Candles & Soap

I recently made a batch of shaving soap that came out really great! That batch motivated me to make a couple of other batches of soaps with clays. I love using a bit of Rose Clay for a color swirl. Clays are wonderful, natural colorants, with great properties all their own. I love the silky creaminess of the soaps...and the super clean feeling they leave.

Well, I'm back from the Handcrafted Soapmakers Guild conference safe and sound! It was a fabulous conference full of fun, information, fellowship and soap talk. The range of soapmakers from beginner to advanced, from young to not-so-young, from west to east coast was truly amazing. It is so wonderful to have an organization like the HSMG supporting our craft and our industry. It's so hard to focus on "real life" when you come back from one of these events - I just want to spend all day in the kitchen making soap and trying the new things I learned!

I'll be putting together a full report in a day or two...stay tuned for all the fun details!

I'm getting ready to head to the Handcrafted Soapmakers Guild conference in Portland, Oregon! I'm a speaker this year - and am going to be talking about the qualities of soapmaking oils and how to formulate your own soap recipes. I'm really looking forward to it!

The conference runs three days, with classes and presentations held during the day and parties sponsored by major vendors like Bramble Berry, Wholesale Supplies Plus and Essential Wholesale. Dinner on the last night is the Annual Awards Banquet where soap awards are given, and the location for next year's conference is announced.

A variety of speakers, both from inside and outside the handcrafted soap industry, are scheduled each year, covering a wide range of subjects of interest to soamakers. Topics usually include various aspects of cold process and soap making, soapmaking, marketing, promotion, websites, labeling, and a smattering of business concerns. It's an amazing thing to be surrounded by SO many people who love the art and craft of soapmaking. I'll be blogging about the conference throughout the week...look for more news!

As I was watering my fledgling tomato plants last night...I got at least 5 mosquito bites!

And while I'm probably not going to put a bunch of citronella candle torches around my garden, it certainly was notice that it's mosquito season...and time to make up a batch of mosquito votive candles. You'd be surprised at some of the many different essential oil blends that repel mosquitoes...many of which smell great too!

What do you get when you mix some whimsical springtime-themed ceramic containers with the desire to create some fun container candles for my kitchen? You get these soy container candles with coordinating colors and fragrances. They're pretty much just a variation of a basic container candle - but here the container is the focus more than the wax.

Make Springtime Soy Container Candles

I love the feeling that a sugar or salt scrub gives to your skin. Part moisturizing and part exfoliation. But they're so messy - and sugar scrubs require a preservative to keep from getting moldy.

This variation adds melt and pour soap to the mix - so it holds up as a single use cube - and the soap helps with rinse off and clean up. And because no water is added, you don't need to add a preservative. Give them a try!

How to Make Single Use Sugar Scrub Cubes

altrendo images / Getty Images

Many soaps in stores today are white - bright white - but because they are made with added colorants and/or surfactants and detergents - they're artificially white. Natural soap, especially soap made with olive oil is going to have a slightly tan or beige color. But it is possible to adjust your real soap recipe to be whiter using only natural ingredients.

Some tips to do it:

• The color of the soap is largely determined by the ingredients. While some base oils will give you a nice, white soap, others (incl. olive oil) will impart a more beige/green tint to the soap.
• Fragrance and essential oils can impart their color to the soap significantly...especially any fragrance oils that contain vanilla.
• Using milk or other liquids in the recipe can shift the soap's color too.
• While titanium dioxide is an additive, and has a chemical-like name, I pretty much think of titanium dioxide as a pretty "natural" ingredient.

For more information, check out How to Make Old Fashioned Hard White Soap.

Sandi Garrett Little is among a growing trend of entrepreneurs that, over the past decade really, have either left or been laid-off from "real jobs" and have, in the search for their next new adventure, found it in making soap. Like most small to mid-sized soap makers, Little does everything for her business, Harmony Bath and Body. She says, "I formulate the products, make them, create my packaging as well as print and apply labels.  I'm Formulator, Purchasing, Production, Inventory Control and Sales and Marketing.  I'd like to hire someone to help me soon while I continue to be creative with making the products." Little also works to promote and advance the craft and trade of soap making. She is the current Vice President and past President of the Alabama Soap and Candle Association, an organization with a buyer's co-op and annual educational conference.

Read more about Sandi and her soap making journey...

Many candle (and soap) makers have been using flexible silicone and latex molds for years. They're wonderful for making intricate soaps and candles, but until recently have not been very affordable.
Lately, most discount stores like Target and Wal-Mart have been carrying a selection of silicone molds (designed for baking, but perfectly useable for candles and soap) in the baking section - and they're very inexpensive! I've also seen them at hobby shops like Michaels.
This new project gives instructions for making Molded Rose Candles. You can make roses, or use the instructions to make any silicone molded candle. I've got molds that make stars, snowflakes, flowers and more.

A candle maker emailed me recently about how to make a chunk candle comprised of the different colors of the rainbow...except, instead of the colors all being mixed up, they were separated into "pie" slices. (I thought it looked like a Trivial Pursuit came piece with the pieces of pie filled in.) To do this, you could make standard chunk candles (either votives or pillars) and just use cardboard or paper to keep the chunks sub-divided. Or you could use this vertical chunk method. You still may want to use a piece of cardboard to subdivide the sections...but keeping the "chunks" in long rods will make the arrangement much easier.