Recent random soap

I admire so many bloggers who can keep up with daily entries on their blogs.  Time runs away from me so quickly.  I guess I have not learned to be more focused.   All in due time.  What I have done was to make soap during my absence.  So I will share a few photo's of them.


My goal when making my Carrot & Goat Milk Soap was to be like everyone else.  I really really really wanted to make my soap in that single beautiful orange color.  Simple and clean .  I love that look and for me I tend to have a very hard time just making soap with one single color.  I looked at my options still holding firm this was going to be one color and my thoughts twisted and here is what became of my one single color soap:

My after thought?  I can live with it now.  It turned out displaying my orange but the white represents the Goat Milk in the soap.  Best of both worlds I suppose.  I love working with Goat Milk and this soap I left unscented.  My bar soap is a large bar in size and most people who use handmade soap will know to cut

the bars in half for easy use.  I always cut my bars in half and this way I can change out my bars or scents quiet often.

My next soap I made is called Chai Tea.  It has a light scent.  This was such a delight to make everything went so smoothly.  I do know where I mess up if you will.  I added some gold glitter to the top and it now looks like I sprinkled yellow on top.  You can see the edges are showing a yellow color.  I have used gold glitter so many times and never have had this effect.  I think soap makers can easily pick apart all that is disturbing to them.  But in reality maybe others do like the look?  I did add some real loose tea on top.  Which if your reading this and unfamiliar with additives on top of soap, all of the dazzling effect wash off the soap so it's just eye candy if you will.  

In making the Chai Tea soap bars I had decided to make some in the form of a cup of Chai Tea:

You can see the loose tea on top.  I used the small plastic 3 oz cup for my mold.  They popped out with no problem at all.  They did cure and I used new cups to put the soap into.  I had never used this process before but do recommend anyone if your curious yes try this method.  To use just cut in half.

I had a busy day with soap making and I had some Aquolina's Pink Sugar soap that I had shredded up.  I wanted to add some character to my next soap batch.  All of my Pink Sugar soap in the past was always so dark as it will do when the colors changes due to the fragrance oil.  Here I was able to keep the soap from getting that rich dark brown most of us come to know:

What I love about this soap is how the shreds make the whole soap pop.  I could not have even guessed it would turn out this way.  The brown areas which actually should have been so very dark brown, stayed more on the dark side of tan.  I did use that gold glitter again, and this last photo will show the yellow type color coming through.  It really isn't that sharp in color as captured on the photo.  It doesn't look bad  to see the soap in person, but maybe I am just taking this gold glitter too hard.  

Lastly I want to show my last soap of the day.  I am not happy with this one at all.  I had bought some new colorants and when I purchased it I had long forgot what the description had stated.  The colorant stated it would either stay this beautiful blue or could change to a purple.  So I got the purple.  That was my fault and I try not to mess up, but with color morphing you have no control.  I also had a pink color which again morphed into a peach color.  I have two colors in life I do not like whatsoever.  They are peach and mauve.

So when my soap took on the peach color I knew I would have this dislike for the soap but the scent that I used is so pretty and feminine that I am still to this day trying to like this soap.  I am going to remake the scent I used into another soap so I am not sure if anyone else will like the colors?  Take a look:

Enough said.

I will say that even though I am not happy with this outcome.  I do want to stress that the fragrance is 

AM A Z I N G!!!  Sometimes the ugly duck turns into a beautiful swan.

Well I hope you enjoyed this little post of what I have been up to lately.  I just got in a shipment of more supplies and happily so.  I ran out of some of my most important ingredients.  Now I have to figure out my new adventure. 

Candle Making.....

I did a little playing around the other day.  I had gotten more of my soy wax in from my supplier.  I decided to try out one of my soap molds to make some candles with.  The wicks I had ordered along with my wax was very short.  Which surprised me since I didn't think it would be that short. 

I took a gamble and decided to use them and here is a photo of my wax cake slices still in the mold. 

Somewhat looks like a blob but after removing and cleaning them up, they did turn out to look like a cake slice.  I layered the scents from the bottom up I used:

Pink Sugar, Pink Grapefruit, Serendipity, and Got Milk for the topping.  Then I added some little embeds which are Serendipity, Black Raspberry Vanilla, and Lemon Sugar Candied Violets. 

Here is some other photo's after the clean up:



I would like to also say that these scents I picked are not in your face strong.  They are just a perfect blend of soft, sweet, perfumey, that tends to lean towards girly girl.  I did scent my wax to the maximum amount allowed, but again some fragrances are light no matter what you do.  I think they are fun and would make a nice piece to display for that perfect shabby chic look.  The wicks as I mentioned above they came out to be exactly 1/4 inch on the candle so no trimming is needed.  Next time I will take a closer look at those wicks before I order them.  I thought mine would come 6" long so it was a surprise to me.  Live and learn??

I did make a few jar candles. I made 4 and I am burning or testing one and figured out that I might have been better off to use two wicks in the jars too.  It is burning a 2" circle straight down leaving about 1/2" around the edges.  Which for me it won't matter since I have one of those coffee warmer type of burner, which I use to place a candle jar on when I don't want to use a flame.  So I can put my jar on this to get all the wax used up.  Some people would not have one of these so their choice could be to spoon out an amount and just place in a tart burner. 

The scents I used in this jar candle are:
Cashmere, Serendipity, Got Milk, and have embeds of Pink Grapefruit, Black Raspberry Vanilla, and Lemon Sugar Candied Violets.  It just makes a nice sweet scent.  I didn't really plan on using these jars for candles but they are what I had on hand so I went with it.  I think these scents would be nice in a bathroom or a bedroom.  Here is a few photos of the candle in progress:

The Photo above is after the candles were made I had not cleaned up the sides yet.  Still in it's rough form.

So this was my project the other day.  I am not sure if I will continue to make any candles or not.  I do like working with wax.  My thing is I would rather make my own tarts and such and use scents that I want opposed to going out and buying a premade candle or tarts.  That is just me.  The procedure is time consuming and it takes awhile to get through a wax project but for me this is how it's always been.  I make things that I want.  I've never been the type to just go out and buy if I can make it myself.  I tend to take the hard road sometimes.  Which for me is just fine.

I hope you liked this little blog on my candle making.  I did make 50 tarts the other day but these are going into a shop downtown so I didn't see the need to bring them into the blog.

Well this is all I have for now.  Today I might be getting busy again and making soap.  There is a craft show coming up in March and I still can't decide if I want to do it or not.  But I can at least make some new soaps just in case. 

Thanks so much for stopping by I hope everyone is having a great 2013 so far. 

Until next time.....Hugs  Debby

Just a little Chat

Just thought I would get on here and just say to everyone Happy 2013!!  I hope to do better this year with blogging than in the past.  So many things to do and so little time as I say.  I have had a rough time lately with being sick.   I actually missed Christmas due to being sick.  My grand babies were sick too.  Several of us had the same thing going on and I swear I did not get that close to the kids to inherit what they had, well I did get it, but it must have jumped through fences and beyond to get to me.

But I am on the mend now and have so many things going through my head on things to make that I am spinning with ideas.  I am currently waiting on my soy wax to get here today.  I have some candle ideas I want to do.  Well lets just say soy wax tarts and candle loaves.  I have been thinking about doing this for a good while and now is the time. 

I had made a ton of soy wax tarts and put them on my artfire shop.  I had mentioned that they were skin safe, and I don't think anyone "got it".  So let me say I only buy skin safe fragrances since I am a soap maker.  I invested quiet a bit of time looking for just the right soy wax that is cosmetic grade.  I had made the tarts to be either melted as a regular tart or to warm a little chunk up in the microwave on low and use as a skin oil. 

Massage candles are very expensive to buy and my thought was I can offer the customer a soy tart that is skin safe so if they wanted to try out how a massage candle would be, then this was the opportunity to do so.  I have not sold one.  I guess people forgot that I mentioned these are just a soy wax tart only skin safe.  How hard is that?  Plus maybe not such a good idea to say this but people charge quiet a bit of money for their tarts.  I never reached that capacity to charge an arm and a leg.  I am one of those who believes that a fair price is welcomed by all.  I guess if you charge so much for a tart, then is has to be good huh?  Wrong, a bargain is still a bargain either way you slice it.  Doesn't mean you have to sacrafice quality.  You just need to be a better shopper than the next.

So my plan goes back to making massage candles and charging a higher price like everyone else, and just say if you did not jump on the boat earlier then you missed it.  The boat is gone and so are the tarts.  I am not sure why this did not go over very well?  I had a regular customer who asked for a sample and I sent her some, along with her order.  Yeah for my customer she is so sweet.  At least she "got it" and wanted to try them.

So now I plan to make some candles/ candle loaves from the soy wax.  Not a new idea but I would like to think I can do something very nice with the wax.  All I can do is present my products and see where they go.  So many others out there in the market place doing the same thing, and I hope we all have a great year this year.

I will post another blog as I make the candles/loaves.  I am just thinking here and waiting for the mailman/person/lady/ whomever they are these days...  My dogs always know when they are coming, so I have to wait for them to tell me so.   Frustrating as it is our mail is never at the same time.  We get it when we get it.  This is why I love it when we get our relief person and we get our mail earlier. 

So I don't plan to make any soap today, we have our grand daughter today.  And I don't soap around the grand kids.  I am just wondering how a 3 year old can be so fast?  I wish I had the energy the little ones do. 

I will dabble with the wax today and finish my embeds up for the candles.  I can go through wax so quickly so I have to stay focused on what I will be making.  I am trying to get my new website up and running too.  So the new soaps I make will be made for the new site.  I have so much to do and I hope to make a long list to stay focused.  Being a one person show is pretty hard, and I have yet to get my husband to try and learn to sew LOL. 

So with these thoughts just know I am going to go dabble as I call it with my wax that I have here, and make some new things today.  I am not a person who just does one item like candles and tarts.  I have too many things I make, and working with wax is just one of them.   I tell people all the time that I would not put anything up for sale unless it passed my approval.  My soy is heavily scented and this is the way I like them so with that in mind just know I may sell quiet a few things, but at the age of 51 pushing 52 I have been around the block a few times, and have had to refuel along the way.  So I know pretty much what I am doing. 

I will have other announcements to make here in the near future.  So stay tuned.  You never know what you will find.

Have a wonderful new year!!  Stay safe and warm and just pray Spring comes quicker than we hope for.  I am all about better weather.  I am tired of hibernating and dodging the cold. 

Thanks to all who stop by and read my blog, your a most welcomed guest. 
Hugs Debby

Three Sister's Soap Review

More videos from Messweather (playlist)

Three Sisters Soap part 1

Just new items recently made

I am so trying to keep up with my blog, things have been somewhat hectic for me.  Just lots to do and no time to do it.  But I have been busy making soap.  I just thought for today I would share some of the soap that has been made over the past week.  I wanted to have more items in my artfire shop to carry over for Christmas. 

Many soapers are doing their Christmas themes and I have yet to find a christmas scent that I really believe in and like.  I just haven't found the one that I feel I would want to soap.  I did use a few last year but I would not use them again.  There are so many fragrances, and I feel I don't want to get caught up in buying brand new oils right now just for this one Holiday.  Plus after the holiday, one scrambles to try and discount and sell off the holiday soaps.  Losing time, and money and I just don't want to fall down that path. 

I guess I can let the cat out of the bag but in April 2013, I will open my brand new website.  I have thought long and hard and will keep my artfire shop so that I can move items as I see fit.  So if I have items that aren't moving fast enough then I can discount the price and sell it lower on my artfire shop, this way I can get exposure from both sites. 
We will still have the Three Sisters Soap name, but we are going to have all new products and packaging. 

Our packaging will be greener on some items (bottles and jars are the exception).  Reuseable packaging, for most soap bars.  That is all I can say.  My love of the girly girl colors or Shabby Chic theme is my main goal.  Not only will I be bringing in my love of soaping and bath and body products, but I will also be making items to sell from my years of sewing.  I am all about making items people can use on a daily basis, such a market bags made of fabric and beautiful pillows, just various items that will be made with 100 % quality quilters cotton and fully washable.   That is all I want to say on this since I have so much to do before the shop opens.  I am building my website right now, and with all the products I need to get established, time will be here before you know it. 

I try to offer soap loaves when I have the time to make them.  They are priced according to their weight.  These happen to be huge, weighing in at 1 lb 10 +oz.  So these will be higher in price than my 1 lb soap loaves.  I didn't intend to add so much topping on top, but I had to use up my soap batch, and kind of over estimated the size of the batch I needed for this.  I feel they turned out beautiful.  And once cut these bars will be much bigger than the normal soap loaf, due to all the topping. 

This is called: Apple Butter Pumpkin Pie and smells amazing so scroll down and look at the photos I've posted.  I took these photos during late afternoon so you will see shadows in the photos. 

 The bottom "crust" is a scent that marries beautifully with the Apple  Butter Pumpkin Pie scent, which it is called Got Milk.  And this is also the scent I put of top.  It is followed up with Gold Glitter.  Simple but effective.



I bought a new soap mold recently.  I had to order it from Japan.  I love the fact that I can make single slices and all uniform.  The old method of making soap cakes it was a tedious task.  I love making these from scratch and building the cakes layers and the soap icing.  It is so time comsuming usually done in steps and takes 2 days to complete.  And when the cake is ready to cut sometimes the layers would split apart.  This became a nightmare so for many reasons I don't do this method anymore.   So with that said, I plan to offer an easier soap cake slice, and have various sizes to chose from.  As far as soap slices go, this mold is really the way to go.

I do have the opportunity to make cake slices or pie slices and can so anywhere in between on size. 

Buttery Pumpkin Pie Cake Slice:

topped with the whipped cream dollops of Got Milk. 

Take a look:

As you can see these are really thick.  They are over a 7+ oz bar.  I would suggest that with any soap if it is hard to hold then lay it on it side like in the photo above and just simply cut the soap in half horizontally. This is what I would do if it was my bar of soap.  This way you can use one piece and then have another spare piece.   

I also made some over pour soaps.  Which means I had enough of the soap batch to make extra bars.   These are scented in Apple Cider and it smells wonderful. 

Here is a Men's soap I made in Aquolina's Blue Sugar.  I love this scent.  You see the top of a few bars.  I used Gold Glitter on the top, then realized that men may not like the glitter, but just so that you know if you are wondering, glitter will wash right off when the bar gets wet.   

Here is the soap bars I made.  They have cold process soap shavings to give the soap some color.  I used yellow coloring in my main soap batch but now wonder if I should have just left it white.  Maybe next time. 

Here is a few bars from my over pour I only got three out of the overage. 

This is a blend of Cranberry & Pineapple Orchid.  Again these two scents go so well together.  I only had enough for 2 bars on the overage.  But they smell amazing.  Scroll down to see the soap bars I made with the same scent.

The soap on the right is the bar soap I made with the Cranberry & Pineapple Orchid.  The bar on the left is the over pour.

Here is a top view with  the gold glitter.

                                


                                             More views of the soap bars.

         Do you see the face?  Totally unplanned but kind of funny too.

 

                                             Old Spice Scent

I just ordered this fragrance for a friend.  She wants some soap made.  I did my trial batch and found that the fragrance oil seized on me.  Which meant I had to go get my two crock pots and do a hot process soap batch.  I wasn't happy with the outcome at all.  And have to admit the soap

smells really good.  But I can't provide her any cold process soap.  I'll just have to speak with her on this and see what to do.  I personally don't like doing hot process soap.  I don't like the look of it or the texture when working and molding this type of soap.  But this was my only choice at the time.

  

 Lastly is the Serendipity Soap.  I had an over pour here too.  And got three extra bars of soap.  Most over pours are going on my artfire shop and will be included in the Black Friday soap sale. 
Glad to have the extra.

Well this is about it for now.  Just wanted to update this blog and keep the lines of communication open.  I have even more soap to show but don't really have the time right now.  So I will do another blog on the other soaps as soon as I get caught up.   Thanks to everyone who follows my blog and I plan to keep this going and do much better with postings.  Take Care hope you enjoyed my soap

ramblings.  Later......Debby