Monday, September 5, 2011

Homemade Soap Coming up Roses

To me, handcrafting homemade soap is a true, honest to goodness wholesome pleasure that engages all of my senses. I was inspired by a new Rose fragrance that I found. It is a true-to-life Rose fragrance, simply wonderful and I just can't get enough!
Once  I have something that inspires me to drag out all of my kettles, spoons, spatula's, colorants, oils, butters and thermometers etc., I start with a vision or an idea of how I want my soap to look. It seldom comes out exactly what I see in my head. It is close but not quite and is somehow a little on the wild side, like me. It is a reminder that even something as humble as a loaf of soap turns out the way IT wants to. You can look at 30 different soapmaker's and they all impart a bit of themselves into their creations, leaving their singular mark on the finished product.
There are two hard parts to soapmaking.
1. Waiting 24 hours before you can pull it out of the mold.
2. Waiting 4-6 weeks for it to cure before you can test out one of your new creations.

The rest is fun and here is how it went down....
I pictured a rose colored bottom layer with a cream colored top layer and a single rosebud peaking out from the  of each bar, perfectly centered.
What I got was a beautiful peach color on the bottom. Which is great because it reminds me of the Jacob's ladder rosebush my mother gave me. Additionally, my rosebuds ended up more toward the side than the middle.
Although they did not come up as planned, I still think they are beautiful.... and a little quirky, like me.






You will see  the loaf fresh from the mold with the imperfect sides, and the the last pics are the final product after I have cut the soap and beveled the edges. I cut the sides off in a long thin layer and then I cut those up to send as free samples with my orders.
What do you think?