Busy Soapers.

We've been working extra hard this month to get enough soaps made as we're planning on thinking about selling them at our town's annual barbecue festival in November (Foggy Bottom Bar-B-Que Bash - I know, weird name, huh? But the town is located in a sort of hole next to a river, so foggy mornings are quite common.) So far, my mother and I together have made six different soaps.

Some of the newest bars of soap and a few samples.

From left to right on the back row, the newest soaps are:

Apple Jack Peel - I'm a huge lover of cinnamon, so this soap is one of my favorites. The fragrance sort of reminds me of warm, spicy apple cider. It was colored with Chromium Oxide Green, Red Oxide, and Titanium Dioxide.

Hot Cocoa - This soap was made at the request of my cousin Lonnie when he was here for the reunion. I'll admit I wasn't too sure about the fragrance oil when I bought it, but the scent has kind of grown on me. It was colored with real cocoa powder, then on the top there are lighter colored swirls that were made using Titanium Dioxide.

Lavender Lullaby - I'm not a big fan of floral scents, but my mother is and she loves this one. You can't tell from the picture, but the soap is very light purple with a cream layer in the middle and it has dried lavender buds on top. The colors that were used are Ultramarine Violet (for the purple) and Titanium Dioxide (the cream). 

Cool As A Cucumber-Cantaloupe - This is the same soap that cracked right down the middle while it was in the mold (you can see that post here). After a little repair work, it looked so much better and you can't even tell there was a crack, now. It was colored using Chromium Oxide Green.

Wild Wild West - This is a men's soap, and I'm not sure how to describe it, so I'll use the manufacturer's words: ". . .a wild and sexy accord, combining top notes of Tumble Weeds, Basil Leaves, and Tonka Beans; followed by middle notes of Brushed Suede, Earthy Patchouli, and Amber Stone; all sitting on manly base notes of Aged Saddle Leather, Red Cedar, and Full Musk. Gitty Up Cowboy!" I haven't quite decided what to call it, yet - the fragrance oil is called Wild Wild West, but I'm thinking about renaming the soap. If you have any suggestions, please feel free to leave them :) Oh, before I forget, it was colored with ground black walnut hulls, which apparently have natural antiseptic properties.

Ocean Breeze soap.

Ocean Breeze - I just finished cutting this soap a couple of hours ago.The swirls of color in it were made by doing an in the pot swirl (my first time doing that) using Omega Blue and Titanium Dioxide, and I love how they turned out. I'm definitely going to be doing more in the pot swirling - I kind of wish I'd done that with the Apple Jack Peel soap. But I'm not going to use this particular fragrance again as it's a little temperamental. It tends to accelerate a lot (meaning it causes the soap to thicken quicker than you want) and it makes the soap get really hot while it's in the mold (this particular soap came close to being a soap volcano last night while it was still in the mold). At least, it does smell really nice. 

Tomorrow, I'm making Oatmeal and Honey soap, and I'll post the pictures of it after it's cut. I'm a little nervous as it'll be my first time making it. Goat milk, all on its own, raises the temperature of soap, and so does oatmeal and honey. Having all three of together can be a recipe for disaster, so keep your fingers crossed.