in the palm of our products...?

http://www.cspinet.org/palm/

http://animalrights.about.com/b/2007/06/21/palm-oil-industry-linked-to-illegal-wildlife-trade.htm

so..i know i do things every day... things i could stop doing which would help the environment. but some things just stick out a bit more than others. im having an issue with this palm crisis. i refuse to use any palm in any of my products. sure, im just a little soap maker in my kitchen, so what kind of dent am i really going to put in the palm crisis? well...if you put all of us little soap makers together, its quite a dent.

i dunno, even if i save one little animals life by not using palm, or change .0000000000000000000000000000000000000001 % in the air we breathe..... i feel better for not using palm.

granted, i drive around in my gas guzzling SUV .....like i said, theres things i could be doing every day which would help the environment. some things, though.. like our day to day needs and such.. cant really be avoided all that easily.. where as, going into a little business and creating products...... well, thats very much a choice.. and im gonna try real hard to make healthy, earth benefiting choices, within that choice.

now thats more my style. the chunks all over the place just isnt my thing. simple dot here n there throughout the soap? yes. this batch heated up super hot and got to the gel state almost instantly after wrapping it.unfortunately, it lost much of its scent along with the superheating gel stage. grr. but its still a nice light scent, which i suppose is kinda more me anyways... i hate those knock ya out way too smelly body products. anyways, bout this soap vs the others.. im kinda undecided, i love the creamy opaque look i get when i dont let it get to the gel state, however, the gel state is supposed to make for a faster curing time and a longer lasting bar of soap? anyone have any feedback about that for me? ive read conflicting information everywhere i look...

tomorrow? grapefruit and sweet orange.
not sure what im gonna do to the soap itself. might try that whipped thingie. sounds like it could either be a total disaster........ or ........... totally fun.
so far so good with my luck though, ive not had any nightmare batches or anything go really wrong. guess the research ive done has a point. lol.

i kinda wanna do the layered thing. for some reason, the citrus scents make me feel like it should look parfait-ish.

so soapy

well.. my house is turning into a small soap factory now and im feeling a bit like a mad scientist.. i mean, mad.. as in, mad as a balloon. today im making the MANBAR lol... yeah.. gonna be some masculine earthy scents in this batch. got my lil girl here at my side helping me today. shes been curious as to how soap is made. brb. time to mix.

ok so.. i spilled a half of a 2 oz bottle of cassia bark on the counter lol.. i suppose it suits the season, so.. maybe when people walk thru the door they'll just think im extra festive this year?? maybe ill hang a little cinnamon stick on the wall and tell people its from that :P

i think ive finally come up with the perfect mixture of oils to create the bar of soap ive been looking for. butters and oils, no crappy filler oils and such. just excellent soap. i dont really care to keep the cost down by filling it with crap, if people want a good bar of soap? they'll pay for a good bar of soap. i would. just like buying organic food. only the best in bodygoodies. hello.... goodies being key... good stuff. good ingredients. good product.

ill post some pics when this batch is cut :)

too simple, too plain,too usual. gonna rebatch , roll em up and make some swirly soap balls. yanno.. something ive noticed.. people seem to always make soap balls the same size.. sell em all one size, even if you buy a bag of em.. why not switch it up a bit and put a few different sizes to add a bit of art/appeal to them while they sit decoratively in a soapdish?
-just my two pennies-

Trying out the stamp thing

I think i like that :)

of course, that would normally be on a larger bar of soap lol.. i was just trying out stamps on chunks of left overs ..... i think i found the right state for the soap to be in to do the stamping.. it was kinda fun... i sorta wanna keep stamping :)
well, tomorrow my order of exotic oils and butters is due to arrive... which means ill be making soap tomorrow. also, experimenting with the lotion bars and balms. wonder when my packaging shipment will arrive? never got the conf. on that one yet. hmm....

soapyswirls.

well.. there they are... the soaps i made the other day, turned out well, real nice lather, and now ive cut them and shaped them into swirls... ready to be the insides to a white bar of soap. i just hope this part turns out right lol... now its getting tricky.

So much for old fashioned.

Yeah, so this morning when i could barely lift my arm to brush my hair...i decided the 1st batch of soap will also be the only batch of soap to be hand whisked by moi. ;-)

so.. theres my two colors. cant tell very well from my fonecam, but one is a nice brown color, the other is a nice earthy green. my only concern is the green one has a strong kelp scent. the moss ( brown) one smells awesome. my goal is to create a very earthy natural smelling bar,with very real , natural, earthy things in it .. to make it that! also being exceptional for your skin........yet, still has a "good" smell to it. so, in the green one, ive also added ylang-ylang essential oil, and the brown one has cassia bark essential oil. now, both of these will end up being the color swirls for a white bar of soap........... hmm... im undecided as to how i will scent it.i couldnt resist the urge to purchase some fragrance oil, even though i am trying to keep things on the el natural side, theres just something so wonderful about this fragrance that i purchased. so... its possible ill be scenting the base color of the soap with that. if not....... hmm.... not sure yet.

cant wait till this soap is ready to slice and shape and get ready for the bars to actually be made.
i really like this soap thing.

so... for my first attempt at soap? the only real problem i ran into.. was the paint chips coming off of the meat thermom.i will say this though, lol.. as much as i wanted to do things the old fashioned way...... a stick blender sure does sound nice right about now. * rubs arm* ouch.

oh, and that little mug with the white soap is sitting there just so i can see how white my formula will turn out, if its not light enough to be the base for the bar with the swirls, ill have to change up the formulation. :)

oi, sometimes i wish i wasnt so particular. i just HAD to get it to the trace state by hand. my arm is about to fall off now.was it worth it? well.. ill know in about 48 hours. turned a nice color though, i think so anyways.

Seems to have worked ok.

Coming along nicely i think

First sign of trouble

The thermom paint chipped off bec of the lye. Now? Ill attempt to strain and pray it doesnt screw up the ratio.

:-) here goes nothing.

When you mix the lye with water, it heats the water to 220 degrees!

well.. today, im making soap.. for the very first time.. from scratch. after years of research lol... well, maybe a two year break in between.... but im finally getting there. so.. as i make it through the first batch.. ill post pics from my fone. im going to attempt a cool swirly soap, so in order to have colored swirls in white soap, i need to first make the colored batches, wait a couple days, shave the soap and form into swirls, then place them into the mold for the white soap base. ......this should be interesting.
so far, all is good, ive managed to mix the lye and water and the house is still standing. :)

Aw. Lil nina

Busted

Lol maddi caught me snapping pics without her knowledge.

Aww

:-)

Basil?

Nina likes to eat healthy too. Lol