I made some soap last night trying a new technique. I don't think I have mastered it yet but I will try it again. And again and again. I saw this technique on YouTube so I wanted to give it a try. Now looky here:
Okay, this isn't a bad design, but my vision wasn't 100% realized. And the colors I chose didn't turn out as vibrant as I had hoped. The color combo was supposed to be pink/orange/teal but some of the colors bled into each other more than I would have liked. The orange is barely distinguishable.
Well, I tried it again today but as we all know, soapmakers don't get to see their creations until 24 hours after they have been created. It takes about that long (sometimes longer) for the soap to saponify and harden enough to cut.
I have been using my PVC pipe mold again recently because I can and because I recently got some more caps for it. OH! And speaking of my round mold, I made some SHAVING SOAP! I had a customer at the farmer's market ask me recently if I had some shaving soap and it was with great shame that I told him I didn't. I went home and made the decision I had to get some shaving soap in my inventory. Now I have it.
So perhaps that was the long way around to talk about a new soaping technique I'm trying but I was kind of excited about it and wanted to share.
So I made some dog shampoo!
I have had multiple people ask if my soap is safe to use on dogs. Here's the answer. Probably. However, I tell them I can't recommend using my soaps on dogs. I fragrance my soaps fairly heavily and I don't think that's good for dogs. So I did some research, found a recipe that I actually had all the ingredients to and made it. That's not all! I happened to have bought (months ago) these cute little dog bone silicone molds and I thought this would be the perfect time to use them. What do you think?
This whole thing took about 3 days to make because I had to make the bones first, and then I made the soap and put them on top. Not only that, it took me 2 days to make the bones because the mold only has 6 cavities. I made six bones one night, then six more bones the next night. THEN the next night I made the soap and place them on top. I had to blend it better than normal because it had to be thick enough so support the bones. I was a little afraid they might since through but they didn't. I'm so pleased with how they turned out.
Now, since I didn't come up with the recipe on my own, I don't mind sharing this one. If you're a soapmaker you can figure this out on your own.
25% olive oil
25% coconut oil
30% tallow
15% shea butter
5% castor oil
Now for the record, I have always only made vegetarian soaps so I did substitute the tallow for palm oil. I made a 2 pound batch, as I always do, and ended up with 10 bars. I also left it unscented. I know that most pet shampoos have some kind of fragrance in it but let's be real for a minute. Dogs don't care what their hair smells like and they're better off without it, especially around sensitive areas like their ears or stomach. If you absolutely HAVE to fragrance it then might I suggest just a few drops of lavender essential oil.
It was fun making this and I plan to make more soaps with decorations on top.
I'm super proud of this batch!
Yes, there is an S on the end of the word recipe. I went back to my local farmer's market yesterday, after a long winter. I brought with me a whole new inventory of soaps. I have spent the winter trying new techniques and perfecting my recipes and I think I've finally found the perfect recipes. I have a main recipe that I make for the majority of my soaps, but I also have some soaps that have other functions besides just showers. For example, I recently developed a mechanic soap (of which I need to replenish already!). The mechanic soap uses a slightly different recipe.
This winter, I made a huge soap supply haul at one of my favorite soap supply online stores and with it, I decided to purchase some kaolin clay. I have heard many soapmakers talk about putting it in their soaps so I decided to try it. It was cheap as dirt (probably because it is dirt) so I bought a 5 pound bag of it. Well, it took a few tries to figure out how to use it and how much to use but I finally got into my groove and have been making some truly beautiful soaps with it.
Since the soap we use here in my home is always my failed soap or my old soap whose fragrance has turned a little, I had never used any of the soap that had the clay in it. I was cutting a loaf of soap the other day and per usual, I cut the ends off. I decided to wash my hands at the kitchen sink with this end piece. It was the creamiest, most luxurious soap I had ever used in my life. I can't explain why it felt more luxurious than my regular soap but it did and the only difference I could figure out was the addition of the kaolin clay. So I took another end piece into the shower with me. Holy cow, it was amazing. I rubbed it on my shower puff and got the thickest, fluffiest lather I've ever seen. It made the shower an awe-inspiring experience. Look at these two pictures. The picture on the bottom has kaolin clay incorporated into the whole soap. The one on top does not. Can you see the difference? It's amazing to me.
So last weekend I tried a new venue. I originally heard about this venue from a customer at another show I did. This woman raved about this place that she made so much money working at this location. So I went there. I paid my money for a slot and set up shop. My first day was bad. Not HORRIBLE but not at all awesome. I tried to look at this with an open mind, recognizing that you can't judge a venue by one experience. So, since I had paid for the entire weekend, I went back the next day to give it another chance. Still no better. I can accept that there are people not interested in my soaps, but I have done shows where my soap was just flying off the table so I know that it's a sellable product. I even had repeat customers that come back again and again wanting my soap. It's high quality soap. So why was it that I couldn't give it away at this place?
The thing about selling products at any open venue like that boils down to one thing. Traffic. Let's say that out of 100 people that walk past my table, 2 people will buy soap. Well, if only 100 people walk past my table in an entire day, then it stands to reason that I'm not going to sell much.
So today I went to another venue, one I've done before, and had a fantastic day. This venue, though fairly far from my house, has a significant amount of traffic and as a result, I have many people stop at my table to look at things. Out of all the people that stop at my table the majority of THOSE people will buy something. So as a seller, what I'm looking for are venues that have a lot of traffic. There are 2 things that I would consider negatives about this venue. It's 30 miles from my house and it's all open air so if the weather is rainy I can't do it. But if the weather cooperates, then this is a great venue.
There is a venue close to my house that helped me get my start last year. That venue does not have a huge amount of traffic, however, it is inexpensive and as I said, close to my house. Another upside is it's on Saturday morning, and over by 12:30. So even if I don't sell a lot, it's definitely worth my time to do that one. So I think this summer I'm going to continue to do these 2 venues, one Saturday morning and one Sunday morning.
And check out my latest creation. This soap is scented with honeysuckle and orange blossom. It's is both visually appealing and a treat for the nose.
