If you have never made cold process soap before, I strongly suggest getting a couple of basic recipes under your belt before diving in. Check out Soap Queen TV on Cold Process if you want to get started with cold process. It’s a 4 part series that will take you through the basics (and be sure to watch the episode on Lye Safety). If you’re a book worm, Bramble Berry also has some helpful reading on the cold process technique.
Search Results for: blend essential oils
Sea Clay Avocado Facial Bar
Guest post by Amanda from LovinSoap.com
I was so excited to see sea clay being offered at Bramble Berry!
This dark gray-green clay is ideal for facial masks and body mud masks. It originated as mud laid down under the sea millions of years ago. This clay acts as a mild exfoliant and is thought to have many properties around detox and cellulite reduction. – Bramble Berry website
I immediately thought of making a facial bar. I had a new recipe that I wanted to try out. This recipe is great for those that want to go palm oil free but don’t want to sub lard or tallow. I’m really happy with how it came out and make it often.
Going Vertical
Enthusiastic feedback flew in after posting this tutorial in the Bramble Berry Newsletter we just knew we had to share it with the Soap Queen Readers too! We are loving the possibilities with this new vertical mold! PS – Do you get our newsletter? It comes out monthly and has specials for newsletter subscribers only along with a recipe or technique that newsletter readers see before anyone else! Sign up on the Bramble Berry Home page.
Loofah Cold Process Soap Tutorial
I’m New! Now What?!
Recently my friend Debbie wrote me on Twitter and told me she loved the handmade (cold process) soap I had given her for Christmas and wanted to learn how to make her own. She asked, “How do I start?” Since that’s probably a longer answer than 140 characters on Twitter will give me, Debbie, this blog post is for you!
1. Read this article on the types of soapmaking. The type of soap you want to make is ‘Cold Process Soapmaking.
Rebatch Soap Cold Process Soap Melt and Pour Soap |
2. Watch the 4 *free* videos at SoapQueen.TV on Cold Process Soapmaking.
Lye Safety
Basic Terms
Using Fragrances & Essential Oils
Using Colorants
After learning more about the process, are you still interested in moving ahead?
If yes, keep going.
If not, soapmaking is super fun! Consider a slightly less labor intense method of soapmaking – Melt and Pour soap or Rebatching soap. Kits for Melt and Pour and Rebatching are here.
3. Keep educating yourself. TeachSoap.com is a great resource. The TeachSoap forum is helpful. All of the posts here tagged with “Cold Process” add to your knowledge base and the SoapDishForum is a fantastic learning opprtounity.
4. Order a beginner kit. It has everything you need to make your first batch of soap except the Lye. Order the lye along with the beginner kit. Beginner kit A is here. Beginner Kit B is here; Lye is here.
5. Make sure you have all your safety equipment – gloves, goggles, apron etc…
6. Get yourself to Goodwill to get a stainless steel bowl or glass bowl, a couple spatulas, spoons and invest $20 in a good Stick Blender.
7. Wait for your kit. Keep reading. Let your excitement build.
8. When the kit arrives, safety up! Goggles on! Gloves on! Cover those counters with newspaper. Lock pets outside. Children under 14 should be away from your soaping area. Find one hour of uninterupted time.
Cold Process …. With a Twist!
Add elaborate details to your Cold Process soap easily with fun melt & pour soap pieces. In the bars above, I embedded a basic brown and black layered melt & pour loaf and some experimental marbliezed soap in green and white cold process soap.
Tip: To ensure your melt and pour does not ‘sweat’ in the CP soap, let it sit out for 24 hours under a running fan before embedding into your CP soap recipe.
What You’ll Need
32 oz. Apricot Kernel Oil
20 oz. Palm Oil
18 oz. Coconut Oil
4 oz. Castor Oil
1.90 oz. Jojoba Oil
10.7 oz. Lye
25 oz. Distilled Water
4 oz. Hungarian Lavender
Tools:
Stainless steel or glass mixing bowls
Scale
Heat safe mixing spoon
Electric Stick Blender
Vinegar (in case of splashes)
Gloves, goggles and long sleeve shirt
Cardboard box lined with freezer paper or Bramble Berry Wooden Loaf Mold
Step 1: Gather all of your ingredients and tools. Weigh your oils and have all of your containers and molds ready before you even look at the lye. Also, plan out your embedds and make sure they fit in your mold the way you want.
Tip: You don’t need to invest in expensive molds to start making soap! We just used a sturdy cardboard box and lined it with freezer paper. To figure out how much soap your mold will hold, use this formula: Length x width x height x .55 = approximate soap in ounces. When calculating your height you don’t want to fill your box all the way to the top – so just put in the height you want your soap to be.
Step 2: SUIT UP! Put on your gloves, long sleeves, and eye protection.
Step 3: Wearing your full safety protection, mix your pre-measured lye into your water. Once it has cooled to between 120F to 130F, gently mix the lye water into your melted oils.
Step 4: Once your soap has reached light trace, add the Lavender essential oil and colorant(s) of your choice.
Step 5: Divide your soap into different bowls if you are making multiple colors.
Step 5: Pour about an inch of soap into your mold – if you are using multiple colors, pour both colors and give it a gentle swirl.
Step 7: Place your soap embeds in the CP soap. Wiggle them down a little (your gloves should still be on) to make sure no air bubbles are trapped.
Step 8: Pour more CP soap over the top to cover the embeds.
Step 9: Wait a minimum of 48 hours before attempting to cut. Remember, Cold Process Soap requires a full 4 to 6 weeks of cure and dry time before using.
Have a question about this blog post? Come join us at Bramble Berry’s Facebook page and we can help you out with any of your soapy questions!
Whipped Belly Butter Tutorial
Wondering why I chose all the ingredients I did? I wrote an explanation here. Curious about how to infuse oils? Tutorial here.
Weigh out all of your ingredients (volume doesn’t provide the same. This is a photo of the German Chamomile. It is a dark beautiful blue.
Keeping the Bramble Bump Safe
Aromatherapy & Pregnancy : The History of Warnings
Emmenagogic essential oils: basil, carrot see, German and Roman chamomile, sweet fennel, clary sage, juniper berry, lavender, sweet marjoram, myrrh, rose, rosemary, peppermint.
Tangle Free Soap Queen TV!
Learn to make Shampoo and Conditioner in this episode of Soap Queen TV.
I love making my own hair care products so I can scent them with my favorite fragrances and layer my signature scents with matching bar soaps and lotions (for a subtle scent that lasts all day)! Making hair conditioner is just as easy as making lotion. You won’t believe how fast and economical this project is.
As a special bonus, I made the label template used in the video available as a free download on the Bramble Berry web site- Check it out here!
How to Make Shampoo and Conditioner from Soap Queen on YouTube.
Fragrance Blend:
1 part Rosemary Essential oil
1 part Peppermint 1st dist. Essential oil
1 part Tahitian Vanilla Fragrance
For the Shampoo:
1/4 oz Fragrance Oil Blend
10 oz. Shampoo Base
For the Conditioner:
2 grams Liquid Silk
22 grams Liquid Glycerin
35 grams BTMS-50
13 grams Jojoba Oil
6 grams Sweet Almond Oil
12 grams DL-Panthenol
374 grams Distilled Water
4 grams Fragrance Oil Blend
4 grams Optiphen
Get everything you need to make this project added to your Bramble Berry shopping cart by clicking here.
Mojito Melt and Pour Soap Tutorial
I love reading each and every blog comment posted by Soap Queen Readers. Thank you for all of your input and inspiration- It really makes it fun for me! Mid July, I posted a tutorial on Watermelon Soaps and received a comment from SweetMadeSoap that she had made a delicious Mojito Soap with shades of green and white scented with Lime and Peppermint Essential oils. I just had to give the Mojito soap a try (as my mouth started watering just reading the comment). And the results are in…
NOTE: The Scalloped Round Mold shown in this tutorial has been discontinued. This kit now contains the Round Mold.
Glossy Silicone Tray Mold
Mint Leaves: For my dark colored mint leaves, I used clear melt and pour mixed with Liquid Green Colorant and a sprinkle of Yellow Mica. Then I poured a thin layer into a brownie pan tray mold. Once it cooled, I used my mini leaf cookie cutter to cut out the leaves. Try adding a little bit of white soap base to the mix if you want a lighter mint color. As you can see, I did both!
Assembly: Pour a thin layer of clear melt and pour (that has cooled to 130 degrees) into your scalloped round soap mold. Spritz four mint leaves and add them to the soap base. Then add another thin layer of clear melt and pour. Spritz three or four ice cubes with rubbing alcohol and add them to the soap, on top of the mint leaves. Then start the random assembly. Add more mint leaves and ice cubes until the mold is full and you have mint and ice sticking out everywhere. Repeat with the other cavities and remember that they’re not all going to be the same. There are no two Mojito Soaps alike (in my experience).
Rose Bath Fizzy
Pyrex Glass measuring cups
Fragrance Oil or Essential Oil (optional)
Citric Acid
Baking Soda
Simple Heart Mold
Witch Hazel
1 lb. Citric Acid
2 lbs. Baking Soda
1/4 ounce Fragrance or Essential Oil (optional)
1/2 ounce rose petals (dried or fresh)
Step 1: Measure Citric Acid and Baking Soda. Mix together thoroughly. Blend clumps fully out and add rose petals. Spritz in with hazel – just enough to dampen and wet the mixture until it holds together, like a slightly dry pie crust.
Romantic Reeds Tutorial
Fragrance Oil or Essential Oil
DPG (Dipropylene Glycol)
Rubbing Alcohol
Reeds
Reed Bottle
Last but not least is a collage from my old magazine collection (I knew I saved them for a reason). I just picked out fun colors and things that I love…notice the iphone, Twitter bird and the work out girl.
Please note: The cute curly Ting Ting sticks don’t wick-up the fragrance blends like the reeds do – but they are so cute I used them as is. If you are trying to fragrance a large room try mixing in some reed diffusers with the curly Ting Tings.
Soap Queen TV 2010 Season Begins!
This year we are focusing on other types of projects and techniques including Cold Process Soapmaking, Lotions, Scrubs and so much more so stay tuned!
Soap Queen TV – Massage Candles from Soap Queen on Vimeo.
Massage candles are a wonderfully luxurious treat to make for yourself or that special someone. A massage candle is a blend of skin safe waxes, oils and essential oils that melt at a low temperature, perfect for a warm and soothing massage.
Natural Hand Germ Busters
Early this morning I was on the Martha Stewart Sirius Radio Show discussing all natural hand sanitizers. Since it’s officially cold and flu season, we’ve been busy testing all natural “germ busting” recipes that you can take on the go! Our goal is to share natural recipes that you can make in your own home without most of the chemicals that are in most sanitizers on the market. Here’s what we’ve been working on. Enjoy!
3 tablespoons water
2 ml Cinnamon Bark Essential Oil or Cinnamon Leaf
4 ml Lemon Essential Oil
4 ml Eucalyptus Essential Oil
*Directions: Mix all of the ingredients together. Shake and use.
This type of recipe is dated back to the 15th century. Thieves covered themselves in something similar to this oil so they could steal from plague victims and dead bodies without catching the disease. Studies about ‘Thieves Oil’ have also tested essential oils like Oregano & Thyme and shown they are effective against a host of bacteria (Journal of Essential Oil Research [J. Essent. Oil Res.]. Vol. 10, no. 5, pp. 517-523. Sept-Oct 1998.). With this recipe, you’ll need to shake the bottle each and every time you use it because essential oils and water don’t naturally mix. Cinnamon Bark and Cinnamon Leaf Essential Oil can be irritating to skin. If any irritation occurs, double the water (use 6 Tablespoons) to decrease irritation. If irritation continues, switch out the Cinnamon Leaf EO with Tea Tree Essential Oil.
1 tablespoon rubbing alcohol
3 tablespoons Aloe Vera Water/Juice
2 ml Cinnamon Leaf EO
3 ml Tea Tree EO
3 ml Lemon or Lemongrass EO
*Directions: Mix all of the ingredients together. Shake and use. Since Alcohol is a natural emulsifier, this recipe will turn white and not require shaking each and every time before use. Cinnamon Leaf Essential Oil can be irritating to skin. If any irritation occurs, double the liquid (use 6 Tablespoons) to decrease irritation. If irritation continues, switch out the Cinnamon Leaf Essential Oil with Tea Tree Essential Oil. This blend is based on the research in the Journal of Cranio-Maxillofacial Surgery (2009) available online at www.sciencedirect.com
3 tablespoons Aloe Vera Gel or Liquid
5 ml Lemon EO
4 ml Tea Tree EO
Optional: 2 ml White Thyme Essential Oil
*Directions: Mix all of the ingredients together. Shake and use. Can also be used on furniture (but do a small test patch before you spray it all over your grandma’s heirloom antique chest of drawers).
1 ml White Thyme Essential Oil
1 ml Litsea Essential Oil
2 ml Orange Essential Oil
1/2 C. Aloe Vera
1/2 Teaspoon Lecithin
*Directions: Combine the lecithin and the essential oils together in a small container. Slowly pour the essential oil mixture into the aloe vera while stick blending the mixture. This will naturally help emulsify the mixture (think salad dressing). Lecithin is typically found in health food stores and is a natural emulsifier. It has a shocking yellow color. This blend will go salad dressing thick and will not easily spray unless the spritzer is very hearty. Because of its lotion like texture, this recipe is best used on hands and body rather than furniture.
If you have favorite recipes to share, let me know. This is an area we could all use helpful tips and tricks in to keep us as healthy as possible this holiday season.
Here are some great links that really helped me with my research: Thieves Blend, Fungus Killed by Essential Oils, Antimicrobial Essential Oils, Antibacterial Soaps, Tea Tree oil antimicrobial, Tea Tree Oil & Fungus, Tea Tree Oil.