Soap and the Finer Things in Life

After Sun Care Recipes

2009-07-10T11:48:00.000-07:00

It is summer time. One the best parts about summer is sun and spending time outside. We all know that it’s best to wear sunscreen and a hat when you are outside but sometimes, the best intentions go out the window when the sun appears. If you over indulged a little, I’m going to spend the next 4 days going over practical and effective sunburn aftercare recipes. Please note that these are good for mild sunburns, not the blistering charred kind. If you have that severe of a sunburn, please go see your Doctor to get something stronger.

Day One: Making a Healing, Soothing Sunburn Lotion

Day Two: Making an easy Spritzer

Day Three: Infusing Oils

Day Four: Soothing Skin Oil

Soothing Sunburn Lotion

Ingredients (by weight):

18 oz. Aloe Vera Water
1.2 oz. Shea Butter
1.7 oz. Sweet Almond Oil
1 oz. Avocado Oil
1.2 oz. Emulsifying Wax
1 oz. Stearic Acid

.2 oz. Phenonip
.1 oz. German Chamomile

.1 oz. Lavender Essential Oil

You can also buy the Lotion Kit here and subsitute the water portion with Aloe Vera (gel) Water.

Tools:

Digital scale
Stick Blender
one 16 oz. wide-mouth container
one 32 oz. wide-mouth container
Five 4 ounce bottles

Why German Chamomile? German Chamomile has a high azulene content. Azule ne helps calm skin inflamation and decrease redness. Lavender is useful for helping to reduce the sting in the burn and the aromatherapy properties may help to provide emotional stability during the painful sunburn recovery period. Aloe Vera Gel (water) is a well known healing and soothing plant for all kinds of common skin issues, from cuts to bruises to sunburns.

step 1 Sterilize all of your tools and containers by dunking them in 5% bleachwater solution and drying them with fresh, off the roll, paper towels.

step 2 In the large 32 oz. container, add the Sweet Almond oil, Avocado Oil, Stearic Acid and Emulsifying wax. Make sure this is all weighed out using a handy dandy digital scale (no volume measurements). Put in the microwave on 30 second bursts to melt the E-Wax and Stearic Acid. Despite the scary name, Stearic Acid is derived from Palm Oil and isn't acidic or scary. It actually adds to the fluffiness factor of the lotion).

step 3 Add the Shea Butter to the hot mixture and stir to melt.

step 4 Warm up the Aloe Vera Liquid and add it to your oil mixture. Why do you need to warm it? Because if it is too cold, it will harden the waxes directly upon mixing. Vigorously stir with a spoon by hand to start. Then switch to the hand blender.

step 5 Once the mixture is fully mixed and emulsified (usually about 2 to 3 minutes), take the temperature and add the preservative and fragrance. For Germaben II, Optiphen and Phenonip preservatives, you want the temperature to be below 140 degrees. Usage rates of all three of these preservatives start at .5% by weight. Fragrance and essential oil usage for lotions is very low (remember, you don't want to inadvertently make a perfume!) so start small. This recipe literally calls for .2 ounces of essential oil and that is more than enough to make a lovely smelling lotion and get the therapeutic benefits of all the oils. Notice the blue color of the azulene in the powerful German Chamomile? That's some pure healing goodness.

step 6 Pour into prepared bottles while the mixture is still warm. If the mixture is too thick to pour, heat it up for 30 seconds in the microwave and stir. Repeat as needed until it's thin enough to pour. If the temperature during re-heating goes above 140, you'll need to add an additional .5% preservative.

step 7 Allow to cool with the lids off. Then put on lids and label and impress your friends and loved ones with your handmade goodness. Remind them to wear sunscreen next time.

Check back tomorrow for after sun care spritzers.

Making Wedding Favors on Soap Queen TV!

2009-07-09T13:10:00.000-07:00

In this episode, I demonstrate a variation on the silhouette soap project taught by Soapylove at last year's Soap Weekend Intensive. By the way, we just had a cancellation and there are 2 places open for this year's Soap Weekend Intensive coming up next weekend!

Soap Queen TV Episode 10: Wedding Favors from Soap Queen on Vimeo.

Here's what you'll need:

Clear melt & pour soap base
Merlot mica
Light Gold mica
Champagne fragrance
4 in 1 Basic Shapes mold

Craft knife (like and exacto)
Spray bottle with rubbing alcohol
Heat safe container
Stir stick or spoon

Using the Bramble Berry Lye Calculator

2009-07-08T12:26:00.000-07:00

I love creating and customizing my own cold process soap recipes. There is a lot of joy in experimenting and finding just the perfect combination of ingredients that make your skin feel great. Using a lye calculator is a lot easier than figuring out how much lye you need in your soap recipe the 'old way'. Excited? Ready to get started? Yay! If you're a new soaper, please read this important post on handling lye correctly and get the beginner's DVD here.

Step 1: Find the oils you are going to use in your recipe
Step 2: Enter in the ounces of each oil
Step 3: Decide what superfat amount you are going to use on the drop down menu. Our calculator goes from 2% to 10%.*
Step 4: Click 'Calculate' button
Step 5: Presto! The 'Lye amount' & the 'liquids suggested amount' appear for you to use in ounces

* Why does the lye calculator only go down to 2%? Because there are slight variations in saponification values based on which book or expert the information comes from and because each slight variation has a range for a saponification value, to be on the extra safe side, we've given a 2% margin of error and will not allow the recommended lye amount to fall under the 2%.

* Why does the lye calculator only go up to 10%? When you have a superfat amount higher than 10%, there is literally 10+ percent of your soap bar that is now oil. While this makes for a moisturizing bar and a extremely luxurious bathing experience, bars made with more than 10% of superfat develope DOS (Dreaded Orange Spots) more quickly than lower superfat and (generalizing) have a lower lather and bubble size because of the excessive oil in the bar.

This is the 2nd iteration of our Lye Calculator. I hope you enjoy using it. If you have any helpful suggestions for how to improve on it, please let me know. I already have some ideas and am excited to develop them for an even better Bramble Berry experience for you.

Realistic Citrus Soaps

2009-07-08T12:23:00.001-07:00

Click here to be taken to Part A of these instructions.

1. Pull out a piece of saran wrap long enough to hold all of your citrus slices. Carefully position your "rind" soap on the saran wrap. Pull the wrap tight to make sure there are no wrinkles under the "rind". Do the best you can - the wrap never quite gets straightened or perfect.

2. Spritz the "rind" and inside of the rind (onto the plastic wrap) with rubbing alcohol. Pour a thin layer of clear soap into the rind.

3. Spritz the thin layer of clear soap with rubbing alcohol. Place the "slices" into the clear layer of soap, before it hardens. Wiggle them into the perfect positioning. Have your paring knife handy just in case you need to slice off a too-large slice piece to ensure evenly spaced out soap.

4. Spray the entire set up with alcohol. Alcohol is your friend in this case. It helps with adhesion of the soap pieces.

5. Allow this clear layer to harden up prior to the next step. This usually takes 3 to 5 minutes at the most. If you do not allow your clear layer to harden up, the Lemon Slice below is a good example of what happens - the white soap will leak out the sides of the slice.

6. Melt White melt and pour soap in the microwave, double boiler or whatever method you prefer. Make sure the white soap is not steaming or else it will melt your slices. For the Bramble Berry House Bases, 120 to 130 degrees is the best option for the overpour.

7. Spritz with alcohol. Using either a steady hand, you can pour directly into the middle of the soap slices from your heat safe container. The Melt & Pour Injector Tool is fabulous for this because it allows precision targeting with the white soap base. Using the Injector is my preferred method for this soap. It has less mess and trimming to work with after the soap hardens.

8. Give one final spritz and you're all done. Allow the soap to harden. Peel the soap off the plastic, cut into slices or wrap whole.

Voila - you're done! Realistic Citrus Slices that are easy and fun to make.

New & Improved Bramble Berry Website

2009-07-06T20:09:00.000-07:00

We are so excited about our redesigned website and shopping cart and we hope you will be too.

Upgrades:

Wishlist – We now have a Wishlist so you can save your favorite items
Reorder button – Always order the same thing from us? You can reorder entire orders with just one button
Item Suggestions – We know we have a lot of products so our new cart will suggest things that other customers always have bought when they were buying the same thing you are

And of course, there’s the facelift. We hope you like how we’ve integrated SoapQueen.com, Teachsoap.com and SoapQueen.TV into the Bramble Berry site.

When you come to the site, the first thing you’ll notice are the big buttons at the top. They are a paired down selection of products we carry in each category. They are designed for new crafters who might need some suggestions on how to get started. If you’re an expert soaper or have been to Bramble Berry more than once and know our product line, just head straight down to the left hand side. We've kept our categories pretty much the same with just a few tweaks. The biggest change is that we've integrated the Cybilla fragrances into our regular line. When you scroll over categories, a pop up comes up to take you even closer to the item that you’re looking for. Or you can just click on the Category to see everyhing it has.

To order something, click either the ‘Add to Cart’ button or the ‘More Details’ button. The ‘More Details’ button often has notes, like how a fragrance acts in cold process soap or how to use a special colorant.

Once you have the ‘Add to Cart’ button clicked, you go to your cart. You can click off of the cart by using the left hand navigation products or by hitting the ‘Continue Shopping’ button.

Once you are ready to check out, you can click on the ‘My Cart’ button on the top left or ‘Basket’ button on the very top right. Type in your address and shipping information. Hit the ‘Continue’ button.

A shopping cart option shows up, giving you the chance to enter a coupon code, use the ‘gift’ option, and choose your shipping. You have three options for shipping: Fed Ex Ground, Priority Mail or Fed Ex 2 Day Air. If you’d like another option, please mention it in the NOTES section on the next screen or call us at 1-87-SOAP-STUFF to place your order with a special shipping method (pallet options, barge or UPS).

Hit the Pay with Credit Card button, or the PayPal button depending on which method you are checking out with. You can also check out with a Money Order option or by calling in your credit card. Use the buttons to choose one of these options. Enter your credit card or PayPal information and hit ‘Pay with XXXXX’ (credit card, PayPal, Money Order or Pay Via Phone).

Your order confirmation screen appears. You can add any notes on this screen for your order. If you'd like to make a change to your order, please call us no later than 4 hours after you've placed your order. We will do everything we can to get that change made if your order hasn't already been packed.

I can hardly wait to get your feedback on our new cart. Please let me know what you think and how you'd like me to improve on it to make your Bramble Berry shopping experience more seamless.

Solid Bath Sugar Cubes Tutorial

2009-07-04T09:38:00.000-07:00

4th of July bath sugar cubes – single use body scrubs

By Erin Pikor owner of Naiad Soap Arts

These easy to make, festive scrubs combine cleansing glycerin soap with exfoliating sugar to make perfect single use solid sugar scrubs! Erin was generous enough to share it with SoapQueen.com readers. It can be done in all sorts of colors, not just patriotic seasonal ones.

This recipe makes approximately 24 ounce-ounce single use sugar scrubs.

What you’ll need:

4 oz. by weight clear glycerin soap (for the red and blue scrubs)

2 oz. by weight white glycerin soap (for the white scrubs)

6 oz. by weight grape seed oil (jojoba, sweet almond or olive oil may be substituted)

18 oz. by weight white sugar

Milk Way basic square mold

Pinkberry sherbet lab color

Red Apple Fragrance for your red scrubs

Brilliant blue lab color

Sun-Ripened Raspberry Fragrance for your blue scrubs

White Tea & Ginger Fragrance for your white scrubs

Blunt edge soap cutter or knife

2-cup glass measuring cup or melting soap

Spoons

Cutting surface

Wide mouth jars or plastic food containers for storage

These ingredients will be split into three batches - one each of red, white and blue!

Step one: Melt 2 oz. of clear soap in the microwave using your 2-cup glass measuring cup. This should take about 30 seconds.

Step two: Mix 2 oz. of your oil with the melted soap and stir until blended. The mix should still be liquid at this point. If it starts to thicken pop back in the microwave for a few seconds until your soap/oil mix is liquid.

Step three: Add color, pinkberry sherbet lab color to your liking and mix thoroughly. For this project I diluted the 10ml bottle of lab color in 2 oz. of water and used 4 drops. (skip this step for the white scrubs)

Step four: Add 20 drops of fragrance oil and mix thoroughly.

Step five: Add 6 oz. of the sugar and stir rigorously until completely blended.

Step six: Pour or spoon into you mold cavities. You should have a thick yet pourable mixture at this point. If it is too thick to spoon or pour into your mold you may heat for a few seconds in the microwave, but don’t heat it for too long as the sugar will begin to dissolve.

Each color will make enough to fill 2 of the 4 cavities of the mold. Let harden to room temp and pop out of the mold! Note you may have to pat down the mixture with your fingers as it may thicken quickly.

Repeat steps one through six for your blue and white scrubs, making sure to use the white glycerin soap for the white scrubs.

Step seven: After you have all of the scrubs unmolded, cut them into quarters using a knife or soap cutter.

Store in an airtight container such as a wide mouth jar until you are ready to use them. The glycerin soap in the recipe makes for a creamy emulsified scrub when mixed with water. To use, just take one scrub into the shower, knead with a little water in the palm of your hand and scrub over your skin! These will stay fresh for 3 months and be sure to keep them away from moisture so they don’t melt. Enjoy!

Big thanks to Erin from Naiad Soap Arts You can always buy her pre-made sugar scrubs at her Etsy shop if you don't have the time or inclination to make them yourself. Happy Fourth of July! Have a safe and happy holiday celebration with your families.

Funnel Soap

2009-07-03T09:37:00.001-07:00

I'm excited about what Kat did at Otion this week - tried making Funnel Soap. I can't wait to cut it!

Credit Card Processing at Bramble Berry

2009-07-03T07:35:00.000-07:00

10:58 AM - Yay! Real time credit card processing is back up at www.brambleberry.com Place orders with credit cards, PayPal & money orders. Thanks for your patience. And, thank you to Authorize.net team for getting everything back on line so quickly.

5:51 AM - Credit card processing is down temporarily due to a fire at the data processing center at Authorize.net As always, you can order via PayPal, money order or call in your credit card to 1-87-SOAP-STUFF

PS - You can always get me @brambleberry on Twitter too.

Soap Queen TV Episode 9: Water Soluble Paper

2009-07-02T12:24:00.000-07:00

Water Soluble Paper is an incredibly easy way to customize soaps without investing in custom -made molds. In this episode, I share my favorite tips and techniques for using this incredibly versatile product. Enjoy!

Soap Queen TV Episode 9: Water Soluble Paper from Soap Queen on Vimeo.

Here's what you'll need to make this soap with me:

Soapmaking Video Clip

2009-07-01T11:56:00.000-07:00

It's always exciting to see a soapmaking business getting good press. Tracey does a good job in this video, talking and making soap at the same time. I recognized some of the goodies she was using to make her soap:

'Waffle Crinkle Cutter' here
Lime Essential Oi l here
Spirulina Colorant here

Check out Tracey's site here.

As for me, I'm going to be out of the office for the rest of the day preparing for the Soap Weekend Intensive. Right now, the class is totally full but if you'd like to get on the waiting list, you can call Otion at 360-676-1030. We're putting the finishing touches on a new SoapQueenTV episode for tomorrow on working with Water Soluble Paper so be sure to check in tomorrow for that new tutorial.

My Etsy Splurge(s)

2009-06-30T10:03:00.000-07:00

I bought some amazing products today, all made by small handmade businesses across the United States:

Lip balms by 'Give Me Lip' - I just loved the dual colored look of her lip balms and purchased Vanilla Chocolate Donut and Cherry Vanilla Cupcake. My lips will be tasting sweet when I get these yummy creations.

Soap by Kristy's Lovely Lathers - The designs intrigued me. It takes real talent to get swirls and artistry on cold process soap and I can't wait to try my Fizzy Pop, Lavender Hugs, Love Note and Star Mint soaps.

Toiletries by Daileys - My secret shame is that I've never tried tooth powder or just tooth soap. I am going to remedy this with Dailey's Tooth Powder (and I got some of their all natural deoderant to try since mine never did work).

It's been a while since I got an Etsy soap fix and I was delighted to see Sweet Anthem on the home page! You may remember I blogged about Sweet Anthem after meeting her in person at Sweet Petula in Seattle.

Now, I just have to stay patient enough for all my goodies to arrive.

Starbucks & My (new) Clover Obsession

2009-06-29T13:15:00.000-07:00

I got to take a behind-the-scenes tour at Starbucks Headquarters with their Vice President in charge of e-commerce. That's us in front of the original Starbucks sign. How cool is that?

I learned some very practical sales application practices for Bramble Berry but what I was most excited about was Starbucks emphasis on communication, internal brand messaging and the atmosphere of quiet collaboration.

Every meeting at Starbucks starts with a coffee tasting. It's a way of bringing everyone together, grounding everyone and educating team members about product lines.

Starbucks also had their values and mission visible, everywhere. It was inspiring to see how well they've integrated their values into their practices - their product design, their marketing messaging and their on-site amenities. Seeing how well they publicized their values inside their company gave me some ideas on how we can integrate our values better into Bramble Berry's daily routine.

I also got the scoop about some of the uber cool, limited edition, small batch coffees coming to Starbucks in the next few quarters and they sound delicious. By far my favorite part was the Clover. It is basically the next big thing for the coffee connoisseur. There are a handful of the Clover machines in Seattle for you to try. It's a single-cup brew cofee machine that brews limited edition, rare coffee, one cup at a time. It is so specialized that there's a Clover certification at Starbucks, above and beyond regular barista training. To learn more about the Clover or find a location near you that's brewing with the Clover, click here. I can't wait to try my next cup of Clover-brewed coffee. It was so good that I didn't have any urge for cream or sugar - just the straight coffee. If you get a chance, try it. As for me, I'm already angling for another visit so I can get some more of that delicious Clover-brewed coffee.

My Favorite Cold Process Recipes

2009-06-28T14:00:00.000-07:00

Cold Process Soap is amazing and produces a better bar of soap than most store-bought soaps. It does require research before diving in. If you are not familiar with sodium hydroxide or CP soapmaking, please read this post on lye and how to use lye properly and buy either the Learn to Make Cold Process Soap DVD here or 'The Everything Soapmaker's Book' here prior to attempting these recipes if you are not an experienced Cold Process Soapmaker.

These are my favorite 3 Cold Process soap recipes that I tend to stick to when making soap for classes, family and friends.

Lots of Lather (my most favorite, tried and true, teach this in every class, really, really hard soap bar)

16 oz. Coconut

16 oz. Palm

16 oz. Olive Oil

2 oz. Castor Oil

13 - 19 oz. water

7.4 oz. lye

Recomend 3% superfat for best bubbles

Moisturizing

4 oz. Avocado Oil

8 oz. Coconut Oil

1 oz. Jojoba Oil

16 oz. Olive Oil

8 oz. Palm Oil

4 oz. Shea Butter

11 - 15 oz. water

5.6 oz. lye

Nourishing

2 oz. Sweet Almond Oil

2 oz. Avocado Oil

8 oz. Coconut Oil

2 oz. Hempseed Oil

16 oz. Olive Oil

8 oz. Palm Oil

4 oz. Shea Butter

2 oz. Wheatgerm

2 oz. Vitamin E

12-16 oz. water

6.0 oz. lye

Typical Disclaimer: Please be sure to follow all safety guidelines when handling Lye. If you haven't studied a comprehensive guide on Cold Process soap making I highly recommend the Everything Soap Book. If you are new to cold process soapmaking, please purchase a book and read about the serious safety issues associated with lye or better yet, buy the DVD on making CP soap. Another good book to start with is Susan Miller Cavitch's "The SoapMakers Companion." When working with lye, please always use gloves and goggles and do not breathe in the fumes. I also wear long sleeves during my soapmaking process and keep my goggles on the entire (entire, entire, entire!) time. Even I burn myself; if you missed the post last year where I dumped fresh soap on an open cut, click here to learn from my (idiotic) mistake.

Gloves & Goggles Are Your Friend

2009-06-26T16:06:00.000-07:00

While there are many different ways to make soap, the two major methods are Melt and Pour (basic instructions here) and Cold Process. One major component of making cold process soap from scratch is lye (also called caustic soda or sodium hydroxide). To make beautiful cold process soap, you need to start with the basics - water, lye and fats. If you're unsure of the scientific method to making soap, this site has the best, most understandable way to explain it that I've seen.

Soapmaking is like many other activities - like for example, driving a car. Driving a car is inherantly dangerous. So, we go to school to learn how to drive a car, and now, when used properly, our cars are a wonderful and safe tool. When you learn to use lye safely, it is a snap to make all kinds of soap recipes from scratch.

Lye is a poison and needs to be treated with care. It is a corrosive alkaline substance that reacts with the molecules in fat to combine and turn into soap. Lye comes in flakes, pellets, micro beads, and coarse powder. It is also available as solution, often dissolved in water. It is used in everything from food production (brining olives and making lutefisk) to making bio diesel to drain cleaner. Despite is varied uses and the fact that you can often purchase lye (or a form of lye) in grocery stores and hardware stores, there are still safety considerations to take into account when working with lye. Both dry and wet lye solutions are corrosive and will degrade organic tissue.

While working with sodium hydroxide, always use safety glasses, heat and chemical resistant gloves and mix the lye in a room with adequate ventilation. Lye can cause chemical burns, blindness and may be fatal if swallowed.

When working with lye, keep in mind that when mixed with water, it produces an exothermic heat reaction and heats up to 200 degrees. You need to mix your lye water solution in a fully heat safe container with plenty of head space. Ideally, you will always mix over a sink to prevent any unfortunate accidents, like the one below. Lye stains wood and eats away furniture varnish.

Always add your lye to your water. Doing it the opposite way can cause an overflowing, volcanic type of reaction.

Avoid all contact with aluminum. It will ruin your soap and also produce hydrogen as a by product. Hydrogen is highly flammable and explosive.

Lye should be stored in airtight containers. Because of its propensity to draw moisture from the air, air tight plastic containers work best. Lye is highly corrosive and can eat away at glass material over time. Old lye sometimes acts as though it is not working. This is often because the lye has taken on so much moisture that when it is weighed out, it is significantly heavier with water weight than lye weight.

Using Lye Safely:

Always wear gloves & goggles (glasses are not enough, goggles)
Measure out distilled water & slowly pour and stir lye into water
Do not breathe in lye fumes; work in a well ventilated room
Keep small children and animals out and away from your soapmaking
Protect your workspaces with newspaper or cardboard
Lye corrodes metal so remove jewelry before making soap
Lye in the eys = trip to emergency room
Lye on your skin = flush with water. Some soapmakers swear by vingear instead of water.
Soap utensils are for soap. Food utensils are for food. Never the twain should meet.
Soap needs to cure, undisturbed, from either pets or small children
Soap molds need to be either lined with wax paper or be made from a flexible plastic. Never make soap in glass or aluminum.

From the MSDS sheet:

If swallowed:: Rinse mouth with water and drink one or two glasses of water. Do not induce vomiting! Immediately get medical attention or call your poison control center at 1-800-222-1222.
If in eyes:: Immediately flush eyes with water. Remove any contact lenses and continue to flush eyes with water for at least 20 minutes. Immediately get medical attention or call your poison control center at 1-800-222-1222.
If on skin:: Gently wipe product from skin and remove any contaminated clothing. Flush skin with plenty of water for at least 15 minutes and then wash thoroughly with soap and water. Contact a physician or call your poison control center at 1-800-222-1222.

Remember, just like any 'dangerous' tool, lye can be used safely to make amazing and wonderful soap. Use it wisely and responsibly.

Special Edition of Soap Queen TV (Video)

2009-06-25T14:17:00.000-07:00

I got a little carried away in this episode of Soap Queen TV. I show how to make two adorable projects, pinwheels and fortune cookies - out of soap of course! Make your Fourth of July really exciting with Pinwheel Soap Favors for all of your guests.

Soap Queen TV: 4th of July Special Edition from Soap Queen on Vimeo.

For the Pinwheel soap:

Clear Soap base
White Soap base
Liquid ultramarine blue
Pineapple Cilantro fragrance
Liquid Glycerin

tools:
Flexible brownie tray
Craft knife
Heat safe containers
Spoon or stir stick

For the Fortune Cookies:
Clear Soap base
White Soap Base
Sparkle Gold mica
Peach Shimmer mica
Butter Cream and Snickerdoodle fragrance
Vanilla Color Stabilizer
Liquid Glycerin

tools:
Flexible brownie tray
Round cookie cutter or craft knife
Paper fortunes

Making Sushi Soap - The Rice Secret

2009-06-24T15:16:00.000-07:00

To see the full tutorial on how make the Flexy Fast 'texture sheet' for the seaweed, click here.

Ingredients:

Tools:

Flexible brownie pan
Heat safe container
spoon for mixing

Directions: This the process is very similar to our Jelly Roll soap project. The first step is to make all of your parts; make a thin seaweed sheet (utilizing Flexy Fast and following the instructions here), use different colors of soap cut up into sticks, and grated white soap for the rice. To see the full tutorial on how make the Flexy Fast 'texture sheet' for the seaweed, click here.

To make the 'seaweed' the perfect texture we actually rolled out a sheet of our Flexy Fast molding putty onto a sheet of real nori. After the putty had completely hardened, we ran it under warm water and rubbed off the nori. It left behind a few scraps of seaweed - but that just added authenticity to our sushi soap! Trim down this textured sheet so that it fits perfectly in the bottom of your flexible tray mold. The actual 'nori' soap is three different colors of melt and pour base, each one a slightly varied green to add texture and character to the soap 'nori' wrap. Notice the drizzle pattern in the third photo above? Try and drizzle in alternating patterns for the different colors of green. We used Green Chrome Oxide, Patina Sheen Mica and a small, teensy amount of Heavy Metal Gold colors to get our perfect 'nori' color. And, of course, the fragrance oil we chose for the project is Wasabi but another good one would be Lettuce.

It's important to have all of your components ready as soon as the 'seaweed' soap sheet is set-up. The fresher the soap, the easier it is to roll.

Make the 'rice' by grating white melt and pour soap and mixing it with a little glycerin. How much is 'a little'? For 16 ounces of grated soap, drizzle 2 teaspoons of liquid glycerin over the soap and mix well. The glycerin is the 'glue' that helps to hold the sticky rice together. Make your 'vegetables' by pouring realistic food colored soap into sheets and cutting in circular, triangular and square strips for authenticity.

Once all the materials are ready, lay down the seaweed sheet *textured presentation-side down) and sprinkle a little grated soap along the longer edge on the inside. Next, lay strips of the various colored soaps on top of the 'rice' and then sprinkle a little more grated soap on top. You can sprinkle some melted soap on your 'vegetables' to help keep the vegetables in place. Gently but firmly, roll up the soap pressing down the shredded soap. If you wait too long after making the 'nori', the soap will not be as flexible and forgiving for rolling. Cut into pieces and you're done! Buy some sushi take out boxes and wow your customers, friends and family with your authentic looking sushi soap. We've been using our sushi soap for over a month now and the entire thing has stayed intact perfectly!

Flexy Fast - Tips for Success

2009-06-23T10:25:00.000-07:00

We're totally jazzed about Flexy Fast, our new versatile silicone that makes it possible for you to make your own molds at home. Want to do a custom product for a special customer? It's easy with Flexy Fast! Want to do a realistic texture screen? It's easy with Flexy Fast!

SoapQueen.TV will be doing an episode on Flexy Fast in August but until then, here are some tips and instructions on working with Flexy Fast Silicone Molding Putty.

Flexy Fast comes as 2 parts. The usage is 1:6 by weight or 1:20 by volume. Think marble to golf ball. It is a two-component mold making silicone that is applied directly to almost any model. It sticks to itself and can be used with most any base (wax, gypsum, resin, sculptures, etc...)

Tip: This product is mixed by hand and wearing gloves is required. We recommend vinyl gloves, as latex gloves tend to stick to the mold putty. The photo below is using latex gloves and it was a mess!

Tip 2: Pre-kneading Part A (working in your hands for one minute prior to mixing with Part B) will make the two components easier to mix.

Step 1: Measure by weight or measure by volume. If doing weight, use an accurate gram scale and weigh out 100 parts A – level by hand into bottom of container. Squeeze 6 parts B into center of flattened Part A. The by volume mix ratio is about 20A:1B (golf ball: marble)

Step 2: Measure an amount of Part A approximately equal to the size of a golf ball onto the palm of your hand and create an indentation. Squeeze an amount of Part B approximately equal to the size of a small marble into the center of the Part A indentation. (Hint: It is better to start out with less Part B and add more if needed, rather than too much Part B).

Step 3: Fold the Part A around the Part B and knead aggressively with thumb and forefinger. Continue folding until a uniform light-pink color is attained. Make sure that all color streaks have been eliminated. Getting a thin layer formed is easiest with a rolling pin and the thinner you can make your putty, the less money you have to spend on your mold.

Step 4: Flexy Fast can be applied directly onto almost any model surface (see preparation above) except skin. After mixing Parts A & B as directed above, flatten mixture and gently press into model detail. Spread evenly over model surface, maintaining about a 3/8” (1 cm) thickness. Mix and apply more as needed, connecting and smoothing seams of different batches together. Because no two applications are quite the same, a small test application to determine suitability for your project is recommended if performance of this material is in question. In this case, I did one side as a seaweed kelp sheet and the other side with bubble wrap for a fun texture sheet.

Be Careful: If your original is made of modeling clay or other soft material, pressing putty onto model surface may affect model detail.

Curing: Allow the mold to cure 20 minutes at room temperature (77°F/25°C) before removing from model surface. Adding more Part B can reduce cure time. Adding less Part B will give you a longer working time and lengthen demold time. If applying a support shell, apply the shell before removing the rubber mold from the model.

Using The Mold: When first made, silicone rubber molds exhibit natural release characteristics. Depending on what is being cast into the mold, mold lubricity may be depleted over time and parts will begin to stick. No release agent is necessary when casting wax or gypsum. Applying a release agent prior to casting polyester, polyurethane and epoxy resins is recommended to prevent mold degradation.

Fun Fact: 'Let's Get Soapy' latest special edition eZine covers how to make handmade texture sheets and more uses for molding putty.

Check in later this week on what I did with the seaweed sheet mold and learn how to make sushi soap!

Simple is Good. And, it Works.

2009-06-22T17:35:00.001-07:00

A very wise friend of mine (Ms. Erin Baker from Baker's Breakfast Cookies) recently shared one of her secrets to keeping on track and on target with goals.

A notebook and a list.

It's that simple. Ms. Erin plans out her day every evening before leaving the office. She estimates how much time it will take to get something done fills out her day, via the notebook and the list.

She says that if she can't get it done, it doesn't go on the list. And then, she stays focused, going down the list and checking things off, not getting distracted. If it wasn't important enough to get on the list to start with, it doesn't need to be

done - not that day at least.

I've tried various productivity methods ('4 Hour WorkWeek' and 'Getting Things Done') and they haven't quite worked for me. They don't have quite enough flexability for my zany, madcap work flow.

But, I do need something to keep me in line or else the 'zany' takes over and nothing productive really gets done.

The list is working for me. I'm on my 2nd Chronicle Books Hammerpress Notebook (love it!), try to use special pens (pink, bright green, fun colors!) and derive immense satisfaction when I cross something off the list. The concept doesn't have a book to explain it and there's no daily blog to explore it. But, simple is good. And, it works.

"It was beautiful. Loved it."

2009-06-22T11:10:00.000-07:00

Get on the waiting list for the Otion Soap Intensive Weekend and have your own 'beautiful' soaping experience. We've got a great weekend planned and all it's missing is you!

Did you get your Newsletter?

2009-06-21T13:08:00.000-07:00

Not signed-up for our newsletter? Thursday morning, we sent out instructions on how to make these adorable pinwheel soaps! Sign-up here if you're not on the list to get the Bramble Berry newsletter. And if yours went into your spam box, let me know and I'll forward you a copy so you don't miss out on this fun project.

What's that you say? You are signed up and you still aren't receiving our newsletters?

One thing that usually helps is to add Bramble Berry to your address book. All of our newsletters are sent from info@brambleberry.com or add the brambleberry.com domain to to your address book.

Here are are some specific suggestions for Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL, & Earthlink.

AOL:
1. Open a Bramble Berry newsletter email if you haven't already.
2. Click on the "Add Address" icon.
3. Your Bramble Berry newsletter email address should automatically appear in the name and email fields in the "Add Contact" pop-up box. Verify the information was entered correctly.
4. Click the "Save" button.
5. Your Bramble Berry newsletter email address will be entered into your AOL Address Book.

Hotmail:
1. Open your latest Bramble Berry newsletter email if you haven't already.
2. Click "Save Address(es)" at the top of the message.
3. Your Bramble Berry newsletter email address should automatically appear in the email field on the Add to Address Book page. Verify the information was entered correctly.
4. Your Bramble Berry newsletter email address will be entered into your Hotmail address book.

Yahoo:
1. Open your latest Bramble Berry newsletter email.
2. Click the "Add to Address Book" link next to the icon on the far right.
3. Your Bramble Berry newsletter email address should automatically appear
4. The email field on the "Add to Address Book" page. Verify the information was entered correctly.
5. Click "Add to Address Book."
6. Your Bramble Berry newsletter email address will be entered into your Yahoo! address book.

Earthlink:
1. Open your latest Bramble Berry newsletter email if you haven't already.
2. Click your mailbox's "Message" menu and choose "Add Senders."
3. Your Bramble Berry newsletter email address will be entered into your EarthLink address book.

And of course, if this doesn't work for you feel free to email us at info@brambleberry.com!

Making a Mini Cooper - Flexy Fast Project

2009-06-20T17:47:00.000-07:00

Project designed & written by Debbie from SoapyLove. Check out her blog here, her soaplab site here & her soapy ezine here.

To make this realistic toy car, first I bought a die cast metal toy car at Rite Aid. It had open windows so I had to make new plastic windows (cut from some packaging) and taped them in. I pushed a whole bunch of play-doh and packing peanuts inside the car to make sure the windows wouldn't just push in when I made my mold.

I got some silicone molding clay to make the mold, pressing into the wheel wells and a little under the car. You can use something from a craft store or get the Flexy Fast Molding Putty from Bramble Berry (if you got a copy of any of my eZines, there's a coupon in the back for BB! ).

Then I poured white soap to fill the roof. I unmolded it and cut it into stripes for the final roof.

I mixed my minty body color by combining 3/4 clear soap and 1/4 white, then green shimmery mica and BrambleBerry's iridescent glitter, scented with 1/4 teaspoon of Apple fragrance. I poured a bit into the roof then placed in my white stripes. I let it harden.

Then I made clear soap mixed with BrambleBerry's silver mica for the windows. I poured this in until the windows were filled up (spraying my roof layer with alcohol of course!).

After that was hard, I topped off my mold with minty soap and let harden.

I unmolded the whole car, then used a sharp knife to cut out the wheels. I put the car back in the mold and made some dark grey soap, and filled the wheel areas with that. Let cool, unmold, yadda yadda.

I used an exacto knife to trim up my soap car since it had some lumps and bumps.

Now it was time for painting the details. I mixed the silver mica with a touch of black oxide to make metallic silver. I stirred in a few drops of liquid glycerin to make a paint consistency. I painted on my details with a little brush. I used white colorant for the license plate. All painted areas dried in my window for 2 hours. I used a pen to etch in my license plate (SOPYLUV).

Oh - I misted my soap with rubbing alcohol right before taking the picture to get that shiny wet look.

Voila! It took me 3 cars to figure out what worked and what didn't.

What didn't work:

Plain clear for the windows. Wasn't clear enough and just looked like the body color. Not cute enough.
Solid white roof. Looked too pasted on.
Solid black wheels. Straight black oxide looked very harsh. I used silver mica plus black oxide for a dark grey instead.

The video below should give you a better understanding of what this project took. If you try anything like this, let me know. I'd love to see how this inspired you.

Massive Sale on Inventory Oops

2009-06-19T12:06:00.000-07:00

Our bad inventory luck is your gain! We've had a spate of products arrive in that aren't ideal (Relaxing fragrance that is too dark to sell, Oatmeal, Milk & Honey that is slightly more sweet than usual, Spearmint that didn't pass our color test and a few special order double shipments). All of this ends up being your good fortune.

What we have (at a massive discount for you):

* 10 pounds Tropical Punch (inspired by Escada Tropical Punch)

From Escadas Limited Edition line of 2001, this fragrance was launched to correspond to the look and feel of their fashion collection. Their Tropical Punch is a very fruity fragrance, with just enough floral and dewy green notesto make sure it doesn't turn into a more teen spirit type of fragrance. The main notes are Pear and Mango, tropical flowers (including Jasmine and Lily of the Valley). Of course, it has lovely supporting base notes of musk and exotic mangrove. Try this fragrance and dance your senses out of our current Winter holiday and into a dreamy tropical bliss. $182.40 (normally $285) for 10 pound mini drum.

* 10 pounds Lavender Chamomile (inspired by the Huggies fragrance)

This fragrance is absolutely delicious in baby products. It's soft, sweet and just amazingly kissable. It starts out with top notes of Lavender, Chamomile and a bit of Orange and Eucalyptus. The blend is rounded out with Cedarwood, Musk and Hay, making it absolutely precious smelling. CP Safe $160.90 (normally $260) for 10 pound mini drum.

* 10 pounds Stargazer Lily

This duplication of the lovely pink and white oriental hybrid flower is sweet and sensual. Lilies are a classic wedding flower, known for their beauty and scent. Our fragrance doesn't disappoint in its floral intensity. Try this fragrance for your June brides or as a staple for your spring line. CP Safe $160.90 (normally $260) for 10 pound mini drum.

* 10 pounds Mulled Cider

A bit of apple cider mulled with cinnamon and nutmeg to warm the soul, this soap is a wonderful treat for any soaping experience. It is more spicy and musky than our AppleJack Peel. This one does discolor. CP safe. $182.40 (normally $285) for 10 pound mini drum.

* 75 pounds Vanilla-y Oatmeal, Milk & Honey - $13.20/lb (normally $22.00/lb)

Blended with utmost care, this is the perfect melding of three fabulous scents. Sweet and toasty, this is one soap that you'll want to take a bite out of! Discolors to light tan. Our number one best seller at Bramble Berry for 5 years running, this blend is slightly more Vanilla than usual but such a slight difference that you'd be hard pressed smell it.

* 25 pounds dark colored Relaxing - $15.55/lb (normally $25.92)

A relaxing blend of French Lavender and Fir Pine, enhanced with Egyptian Jasmine and sweetened with pure Vanilla, softened with delicate Musks. We have had customers tell us that this is a "mature, grown-up vanilla based blend" and we think that description is very accurate. Fantastic not only in soap but also in Bath Bombs and Lotions. This fragrance discolors because of the Vanilla but the smell is too fabulous to care. Normally this fragrance is almost perfectly white. This fragrance is a dark brown. Since the fragrance discolors brown anyways, it is not a problem for the final product but we can't sell it as perfect ... because it's not.

* 20 pounds Spearmint EO - $19.77/lb (normally $32.96)

Distillation Method: Steam Distillation

Country of Origin: USA
Botanical Name: Mentha Spicata
Part: Leaves (& Kosher)

Color is just slightly off but you probably wouldn't notice a difference

How can you order this amazing, fabulous deal? It's simple! This special pricing isn't available on the Bramble Berry site and it takes a little more work for you to get it, but at these prices, it's worth it. Just email me your entire order to info (at) brambleberry (dot) com (replacing the at with an @ and the dot with a .) and I'll get your order typed up for you and on its way. Feel free to add any normal, regular items from Brambleberry.com to ensure you get the best price on shipping.

Ready. Set. Go!

Diary of a Crafty Chica & More!

2009-06-19T11:53:00.000-07:00

I'm a huge fan of Jessie at CakeSpy (see my fawning posts here, here and here) and have been following Kathy from CraftyChica's crafting journey for years. This week was a trifecta for Soap Queen press as Jessie and Kathy both interviewed me for their blogs and Mas Kes Ke Fee listed The Soap Queen blog as one of her Top Ten Foreign blogs. Why foreign? Because Ka Fairy is in France! Yippee - world renown is one stop closer to world domination through soap.

Read Kathy's interview here (and learn about my first miserable attempt at soap), find Jessie's interview here (and find out where I get cupcake & sweet inspiration on the 'net) and check out Mais Kes Ka Fee's other blog picks here.

Soap Queen Video - Episode 8

2009-06-18T11:33:00.000-07:00

This week I'm teaching one of my favorite projects - candy soap! You may recognize these from my project last year. I think that the video really helps the project to come to life and make more sense.

Soap Queen TV Episode 8: Candy Soap from Soap Queen on Vimeo.

Ingredients:
Clear melt & pour base
White melt & pour base
Hello Sweet Thang! fragrance
Vanilla Color Stabilizer
Red-Blue Mica

Tools:
Round soap mold
Utility knife (like an exact-o)
Spray bottle with rubbing alcohol
Spoon
Droppers
Heat safe containers

Coming Tomorrow to SoapQueenTV

2009-06-17T21:22:00.000-07:00

Learn how to make these beauties ... and more! A new episode SoapQueen.TV debuts tomorrow.