Soap Queen

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From Sierra Leone, with Love

Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

One of my favorite parts of being in charge of Bramble Berry ‘SoapNation’ is the one-on-one instruction opportunities at Otion. From time to time, soapers and toiletry makers come to Otion for private instruction on how to make everything and anything that their heart desires. The days (and weekends) are all custom designed to meet  the interests of our students. Selena came to us from Africa by way of London. And poor dear, because of the Icelandic volcanic eruptions, she is in Bellingham for a bit longer than she intended.

We designed a jam packed two days for Selena. Cold Process soap – swirled with the Bramble Berry ‘World’s Best Divider Molds’ and a couple double layer loaves (with a sprinkled mica vein in the middle of each layer, above). The above soap is the dark color because of the honey. It gets hot and burns in the soap, causing it to turn brown.

Most of our cold process soaps included a generous serving (up to 10%) Sierra Leone honey, fresh off the plane (and brought in at some trouble for poor Selena who was stopped by customs so long that she missed her flight to Bellingham!).

We made four different types of scrubs. The two pictured below are both emulsified scrubs (similar to the ones I teach in this video here).

 

We made many types of whipped body butters.

 

 

And sadly, we had a bit of a mishap with the Honey soap.

 

 

It superheated up, the honey crystallized and created a heat tunnel and all of the honey leaked out. Whoops.

 

Not to worry though – we hot processed the entire batch out and made some luscious soap (above) despite the initial horrifying leaky honey results. And then we redesigned the batch – less honey, lower temperatures, no insulation and presto! successful batch.

It was a joy to spend two days with Selena. She’s headed back to Africa with three massive boxes bulging with goodies. I’m excited to watch her company progress in the next few years. Thanks for spending the day with me Selena!

The best soap supplies on the internet are found at Bramble Berry. Click here to browse Bramble Berry.

 

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25 Comments

  1. Hi Heidi

    I just popped over to your blog (which looks great by the way). Congrats on the FABULOUS news! I can’t express in words how happy I am for you!

    Try some contests and giveaways to get people engaged, be active on FaceBook and Twitter as a way to push your blog, check out other blogs and leave comments. Last but not least, people love pictures and pictures of people (I know I do).

  2. Hi AM-
    How are you? Read my latest blog post, for the great news I received yesterday from the Oncologist! It’s back to business for me! I can close this chapter!

    Outrebeautybistro.blogspot.com

    Also, still trying to grow my blog…any tips? I have been faithful about posting this year several times per week…per your suggestion 🙂

    XO Heidi
    Outre Beauty Bistro

  3. Yes, we used the regular stick blender just like the video but just by changing percentages and some of the oils used, you really can get a different look and feel. I love how simple lotion is. Just play around – you’ll be shocked at how easy it is to customize your recipe =)

  5. oh I have all of that, but I ask because you said whipped body butter, and its look like very shiny and more light that the basic recipe..i ll love to come for a personal classes… but I live in paris and I ‘m afraid about flight !! 🙁

    are you use for this recipe a handmixer like the video or something else?
    thank you anne marie!

  7. Everything looks fabulous. I especially like the color combination in the brown and white one.

  8. What wonderful products you two made! I’m envious…I have to seriously think about doing a private instruction day. It’d make me very happy to spend a day soaping with you, A-M!

  9. Thank you so much I can hardly wait to see them! Thanks to Leah and Stevie
    also!

    ————————————–
    Pam Ludemann-Leis
    530 (589-1178)
    [email protected]
    ————————————–

  11. thanks every body, it was incredible working with Anne-Marie, she is a true inspiration. I’ve just finished wrapping and packing it all up and ,my suitcase is very heavy but my hotel room smells like burnt honey, vanilla and cherries all in one real yummy. I’m off to Napa for a few days hoping the volcanic ash over Europe will have cleared by sunday in time for me to fly back to London.. Selina xxx

  12. Yes, the ELF molds are different than the ‘World’s Best Divider Mold’. The WBDM will be available tomorrow for sale =) Maybe that’s where the confusion came from =)

  13. I email BB and got a response from Leah and she told me they were the ELF molds. I’m confused they are two different type molds is that correct?

  14. Wow, the soaps, scrubs, and body butters are gorgeous! The honey soap in the last picture is beautiful — it looks good enough to eat, almost like tiger butter. So pretty and swirly!
    Have a safe trip home, Selena! 🙂

  17. While I can’t give the exact recipe since it’s exclusive for Selena (that’s one of the bonuses of coming to a private class), I can tell you that I took the basic lotion recipe from the booklet here:

    https://www.brambleberry.com/Lo…

    as a starting point to design something custom for Selena with the ingredients that she wanted to specialize and focus with. =)

    If you haven’t learned how to make lotions yet, there’s a how-to video here:

    https://www.brambleberry.com/Ho…

  19. How wonderful for Selena a trip full of memories including BB fun.

    So what is this about BB World’s best Divided Molds?

    “swirled with the Bramble Berry ‘World’s Best Divider Molds’

  20. Love the way the tan/white soaps look! So creamy and zen-like! Best wishes Selena!

  21. wow! that’s quite an honor to have a guest from so far! It must be fate she is to stay longer and learn more from the soap queen! 🙂

  22. oh my god what a beautifull body butter, are you give us soon the recipe? its exactly what I want to make since 2 weeks!

  23. Thank you for two amazing days, im still shaking my head over the amount of goodies I have and drooling over how luscious and silky the body butters are!! Emulsified scrubs are the bees knees if anyone has not tried em before!! thanks again.

  24. Selena is definitely the winner for most distance traveled =) And she’ll be our guest for a few extra days because of the ash over Iceland.