LabColor Archives - Page 3 of 3

Soap Sunday!

June 1, 2008 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

I spent Sunday soaping. Batch one was a Cold Process batch made with Cappuccino Mica (the brown colored soap in the photo) and non-colored soap (the ivory). I used a vegetable peeler to peel little curls off of pre-made melt and pour soap. The green swirls are colored with Emerald Green LabColor and the yellow swirls are Canary LabColor. I’m interested to see if the colors migrate into the cold process soap soap.

The second batch was to test a prototype loaf mold for the Bramble Berry Flexible Mold Line. The light brown is made with Cappuccino Mica with lighter little swirls of Apricot Blush. The color didn’t do well in the cold process soap. I used a lot of color and it faded quickly but I’ll wait to judge until gel phase is done and the soap is cut. The peaks are made by dipping a whisk 1/2″ down into the soap and pulling up to create texture. There is too much air in the batch. The air bubbles rising to the surface make the over-blending obvious.

Finally, this batch is a lovely 3 color pour made with Cappuccino Mica, Apricot Blush and Orange Mica (discontinued) scented with Peach Fragrance Oil. Again, I was too excitable with the stick blender and blended the Cappuccino-colored soap too much. A few heavy taps got rid of most of the bubbles. Hopefully the rest will migrate to the top and out of the soap during gel phase.

I did mar our kitchen table by setting down a cup with dripping fresh soap. It ate the wood and finish on the table. But, it’s not the first time this table has been abused (if you don’t remember the beeswax spill, click here and here) and won’t be the last. Hopefully my husband will be his normal easy-going self when viewing the lye stain.

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!

Pastel Soap is in the Air!

April 21, 2008 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

I want summer to be here. The snow this weekend tells me it’s not quite ready to appear but I still made springy pastel soap in the hopes it would! These soaps are made in the Small Ovals Flexible Mold with Clear Melt and Pour Soap Base, LabColors and Super Pearly White Mica. I really like how versatile the Super Pearly White Mica is, it adds a pillow-y opaque shimmer to clear melt and pour and really dresses up the stained glass effect that LabColors give in melt & pour soap.

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!

Soapy Geometry

February 11, 2008 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

At dinner the other night, my brother and husband got to talking about cool soap ideas. Since Erik works at Otion and my poor husband has lost his kitchen to soap, they’re both pretty savvy about soapmaking. Somehow, they started talking about how cool it would be to have a geometric soap with manly hard angles, rather than the floofy loopy stuff I’ve been doing of late. So, I set out to make them what they wanted.

Well, sort of … the batch is scented with Rhubarb al Fresco (discontinued) rather than something that screamed, “Man! Man! Man!” but really, it’s the thought that counts, right?

Using the custom loaf mold that Bramble Berry has been testing (this is batch #7), the mold is propped up using (what else?) a bar of soap!

Then, I poured a slab of soap, being careful not to tipple topple the entire project.

After approximately 20 minutes, when the first layer was solid enough to hold another slab of soap but also stay put when slanted the opposite direction, I poured the second layer of soap. This project is done with our new Bulk Base and it soaps like a dream. It’s chock full of liquid glycerin so it cuts easily and melts down smoothly.

This is the view from the top. The Heavy Metal Gold Mica glistens nicely in contrast to the Canary LabColor soap.

The top layer uses a contrasting purple color — Bramble Berry’s non-bleeding Liquid Violet.

I’ll post the Reveal Photos are later today or tomorrow.

Red Velvet Test Batch

February 8, 2008 Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

We recently had a Bramble Berry customer that had a bit of trouble with the Red Velvet LabColor not turning out to be the color she wanted. We made her proprietary recipe and came out with a really bright, snappy color. I’m wondering if it’s a usage rate issue? There’s always a possibility of operator error on our part with a mislabeled bottle too.

The soap on the right used 6 drops of undiluted Red Velvet LabColor in 2 pounds of soap. It also went through a full gel phase which helps the brightness of the color really stick out.

Here’s an example of the Wineberry Mist LabColor with a high and a low usage rate. Notice the difference in shade and hue just by varying the usage rate a bit. The fragrance that we used accelerated trace a lot so it was tricky to smoosh this one fully down in the mold. The darker color used 276 grams of diluted Wineberry Mist in 6.5 lbs of soap.

Fun with Loaf Soap

January 24, 2008 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

We got the prototype for our new flexible loaf molds in. I had lots of fun testing it last night.

The loaf uses Red Blue Mica, Sparkle Gold Mica, Dark Purple LabColor, Teal Labcolor and Canary Labcolor for the various swirled layers. All of the colors are done in Olive Oil Melt and Pour except the Teal Labcolor, which is in Shea Melt and Pour.

The soap is fragranced with Jeweled Citrus (discontinued), Rise and Shine, Mango Mango and just the teensiest touch of Turkish Mocha. It smells great and I can’t wait to cut it!

Watch for the big reveal later today.

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!

Cream Soaps – Final Instructions & Recipes

August 11, 2007 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

Day 1 – Handmade Lotion Soap

We used the handmade lotion from our Lotion Kit recipe. I suspect most handmade lotion recipes will work well.

Full instructions for making melt and pour soap are here and here.

10% Handmade Lotion soap

8 oz. White Melt & Pour Soap Base

.8 oz. Handmade Lotion

.15 oz. Energy Fragrance Oil
1 drop Canary Labcolor

25% Handmade Lotion Soap

8 oz. White Melt & Pour Soap Base

2 oz. Handmade Lotion

.15 oz. Energy Fragrance Oil

1 drop Canary Labcolor

Resulting (yellow) soap is very light, fluffy and floats in water.

Day 2 – Sweet Almond Oil Soap

10% Sweet Almond Oil soap

8 oz. Clear Melt & Pour Soap Base

.8 oz. Sweet Almond Oil

.15 oz. Rosehip Jasmine Fragrance Oil
1 drop Fuchsia Labcolor

25% Sweet Almond Oil Soap

8 oz. Clear Melt & Pour Soap Base

2 oz. Sweet Almond Oil

.15 oz. Rosehip Jasmine Fragrance Oil

1 drop Fuchsia Labcolor

Day 3 – Store-Bought Lotion Soap

10% Store-Bought Lotion soap

8 oz. White Melt & Pour Soap Base

.8 oz. Store-Bought Lotion

.15 oz. Plumeria Fragrance Oil

2 drops Royal Purple Labcolor

25% Store-Bought Lotion Soap

8 oz. White Melt & Pour Soap Base

2 oz. Store-Bought Lotion

.15 oz. Plumeri a Fragrance Oil

2 drops Royal Purple Labcolor

Full instructions for making melt and pour soap are here and here.

Conclusions:

None of the recipes lather very well. This is because the extra oil (from the lotion or the Sweet Almond Oil) is weighing down the bubbles. This causes an oil slick which is moisturizing for your skin.

The recipes with the handmade lotion both float. This is exciting. The resulting bars are light, fluffy and marshmallow like. If you were retailing these bars, you would be selling 25% air. That will help your margins dramatically.

Our favorite recipe is the one with the 25% handmade lotion. It is lighter, and fluffier than the purple (Day 3 Store Bought Lotion) bar and leaves the skin supple and soft.

Good names for these bars would be: Shaving Soap, Cleansing Bar, Nourishing Clean, No Bubbles Bar … Post if you have any other ideas!

The premium I would charge for these bars (extra labor, extra ingredients, more education for the public) would be 25%, or $1-$1.50 extra per bar.

I hope you enjoyed this week’s project. Many thanks to Nicole in Customer Service at BB for her help on this project!

Cream Soap, Day One

August 8, 2007 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

Last week, someone posted and asked if there was a way to make cream soap without going through the long process in Catherine Failor’s Making Cream Soap book. I didn’t think so. It was worth a try, though I created 6 different recipes to try and mimic Catherine Failor’s Cream Soap. The next few days on the Soap Queen blog will detail the project, steps, and outcomes of some of the experiments.

What You’ll Need:

Fragrance Oil
Bottles
Labcolors
Clear Melt and Pour Soap Base
White Melt and Pour Soap Base
Handmade Lotion
store bought lotion
Sweet Almond Oil
one soap-only blender

When you make melt and pour soap, it’s best to chop up the soap into small chunks. This helps the melt down process and enables a more smooth, even melt. Cover your heat-safe container with Saran wrap to help keep in any moisture that may evaporate during the melting. Melt the soap in the microwave on short 30 second bursts, taking care to not boil or overheat the soap.

For the first experiment, we used handmade lotion in a 10% addition rate and a 25% addition rate.

Melt and Pour soap is well balanced in its natural state. Additives such as oils or lotions weigh down lather. With normal stirring, oil additives over about 3% – 5% will not stay in the soap. Instead, the extra oil typically rises to the surface of the soap, producing an unattractive oil slick.

The way to get around this tendency is to use a blender. The photo above is showing the melted soap after 30 seconds in the blender. A blender helps to emulsify theoils or extra additives into the melt and pour soap base. Remember that the blender may take on the scent of the fragrance. Only use your blender if you are okay with not using it again for food.

Check back tomorrow to read about the results of the 10% and 25% handmade lotion additive soap.

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!

Using 3-D Molds – Layering & Color Details

July 30, 2007 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

Here are the final photos of our 3-D molded soap project. More advanced techniques include layering and detailing the cut outs in the soap.

Instructions for coloring in the dragonfly: You will need a dropper, a glass of very hot water, alcohol spritzer and melted soap in a contrasting color.

Draw up the melted soap into your dropper. If it is too cool, it will clog your dropper. If it is too warm, it will melt your dropper. I just make sure that my soap is not steaming before I pull it up into the dropper.

With your dropper tip situated comfortably in the crevice of the design, push gently down on the bulb until the soap streams out in an even manner. Slowly fill in the crevices and use the alcohol to smooth out the surface of your design.

I use the hot water to clean out the dropper in between squirts and also in case the soap starts to harden up inside the dropper before I am able to use it.

Doing multiple layers requires nothing more than patience. My tip is to use the same brand of soap base for all the layers. I always use the Bramble Berry House brand for layering. It seems to stick better in my opinion. Pour your first layer and wait thirty minutes. Melt your second layer, pour the soap and wait for thirty minutes. Continue to do this until you are satisfied with your coloring combinations. The secret to getting the soap to stick together is to use the same brand of base and pour fairly quickly in between layers.

I hope you have enjoyed your tutorial and that you feel inspired to try these fun, unique soaps on your own now! Expect the contest winners to be announced later today!

Word Bars!

July 11, 2007 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

I made Alphabet Soap last week and have already posted a bit about my forays into the project. Here is the final result of the first bars. This idea would be wonderful for a children’s birthday party (thank you Michelle from Blissful Creativity for the suggestion!) or as favors to give away at any celebration.

The “J” is what happens when you pour soap that is still steaming. A general rule for soap shapes is that if the soap is steaming or is too hot to stick your finger in, it will most likely melt your embedding soap item. The effect is quite unique and pretty but if it’s not the look you originally wanted, it can be disappointing. For clean-cut soap lines, make sure the soap is not steaming when you pour the overpour.

I arranged all the mini soap bars in a cookie pan. Then, I poured lightly scented (Pink Grapefruit and Spearmint Eucalyptus Fragrance Oils blended) and barely colored (Blue Mix LabColor), Aloe Vera Melt and Pour base gently over the entire batch. It took about 4 pounds to fill the cookie sheet.

In my haste to shove the soap word bar in place, I flipped the “R.” By the time I noticed, the soap had already formed a skin and the “R” had adhered to the bottom, making it immovable.

Check back tomorrow to see the final results of the entire cookie-sheet project.

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!

Wasabi Soap!

May 27, 2007 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

Making these soaps was a fun experiment in color and scent. I used clear melt and pour soap bas e, and our new Wasabi Fragrance Oil (light, airy, green, fresh with a hint of spice), and Sage Mist and Countryside Moss (discontinued) and a touch of either Kelp Powder or Apricot Seed Powder (discontinued).

Using Labcolors to dye Easter Eggs

April 9, 2007 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

We dyed Easter Eggs this weekend with Labcolors.

For the uninitiated, Labcolors are a colorant system for making cool, consistent colors in soaps, lotions and water based toiletries. Since they are essentially FD&C colors, I figured that they would work swimmingly for dying Easter Eggs.

And, I was right…

The basic egg dying was like this:

3 oz. water
1 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
15 drops Labcolor

Drop the hard-boiled egg in, let it sit for 1 to 3 minutes and voila, dyed Easter Egg.

Of course, this wasn’t enough for the adventurous in our house, so we proceeded to make a huge mess dying Easter eggs using Wesson Olive Oil and Fresca soda. Photos of that and instructions for how to use Fresca (calorie free!) soda for making your Easter eggs look very fizzily cool.

Easter is here. Make soap instead of dyeing eggs!

March 29, 2007 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

Easter is almost here and I know your family is probably descending upon your house (not that I’m not thrilled and excited to see them!). For a fun afternoon activity, after all the children are in a post-sugar-induced-blank-stare-state and the adults are just thrilled that the furniture has lived to see another year sans chocolate hand prints, Bramble Berry has the most adorable kit for making Easter Soap.

For $30, you’ll have enough materials to make, package and label 8 – 10 bars of adorable Easter themed soap – and memories of fun creative family fun to last a lifetime.