Thursday, August 22, 2013

Making Egyptian Goddess & Strawberry Rose Kiss



So yesterday was Wednesday. That means it was laundry day. Did I do laundry? Psh, no. Laundry and I are sworn enemies. We've been throwing grenades at each other for years and honestly, I don't like the fact that she's winning. But I won yesterday’s battle because not a piece of clothing in any hamper was touched. Boom!

Anyway, I spent the day doing what I do best. . .soaping. I usually have things prepared ahead of time but this time I didn’t so it took me a couple hours to do two batches. I’ll do another post about making everything ahead of time. It’s so much easier that way. So the two soaps I made were Egyptian Goddess and Strawberry Rose Kiss. Egyptian Goddess is such a sultry scent; it’s one of my best sellers. I seriously can’t keep this puppy on the shelf. Strawberry Rose Kiss is a yummy scent that’s pretty reminiscent of strawberry ice cream yet it’s a blend of strawberries and roses. 

On to making Egyptian Goddess. First, I got all of my oils together. This is a 5 pound batch so I use a stainless steel pot to make the batter. To the oils I’ve added some Kaolin clay:





The colors for this soap are brown, tan, and natural.  The natural part is left uncolored, hence natural. This fragrance oil discolors so the white that you see below will end up tan. Here are my colors ready to go:




Now, I didn’t freeze my milk. Like I said, I didn’t have anything prepared ahead of time this time. I actually always freeze my milk so it stays as white as possible. I didn’t worry about it too much with this soap as it’s going to discolor anyway. This is my lye/milk solution:








I don’t know about you, but I love how the batter looks just after it emulsifies. So creamy!





I split the batter into thirds and pour them into the colors:






The design for this soap is an in the pot swirl. The natural portion was left in the pot and I poured the white and brown in then did a once over with the spatula to get the colors twirlin’:










I poured it into the mold and once it thickened up I used a spoon to create the textured top:






This soap isn’t finished though. Tomorrow I will brush the tops with gold mica to give it a nice royal appearance. And here’s a look at the finished Strawberry Rose Kiss:  





(The black semicircle on the bottom of the second one is me. A 7 month preggo belly always has to hog the camera.)


Both of these babies are CPOP so they get put in the oven and should be ready to cut in about 6 hours. 

And with the magic of blogging, I have them right here already sliced! 
 
Egyptian Goddess
The ITP swirl for this soap always turns out awesome. The key is to pour at a light trace, that way you get all that wispyness with the colors.

I love, love, love the way the elemental swirl turned out on Strawberry Rose Kiss. It was supposed to be half and half but it still looks really good.

Too bad I can't use these for tomorrow's Art Walk/Farmers Market. That's what happens when school starts back up. Your brain shuts down. Totally should have done these last week. As a matter of fact, where's my planner. . . . . .










(I've got to change this signature. Give me time. I'll get it.)


www.craveartisansoaps.com