1. 4 test candles with different waxes, 2. Testing new lip flavor, 3. Bath Fizzies, 4. Seizing Soap! Oh no!
Today was a busy day. I spent this afternoon with our newest Customer Service team members at Otion. We did a basic overview of the main things that Bramble Berry and Otion customers make. First, we did a batch of Cold Process soap. That pinkish purple in the photo above was acheived with a heavy dose of Ultramarine Pink Oxide. Unfortunately, the test fragrance accelerated trace a bit too quickly to get a triple-color swirl done and we ended up glopping the entire thing into the mold. The soap will probably not be taking any “Best Of” prizes anytime soon. On the plus side, the test fragrance (a Banana Leaf floral mix) smelled delicious, even while wrecking havoc on our batch. I’ll work on reformulating it and hopefully bring it in for Spring 2009.
To show the difference between Cold Process and Melt and Pour, we did a quick and easy Citrus Melt and Pour loaf. Holly in Customer Service was delighted at the instant gratification of melt and pour.
Then, we made two different lip balm recipes – one with deoderized cocoa butter and one with regular cocoa butter to compare the smell in the final product. We used this opportunity to try out some of our edible essential oils. We even tried including the lip tingling Clove essential oil in a few of the tubes, in the hopes of creating the next lip plumper. Our lips tingled but they didn’t look a whole lot more plump after application.
We also made two batches of bath fizzies. One using micas (Violacious Violet with Lychee Red Tea fragrance) and one using La Bomb (Lilac La Bomb with Cybilla Yuzu fragrance). Holly in Customer Service was particularly surprised to see the color changes with the La Bomb batch once the color was fully dispersed in the batch.
Finally, we finished with four test candles. The purpose of making four was to educate and show the Customer Service team at Bramble Berry the various burn rates of the different waxes we carry. On Monday, we’ll have a “Burn Off” and see which wax burns the longest, the fastest, the hardest and gives the best throw. Our offices will be smelling especially good tomorrow. I predict the 100% beeswax candle will be the last one standing.
Once I got home, I made a batch of delicious (well, I think it’s delicious) Carmel Fudge to bring to work. High doses of sugar are a great way to start out any slow Monday.
Just a reminder: Bramble Berry is closed Thursday and Friday this week for Thanksgiving.
After a busy day at work still goes home any bakes….very impressive. The fudge sounds yummy.
I agree – on both accounts. I’ll bet that BB is a GREAT place to work!
And, that IS some pretty ugly soap…
I agree with Melmi! A-M is such a great boss (none of my bosses ever baked/made me anything), and working at BB is like the best chemistry lab ever!
Wow, what a dream job!!
Oh that is some sad soap. I’m sure glad you do the testing so we don’t have to.