies into two different sizes. Now all I have to do is make a plain soap to add these to, lol! I'll update this post as soon as I have found some time to make a plain batch, I promise, and if I am taking too long, please feel free to kick my butt and nag nag nag.

Ok, on to another disastrous visit from the soap fairies. Again it was a tried and tested recipe, plus a FO which I hadn't tried before. The OOB smell was gorgeous and the FO was supposed to discolour to a lovely light yellow, so I planned a pretty, girly soap with pink curls on top. It moved quickly, but wasn't too bad, I managed to put lots of pink curlies on top of the soap batter in record time, and then the soap fairies waved their magic wands and the whole wretched thing started to separate, chunks of sort of soap floating in lakes of oils........... I was near tears

So out came the wooden spoon, and I very gently stirred it all together, trying not to destroy the pink soap curls, put it on a gentle heat on the stove and kept stirring until I had soap again........ with curly bits inside rather than on the top, lol. It was something of a miracle that this soap still turned out fairly decently, not the way it was meant to be, but not a total waste of ingredients and time either. And again, the wonderful scent survived being cooked!

If you have had a visit from the soap fairies, don't throw the messed up soap away immediately. Try saving it, using it in confetti soap, for example. When you have put so much effort, time and money into making it in the first place, its worth giving it that little bit more and rescuing it from a fate worse than death ( ie THE BIN ).

Shaving soap - not just for the boys

2008-06-23T13:21:00.001+01:00

I am one of those girls who has never gotten on too well with hair removal products. I didn't like the smell of the creams, and didn't like the wait, and I certainly didn't like the pain of waxing or sugaring. So I have always shaved my legs and underarms. However, I wanted to get away from shaving foams and now I much prefer using a hand made shaving soap. The most important ingredient in a good shaving soap is clay. It provides wonderful slip and glide and helps to produce a firm dense and creamy lather ideal for shaving.

I have used green clay in this soap ( plus a few bits of a blue soap, just for a bit of added interest ) and I am very happy with the way it performs.

My DH uses the shaving soap in conjunction with the shaving oil I formulated. He just rubs a drop or two of shaving oil onto his skin and follows it with the shaving soap, and apparently it beats any other shaving product he has ever tried hands down. YAY!

Daily facial beauty routine

2008-06-19T07:21:00.000+01:00

How much money and time do you spend each and every day on your beauty regime? Do you buy dozens of different jars/bottles for all sorts of different things - day moisturisers, night creams, eye creams, eye serums, lip serums, spot treatments, exfoliators for the face, the body, dry skin treatments etc etc etc, a whole dressing table or medicine cabinet full?

When I was a teenager, many many moons ago, I just couldn't be bothered with creams and lotions and potions, it seemed that a good wash was all that was needed to keep the skin clear and fresh looking.
Years later, after getting married and with a growing family, it was financially impossible to buy all the jars and bottles of miracle potions which, according to TV and magazines, were an absolute must if you didnt want to look like a wrinkled prune. I do remember buying a jar of cold cream a couple of times, when I was pregnant, and it did feel good on the skin.
Years later again, kids growing up, it was finally time to experiment with those wonderful creams, the magical concoctions promising ever youthful skin. Yes, they smelled nice and yes, they felt lovely and velvety on the skin, but did they make me look younger? Hmmm, I think not. So, most of the time I was terribly slabdash with my beauty regime, cream went on perhaps once a week or so, when I remembered, lol.
Fast foward to a few years ago when I started suffering ridiculous allergies, so badly that I even became allergic to the allergy tablets ( turned out it was work I was allergic to, lol, seriously ). I started getting huge red welts on my face, especially in the nose and cheek areas, and even after I stopped work and the allergies finally stopped, the welts kept appearing. By that time, I had become very interested in soaps, creams, any kind of cosmetic and started making my own.
BEST THING I HAD EVER DONE! After spending hundreds of hours reading and studying, I formulated a balm which got rid of the welts, I made a very gentle facial scrub to keep the skin nice and clear, made a salt soap for the face and formulated a facial serum. None of these contain harsh chemicals or preservatives ( hurrah, no parabens ! ), as none of them contain water, and I can honestly say that the beauty regime I use now is simple, effective, non time consuming and it works for me.

This is it - Two or three times a week, I use the gentle facial scrub. It is a dry mix of selected botanicals, including adzuki beans, for example, to which I just add a few drops of water, and gently massage it over my wet face for a minute or two. It leaves the skin feeling velvety soft, not stripped and tight, and I follow it with a few drops of the facial serum. The combination of squalane and some very fine oils with really wonderful properties keeps the skin velvety soft all day. Occasionally, I use a fruit and clay mask, maybe once every couple of weeks. It is a lovely thing to use when you want to feel really pampered. Again, I just follow it with a couple of drops of facial serum.

I only use the salt soap for washing my face these days. A salt bar will not produce lather in quite the same way as a normal soap ( see the post on salt bars ), but it is great for problem skin. Again, after washing with the salt bar, I just use a few drops of the serum on the face. Doing this morning and evening, my sking stays clear and soft.

I very rarely get outbreaks these days, but when I get very stressed, it can happen. The balm sorts that out within a couple of days, thankfully, so even though my skin still looks a little red round the nose, welts are a thing of the past. The balm works wonders on my DH's psoriasis as well. It is the only thing which keeps the flaking and redness under control.

The only other thing I use on my face these days is a lip balm, winter and summer alike, because my lips do get very dry very quickly.

I do make and use body lotion and handcreams for example, and I love making and using luxurious soaps and scrubs for the body, but my face loves my simple routine - facial scrub ( and occasional fruit and clay mask ), salt soap, serum, lip balm, thats it, and it seems to be keeping the prune stage away for a little longer. If you feel you don't need a salt bar for your face, then you can of course substitute a mild and gentle milk, goats milk or coconut milk if you are vegan.

( Rebatched goats milk soap )

Milk soaps - To gel or not to gel, that is the question

2008-05-03T08:31:00.001+01:00

I love milk soaps, they are mild and gentle and evoke a feeling of warmth, natural goodness and country charm. If left to their own devices milk soaps will always gel, the sugar in the milk will raise the temperature considerably, so if you don't want your soap to gel then you have to take pretty drastic measures.

Now why would you want to stop your milk soap from gelling? Does gelling make a difference to the quality of the soap? No, the quality of the soap doesnt change, but what does change is the colour and that might be important to you.

When you let a milk soap gel, it generally turns a deep tan colour. If you have also added honey, you might find that it goes even darker.

These two soaps are from the very same batch, the one one the left is the main batch, gelled in a wooden log mould, the one on the right was leftover soap in a small individual mould, and ungelled. As you can see, the gelled soap is much darker than the soap which didnt gel.

This is what I do when I make milk soaps -

I use 35/40 water and 65/60 milk for my liquid. I use the water to mix up the lye. You will need to stir for longer than normal to dissolve all that lye in such a small amount of water, but it does work. I add the cold milk to the oils when the hard oils have melted, and stickblend it in thoroughly. If I am using a scent for the soap, I also add that to the oils and milk mix. I then add the cooled lye water, stickblend until it reaches thin trace and add whatever botanicals I want to use ( for example poppy seeds, wheatbran, oatmeal ) and perhaps a bit of honey. Handstir until the botanicals are well incorporated.

When making milk soaps I soap much cooler than I would normally do. I take the oils of the heat as soon as there are only a few bits of hard oils left, they will still melt because of the heat of the liquid oils. Adding the cold milk cools the oils down really quickly. The lye water I prepare well before I start melting the oils and put it into a bowl of very cold water to cool it down quickly. I usually aim for no more than 80F or even room temperature, especially when adding honey to the soap as well.

I never use a log mould for milk soaps these days. I used one for my first goats milk and honey soap, and insulated it as well, and it went crazy! It rose like a loaf of bread, and cracked right down the middle. I had to squash it all down again and somehow it ended up a really nice soap anyway. I now use slab moulds for milk soaps ( actually a lovely old wooden tray found at a boot sale for 50 pence ). As soon as the soap is poured, I stick it in the freezer, sometimes for a few hours, or, if I made the soap in the evening, overnight. Take it out of the freezer, and voila, beautifully creamy looking goatsmilk soap! It is easy to remove from the mould when you take it out of the freezer. I just let the slab sit for a while to return to normal temperature and then cut to required size.

This is a very plain goats milk soap without any additives, no fragrances, no colours, which makes it very suitable for young and/or sensitive skin.

There you have it, using milk in your soaps should be quite straight forward. Having said that, of course, nothing is ever straight forward, lol, and the strangest things can happen. For example, one lady in the States made a milk soap, put the mould outside in the snow, and it still gelled! Another put the soap in the fridge for a few hours, took it out and it started gelling, lol. So you just never can tell with 100% certainty that things will work as planned, but if you follow the above, then at least you should stand a pretty good chance!

So what is so special about salt bars?

2008-04-24T21:24:00.000+01:00

Firstly, let me say that I love salt bars, and that I am eternally grateful to the wonderful person who first came up with this fabulous idea on an American forum.

Although the whole idea of having lots of salt in a bar of soap might sound rather strange, it does kinda make sense. Salt baths have often been recommended by doctors for people with skin problems, and even the Victorians loved their holidays by the seaside, because they found bathing in the saltwater so beneficial. I have been using salt soap on my face for a few months now, and I love what it has done for my skin. I very very rarely get spots or breakouts anymore these days ( only when I am very stressed and haven't used the salt bar) and they disappear again within a couple of days of using the salt soap. Just one word of caution though, don't use it on broken skin, it will sting!

So what goes into a bar of salt soap? Salt, obviously, lol, but what about the actual soap part? The most important ingredient is a very high amount of coconut oil, because that is the one oil which will make a soap lather even in salt water. Some people have made salt bars with 100% coconut oil and superfatted the bars at 20%. Personally, I find that a little too extreme. Although most people say that they dont find the bar drying despite the high coconut oil contents, I prefer to add some castor oil, to help with the lather and something nice and skin loving, like shea butter or perhaps jojoba or ricebran oil. I superfat these bars at 10% normally and find that the end product lathers quite well if used properly. That means using hot water and working the bar somewhat more than ordinary soap ( keep turning in your hand and adding a bit more hot water once or twice ). That way you will get nice biggish bubbles to start with, but they will quickly turn into a dense and creamy lather. I massage this all over my face and leave it on for a minute or so while I get on with other things ( brushing teeth for example ). Then rinse off with warm water. I think you will be quite surprised how nice your skin feels afterwards. I apply a good facial serum/elixir and my skin feels so soft!

If you dont have any problems with breakouts or spots, then you might think that you have no need for salt bars. But if you get the chance, try one, just to satisfy your curiosity. You may just get to like it anyway. If you feel that a salt bar is not for you, however, then there is always a lovely mild and gentle goatsmilk soap perhaps, or a nettle and jojoba soap, or or or.......

There's a baggie stuck to my nose!

2008-02-29T08:43:00.000Z

You are probably quite reasonably asking yourself why on earth I am sitting here at the computer with a baggie stuck to my nose. The answer is quite simple really, one word........ AMBER!

I love the beautiful rich heady scent of amber in any shape or form, but when you get hold of a piece of premium amber resin, oh boy, you just have to sniff it! And this darling little piece of aroma heaven is in a little bag, which very neatly fits over the end on my nose, lol. So, I type a couple of sentences, I sniff the amber, I sigh with delight, and force myself to put it down again.

It looks quite innocent really, doesnt it?

Amber is mainly produced in India, and is a combination of different tree resins, benzoin ( with varying amounts of vanillin crystals ), essential oils and waxes. Often these amber resins are made by families from jealously guarded secret recipes handed down from generation to generation. So, you'll probably find that no two ambers are exactly the same. Some are sweet, floral ambers, others are more woody, musky, spicy ambers. But they all have one thing in common - they are utterly gorgeous, and absolutely essential for anybody who loves to create their very own fragrances. The following is a quote from edenbotanicals:-

"To the resin and wax base, the amber maker adds essential oils or fragrance oils or ambergris. The types of oils used will determine the final scent of the product. Fragrant plant powders such as sandalwood powder are also added to some ambers. The types of oils typically added include sandalwood and patchouli. Almost any other oils may be added to get the desired scent. A spicy amber may have cinnamon, cardamom or ginger added. A sweet flowery amber may have geranium, rose or a hint of ylang ylang added. Other oils that may be used in certain ambers include: vetiver (khus), spikenard (jatamansi), frankincense, myrrh, cedarwood, vanilla, ambrette musk, etc."

Originally amber was created by an ayurvedic physician as a mood enhancing product, but these days you would probably find it in every parfumers' secret cupboard.

A few months ago, I ground up a piece of premium dark amber and infused it in some oil. Of course, quality control has to be performed every day, so one sniffs the bottle, one puts a drop or two of the oil on a pulse point..... and then one gets totally carried away and rubs it all over one's face! Not such a good idea, lol, the delicate skin of my face protested, and turned red and hot. So, although its fine to rub amber resin on pulse points, don't rub it all over your face!

My very own amber infusion is about three months old now and smells absolutely divine. I also have an amber/vanilla infusion on the go, but I have noticed that the vanilla is not coming through much, it has only softened the amber a tiny bit. I am going to let them brew for another 3 months at least I think, and then use the amber infusion in a very exclusive limited edition range of products, including soap, lotion, bath treats etc., perhaps even a perfume.

In the meantime, I am still sitting here with a baggie stuck to my nose every couple of minutes, LOL, whilst deciding what to with this wonderful piece of amber. For the time being, it will stay in the baggie, on the nose ;-).

A New Adventure

2008-02-28T15:25:00.000Z

A big warm welcome to you! I am Elisabeth, soapmaker and passionate formulator of creams, lotions and all kinds of potions.

My friends' nagging has finally done the trick, I am blogging!

So, if you would like to hear about the latest scent mixes for our creams, or would like to see the newest handmade cold process soaps, then stop by often. You may find a light hearted look at the disasters caused by the naughty soap fairies who visit occasionally, or find recipes for you to try at home. I might recommend my favourite suppliers, fellow soapmakers, or perhaps tell you about bad experiences.

Who knows what tomorrow may bring? The website might finally get finished, a new product could be launched, or perhaps I could see my soaps displayed in another local shop. Not every day is filled with excitement, however, so don't expect a daily update, lol, I would probably bore you to tears rather quickly. But do check back often, you never know, you just might find that bit of information or inspiration you have been searching for.