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Saturday, March 29, 2014

Blueberry Fig Goat Milk Soap

The scent and design of this soap just popped into my head one day. Most of my inspiration comes this way and it's just a quick flash in which I see the soap and can imagine the scent. Usually it happens as I'm trying to fall asleep at night. Sometimes it is when I'm washing my hands with some other soap of mine. I am thankful to have these images! With this one, I even saw the font I was supposed to use. Odd or awesome? :-) I will go with both!

This scent is so classy and lovely. It immediately made me think of something like you would find at Crabtree & Evelyn. It is a delightful blend of fresh picked blueberries, Mediterranean fig, sandalwood, amber, and fresh lemon. Classy I tell you!

I knew I wanted to use full goat milk with this one so I began the search to find goat milk locally. The proved to be harder than I anticipated. Back in the olden days (somewhere around 2008), I could find lovely, creamy, goat milk from locally raised goats at our hometown grocery store. It was packaged in the most glorious glass bottle that has made a fine substitution for a vase over the years. However, I had no such luck in these futuristic, goat-milk-less times. In the end, I had to buy a carton of goat milk at Whole Foods, about 25 minutes away. Eh...how unromantic. This would be the main reason why I don't use goat milk more often. Anywhoszits, that was quite the story of sourcing goat milk. Snoozeville.

Next step was to freeze the milks. I prefer large, chunky shapes (mine happened to be fun bug shapes) so that it takes longer for the milks to melt. I found that if I work with slushy milks that it melts too quickly and causes more burning. I did not have any troubles with that again this time and the milks were a nice pale yellow. Quite lovely indeed.





I will admit I became overly eager when just 7 hrs later my soap was pulling away from the dividers, and I unmolded the soap without doing a video. DOH! I realized this about the time that I had all the bars lined up just right for a picture. Geez. I was testing a new butter blend and it was just a minor change, but it made the soap a bit harder than usual. The soap was still soft enough that I wouldn't have wanted to cut it, but releasing from the mold was perfect. Anyway, I did make a video showing the unmolded soaps and how I plane and bevel them.



This soap turned out so creamy and lovely. It will be a limited edition and available with my late May listings.

Click on the pic to enlarge it. :-)


Thank you to all of those that commented on my last blog post. There are many that read blogs and I know now that it is worth the effort. So thanks!

Next up...Camo Soap!

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Tap, Tap, Tap...Is This Thing On?

Hello! Hello! It has been so long! I did not intend to abandon the blog again. Most of my social media activities take place on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. Do people still read blogs even? If you're reading this, please leave a comment because I'm not sure if I should drop the blog or spend more time focusing on regular posts. I am not much of a blog reader nowadays, but that doesn't mean I'm the norm. Quite the opposite in most cases! HA!

I have been busily making soaps, wrapping soaps, listing soaps, and packing orders over the last few months. It's a steady and enjoyable job! I listed my most recent soaps over at my Big Cartel store on Sunday afternoon and sold out of all but one within several hours. I have been making bigger batches and yet, they still sell just as quickly! So now I am pondering (daydreaming?) about how to make even bigger batches and/or increase production in general. I am due to make Rainbow soap again, but I know that my 25 lb batch won't last more than a few hours once listed, so I need to figure out the most efficient way to produce it in even bigger quantities. I have several ideas and it is a problem that I am happy and blessed to have. I am very appreciative of my wonderful customers that allow me to do what I love on a regular basis!

This month, the super lovely Katie from Royalty Soaps did a royal review of Missouri River Soap. She is just so fun and I'm honored to be a part of her year of reviews. She is so cheerful and her videos are always at the top of my viewing list. Click HERE to see her review video and HERE for the review blog post.

Now for a sprinkling of photos from the last few months!









There are always soap dishes to get cleaned up!