Tutorials on soapmaking, bath fizzies, lotions and more
This episode of Soap Queen TV is pretty long at almost 13 minutes. But I promise, it’s worth it! In this video I show one of my favorite techniques for working with milk – the freeze method. It’s one of the techniques I teach in my Making Milk Soap from Scratch book. In this video, I create a 4 color in-the-pot swirl and use our silicone cube mold to show that you can get beautiful colors and designs with milk based soaps. [Read more…]
Our Nail Polish base has been such a popular item at Bramble Berry but it can be a little tricky to use. So I made this Soap Queen Short video to show how easy it is to make your own custom nail polish. I’m excited to point out that we now have mini nail polish bottles at Bramble Berry so you can create a full spectrum of color options from one little 4 oz can of base!
To make the nail polish in this video you will need:
Click Here to add everything you need to make this project to your Bramble Berry shopping cart.
This is the second video I made with Jeanee Duval of Dirty Laundry (if you missed the first one see it here). In this video, I show her how to make some cute little Melt & Pour soaps that I designed just for her. As you can see from the outtakes at the end we had a great time making this video! Jeanee is a blast to work with and so talented! Check out her stylish blog and cute Etsy shop to see for yourself. She is also the author of a wonderful e-book on how to sell your handmade goods called How to be a Craft Show Genius. And best of all, she designed a custom box template for this video that fits the cube soaps perfectly; you can find it here.
Note: The Rainbow Sprinkles have been discontinued. This kit now comes with Red Jojoba Beads. [Read more…]
I have a special guest on Soap Queen TV – Jeanee Duval of Dirty Laundry! She came all the way to Bellingham (15 hours of flying time – wowzers!) to show us her technique for making perfect the Bath Fizzy Cupcake. I had such a great time Jeanee, and her craftsmanship is amazing. We show 3 different versions – to dress up your cupcakes. [Read more…]
Learn to make luxurious and fun bath truffles! What’s a bath truffle? It’s like a bath fizzy with lots of moisturizing oils and butters that you crumble into your bath for a home spa experience. In this episode, I use cocoa butter and shea butter for that luxurious touch. Bath truffles are a great project for beginner and advanced crafters alike. They are easy to customize with fragrance and essential oils of your preference.
This video includes two recipes. The first is a natural mix using Kaolin Clay and Lavender Essential Oil. The second recipe is a Sweet Bubbly Bar using a blend of Chocolate and Vanilla fragrances. Both bath truffle recipes smell amazing, and feel great in the tub. Do be careful when getting out of the tub; the extra butters in this recipe can make the bottom of the tub a little bit slippery! To help the butters in this recipe disperse better in the tub, you can add a bit of polysorbate 80. Polysorbate 80 is an emulsifier and helps prevent large pools of oil and butter in bath water. [Read more…]
It was such a fun day on the Soap Queen TV set with our special guest, Jeanee from Dirty Laundry! She flew all the way from Miami to film with the Soap Queen crew. Flying from Miami to Bellingham meant flying through the night (!), with two flights over 15 hours, and then getting in a car and driving 3 hours to our little ‘hamlet. Now that’s some (soapy) dedication!
Can you say climate culture shock? Jeanee (pronounced Ja-Knee) was bundled up from head to toe trying to stay warm in the sideways rain and wind storm we had over the weekend. Thanks for the welcoming, Washington! We did step it up for her by debuting our brand new aprons (made here at Team Bramble Berry headquarters) but I’m not quite sure that was enough to make up for the rain. [Read more…]
Learn how to custom blend your own perfume on Soap Queen TV. In this episode, I’m going to show you how to blend fragrance oils to create your very own unique scent. Then I’ll share my recipes for an all natural solid and a luxurious, floral spray perfume.
To make the Solid Perfume you will need:
To make the Spray Perfume you will need:
Introducing Color Blocks for Melt & Pour Soap by Bramble Berry Soapmaking Supplies!
We know how frustrating it can be to make a bar of soap only to find clumps of colorant once you pop it out of the mold. To help, we have created Color Blocks that allow you to color your soap easily to perfection. We’ve made them in all of our best selling colors including our non-bleeding oxides, shimmery micas and neon pigments.
Check out this video to see how easy they are to use.
For more details on the multi-pour technique I use in this Soap Queen Short see the full, detailed Soap Queen TV episode here.
To make the soap in this video you will need:
Get everything you need to make this project with the click of a button!
Wondering where to buy the amazing little clean up tool used in the video? Buy it here! It’s great for all your melt and pour projects; you’ll be surprised about how great this ninja soaping tool is.
We have been working with a small local manufacturer to create these remarkable machines. Our Bath Bomb Maker will allow you to make numerous Bath Bombs in a fraction of the time.
The machine is an investment. If you are just starting out, I would not recommend this product for you. You’ll definitely want to build up your customer base and product line before getting one of these. But if you have been making and selling Bath Bombs and are ready to expand production – this is the tool for you! The ingredients for making Bath Bombs are very inexpensive and yet they can sell for $3 – $7 each. Since the profit margin for Bath Fizzies is aggressive and much of the cost ends up being in the actual labor of producing a bath fizzy, it can make sense to invest in a machine like this.
In this video I show how easy it is to use the Bath Bomb Maker. The key is to get your mixture just the right consistency. I have found that it needs to be a little wetter than the mix would be if I were packing the Bath Bombs by hand. The great thing is – if the first bath bomb doesn’t come out you, just dump it back in the bowl and try again! I won’t lie; the first time I tried the machine, I got frusterated. The mixture needed to be wetter than if I was making bath fizzies by hand. I couldn’t figure out how high to fill the little tube. And my bombs kept splitting. After a solid 20 minutes of experimenting, I was able to get the consistency right, the fill levels perfect and since then, I haven’t had an issue. I know just what my go-to recipe and technique is – and I share it below.
To Make this Bath Bomb recipe you will need:
Get everything you need to make these Bath Bombs with the click of a button!
We filmed this Soap Queen TV episode earlier in the summer with Erin Pikor of Naiad Soap Arts. We had so much fun on the set (she’s such a hoot to work with)! We couldn’t fit in all of the hilarious out-takes, but don’t worry, we squeezed a couple in.
In this episode, Erin and I demonstrate how to make (and use) not just one, but 3 scrub recipes! The first is Erin’s Salt Glow Scrub with sea salt and nourishing oils. Next, Erin shows how to make her Gentle Facial Scrub with Lavender and Green Zeolite Clay. And finally, I show my favorite sugar lip scrub with luxurious Shea Butter and the super yummy Buttercreme Flavor.
In this Soap Queen Short I show the basics of soap sculpting. This quick little video was inspired by the soap sculpting challenge. I wanted to show how easy it is to manipulate and roll Melt & Pour soap when you know the trick!
It’s easy to roll up Melt & Pour soap when you add a little glycerin. For ideas on how to use sculpted soap check out this video where I embed a soap roll in soap and this video where I make soapy pinwheels and fortune cookie shaped soap.
How to Roll Melt & Pour Soap from Soap Queen on Vimeo.
To make the soap in this video you will need:
Buy everything you need with the click of a button!
Yesterday we wrapped up another successful filming session of Soap Queen TV. The BB crew and I had a blast on set (as always) and I couldn’t be more excited about the upcoming episodes! We filmed a spray perfume, an all natural solid perfume with a custom essential oil blend, Lavender bath truffles, Vanilla and Chocolate bath truffles with another yummy custom blend and, finally, a goat milk cold process soap using fresh goat milk. It was a jam packed Sunday which we enthusiastically called Sunday Funday (or Sunday Soapday)?
Above is the set up for the goat milk cold process soap project using the 9 bar Cube Mold and the In The Pot Swirl technique. ITP looks amazing in the cube mold. The design is hypnotizing (Can’t. Stop. Staring. At. Soap). And I can’t wait to show you how “non-scary” goat milk soap really is (if you can’t wait for the episode to air you can read up on the technique in this Goat Milk Book). [Read more…]
Quite possibly the cutest episode of Soap Queen TV… ever (although the piggies were REALLY cute). I had a great time making this video and creating these two projects. And, as you’ll see from the outtakes at the end, I had a really fun (slash dorky) time with the soap I made.
