SHOPS OF MY FELLOW BLOGGERS

Hey blogging buddies, I've listed your etsy shop, website names, etc... on the right column of my blog. If I didn't list a fellow blogging buddy please let me know. I checked everyone who was listed on my favorite blogs to lurk on to see if I could find a link to your shop and may have overlooked it. If I did, please let me know.

And NEA, if you are out there, what can I do to make you open an etsy shop :)

SO WHAT IS THIS FELT SOAP?

JERABEKS CAFE

I've been hearing a lot about felt soap and reading about it here and there. I didn't give it much thought until the other day when I was visiting a cafe in my old neighborhood. There is a bohemian family I grew up with that has a family owned cafe since 1908, that everyone in the neighborhood loves to visit. Well, recently, one of the owners decided to sell her handmade soaps. I was excited when I saw they are felt soaps so of course I had to get one. Well, I tried it out and now I'm hooked. I really like the way it felt on my skin. I was worried at first it would be scratchy or itchy but it was super soft and I love the way I don't need to use a washcloth because the felt does the job.

If anyone is interested in learning to felt I found this tutorial on YOU TUBE.
CLICK HERE!

COLD PROCESSED SOAP/GLYCERIN MIX

I saw this technique in a book a while back and I thought I'd give it a try. Last week I had a small window of opportunity to make soap again so I jumped on it. LOL!!

Just a little tid bit of advice, don't JUMP ON SMALL WINDOWS OF OPPORTUNITY! LOL!!! Because I rushed to it I ended up not having everything I needed in place. Call it my "cocky soaping syndrom." I felt super confident, my head was swollen with delight. Afterall, I've been making soap for a while, why would I need to "think" about it. Well, I was wrong :(

I rushed through so quick that at the last possible minute I realized that I didn't have the fragrance that I thought I had for one batch (I was splitting one batch in two) and for the other half I had put it in the mold and realized I didn't add the fragrance at all.

OMG! I panicked. I quickly added any ol fragrance to the one batch and to the other half I grabbed the fragrance I had intended to use and just stirred it in (no measuring, not even stirring it in completely. What was I thinking?????

Of course, I ended up with a yellow soap that smells like organges and the other half, well, I'm embarrassed to report that it turned BLACK in the area where I shoved in the fragrance. *sobbing uncontrollably over here.

But, to my surprise, I've asked several people to look at my yellow colored orange smelling soap and tell me what they think is wrong with it. Not a single person could figure it out. I had to point out IT IS YELLOW AND SMELLS LIKE ORANGES! The proverbial response was "Well, why does that matter?" LOL!! Well, as we all know, it really does matter but as long as they don't care I guess I can relax a bit.

Here is a picture of the yellow organge smelling soap. LOL! If anyone has any has advice on how to turn this mini disaster into a success, please let me know :)

YUMMY COFFEE SOAP

Denise over at The Indecisive Artist sent me a sample of her coffee soap and the FO she used and oh how yummy it smells. I had my hubby smell it as soon as I opened the bag and of course the first thing out of his mouth is "ooooooh, how come you don't make soap like that." I guess that means its time to try my hand at some coffee soap. LOL Thank you so much Denise for sharing your soap with me and for sending the FO sample. I think it will work great!! :)

Here is a picture of her coffee soap:



And on top of that she made me the cutest card. I love it. I must know who makes the cute stamp. Such a perfect addition to her coffee soap :)

MADE A BATCH OF ORANGE FLECKED SOAP

Usually when I made soap I will add my natural color at trace. This time I decided to do things a little differently. I took some paprika and added it to the lye/water mix. When the oils and lye were temperature ready I added the lye to the oil. As is common, the lye was very stinky once the paprika was added. It maintained its orange color but once added to the oil the orange appearance was gone. I put the fragrance oil in and then it smelled more like a stinky flower. LOL But, thats normal. After my 18 hour waiting period I uncovered the soap and I was left with no orange soap but orange flecked soap. My only regret was that I didn't use more paprika. I'm liking the little orange flecks, there just aren't enough of them. I guess next time I'll add lots more :)