Sweepstakes to win a beautiful yarn tote !

http://www.allfreecrochet.com/sweeps/Everything-Mary-Yarn-Tote

I knit and crochet when the weather's cooler, so thought I'd post this for you soaper makers who do the same.

Check out this sweepstakes to win a beautiful Everything-Mary yarn tote.  I have grocery bags with yarn in them and could sure use a few of these bags !!!

Good luck !!!

~  Suzy

Great Cakes Soapworks Challenge 2013 - Week 3 - mica swirl tops

Once again, a thank you to Amy Warden from Great Cakes Soapworks for putting a challenge together again this year.  Be sure to check out all the challenge participant's soaps!  

 I wasn't able to participate in last week's challenge, so thought I'd keep it simple this week with both my recipe and colors.   I have to say - I'm disappointed in the colors. BUT, I found a fragrance in the back of my stash that I really love.  Tinseled Garland by SouthernGardenScents.com 

Colors:  Wine Red Glitter - a mica by Elements Bath and Body.
               Black Cherry Mica - by Elements Bath and Body.

Both colors are AMAZING in the containers. The depth of color and sparkle was so intense, that if they translated even partially in soap they would be beautiful.  I don't think either did, but Black Cherry was a bit better than Wine Red (gross ..it turned a muted blood color and that's what it looked like in my attempt at a mica swirl on top).  I thought the difference in the colors was enough that it would be subtle, but unique.

Wine Red (L) and Black Cherry (R)

My fragrance was Tinseled Garland by Southerngardenscents.com.  I'm assuming it's a Holiday fragrance, but it just smells like juniper berries and a bit floral to me. No reason to save it just for the Holidays!  I'm on a fragrance "no buy" until I use some of the MANY I've purchased that are gathering dust. Tinseled Garland was one of those.

"Tinseled Garland" by SouthernGardenScents.com

Here are my results.  I really need to practice on that mica swirl top.  I'll use less olive oil next time and more mica.  I'm not unhappy with the cut bars, but they aren't what I'd planned.  Try, try again!!

The color muted and the mica swirl just didn't look good - it lost a lot

 of the sparkle and the color faded into more of a browned pink.  Ish.  

Okay, is it me or does this look like a cut of meat...marbled bacon maybe? UGH!! 

It may not be pretty, but it smells wonderful and I'll use this fragrance again - it behaved very well and is holding it's scent....the house smells great today !!

See you in two weeks for the final challenge !!!

~Suzy @ Spoonbridge Soaps;   Minneapolis, Minnesota

Great Cakes Soapworks Challenge 2013 - Week 1 - Tiger Stripe

A Big Thanks to Amy Warden of Great Cakes Soapworks for pulling together this years challenge.

Be sure to check out the challenge information and videos. 

There are still three weeks left to join in if you weren't able to this week!

This week's challenge was the "Tiger Stripe",  a technique that was on my "gotta try this" list. 

This was my first time making soap since October, so I hoped it was like riding a bike. I have to admit, I was nervous!  Lye into water...not water into lye...volcano...bad.  Goggles, apron, gloves.  My oils and supplies are all still sitting in packing boxes in the basement of my new townhome since my divorce and move in December, so I had to do some digging. I must have gone up and down the stairs at least five times because I kept forgetting things - measuring cups, lye pitcher, lye spoon, wrong fragrance, changed my mind on fragrance, no....going with the first fragrance.  I managed to find everything except my digital thermometer, but did dig out the old thermometer I'd originally used when I first learned to make soap, so all was good.  Choosing colors really stumped me this time.  I decided to steer away from the traditional tiger colors of black/brown and orange.  The store that sells my soaps had requested something with Spring colors, so I finally decided this would be their batch.  I used "Breath of Spring" from TKB Trading and "Peacock Blue Mica" from The Conservatorie in my base batter of cream with some titanium dioxide added.  Both these micas in the mixing oil just don't get any prettier.  I wish there was a way to hold that shimmer and bright intense color in my cured soap.  Oh, my final fragrance decision was Morning Sunrise from Moonworks Collection.  Their fragrances are always unique and have depth to them.

Creating the tiger stripes....blue, green and cream. 

Mold filled and top swirled, although it's subtle

Out of the mold and ready to be cut...the house smells sooooo good ! Morning Sunshine says it all. Fresh, clean but not a chemical or artificial smelling clean.  

The cut bars - cool technique !!  I like this look better than the faux funnel I think.

I really need to get a good camera and stop using my phone,  but here's a close up of a bar.  I can't wait to try this again!  Next time, more contrast and maybe three or more colors.  I'd like to figure out how to eliminate the dip in the bottom layer.  Any ideas ?

Thanks for visiting ~ please leave a link to your blog or website so I can follow your soaping adventures !!

Until next week......

~Suzy @ Spoonbridge Soaps    Minneapolis, Minnesota

Join the challenge !!

Hey all !  It's been a looooong time, but I'm coming off my soaping hiatus and am looking forward to getting back into the game.  

**  News of the week **

Amy Warden from Great Cakes Soapworks is having another soaping challenge this year!  It actually starts tomorrow, March 24th.

I participated in her challenge last year and not only learned a lot, but was really motivated to try new recipes and techniques that I probably wouldn't have otherwise.
This years challenge is only four parts, so not overwhelming or super time consuming.

Check it out here

I hope you'll sign up and give Amy's challenge a try.

Here’s the schedule:

Week One March 24th: Tiger Stripe

Week Two March 31st: Elemental Swirl

Week Three April 7th: Mica Swirl Tops

~BREAK~

Week Four April 21st: Leopard Spots

See you there!!

~Suzy

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas, from my heart !!   

Now that I'm settled in my new home and am working to pull a crafting/soaping room together, I hope to post more and on a regular basis in the coming year. 

Here's to a happy, healthy and peaceful 2013 !!

~Suzy and Spoonbridge Soaps, Minneapolis

Happy Thanksgiving to all !

It's been awhile since I've posted, but I wanted to pop on and wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!  I'm heading out to join my daughter and her family and am sure I'll be too full and sleepy to post this later in the evening. :-D    

I'm preparing to move to a new home on December 1st and start life as a single gal again, so I may not be posting much until things are settled.  The good news is that my new townhome has the PERFECT spot in the lower level laundry room to set up a soap area!  I'd always talked about turning the office into a craft/soap room in my current home, but just never seemed to get around to it.  I may not have much for furniture, but I'll have a soap room - and what's more important than that !!!  

All my best,

~Suzy

Happy Givember from Bramble Berry !

 Thank you to Kristen and Anne-Marie from Bramble Berry for sponsoring this blog !  Kristen from Bramble Berry, the soaping supply company that I seem to turn to more often than all others for their fragrance oils, essential oils, colorants and supplies, contacted me asking if I'd be interested in trying some products and sharing the results on my blog.  Heck, YEAH!!  I was flattered that Anne-Marie even knew of my little blog and thrilled to have been asked to try product.  The best part?  They ALSO gave me an offer for the readers of this blog to be used in the month of November - or Givember as Bramble Berry has declared it ! 

So, my surprise box arrived on the doorstep a couple weeks ago. Inside was the Bramble Berry 
5 pound mold. I purchased their silicone liner to go with the mold as I've never been handy at lining a mold with freezer paper.  I always seemed to end up with a super wrinkly edged soap loaf that needed a lot of "fixing".
Okay, so ..if that weren't enough...I was also supplied with some micas and Bramble Berry's popular Cranberry Fig and Moonlight Pomegranate fragrance oils and asked to go forth and create !
I decided to not "over think" this one and to just mix it up and see what I come up with.  It seems I get the most unique and popular soaps when I don't try too hard.  

Here's the final result!   Read down for my review of the Bramble Berry 5 lb mold and silicone liner, the actual products used in this soap AND......a special coupon code!   Any order placed during the month of November that includes this code will be entered into a drawing to win a Bramble Berry gift certificate worth $50.00 !!   

Here's the Bramble Berry 5 lb loaf mold with the silicone liner. Yes, the liner IS a bit floppy and I'd recommend taping it to the mold along the sides - at least until you've finished pouring.  I didn't at first and ended up with a couple soap glops between the liner and the inside of the mold as you'll see. I'm a bit of a messy soaper, so maybe you'd fare better. 

Soap's in the mold (ignore that blob of green soap spilling down on the right) and it's halfway full - time to swirl.  I used the "Celine Swirl" method, invented by Celine from I Am Handmade, and then filled the mold the rest of the way, swirling again before I added the top layer. 

I used four plastic hair coloring bottles ordered from Amazon (available at Sally's Beauty too) filled with black, red, white and green to create the top lines - and then swirled them with a bamboo skewer.

I got smart and ran a couple pieces of tape on the sides - too little, too late. I'll use masking or painter's tape next time. It's STILL easier than lining a mold with freezer tape in my opinion ! And wait until you see how easily it is to unmold your soap.....so slick !!  Those specks are cranberry seeds on top - with a small bit of glitter to add a festive Holiday touch.

The bottom wooden piece slides out and the silicone liner just comes out the bottom. Genius !!

So easy - loving this !

The thinness of the silicone liner allows it to "peel" away from the soap.  This was the easiest release of a soap from a silicone liner I've ever had.  And I was able to ease it around the corners to keep them sharp. I've had problems with soft corners that don't come out cleanly with other liners.

Did I mention it was easy?  :-D   

Here's the soap I'm calling "Good Cheer".  It a Holiday-looking loaf and the Cranberry Fig and Midnight Pomegranate smell amazing together!!

My cutter is from Cumberland Acoustic and such a time saver. 

Here's another look at "Good Cheer" - thank you to the generous ladies at Bramble Berry who sponsored this blog and allowed me to try a few colorants I hadn't tried before - not to mention their wooden mold with the slide out bottom design.  I'm so thankful to have it and know it will get a lot of love and use !

The colorants used were all from Bramble Berry:

Merlot Sparkle mica
Vintage Gray mica
Luster Black mica
Chrome Green pigment
and Pearly White mica

Fragrance:   Cranberry Fig and Moonlight Pomegranate from Bramble Berry

Cranberry seeds and mica from  Soap Making Resource.


As promised, here's the code.  Only codes used on orders placed during the month of November will be entered into the drawing to win the $50.00 Bramble Berry gift certificate.   

GIVEMBER50

If you haven't tried Bramble Berry products before, I'd highly recommend them for both melt and pour and cold process supplies.  Anne-Marie's Soap Queen videos on YouTube were my initiative to start melt and pour soap making several years ago and have been a help with cold process now as well.  My daughter and I had a lot of laughs and good times creating soap using melt and pour bases when she was younger.  She's a wife and a mother to an almost-three-year-old now and works full time, so our days of making soap have ended for now, but I hope in the future to teach her how to make CP and I know she'll love it as much as I do !

Happy Soaping and thank you for keeping me company!   xx   Suzy

Busy, Busy, Busy !!

It's been a while since I've posted, so please forgive me.  I'm in the process of a divorce (amicable) and a move as well, so life's a bit hectic and stressful and I just haven't soaped much.

I DO have an exciting blog and offer coming up thanks to the generous Kristen from Bramble Berry!  I don't have all the details yet, but keep an eye on my blog in the near future.  

In the meantime, I'd love to hear about the projects you're working on. Are you soaping for the Holidays?  Any favorite fragrances or colorants you've found that have WOW'd you?

Patchouli Passion arrived in my mailbox a couple days ago and I'm hoping to soap with it this weekend - it smells amazing!  I love patchouli, but even for those who aren't crazy about it I think you'd like this blend. The patchouli doesn't knock you over the head, it's subtle and there's a floral/fruity note that's really nice. I purchased it through Tamera Jenkins at the Soap Making Sense page on Facebook.  A great place to purchase fragrance in bulk. I've pre-ordered three times from Tamera and haven't been disappointed with a fragrance yet. All have held up well in CP and have multiple layers to them, really beautiful. 

More to come!!  

Two recent soaps

It's the same recipe, but these two soaps turned out totally different in texture due to crackling from the titanium dioxide used  in one.  Some people like this look. Me? not so much.

BUT, the fragrance is amazing. I used Earthen Oak for the first.  It's from Moonworks and is what I'd call a unisex fragrance.  Lots of depth and I'm just sure it's going to hold up through curing.  I think I'll name the batch Ashen Oak.  

The second fragrance, also from Moonworks, is Native Princess.  A Sioux would be offended by that name, but I'll come up with an alternative.  Thinking Oglala Cloud.

I've ordered several more of Rhonda's fragrances and am sure they'll perform and smell amazing!!

Hey all, may I ask a favor? If you have a minute, please go to: 

http://americanmade.marthastewart.com/profiles/andrew-fuller-836

and cast a vote for a fellow artisan soap maker and a talented guy, Andrew Fuller. He's a finalist in the 

Martha Stewart contest and has mega style - I think he deserves to win and your vote would be much 

appreciated. Thanks!! Suzy

Labor day Applejack 'n Peel !

I'd received some Applejack & Peel fragrance oil and decided today was the day to give it a try. I have another bottle coming, but this one is from Soapsupplies.net.  I have to say, it's one of the strongest fragrances I've purchased, which is great - you don't need to use as much!  After I'd made the soap I put it out in our sunroom and shut the door.  We left to go hiking with the dogs and I could STILL smell it in the house when we returned.  It's a wonderful Fall fragrance that's described as  "The perfect Holiday scent! Warm and welcoming aroma of baked apples, cinnamon, spice and a twist of citrus. Nice and strong with a scent that holds for a long time."  So far, I'd have to agree.  I just love this fragrance and look forward to trying more.  

I was shooting for pumpkin/candy corn colors of green, orange and cream. The colorants I used lightened on me some...a problem I've had recently and am really frustrated with. Wet they look strong and vibrant - once cured and cut they've faded.  Any comments or suggestions would be welcome !!  I'm at a loss.  Again, I'm without a camera right now, so please forgive the iPhone photos that just aren't very sharp. 

Here's Applejack 'n Peel, a subtly colored hanger swirl soap.  I'm all about bold and bright normally, but my husband says he really likes these subtle colors.  Diversity !!

Soaping Saturday Sept. 1st, 2012 !

The wife of the owner of the company I work for LOVES lavender. So, when the owner's wife loves lavender - you make lavender!!  I actually made this loaf for his wife and the girl's in our California office and hope they like it. 

I used Violet Mica from TKB Trading for the top half and a cream color on the bottom with a mica line dividing them. Lavender is sprinkled on top - of course.  

This recipe contains olive oil, organic sustainable palm oil, coconut oil, canola oil, cocoa butter and castor oil.  I used cream and Tussah silk as well.  The fragrance is Lavender and Herb from Bramble Berry.  

You can't see the purple under the cream colored soap on top, but I'll be sure to post pictures after it's cut !

 

Nothing knock-your-socks-off-super-amazing, but a nice bar of lavender soap!  Cream on the bottom, lavender above it with a bronze mica line dividing the two.  More cream soap on top and a sprinkle of lavender buds.  I'm hoping *fingers and toes crossed* that my color holds as it cures.  My last batch of lavender turned the fugliest shade of brown/gray that I've ever seen !!   I hate throwing out a batch, but there was no rescuing that one.

I'm thinking I'll make one more batch today.  I keep an inspiration folder on my desktop to inspire me when ideas just aren't flowing.

Enjoy the Holiday weekend !!   xx  Suzy



 

Minnesota State Fair beeswax and honey soap entry

It's been awhile since I've posted and I apologize for that. I've had some personal issues going on and, frankly, just haven't felt like soaping much.  Hard to believe, right??!!??  BUT, I did commit to entering a soap in the Ag-Hort-Bee division of the Minnesota State Fair and I don't like to back down from commitments.  This was my fifty-third year attending the fair and, as I said in a prior post, I've never entered anything for competition in the fair before.  I decided my beeswax and honey recipe was a good fit and here's my entry. I'm without a camera, so excuse the iPhone pic - it at least gives you an idea.  There were five entries in my category and I placed third.  I'll give it a try next year and know more of what the judges are looking for.  The winning entry was colorless and more rustic, so that's the route I'll take when I compete next time!

The Minnesota State Fair officially began in 1849 

 The Minnesota State Fair is the second largest in the country, next to the State Fair of Texas. Ours is a mere twelve days, theirs twenty-four, so I'd have to brag and say that by attendance comparison  alone, more Minnesotan's actually attend our fair !  This is the Bee-Honey entry in the Horticulture Building, a gorgeous piece of architecture. 

Here's the Horticulture Building.  The tower in the back actually lights up with different flashing colors at night and is a landmark on the fairgrounds. 

Here's my soap entry.  My stamp, a replacement as the first arrived from China missing the "i",   arrived three days before my soap entry was due.  I made this loaf at the last minute so it was soft enough to stamp and worried it was too soft to stand up to the heat and handling. It wasn't cured, but it was hard enough to handle come fair time. 

You can't see my white third place premium ribbon (the yellow fifth is for the jar of beeswax lotion next to mine), but I'm happy to have placed !!  I wrote an explanation of how soap is made that I thought might be useful.  I had no idea how soap was made before I started making it, did you?  Yep, that's a little bee on the front bar.  I struggled with whether to use it or not, but he was just too darned cute to pass up. He's made of sugar.  The top of the bar has calendula that I actually wish I'd left off - a little didn't look right and what I used is too much.  Overall a lot of fun to enter and I look forward to next year !!!

Soaping Saturday August 5th, 2012

You know that feeling where it all seems to come together without a hitch or hicccup?  That was my Saturday of soaping.  Last weekend was a disaster, so it was a good thing yesterday was smooth sailing or I might have sold the entire lot of soaping supplies online and never looked back!
Last weekend I had a mica go errant on me.  Cancerian Heat from TKB Trading foamed up and over the batter cup and puddled on the kitchen counter. It was the closest thing to a volcano I've seen.  The amount of foam and the speed were fun in a way, but there went a large part of the batch I'd  mixed for a slab mold.  I decided to let it simmer down and see if it wasn't usable.  The color was sooo beautiful in the bag, but turned a rusty reddish-brown when mixed.  It's now on the M&P side of my soaping room and won't be used in cold process again. Two other TKB colors were just fine mixed with the very same oils and fragrance, so it had to be the Cancerian Heat.  Lesson learned.
My teacher, Cathy McGinnis, advised me to always mix a small amount of colorant with lye solution first to gauge the reaction.  She has a great video on this...which I promptly forgot in my excitement to use this beautiful iridescent burgundy/purple color - almost a duo chrome mica.  Last weeks batch didn't have the air pockets I thought it would, but the color is ....ugly.
So, that brings me to yesterday.  I made three batches:  One for the Minnesota State Fair, a beeswax and honey combination with Tussah Silk and a gold mica swirl top.  It will eventually be decorated on top with calendula and a honeycomb.  I'll post pictures right before it heads over to the fairgrounds.

The second batch was leftover batter from the first - Minnesota produced beeswax and honey, fragranced with Rosemary Herb and Peppermint.  I'm hoping the peppermint fades a bit - whoa, it's strong and overpowers the Rosemary.  I used hot pink and teal blue micas for this batch and did a hanger swirl.  I'll cut it tomorrow and revise this post, but wanted to get a few pictures posted at least for the record.

It's still pretty wet, so I hope it's not a fail.  If it's a fail, that means my State Fair soap will be too and I'll be back to square one next weekend!

The third batch uses a new fragrance I've been waiting to soap with. It's Pink Sugar from soapsupplies.net and is advertised to be a non-darkening fragrance.  Now, common sense tells me that if it contains vanilla - it's going to darken - but I really had a white and purple design I wanted to try with this fragrance, so I purchased 4 ounces.  Here are photos from Day 1 and Day 2 (today).

Day 1 (above).  So far, so good!  The white is white and the purple is staying true to color. The top is decorated with three lines of ...what else?...pink sugar !!  

Oh NO!!!  Day 2 (above).  Pink Sugar is now Yellow Sugar.  Ugly Yellow Sugar.  It's the oddest yellow, almost a neon.  I've heard that it will darken to a brown, just like any other Pink Sugar or high vanilla content fragrance oil. So, don't believe the hype.  Know that it turns brown and use that within your design and you won't be disappointed!!

I'll follow this up with photos of the cut bars tomorrow.  Let me know what you've been working on, I'd love to hear.  What's your favorite fragrance for Fall?  Applejack Peel is still one of mine and I'll be soaping with it next weekend if not before.   xx  Suzy

Here are photos of the cut soap:

 It needs some cleaning up, but I like it !

 Pink Sugar - the top is still that odd yellow, but the inside hasn't darkened in 24 hours.  Hmm (?)

 Another shot of Pink Sugar and my hanger swirl attempt - try, try again!

 Beeswax and honey with a coffee line.  The line is a bit thick and I'm worried the two parts will separate, so I'm going to remake this one.

I WILL get this hanger swirl down !!