Mostly natural soaps

I've seen a lot of very experienced and trusted soap makers write that no soap can be 100% all-natural because lye is a man made, lab-created, unnatural substance. I tend to agree with that principle because it just makes sense, and I don't want to make any claims about the ingredients of my soaps that might possibly be untrue. 

That being said, I thought I'd come back from my soaping hiatus by making a few "mostly natural" soaps. Here are my first two.

A shea butter and activated charcoal soap, with kaolin clay and tussah silk, and BB's Karma essential oil blend, a "nearly natural" (how fitting!) dupe of a Lush fragrance. This was one of those scents I really didn't care for in the bottle, but came through beautifully in the soap, soft and almost masculine. My honey disagrees though, and says it smells like old woman perfume, hehe.

Spearmint and anise, one of my favorite essential oil pairings, this soap smells divine!! This soap also includes activated charcoal, kaolin clay and tussah silk, along with French green clay and dried spearmint leaves (a little too much, I am afraid). I cheated and added a lovely shimmery mica when I didn't get the color I wanted from the green clay. 

I'm looking forward to making at least a couple more batches of "mostly natural" soap sometime in the near future, so stay tuned!

How do I work this thing again.....

I know it's been a while since anyone in the soaping world has heard from me, and I was honored that a few soapy ladies even checked in on me in my absence. Truth is, I've been just fine. :) 

After my last soaping day, the very day we filmed those amateur videos, and also the same day I finished up the last of my Christmas soaping, I decided to take a little break from soap making until after the holidays. My curing shelves were full, my supplies were low, and my soaping environment just wasn't ideal. I did still have plans for blog posts during my hiatus, but they never came to pass. I ended up being so busy working extra shifts at my real job, and then moving (yay, new soaping environment!), and then holidays, that I barely even had time to think about sitting down to write a blog post or even comment on my favorite blogs that I was still following throughout my little break.

The good news is, the holidays are over, I've lost interest in extra shifts, and my honey and I are finally settled down into our new place. And I'm ready for some soap making fun again! (I could really use the stress relief, let me tell ya!!) 

I am dreadfully low on oils and lye right now---a problem I plan to remedy tomorrow! So hopefully you'll see some brand new, freshly inspired soaps popping up on this blog or Facebook page very soon. In the meantime, take a look at.....

........my new soap supplies closet:

.....the beautiful colors in the fibers I got for soap felting:

(felting ugly soaps is my new favorite thing to do)

......and our new home :)

Also, here's another really poor quality video of me getting frustrated with my soap design. Specifically the color purple. And I don't mean the movie with Whoopi and Oprah, y'all.

 

....And a picture of how it all turned out really great in the end. :)

Thanks for not unsubscribing to me. I've missed you guys!