Lots of experiments

Today I got the chance to indulge in soaping for most of the day.  I did four batches today, using a technique I've never tried before, courtesy of a great  Youtube tutorial from SophiasNaturals.  She demonstrates an interesting form of thermal transfer that I haven't seen, immediately mixing the lye water into the hard oils until melted.  The liquid oils are added after.  I used this method for all my soaping today and it seemed to work well.  I didn't need to use the stick blender very much at all, which helped me tremendously as I often tend to overmix.  I wanted to attempt the "Holly Swirl", which is basically an in the pot swirl done twice.  Sorta..  I had a lot of half bottles of fragrances, so I did some custom scent blending, too. It was a day of experimenting.

Top:  Small batch trying Sweet Cakes "Aria".  I used a some ruby mica for a cute little swirl.  It smells so good right now.

Middle:  This was my attempt at Holly Swirl.  I have so much trouble with purple colorants. They always go grey and then I freak add too much other color..I think I did this again!  The swirl was awesome looking but was in shades of grey...it was pretty but I was hoping for purple.  But as you can see it is beginning to gel to purple.  I hope I don't get colored lather.  I used a random blend of lavenders and Bramble Berry Chamomile . Smells beautiful!

Bottom:  Another Holly swirl attempt using WSP Cottage Breeze and Nature's Garden Clean. I also used some annatto seed, green lab color and titanium dioxide for colors.  It smells super fresh and looked really pretty when I poured it.

Last but not least I did a goats milk batch using a blend of WSP Black Amber Musk and Nantucket Briar.  The scent is rich and sultry with a nice berry/plumb undertone.  I used a combo of americana red pigment and cobalt blue mica to color, which seems to have blended nicely. Love it so far!

I'm excited to cut these, hopefully tomorrow night.  I will really have to try not to uncover and peek at that lavender one too much, I'm pretty bad about that because I keep looking.  Well, my family is expecting to eat something this evening and my poor hubby has been out working all day.  So off I go..will post pics of cut soaps soon.  Bye for now!