Finally, some decent pictures of my soaps!

A huge thank you and a hug to my son, Jordan, for a Saturday afternoon of picture taking.  I couldn't have accomplished it without his help.  Nothing fancy, but so much better than pictures from my iphone !!  Now I just need to find more time to soap and add more photos. The goal is to eventually sell online, but I'm taking baby steps.  For full photos, please join me on Facebook at www.facebook/saylorwhitten  or check out my webpage (under construction, excuse the sawdust) at www.spoonbridgesoaps.com  !   ~Suzy

Minnesota State Fair August 23 - Sept. 3, 2012!

After attending a beekeeping meeting with friends of ours, I decided I'd enter a soap containing Minnesota produced honey and beeswax this year after hearing David Schaff from the Minnesota State Fair speak.  This year will be my fifty-third year attending the Minnesota State Fair and yet I've never once entered a pie, cake, crocheted baby booties or any other item in hopes of winning a ribbon or premium.  I think I have something unique to enter under the Ag-Hort-Bee division and am looking forward to creating a soap I hope will be special and of interest to others.  There's not an actual "Soap Division", so I'm entering under "Other" !!  No rules or regulations for "Other" as far as size, materials, labeling, etc., so I'm on my own and will just wing it.  My entry needs to be ready by Tuesday, August 21, at the very latest. I'm limited to soaping weekends, so I have four weekends to experiment and translate the idea in my head to soap.  Will keep you updated !!   

Just a couple photos of a soap I made this past weekend. 

This was my first time using embeds (I know, where HAVE I been???) and shreds on top.  I realized I'm using these same colors a lot lately, so it must be the warm summer weather and bright colors around me.  Or maybe I'm just in a good mood !  

olive oil
organic and sustainable palm oil
organic palm kernel flakes
canola oil
cream and silk

colors by:   Peacock Dyes,  Ellen's Essentials

fragrance:   Very Sexy dupe from Wholesale Supplies Plus

No enhancement, these colors actually intensified when gelled.  This is 24 hours after unmolding. I'll be sure to update if they fade or morph.

This turned out to be a bit of a crazy looking soap and a couple soap makers suggested I call it "Mardi Gras", so "Mardi Gras" it is !!   I don't sell soap, but was so happy to have a soap maker ask if she could purchase a bar.  With all the soap I have sitting around, I may need to reconsider selling some of it. 

What colors are you using for your soaps the summer? Do you have a favorite mica or oxide that you turn to?     ~Suzy

Happy 30th Birthday to Christian !

The following soap was made in honor of the 30th birthday of my best friend's son-in-law, 

Christian H.

I've known Christian's wife, Jaime, since she was only a few hours old and I've been best friends with her momma since we were in the 8th grade together - over 40 years ago !!

Happy 30th Birthday, Christian, and thank you for allowing us to join in the fun - we had a blast !!!

 "Christian"  - an olive, organic sustainable palm, coconut, castor, cream and silk soap !

Two colorful soaps from this weekend

Loaf #1:  My attempt at a true peacock swirl didn't succeed, but I did end up with a fun swirl and some great bars of soap !!  I used goat's milk as my liquid and really liked the creaminess. 
Loaf #2 (pink) was made with a blended fragrance oil of Black Raspberry and Vanilla, Tart Lemon and Pearberry.  It's an olive oil, sustainable organic palm oil and coconut oil soap.
The fragrance combination really sped up trace considerably and I was left with a grainy batter that I wasn't sure I'd even be able to pour into the cups of color I'd already prepared. It was gloppy and certainly not at all smooth.  But, I did the best I could.  I poured and plopped it into the mold and at least I was able to get some definition to my normally flat tops.  


Here are some photos of the two soap loaves.  There was no time to take a picture of the pink soap batter or process as it went to quickly and it was just me manning the camera, but you can see the colors and batter of the "crazy swirl" soap (aka, attempted peacock).  If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.  I WILL get this peacock swirl down !!!  :-D

Here are my colors.  All from The Conservatorie - my first time trying them and I was really pleased with how easily the micas blended and the intensity of the colors. Because I hadn't used their colorants before  and because I needed a LOT of time to figure this one out, I chose to leave this loaf unscented.  I added silk to the lye water and a small amount of sodium lactate just in case it didn't want to come out of the slab mold easily.  

"crazy swirl" in the slab mold - so far, so good

Um, oops.....where'd the peacock feathers go?  What happened?  

Here's the slab after "s" swirling

Kindof a cool soap, despite it not being exactly what I was shooting for. I like it !

Another shot of the soap

The photo is a bit blurry, but here's a close up of the "pink" soap. This is the Pearberry,  Black Raspberry Vanilla and Tart Lemon fragranced loaf. Love that summery smell, despite the fact that it caused my batter to instantly trace and appear grainy.

I put a heart embed at an angle on the top of each bar

Another close up shot - I like the yellow banana pepper on the right !

 This one looks like the Northern Lights - no TD added, so the white is just spots of batter

Well, that's about it until Saturday or Sunday.  Thanks for stopping by and I hope your weekend is relaxing and fun !  xx  Suzy

I'd like to wish all my Canadian friends a Happy Canada Day !!   Whatever you do today, I hope it's relaxing and fun and you're celebrating with friends and family.    xx  Suzy