Christmas Soap Gift Set

My december was occupied with soap making. I prepared soaps for my family and friends. Remember the recycled jelly molds that I used to make cute li'l soaps? I used the same mold again. Then packed the soaps into mooncake PET containers and placed 4 pieces of individually wrapped soaps into mooncake boxes. I am so happy with how the gift sets came out.

Here are the photos of  the soaps I made this month:

Wanna see how? Below is the video:

Merry Christmas and a prosperous new year to all.  This is my last post for 2015.

Wanna know my New Year's resolution? I've decided that I want to actively post videos in my youtube channel. I want to follow a schedule and I think posting a video once every week is manageable to me.  I posted a total of 10 videos from 12 September to-date. If I can follow my new year's resolution, I will need to post atleast 50 videos next year.  (Cough, cough. ahem, ahem) Alright supposed to be 52? Why? Because I plan not to post any video during the Holyweek. The other one? I am not so sure yet but a little bit of leeway would not hurt right? lol.

Tomorrow hello to 2016!

It's not just soaps..It's art.

I love handcrafting soaps mainly because of its science and art.  

Come to think of it, there is nothing so special in handcrafting soaps, right?  Its chemistry is so basic that even kid's can do it (with adult supervision due to safety concerns in handling chemicals).

Traditionally, soaps are produced by combining fats/oils and alkali.  The fats and oils from vegetable, mineral sources or animal origin are degraded into fatty acids using lye and the saponication process would produce crude soap (alkali salt of fatty acid).

Did you know that today, most soaps available commercially are not true soaps but synthetic detergents?  Read your soap labels and if you see chemical names like Sodium Laureth Sulfate (SLS) and/or Sodium Lauryl Ether Sulfate ( SLES) it simply means that the manufacturer had added an anionic detergent and surfactant for its additional benefits on foaming, cleansing and emulsifying properties. 

Enough, with all this technical terms.  Now the fun part - the art behind soap making.  What makes soap making so interesting is that you can add a wide range of additives:  natural colorants or synthetic pigments, mica for sparkle, fragrances and essential oils, fruit and vegetable extracts, and so on and so forth.  Providing you with that wonderful experience obtained from vibrant colors and aromatic goodness while nourishing your skin for that healthy and radiant glow.

With all this additional ingredients in soaps, the bar that you are currently holding could either be classified as a cosmetic or drug depending on the manufacturer's claim and also depending on the regulatory standpoint.  If that soap had moisturizing effects, or that soap will help you to smell nice or would deodorize your body, then that is classified as cosmetics.  If that soap is antibacterial or claims to help to clear acne, claims to make you slimmer or would help to whiten your skin, then it is categorized as a drug.  Bottomline is that, whether it is a real soap, a cosmetic or a drug, manufacturer's are still allowed to name their products as soaps because its main objective is still to cleanse your skin.

Now going back "It's not just soaps. It's art."  I came up with this tagline to always remind myself that when I make soap I am embracing the simplicity soap crafting and its underlying complexities. 

Hera's Rage Soap

It's All Saint's Day!

I recently bought a 4-cavity square shaped mold from an online seller. I was very excited about it, but I turned very disappointed when I received it. Each cavity has L'ese embossed to it. So if i'll use this on my soaps, each one will have this brand engraved to it. Can you believe that?

I want to file a complaint. Luckily, I went back to see the listing and zoomed the photos.
There you go! I didn't notice the embossed wording there before! So to make the long story short, it was my fault. Hence, I didnt file any complaint. lol.

What to do with this molds? Then, I remembered that at the back of my mind I want to make an oatmeal milk and honey soap. Voila! that is my solution.

I cut square pieces of bubble wraps. Placed it in each cavity and molded my soaps there. 

If you noticed my previous soaps were always named with positivity, Nymph's Fantasies, Cupid's Kisses, Aphrodite's Love, etc. Today, with this whole hu-ha in mind, i've decided to name this soap, Hera's Rage. Another reason for that name is that I want to make another version of this with added oatmeal bran. Since its a scrub soap, I want to make that contrast to differentiate this againts my other creations.

See that sheen in front? I used gold mica dust for that. In the end, I enjoyed making this soap. I had left over base so I molded it to make cute li'l flower soap:

I'm sure that you want to learn on how to do this. 

Feel free to watch the video below. 

Hey, it would also not hurt me if you would "like, share and subsribe" to it. :-)

Until next time..

Cute Li'l Airplane Soaps Party Favors

Today is Ate Berna's 50th Birthday celebration.  

This is a surprise birthday party that we had arranged since September.

My task was to prepare 50 pcs of party favors.  

The theme was "Travel" so I've molded airplane soaps in shades of purple (her favorite color).

With the purple color request, I've decided to match it with lavander and lemon scent.

So I packed the party favors in cute boxes.

Here is the video link

Happy Birthday Ate Berns.  More birthdays to come...

Nymph's Fantasies Soaps

I did a quick search to check on what benefits does one get in Lavander essential oils and Lemon essential oils.

Well, I found out that Lavander is one of the most popular aromatheraphy oil because of its calming and relaxing benefits.  While Lemon, helps with mental clarity and reduce stress and depression. 

Combining all this benefits into one, I came up with Nymph's Fantasies Soap and scented it with Lavender and Lemon essential oils. 

Now for the design part.  

I noticed the embroidery in our table runner and the photo below inspired me.

So I decided to make a big curl and embedded it inside the soap.

I used wax paper taped on the four corners and filled it with a very thin layer of soap.  The embed's transclucent effect were obtained through the combination of 30% opaque and 70% transparent melt & pour soap bases.

Apollo's Delight Soap

I want to make a soap that would make me and friends as if 

we just came out from the shower.

So I mixed grapefruit, sweet orange and lime fragrances.  

I can't believe it, the smell is really refreshing.

For the design, I made the soap look like it's a tetris game or checkerboard.  

I made a thin loaf layer of pale green soap.  Then, I cut it into strips just like stringbeans.
Then placed 3 strips at the bottom of another silicon loaf mold.
Then, layered it with transparent and opaque soaps.

I think that it came out really amazing.
See how lovely is the floating effect of the cubes?

Of course this post is not complete without the videolink

on how I made Apollo's Delight soaps.

Bye for now.. Until next time..

Cupid's Kisses Soap

I always wanted to make soaps with embedded curls inside. 

So today, I handcrafted Cupid's Kisses Soap.

I added a mix of chocolate scent, caramel, butterscotch, nuts and cherries.

Each bar is slightly heavier than my normal output, ~120g to ~130g instead of ~100g bars.

The fragrance oil that I used contains vanilla. Vanilla fragrances had always been the culprit in color changes in soap (turns into brown color).  I intentionally didn't add any vanilla color stabilizer to this soap because my aim is to use the change in color to my advantage. 

See how nice looking this soap is!!

Wanna learn how?  Click on the video below.

Your feedback, comments, suggestions, questions, and even violent reactions are welcome.

Just let me know.  

I want to improve my skills and my crafts so I hope you can spare some of your time to communicate with me.

Popsicle Soaps

I bought an ice pop mold from IKEA (Chosigt
Ice pop maker) and made some popsicle soaps out of it.

I didn't use the popsicle holder that comes with it, instead I used a bamboo popsicle holder that I bought from SKP.  To hold the bamboo popsicle holder in place, I improvised a holder using bamboo skewers and rubber bands.

You better watch the video to see on 

how did this soap came out to be as 

cute as they are now and for you to also learn on how to make the improvised popsicle stick holder.

Cute Li'l Soaps from Recycled Jelly molds

Instead of throwing away old jelly molds, I've used it to craft handmade soaps.

Just see how cute they came out. Not only they looked cute, they looked yummy too!

So next time, think twice before you throw old stuff around your home.

Had I thrown this before, I would have spent around $15 to $30 on new molds. 

These Cute Li'l Soap were scented with Love Spell fragrance.
I mixed 50% of opaque and 50% transparent melt & pour soaps on this to get that transclucent (semi-transparent) effect.  

Here is a link on the photo slide show.

Enjoy the video and remember to like and subscribe. 

Cute Li'l heart soaps

I molded heart-shaped soaps in green color. 

Well if you are green-minded, I think your heart is also green. 

That was lame, I know, but from time to time just let me be. lol 

Just let it pass by. :-p

I like this photo very much.

Just see how beautiful the effect of the light - on green color. 

You know that red is my favorite color, right?

Yet, there is something in that photo that makes me feel warm and happy.
Green is supposed to be cool but why do I feel warm? Was it due to the yellowish light?
I really can't explain.

For this soap I used FD&C colorants. Non-bleeding D&C colorants works best for soaps.
I am still waiting for my supplies so I've decided to use FD&C colors.  Anyways, I just need one simple plain color so FD&C bleeding will not be a problem for this design.  BTW, you can only use this trick in melt and pour soaping. Don't ever try this in cold process or hot process because food colorings are not alkali stable.

Okay.. bye for now.. enjoy the green heart soaps.

Aphrodite's Love Soap

Yah I know.. I just finished crafting Red Marbles yesterday and now here comes Aphrodite's Love.

I was so happy with how Red Marbles came out yesterday so I made another one today. I am not so sure on whether you would understand what I mean and what I am feeling right now. It is just that, there is an unexplainable joy and excitement when you wait for the soaps to set and it becomes ready for cutting.

"Reveal time, is always the most exciting part in soap making!"

Well, sometimes we picture and imagined in our minds on what we want to do and how do we want our soaps to look like. Then, during soap cutting the output would either come out as planned, or come out entirely different. Sometimes its depressing but most of the times it is the exact opposite. I would best describe this into something like "when a mad scientist discovers something out of pure luck or by mistake and it turned our to be really great and something of value." :-)

I am so happy and inspired because of Red Marbles and I cannot just anyhow waste this energy and inspiration.

So happy with how did this soap turned out.

I super love the smell of citrus, peaches, berries and musk.

Here is the link on how to make Aphrodite's Love Soap.

Enjoy the video and remember to like and subscribe.

Red Marbles Soap

Been super busy lately and it's been three weeks since I last touched soap crafting.
I told my parents that I started soapcrafting again and they were very happy.  My parents had always been very supportive with whatever  hobbies or "extra" stuffs that I want to do. There was even a time when they called my hobbies "flavor of the month" because I kept on changing from one project to the other. In doing so, most of the projects didn't come into completion and I had a lot of unused supplies at home.  That was way way back.  I am older and hopefully wiser now.  In saying so, I hope to really make his soap crafting hobby work for me this time. When I was young, soap crafting was one of the projects that I completed. Next to that was candle making.  So I have high hopes on this.

I've also decided to make a video record of my soap crafting.  I plan to post it in youtube so that my parents can easily access  and view it.  I'd also like to share it with my 2 nephews, Gelo & Harry.  I wonder on whether on who among these two li'l boys would like to try soap making?

Hhhmmm.  We will see..

Here is the soap and we named it Red Marbles. I would like my first ever soap video to be in my favorite color i.e, guess what? Red.

I can't really think of a name so I showed it to my housemates.  Peter said that the design looks like marbles to him. So Red Marbles was born.

I used peppermint and vanilla fragrance.  I didn't add any vanilla stabilizer because I would like to see and experiment on how dark will the color would change.

Here is the link on how to make Red Marbles Soap.

Enjoy the video and remember to like and subscribe.

Fruity Swirls Soap

I managed to squeeze in some time and prepared another soap today. 

I used a pvc pipe as mold.

One big mistake was that I forgot to squirt a quick release oil into the pipe or to line it with wax paper of freezer paper.

I had a hard time in removing the soaps!!!

Then, here comes my housemates Heli and Peter to the rescue. 

Heli did most of the pvc cutting job (need to cut it already - we tried everything that we could think of - but it's of no use) and that includes putting the soap into the freezer for a while already. Btw, Peter already gave up halfway. lol.

Here is our output. In the end we still produced a fruity scented soap with a nice mix of colors. 

I made this by layerring green and yellow soaps. Then I twisted the layerred soap into a curl embed just enough to fit the pvc mold. For the pvc mold, I tilted it to an angle (i think around 30 degrees) then poured the remaining soaps required to fill the container.  For the colors, I used FD&C colors. I know that FD&C colors will bleed and so I am making full use of that color behavior into this design. Some soapers don't like bleeding colors but for this design it is a big advantage just see how beautiful the swirls were in the photos below.

I've decided to name this soap, fruity swirls.

If you'd like to know on whether i'll make another batch again? 

Yes but next time, I will use cylindrical loaf mold lined with wax paper instead! 
I learned my lesson already.

Goodnight everyone.

Calamansi Freshness Soap

Been thinking of making a handmade soap that smells like fresh lemons.

Luckily I had some time to spare today so I had the chance to handcraft 

"Calamansi Freshness Soaps"

In making this, we used a cute loaf box bought from Daiso lined with wax paper. 

I made some soap curl embeds in green color and pour white base.  Then, layerred it with green on top. The smell is so refreshing. I will use this tomorrow morning. I want to use it tonight for shower but I was thinking it is better to use it tomorrow because lemon and lime scent are refreshing. I need to sleep and relax. I am really trying my best to resist the temptation now.

Thanks to Peter and Heli for helping me out.

Each bar is ~100g but then, 

I think that this soap will look better if the soap is more Square looking than rectangular.

I plan to re-create this soap again - when I have the time. In the meantime my next move will be to start sourcing for square shape loaf molds.

Glycerine soap base.. the beginning

Ever since I moved here in Singapore, my days are filled with juggling around work, church service/duties, web surfing, online purchasing and watching tv series. In short, I am just like you - introverted and a typical homebody.

Today I did something different.  I bought a kilo of Yacht Bath & Body glycerine soap base raw material online. It's been a long time that I didn't touch soap crafting.

So why now? I kept on having pimples lately and my ever reliable skin regimen seemed to have failed me. I have been struggling for more than a year now and the dermatologist said that it was hormonal imbalance. To make the long story short, I bought a glycerine soap for myself. I want to get away from all the harsh chemicals that commercial soaps have and just craft an unscented and gentle soap for me. 

Well, I am not saying that commercial soaps are harsh, blah, blah. Believe me, I won't describe it as something bad. It is not! I've been using commercial soaps ever since but I also remember the time when I was young and my friend's mom gave me a handmade soap that she brought back from her trip. It smelled like the scent of summer and now as I write this, I can't help but imagine what and how was the feeling had been. You know, that feeling of luxurious and creamy lather.. you would not even want to get out from the shower. 

So nostalgic!

I can't wait to put my hands into soap crafting again.  If I have extra soap base, who knows, I might also make some for my friends too.