Tutorials on soapmaking, bath fizzies, lotions and more
We have doubled our Contest Prizes for the week! There will be two winners who will each win their choice of five heavy duty 3-D molds and a soapmaking DVD. The fine print: post a comment any time this week to qualify. Winner will be chosen Sunday night and announced Monday morning.
On the comments yesterday, Tami posted an interesting bath fizzy problem.
I know you’re working on M&P molds this week, but I have a question about bombs that I didn’t find an answer to on your site, hoping maybe you could answer? I have made small ones that I’ve had no problems with, but in making a larger batch and making 10 larger size bombs, am experiencing most of them cracking. They are very firm and not crumbly, but have large cracks in them, my daughter is devastated, as she was planning to sell them since (we) made them. I know that we compressed them as much as possible, what could be other causes for the cracking?
My response was a total shot in the dark.
Hi Tami –
It sounds like the bath bombs might be expanding – and the top is already hard – and this ends up making the larger bombs crack. The smaller bombs, with less volume, don’t expand as much and so don’t crack.
Of course, this is all an educated guess since I haven’t seen your fizzies.
You’re using witch hazel and not anything water based, right? That would be my first suggestion – make sure everything is totally non-reactive with your fizzy mixture.
A little bit of oil will also keep the swelling to a minimum. So, less liquids overall, no water based products and a tiny bit of oil should do the trick for you.
In the meantime, take heart. Your bath fizzies will work wonderfully. Maybe breaking them into smaller bits, selling them in a bag and calling them something creative (Fizzy Rocks, Bag o’ Fizz, Bag o’ Bombs) might help your daughter feel better about your cracking bath fizzies. The photo on the right is of fizzing bath salts. Hopefully it will help inspire your daughter to think outside the proverbial box and turn her “Oops” into something unique and different.Anne-Marie
If anyone has any better ideas for Tami to help save her daughter’s school sale, please post them in the comments and let us know. Stay tuned for news about our drawing (hint: it’s going to be even better) and the final touches for soap-on-a-rope.
As of this morning, not many people have posted in the comments section to be entered into a drawing for your choice of 5 3-D soap molds and a soapmaking DVD. At these rates, the chances are pretty good that your comment will win free soap molds!
Post a comment to any post this week and you’re automatically entered.
Anyone that posts a comment this week on any article/blog post through Sunday will be entered into a drawing to win an assortment of 3-D soap molds! You’ll get five 3-D Soap molds and, if you’re a brand new soaper, let me know and I’ll make sure you get a free copy of the beginners Melt & Pour DVD as well.
If you’re looking for things to post about, a simple “Hi” would suffice. A “Hi! I wish you would focus more on XYZ on the blog” would be very helpful if you want extra-credit bonus points.
The winner will be chosen on Monday.
This week’s blog postings will be a daily series on using Heavy Duty 3-D Molds ($6.50 – 8.00 each) and soap ropes along with the normal random musings about business and soapy self-employment.Using the Heavy Duty molds is convenient because they withstand very hot 165 °F sustained oven temps and 180 °F degrees poured-soap temperatures (sorry, you in-the-oven-hot-process soapers – not that hot!). They are made out of a food grade 60 ml plastic. You can make really large chocolate or marzipan goodies in them as well!
The 3-D molds come with two sides. Snap both sides together, making sure to match up the pouring spout on the top. If you accidentally put one side of the pouring spout on the bottom, your mold will not seal and soap will come rushing out the bottom, all over your table. Once the molds are snapped into place, simply slip the large rubber bands (included with the mold) around the mold to ensure a tight fit.
Or as Jezebel called it, “The Annotated Guide to Making Faith Hill Hot.
They’ve also done a very nice PHP/flash site (takes longer to load, those of you not on DSL) that really shows the before and after pictures of this lovely Faith Hill photo shoot.
What’s shocking is that Redbook felt like they needed to airbrush one of the most beautiful mothers in America. For goodness sake, she’s had three children, has a busy career and appears to have a stable loving marriage. That’s like the holy trifecta of happiness in some circles. I would (sadly) expect massive airbrushing from Vogue or some other very high end fashion magazine. Redbook (whose masthead proudly proclaims, “Love Your Life”) purports itself to be for middle America, for mothers and the middle-aged women in America fighting a losing battle against gravity, stretch marks and time. One does wonder how we can “Love our Lives” when we’re constantly bombarded with reminders that we are too line-ridden, that we’re not skinny enough to be (insert your own word here) loved/rich/contented/
healthy/happy.
The gossip rag Jezebel’s outing of the unretouched photo caused a bit of a media firestorm this week with everybody from ABC News to VH1 weighing in on the photoshopping of an already- beautiful role model. The ultimate message is that women are doing everything they can to live up to the unrealistic images portrayed in the media and … we’re failing, thus disapointing ourselves, our spouses and our kids. After all, if Faith Hill can look that good with a career, three kids, and a busy life, what’s wrong with us that we can’t
There is a business angle to this controversy however. Redbook is doing it for the money. Somewhere, some study has shown that women (yes, those same saggy, overworked, stretch-marked Mothers) are more likely to buy magazines with the beautiful, line-less, nymphs on the cover rather than a woman that looks vaguely like themselves on a good day. The recent closing of pro-real-women magazine, Jane, showcases this point. That’s the true business shame in all of this. The companies that keep pushing super skinny, super airbrushed on us wouldn’t be doing it if there wasn’t money to be made.
Next time you see a candid photo of a celebrity, before you start picking on her, “Ewww, look! She hascellulite!” be happy that you actually saw something real – not something that was manipulated into a more-pretty facsimile of reality.
At the rate we’re going, you won’t be able to see “real” for much longer.
I made Alphabet Soap last week and have already posted a bit about my forays into the project. Here is the final result of the first bars. This idea would be wonderful for a children’s birthday party (thank you Michelle from Blissful Creativity for the suggestion!) or as favors to give away at any celebration.
The “J” is what happens when you pour soap that is still steaming. A general rule for soap shapes is that if the soap is steaming or is too hot to stick your finger in, it will most likely melt your embedding soap item. The effect is quite unique and pretty but if it’s not the look you originally wanted, it can be disappointing. For clean-cut soap lines, make sure the soap is not steaming when you pour the overpour.
I arranged all the mini soap bars in a cookie pan. Then, I poured lightly scented (Pink Grapefruit and Spearmint Eucalyptus Fragrance Oils blended) and barely colored (Blue Mix LabColor), Aloe Vera Melt and Pour base gently over the entire batch. It took about 4 pounds to fill the cookie sheet.
In my haste to shove the soap word bar in place, I flipped the “R.” By the time I noticed, the soap had already formed a skin and the “R” had adhered to the bottom, making it immovable.
Check back tomorrow to see the final results of the entire cookie-sheet project.
Have a question about this blog post? Come join us at Bramble Berry’s Facebook page and we can help you out with any of your soapy questions!
Bramble Berry got the cutest mini alphabet soap mold in stock. It will be on the site for sale next week here. The mold is also food grade so you could use it for chocolate as well. I spent 4th of July playing with the mold and designing some fun word projects.
I poured regular white melt and pour base into the molds. I did not scent or color the letters because I wanted them to stand out in the soap.
I was happy with how crisp and clean the lines were once the alphabet pieces came out of the mold. I ended up having to push fairly hard to get the pieces out. Next time, I will stick the entire mold (soap and all) in the fridge for a few minutes to loosen the letters up. Any time melt and pour is exposed to cold, it forms condensation and glycerin dew. Don’t leave the soap in the fridge for more than 15 minutes at a time to minimize the glycerin dew and condensation
I used Labcolors Aqua for my colorant. Since Labcolors are water-based, the soap stays shiny and clear – perfect for showcasing white letters! I also scented with a fragrance that would not cloud the soap – Pink Grapefruit from the Cybilla Line. There was no way to get the letters placed into the mold evenly without a fair amount of pushing, shoving and generally getting my fingers all soapy. The secret to not getting air bubbles under the letters is to put the letters in at an angle. This allows the air bubbles to flow easily up the side of the letter.
Here are all the letters, happily in their molds. Notice that I wasn’t entire successful with the “B.” The soap started getting too hard so I abandoned the straightening project in the hopes that the “B” would look arty.
Check in tomorrow for photos of my final soaps – and to see what else I did with the alphabet blocks!
I made 7 batches of bath cupcakes this week. Count ’em. Seven. It was a long and creative weekend. The photo of the bathcake above is not mine. Mine turned out non-photograph friendly (translation: very pathetic cupcakes).
My batches were:
normal (citric acid/baking soda/witch hazel)
Olive Butter (citric acid/baking soda/olive butter)
SLS (citric acid/baking soda/SLS/witch Hazel)
Kaolin (citric acid/baking soda/Kaolin/Witch Hazel)
SLS/Olive (citric acid/baking soda/SLS/Olive Butter/Witch Hazel)
Olive/Kaolin (citric acid/baking soda/Olive Butter/Kaolin/Witch Hazel)
Potluck! (citric acid/baking soda/SLS/Olive Butter/Witch Hazel/Kaolin)
My recipe was pretty basic. 1/3 Citric Acid, 2/3 Baking Soda with a few extra pinches of whatever additive I was testing thrown into the mix. For more detailed instructions on making bath fizzies, visit Teach Soap.
I attempted to frost all of these with various bath frostings to make a deluxe sassy bath product that melted cleanly away in the tub.
Seven attempts later, I am properly humbled.
The set up (notice the mouth-watering, amazing Salty Carmel Ice Cream fragrance) for making bath fizzy bath cakes.
This is the perfect consistency for making bath fizzies. You want the dry ingredients to stick together just enough to clump but not so much that they are a hard little ball.
SLS is used for foam and bubbles. In its raw state, it is often a soft chunk. You’ll want to break this clump up before adding it to your mixture. I use Sodium Lauryl Sulfate up to about 25% but you could use more or less depending on how much foam you want. Alternately, if you just want fizz, stick with straight citric acid/baking soda and skip the SLS.
First, I lined the cupcake “tin” with a cupcake holders. The cupcake holder helps keep the food grade “tin” reusable again. If there was no liner, the silicone would forever more smell of Salty Carmel Ice Cream fragrance.
The colors I used to achieve the green, orange, yellow and pink were the La Bomb line. The La Bomb Labcolor Colorants are made in a base of food grade glycerin. Because they are in glycerin, the colorant does not start the fizzing reaction in your bath bomb that a water-based colorant would set off.
Then, when the mixture is in that nice pie dough consistency, push it firmly into the cupcake molds. The tighter you pack, the heavier your bomb will be and the longer the fizz will last in the tub. If you pack the bath fizzy loosely, you will get a very short, explosive fizz in the tub. The loosely packed bath fizzy provides a more “Oooh Ahhh” factor than the densely packed fizzy. But, the densely packed fizzy lasts longer. So, how tight you pack the fizzies is a personal preference.
Tomorrow, I’ll blog (with photos) about the various frosting recipes I used and the (6 dismal, 1 partial success) outcomes.
Norman, my COO in the photo below, says that the Soap Queen blog is getting too business based and that I should start blogging more on crafts. I promise, next week will be more crafty. I’m making some cool soap projects this weekend (frosted salty caramel ice cream bath cupcakes) and painting my stairwell pistaschio green and brown. So, next week will be all about both projects, I promise. By the way, that’s me and Norm, at the cockpit of a non-functional Fed Ex plane. He still is trying to look like he’s in charge (notice the hands on the steering wheel).
But in the meantime, ack! Did you see that our own Seattle brand, Jone’s Soda is being dumped by Starbucks, another local fave? The official word is that Jone’s Soda is being pulled because Starbucks needs to make more room for refrigerated food on their shelves.
But, when you dig a little deeper, Starbucks is not dumping Izze, the Jone’s competitor. Why not? After all, getting rid of a few Jones Soda bottles doesn’t make room for much more than one more lunch item But, dig down a little deeper and find that surprise, Izze is owned by Pepsi. And guess who sits on Starbucks board? A former Pepsi exec sits on Starbucks board. Additionally, Starbucks has a distribution agreement with Pepsi to distribute the pre-bottled Frappuccino bottles that you see in stores.
So, what does this mean to Jones Soda? With their much ballyhooed deal with Seahawks, they were riding the high buzz wave. And, Starbucks only makes up 1 to 3% of their total sales. But, Starbucks was a buzz builder, with lots of foot traffic. And what’s the instricic value of associating with a successful, do-gooder brand like Starbucks?
The analysts are wobbling a little with one saying that the major sell off after the Starbuck’s news makes Jone’s a good buy. At a 83 Price to Earnings Ratio, it’s an expensive buy. I’m still interested though. The management team appears strong, the company has been in business for 20 years and they have strong street cred, which has proven instrumental to bringing the tipping point of favorable consumer habits.
I tried out the myjones.com site and personalized Cream Soda and Blue Bubblegum soda. Those goodies should be coming next week. I’m excited to see how the photo and printing quality is.
Forbes.com did a great 3 part series on the CEO of Jones Soda. The term “series” is probably giving it more credit than it’s due. Each part is about 3 minutes, but it’s still a very informative 3 minutes. Check it out here.
I’m rooting for the local guy to make it past this setback. After all, who else has Turkey & Gravy soda flavor?
Kudos to the local PR firm I wrote about earlier this week. They happened upon my blog and read my rant about the $150-per-photo-charge. Rather than cringe in their offices or whine about my lack of understanding, they picked up the phone and called me.
That takes guts.
The PR Firm told me their side of the story. They’re not selling the photographs. They contracted out to a third party photographer for the shoot. The photographer is selling the photographs for $150 per photo. He believes his work is worth $150 per photo.
I still disagree with the price tag but that’s okay. I’m still left with a better feeling about the situation because the PR Firm called me to chat about it.
The outcome didn’t change. The photos are still $150 per photo and I’m still not buying any. But, I feel good that the local guys cared enough to call.
I suspect that anyone who is an entrepreneur knows this particular type of insomnia. The framework of my brain would just not turn off! The buzzing about my businesses was loud and incessant.
I was worried about our new start-up that’s 6 weeks behind and way over budget. I analyzed the Otion staff meeting; which, was a bit fuzzy given that I did a tequila tasting for them. I’m still wondering if I really invited them over to my house to play the board game “Settler’s of Catan” or if that was part of a somewhat ill-advised dream. Then, I re-wrote the speech for the Keynote Address for the Arizona Soaper’s Conference, all in my head, lying prone in bed.
That’s all pretty par for the course for thoughts and worries. I can usually sleep through that neural net of business woes and concerns. The really big thing occupying my brain is that my brother is moving in. Today! With his dog. And his fiance. Into our small house.
So, after much tossing and turning, I decided to be productive. Thus, the 3:11 a.m. pasta salad foray. Followed by washing dishes. And then reading 55 pages of the book “I was a Good Mother Until I had Kids” (yes, it’s as funny as it sounds).
Erik and the dog (Sam, in the photograph above, a purebred Boxer) and Cheriss arrive in about an hour. They are moving from California and will be staying with us until they find a home of their own. It will be a treat to have them with us, for probably about the first four days. After that, I suspect everyone (Erik included) will be highly motivated to find them a house of their own.
After four years of Otion running under my “leadership” and a parade of managers that came and went, I feel confident that we’ve hit upon a winning strategy: family. Erik is smart, motivated, talented and best of all, shares in the same gene pool that spawned me. Some of that work ethic and entrepreneurial bent had to have gotten into him through osmosis or indoctrination from my parents! To back up that mesh of learned and inherited traits, he has a business degree to boot! So, the reign of Erik will start at Otion in the next few weeks.
I’m excited to welcome him to the self-employed life. His goal is to get Otion Bellingham healthy enough to fund an expansion into Seattle and become an owner/operator of the Seattle store. So, if you’re in the area, please stop into Otion and say “Hi.” He’ll be the newbie so you experienced soapmakers, please be gentle!
