My Soap Diary

07/09/11

Well all three children left for school this morning, our house was like "The first day of the Next Sale" lol I didn’t know whether I was coming or going, I needed a brandy in my coffee once they had gone lol….

So now on with the important stuff, SOAP MAKING….

I have just taken my Gardeners Soap out of the mould with a little help from the freezer, yes that’s right, it was being stubborn so I put it in the freezer for half an hour and hey presto out it pops, I also checked on the 1st batch of the Sunflower & Calendula (that was the disaster at the beginning of the week) and it looks lovely, I'm still not going to take it out of the mould until Friday to give it a better chance. I made my 2nd batch of Lavender & Thyme Soap, this one is going into the chunks while the first one was sliced, hopefully this afternoon I am going to make the Sunflower & Calendula one, again this one will be in the form of chunks as well and then that will be it for the day as I have just about run out of Moulds. Yippeeee my Cornish Spring Water has just turned up, thank you Just Water Ltd.

Well over the past couple of days I've learnt so much about soap making, some of it is basic common sense, which is in very short supply in my life and some of it you learn as you go and hope beyond all hope that it turns out ok, here are just a few, for those of you that are just starting out:

1. Castor Oil seizes the mixture, so you need to move quick.
2. The Sunflower & Calendula mixture is sloppier than all the rest, even though I do nothing different.
3. The freezer is a god send when having difficulty get the soaps out of the moulds, even if you loose a little with the fragrance.

            And finally

4. 48hrs is better than 24hrs for curing.

My Soap Diary

06/09/11

Happy Tuesday to all those parents who have Kids that go back to School today, we have our lives back Yippppeee. Now on with the soap making.

Well that went great, I have just finished making the Rose & Ylang Ylang Soap with added Goats Milk, and out of the whole lot that was the smoothest, I must be getting the hang of it now, hey! I better not speak to soon I have 2 other Soap's to make today, The Citrus Cleanser and Rosewood & Honey Shaving Soap, so there's still time for it all to go pear shaped…(Ye o'little faith!)  It had to be raining today, because how mean do I feel, booting the dog outside while doing the lye, its typical the rain had stopped for 5 sec's and the moment I think great and put him out it absolutely buckets it down so he now looks like a drowned rat and the filthy looks I'm getting, no amount of soap will clean them up, thank god for Ginger Nut biscuits lol…. I will win him back round….

See I told you I spoke too soon, I found out today Castor Oil can seize the soap mixture, well I presume it was the Castor Oil mainly because both the Citrus Cleanser & Shaving Soap have Castor Oil in and both of them starting setting in the pan, to which I quickly shovelled it into the moulds, yes I said shovelled, not a technical term I know, but that’s what it probably looked like. But saying all that, they both looked and smelt really good, and like all good disaster's in the kitchen, they normally turn out for the best and are usually very hard to replicate so fingers crossed.

Help me to secure funding

Afternoon,

Enterprise Nation, is a small business support system and through them and Fund101, in partnership with Paypal and Intuit, They are offering companies the chance to secure up to £500 in funding.

I have applied and need to secure 300 votes, all you need to do is follow the link, sign up, vote for The Natural Skincare & Soap Co. Thats it......

Each vote secured is classed as £1 in voting terms, so I have applied for £300 for marketing my new soaps, therefore I need 300 votes.

Please help me launch my new soaps in style

Vote now at http://enterprisenation.com/funding-applications/the-natural-skincare-soap-co/

Thank You!

Better When Wet!

Last piece of the jigsaw in locally sourced ingredients,

falls into place.

The ethos of our company is to source local ingredients where possible: So with the impending launch of our new “Natural Collection” of soaps, we have secured our main ingredient supplier, right on our door step. One of the main ingredients in Soap is unbelievably Water!

So The Natural Skincare & Soap Co are pleased to announce that, all of our soaps will now be made using Natural Cornish Spring Water, from right here in Bodmin. Yes that’s right, Trekillick Farm on the outskirts of Bodmin is home to a company called Just Water Ltd.

The water is protected from any possible contamination from surface water, the water is filtered in the most natural way, making its way to the surface from deep under the Cornish hills, becoming enriched with minerals as its passes through the rocks.

Our supplier, Just Water Ltd is a family run business from a farm on the outskirts of Bodmin,  Just Water was another product born out of the crisis in farming. “With dairy farming at such a low in 2000, they looked at how they could boost their income on the farm by diversification,” Tests on the farm’s spring water returned excellent results and the family began to bottle it in 2002. They now produce around 1.5 million bottles a year.

Just Water has a very strict environmental policy, which is another reason that we decided to use their product. They keep their packaging to a minimum by using shrink film only and no cardboard trays or boxes and being local, means that product mileage is kept to a minimum.

The name Just Water was chosen because that is exactly what is in it - just natural spring water. The quality and purity of the water comes from deep under the Cornish countryside, becoming filtered through and enriched with minerals, as it makes its way to the surface.

Why Not Just Use Tap Water?

Well Tap water sometimes has various chemicals added to it; it also has a habit of becoming discoloured through Iron, along with a strong fluoride taste at times. So the water quality although drinkable, is not always perfect. But the “Natural Spring Water” from Just Water is tested by Trading Standards to check its quality. These checks take place throughout the year on a regular basis. It is also free from any potential discolouration and any other chemicals.

The Natural Skincare & Soap Co prides itself on being just that “Natural”, by combining Just Water’s Spring Water into our handmade soaps; we have a final product that will be 100% Natural, after it has finished curing, and truly Cornish!

Written by Scott Taylor
On Behalf of
The Natural Skincare & Soap Co
www.tvonaturalskincare.com

Learn More About Just Water and it’s benefits at www.justwater.biz   

My Soap Diary

04/09/11

You know when you have one of those weeks when everything comes at you from all directions…. Well that was last week, what with Doctors appt. packing down & setting up for events and making up 2 wholesale orders I don't think I stood or sat still for any period of time, how I used to cram in 3 days at Tavistock Market is beyond comprehension.  I feel absolutely shattered I am so glad its Sunday, I did some work this morning making up a few orders and returning a couple of calls to customers, then I sat down and I have only just woken up lol….. Well I obviously needed it. Now I have time to sort out my schedule for next weeks soap making.

05/09/11

Well if today is anything to go by, I think I'll scratch this week, go back to bed and start again next week lol….. No seriously it wasn't that bad, in fact I got quite a bit done today. I  finished off one of my wholesale order's and nearly completed the second I am just waiting on some ingredients and 3 x 1 litre bottles to turn up and then I am done. As for the soap making we'll get to that in a minute, I asked myself  today why am I writing this diary, well here was my answer:  I am writing this diary mainly because I can't make head nor tail of some the blogs out there (No offence) and if you ask a question it seems like it takes forever to get a reply that’s if you get one and forever isn't good enough when your in dire need of help, so I thought if I write a diary as I am going then I can find my own answers and if this diary help's someone else out, out there then bonus I have done my job, right I'll stop waffling now.

The one piece of advice I can give out today is: DO NOT under any circumstances buy a hand blender that has a plastic attachment on the Stainless steel whisk part, the reason for this is what I found out today while I was trying to Trace my Calendula & Sunflower Soap. The Caustic Solution eventually eats through the Glue that binds the Stainless Steel & Plastic Attachment to the Motor of the Hand Blender, hence while blending the metal piece kept coming away from the Plastic, so because of that I think I might have to write off Calendula & Sunflower Soap,(We've heard you say that before  I hear you say), I don't think I traced it properly, it seemed very sloppy when I poured it into the moulds. I will let you know. My other batch of soap (The Gardener's Soap) seemed to turn out ok,  mainly because I did the batch in half the amounts of what I wanted to do so there wasn't too much bulk in the pan while blending so no drag was created to pull the whisk out of the motor. I am going to leave the Calendula Soap until the end of the week to see how it turns out, but the Gardeners Soap I will check on tomorrow. So Until then Happy Soaping xxx

My Soap Diary

Brain Storming

02/09/11

Well I'm sat here on this gorgeous day letting the sun and nature inspire me, while sorting out my next lot of soap recipes, and balancing the oils, butters & wax so that they give you the customer a long lasting bar but also making sure you get all the benefits possible from the natural ingredients, here is a sample of what's to come: Christmas Dream's  (which is a Frankincense & Orangey soap), Memories of Noel (which is a Cinnamon & Clove spice soap) & a Castile one. As from the 5th September I will be having a soap making week and this is when I will hopefully be making my complete range which I have just Launched, then once that is done I will be doing the finishing touches the my next chapter, with a (fingers crossed) Launch date of November just in time for Christmas…..

My Soap Diary

Honey & Oatmeal Soap Update

31/08/11

Well, I think the luck of the gods is on my side, I have just taken the soap out of the mould and it looks ok, there's a bit of condensation on the corners making them really soft and it looks to have sweated on the bottom, but that’s nothing that 4 - 6 weeks curing won't (excuse the pun) cure. I tested it with a pH tester and it is reading 7 at the moment, so I am pleased with that. There are some websites out there that say anything less than 8 is considered synthetic, well I can assure them there is nothing synthetic about my soap, and then there are other websites out there that say anything between 7 - 10 is absolutely fine, and considering that water has a natural pH level of 7 then how can it be synthetic. What amazes me is there is absolutely no colouring in the soap and yet it looks like a yummy Honey & Oatmeal Cake and it smells just as good as something I have baked. I can't wait to try this one.

01/09/11

Today I checked on the Honey & Oatmeal Soap to make sure everything was ok, and it was drying out nicely, it also smelt absolutely divine, when I used to make this one 5 years ago it was my favourite, it turns out to be a hard soap with a soft and gentle lather so it doesn't produce large bubbles, its gentle on the skin and the oats act as a soft exfoliator so its brilliant for sensitive skin.