The Mad Scientist Strikes again

January 15, 2009

Happy New Year folks. And if you live anywhere the snow is flying stay safe, keep warm. Perferably without sticking your fingers in the soap pot.

A lot is going on in my little corner of the soaping world. First the color of the week is red oxide. As you can see from the image it makes two lovely shades of pink. I've decide to drop the batches without milk, since the results have been fairly consistant. Milk soap for the most part is not going to be as bright as the same recipe made with all water. Still I have some lovely soaps to send to the homeless shelters.

My morning was spent packaging up soaps to be delivered when the roads clear up a little. I'm also sending my little test bars out into the world. So I've compiled a report for you. The soaps on the list are between 1 and 3 months old.  Click here to see how those soaps turned out.  
 

Now I've started a new project. lately I've been working with recipe formulation, which is a lot of fun, but can be confusing. With all due respect to soapcalc, my recipes weren't always turning out the way I wanted them to. Reading the various oil properties lists out there didn't help much. Some are confusing, contradictory or don't list oils on them that most people use. So the Mad Scientist in me yelled "let's do more research". So I am now investigating oil properties. Before you are some single oil one bar batches of soap. I, along with a few soaper friends, will be evaluating these single oil soaps. Later I will post our own oils list, which I hope will help new soapers get a handle on things. One thing I have learned in recipe making is that all the numbers are good guides in recipe formulary. But they are not the be all and end all of soap making. Knowing your oils and their properties is even more important in creating recipes that are uniquely yours.

And lastly I've developed a shampoo bar recipe that I absolutely love.   Click here   to see it. If you run it through soapcalc, and I strongly urge you to get in the habit of doing this with EVERY recipe you want to use, you will see that the INS is not in what soapcalc considers the ideal range. However, I can assure you that while it makes a soft bar of soap, relatively speaking, it makes a soap that has luxurious lather and leaves my hair clean soft and shiney. Tip: Some people experience a feeling of greasy or stickness when transitioning from using shampoo to useing soap. If this happens to you, try a rinse of 1 to 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar to 1 cup of warm water. Since my hair tends to be dry and frizzy I don't have that problem. Your milage may vary. But overall I think most people will like this. It sure beats putting a lot of chemicals on my head.

That's it for now fellow soapers. Keep safe, keep warm and dry, keep the soappot going and stay tuned. More nutsy soaping projects are coming.  
 
 

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