Cocoalicious

Goat milk is not easily available though we have a lot of goats around here, where my parents live. I was asking the local people if anyone would be willing to sell some goat milk and my requests were met with utmost curiosity and uncontrollable giggles. Finally one generous local goatherd agreed to sell me some goat milk. What more, we even convinced him to bring his goat over and milk it at my parents home. :D

Here's the goatherd and his pretty goat:

Isn't she a pretty goat!! Also a little scared...poor thing!! 

The goat and goatherd at work, with a lil'
help from our cleaning lady. Three excited
spectators......grandma, mom and meeeeee

I froze the 200ml of milk that came and finally got to make some soap with it.

Showing the top face
Made on 09.10.2011

About turn!!

This soap was made with palm oil, coconut oil, olive oil, goat milk (2/3's goat milk and 1/3 distilled water) and superfatted with cocoa butter. The swirls were made with cocoa powder and scented with vanilla oil. I had to keep and eye on my mom to keep her from eating it!! She thought it looked and smelled like marbled cake. :)

Cut into an easy to handle size with a happy helper...my dad 

Since the vanilla oil was a real dark brown, I added it only to the soap base with cocoa powder. Luckily every bar of soap has enough cocoa swirls and the scent is coming through nicely. 

Easy and simple cocoa swirls

The soap didn't go through gel, and I am happy about that. Just hope the soaps don't darken over time though, coz I really like this cream and cocoa contrast.

Happy soaping everyone!! 

Sunshine soap

These days nothing gets thrown away before careful consideration...you never know what can be used to make soap. I held onto a broken umbrella handle for a few months too, while my husband wondered if I lost my marbles. So we got two cans of Pringles (thankfully the small size) that travelled with us to Slovenia and came back with us empty. The chips flew lightly out of the can and settled heavily in the butt. I am at a loss to understand how a few grams of snack can turn into a few kilos the second they hit the mouth.

I am one of those green soap lovers and have been wanting to make one for sometime now. The contents of a bag of nettle tea leaf had been soaking in olive oil for more than two weeks now. Molds were ready. Something was missing...what could it be? Has to be something to make me break into a panic sweat in the last minute of soaping. Well this time it was the cardboard tube around which aluminium foil is rolled. Now that is exciting enough. The grand plan was to do a soap embed with fresh soap in a different color. See this was supposed to be a morning soap, with the sun rising from the center. I can be imaginative too people!!

The outcome wasn't too bad actually. The cardboard pulled up a little too much soap with it. I shouldn't have waited so long before taking it out from the mold. Wish the green was a little greener and the yellow (from turmeric)  a little yellower/orange. I couldn't give the sweats a miss though....it was really hot here yesterday.

Hoping the sun doesn't set on me, by fading away

Scented with Mint, Tea tree and a tick of Lime essential oils. The mint masks the green smell really well. Thanks for the mint tip Amy W from Soapy Stories. About 11% Shea butter and 10% superfat. I drastically cut down the Coconut oil too this time.  A little bit of the end piece lathered very well. Not big bubbles, but nice small and creamy ones. :) 

Why do I even try to cut with a knife???
Had to make corrections later.

Little heart samples.
Funnily they turned green with turmeric??

This soap is fully natural, including the colors. I feel pretty good about it!! :)

Everfresh

Made on: 20.06.2011

After many weeks I made soap again. The original plan was to make a green soap with nettle tea but who sticks to original plans anyway?? Definitely not me!! It's not like I didn't try though. I made a strong nettle tea (dried leaves) over the weekend, but when I looked at it later, the tea was more brown than green. Not wanting to take a chance I made the lye solution with distilled water and added a green color towards the end. I still want to make an all natural green soap. It seems spinach makes a green soap, so I will try that out sometime.

For now here is the soap that got made:

Slices of soap

Coconut, palm, olive and canola oils with extra cocoa butter loving...topped with Calendula petals.

My pics getting any better at all??

Scented with Lemon Eucalyptus, Lemongrass and Rosemary essential oils. The evergreen Eucalyptus and amazingly fresh Lemongrass....Everfresh!! :P

I like these molds. Perfect guest soaps I think 

And I stamped them too!!

Stamped!!

Now a patient 4 week wait!! By the way the nettle tea is still in the fridge...should I go ahead and make some soap with it or is it no good anymore??  And, is anyone else having a problem with blogger? I have not been able to comment on many blogs (the ones where the post comments is embedded in the page itself). Hope it gets fixed soon...