She Lives! and a Soapy Roundup

     Hi y'all I kinda faded away from soap making, and this blog for almost two years. I am glad to say I am back after my extended hiatus and plan to be posting regularly in addition to keeping track of my new Etsy store IvyRoseSoap! My new post schedule will know be primarily on the weekends because sense the last time I've posted I moved from being homeschooled to a private school (the transition to be honest was why I stopped soaping for a while). Now that I am finally comfortable in the new environment and my migraines have decreased I decided I need to start following my passion again. Now that I have given you a quick update on my life, that I'm sure you'll end up hearing more of, I can share all the soaps I have made since we left off.



   First is my Grateful Dead inspired soap I call Ripple. It was a gift to my sisters boyfriend and is scented with Wholesale Supply Plus' Aqua Spa. I made the lightning bolt by using my 5 lb loaf mold from Bramble Berry with the multi-section dividers in so is was three sections and I poured white into 2 of the 3 sections. After they hardened I cut them into manageable 4-5 inch chunk and carved out triangles. When I made the actual soap I kept the multi divider in with tree sections and lined up the lightning bolts in the middle and red and blue on the sides. The reason I did that was just to keep the colors on their side and keep the embeds straight. After the mold seemed full I took out the dividers and as the soap got into the middle area it sank in so after that I poured the remaining red and blue in. Sorry this one's description was longer than I planed it probably should have gotten its own post! On a similar note my next post will most likely be about another Grateful Dead soap yet to be named so keep an eye out my fellow Deadheads!

  Next is what I'm calling Lavender and Chamomile. It is scented with Bramble Berry's Lavender Chamomile Huggies type which I love. It reminds me of the bubble baths I took when I was little so for me it is very nostalgic so I just have to have this soap around! On the top of this bar I decided to add lavender and chamomile buds for an extra effect, and mainly so I could remember the name of this scent...

      Keeping with the Chamomile theme is my Chamomile soap scented with Bramble Berry's Chamomile Cybilla fragrance oil which they claim to be close to the real deal essential oil but I cant speak to this because I have never smelled the real deal myself. I made this soap with Chamomile tea replacing my water and I colored it very subtly so I don't know of you can really see in the picture but it has a swirl of yellow, green, and cream. I also topped this soap with a line of chamomile buds along the center.

    This is my latest lavender EO soap and it is also happens to be my least favorite of the lavender soaps I have done. The design in my head was light green with big shreds of lavender soap throughout, but my shavings were to thin leaving me with plain green soap with barely visible hints of purple. The mica line was my last ditch effort to get some nice lavender color in the bar.

                                        

     The first snow soap I do every year after our first big snow. It is scented with Wholesale Supplies Plus's first snow and for the water portion I use filtered snow. This design is similar to my last one (here) but with the addition of little sugar pearls and snowflake sprinkles to the top.

     This is my Love Spell soap which I think is my favorite drop swirl I have done. It is scented with Bramble Berry's dupe of the Victoria's Secret perfume which I like but don't love. The only thing I wasn't happy about in this soap is how the white portion turned out speckled, my water soluble titanium dioxide seemed perfectly dissolved in the water but the bar tells a different story.

  

Next is my latest rendition of Wasabi soap, scented with Bramble Berry's wasabi FO. This design was just me experimenting with design. I tried to do a faux-funnel pour on both sides with a divider in the middle, it didn't turn out how I imagined it but i still think its okay looking.

   This soap is actually my most recent of this round up and it is scented with Bramble Berry's Energy. I have soaped with this once before so I knew it went slow so I decided to do a squeeze bottle design. Using squeeze bottles I discovered that they are a PITA during pouring (my hand was tired half way through filling my 5lb mold, and you know soap only gets thicker), getting the last bit out (again soap only gets thicker and thicker), and especially cleaning. While the results were pretty i think it will be a while before I do it again, maybe next time I will use disposable icing bags.

The next one is my Honeysuckle soap in a new design and color scheme. It is using Bramble Berry's Surplus Honeysuckle FO which is my mothers favorite. This is one of the first soaps I've done just plain layering with a I think my lines are straight enough. It is also my first soap in a long time I didn't color with any micas, unless you count the pencil lines. Speaking of pencil lines i used gold mica between each layer to add at least a touch of sparkle to the bar. Over all I think this is my favorite design I have done with this scent, it just looks so springy and fun! 

     Okay we are almost to the end, I'm sorry this post is so long! I just have so many soaps to catch y'all up on. This is my Grapefruit Bellini soap, which the scent was actual scent #8 from when I was on Bramble Berry's S.O.A.P panel eons ago.

  Next is a soap I made using WSP's Fresh mint, which I love btw. This was just a simple hanger swirl with different shades of green. On top I put crushed mint leaves and green glitter. This lead me to a question I want to ask y'all, how do you store your glitter? I may end up doing a little short post on how I store mine if y'all are interested.

       Finally we are onto the last soap of the day! If you have made it this far I very am proud of your accomplishment. I am ending with my Eucalyptus soap which had no real design except just pouring in a bunch of different colors. this soap smells so good and strong I used the EO which if you have smelled it before you know how potent it is. The smell didn't fade out of our whole house for a week!

 
   Well this is the end of today's post but stay tuned for more upcoming posts, and don't worry they will be shorter! I am happy to be back and as usual happy Soaping!

                   ~ Anna Rose

Blackberry Sage Funnel Pour: Winter Soap Crafting Club Part I

  
      If you are a frequent visiter to my blog you might remember I participated in the Fall Soap Crafting Club(if you haven't you can see the posts here and here). I loved it! for the full down low on the club go to this post, but there are a few differences in this session then the last one 1. instead of the 2 pound wooden mold (with silicone liner) we received Bramble Berry's 5 lb sliding bottom wood mold (also with silicone liner), and 2. instead of being sent lye flakes and mixing the solution yourself, they sent us the pre-measured, premixed lye solution.

     January's soap was the Funnel pour method (page 79) in Soap Crafting. This was two firsts for me, my first 5lb batch and my first funnel pour! It is scented in Blackberry berry sage, which is amazing by the way, it has a fruity top note with a base note of sage that really anchors the fragrance. Its colors are grey, purple, green, brown and pink.
 
    After reaching a thin trace I seperating the unscented batter into 5 equal containers (2 cups each) I scented each container with .8 oz each of FO and colored with the following.

1. 1/4 tsp brown oxide + 1tsp titanium dioxide (mixed with 2 tsp sweet almond oil)
2. 1/8 tsp black Luster mica +1 tsp titanium dioxide (mixed with 2 tsp sweet almond oil)
3. 4 mL diluted Fuchsia LabColor
4. 6 mL diluted Easter Purple LabColor
5. 8 mL diluted Sage Mist LabColor

     Then after deciding the color order (I choose grey, purple, green, brown, then pink) you are going to pour each color (for 3-5 seconds each) into the funnel that is set up in the center of the mold, held in place by either a disposable cup or bowl with a hole cut in it. After pour alternating colors, until all the soap is gone, I swirled the top with a wooden skewer.

Thanks for stopping by and happy soaping!!!

   

Karma Soap

     Last month was my birthday and my mother got me a big Bramble Berry box filled with goodies! included in the box was a 9 bar unfinished birchwood mold and tons of new FO's including karma (type). Of course the first thing I wanted to do with my new slab mold was the Peacock swirl using Karma. I was so excited I even had plans for my first tutorial but alas it wasn't meant to be, Karma moves FAST!(as you can see in Westminster and Karma Soap Preview)

    Now onto the the soap. After scenting my 2 pound batch with 1oz of Karma I split it into 4 equal batches(this is the point I realized the peacock swirl was not happening). I colored these containers with the following colorants going clockwise starting with the orange;

•  1/4 tsp of mango madness neon orange + 5 drops of premixed ultramarine blue(to darken the neon orange)
• 1/4 tsp of hydrated green oxide
• 1/8 tsp of brown oxide
• 1/8 tsp of yellow oxide

(all mixed with 2 teaspoons of sweet almond oil)

Instead of the peacock swirl I did a simple layers with gold pencil line in between. I actually really like how it turned out!  It kind of reminds me of a sunset over the ocean! What does it reming you of? Comment below. 

Thanks for stopping by and happy Valentines Day!!!

Snowy South

     As you may have heard the east coast has been very snowy lately and of course as a soaper it gave me some inspiration. Just like my first ever batch of cold process it is made with snow, making me realize that my one-year soaping anniversary is just around the corner!!!!!! 

   

     This batch is scented with wholesale supplies plus's fresh snow (I wonder why?). I colored it with micas, and oxides which for the life of me I cannot remember the blends (which is why it is important to take notes!). As I said in a previous post Soaping up a Winter Wonderland this FO moves fast! I was going to do a drop swirl with the white to look like snow but it was already the consistency of a thick pudding and even plopping it in from a foot above it would not go down. I quickly pulled out my hanger to try to mix the white in a bit more and the rest is history...

Finally which version of Fresh Snow do you like best? Pin or comment your fave version.

Thanks for stoping by and watch out for a Karma dupe soap coming soon!

Happy Late New Year!!!

Happy New Year and I am so sorry I haven’t posted in a while. You know how it is during the holiday season! Life at my house has had a few issues that didn't help either, half of the puppies finally left mid November to be show dogs leaving us with three pet quality poodles to sell! Then Bee (the runt of the litter who stayed with us) was diagnosed with a condition similar to spina bifida, which caused her to be incontinent. One option was of course putting her down but since she was such a fighter (can drop and pin down her brother who is 5-10 lbs bigger than her), we decided to opt for surgery to fix it. That was a month ago we she is now officially an Iverson dog since no one else wants a broken puppy. Since Bees surgery we have sold one of her brothers, who is now called Camden and the other, Moby, has gone to live with my sister. 

The sleeping Bee

Now onto soap! I have only gotten around to making one batch this holiday season and they are for my brother who LOVES every thing space. And when I saw a pin of a planetary themed soap I knew I had to make it. I now present to you my planet soap!!

P.S. sorry these aren’t the most beautiful, three of prettiest ones met an unfortunate fate…

It is scented with Brambleberry’s Crisp Anjou Pear at .75_oz PPO. To be honest Crisp Anjou Pear is not my favorite I only got it because BB sent me it instead of Crisp apple rose (which they kindly sent me the 4oz bottle of free of charge) they let me keep Crisp Anjou Pear as a gift for their mistake. The balls are made with BB’s silicone ball molds in medium and large, and are also scented with Crisp Anjou Pear. Sadly I forgot to note what colors I used but I can tell you that the black is black oxide .

Have a happy New Year and thanks for stopping by!!!!!!!

Ombre soap

For the October Soap Crafting Club we made the LabColor ombre soap from Ann-Marie’s Soap Crafting book (I suggest you get it because it is AMAZING full color and pretty designs with simple instructions). This recipe was a complex design with nine layers layer so be aware that you should use a tried and true slow moving fragrance/ Essential oil (I used Bramble Berry’s cranberry fig which I love).

I would also like to add that while trying to get the colorant amounts just right I forgot to split of the 12 oz for the purple layers so when you make this your top layers would bee a nice pink not my purplie pink.

**** A side note for all the soapers and soon to be soapers I really suggest signing up for the winter Soap Crafting Club. Once a month you receive all the ingredients (including colorants and FO/EOs) for one recipe in the Soap Crafting book, and on the first month you get a new nice wood mold with its silicone liner (if it has one)!! All you have to supply are bowls, a stick blender, utensils and lye. Going off into another direction I forgot to mention the oils come premixed! It saves more time than you think all you have to do is throw the bag in the microwave, then pour it into a bowl to mix the lye in!!!(Could you tell I am excited about this??)

Thanks for stopping by and happy soaping!!

I was not paid to review the Soap Crafting Club or the book these are my personal opinions on the products.

Soaping up a Winter Wonderland

Sorry that I haven’t blogged in over a month had a ton of appointments and no time to soap:(. So for the last few weeks I have been busy making a bunch of Christmas/ winter soaps!

Fir needle Mantra swirl Christmas soap

First I have the classical holiday soap with a mantra swirl of red, green, and a touch of gold. The scent is the distinctively Christmassy smell of a fresh cut fir tree.

After my soap batter had reached emulsification I added 1.5 oz (for 2 lbs of oils) of Fir needle essential oil, this EO is very slow to trace so I had plenty of time to play with the design. To achieve the colors I first split of about a 1/3 of a cup of thinly traced soap in a condiment squeeze bottle (the kind you find ketchup an mustard in, they are easily found in a craft store or Target), and added around a ¼ of a teaspoon of gold mica. The remaining soap batter was and split in half. The first half was colored with 1 teaspoon of red rainbow mica (soon to be discontinued along with all other rainbow micas) and the other half was colored with 1/3 of a teaspoon of a mixture of 2 parts green oxide and 3 parts green rainbow mica. To get a full tutorial look HERE.

Fresh snow drop swirl

The second batch was a drop swirl made with Wholesale Supplies Plus’s Fresh Snow. This fragrance oil was described as: a cheerful blend of fresh mint, blooming jasmine and pine needles. I love this FO! While it did speed things up and had minor ricing (nothing that couldn’t be blended into submission) it was totally worth it.

To pull of the design I scented the soap with 1oz(.5 ppo) of fresh snow then split the batch into half, and one of the halves into half. I colored the 50% portion of batter with ½ a teaspoon of titanium dioxide and poured it into the mold until it was half way full. The 2 smaller portions were colored different shades of blue; the darker shade was colored with 1/3 of a teaspoon of blue oxide and the lighter with 1/3 of a teaspoon of blue rainbow mica. I poured the blues into the mold linear motions. After slightly swirling the top of the loaf I sprinkled some snow worthy glitter on top!

Hot Chocolate themed soap

My most recent batch is a blend I call mint hot cocoa, it is a blend of spearmint essential oil and Bramble Berry’s Hot Cocoa fragrance oil which out of the bottle smelled like those cheep “Hershey” chocolate lip glosses but it really bloomed out nicely in soap.

In this batch I made a few minor changes to my usual recipe, changing out shea butter for cocoa butter and adding an ounce of heavy cream deducted from the water amount.

For the design I first reserved 12 fluid ounces of unscented (this is important as the Hot Cocoa FO discolors) batter and scented the remaining amount with .85oz of hot cocoa and .15 oz of spearmint EO (again for 2lb of oils). After coloring the scented batter with 1 teaspoon of cocoa powder I poured it 2/3 the way up the mold. With a small sifter I dusted the surface with green rainbow mica for a pencil line. I went on to slowly pour the unscented batter over a spatula close to the surface of the previous layer as not to brake through. Finally I textured the top with a spoon to make it look more like whipped cream then sprinkled the top with the green mica and cocoa powder.

 I hope you enjoyed my blog and happy soaping!!