Heat hydrosol and aloe vera to 170 degrees. This kills any bacteria, mold or fungus present.
Melt the oil and butter components and stir well. Allow hydrosol and aloe to cool to about 150 F.
Combine hydrosol and butter/oils and mix well. Keep stirring occasionally till the mixture reaches
about 100 F. A stick blender is useful for this. Add your preservative and Vit. E. Add your fragrance
or essential oils now and mix well. Do not be concerned if the lotion is not thick. Bottle or transfer
to a clean container immediately as the lotion thickens on standing.

This Basic Formula can be tweaked for making many other herbal/botanical infusions, and other additives.
Always follow basic sanitary precautions. I use spray alcohol, wipe counters with a mild bleach solution,
use paper towels and disposable utensils.

Tip: If you would like to add color or fragrance at a later date, add lotion to a Ziploc bag then add color or
fragrance. Close. Mix together well with your hands on the outside of the bag. Cut a small corner off and
this makes a very convenient way to add to your bottles/jars.

Enjoy!
Irena J

When I started making soap, I didn’t see any reason to dream up my own recipes. For one thing, I belonged to a couple of soapmaking mailing lists, and they were thick with emails from people who were trying to develop recipes and having a lot of trouble with it. Also, what with books, Web sites, and soapmaking friends, I had about a million recipes to try. I didn’t see much point in struggling to think up new ones.

Fast forward a few years, to my decision to write a soapmaking book. I’d been making soap, teaching other people to make soap, and working out some new methods to make things easier. I’d written about half of the first draft when it occurred to me that I was going to have to design my own recipes.

Looking over my books, I came upon something I’d read before but hadn’t paid much attention to: the concept of INS. According to Robert McDaniel, using a simple formula would produce “ideal soap.” Could it really be that easy? I decided to find out.

A lot of experiments later, I had about enough soap to wash an army. And I had an answer to my question. Let me tell you what I did, what I learned, and what I still wonder about.

First, I analyzed the recipes I’d been using. The INS values of my two favorite recipes turned out to be identical, both the “perfect” value of 160.

I studied McDaniel’s discussion of INS a little more. He didn’t claim to have invented the idea, but he didn’t say where he got it, either. I had a lot of questions about what INS might be and whether I could really make an ideal soap by using a formula. I tried to contact him, but wasn’t successful.

Researching further, I found a professional article from the 1930s that described INS in a way that sounded like it was a newly-developed concept. According to this article, INS values would predict the hardness of soap made from a mixture of oils. Obviously, it wasn’t going to be possible to contact the author of this article, either, so I decided to just experiment on my own.

I developed some recipes that approached an INS of 160. Then I made soap, soap, and more soap.

It all came out fine. In fact, it was comparable to my best recipes. But before I decided that INS was the solution to all problems, I decided to see how far I could push the limits.

First, I made a soap with an INS of 160 and no solid fats. It saponified nicely, and I looked forward to trying it when it came out of the molds. That turned out to be the problem: unmolding it. After about a week, I gave up and peeled off the molds in shreds, happy I hadn’t used my best ones. The soap didn’t hold a firm bar shape, and I would have written it off as a failure, except that I tried it first. It made my face feel better than any soap I’d ever used. I gave some chunks of it to friends, who immediately dubbed it “the weird soap”—and asked for more.

So I made it again, but with a minimum amount of water. That batch unmolded easily. Though still a bit soft, it’s a wonderful facial soap.

Then I put together a recipe with an INS of 160 and no liquid fats. As I’d hoped, it holds up well in the moist area next to my kitchen sink.

Everything I’d tried worked well. But the various soaps were very different in their lather, cleansing and emollience. I wondered what, exactly, Robert McDaniel had meant by “ideal.” My experiments so far had given me good soaps for different purposes, all with the supposedly perfect INS.

Next, I deliberately got as far away from the good INS range as I could. I made a soap of 100% canola oil (INS value of 56, as listed by McDaniel). The mixture did make soap, eventually, but it took a long time to trace, a long time to solidify in the molds, and a long time to saponify. When the pH of the soap was finally in the usable range, I washed with it. It was a mess—I had to take the goo off my hands with another soap. It certainly was far from ideal, by anyone’s standards.

I was still mulling about this as I made a batch of Castile. When I learned soapmaking, I was repeatedly warned against the traditional all-olive-oil formula. I suppose it would be difficult to make if you’re stirring by hand—even with a stick blender, it’s half an hour before I’m satisfied that it’s sufficiently mixed. In fact, the time to trace was similar to that of my dreadful canola soap. Of course, the end product was fine soap, not an unwieldy mess. That gave me an idea about the “ideal” INS.

The INS value of olive oil is about 109. It makes good soap, but with difficulty. The value for canola is 56, much farther from the ideal INS of 160. And canola is even more difficult to make soap from than olive oil—and the soap is no good.

Could it be that the “ideal” McDaniel discussed was more a chemical ideal than an esthetic one? That what he meant was that the ideal INS range will give you functional soap with very little trouble?

The more I thought about it, the better sense it seemed to make. There’s no way to control the esthetic qualities of soap by manipulating numbers. Clearly, a gardener’s scrub soap will need different qualities from one for sensitive skin, for example. Whatever the INS value of your fats, you still have to choose them according to their individual properties of lather, cleansing and emollience.

Also, you need to consider the proportions of solid and liquid fats when you decide how much water to use. INS values may have been developed to make soap hardness more predictable, and they are helpful in doing that, but the “weird soap” convinced me that they’re not infallible. Whatever the INS value of your mixture, you need to use your judgment about this.

I’m certain that measuring errors are not the explanation for any of my results, but I’m not a chemist as McDaniel is, and I don’t pretend my experiments are scientific.

To recap, here’s the way my test batches pointed:
• Design your mix of fats to provide the emollience, cleansing, hardness, and lather you want for the particular purpose. Judgment, experience, and a certain amount of trial and error are necessary here—you can’t do it “by the numbers.”
• If the mixture of fats has more than about 60% liquid oils, reduce the water in the recipe to the minimum prescribed by your lye calculator.
• INS values predicted ease of saponification more than anything else.

The whole exercise was extremely valuable to me. It made it possible for me to design easy, high quality soap formulations for my book, and to explain to beginners how to design their own.

I still wonder about a few things, though.

I wonder if the high-INS oil I used in the “weird soap” was really a fair test. The soap is composed of almond oil and fractionated coconut oil—the coconut is probably necessary to get a value as high as 160. But fractionated coconut oil is an artificially manipulated product. Possibly INS value actually is a good predictor of hardness, if naturally occurring oils are the only ones considered.

I wonder about cocoa butter. With its close-to-ideal INS value, it should make a good single-oil soap. But according to other sources, pure cocoa butter soap would be too hard and would have poor lather. I suppose I’ll try it someday, just to round things out.

Finally, I wonder if I interpreted McDaniel’s work correctly, or if I’ve added a spin of my own that he didn’t intend. My theories work for me, and that’s the main thing I needed.

Anne Watson is the author of the forthcoming book, “Smart Soapmaking.”

Recipe:

2 cups grated soap scraps

1 tblsp glycerin

1 tblsp oil of choice

Melt in double broiler.

Add 2 1/2 cups to 3 cups water depending on the consistency you prefer.

Add preservative.

Bottle & Label.

Note:  Will submit picture later!

A simple solution is to clean off the bottle/jar with some alcohol pads. Yes, its that simple. Let dry, apply label and walla those labels should stick like super glue!

Don’t know what to do with Scent Beads from Kangaroo Blue?

I have a GREAT idea for you! It came about when a friend recently told me about the summer sinus issue they had. He wanted me to throw something together to ease his sinus’. I had no clue where to start. Then Ms. Kitty showed me a pic on a product called *Inhalation Beads*. Ah ha! Problem solved.

Grab a canning jar and mix in your fragrance. For 1lb of scent beads I use approximately 1 oz of scent blend.

For this friend I used Lavender, Peppermint & Rosemary EO’s. I poured the EO’s into the canning jar. Then I chose a colour mica from my nice collection of Kangaroo Blue Mica’s, mixed it into the eo’s then poured in my one pound of scent beads.

Shake, Shake, Shake!!!!

Let sit till there is no liquid in the canning jar. Mind you you’ll need to mix it a few times and probably with a spoon if you use sticky EO’s like I did.

Measure 1 oz of scent beads per container and package.

]]> http://www.kangarooblue.com/soaplab/2006/07/16/scent-beads/feed/ http://www.kangarooblue.com/soaplab/2006/07/14/lets-talk-presentation/ http://www.kangarooblue.com/soaplab/2006/07/14/lets-talk-presentation/#comments Fri, 14 Jul 2006 22:29:02 +0000 Janis Shortridge Presentation http://www.kangarooblue.com/soaplab/2006/07/14/lets-talk-presentation/ There are certain assumptions I will make before we start discussing presentation of products:

1. Business Plan or at a minimum you have notes on what ou want your business to be theme, market, etc.
2. Know what products you will be making
3. Research ideas.

If you havent, that is the first thing you need to do. It saves $$$, frustration and copy-cat syndrome. Think through before you leap and spend those $$$ to play. At least have a direction in mind.

The first thing that you really need to be firm in your mind is the market you want to draw into your business. Who is your client? You do not want your packaging/presentation to reflect a younger client when your market might be upscale 30 50 year old market. Know your market well! There is nothing to stop you from also having some products geared to other markets but if your main market segment is a certain age group or economic group that should be the prime focus.

Color?
Do you have a color scheme that is in your logo or your banner? If not, think about it. You may not have the banner yet but at least have an idea about colors. Its a good idea to take what you have in a logo and bring it into your packaging or presentation.

Wander thru the $ store. If you feel you have limited creativity, take someone with you that can see beyond the thing. When I see something say like a basket I dont see a basket I am able immediately to transfer that basket into something else. I see beyond the functionality of what it is. Not sure if its a blessing or a curse!

Soap:
Think about packaging wrapped or naked; cigar bands, shrink wrap or boxes? How do you want to present your soaps to your customer? What works in your community? Know your marketplace. What works in one market will not work in another. Listen to your customers.

Research Research Research

Check out what other vendors are doing in your community or online. Make a note of what you like about the packaging and what you dont like. AND, then never, never, never copy cat. Create something for yourself! There are so many ways to do a concept, but the interpretation of that concept can be your own. Copying someone else is not flattery its outright stealing.

My suggestion would be to play around with an idea before you totally adapt it to your packaging. Especially if you are not certain which packaging to go with.

In my early days I went with the masses and did cigar bands. Didnt like them at all. Changed to shrink-wrap. Tested out a few other ways until I finalized my packaging to what it is today using gift-wrapping. Yes, it is labor intensive, but it fits my market and is functional at the same time. At a quick glance I want to know what my customers are purchasing what type of soap. I have a basic recipe, basic plus silk fibers, all veggie, tea, garden, DSM and high-end oils. By the choice of wrapping, I know what they are and the customer also knows (repeat customers). For me it works plus it compliments my theme of contemporary Victorian. My market is an upscale 30 up age bracket.

Booth
I have carried my contemporary Victorian theme in my logo and in the banner for my booth. I use folding banquet tables that are easy to setup and not heavy but will hold up to 200 lbs of product per table. The tables are covered with an envelope. The fabric envelope fits over the table to the ground. This concept prevents blowing around and with a simple opening in the back hides all the empty containers or extra product that you put under the tables. In my case, I chose black at the table coverings. I use a different fabric in a color that compliments my banner/logo as a topper angled and tied at each end for interest.

Instead of normal displays I have selected square low baskets purchased at a dollar store. Again, I angle them and a scent is put into one basket. Each of my baskets hold approximately 12 bars of soap. Since I have all bars wrapped, I do have one totally naked bar on each basket so that a customer can pick it up and see what the bar looks like and how it smells. I also have ½ oz ¾ oz samples in little gift card envelopes with website, email on it plus scent variety on it.

I use a 3 shelf wood freestanding unit that folds flat for easy transportation. It was a natural wood that I have painted a flat black. The 3 shelves compliment the table toppers. I also use twinkle lights when electric is available to accent the setup and create an ambiance. Netting is also effective and use it to hide some of the overhead booth supports.

My theme is create your own private sanctuary and that is what I try to convey in a warm, inviting ambiance. A little bit of lace in a few baskets, a reed diffuser that adds scent and attracts the customer to the room scent section. All of these visual affects tie into the theme and draw the customer in. My table setup draws them in rather then have a U where I am in the center of the U and tables around me I have an L where the tables frame the inside of the booth and customers are drawn into their private sanctuary.

Much of this does evolve as time goes on. The trick is to think through a lot of it so the evolution process is less time consuming and definitely not as expensive. Go to various craft shows. Check out the competition but also just check out other artisans booths. I adapted a jewelers setup to suit to my concept. The table envelope is the perfect to avoid wind blown skirting and visible inventory.

If you are doing upscale-juried shows, the booth presentation is important. It all becomes important. It sometimes makes the difference in getting points. How important is that point system? Jury fees are non-refundable. Higher the points and depending upon the shows jury system, it can mean not have to re-jury the next year which means no jury fee. Many shows do give cash awards. Wouldnt it be nice to end up with a bigger profit?

Photos will accompany article when new booth is ready

Ingredients for three 2 oz. sticks:

• 3.5 oz. Soya Skin Butter
• 1.25 oz. Rice Bran Oil
• 0.25 oz. squalane
• 15 drops of lavender essential oil

Directions:

Microwave in a pyrex glass measuring cup for 2 minutes on high. Melt it until you still have little lumps in the glass (see first picture), stir till it is all melted. Let cool. Add squalane and lavender essential oil, Mix well and pour into deodorant tubes or tins. Though it will be translucent until completely cool, the finished product will be white.

When mixed with water it releases heat causing the mixture to heat up very rapidly. Mix your lye water outside if possible. Stay away from fumes coming out of your container as this steam can burn as well. Use a plastic pitcher for mixing and label this “LYE DANGEROUS”! Do not use this container for anything else.

Dry lye is fairly benign. Once dissolved in water, it becomes very ‘caustic’. A single bead or flake of lye can cling to moist skin and result in a small burn.

It is very important to wear long pants, long sleeved shirt, rubber gloves and eye protection. ALWAYS add lye to the water, NOT the other way around! If you do, a volcano can erupt out of your container and burn you! Keep your lye dry in a sealed, properly labeled container. Keep securely away from children.

Lye can attract moisture and become hard. If it does, it has lost its potency. Dispose of properly. Spillage of dry lye are best swept up and disposed of. Mop the area thoroughly with lots of water. Rinse all brooms, mops or dustpans afterward. Do not use vinegar to rinse off lye on your skin. Lye and vinegar create more heat, which causes more severe burns. Lots of plain water is best.

Respect your lye and it will respect you. )
Happy soaping!

Irena

Zinc-oxide powder and essential oils prevent this decomposition from occurring. Unlike chemically based commercial products, a handcrafted deodorant doesn’t block
the sweat glands or inhibit their natural temperature regulation. Handcrafted foot powder is especially good for sensitive skin, as it treats your feet gently, with no irritation.

Foot Powder recipe:
Clean your feet and dry them thoroughly. Make a mixture of ½ cup of baking soda, 2 TBS. of zinc oxide, 2 TBS of china (or white) clay. Add 10 drops of Lavender, 5 drops of Clary Sage and 2-3 drops of Lemon Eucalyptus (or Lemon Tea Tree). Mix well and let sit for a day or two. This gives the essential oils a chance to get to know each other and blend better. This can be put in a powder container or shaker.
Sprinkle some on your feet as well as inside your shoes to keep your feet fresh all day long.

Happy Feet! )

Irena

• 3 oz. grapeseed oil
• 1 oz. sweet almond oil
• 3 capsules of vitamin E
• 5 drops of essential oil blends of: lavender, sweet orange

Pour meassured ingredients into the plastic roll-on bottles, shake well and enjoy!