Hand Made Soap

We’ve just added a helpful tutorial for anyone interested in using the Oven Hot Process method of soap making…

Have a peek, give it a go and let us know how you get on…

The tutorial was kindly submitted by Annya of Annya’s Aromatherapeutics…  Please respect her copyright and do not replicate in whole or part without her express permission…

Woo Hoo!

We’ve received our book mark proofs and I’m really pleased with one in particular.  Hopefully it’ll look as good in print and they’ll shortly be available for FREE in the WH Smith store in central Cardiff.

Well I’m back home after a bit of surgery and hoping to pay a little more attention to this blog and finish of the website.

Time’s of the essence at the moment as there’s an advertising campaign due to start in the next couple of weeks so I think it would be somewhat helpful to have the website finished with all the relevant photographs and products in place.   I can’t say I’m the fastest at all of this though but hopefully it’ll all be completed in time.

Before I nipped into hospital we were busy with some new Bath Souffles and a Foaming Bath Milk.  Feedback so far has been very good and I really LOVE the feel of the Bath Milk on the skin.  Not big fat bubbles like you’d normally associate with a bubble bath but much more of a lather type foam.  Fingers crossed it’ll prove to be a popular option and I’m just waiting for some pouches to arrive which I think will be perfect for packaging.

Melt & Pour (or M&P) soap making is the process of using a pre blended base product to create a bar or loaf of soap.

There is a huge variety of M&P bases available which range from basic clear and opaque (white) to those which have additives pre mixed into the base for you – such as cocoa butter, olive oil, honey etc.

M&P is an easy method for novice soap makers as the base is measured, cut into small pieces and then gently melted using a microwave or double boiler method.  The soapie can then add ingredients such as fragrance, colour or moisturisers before pouring the liquid soap into a mould.  A few hours later the soap can be demoulded and used immediately.

Some individuals have concerns about the chemical ingredients in M&P soap bases.  Soap base manufacturers appear to have taken this on board and there is now a much broader range of SLS (Sodium Lauryl Sulphate – a synthetic detergent) free bases for the crafter to choose from which still have great lathering abilities.

Whilst perhaps not as natural as the more traditional cold process soap; M&P is a quicker method and the variety of bases, ease of layering and embedding, as well as colouring options mean it lends itself to some truly artistic finishes that would be impossible to achieve in cold process soap.

I got my less than brilliant graphic editing head on this morning and managed to create a banner for this Blog.  So if anyone wants to add it to their website then feel free to copy it to your own server and link it to http://www.handmadesoap.org.uk

Ramblings from a soaper on getting crafty with soap and bath n’ body products.

Cold Process Soap uses a genuinely age old method of combining natural plant oils and butters with sodium hydroxide and water to create a process called saponification. Research reveals that a crude version of combining animal fats (tallow / tallowate) with oils, salt and an alkali such as that derived through soaking fire embers can be traced back to over 1,000 years BC!

Today we use carefully selected botanical extracts instead of animal fat but the underlying principle is the same. The addition of the sodium hydroxide, and careful combination of ingredients such as avocado oil and shea butter, creates a solid form of soap which retains all the natural glycerine and moisturising properties that are normally stripped out and sold for cosmetic use during the commercial mass production process.

After they have been poured into traditional wooden moulds, our soaps are left for three days to harden before being demoulded and placed on racks for curing during which time the alkali is totally saponified and the soap matures and becomes milder and harder. A month later you have natural, pure, soap that has retained the natural glycerine and is free from added chemicals. It will gently cleanse and moisturise your skin.

We use a selection of natural and local additives to enhance our soap including blossom honey, goat milk and dried herbs from our garden, local farmers or the nearby Llanwonno Forest.

Our soap is available in fragrance free options and we also use pure essential oils for their perceived skin and whole body therapeutic properties. Where certain fragrances are prohibitively expensive or impossible to replicate using plant extracts, we also carefully select a range of fragrant cosmetic scents for your pleasure.

So long as animal fats aren’t included in the soap recipe, cold process soap should be suitable for vegetarians and many of them (with the exception of those containing honey, milks etc) should also be suitable for vegans.

Our products all comply with EU Legislation which requires every cosmetic product to be safety assessed by a qualified individual before it can be sold to the public.  This is absolutely essential for any person who wants to create and sell a product such as soap, bath bombs and body butters.

Well after some interesting shennanigans I’ve finally managed to get this blog up and running.

Hopefully it’ll contain some information and ramblings that’ll be of interest to some peeps out there in blog reading land.

Take care

Ann-Marie