Tutorials on soapmaking, bath fizzies, lotions and more
Here’s a quick video illustrating one of my all time favorite clean-up tricks. After making lip stick recently, I was faced with a dark red, oily and waxy mess. It may seem like an impossible task; but with a little melt & pour soap it couldn’t be easier.
I bet you have some great tips of your own. I’d love to hear them. Please share them in the comments below.
In this episode of Soap Queen TV, I show a fun melt and pour technique for creating soaps that look like over-sized dominoes. I used a luxurious blend of Honey and Goat Milk melt & pour soap to make the perfect ivory color.
To make this soap you will need:
Get everything you need to make this soap.
Note the video lists 16 oz of Honey M&P but we actually used 18 oz. using a little less in the final layer won’t ruin your soap, so if you only have 16 oz of honey soap – it will still work!
In this episode of Soap Queen TV, I show how easy the Faux Funnel pour technique is. But first let’s talk about the name. We call it the Faux Funnel pour because it looks like the funnel pour technique, but you don’t use a funnel! The result is that the layers are a little less even. I think it gives the soap a beautifully organic look and when you cut the soap every slice is a surprise.
SAFETY FIRST: Suit up for safe handling practices! That means goggles, gloves and long sleeves. Make sure kids, pets, and other distractions and tripping hazards are out of the house or don’t have access to your soaping space. Always soap in a well-ventilated area.
To make this soap you will need:
Click here to get everything you need to make this soap!
In this episode of Soap Queen TV, I redeem myself. In case you don’t remember, I posted a video on how to do the Peacock Swirl in cold process soap and although the soap turned out nice, it wasn’t a great example of the peacock swirl design. So I designed a set of tools to help me do it perfectly every time. While I’ve used the swirl tools in previous tutorials (peacock challenge, frog foot swirl, & butterfly swirl), you get to see them in action in this video!
Please Note: The in-video links only work on the YouTube website (darn!).
See the basic cold process videos here.
SAFETY FIRST: Suit up for safe handling practices! That means goggles, gloves and long sleeves. Make sure kids, pets, and other distractions and tripping hazards are out of the house or don’t have access to your soaping space. Always soap in a well-ventilated area.
Get everything you need to make this soap with the click of a button!
To make the soap in this video you will need:
Tools and molds I used include:
Lights, camera, action! The team and I spent this morning filming not one but three episodes of Soap Queen TV. We filmed a cold process recipe, a melt and pour project and finished off with three shades of lipstick. We even had time to squeeze in a helpful Soap Queen TV short (hint: it will make cleaning those oily lipstick containers a breeze!). Look for these brand new episodes coming in 2014!
All prepped and ready to go!
Are you excited to make your first batch of cold process soap? Make sure you prep your colorants! In this Soap Queen Short we show you what you need to prepare your colors beforehand to ensure an even pigmentation and give you more time to work with your soap. The more prepared you can be with all of your ingredients, the better your soap design will turn out. We use a few simple pigments and oxides and mix them into some of our favorite lightweight oils like sweet almond, sunflower, and canola.
Learn to Prepare Colorants for Cold Process Soapmaking from Soap Queen on Vimeo.
This link will take you to a great list of our pigments, and below you will see some of our best lightweight oils for mixing colorants:
We also have a battery powered 4-in-1 Mini Mixer that will make the job fast and easy.
For more information on coloring your soap consult some of our other resources like Lori Nova’s great E-Book, Color with Confidence and the Color with Confidence Starter Kit or check out Kathryn Hackney’s E-Book,Cold Process Colorant Master Class.
Really, this could be called ‘Human Massage Oil’ since it’s not just good for babies but boy oh boy, little babies do love it. =) In this Soap Queen Short, I show how to make a baby massage oil and then try it out on Lily. She loved it. If you don’t have a baby, this recipe is also a wonderful massage oil for anyone, especially those with sensitive skin. By the way, Lily nailed her part in this video on the first take – she’s a natural.
Note: The Bulgarian Lavender Essential Oil has been discontinued. The kit now includes Lavender 40/42 Essential Oil.
To make this recipe you will need:
To make the infused Calendula oil follow the instructions in this video or in this e-book and use:
Get everything you need to make this project added to your Bramble Berry shopping cart by clicking here.
I’ve been so absorbed with cold process recipes because of the Soap Crafting book I thought it would be nice to change things up and get back to melt & pour soap. In this episode of Soap Queen TV, I make an incredibly luxurious soap which I named the Spa Bar. For the base I used our Shea melt & pour soap and then I used Activated Charcoal and Rose Clay for their purifying and cleansing properties – plus they look gorgeous together. To scent the bars I used Sandalwood, Rose Absolute, and Red Brazilian Mandarin Essential Oils for a natural finish to this tiny spa in a bar of soap project.
To make this soap you will need:
Click Here to add everything you need to make spa bars to your Bramble Berry shopping cart!
In this quick little short I show how to make a lovely bath soak. It’s filled with skin-loving ingredients like Calendula, Lavender, and Colloidal Oatmeal. It’s so fast and easy to make you’ll never take a plain bath again!
Click here to get everything you need for this project added to your shopping cart!
To make this recipe you will need:
For the final installment of our Home Spa Collection of projects I made a short video on how to make your own potpourri. I used many of our dried herbs & flowers and placed them in a container in pretty layers. It’s very simple and the results are beautiful and much less expensive than a store bought version.
Interested in our other Home Spa Collection projects? Check out our Emulsified Scrub, Soothing Eye Pillow, Gentle Gel Serum, and Pink Salt and Shea Bath Bar.
To make this project you will need:
Click here to get everything you need to make potpourri
Click here to get the ingredients for the fragrance oil blend
Click here to get the ingredients for the essential oil blend.
I love the simplicity of this recipe, which made it perfect for a Soap Queen Short Video (What’s a Soap Queen Short? It’s a video that doesn’t have me talking and is only one camera view, instead of showing me talking and then doing close ups of the product demonstration. Some ideas just don’t need a lot of production!). Just combine Coconut Oil and Salt and the fragrance or essential oil of your choice and you have a luxurious scrub. You may find in the warmer months that it is very soft since the Coconut oil melts at such a low temperature. So be sure you store it in a container with a good seal like our Plastic Bail Jar.
To make this Salt Scrub you will need:
Click here to get everything you need to make this scrub.
This technique is quick, easy and gives a beautiful result. So I thought it would be perfect for a Soap Queen short video! Dry brushing mica onto finished soap is a fast way to highlight the detail of a soap mold design. Although it will wash off in the first or second use, you’ll still have a pretty bar of soap – just a little plainer looking.
To make the soap in this video you will need:
Get everything you need to make this soap with the click of a button!
It took me over a year of testing and formulating to find the perfect recipe for Solid Bubble Bath. It dries to a solid bar – but isn’t so hard that you can’t crumble it up with your fingers. Rolling up the bar is a little tricky to get the cute swirl in the center, but if you’ve ever made sushi or a jelly roll cake you will be a pro at this. And, nothing says you can’t start easy and just go with one color instead of the double color that I show in this video. [Read more…]
This episode of Soap Queen TV is pretty long at almost 13 minutes. But I promise, it’s worth it! In this video I show one of my favorite techniques for working with milk – the freeze method. It’s one of the techniques I teach in my Making Milk Soap from Scratch book. In this video, I create a 4 color in-the-pot swirl and use our silicone cube mold to show that you can get beautiful colors and designs with milk based soaps. [Read more…]