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Orange Colorant
1 Tablespoon Liquid Glycerin
1 Teaspoon Tangerine Wow

Pink Colorant
1 Tablespoon Liquid Glycerin
1 Teaspoon Electric Bubble Gum

Mixing the Colorants: Blend the colorants and the liquid glycerin together with a mini mixer. Be sure to stir a little bit with the mixer before turning it on, otherwise you’ll be standing in a pink or orange cloud of colorant. If you’re unsure about pre-mixing colorants, there’s a “SoapQueen Short” video about it here.

ONE: First, make the orange colored soap for the heart. In a small heat safe container, melt 2 ounces of clear soap base in the microwave for 30 seconds. If the soap is not melted after 30 seconds, continue melting the soap on 10 second bursts. You don’t want to overheat or boil the soap…that ends up in a stinky mess and may change the consistency of the soap. Add 5 mini scoops of the Tangerine and Liquid Glycerin mixture. Mix well.

Tip: The mini scoops give nice big drops of colorant in the soap.

TWO: Use an injector or dropper to fill in all of the hearts in each cavity of the mold. Make sure to have a cup of boiling hot water by your side so you can clean up the injector before the soap hardens inside.

THREE: To make the pink colored soap, repeat the same steps as you did to get the orange colored soap. Then add 5 min scoops of the pink colorant to the soap and mix well. Use an injector to fill in the letters L, V and E in each of the mold cavities. Let the soap cool for 15-20 minutes.

Bonus: You’ll have a little of the orange and pink colored soap left over for more LOVE soaps. Mixing colorants in fragrances in anything less than 1-2 ounces can be a little difficult, in my experience.

FOUR: While your hearts and letters are cooling you can start making the background and final layer of the soap. In a heat safe container, melt 12 ounces of white soap base in the microwave on 30 second bursts until melted. Add .25 oz of White Tea and Ginger Fragrance Oil and mix well. For the colorant, stir in 15 drops of Liquid Violet and 6 mini scoops of Red Blue Mica. Mix, mix, mix and let the soap cool to 125 degrees.

FIVE: Once the letters and hearts have hardened, liberally spritz the soap in the mold with rubbing alcohol. Then, after you’ve confirmed that the purple soap is around 120-130 degrees, pour the purple soap as the final layer and spritz with rubbing alcohol to get rid of any air bubbles.

Let the soap cool for 6-12 hours before unmolding and it’s ready! All you need is love.

Check out Bramble Berry’s new Love Mold, ready to make it’s debut to the world tomorrow, Friday 1/27/2012! I know what you’re thinking, “Where’s the tutorial, Anne-Marie? It’s tutorial THURSDAY!” Hang tight, Soap Queen Pals, we’re going to show you how to make the fabulous soap above. You’ll just have to wait until tomorrow. One. More. Day. =) How about a little baby love to keep you entertained?

I remember bubbles in childhood as fun and magical. Naturally, I wanted to introduce Jamisen to this fun and magical concept.

Whoops. Is that a look of terror on his face? Hm. Still terrified. Wait, if I can remember bubbles, how old was I when I played with those bubbles? But, proving he is my son, he did eventually warm up to the bubbles and even tried to use his slow baby reflexes to catch a few.

That’s my boy! Check back tomorrow for the LOVE tutorial. I swear, it’s coming!

(1) The percentage split – Are you getting 70% of the sales price? Less?

(2) Rent or extra fees – Is there administration cost every month? Is there any rent that the owner would like you to pay for your part of the store?

(3) Theft and damage – Mistakes happen and unscrupulous people happen. Who pays for that inventory? You or the shopowner? Or, is it a split?

(4) Payment – How often are you paid?

(5) Removal – If things aren’t selling, when and how can you pick up your products?

(6) Inventory – Are you keeping track of inventory or is the store? What if there is a discrepancy?

(7) End Date – How long does this contract last? Under what circumstances can you get out of the contract?

Other things that you will want to take into account are general business questions – is this store in a good location? Will the store owner give you good placement in the store? Can you work with them on in-store promotions? Will you be proud to have your merchandise in the store?

It’s important for you to do the research into the store before you approach the shop owner. Is the store in good traffic location? Will the store owner do a good job promoting her store (and your products)? Your soap will be tied up in the store, while you still own it. It is a big risk and that’s why you are normally paid more than 50%. If you get a chance, talk to other people that are consigning in the store about how their products are being treated in the store and how their products sell through. Past experience predicts future experience.

[APPLAUSE]

Andi from We Love Soap: Twitter, Blog

Alanna from Peach Blossoms Cosmetics: Facebook

Dawn from EcoSations: Etsy, Facebook

Rose from Brooklyn Bath: Blog, Etsy

Jean from Soap Art: Website, Blog

Nicole from My Quest for Health: Blog, Facebook

April from April’s Soap: Blog, Facebook

Lucky Lucky Neko: Artfire, Blog

Attention S.O.A.P. team: Please email SOAP(at)brambleberry(dot)com with your contact and shipping information! We’ll be packaging up your fragrances and getting them out the door by the end of the week. Oh the suspense of not knowing what fragrances you’ll receive!  Could one be Bacon? Or Wet Dog? You’ll soon find out!

[LAUGH]

We had nearly 50 people enter the contest this time! Wow. Thank you ALL of your interest in the S.O.A.P. Team and for the wonderful BB fragrance oil shout outs! You don’t know how fun it is for me to read about peoples’ favorite fragrances (I know, I’m kind of a soap nerd in that way). S.O.A.P. started out as a market research project for us but we soon realized how much fun everyone was having and decided to make it a regular part of our fragrance picking. It was really hard for us to pick the team this year (as it always is) but the ha reality is that we only have eight spots available.

[SIGH]

The good news is that we’ll be doing many more testing panels in the future so if you haven’t been picked yet, keep trying! We want to give everyone a chance to experiment and play!

[CHEER]

Check out our “go to” recipe that we use to test our new fragrances in cold process: Testing 1, 2, 3!

[SOAP]

Dad's Birthday Dinner

I had a fun challenge this weekend. It was my Dad’s birthday (happy birthday Dad!). I wanted to make him a fabulous birthday dinner but needed to do it vegan, gluten free AND sugar free. Holly in Customer Service is doing the Crazy Sexy Diet Reboot with us (and she’s been incredibly inspiring to do it with – I love her exuberant attitude!). She had a great suggestion: poached pears! Voila, my Crazy Sexy Vegan No Sugar Poached Pear recipe below!

4 pear halves, peeled

½ cup orange juice (I fresh squeezed but you could use juice from the store)

Mulling Spices (1-2 tea bags worth)

1.5 tsp Vanilla Extract

Mulling Spices

Heat orange juice, mulling spices and extract to a low simmer. The more mulling spices you use, the spicier the syrup will be. I went too heavy with 4 bags and would do less next time. Peel the pears, leaving the stem intact. Cut pears in half, lengthwise.

Poaching Pears

Add the pear halves. Turn heat to low and cover. Simmer for 1 hour. Turn heat off. Allow pears to marinate in juices.

Poached Pear

One hour before serving, pull pears out and put into serving dishes.You’ll re-heat the pears in the microwave before the sauce goes onto them.

Reducing the Syrup

Heat juice up again and reduce orange juice into a sauce. Serve with Ginger ice cream for those partaking in sugar (which, eh hem!, we are not). If the syrup needs more sweetness, add 2 Tablespoons of sugar and mix in, over low heat. Keep in mind, if you add sugar to this, it’s no longer naturally sugar free and those on a strict cleanse will need to skip the sauce.

Other items on my Dad’s Birthday Dinner menu? Hidden Ranch Cashew Dressing (recipe here) on greens, spinach kale broccoli cauliflower soup (blend it all up and cook it with some hemp milk – easy!) and faux fettuccine rice pasta with an avocado sauce (recipe here). The dinner got rave reviews AND was splendidly healthy. It was a win win.

PS – This is what happened the first time Jamisen saw Kale:

Greetings from a fantastic weekend in the Pacific Northwest. Though our snow has melted now, it has been quite a week! These photos are from my Dad’s medical office (in Olympia, WA). They got a bit more snow than we did 3 hours away but we were colder, with temperatures down to 9 degrees.

Luckily, Heritage Family Medicine has one all purpose family practice doctor – turns out, he’s pretty handy with an excavator too! That’s my dad, Dr. Faiola clearing the parking lot so his patients could park and walk without slipping and sliding. We were all impressed with his can-do-it attitude and as it turns out, he’s got mad skills with heavy machinery. Go figure.

Someone stayed wonderful and warm, thanks to an amazing knitted hat from our retail store manager, Kat (the very talented soapmaker behind all the swirled soap at Otion’s blog here). The hat is from The New Project on Etsy and they have the most adorable knitted tights, knitted hats and knitted shorties. I think these Dino Longies are seriously off the cute charts. Proving that talent and generosity does run in the family, The New Project is run by Kat’s sister, Leanne, who donates all the profits to NICU centers to help newborns in need.

Though Jamisen does have quite a lovely snow outfit (with gloves and booties too!), we did not make it out in the snow. It was either too cold, or it was snowing and ridiculously windy so we’ll make it out next time. Jamisen’s Grandpa on his Daddy’s side was a ski instructor for many years so cold and snow is in his blood and I’m betting he’s going to love outdoor, winter sports. Enjoy the rest of your weekend – hug your family close or call them to tell them that you love them. Everyone loves to be appreciated.

It has been nearly a week on the Crazy Sexy Diet 21 day Cleanse and we are over 20% of the way through. I have been sending out daily e-mails to everyone who signed up to join me on this journey. Let me know if you want on the mailing list by emailing craxy(at)brambleberry(dot)com. For those of you not on the mailing list, here are some highlights from the week including this weeks findings, recipes, motivations and challenges.

Motivation, Love and Support

Group support has been awesome! Six people here in the office are doing this cleanse along side me as well as a bunch of you. It has been great to chat about recipes, how we are feeling and keep each other motivated and accountable. It has also been fun to find really nifty blogs with people who are doing juice cleanses like Fred Dursts (lead singer of Limp Bizkit) is on a juice fast. Fred gives a really honest perspective of his experience. My current blog crush is  Healthy Happy Life, which has a ton of recipes, reviews & videos. One of the biggest things to remember is…YOU CAN DO THIS, WE CAN DO THIS.

For extra motivation I created a Pinterest Crazy Sexy Diet Vegan Board to share exciting new recipes and ideas. Don’t you just love Pinterest?

Here are this week’s recipes

Spicy Peanut Ginger Kale Salad

Ingredients:

8 oz Cocoa Butter

16 oz Coconut Oil

 8 oz Palm Oil

4 oz Palm Kernel Flakes

24 oz Rice Bran Oil

Low Sweat Clear Soap Base

Sage and Lemongrass Fragrance Oil

5 Tablespoons Sodium Lactate

 8.6 oz Sodium Hydroxide

19.8 oz Distilled Water

Lemongrass Essential Oil

Super Pearly White Mica

Electric Bubble Gum Neon Colorant

 Iridescent Glitter

25 Bar Cube Mold

 Tiny Hearts Embedding Mold

Buy everything you need in the click of a button!

First Time Making Cold Process Soap?

I strongly suggest getting a couple of basic recipes under your belt before diving into this advanced recipe. Check out Soap Queen TV on Cold Process if you want to get started! It’s a 4 part series that will take you through the basics (and be sure to watch the episode on Lye Safety). If you’re a book worm, Bramble Berry also has some helpful reading on the cold process technique. Check out our E-Book on Cold Process.

Melt and Pour Prep:

ONE: Prepare your melt and pour heart soaps using Low Sweat Clear Base and Electric Bubble Gum Colorant. For basics on melt and pour soap, click here. Make about 18 little pink hearts. Be sure to mix your Bubble Gum colorant in Liquid Glycerin (1/3 Cup of Liquid Glycerin to 1/2 teaspoon of Bubble Gum Colorant), then added 1/4 teaspoon per pound of soap. Check out a tutorial on mixing your Neon Colorants HERE .

TWO: Once the melt and pour has set-up, unmold the soap and place one heart soap in the bottom of 18 cube cavities of the mold. Make sure the flat side of the soap is on the bottom.

Optional: Using your fingers, sprinkle a little bit of glitter into the mold before you pour the CP soap batter over the top of the tiny hearts.

Making Cold Process Soap:

ONE: Safety gear up! Make sure you’re wearing long sleeves and put on your goggles and gloves (preferably super cute pink goggles from Bramble Berry). Carefully add the lye to the water (never the other way around!) and mix until the water is clear, taking care to not breathe in the fumes. Set aside to cool.

TWO: In a large heat safe container, melt and combine the Cocoa Butter, Coconut Oil, Palm Oil, Palm Kernel Flakes and Rice Bran Oil.

THREE: Mix 5 tablespoons of Sodium Lactate to the cooled lye water then slowly and carefully add the lye mixture to the oils. Mix for 20-30 seconds with a stick blender.

FOUR: Use the stick blender to mix in 2 teaspoons of Super Pearly White Mica.

TIP: Place the stick blender on top of the pile of mica laying on top of the soap batter. Then sink the stick blender to the bottom and “burp” the stick blender by tilting the stick blender and releasing the air bubbles. Then mix in the colorant.

FIVE: Mix in 3 ounce of Lemongrass Essential Oil and 2 ounces of Sage and Lemongrass Fragrance Oil. Mix the soap batter for another 20-30 seconds until medium trace.

SIX: Slowly pour the cold process soap mixture over the melt and pour heart soaps leaving 1/2 inch of room at the top. Keep a whisk on hand and stir the soap batter if it starts to get grainy while pouring the soap.

Optional: Sprinkle a little more glitter on the tops of the soap.

SEVEN: Let the soap dry in the mold for 2 days. We were able to unmold ours after just two days. Sodium Lactate rocks the house!

Lemmers SoapWorks Co. LoveLee Soaps, Howards Home

Big T Ranch Soap, Herb’n Development Handmades, Sunbasilgarden Soap

Robyn’s Nest Boutique, Be Greatful Shop, Dallas Soap Company

KC SoapsNMore, The Twisted Purl, Delightful Wonders

We’ve got some great fragrances that we can’t wait to try out for the next round of the S.O.A.P. panel, Summer 2012! We need to enlist 8 soapy soldiers to help us decide on the new fragrances for Summer 2012.

What’s up with the S.O.A.P. panel? Soap Opinion (Awesome) Panel members will receive 10 one ounce fragrance samples of our top fragrance choices for Summer 2012. Give the cutting-edge fragrances a sniff AND test them in any product you like (CP, MP, lotion, scrubs, body balms, candles, anything!). Then fill out a survey to help distinguish the top choices. We want your honest opinion and notes on testing! In the past, we’ve really enjoyed the fact that our S.O.A.P. team members have taken no liberties in expressing exactly how they feel about some of the samples. If the fragrances don’t pass with the SOAP Team then they don’t pass with the BB testing team either.

• “Smells foody,  but then a bit antisepticy at the end, a bit like acetone at the end  but at first foody…not sure which food, cookie, vanilla but definitely acetone, burning to the nose at the end.” 
• “Fruity, orange (dreamsicle), popsicle scent or fruity chewing gum, kind of want to lick it.”
• “Fruity again but with some floral at the beginning, strong at first but then relatively subtle, a bit perfumey, not something I would want to eat.”

Thanks Mommy You Soap It for those super creative and funny quips, taken from this blog post: The actual notes from my sniffer when I first popped the bottles open {SOAP Panel}

How do I get in on the action? Tweet, Facebook or Blog about your favorite Bramble Berry Fragrance Oil (including links) and why you should be selected for the S.O.A.P. team. You have until Tuesday January 24th to get your links out there, and then we’ll choose and announce the finalists soon after. Be sure to get your tweets, posts and blogs done by next week! Note: your Tweets should have @brambleberry someplace in the body of the Tweet (but make sure they don’t just get directed directly to @brambleberry or else no one else can see them)!

Fine Print: We will be sending the fragrances out by the end of next week and we would like the surveys complete by February 27th, which gives you about a month to test the fragrances. Please keep these dates in mind before you enter. We are looking for an accountable and enthusiastic panel, so be sure that this works out with your schedule! Because these fragrances can’t ship internationally, we are not able accept international entries.

Still curious? Check out the results from previous S.O.A.P panels! 

Fall 2011, Summer 2011, Floral Edition 2011

The darling soap above was made by Emily from Soap and Restless. She was on the Summer Soap Team for 2011 and did a fabulous job testing the fragrances in her cold process soap. Check out Emily’s Blog Posts about her testing experience: SOAP Opera Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5.

Remember to Tweet, Blog and Facebook about your favorite Bramble Berry Fragrance Oil.