Soap Troubles and Triumphs...hopefully


What's Good, LoveBuds?

If you're following me on Instagram and Facebook (you should be following me on Instagram and Facebook), you have seen my early forays into cold process soapmaking.

I really have fun appreciating this art form, but I have (had) retired from serious product making years ago.  I really enjoy the problem solving aspects of researching, creating and trying new and different bath and body recipes, but that is the fun part for me.  Once I've created a good product, I want to move on and try something new.  As a retail shop owner, your clientele wants you to keep creating that same stuff over and over again - For me it became very frustrating which started to outweigh the rewards and this was a contributing factor in my shutting my company Shea Essentials.

One of my greatest accomplishments once I began creating handmade soap, was participating in the Bramble Berry Soap Swap and being featured prominently on the Soap Queen's blog post about it back in 2011

Photo Credit: www.SoapQueen.com

Photo Credit www.SoapQueen.com

See my grapefruit lilly soap??!?!?  I was so excited!  Flash forward to now...I'm minding my business and I get an e-mail from the Soap Queen herself, advertising a soap making kit to make a simple blueberry soap.  I'm not sure why I took this particular e-mail as a challenge.  I get these kinds of things from suppliers all the time.  But this blueberry soap, had to be made and I was gonna do it!  And by golly, I'll be the belle of the ball during the Fall 2016 Bramble Berry Soap Swap!

I purchased the components of the kit that I did not already own and set out to replicate this gorgeous soap.

 What I created was not quite it....

My soap, to which I added sodium lactate to harden it, which was included as an optional step in the recipe, went in the mold teal green, instead of the beautiful creamy light blue in Anne-Marie's creation.  But it was still a cute color.  However, out of the mold, when I tried to cut it just 24 hours after making it, it crumbled...the ruins of my pipe dreams of just quickly whipping up a perfect soap.

My next attempt...Color looks good....
 Now this is starting to look like Anne-Marie's.  Yes, I can do this....

Well, almost.  The instructions warned about not letting the soap gel, but I fumbled and forgot to put it in the freezer and then went back and stuck in the freezer with the resulting soap.  Many have paid me compliments saying it looks unique, like there is a big blueberry in the middle of the soap.  I appreciate all the feedback, but it's not quite what I was going for...so I'll be revisiting this recipe again.

In the meantime, I've tried a few different types of soap, a few different fragrances, and those I am sharing all the time on Instagram and Facebook.  So check out my journey.  I'm not quite sure what I am going to do with all this soap.  Some friends say sell it, if I do, it will be at discount prices just so I can keep experimenting, I definitely won't be making the same soaps over again and I won't be opening an official "store".  I really enjoying sharing my love of lather with you, exploring new and different brands and now maybe even new and different soap techniques.  We'll see how this looks in a few weeks along with my other attempts.

If you're interested in creating handmade bath and body products, consider joining the DIY Hair, Bath & Beauty Facebook Group.  I lead a DIY challenge there each month and its for anyone from novices to experts.  We just share a love of Doing It Our (your) selves.

That's it for now,

Until next time~

Peace, Love and Lots of perfect (not half gelled) blueberry scented Bubbles!

A.

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