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Archives for August 2013

Soapy Social Media Roundup

Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

Another week has come to a close, and we started to catch the first glimpses of autumn (it rained for what felt like the first time in months). We rounded out our Soap Crafting-inspired tutorials this week with a citric-acid Shampoo Bar recipe. If you missed the other tutorials, you can check them out here, here and here. Speaking of Soap Crafting, we’re planning something exciting at the end of this month (I may or may not be signing the book at a local bookshop in Bellingham *winkwink*). As usual, we had plenty of activity on planet Soapy Social Media, so take a look at a few of my favorite things from the past two weeks.

Pins:

Top left: This is a great little primer on how to frost beautiful cupcakes. Bonus points: these tips apply to frosting soap cupcakes too!

Center left: This sandwich is so pretty that I would almost feel bad eating it. I love the idea of incorporating edible flowers into simple meals, and lately I’ve been trying my hand at growing some of my own.

Bottom left: You might have to do a double-take with this one — it’s not just a glass, it’s an edible glass! Better yet, it’s made with ingredients that complement the drink itself.

Center: Some excellent advice to keep in mind each day. If I’ve learned one thing from being in business for 15+ years, it’s that things don’t happen if you sit around and wait for them.

Top right: I am so in love with this awesome rainbow soap by Amathia Soapworks. The soap in the front left was made with a cool leopard spot technique, and I tried my hand at it for week four of the Great Cakes Soapworks Challenge.

Center right: So letting a two year old go wild with finger paints may not be the best idea, but this touch painting project still looks like so much fun. It could be something fun to try on a sunny weekend afternoon (out in the garage, with plenty of newspaper down, as far away from the kitchen as possible, of course!).

Bottom right: Who doesn’t love a bit of gold glitter to spice things up? I love mixing a bit of gold glitter with a clear nail polish base for a little pop of color.

Instagram:

Believe it or not, we’re already thinking about Halloween. We worked on a very spooky eyeball-inspired soap this week.

More Soap Crafting awesome-ness! This is the Neon Swirl.

Even though it was sad to realize Fall is approaching, we got some much need rain in the Pacific Northwest this week. Jamisen couldn’t wait to play outside in it!

Tweets:

  • I’m a sucker for fun fonts, and this font by ElliotSix is adorable. The catch? According to the font description, it was created by a boy named Elliot, who is (you guessed it) only six years old.
  • I typically stay as far away from Taco Bells as possible, but this caught my attention: they’re adding waffles to their menu. And by that I don’t mean they’re serving breakfast; I mean they’re creating some kind of taco-waffle-monster hybrid! Is this the best marketing decision of all time, or the worst? Only time (and a lot of waffles) will tell.
  • You may have heard the adage that smoke is attracted to beauty, but does the same hold true for mosquitoes? A new study aims to find out.
  • I’ve been thinking a lot about this quote lately. With patience and perseverance you can do anything.

Find me on Twitter here, Pinterest here and Instagram here.

Facebook Photo of the Week (August 9th ~ August 16th)

Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

Welcome to another weekend, everyone! Hopefully you had a fun and productive week — I know I did because my Mom was here to help out with the craziness that comes with two kids and two working parents. To celebrate the release of Soap Crafting, I created a series of cold process recipes inspired by the book. Each recipe was chosen for its unique additives or challenging new technique. I hope they help you expand your soaping skill set. The recipes are Busy Beeswax Soap (soaping with beeswax), Sudsy Shampoo Bars (soaping with citric acid to lower pH), Strawberries and Cream (adding cream and fruit puree to soap), and Bramble Berry Soap (soaping with beer).

In baby news, Lily spent mornings at home with the nanny and Grandma this week and then came to work with me in the afternoons. It’s hard to believe, but she is almost 3 months old now. She is turning into quite the charmer. Having Mom/Grandma around to help help take care of Jamisen and Lily and our garden was such a relief; bless her; she planted all my Fall starts in the garden. It’s always a great time when she comes to visit. I’m looking forward to a fun, family-filled weekend since Grandpa arrived on the train late last night (and we let Jamisen stay up to welcome him). But before we take off to Farmer’s Market, here is our Facebook Photo of the Week. These little guys are just wait for their kisses to turn into Prince Charmings.

This week’s photo comes to us from Michelle Daniel, owner of Tea Time Creations, LLC. What I loved about this soap was the sheer amount of detail that went into it. The handmade frogs with their little tongues and eyes, the reeds growing up the sides of the cake and even the unsuspecting little black fly sitting next to the frog. I can’t imagine how many hours of painstaking focus and precision it must have taken. Michelle made this soap for the Holly Swirl Challenge hosted by Great Cakes Soapworks, which presents awesome competitions with a different theme each month. Michelle has plenty of her other creations displayed on her website, blog and shop too, and sometimes it’s hard to believe they aren’t edible! Thanks to Michelle for this excellent display of creativity, and thanks to everyone else who posts, comments and interacts with us each week on our Facebook page. I look forward to seeing your wonderful photos each and every week.

Michelle’s website: Tea Time Creations

Michelle’s Facebook Page: Tea Time Creations

Michelle’s Blog: Tea Time Creations

Be sure to post pictures of your soap creations on the Facebook page each week for a chance to win a gift package from Bramble Berry, and don’t forget to check Soap Queen regularly for soapy news and updates!

Sudsy Shampoo Bars

Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

We’ve reached the end of our Soap Crafting-inspired tutorial extravaganza week. In case you missed it, we started out with an awesome beer soap, got fruity with a strawberries and cream recipe and yesterday we introduced a beeswax soap using a fun spoon-plop technique. And below, find our final recipe — Sudsy Shampoo Bars! These shampoo bars are a biodegradable, packaging-free alternative to traditional liquid shampoos, and contain a mixture of several hair nourishing oils. Keep in mind — the nature of soap is to clean, and these bars have a pH of around 7 (slightly less than regular cold process soap). These bars will leave your hair feeling nice and refreshed and in my experience, I needed to load on the conditioner to really make my hair soft and lovely. [Read more…]

Busy Beeswax Soap Tutorial

Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

This is day three of our Soap Crafting-inspired tutorials, and I’m particularly excited about this one because the result is visually stunning. This soap incorporates real Yellow Beeswax, which gives the finished soap a translucent and shiny texture. It also utilizes a fun spoon plop technique, which is easy to do and results in something that almost looks like an In-The-Pot-Swirl. The fragrance combo of our best-selling Oatmeal, Milk and Honey Fragrance Oil and Black Cherry Fragrance Oil is dessert-like and sweet, and topping this soap off with a little gold mica gives it an elegant look. This is an advanced tutorial because of the beeswax addition so don’t soap this one until you’ve got a few recipes under your belt. It’s worth the wait =)

What You’ll Need:

3.5 oz. Sweet Almond Oil

2.8 oz. Yellow Beeswax

.7 oz. Cocoa Butter

7 oz. Coconut Oil

3.5 oz. Hazelnut Oil

8.75 oz. Olive Oil

8.75 oz. Canola Oil

4.5 oz. Sodium Hydroxide

11.5 oz. distilled water

2 teaspoons Cocoa Powder

Gold Sparkle Mica

10″ Silicone Loaf Mold

Fragrance blend of: 1.5 Oatmeal, Milk and Honey Fragrance Oil and .6 oz. Black Cherry Fragrance Oil

Click here to add everything you need for this project to your Bramble Berry shopping cart! I didn’t put this awesome silicone spoon/spatula combo into the kit but that’s what I used in this tutorial. I highly recommend it.

If you have never made cold process soap before, I highly recommend you get a couple of basic and intermediate recipes under your belt before attempting this advanced recipe. Check out this (free!) 4-part series on cold process soap making, especially the episode on lye safety. Bramble Berry carries quite a few books on the topic as well, including my brand new book Soap Crafting in which you’ll find a ton of great info for new soapers and veterans alike.

FRAGRANCE PREP: In a glass container, combine 1.5 oz. Oatmeal, Milk and Honey Fragrance Oil and .6 oz. Black Cherry Fragrance Oil. Set aside.

SAFETY FIRST: Suit up for safe handling practices! That means goggles, gloves and long sleeves. Make sure kids, pets, and other distractions and tripping hazards are out of the house or don’t have access to your soaping space. Always soap in a well-ventilated area.

ONE: Slowly and carefully add the lye to the water and gently stir until the lye has fully dissolved and the liquid is clear. Set aside to cool. If you’d like a harder bar of soap that lasts longer in the shower and releases faster from the mold, you can add Sodium Lactate to the cooled lye water. Use 1 teaspoon of Sodium Lactate per pound of oils in the recipe.

TWO: Melt and combine the Coconut Oil and Cocoa Butter. Add the Sweet Almond, Hazelnut, Olive, and Canola Oils and the Yellow Beeswax. Heat the mixture until the Beeswax has melted entirely. Melting the Beeswax in the oils facilitates even distribution of heat for optimum melting. This oil wax mixture is very hot – above 160 degrees to keep the wax melted. Be careful removing it from the microwave or stove.

Note: Beeswax has a high melting point and tends to harden very quickly. This is an expert-level cold process recipe, and you’ll need to keep your oils above 170 degrees and work quickly to prevent the mixture from clumping.

THREE: Pour the lye into the oils and stir gently with a spatula or spoon. Switch to a stick blender and gently pulse until thin trace.

FOUR: Split the batch in half. In the first container, add two teaspoons of Cocoa Powder for color. Mix using a spoon or spatula. Leave the other portion uncolored.

FIVE: Add half of the fragrance oil to each of the portions, and mix well using a spoon or spatula.

SIX: Starting with the brown soap, use a spoon to plop three mounds of brown soap across the mold. Follow with three plops of uncolored soap, directly on top of the brown soap. Repeat this process, layering mounds of brown soap on top of uncolored soap, until you fill the mold. Tamp the mold intermittently on the table to eliminate any air bubbles. The Square Silicone Spoon/Spatula combo is ideal for this project.

SEVEN: Once all the batter has been plopped into the mold use a spoon or mini spatula to gently form two small ridges running from end to end in the middle of the mold.

EIGHT: Using a chopstick or dowel (or, in my case a dropper!), make tiny looping swirls on the top of both of the ridges. This will created a nice, swirled texture on the top of the soap.

NINE: To put the finishing touches on this soap, use your gloved hands or a powder duster to sprinkle Sparkle Gold Mica across the top of the mold. Then, gently blow on the mica to press it into the soap batter. Be careful because this part can get messy! Be sure to have 99% Isopropyl Alcohol on hand to clean up any mica spills.

Unmold the soap after 4 -7  days and then allow to cure for 4-6 weeks. Enjoy your busy bee soap!

Pinterest-iffic Soap Crafting Contest

Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

We’re taking a pause in our week of cold process projects to announce a special contest. Have you gotten your copy of Soap Crafting yet? If not, books are in house and shipping immediately. Plus, you’ll want your book because we’ve got something super fun in the works: a Soap Crafting Club (!!). Stay tuned for details on that. If you have received your book, then it’s time to show off those fabulous Soap Crafting projects on Pinterest for a chance to win! Details below… Soap Crafting Recipes

Clockwise from top left: 12 Color Linear Swirl, Firedrop Swirl, Funnel Pour, Mantra Swirl

Pin your Soap Crafting projects to any of your boards using the hashtag #soapcrafting. We’ll repin your Soap Crafting projects to our Soap Crafting Pinterest Board, and at the end of September we’ll choose three winners to receive ingredients for one of the projects in the book (including the mold!). Prefer Instagram? No problem! Use the hashtag #soapcrafting on your Soap Crafting Instagram pics and we’ll pin those too. If you’re not following me on Pinterest yet, you can find me @brambleberry here. So let’s break it down:

  • Pin pictures of the soap projects you make from the Soap Crafting book using the hashtag #soapcrafting on Pinterest OR
  • Post Instagram pictures of the soap projects you make from the Soap Crafting book using the hashtag #soapcrafting
  • We will repin your pins or pin your Instagram photos to our Soap Crafting Pinterest board
  • From those pins, we’ll randomly choose three winners to receive ingredients for three projects (of our choice) from the Soap Crafting book
  • We can’t repin your pins without the hastag #soapcrafting or pin your Instagram pics without the hashtag #soapcrafting, so be sure to include those!
  • You have until September 23 to pin and post your projects.
  • We’ll choose the winners and make an announcement on the Soap Queen blog on September 30

Not sure what a hashtag is? Here’s an example pin just for you: #soapcrafting Notice the #soapcrafting circled in red? You literally type out the number sign (#) + soapcrafting and you’re good to go! That’s all you need to do. We can’t wait to see your Soap Crafting projects! If you have any questions, let us know in the comments below. Happy Soap Crafting!

Strawberries & Cream Soap: A cold process tutorial

Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

In celebration of the release of Soap Crafting, we’re continuing our special series of cold process tutorials inspired by the book. If you missed it, check out yesterday’s awesome beer soap (yes, we said beer) and then get ready for today’s recipe filled with another fun additive.

Sweet, juicy and perfect for a picnic, strawberries are one fantastic fruit to eat. They also happen to be wonderful in soap as well. This recipe includes fresh strawberry puree, real cream and strawberry seeds. If you haven’t experimented with additives in cold process soap yet, this is an excellent place to start. One thing to keep in mind: because this soap has so many natural additives, it has a shelf life of about 6 months.

What You’ll Need:

1. 05 oz. Cocoa Butter

8.75 oz. Coconut Oil

17.5 oz. Olive Oil

3.5 oz. Palm Oil

1.75 oz. Palm Kernel Flakes

 2.45 oz. Sweet Almond Oil

4.9 oz. Sodium Hydroxide

10.4 oz. distilled water

1 tablespoon Strawberry Seeds

Fired Up Fuchsia

Titanium Dioxide

1.2 oz. cream

3 oz. strawberry puree

10″ Silicone Loaf Mold

Fragrance blend of:

.8 oz. Strawberry Fragrance Oil

.8 oz. Sun Ripened Raspberry Fragrance Oil

.5 oz. Summer Fling Fragrance Oil

Click here to add everything you need for this project to your Bramble Berry shopping cart!

If you have never made cold process soap before, I highly recommend you get a couple of basic recipes under your belt. This is not a recipe to make on your first try at soapmaking. Check out this (free!) 4-part series on cold process soap making, especially the episode on lye safety. Bramble Berry carries quite a few books on the topic as well, including this downloadable book on making cold process soap.

COLOR PREP: Disperse 1 teaspoon of the Fired Up Fuchsia into 1 tablespoon of Sunflower or Sweet Almond Oil (or any other liquid oil) and 2 teaspoons Titanium Dioxide into 2 tablespoon of liquid oil. Use a mini mixer to get clumps worked out smoothly.

ADDITIVE PREP: Using a food processor, grind up about a dozen fresh strawberries to yield 3 oz of puree. Then, portion out 1.2 oz. cream into a second container. Set both containers aside.

FRAGRANCE PREP: Create the fragrance blend by combining the Strawberry, Sun Ripened Raspberry and Summer Fling Fragrance Oils in a glass bowl. Mix well and then set aside.

SAFETY FIRST: Suit up for safe handling practices! That means goggles, gloves and long sleeves. Make sure kids, pets, and other distractions and tripping hazards are out of the house or don’t have access to your soaping space. Always soap in a well-ventilated area.

ONE: Once the oils and lye water mixture are under 120 degrees F (and ideally within 10 degrees of each other), slowly and carefully add the lye water mixture to the oils and stick blend to light trace. Set aside to cool. If you’d like a harder bar of soap that lasts longer in the shower and releases faster from the mold, you can add Sodium Lactate to the cooled lye water. Use 1 teaspoon of Sodium Lactate per pound of oils in the recipe.

TWO: After the lye and oils have been thoroughly stick blended together (think thin trace – not thick), split the batter into two cups: one with about 1.5 cups of batter and the second with about 2 cups of batter.

THREE: In the original container, add the strawberry puree and 1 tsp. of the dispersed Fired Up Fuchsia Colorant.

FOUR: In the second 2-cup container, add 2 teaspoons of dispersed Fired Up Fuchsia.

FIVE: In the remaining 1.5 cup container, add the Strawberry Seeds.

SIX: Add 1 tablespoon of Titanium Dioxide to the cup with the Strawberry Seed batter. Add another tablespoon of Titanium Dioxide to the cup with the strawberry puree to lighten this color up. It’s quite a dark, almost brown color, without it. Using a wire whisk, thoroughly mix the colorants and additives into each cup of soap batter.

SEVEN: When the batter has reached a thin trace, pour about half the container of cream (.6 oz.) in the container with the Strawberry Seeds. Pour the remaining half (.6 oz.) into the container with the strawberry puree. Using a wire whisk or a stick blender, mix the cream into the batters.

EIGHT: Split the fragrance blend in thirds, pouring approximately .7 oz. of the oil into each cup of batter.

NINE: Pour approximately one-third of the strawberry puree batter into the silicone mold.

TEN: Starting at one end of the mold, pour about half of the pink-colored batter in a wave pattern until you reach the other end of the mold. Do the same with half of the white-colored batter.

ELEVEN: Pour almost all of the remaining puree soap into the mold. Save about a half cup to complete the final top design.

TWELVE: While pouring over a spatula, pour two-thirds of the remaining pink soap over the top of puree soap. Tamp the mold on the table to release bubbles and smooth out the surface, and then use the same spatula technique to pour two-thirds of the remaining white soap. Tamp the mold again to release bubbles.

THIRTEEN: Pour the remaining puree soap on top of the mold in a loop-de-loop pattern, from one end of the mold to the other (far right). Then, pour the remaining white soap over it, making a stretched out, horizontal zig-zag from right to left (center). Finally, pour the pink soap in an opposite zig-zag to fill in the space left by the white soap (far right).

FOURTEEN: Insert a chopstick of dowel about 1/4 of an inch into the soap. Start in the bottom left-hand corner and drag the tool up and down through the soap, slowly making your way to the far end of the mold.

 

Spray the entire top with 91% – 99% Isopropyl Alcohol to reduce soda ash. Cover and insulate for 24 hours and unmold after 3-4 days. Allow to cure for 4-6 weeks and enjoy!

 

Bramble Beer Soap

Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

We’ve been all abuzz and extremely excited in the Bramble Berry offices with the release of my new book, Soap Crafting. So this week, inspired by the book, we will be featuring 4 unique Cold Process tutorials plus announcing a special Soap Crafting contest (hint: who doesn’t love Pinterest?). Can’t get enough of the CP love? You’ve come to the right place!

It’s always 5 o’clock somewhere, and for some that means having a cold, refreshing beer. Although I don’t drink beer, I couldn’t resist using beer as an additive in this latest recipe. Substituting beer in a recipe a few extra steps, but the result is totally worth it because it helps to create a thick, creamy lather. This recipe also incorporates a gold mica vein to give this soap a little extra sparkle.

What You’ll Need:

1.75 oz.Avocado Oil

8.75 oz. Canola Oil

8.75 oz. Coconut Oil

7 oz. Palm Oil

8.75 Olive Oil

4.8 oz Sodium Hydroxide

11.5 oz. by volume blonde ale (or any other light ale)

Gold Sparkle Mica

Ultraviolet Blue Colorant

Fired Up Fuchsia

Black Oxide Pigment

Titanium Dioxide

10″ Silicone Loaf Mold

Fragrance blend: .8 oz. Wasabi Fragrance Oil and 1.3 oz. Pink Grapefruit Fragrance Oil

Click here to add everything you need for this project to your Bramble Berry shopping cart!

If you have never made cold process soap before, I highly recommend you get a couple of basic recipes under your belt. Check out this (free!) 4-part series on cold process soap making, especially the episode on lye safety. Bramble Berry carries quite a few books on the topic, and Soap Crafting includes comprehensive chapters about lye safety, oil choices, and an introductory beginner recipe with step-by-step tutorial.

COLOR PREP: Disperse 2 teaspoons of the Ultraviolet Blue into 2 tablespoons of Sunflower or Sweet Almond Oil (or any liquid oil), 2 teaspoons of Titanium Dioxide into 2 tablespoons of in liquid oil, 1 teaspoon Fired Up Fuchsia into 1 tablespoon of liquid oil, and 1 teaspoon of Black Oxide  into 1 tablespoon of liquid oil. Use a mini mixer to get clumps worked out smoothly.

BEER PREP: In order to add beer to a recipe, you need to boil it to remove the alcohol and carbonation. Unboiled beer can react badly with lye and cause a bubbly volcano effect! To prevent this, boil the beer for about 15 minutes, paying careful attention that the beer doesn’t boil over. Note that half or more of the volume of beer will be lost when you boil it, so be sure to start out with more beer than you need. We recommend boiling an entire 16 oz. bottle of beer down to the amount you need. If after the 15 minutes you’ve boiled out too much beer, you can always make up the difference by adding distilled water.

Once the beer has been boiled, refrigerate it uncovered, overnight, to be sure that it loses as much alcohol and carbonation as possible. Take it out of the refrigerator about an hour before you plan to add your lye to it.

FRAGRANCE PREP: Prepare the fragrance blend by combining .8 oz. of Wasabi Fragrance Oil and 1.3 oz. Pink Grapefruit Fragrance Oil in a glass container. Set aside.

SAFETY FIRST: Suit up for safe handling practices! That means goggles, gloves and long sleeves. Make sure kids, pets, and other distractions and tripping hazards are out of the house or don’t have access to your soaping space. Always soap in a well-ventilated area.

ONE: Add about 1 Tablespoon of lye at a time to the boiled and chilled beer and stir completely before adding another Tablespoon. For extra insurance against overflow, set your container of beer in a larger container before you begin to add the lye. Since you are working with a liquid that is not clear, you won’t be able to visually see that the lye has fully dissolved, so take extra care to assure that there are no more lye chunks floating in your beer before adding it to the fixed oils. Set aside to cool. TIP: If you’d like a harder bar of soap that releases faster from the mold, you can add Sodium Lactate to the cooled lye/beer mixture. Use 1 teaspoon of Sodium Lactate per pound of oils in the recipe.

TWO: Melt and combine the Coconut and Palm oils (remember to fully melt and remix your entire container of Palm Oil before portioning). Add the Avocado, Canola, and Olive oils and stir until combined. Once the oils and lye/beer mixture are under 120 degrees F (and ideally within 10 degrees of each other), slowly and carefully add the lye/beer mixture to the oils and stick blend to light trace.

THREE: The beer will discolor the soap to a dark tan color, so add 3 teaspoons of dispersed Titanium Dioxide to the whole batch to lighten the color.

FOUR: Once the colorant has been full incorporated, split the mixture evenly three ways (each container should hold about 2 cups of batter).

FIVE: In one container, add 4 teaspoons of dispersed Ultraviolet Blue. In the second, add 1 teaspoon of dispersed Fired Up Fuchsia. In the last container, add one teaspoon of dispersed Black Oxide. Stir in the colorants with a whisk or spatula so you don’t accelerate trace. At this point, you can also add in the fragrance oil blend. Split it evenly between the three batches of batter.

SIX: Slowly pour the black soap into the container first. Tamp the mold on the table several times to disperse bubbles and level the layer.

SEVEN: To create the mica vein, use a powder duster to sprinkle a thin layer of Gold Sparkle Mica over the freshly poured black soap. Sprinkling too much mica can cause your layers to separate, so take extra care to achieve just a light dusting of mica. Then, close your eyes and gently blow on the mica to lightly press it into the soap. Because mica is so fine, this part can get messy. Be sure to have paper towels and isopropyl alcohol on hand to clean up any mica that sticks to the sides of the mold or your work surface.

EIGHT: Next, pour the Ultraviolet Blue soap. Pour the soap slowly and carefully. If you’d like perfectly even layers, pour the soap over a spatula. For a more ruptured, uneven layer, pour without a spatula. The further away from the first layer you pour, the more likely that the soap will break through the first layer. Gently tamp the mold on the table several times to disperse bubbles and level the second layer.

NINE: Using the same technique as before dust another layer of Gold Sparkle Mica. Be sure to have paper towels and isopropyl alcohol on hand to clean up any mica that sticks to the mold or your work surface.

TEN: Finally, pour the pink soap. This layer works best if it’s more thick so it can be textured after the pour. Remember, it’s okay if the layer breaks through. Then, gently tamp the mold on the table to disperse bubbles and level the layer.

ELEVEN: Finish the top of the soap by using the back of a spoon to gently spread the soap from the edge into the middle of the mold, forming a ridge down the center.

TWELVE: Add a final touch by dusting another layer of Gold Sparkle Mica on top. Cover and insulate for 24 hours and unmold after 3-4 days. Allow to cure for 4-6 weeks and enjoy!

Be sure to check back all this week for more Soap Crafting-inspired cold process recipes!

Drowning in Zucchini

Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

Happy Weekend! We are enjoying a torrent of rain this morning but are so thankful that yesterday cleared up just enough time for a little play date fun outside. Jamisen and his friend Oskar had a wonderful time finger painting and generally causing 2 year old boy chaos while the parents all had a great time socializing. I made Pigs in a Blanket for the first time, ostensibly for the little ones and what a hit that was with everyone. I think it will become a staple at our play dates from here on out.
 
Jamisen had a fun boo-boo this week. He managed to hurt himself on a plastic water sprayer. We’re not quite sure how that happen but think it was a pinch hurt. He was smiling big for the camera because I told him to smile for Grandma.
 
Baby Lily remains happy, cheerful and above all, a blessing in our lives. Even Jamisen seems to be growing quite fond of her. We continue to try to emphasize the ‘team’ aspect of them together – even giving them their own monniker “Team Jilly!” for Jamisen + Lily. That term is not fixed however and we remain open to great ideas on how to solidify their bond. So if you have any advice or experience to share, or a better team name for them, please share.

Lily still is working full time. She is a normal little baby girl, crying, pooping and puking like a 2 month old. This is an artistic rendition of what happened this week at work – she literally puked on command on our Customer Experience Manager’s desk. It was hilarious. He was making little baby faces at her and saying playfully, “Don’t you puke on my desk. Don’t you do it.” And blacccch, she opened her mouth and sallied forth such a lovely gusher that she missed her own outfit and hit his desk squarely.

At home, the garden is growing amazingly! We are swimming in zucchini and yellow squash. Every single thing we baked or made this week had squash, squash, squash. We’re even juicing the zucchinis in our morning kale juice.  Potatoes look to be the next crop that we may have overplanted. We just harvested a new crop of potatoes from our not-deer proof garden. This is maybe 1/100th of the potatoes in the garden. I’m a little terrified of all the things I’ll be learning to do with them. I’m thinking that I’ll end up learning how to make potato chips and give away homemade batches of potato chips for Christmas this year!

This is one of the things I made for Jamisen this week – 6 eggs + cheese + any veggies you want. Mix it up. Put into muffin tins (oiled). Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes and presto, bite sized little chunks of protein and veggie power. Jamisen calls them ‘cupcakes’ and asks for them all the time. A food that gets a kid to eat veggies? Sign me up.

We were so happy and pleased when Uncle Erik and Aunt Cheriss came to visit this week. It was great to have them over and I remain astounded at how good Uncle Erik is with toddlers. He’s a natural and clearly, judging from Lily’s expression, does pretty good with babies too. I think the look on Erik’s face (and the look of giggly satisfaction on Lily’s face) comes from a rather impressive toot that Lily had just let out =) We are pushing Erik hard to add to the Faiola family grandchild total. This week looks like it will be a busy one. Grandma is supposed to come visit (yay!) and I’m starting to get ready for the Soap Crafting Book Release Party in Bellingham. If you’re local PNW, I’d love to meet you in person and celebrate =) Have a great week everyone!

 

Bramble Berry takes over the Bells Game

Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

It’s not a Bramble Berry summer without attending a good old ball game, and last Tuesday the entire Bramble Berry team was in attendance to watch our beloved Bellingham Bells take on the Medford Rogues. So maybe there was more chatting, eating and drinking than baseball-watching, but it’s pretty safe to say that everyone had a fantastic time.

The Bells are Bellingham’s collegiate-level team, and play during the summer off season. With the stadium less than 5 minutes from the office, it’s a great way to spend an evening together as a team. We had a delicious barbecue catered by local favorite restaurant Boundary Bay, and it was great to see warehouse staff, office support staff and everyone’s kids, friends and spouses come together. Jamisen even got to throw the first pitch! He may have needed a little help throwing the ball all the way to home plate, but he had a wonderful time. I’m thinking a Little League team is probably in his future.

For snacks, we had the typical burgers and brew fare, but we were also delighted with an awesome tray of Boundary Bay’s signature Mac & Cheese. All the delicious food was quickly gobbled up by all kids, spouses and friends of Bramble Berry staff. Baby Lily was in attendance too, and totally enjoyed/slept through her first game.

Jamisen taking a few gulps of much-deserved lemonade after throwing the first pitch. He is growing up so fast! His vocabulary is practically college-level. Sharing is our big learning opportunity now and we’re working hard on that skill.

Our social media assistant Becky, left, and I are clearly paying very close attention to the game =) Er, um …. possibly talking about the latest Facebook post but we’re sure the game wasn’t affected by our brief lapse in attention.

More BB staff! On the far left is one of our wonderful customer care team members, Rachel. Slightly in front of her is our new Customer Experience Manager Kevin. Myself and Lily are in the middle, and Kevin’s partner, Keith, is to the right. If you look closely, you can see Chris and Jamisen snapping up the remains of all that tasty food. Yes, that is indeed Jamisen’s ankle =)

Jamisen with his newly autographed first pitch ball. He would not let it out of his hands for the entire game! It has a place of honor on a shelf right now, where Jamisen can gaze lovingly at it but not throw it. That kid can throw hard but has a serious lack of aim. I want my windows, and my knees, to remain intact. And yes, those are mini Toms in case you were admiring my son’s fashion sense. Ha ha. =)

A few members of our awesome warehouse team. Nikki is wearing the sunglasses, Kelsi is to her left and Cyrus, wearing purple, is to the right. They are all long term Brambleberrians and we feel lucky to have them pulling and packing your boxes.

As the sun set over the field and game headed into the 7th inning, everyone was still laughing, chatting and all around having an excellent time. Bells games are awesome team building events, and if you’re looking for a fun group activity in Bellingham or Whatcom County, they offer group discounts too! We can’t wait until next summer — take us out to the ball game!

Good Morning, World

Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

“When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive — to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love. Then make that day count!” ― Steve Maraboli

Facebook Photo of the Week (August 2nd ~ August 9th)

Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

This week, we shared (hopefully!) useful tips and tricks to keep you busy until summer’s end. Looking to experiment with some new fragrances or molds? We’ve got you covered! We also wrote up a mini guide on measurements, including when (and how) to use volume versus weight measurements when creating a recipe. It’s something that can be tricky, and we all need a little refresher sometimes.

We’ve also been busy with the release of the Soap Crafting book! Within the first week, more than 500 books went out the door, which is absolutely incredible, and something we’re all very proud of.  I can’t wait to hear about which recipes you all have enjoyed the most. If you’re hungry for more Soap Crafting goodness, we made two recipes from the book this week, including the Neon Swirl and the Lab Color Ombre.

As for the Facebook Photo of the Week, this cute little treat just screams summer time. Read on below!

This weeks photo comes to us from Elaine L. from New York. This is her brand new Ice Cream Soap made with Bramble Berry’s Goat Milk Melt and Pour Base, Sweet Treats Colorants set, and the delightfully summery Peach and Strawberry Fragrance Oils. The team in the office was just drooling over how realistic it looked. Thank you so much for sharing your soap with us and we can’t wait to see your next batch. Be on the look out for a soapy package heading your way! Thanks to everyone who posts each week on our Facebook too, we wouldn’t have the amazing community we do without your involvement and enthusiasm.

Be sure to post pictures of your soap creations on the Facebook page each week for a chance to be featured on the Soap Queen blog! 

Perfect Party Favors: A Melt & Pour Tutorial

Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

Mustaches are hot! All you need to do is check out Pinterest to be assured that this project is right on trend. Try this fun project to use as favors for a wedding, bridal shower or birthday party. They are easy to make and bring out the playful side in everyone. We used Champagne fragrance, a festive fragrance that has a bubbly, ginger ale scent.

Ingredients:

0.3 oz Champagne Fragrance Oil

12 oz Clear Melt & Pour Soap Base

Shimmer Coral Color Block

Electric Bubblegum Color Block

Black Oxide Color Block

12 cavity Rectangle Silicone Mold

Mustache and Lip Templates

Craft Knife

Skewers

Clean-up Tool

Click here to add everything to your shopping cart

ONE: Cut the Clear Melt and Pour Soap Base into 1 inch cubes and melt in a heat-safe container on 30 second bursts in the microwave, stirring between bursts.

TWO: Add 0.3 oz Champagne Fragrance Oil to the melted soap base and mix well. Split the base in half, each portion weighing 6 ounces.

THREE: Color one portion with the Black Oxide Color Block. I like to shave easily meltable bits off the color block using the clean-up tool. When working with color blocks remember that what you see is what you get! So add as much or as little color as you need to achieve your desired color. Repeat with the other portion, this time using the Shimmer Coral and Electric Bubblegum Color Blocks. For a slightly darker red, add a teensy bit of the Black Oxide Color Block.

FOUR: Pour the black soap into 6 of the cavities of the 12 bar Rectangle Silicone Mold, filling each cavity about ¼ full. Spritz with Isopropyl (Rubbing) Alcohol to eliminate bubbles. Repeat with the red soap, filling the other 6 cavities about ¼ full and spritzing again with Isopropyl (Rubbing) Alcohol.

FIVE: Allow the soap to fully harden. While waiting for the soap to harden, print and cut out the mustache and lip templates (downloadable here). Unmold the red and black soaps. Place a mustache template on a piece of black soap, and use a craft knife to cut around the template. Use the templates to cut mustaches from the 6 bars of black soap, and lips from the 6 bars of red soap. Also, I feel silly even saying it but craft knives are HOT. Please be cautious when using it and do not let little fingers help you with this step.

SIX: For soap on a stick, use a skewer to pierce the soap. Wrap the soap with plastic wrap or a cute cello bag and ribbon. Enjoy!

Tip for using the template: With the template on the soap, use the craft knife to make a line all the way around the template, but not an actual full cut. Remove the template and use the line to make your final cut. I found cutting was easier when I angled the soap with the widest part of the soap perpendicular to me.

Mustaches

A Guide to Weight vs. Volume

Filed Under: Tips & Tricks

Weight vs. Volume is a recurring question that many soapers, lotion makers and general crafters have grappled with in the pursuit to make the perfect product. In all my years of soaping, the weight versus volume question has been the one that I (and our customer service team) have gotten the most. Ounces, as a unit of measurement, are used to quantify both weight and volume. The difference is slight but very important!

Keep in mind that unless otherwise noted in Soap Queen tutorials (and almost all soap and toiletry recipe books), ingredients are measured by weight and not volume. For example, you’ll rarely see a tutorial call for a “cup of oil,” because oils have different densities. Some oils are heavier than others, and so to get the most accurate measurement possible, weight measurements are used. That’s why you’re much more likely to see a recipe call for “2 oz. of oil”. Below is a general guide to the difference between weight and volume, and what it means when you are purchasing and working with Bramble Berry’s products.

Weight: Weight is determined by the heaviness, or mass, of the particular item, and is measured with the use of a scale. We sell most products at Bramble Berry by weight so that you are getting the same amount every single time that you order. It’s also helpful in determining the amount of product to buy for your favorite recipes. Products sold by weight at Bramble Berry include popular items like butters, fixed oils and fragrance or essential oils.

Volume: Volume is the amount of space that an item you are measuring takes up. It’s a common measurement in food recipes and recipes where ratios are more important than precision. For example, if you’d like to make a baby oil recipe that does not require a chemical reaction (like emulsion or saponification) and the goal is to utilize the space of your packaging/containers while maintaining a specific ratio of ingredients, volume measurements are the way to go. When you’re looking for packaging, note that containers, jars, bottles, etc. are labeled by their volume measurements, or the amount of space that a product will take up within them. An 8 oz Bail Jar will hold 8 oz of product by volume, not necessarily by weight, so keep that in mind if you’re working with a hand cream recipe whose yield is measured by weight.

Here are some visuals to help you out. Let’s say you’ve ordered 6 different Bramble Berry Fragrance Oils, all in a 4 oz size. Your order might look something like this:

And you’re thinking, huh, did some of my bottles leak? Why is the Ginger Ale filled to the brim but Vanilla Select is only about 3/4?

The (literally hundreds of) components that make up individual fragrance oils can vary based on what the final scent goal is. Typically you’ll discover that sugary-sweet fragrance oils are more dense, heavy and viscous, while a citrus-based fragrance oil might be relatively light and thin in density. Hence, when your Bramble Berry fragrance order is hand-poured and weighed to order, you are getting accurate weight measurements while visually, it appears that your fragrance oils aren’t quite matching up.

Check out the difference between Green Chrome Oxide (on the left) and Titanium Dioxide (on the right). Both are weighed out to one ounce, but clearly the Green Oxide is the more dense and heavy of the two colorants. Think about the old joke “Which weighs more, a pound of feathers or a pound of bricks?” The joke being that they weigh the same, but will visually appear to have very different measurements.

Even the same exact product can vary in its volume vs. weight measurements! Below are some common fragrance and fixed oils measured by both volume and weight. The glasses on the left show 4 oz. of oil by volume while the glasses on the right show 4 oz. of oil by weight. You’ll notice that throughout the photos, the level of liquid on the left stays consistent while the level of liquid on the right fluctuates. A volume measurement will remain visually static regardless of the weight or viscosity of the article being measured. A weight measurement will vary to the eye, but not to the scale.

Wasabi Fragrance Oil by Volume/Wasabi Fragrance Oil by Weight

Pink Grapefruit Fragrance Oil by Volume/Pink Grapefruit Fragrance Oil by Weight

Sunflower Oil by Volume/Sunflower Oil by Weight

Castor Oil by Volume/Castor Oil by Weight

And finally, here’s an herb that really illustrates what we mean! On the left is Calendula measured by 3 ounces of volume, and on the right there is 3 ounces by weight. Because this herb is so light and fluffy, it takes significantly more to achieve 3 ounces of it by weight. For more examples of weight vs. volume, check out this previous blog post. 

Have any more questions about Weight vs. Volume? Let us know in the comments below!

New at Bramble Berry ~ Back to School Edition

Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

It’s only August, but back to school season is just around the corner. New backpacks for the kids, stocking up on cozy sweaters for fall and of course, gearing up for holiday soapmaking and crafting! Jamisen starts pre-school this next month and he has the cutest little dinosaur backpack to take to school.

It’s been a busy month with lots of new products added, from cute soap molds to fancy new essential oils and finally, a much anticipated aluminum-free deodorant base. We’d love to see photos of your creations on our Facebook page, and you can always check the What’s New section on Bramble Berry’s website to be the first to know when we add new items. Happy soaping!

Melt & Pour Soap Fundraiser Kit

Looking to spice up a fundraiser? Ditch the wrapping paper and chocolates in favor of adorable, handcrafted soaps. This kit includes 100 pounds of melt & pour soap, eight different fragrances, various embeddable toys, an assortment of colorants and all the soaping tools you’d need to make 400 bars of soap. The total value of these items individually be more than $460, and so you save almost $100 when you buy them bundled in this kit. You also get extra downloads to help your student sell (like an order sheet).

Aluminum Free Deodorant Base

You’ve been asking and we’ve finally perfected the recipe. Try out this new aluminum free-deodorant base in our push-tubes for easy use. No additives are necessary, simply melt down and pour into containers. You can add up to .1 oz. of your favorite fragrance or essential oil to make this deodorant your own.

Bio-Mulsion Wax

Bio-Mulsion wax is a naturally-derived, plant-based emulsifying wax that provides superior skin absorption and a nice spreadable consistency. Use this wax in lotions, creams and liquid serums.

Colloidal Oatmeal

Soothing and skin-loving, Colloidal Oatmeal makes an excellent addition to face masks, milk baths, soaps and creams. Its finely ground texture and nourishing properties make it a fantastic additive for those with dry skin.

 

 Isopropyl Alcohol is the ultimate soapmakers clean-up companion and soda ash fighter. Coconut Milk Powder is an excellent additive and Liquid Crothix helps thicken liquid soaps or shampoos.

Isopropyl Alcohol, Coconut Milk Powder & Liquid Crothix

 

It’s glitter galore! We’ve introduced four new glitters for your nail polish creations. For inspiration, check out the tutorial we did using the Peacock Nail Polish Glitter.

Gold Nail Polish Glitter, Silver Nail Polish Glitter, Peacock Nail Polish Glitter, & Firebrand Nail Polish Glitter

So many cute molds, so little time!

First Row: Guest Pea Pods, Cow & Calf Tray & Guest Fruit Tray

Second Row: Art Deco Fauna Tray, Bicycle Mold & Iris

 

Lemon Eucalyptus Essential Oil

We’ve added a fresh and bright essential oil to our fragrance family. As an added bonus, this essential oil is also effective in bug sprays!

 

Spiced Amber Ale and Cucumber & Kiwi

Get ready for fall with the sweet, aromatic Spiced Amber Ale Fragrance Oil. But if you’re not quite ready for fall, the fruity and fun Cucumber & Kiwi Fragrance Oil can liven up any lingering summer projects.