Living in Winter Thinking of Spring

It's only December but my mind is already in Spring!  Can't blame me for wanting to skip Winter when it's so colorful in the Spring with all kind of blooms.

Let's start with the first bloom of Spring - Ume Blossom.
Ume is Japanese word for plum.  Plum trees can blossom as early as February.  They look very similar to cherry blossom which happens usually in the early April.

Sweet Pea

 Wild Honeysuckle

  

Avocado Goodness

Yes, cleaning left over in the kitchen again, to soap that is!
I pureed half avocado with coconut water and froze into ice bars to melt my sodium hydroxide.  I always want to try soaping with fresh avocado to see what it brings to the table but avocado isn't exactly price friendly.  This left over came about only because I forgot about it in the refrigerator and it didn't look too appetizing after 2 days... so into the soap it went!

Inspired by this photo from Design Seeds:

What do you think?  Dead on?!

 

Full Moon Soap - Using Evaporated Goat Milk

There are people who swear by fresh goat milk soap.  Then I saw evaporated goat milk in a can in the supermarket, it says on the back, double strength!  Can't go wrong with double strength!  Got to try for sure!

I froze the milk into ice cubes and used it to melt my lye.  The difference in using this evaporated version from regular fresh goat milk is that my lye solution got really thick, almost like medium trace already even before mixing into the oil/butter!  And it started with yellow color.  Don't know how this is going to effect my final soap colors because I added titanium dioxide and colorants.

 This is what I bought from the store:

I think you can find it in any supermarket.

And, this is the soap, finished the night before full moon, cut the day of full moon!

This is inspired by a color scheme from Design-Seeds

What do you think?  Dead on?

Blind Milk Soap Test Results

About 3 weeks ago I called for 8 milk soap blind testers and I sent them each a package containing 4 individually numbered and wrapped soap samples like the set in the photo above.  If you have not read the post yet, you might want to read it first: Calling for Milk Soap Blind Testers
3 out of 4 samples are very similar in color, only #2 is much lighter.  All testers had been given simple instructions to clean their hands with soap or detergent first before testing my soap just to be more accurate.  Then they were asked to answer a few questions from me:
1). Which on lathers the most?
2). Which one produces the creamiest lather?
3). Which one is the most moisturizing 5 minutes after wash?
4). Please take your guess on which soap is made with what milk.
Some testers just answer my exact questions.  Some actually took time and gave me comparison informations far beyond what I asked for!  Thanks a whole bunch!
Now a lot of information I received are disagreeing with each other, but I can clearly draw 2 conclusions:
1). Most of testers prefer coconut milk soap, it wins the overall performance category, yay!
2). Fresh goat milk soap is not more superior, it's a myth, just a label appeal because of the price and perception.  BUT, it does produce more big bubbles and suds more than other milk soap.
Ok, let's talk about breast milk.  In my opinion breast milk quality is hard to control, it really depends on the person's diet.  Apparently my donor is too skinny, her milk contains very little fat!  Haha.

Anyway, here are the correct answers!  Did you guess them right?!
#1 Goat milk (full fat)

#2 Coconut milk (70% concentration milk)

#3 Cow milk (full fat)

#4 Breast milk

Seasonal Soap using Seasonal Ingredients

Additives in soap can be very seasonal.  Let's see what I got this year for fall and winter:

Ginger Apple

(used freshly juiced ginger root)

Can't skip pumpkin for fall!

Pumpkin Chai

(high % of unrefined virgin pumpkin seed oil)

And Oktoberfest beer soaps!

Ginger Lime

(Paulaner Oktoberfest beer imported from Germany)

and another one

Dark Star

(Weihenstephaner Oktoberfestbier imported from Germany)

 

So what's your seasonal creation?

Oh Soy Wax, Why Are You So Difficult?!

Can you believe it is holiday season now?!  I'm a bit stressed preparing for holiday shows.  I don't sell in markets, only selling online for the sake of it.  The only physical markets I do are the Christmas shows.  Preparing for markets is sure getting on every single nerve of mine!

Making candle is not my main focus, just something to provide for the holiday shoppers as another choice for gift giving.  It is consider just an embellishment to my bath and body products.  Last year I used Ecosoya Advanced wax, it is a soy wax blend, it is probably the most bullet proof base you can use to make beautiful candles.  It was, every single pour perfect and no fuss!  BUT, yes, big but, the hot throw is not to be desired...  For those of you who do not make candle, hot throw meaning the scenting power when a candle is on fire burning.

This year I decided to switch to a high soy wax content base, to be more precise, 98% of soy wax with 2 % botanical oil.  Higher soy wax content means lower melting point and greater fragrance throw.  I was very excited to test this wax out.  Fall and winter holidays are the perfect time for some romantic burning candles!  Well, my grand plan only will work if this soy wax would cooperate!  The frosting and pot hole by the wick issues are driving me bunkers!  After consulting with other candle makers, I'm forced to accept the nature of the beast... sigh.  Alright, so I embrace it since I can't fight against it, right?!

HOW?!  So frustrating...  Then I gave up for a month, didn't want to deal with it.  Until now I have some time to think about it again I decided to quickly cool down what I pour in the jar then top it off with soy wax icing.

What I mean by soy wax icing is by beating the warm wax with an electronic hand held whisk the same way as making whipped cream.  There, I think I found my solution, and it actually adds visual interest and texture!

Cupcake Gone Wild

I don't make cupcake and cake soap that much but when I do, they go wild and out of control!

This is eye candy post today, sorry, no tutorial or experiment!