Don't Play With Your Food

I just walked in the door from the Newport Farmer's Market and I'm so proud of my haul I have to share.

I love that I am set for produce for the week and I didn't have to step a foot in the grocery store.The salad mix- including the edible flowers- was picked this morning by Pioneer Mountain Farms. No salad in the bag or plastic box for me!

The lovely pastry is a Baker's Lunch from Pacific Sourdough. Simply fab-o heated and topped with fresh greens and some Greek Feta Dressing. This is my favorite after-market meal. I'm usually starving by the time I get home and it is lovely having a fast, delicious meal ready in just a few minutes.

The tomatillos are for Enchiladas Verde. I have some jalapenos in the freezer from a week ago that will top mine- I have a hot mouth :) The yellow thing is some sort of melon. It has a white flesh and it has a softer feel than a honeydew or cantaloupe. I can't wait to try it.

And, I couldn't forget the berries or the frosted brownie from Bojomama's. The brownie had no photo opportunities. It was my market snack.

Why do I love buying local? I see the hands that tended or made these amazing foods. Most foods are organically grown or are grown pesticide free. No matter what, I have to buy food to live and I would rather give my money to someone I know and care about. It is also faster and way more fun than a trip to the grocery store ;)

Jill
Calise Soapworks & Such

  

Thoughts on S.O.A.P. Scents 4-6

Keeping with the Soap Pop theme, I’m ready to test the next three Bramble Berry S.O.A.P. Fall Panel fragrances. This time, I’m using clays for color. Oh, I have been adding the fragrance before coloring to be sure I have the same amount throughout the soap and to give it more opportunity to act up.

Scent #4- Groovy Geranium

Initial reaction- geranium! This is a deeper, earthier floral compared to #3. There is some sweetness, but that’s on the back burner.

I was thinking this fragrance would also accelerate trace, but not really. It did turn the soap almost day-glo orange when I initially mixed it in. Colored with Sea Clay.

After thoughts- So far, the scent seems to be staying pretty true. The soap has discolored to more of a khaki tan.

Scent #5- A Few of My Favorite Things

Initial Reaction- Out of the bottle, this is one of my favorites. It is similar to #1, but a little less sweet and a little more spice with maybe some fir.

I noticed maybe the slightest acceleration with my room temp. oils & lye solution, so this one may be a bit of a stinker sometimes. There was a slight yellowing of the soap in the pot. Colored with Australian Red Clay.

After thoughts- I'm still getting a few (very few) spices notes, but floral notes predominate now which is peculiar because I didn't smell any floral initially. A lot of the sweetness is gone and the scent is flatter now. There is some yellowing, but I think that may be more operator error somehow as it is inconsistent.

Scent #6- Breezy Day

Initial reaction- similar to #2, but fewer floral notes. I akin this scent to a fresh linen or cotton.

This fragrance had a huge amount of play time. I had to wait on it to thicken a bit and I should have even waited longer. No noticeable color change in the pot. Colored with French Yellow Clay.

After thoughts- #6 has mellowed quite a bit. It seems to have lost some of the top notes so far, but the scent is still pleasant. Yep, all the white, white color is ash. I think it is because this soap cooled too quickly. Notice there is no ash on the side of the soap pop that is laying down or on the colored clay parts. I took all three of these batches out of the oven because I was worried about the soaps getting too hot. Now, they cooled too quickly! Lesson learned.

I can't wait to see how #7 & #8 turn out!

The Low Down on S.O.A.P. Scents 1-3

I tried to look at Bramble Berry's S.O.A.P. Panel testing from a scientific perspective. My control was my favorite soap recipe. Yes, it is a bit of a fast tracing recipe (cocoa butter and I do water discount); however, since this is the main recipe I use, I know it well. I soaped at room temperature, stirred with a whisk and added a one color swirl to each batch so I can see any discoloration while still having a bit of color. My fragrance load was ½ oz. per pound of oils (what I normally do) and I am making sure all soaps go through gel. Since I need variety, each swirl is a different color and I opted for a soap pop mold (I’ve longed to make cp soap pops).

Scent #-1 Holiday Berry Sangria (These names are of my own imagination)

Initial reaction- a sweet, spicy candy with berries. While soaping, I was getting hints of cassis and stronger berry notes- sort of like a berry wine.

Moderate acceleration during trace.

After thoughts-  There is a bit of discoloration (yellowing), but not too bad so far. The scent has held pretty well. I am getting more of the spice notes now and still lots of berry. Some of the higher sweet notes have taken a back seat.

Scent #2- In Flight

Initial reaction- a cleaner floral. There’s a top note that doesn’t sit well with me, but there are middle and base notes that are pleasing. I’m sitting here with an empty open bottle and it is rounding out nicely

This fragrance thinned my soap out. I’m thinking this one would be great for multi-colored swirls or the currently popular spoon or column swirl.

After thoughts- I poured this one thin so you can see how liquidy it actually was. See how the swirl is more of soft gradations? Some of the top notes have faded on this one, but I think that is a great thing. There is a soft loveliness about this scent that I think a lot of people will like. No noticable discoloration at this time.

Scent #3- A Rose by Any Other Name is Still a Rose

Initial reaction- at first all I was getting was rose, rose, rose, but there are also sweet notes and maybe palmarosa? I’m now thinking it smells like sugared grapes with rose.

I was thinking this one would accelerate trace due to the floral notes, and sure enough it did.

I have all three in the oven and when I open the door, the combination is amazing! And I’m smelling sweet patchouli- ha!

After thoughts- See how craggy this soap is? It must have super heated. (I put all three batches in the oven at the same time for the same amount of time. While it appears 17 min. is too long before turning the oven off, you can see the other two soaps still look somewhat respectable). Much of the complexity of this scent has disappeared. I am still getting rose, though :) There is a medium amount of discoloration thus far (yellowing).

**side note- BB's neon colorants really need to be mixed in oil or glycerin. I tried alcohol and I'm sure you can see the speckles in Soap #3 and that was with straining! We just moved and I haven't unpacked (found) my mini-mixer yet, so I thought I would try another way. Bad idea.

Calise Soapworks & Such is online and on facebook!

The SOAP Fragrances Are Here

Sometimes being a neighbor to Washington makes my day. My mystery scents just arrived for the Brambleberry S.O.A.P. Fall Team- a soap-aholics delight! 

Of course, I had to stop all other activity to open and smell these divine bottled delights. I won't mention about the fragrance specifics yet, as I'm sure the other testers are still waiting on their fantastic mystery fragrances. I will say smelling straight from the bottle, I am quite partial to 1, 5, 7 & 8.

The next step is figuring out what medium to test these lovelies in. Cold process soap will be a given, but I need to ponder the other possibilities. Yay!

Calise Soapworks & Such- we make soaping fun!

 



Brambleberry Fall S.O.A.P. Panel

I am shamelessly plugging one of my favorite suppliers in hopes of being part of their Fall S.O.A.P. Panel. Brambleberry www.brambleberry.com is great place to get all sorts of soapy supplies. I even went to their Soap Intensive Weekend this year, so Brambleberry really is near and dear to me ;)

One of my favorite items is their 36 Bar Baltic Birch Mold http://www.brambleberry.com/Baltic-Birch-36-Bar-Wooden-Mold-P4708.aspx . They do make this mold in smaller sizes, but the 36 bar mold is the perfect size for me.

Here's a picture of one of the lovely swirls I have done using this mold:

I would love to be a part of the fall panel because I'm in love with the sights and smells of fall- from the crunching of leaves beneath your feet during a brisk walk to the smell of molasses cookies wafting through the house.

How Our Dead Sea Mud Soap Came About

Sometimes I come up with new product ideas and soap recipes and sometimes my best ideas come from others. My Dead Sea Mud Soap is an example of a fantastic product that wasn't my concept. I made it for my friend, Deborah and below is her account of why the Dead Sea Mud Soap came about.

During my early twenties I travelled with a dancing and acting company. We wore heavy stage make-up, and we slept either on a bus or in different homes. Due to the stressful lifestyle and constant re-application of heavy make-up, my complexion got very bad. My neck was full of large, painful pimples (almost like cysts). My face had constant white heads and pimples as well. I was embarrassed and felt ugly.

  After I stopped touring, my face got a little bit better -- but not much. A friend told me about a great face product. I purchased the whole, expensive system and finally had great results. Over time my entire face cleared up. I still have faint scars on my neck, but that's it. For the past 10 years I decided to save money and just purchase the facial soap. This $40.00 bar of soap worked great for me.


I met Jill Keck with Calise Soapworks & Such and found out she was making all natural soaps. I told her about my about my expensive facial soap, and how great it works. She immediately went to work and formulated a soap that I believe works even better than the expensive brand name bar that I have been using for years. Jill's soap cleans better, and even takes care of whiteheads. I am very picky about what I put on my face. I was sure that Jill couldn't make a soap as good as the one I was using, but thankfully she has proven me wrong. Jill's face soap gives amazing results at a price affordable for anyone.


Deborah
 AZ

* To properly use the soap: use very warm water to open up your pores. Wash your face thoroughly with the soap. Splash water on face 20-30 times to thoroughly rinse and also put more water into your skin. Continue with the rest of your facial routine.

Thanks, Deborah! If you have a great idea for a product, let me know. Happy day!

visit us at http://www.calisesoapworks.com/

Making Hot Process Soap with Alkanet

I have wanted to use Alkanet Root to color soap for some time now and a recent wholesale inquiry spurred me into motion.

Alkanet is a plant in the borage family and the dried, ground root is used to color soap, fabric, lipstick and lotions. Typically the color ranges from reds to blues to purples depending on the item being colored and the amount of alkanet being used.

I quickly needed a lavender soap colored purple and I wanted to use botanicals that could grow in the Pacific Northwest. Alkanet orginated in Europe, but it does grow here in Oregon. The neat and scary thing about alkanet is that it changes color in different phs, so the final soap color can be surprising.

Here is the first color right after I mixed my alkanet infused oils and lye solution together:

The infused oil was a deep plum, but it changed to gunmetal grey when mixed with the lye-water solution. This is because the soapy solution is at a low ph, but it was still a bit heart dropping as a grey lavender soap would not go over so well.

After a few minutes, another color change occured. Cornflower Blue still wasn't the color I had in mind. 

When it was time to add the lavender essential oil and plop the soap into the mold, I had an unsightly, dark gelatinous soap to work with.

                                               My heart was slowly sinking, but I still had hope that I would get the beautiful purple I was looking for once the soap cooled.

Luckily, after cooling I ended up with a color somewhere in the realm I had initially intended.

Making soap is like a box of chocolates because you never know what you're gonna' get!

Visit us a www.calisesoapworks.com.