Why I Love to Make Soap

This journey into soap making actually started years ago.  I took a class at a local CSA.  They were offering a class on making goat milk soap.  I loved the experience.  It touched every creative bone in my body.  

Colors ~ scents ~ swirls ~ bars ~ shapes

the possibilities literally were endless!

Then time marched on.  I always loved hand-crafted, natural soap, but somehow between the moments of homeschooling, being a mom, working part time, taking care of a small farm....I just never got around to it.

Then last winter, our hands were so dry and cracking, we knew we needed to get away from commercial soaps.  We started to shop at a local soap shop.  We loved the smells, the colors, the feel of the soap.  And then it hit me.  Why am I not making my own soap?

You really need very little to get started.  

• You don't need a mold, you can use a shoe box.
• You don't need exotic oils, you can use olive oil.
• You don't need a PhD, just a little training and a lot of research. 

I scoured the library for every soap book I could find.  There were dozens and dozens, but I kept coming back to one book.  One that was user friendly, easy to understand, explained things well, and had good pictures.

 I have since bought about a half dozen books and do enjoy the different recipes and scent variations. Here are some of my favorites: 

So, it has been a year that I have been making soap.  We use essential oils, blends of essential oils, skin-safe fragrance oils and lots of wonderful natural colorants.  I am forever amazed at the versatility of this wonderful craft.  You can make a soap any color, any fragrance, and any shape!

I get excited when I gather up my soap making supplies.  


What color will I use?
What scent will it be?
Will I do a drop swirl or spoon swirl?
Should I blend multiple essential oils?


I think this is why I love making soap so much - you can let your imagination go wild!

I have, however, settled on a traditional 5-ounce bar shape.  While you can make cupcake soaps and multi-colored soaps, I somehow love the simplicity of the basic bar size.  I think that is just what we are used to and it brings a sense of old-fashionedness to the soap. So, while the bar may be a standard shape - the soap itself - well, there's nothing standard about that!

I hope you will pop over to the Signature Soaps and Seasonal Soaps and see what is new.  New scents and colors are arriving daily.

I will also be showcasing my soaps at a local indoor Farmer's Market in March and a wonderful craft fair in April.  Then it will be a few months off to make more soap and get ready for the upcoming fall and Christmas season.

No rest for the weary, that's for sure.

Signs of Spring!

As I look out the window, winter is still very present here in Northern Illinois.  We just got over some sub-zero temperatures and we have about a foot of snow on the ground.  But today the sun is shining and my kitchen smells like spring.

Some of the spring scents have arrived!

Lilac in Bloom
Sweet Honeysuckle
Rose Geranium
White Tea & Ginger

These scents are so light and fragrant - I just can't wait to see how they come through the soap making process.

I will have some pictures up soon! They really are very pretty and smell so wonderful!

Back in the Saddle Again....

I hope that you had a wonderful Christmas filled with family and friends, laughter and joy, and plenty of good food and rest!

I want to thank all those that ordered and purchased my soap and hope that it was a huge hit for your friends and family.  I find such great joy in making soap and hope that joy is passed on to those that receive it!

Well, it's time to get busy again restocking favorite Signature Soaps and adding some new Seasonal Soaps as well!  I ordered and received a huge stock of what we like to call "smellies" which are the fragrance and essential oils.

The "Smellies" are in the House. 
Lots of new fragrance and essential oils have arrived!

 

We will be adding a new soap called White Tea & Ginger.  That soap is made and curing as we speak!

White Tea & Ginger! 
A champagne colored soap with a swirl of creamy white,
topped off with a sweet smell of White Tea & Ginger fragrance!

Today I am making a multi-colored Honeysuckle scented soap.  It will have hues of green, white and rose with a soft, sweet smell of Honeysuckle. 
When we first moved to the farm in 2004, there was an old fashioned honeysuckle vine.  We no longer have that beautiful, sweet-scented vine and miss it's fragrant blossoms in the spring!
I just know that this soap will bring back fond memories of it's sweet springtime scent.

There will be more Spring Seasonal Soaps coming up that will include Lilac in Bloom, Rose Geranium, and Lily of the Valley.

The soap journey is indeed a fun and fascinating one - full of sweet scents and creative endeavors!

I hope you will stop by my booth at the DeKalb Indoor Farmer's Market.  Just check out my Events Page for location and times.  Looking forward to spring deliveries and friendly visits.

Wishing you a wonderful New Year ahead full of God's abundant blessings!

Thanks for stopping by ~

The Christmas Season Is Upon Us

It has been a wildly busy time and I am so thankful to God for His blessing upon this soap-making adventure!
I just finished my first Indoor Farmer's Market in DeKalb, Illinois.  It was AWESOME! 

One of our nutcrackers accompanied me for some Christmas cheer!

Little cups of free samples and lots of bars of soap!

And even more bars of soap!

My little Farmhouse Soaps booth!

What a great assortment of vendors, busy flow of customers, live music all day long, great food to be had, and an atmosphere of Christmas joy. 
It was so wonderful to see some long-time dear friends, have my booth next to my good friend Bridget who sells amazing up-cycled bags made from vintage clothing, curtains, tea towels and more.  Please do check out her website at Clothes The Bag.  Her creations are amazing and you will love the assortment of bags she carries.
I have also been making deliveries near and far and I think that is my favorite part of the soaping business.  Dropping off soaps, visiting and chatting, and being grateful for their friendships.
I still have some soap available if you would like to find a unique gift for a teacher or neighbor, babysitter or favorite store clerk.  Just click on the tab to buy soap and send me an email.

The only soaps I am sold out of at this time is the Pure Castile and Lavender Garden.  More will be available about the 1st of February.  Be sure to check out the tab Order Here for what soaps are available.  I am happy to ship and accept cash, checks and PayPal.

Until then, I hope you are enjoying this wonderful Christmas season with family and friends.

Until next time, 

 

A Day in the Life of a Soapmaker!

I have been busy making soap to finalize my inventory for Christmas.  Funny thing about soap is that if you are making cold process soap, you have to allow for 4-6 weeks of curing time. 
So, that can be challenging when you are making soap for a specific holiday and not exactly sure what everybody is going to want or like.

Well, the deadline has hit.  Pretty much any soap I make after today will not be ready for Christmas. So, hopefully I have a good enough inventory to meets the needs of my friends, family and customers.

You can make soap and have it ready within just a few days to 2 weeks - that is called hot process soap. 
However, I make cold process and it needs curing time. I will be putting some posts up over the next week or so that will explain more about curing times, lye solutions, colorants and scents. I hope that will give you a little more information about the hows and whys of soap.

But for today, here is a look at a typical soaping day! 

Blending the lye/water solution with the oils.  I use a stick blender to help bring it to trace faster.

 









I added a white pigment to brighten up this batch.  This is going to be Peppermint Frost!

Pouring off a little soap to add some bright red colorant to make pretty red peppermint-like swirls!

Mixing up the soap and red pigment.  Looking good!

Pouring in the plain white soap and alternating it with the red to make candy cane swirls.

Swirling that color in!

Ready to let it set up.

This has been a fun, Christmasy soap to make.  Smells wonderful and the colors are quite vibrant!  Hope you like it too!

Focus and Breathe!

I was back in the kitchen today making up an eight-pound batch of Coconut Lime Verbena scented soap.

This is a wonderful scent that is not too coconutty  - and just the right amount of tropical.

It is easy to get a little "too" comfortable with soap making - as was the case today.  
I had everything all set out and organized and was ready to go.
Oils measured and melted.
Lye/Water measured, mixed and cooling
Colorants all pre-mixed and ready to go.
Fragrance oil all set and ready to be combined.
 
All good!  Mixed the oils and water/lye to a light trace and started to.....

daydream.....what was I thinking!  Obviously, I wasn't thinking!


I poured off enough soap into the two different colors I was going to use, poured off 1/2 the remaining soap into the two molds, swirled in my beautiful white colorant - perfect swirls.  (Spent the morning watching videos on how to get the perfect swirl.) Poured in the remaining soap and was ready to add my green swirl......and then it happened......

OH MY GOODNESS - Houston, we have a problem!

I completely forgot to add the fragrance oil.  So much for Coconut Lime Verbena - might look like it, but sure won't smell like it.


Get your head in the game girl!
 
I had about 10 seconds to figure out what I was going to do!

Focus and Breathe!

I poured all the soap from the molds back into the pot!  There goes my beautiful white swirls!  I gave it a quick blend with my stick blender and in went the fragrance oils.  Sure enough - those oils like to accelerate trace - time to get that soap back in my molds. 

In it went, the beautiful green went on top, did some pretty swirls and by the time I had the last swirl squiggled, that soap was setting up!

Lesson learned - one must pay attention when one is creating soap!

Here's a little sneak peek what the soap will look like - minus the white swirl of course! LOL!



I think you will really enjoy this soap.  Very pretty - even minus my beautiful white swirls -  and really smells great!

A Very Supportive Family

I am blessed, I will say it over and over again - I am so very blessed.  My family is so supportive of all my endeavors.  Although, I know that they are aware that I am creating soap to not only nurture my creative side, but to also help support our family.  How fortunate am I that I can work from home, be smack dab in the middle of my family's comings and goings and yet help contribute financially.  God has opened this door so wide and I am grateful to Him first and foremost.  He knows our burdens and needs, and walks with us every day.
Secondly, I am so grateful to my family who puts up with me taking over our kitchen for hours at a time, listening to me go on and on about this formula or that scent, puts up with me researching at the computer looking for information on gel phase or SAP values!

Yes, I am blessed and I hope they know how truly grateful I am.  From the bottom of my heart - I thank them for sharing this journey with me.

So, today, once again, I took over the kitchen. I am ramping up my inventory to be ready for the Christmas season.  This was all quite unintentional - this soap journey.  I just decided last August to really start playing with different soap recipes, essential oils and fragrance oils ~~ and then it happened. Soon my inventory began to grow ....and grow...and pretty soon I was knee deep in bars and bars of soap.  So, I thought, why not - let's sell a few and see what happens - and Farmhouse Soaps was born. 

Today's soap - Oatmeal Milk and Honey.  A beautiful subtle fragrance of oatmeal, almond, and vanilla.  This lovely light brown soap has a swirl of white to be pleasing to the eye as well as the scent.  The is a blend of saponified olive oil, coconut oil, and palm oil.  It includes ground oatmeal and fragrance oil.

I think you will like this one very much.  Smooth, subtle, warm and comforting.