Search Results for: colorants

Uh, Can I Put You on Hold Again?

March 19, 2008 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

Just a reminder – if you’d like to be entered to win all of the tools I used in the Springtime Cutout project, sign up for the FeedBlitz emails on the right hand side of this page. I’ll be doing a random drawing this week for a winner. The value is a full $75, including the colorants needed, the fabulous jelly roll baking pan, melt & pour and fragrances.

And, if you’ve written Bramble Berry in the last 24 hours and we haven’t written back, please write again. We just got a fabulous new phone system to handle or increased call volumes. The phone system went “live” yesterday around 4:30 p.m.

When we came to work this morning, the phones worked great! But, there were no emails from the entire night. Amber called and argued with Qwest for over two hours about our missing emails. They kept saying, ‘Well, maybe you didn’t get any emails last night” despite Amber’s assertions to the contrary. After two hours on the phone with them, and multiple hold times, the Qwest Technician came back and broke the sorry news that all of the emails were gone, never to be recovered.

So, if you wrote Bramble Berry last night or this morning, please write again. Or better yet, you can call and check out our cool new phone system. It’s 1-87-SOAP-STUFF.

Sampler Love & Dairy Goats

March 11, 2008 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

I got this adorable card in my Sampler yesterday. How lucky am I? It’s the same company that one of our commenters, Stephanie, mentioned her crafty sister in law Lisa ran. You can find this card (and oh so much more) at Sweetbeet’s Etsy shop here.

In other news, the American Dairy Goats Association has asked me to judge their soap competition again this year and teach classes on making goatsmilk soaps and lotions. The event takes place October 12th through 18th in Rohnert, California near San Francisco. To read about the event and the judging from last year, click here. I’m not sure I’ll be able to teach. If you’re in California and are interested in teaching and judging, email me (info at brambleberry dot com) and I’ll give you more details.

And finally, all Feedblitz subscribers will be entered into a drawing this month to win all of the cookie cutter project ingredients including non-bleeding colorants, soap base, and the actual cookie cutters used in the project (Don’t worry, I’ll wash them.).

to subscribe to the The Soap Queen feed just enter your email address and click ‘subscribe me!’ in the right hand menu on the blog.

Lucky Shamrock Soap

March 6, 2008 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day which is coming right up, I’ve designed a fun St. Patrick’s Day, green themed, soap project. You can find other St. Patrick’s Day inspirations, including more molds and colorant ideas here.

You’ll need:

2 pounds, 8 ounces clear melt and pour
8 onces white melt and pour
Milky Way Shamrock Mold
Loaf Mold (ours aren’t ready but I have 20 made up in a slightly too flexible plastic if anyone wants them for $17 each. Just email me at info -at- brambleberry -dot- com to get it)
Opalescent Green Mica
Iridescent Glitter
Emerald Green (Shamrocks on top)
Non-Bleeding Oxide Green (Shamrocks on bottom)
Fragrance: Lettuce or Green Tea is perfect!

Pyrex Container
Spoons
Rubbing Alcohol in a Spritzer Bottle

Instructions

Step 1: Make the Shamrocks. Be sure to fragrance them. They end up making up 20% of your total soap in the final product. We used Emerald Green (which bleeds) and Non-Bleeding Green Oxide.

Step 2: If you allow the Shamrocks to sit overnight, be sure to cover them in an airtight container. The more fresh the soap is, the easier it is to adhere in the final product.

Step 3: Heat 8 ounces of clear soap in the microwave. Stir thoroughly until it is no longer steaming and there are no chunks. Fragrance this soap with .1 to .2 ounces of fragrance oil.
Step 4: Pour the clear soap in the bottom of the loaf. Spritz each Shamrock down with rubbing alcohol. Embedd them at an angle to allow air bubbles to flow up the sides. The loaf mold holds three Shamrocks easily.

Step 5: Allow a thick skin to form. Pour a layer of white soap to really make the shamrocks pop.
Step 5.5: Then, it’s time to swirl! Using 2 to 4 ounces of colored soap per pour (don’t forget to fragrance), swirl and layer varying green. We used Emerald Green, Irridescent Green, and White melt and pour to get the final look.

Step 6: Allow to harden to a very thick skin. This layer needs to support the next layer of soap and three Shamrocks! Pour a thin layer of Clear Soap (colored with Iridescent Mica).

Step 7: Spray each Shamrock liberally with rubbing alcohol. Gently set each Shamrock, face up, into the thin layer of soap. Pour remaining soap around the Shamrocks, filling the soap so that the Shamrocks are just barely set into the surface of the soap.

Step 8: Do one final spritz of rubbing alcohol and allow soap to harden at least four hours or overnight.

Check back tomrorow for the final photo to see how this fun loaf turned out.

Lipstick making – ingredients & melting

February 20, 2008 Filed Under: Lip Products

Click here for day one – lip stick colorants

When making lipstick, there are a lot of different ingredients you can use. The basic ingredients are covered here but there are many, many more exotic oils, waxes and butters that can be used in lipsticks.

Wax – Waxes can be beeswax, candelilla wax, jasmine wax, orange wax and ozokerite wax. Most common to the home crafter is beeswax because of its pricing and easy availability. For vegans, candelilla wax is the preferred alternative since it is derived from a plant. Waxes are used to help provide a barrier against the elements, seal moisture in the lips and keep color on your lips. Waxes also help to provide shape and form to the lipstick mixture.

Oils – Oil in lipstick are used to be moisturizing, help provide a barrier against weather and also mix with the waxes to form a smooth, spreadable mixture. Popular oils in lipsticks are Sweet Almond Oil, Avocado Oil, Olive Oil and Hempseed oil. There are many other liquid oil options to use. It’s fun to play around with exotic or lesser known oils but remember, if your lipstick really takes off in the market, you want to make sure that the oils you choose are easily available and cost effective.

Butters – Butters are used in much the same way as oils are. They are designed to moisturize, help protect and make a stable mixture that is solid at room temperature yet glides and melts on the lips. Common butters in lip balm recipes are Shea Butter, Mango Butter and Cocoa Butter. Generally, large brands of lipstick do not use butters in their formulations. Since butters are comprised of many different fatty acid chains, they are described as “polymorphic,” which means that they have the ability to crystallize in several different forms according to how the liquid fat is solidified. What this means to you is that butters must be treated with gentle loving care in lipsticks. You need to melt them slowly (temper them) and then immediately place the finished product into the freezer for quick chilling. This will help to minimize any crystals that might form hard, unsightly bumps in your final product. Or, you can do what the “big guys” do and just avoid butters all together.

Lip Safe Fragrance – Lip Safe Fragrances are commonly referred to as “flavors.” They are not the traditional alcohol based flavors or extracts in the grocery store. While fragrance oils have up to 3500 different ingredients that can go into them, less than 10% of them are classified as safe for lips. This is because you “eat” your lipstick so anything that goes onto your lips must be GRAS (“generally recognized as safe” as classified by the FDA). Flavor oils, or lip safe fragrances, do not taste like anything. Rather, the user is tricked into believing that the lipstick or lip balm “tastes” because they inhale the scent. Seventy-Five percent of what we taste is actually from our sense of smell.

Before you get started, gather your equipment and ingredients.

Equipment Needed:

droppers
knives
spoons
small glass jars (microwaveable)
chapstick tubes/or lip pots
lip safe colorants
beeswax or another wax
liquid oil (sweet almond oil, hazelnut oil, jojoba oil – it’s your choice)
lip safe flavor

Lipstick Making – Day One

February 19, 2008 Filed Under: Lip Products

Making lipsticks is just like making lip balms – except with about ten times the color. Since Bramble Berry’s Lipstick Kit*was included in the holiday gift roundup for the Boston Herald newspaper, we’ve been getting some questions about making lipstick. This week’s blog posts will focus on making lipsticks from scratch (along with the usual random musings, cupcake cravings and business round-ups). Before we get started on our product, let’s discuss ingredients for lipstick. The most important consideration when making lipstick is the colorant – the types you can use, what they are and safety considerations.

*UPDATE: This kit has been discontinued. Click here for more kits.

Titanium Dioxide—Titanium dioxide is a mined mineral, famous for its natural SPF factor. It is an inert, flat oxide that provides for opacity in lipsticks and foundations. If used too heavily, it will leave your skin pale and chalky. It has natural UVA and UVB protection. Because of its fine grind, it allows the skin to breathe and have a healthy exchange with the environment. In lipstick, it helps to add color to the lips because it provide opacity. Sheer glosses will have little to no titanium dioxide in them.

Mica (also called Sericite) – Mica is a naturally colorless mineral that is mined from the earth in large, flat sheets. This product can also be manufactured in a lab and much of what is used in our makeup today is the manufactured product. Mica reflects and refracts light, adding shimmer and sheen to your foundation, your eye makeup and lipstick. When the flat mica platelet is coated with color, it becomes the perfect base for eye shadow. Mica can be coated with a variety of things, from FD & Cs and oxides to dyes and carmine. Even though it is naturally occurring and sometimes mined, when individual mica platelets are covered in FD&C colorant, it is categorized as an FD&C colorant. If you are classifying your product as “all natural,” be sure that the mica you are using is not coated in FD&C based colors. The dual sided nature of the mica color platelets is what causes the shimmer and sheen of micas. Mica is the same stuff you see in your lipstick, eye shadow and blush. Micas work best in clear products, like clear melt and pour, because the shimmer needs light in order to reflect and refract nicely. On the lips, with the thin layer put down, the mica shimmer will come through well. The more titanium dioxide that is used, the less shimmer and shine will show up in the final product. Not all micas are approved for use on lips. You’ll need to research with your vendor if the micas you have are lip safe. Click here to see the list of lip and eye shadow safe Bramble Berry colors.

Iron Oxides—Iron oxides, commonly called pigments, were once mined. Since the 1970s, the FDA has demanded they be lab-created for cosmetic use because iron oxides in nature are often attached to toxic metals like lead, arsenic, mercury, antimony, and selenium. Their purity and safety from naturally occurring sources can’t be guaranteed. The lab-created pigments have the same molecular structure and same quality of color, just a different creation process and a purer, safer end product. Only synthetically prepared iron oxides are approved for use in cosmetics in this country. (Johnson, S.T. & Wordell, C.J. “Homeopathic and herbal medicine: Considerations for formulary evaluation,” Formulary, 32, 1167, Nov. 1997.) To achieve vibrant and beautiful colors, iron oxides are prepared in the lab using iron salts, which are then oxidized using a controlled water process. Iron oxides are safe, pure, and vibrant. Not all oxides and pigments are approved for use on lips. You’ll need to research with your vendor if the micas you have are lip safe. Click here to see the list of lip and eye shadow safe Bramble Berry colors.

The good thing about using pigments in makeup is that they are stable. They are also cost effective; at $3-$6 per ounce, you’re looking at a very cheap, per pound price, for color.

Natural Colorants—There is no legal definition for a natural colorant. FDA classifies colorants as either those requiring certification and those not requiring certification. “Exempt colorants are inherently neither more nor less safe than certified colorants,” concludes an article in the Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology. We may consider them as less hazardous because we perceive them as “natural.” But “like all color additives, they are fabricated products.” Historically, bugs were ground up for colorant. Cochineal (the boiled and ground nymphs of the Coccidae, or scale insects) were crushed by the Aztecs and Mayans for a nice red color. Today, potential customers get squeamish about that so we skip the bugs.

Some popular natural colorants to use are:
Yellow – Annatto, Saffron, Turmeric, Carthamin
Green – Chlorophyll
Brown – Cocoa beans (pods, shells, stems), cocoa powder, fermented tea
Red – Paprika (may be irritating)
Purple – Alkanet Root

The list goes on of course.

The nice part about using these colorants is their marketability as natural products. However, it is difficult to achieve the color you want using natural colorants. Natural colors also lack consistency, so you can’t always get a smooth color (depending on the herb or spice used), and they are expensive to use. Additionally, many of them are not oil soluble so will not blend into the lipstick base smoothly.

Tomorrow’s blog post will discuss equipment needed and specific base ingredients.

Red Lychee Tea Unveiling & Economics

January 27, 2008 Filed Under: Bath & Body Tutorials, Melt & Pour Soap

Here are some photos of the newly cut Red Lychee Tea soap. I’m very happy with how the batch turned out, especially the dark vibrant blue.

Colors used:

Non-Bleeding Pink Pigment (liquid)
Non-Bleeding Blue Pigment (liquid)
Non-Bleeding Purple Pigment (liquid)
Sparkle Gold Mica

I roughly sketched out the Profit & Loss of this loaf on the back of a napkin. The rough economics behind this loaf of soap look like this:

COG (cost of good sold) – the price you pay for the raw materials

4 pounds soap = $7.40
2 ounces fragrance = $3.00
color = $1.30

total: $11.70 for materials

Mold: suggested retail around $30; if the old is used 30 times, this works out to $1 per use

The soap loaf makes approximately 12 bars of soap. At $5 per bar, that works out to $60-$70 retail value.

Gross profit for the loaf, sold at retail, is approximately $53. Gross profit is the retail price less the COGS (materials). Afte

If fixed costs are taken out of the Gross Profit number, such as the cost of the mold ($1), wrapping ($1), overhead ($3) and labor ($15), the net profit works out to about $33.

That’s a pretty good return for such a wondrous creative outlet of expression.

Candle Experiment Gone Awry

January 7, 2008 Filed Under: Home Crafts

I made some candles with our Container Wax, brown candle color and Basmati Rice fragrance. The candles smell amazing (yum, yum, yum!) and look appealing with a double pour. But, they cracked.

In hindsight, I poured the wax too warm. And, judging from the chemical smell coming from the brown colored part, I used too much color as well. Whoops.

The candles are cost about around $2.63 each to make (not counting labor or overhead). That’s the price of a latte and is worth trying to save.

The price break down for the $2.63 is below:

12 oz. wax $.83
container $.50
wick $.09
fragrance 1 oz. per pound $1.19
color (10 drops per pound) $.02

The theory is that that by heating the wax up, in the container, the slow and gentle cool down would keep the cracking to a minimum and save the candle. The photo below is the candle in a gentle warm water bath.

I’m not sure what happened. The melting down went easily and smooth. I let the candles harden up, in the water bath, so that they cooled slowly. I believed that this slow harden would keep the cracking to a minimum.

This slow cool down did keep the cracking to a minimum. However, what came in its place was worse than the cracking. Notice the strange pitted look?

Undaunted, I tried again. Maybe it it was just excess air that had somehow gotten trapped under the wick? Alas, the second try turned out worse than the first. The pitting is the size of a mini crater and the uneven texture brings to mind the pockmarked faces of ’40s movie villains.

I still have cracked candles but the good news is that the cracked candles burn just as nicely as the “fixed” candles! Here’s the test burn; other than minor wick centering problems, both candles are burning cleanly and easily.

The moral of the story is sometimes well enough should be left alone; and, that ugly burns just the same as pretty.

Saturday Round-Up

December 29, 2007 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

Today was a relaxing Saturday. I was able to finish the new John Grisham book, “Playing for Pizza.” It’s a sweetly sentimental story about a so-so football player, struggling to find personal joy and fulfilment in life. He travels to Italy to find success. The story centers around his journey and travelling, Italy and food.

Then, while my hubby outfitted my new skis (a Christmas present from my generous brother), I went to Otion to help with the last of the inventory. Erik, Sarah and I had a jolly time counting droppers, bottles and stray candle colorants.

Finally, we ended the day in a bowling alley. Here’s Erik (generous brother and Otion store manager), getting ready to bowl with his brand new bowling ball (our Christmas gift to him). He chose a scented 14-pound ball (yes, it’s really scented – it smells like Lime) called “Tropical Storm.” He totally smoked the entire group, at one point getting 3 strikes in a row.

We’re getting up early tomorrow to go skiing at Mt. Baker with Erik, his fiance Cheriss, and my brother-in-law, Weston. It should be exhausting but hopefully in a challenging way, as opposed to a broken-bones-kind-of-way. It’s my first time skiing in two years and I have new skis, bindings and poles to get used to. Wish me luck!

While lusting over new kitchen designs tonight, I came across some free label templates from Kitchen and Bath Ideas magazine. The label templates seem particularly cute for one-off toiletry products that just require a quick and easy handwritten label. Click here to go see them.

We’re ending our day by folding laundry and laying out our ski equipment for tomorrow. All in all, it’s been a delightfully rewarding day.

Final Photos & Instructions for Jelly Roll Soaps

December 16, 2007 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

Click here for Day One, Day Two, Day Three, Day Three-point-Five Rolling Video, Day Four instructions for more information on the abbreviated instructions below.

Instructions for Jelly Rolls

1. Melt 5 ounces of melt and pour soap in the microwave. Bramble Berry soap takes one 35 second melt & stir, plus another 20 second melt & stir for 5 ounces of soap to melt.

2. Add fragrance and color and stir well. Add .5 ounces of Liquid Glycerin to this mixture. Stir well.

3. Pour mixture into the 9 x 9 silicone baking pan. Spritz layer with Rubbing Alcohol to get rid of excess bubbles.

4. Allow to harden for approximately 10 minutes or until a very thick skin, capable of supporting another layer, has formed.

Repeat 1 – 4 until there are 4 or 5 layers.

Pop out the entire block of soap. With a firm grip, quickly start to roll the soap up. Massage the soap into a tighter roll. Let the soap sit for three to five minutes and cut gently with a sharp knife.

Let the soap sit overnight before wrapping. This allows the layers to fully adhere to each other and excess moisture to evaporate from the soap.

That’s it! You’re done. You’ll make 18 (or so) adorable, cute, oh-so-complicated-looking soaps in 30 minutes or less.

Jelly Rolls! Jelly Rolls! Day One

December 10, 2007 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

Making Jelly Rolls with melt and pour soap is easy, fast and fun! The Jelly Rolls are the soap on the far left and far right (bottom). This tutorial will focus on how to make Jelly Rolls out of melt and pour soap. The project takes about 30 minutes to complete and requires singular purpose (no multitasking) to ensure success.

The set up is simple:

White Melt and Pour
Clear Melt and Pour
Non-Bleeding Colorant
Fragrance or Essential Oil
Flexible 9 x 9 pan
Rubbing Alcohol
Liquid Glycerin

This is a silicone baking pan, commonly used for making cakes. It has a higher purpose – soap. You can buy one from Bramble Berry here or try and find one at a local high end cooking store. Glass pans are virtually impossible to get the soap out of.

Once all the ingredients are prepared, cut the first layer’s worth of soap into smallish blocks – the size of a domino or so.The smaller surface area of the soap allows for a more smooth even melt. In my microwave, eight ounces of the Bramble Berry soap brand of base melts perfectly in one 45 second melt, stir a few times, and then an additional 30 seconds.

Shorter microwave spurts are better than one long melt. Boiled soap smells badly and will not roll when needed.

Check back tomorrow for coloring and layering timing tricks.

Anti-Talc – Day Three – Color & Fragrance, Again

November 28, 2007 Filed Under: Tips & Tricks

Click here for Day One – Set Up & Ingredient Explanation
Click here for Day Two – Fragrance & Color

As mentioned yesterday, there are a two main ways to color your Talc Powder:

1. Micas – Micas are a natural product that form a flat platelet. This flat platelet is then colored, either with natural or non-natural colors, to form a shimmery, diamond-like color. Micas form the base of most eye shadows and provide the shimmer you see in lipsticks and nail polish. In body powders, micas add a subtle color with a little sparkle.

2. True Tones, Labcolors or other FD & C water-based colorants – These colors are normally used in soaps, lotions, bath fizzies and provide color in most make-up, including lipsticks. These water based colorants are a little trickier to use in dry powders but provide a more defined, bright color. Per use, they are more economical than micas.

The photo above shows the color achieved with Fuchsia True Tone color in the powder. It took just 3 mls (a full dropper) of color in 8 ounces of dry powder to get the bright color in the photo above.

3. Other Additives – Spices, ground herbs, and ground flowers can add color, texture and even scent to your powder. Many times, these items can be scratchy though. Be sure to check the grain of the product to ensure that it won’t irritate skin and doublecheck that the product is skin safe. Also, ground spices and herbs may leave fine bits of herb detritus, often colored, on the skin. Test batches are very important when using spices, ground herbs and flowers.

This is a recipe that uses ground herbs:

2 oz. Tapioca Powder
1 oz. Arrowroot Powder
1 oz. finely powdered dried chamomile flowers
1 drop L avender 40/42 Essential Oil or fragrance oil
2 drops 10x Orange Essential Oil
3 drops gardenia fragrance oil

Here’s another powder recipe using ground lavender buds:

4 oz. Tapioca Powder
1 oz. powdered lavender buds
1 oz. powdered rose petals
optional: 1 tablespoon zinc oxide powder
1/2 teaspoon L avender 40/42 Essential Oil or Rose Fragrance Oil

Other options for adding fragrance: Some people add their fragrances or essential oils to their powders and allow the entire mix to sit for weeks, shaking daily, prior to shifting. The thought is that the fragrances may better permeate the entire batch if the fragrance sits in the powders before sifting. I haven’t found this to be the case.

Another option to cut down on fragrance clumping is to spritz the fragrance onto your dry powders with a very fine mist spritzer. This does cut down on clumping. However, that first spritz can cause the light powder to poof up and out, covering the surrounding area with a fine dust.

Another option to avoid clumping is to avoid adding fragrance directly to the dry powders altogether. The trade off is less scent in the final product for minimal clumps. Add a fragrance or essential oil saturated cotton balls to a sealed container (zip lock or canning jar) filled with the dry powder mixture. Leave the cotton ball in the dry powder for a week (1 or 2 cotton balls per 16 oz of dry products) and shake daily to impart a subtle scent without clumps like the photo above shows.

Check back tomorrow for making sparkle powder and also a bit of a mess.

Anti-Talc – Day Two – Fragrance and Color

November 27, 2007 Filed Under: Home Crafts

Click here for Day One – set up & explanation of ingredients

Making body powder is surprisingly easy. For an item with high margins, one would think that there is more skill involved. It’s more a matter of patience than levels of knowledge or dexterity (see below for sifting and sifting and sifting).

Step One: Measure out your dry powders.

I tried many different combinations of Arrowroot, Tapioca Powder and Rice Flour. Ultimately, the mixture I ended up settling on was the easiest of the bunch. I measured with volume rather than weight (usually a no-no), justifying it by telling myself that many of the Soap Queen Blog readers might not have scales.

Most of the powders are lighter than air so they poof up when pouring. Be prepared for this and either (a) wear a mask or (b) don’t breathe. You will be dismayed to find Arrowroot Powder in crevices you never expected. The powder travels.

Step Two: Add color

You can use mica (body safe – no craft store glitters, please) and water based colorants such as Labcolors or True Tones. In my experience, most glitters are too large to fit through the teensy powder shaker holes and don’t stick well on skin. Also, pigments do not work well. While they provide adequate color, they tend to stick and turn into clay on sweaty skin. Ewwww …

Usage rate is to preference. Most micas tend to dust the skin with a glorious sprinkling of color when used at 6% quantities or greater. Labcolors and True Tones will dye the skin if used too freely (anything above .5% is too free with these concentrated colors). Test batches are advised.

Step Three: Add fragrance

As with color, please use body safe and skin safe products only. This means no candle fragrances, potpourri fragrances or random leftovers that have dubious origins. Usage rate varies based on what you want (subtle or perfumey) but I recommend .1 oz to .25 oz. of fragrance oil or essential oil (maximum) per 16 oz. of dry powders. If you use much more, you’ll end up with a perfume and not a lovely, subtle addition to your person.

One additional word of caution: Peppermint, Spearmint and Eucalyptus Essential Oils all have a natural component of menthol. Menthol gives a cooling sensation. Powders put in um, sensitive areas, will burn, sting and be uncomfortable with those essential oils.

Step Four: Sift, Sift, Sift

A large sifter is good for the first few strainings but when you’re down to the teensy knitty grit, a smaller sifter is better. Push, shove, and rub through the strainer until the last of your fragrance balls are evenly dispersed.

Check back tomorrow for more information on using Labcolors and True Tones to make your powders colorful and unique.

Anti-Talc Powder – Day One – Set-Up

November 26, 2007 Filed Under: Home Crafts

Recently, one of our favorite Bramble Berry customers wrote us with some concerns about the talc powder that Bramble Berry sells. Intrigued, I looked into her concerns. After research, I decided that our cosmetic grade talc powder was a product that is safe under normal conditions of use. But, if she’s thinking it, maybe other customers are.

So, the Anti Talc Powder project was born.

Set up:

Arrowroot Powder
Tapioca Starch Powder
Labcolors or True Tones
Mica
Fragrance or Essential Oil
Powder Containers
Note: Rice Flour is pictured but doesn’t work very well
Mixing utensils
Bowls
Sifters

These plastic talc containers are affordable (just $1.38 per bottle) and easy to operate. They’re on sale for the month of December for just $.75 here. One side of the lid pops open with gentle pressure. Other options are wide mouthed jars with a powder puff or the sophisticated aluminum powder shakers.

Why Tapioca Starch Powder? Tapioca Powder is a modified tapioca starch that has been designed to be free-flowing and non-clumping. It is unique because to is aluminum free and because it has been modified with a silicone. It is velvety smooth and imparts a soft after-feel to the skin. It is great in body powders and can also be used in lotions and body massage bars to help cut down on a greasy feel.

Arrowroot Powder is a natural starch typically from the West Indies. It’s commonly used to thicken food sauces and imparts a light silky feel for body powders. It is free flowing and non- clumping for easy use with body powder containers.

It’s important to only use skin safe fragrances and colorants. No candle or potpourri fragrances and colors for this project, please.

Click here for Day Two instructions on fragrance and color.

Recipe for Oatmeal Melt and Pour Soap

October 28, 2007 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

honey, nut, oatmeal soap

Oatmeal Melt and Pour Soap Recipe

(1) Melt 8 oz. of white/opaque base

(2) Melt 8 oz. of clear base

(3) Optional: Grind up 1/2 oz. of Oatmeal in coffee grinder for a smoother, lighter exfoliation. Also, the smaller the particle, the easier to suspend in the soap.

(4) Combine the two bases

(5) Add your fragrance oil – approximately 1/2 oz. (Oatmeal, Milk and Honey is a good one!) and stir in well

(6) Optional: Add colorant

(7) Add the oatmeal and stir. Wait 20 or 30 seconds – is the oatmeal sinking to the bottom of your bowl/Pyrex or is it staying suspended. If it is staying suspended, skip to step 8

(8) If the oatmeal is sinking, this simply means that your base is not thick enough to support the oatmeal. Either cover the bowl/Pyrex with saran wrap and wait for the base to cool, or stir the melted base until it is becomes thick enough to suspend the oatmeal.

(9) Pour your oatmeal soap into molds

(10) Spritz with alcohol to finish the soap and break up any bubbles on the top of the soap

(11) Wait 2 to 3 hours (or even better, overnight!) to pop the soap out of the molds. Wrap with saran wrap and you’re done!