365 Soaps- New Soaps!

Changing up the format on how I share this year long soapy challenge. Instead of blogging about the soaps as they are made, I've decided to share them with you as they finish curing. This way I can share both the making of *and* the results which is way less awkward for me to keep up with. Plus any that are for sale will be available at the time of publishing with links included. Which I imagine is more fun for you instead of me showing off a bunch of soaps you can't yet have ;)

And now, the soaps!

Soap 76: Citrus Rose Soleseife

I am loving Soleseife Soaps a lot lately. This one is naturally colored with rose clay for the pink, and I attempted to use Brazilian red clay for a swirl of orange. Despite the name, Brazilian red clay is much more of a warm orange than an actual red hue. With how this came out though, I think more would have worked better, it kind of fades into the surrounding pink. The scent blend I'm very pleased with though. It's a classic tea rose note blended with pink grapefruit, sweet valencia orange, and clementine.

Soap 77: Lemongrass & Bergamot Soleseife

This Soleseife is scented with a blend of lemongrass, bergamot, and hint of Copaiba balsam essential oils. The balsam doesn't really stand out, it's more there just to help anchor the other notes. It's colored with Brazilian yellow clay and green oxide. All the Soleseife batches are the same recipe. They lather really well with a dense and lush lather, and give me a little more time with the batter. I think that's why it's becoming a favorite go to for playing with new scents and colors.

Soap78: Summer Soleseife

Okay and maybe familiar favorite scents too. This is a new soap with the Summer scent from last year. I had a little fun with the design, going for a soft herbal sort of green and swirl of blue, then topping it with a decorative sprinkle of coarse salt and dried petals.

For any of my fellow soapmakers reading along, this batch was an in the pot swirl design. A simple technique, but one I often mess up since many of my soap recipes have such a high percentage of butters they thicken fast. This batch almost gave me enough fluidity to get it closer to the look.

Soap 79: Dandelion

This is a soap I have made before, and one of my favorites. I look forward to Dandelion season because then I get to make it again! You can read more in a previous post. The yellow color is from the dandelion flowers infused into olive oil. This is lightly scented with a blend of bergamot and ginger essential oils, and there's a soft scent from the dandelion in there too.

Soap 80: Dragon's Blood

Another Soleseife, this time made to match our much loved Dragon's Blood Bath Bomb. It felt right to use a recipe that is made with salty brine for this. I used a generous amount of Australian red reef clay to go for a deep dark bloody and resinous red. The scent is the same blend of dragon's blood with a hint of cardamom spice that's in the bombs. I really love the way it came through in the soap! You never know until you try how a scent may fade or morph, but this one is definitely a keeper.

Soap 81: The Alchemist

Restocking a customer favorite that sold out.

Soap 82: Citrus & Mint

Here's a soap that I thought was going to be amazing right after it was poured, but sadly isn't at all impressive post curing time. I wanted to go for a summery scent blend of bright citrus notes with refreshing cool mint, and just a hint of sweet palmarosa to help act as an anchor. It smelled so good making it! But faded to basically nothing sadly. Don't worry, it won't go to waste. This soap may end up appearing in a future soap as a decorative element.

Soap 83: Black Salt Bar

This is a "what if" batch. I love this scent blend. So much in fact there are now two different soaps in the shop with the same scent. Shocking. Possibly un-smart from a marketing perspective. I know, but that's just a side effect of all this delightful experimentation. The scent is notes of black pepper, bergamot, and oakmoss, and it's first appearance was in a Soleseife hybrid. After making that, I had this idea... What if I used black pepper in a Salt Bar recipe? Would it possibly give a black speckled soap? With a Soleseife the sea salt is dissolved into the fluid phase, but with a Salt Bar salt is added to the soap batter after it reaches a trace, and at a higher amount. Could the salt itself become part of the design? I just had to try it! Very pleased with how it turned out.

I hope you enjoyed this presentation of the 365 soaps challenge after soaps have cured. I'm getting caught up on writing about how previous soapy experiments turned out to post soon as well. If you want to see more as they are made photos of soaps, or to follow what crazy experiments I'm up to next, there's a Facebook page and I'm on Instagram too.